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WeChat bans all NFT and crypto activity
China’s leading social media platform in China, WeChat, has instated that accounts that provide access to crypto or NFT-related services are now banned from its platform in a recent policy update.
Under the new guidelines, accounts involved with the trading, issuance, and financing of crypto and NFTs will fall under the ‘illegal business’ category, restricted or outright banned from using Wechat’s services.
Such policies also cover secondary NFT trading. WeChat states that ‘accounts that provide services or content related to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with in accordance with this article.’
The firm also gave a stern warning to potential rulebreakers, stating , ‘once such violations are discovered, the WeChat public platform will, according to the severity of the violations, order the violating official accounts to rectify within a time limit and restrict some functions of the account until the permanent account is banned.’ In other words, if the severity of the case is deemed large enough, the rulebreaker will be permanently banned from the platform.
Back in March, WeChat had already suspended a dozen NFT public accounts that market NFTs in an effort to clean up crypto speculation. The frozen accounts operated under the names - Huasheng Meta and Spirit Leap, which announced publicly that they were suspended after ‘being reported by others’. Their accounts can no longer be found in search results, and subscribers are greeted with a line that reads ‘no legal permit or licence to publish, disseminate, or engage in related business activities’ upon visiting the frozen accounts.
The policy update comes at a time when Chinese firms are seeking to comply with Beijing’s warnings against speculative activity in NFTs. The Chinese government has implemented a phased ban in the NFT sector between May and September 2021.
WhaleTalk, Ant-group owned platform for digital collectibles in China, is another such platform affected by the government’s negative stance on Blockchain technology. It has begun to distance themselves from the technology by eliminating or banning NFT services from their platforms.


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Amidst the hustle and bustle of midtown Manhattan on a sunny autumn day, a surreal sight in Bryant Park surprised even the most cynical New Yorkers. A herd of 30 woolly, white sheep calmly grazed on the park’s green lawn, drawing in crowds throughout the day.
“When I first saw the sheep I thought they were statues. It’s unreal to have live animals in an urban environment,” said Nuno Ferreira, who is visiting New York from Portugal.
The Campaign for Wool, a United Kingdom-based cross-industry initiative for wool, organized the event and brought sheep into Bryant Park as part of its “Wool Uncovered” campaign, which promotes the wool industry and touts the benefits of wool as a durable, breathable, biodegradable, fire-resistant fiber. The campaign also strives to make people aware of how wool is produced and manufactured.
The Prince of Wales convened the Campaign for Wool in the U.K. in 2010 to educate consumers about the natural benefits of the fabric and to help farmers and the wool industry, as prices had fallen for three years. The stateside launch in Bryant Park is the result of six months of planning, and organizers hope to expand the campaign to other U.S. cities.
For the event, the park’s fountain was drained and filled with wool and yarn in blue, yellow and pink. Children played on a richly-colored carpet and people chatted on couches upholstered in union jack and stripe designs. All 3,000 chairs in the park were covered with wool. But the centerpiece attraction was the sheep, held in a 40-foot-by-40-foot compartment made out of plexiglass. Throughout the day, the sheep stayed calm and quiet and munched on hay. Occasionally, you could hear a sheep bleating.
The sheep were brought in at 5 a.m. on a big trailer from the sheep farm Traver Midnight Merinos in Clinton Corners, New York. “I brought in my sheep to hand out business cards here and to hopefully get new customers,” said sheep farmer Jeff Traver, who has been a farmer since 1970. “The fascination of live animals attracts people here and it’s a great way to make customers aware of what wool has to offer.”
A main concern of the organizers was the rain, because a downpour at 7 a.m. began to shrink the wool in the fountain. But two hours later, the sky cleared up and it was a sunny, warm day.
PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, demonstrated at noon in front of Bryant Park, to raise awareness of how they say sheep are mistreated and abused in the wool industry. A PETA member dressed up in a bloody sheep costume.
“The sheep on display are suffering,” said PETA campaign specialist Ashley Byrne. “It’s inappropriate to bring them into noisy and crowded midtown Manhattan. When the sheep’s wool production declines, they’re being slaughtered. But the wool industry would never want consumers to see that it’s a bloody industry.”
“It’s a phony event,” she added.
A table showcased how raw wool is sorted and the benefits of the product. Wool is a sustainable, renewable, natural and fire-resistant fiber. Its production is environment-friendly, involving low carbon emissions.
Wool is produced in all 50 states in America, though East Coast wool farmers produce smaller volumes. American wool has various uses – mainly in carpeting, home furnishing and the clothing industry. In New York City, the price for wool per pound in 2011 was 60 cents, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up from 40 cents in 2010.
“The wool industry has been getting better over the last year and demand and supply has stabilized,” said Rita Kourlis Samuelson, who is the wool marketing director for the American Wool Council. “Wool has been around since the Stone Age, and people are turning towards the fiber again, after a long low period for the industry.”
The high foot traffic in Bryant Park is what makes it a great location to attract a lot of people. “Of course we have to take into consideration that the event is taking away space from the public,” said Ethan Lercher, who is the event coordinator for Bryant Park Corporation. “As long as people can take away ideas from an event and learn something, it’s worth it.”
“I’m not sure if the event pays off considering the cost of it, but it’s definitely surprising and gets people talking,” said Marton Hajdu, who came to New York from Brussels for five days on a business trip.

domain: news


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Castlevania celebrated its 35th anniversary this month, and fans were surprised to see Konami pay tribute to the beloved title with an NFT drop instead of a new game or game collection. The Castlevania NFTs feature various aspects of the series, including game scenes, music, and newly drawn art. They were auctioned off on January 12th.
Konami is calling the Castlevania NFTs a part of its “Konami Memorial NFT” collection. The company describes this offering as “an initiative to create art NFTs using beloved in-game scenes from Konami titles, and for our fans to preserve them for many years to come.” This implies there may be more NFTs to follow focusing on various aspects of its legendary series.
Fans of Castlevania have seen Konami avoid producing any substantial new pieces of media, with the last major product being the Castlevania Netflix series. This seems to be yet another left-field addition to products from the company that isn’t what fans are asking for.
This appears to be another poorly-received NFT ploy from a company trying to capitalize off of a popular franchise. GSC Game World recently scrapped their NFT plans for STALKER 2 after serious blowback from unhappy fans. Similarly, Ubisoft had to delay indefinitely the launching of its NFT platform, Ubisoft Quartz, after fans publicly expressed their discontent.
(All information was provided by Digital Trends)


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- Retailers urged to defend against 'Backoff' point-of-sale malware
- Retailers warned to act now to protect against Backoff malware
- Vulnerabilities on the decline, but risk assessment is often flawed, study says says
- Kenneth van Wyk: Why do we keep relearning the same security lessons again and again?
- New malvertising campaign hit visitors of several high-profile sites
Facebook - News, Features, and Slideshows
Instagram on Tuesday released Hyperlapse, a stand-alone app that will let people record longer videos and then speed them up for a time-lapse effect.
U.S. data centers are using more electricity than they need. It takes 34 power plants, each capable of generating 500 megawatts of electricity, to power all the data centers in operation today. By 2020, the nation will need another 17 similarly sized power plants to meet projected data center energy demands as economic activity becomes increasingly digital.
Facebook will reduce "click-bait" posts of outside links that try to lure users with eye-catching headlines.
A security precaution skipped in mobile applications such as Facebook's Messenger could be abused to make an expensive phone call at a victim's expense, a developer contends.
Nearly all of Facebook's outbound notification emails are now encrypted while traveling the Internet, a collaborative feat that comes from the technology industry's push to thwart the NSA's spying programs.
It was only a matter of time before high tech execs got in on the ice bucket challenge for ALS awareness that has been sweeping across Facebook, Twitter and other social networks in recent weeks. Phil Schiller, Apple's SVP of marketing, has showered himself in freezing water and via Twitter, has challenged CEO Tim Cook to do likewise, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has challenged Bill Gates and others.
Apple has done well to insulate its iOS mobile operating system from many security issues, but a forthcoming demonstration shows it's far from perfect.
Twitter is looking to boost its advertising business by letting more businesses pay to include video in their tweets.
Facebook ignited a flood of criticism last week when it began requiring mobile users to load its Messenger app for Android and iOS separate from its basic Facebook app.
Key technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Twitter have filed in support of Facebook's dispute with the New York County District Attorney's office over the collection of user data in bulk under a gag order for a fraud investigation.
A 'class action' suit against Facebook over its privacy policies was rejected by the commercial court of Vienna, and referred to the regional court in the same city, a commercial court spokesman said Friday.
Facebook has moved to beef up its servers by agreeing to buy cybersecurity startup PrivateCore.
Google, Microsoft and Facebook are cranking up an emerging wireless technology known as Wi-FAR to help reduce the digital divide in remote and unconnected regions of the world.
As Facebook privacy suit reaches 25,000 participant target, court is still unsure if it will allow it
An Austrian 'class action' lawsuit against Facebook over the company's privacy policies is expected to reach a limit of 25,000 participants on Wednesday. It remains however uncertain if the commercial court in Vienna will accept the case.
A lawsuit filed in Austria against Facebook over the company's privacy policies has gathered over 11,500 participants since Friday, raising the claim against the company to €5.75 million (US$7.7 million), complainant Europe-v-Facebook said Monday.
- Exclusive: HP EVP lays out strategy at HP World Tour 2014 (+51 photos)
- Security Operations Centre in Sydney to grow into APJ hub: Symantec
- Federal government injects $8.4 billion to NBN
- Fibre, Ethernet key to Vocus’ $13.6m record profit
- SAP backs innovation centre launch with $60m investment in Victoria
- How PaaS is helping Voltswagon to deliver customer leads on mobile
- Baskin-Robbins appoints new marketing chief and plans customer loyalty overhaul
- Qantas Loyalty won't be sold off, confirms Joyce
- Salesforce renames and revamps Communities service
- How video content is powering 12WBT's member and social media marketing strategy


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Starling and Revolut suffer weekend outages
Starling, Revolut, Pockit and Curve were all hit by outages over Friday (29 June) and the weekend of 30 June and 1 July.
It was the usual scenario of payments being rejected and customers getting confused.
It is understood the problems were caused by the company the firms outsource processing to. This is understood to be Global Processing Services (GPS), which provides similar services to many fintech players and challenger banks, including Fire, U Account and Loot.
On Loot’s, U Account’s and Fire’s Twitter feeds and websites, there was no mention of any issues.
Monzo did use GPS in the past. It responded to FinTech Futures’ question on Twitter and says: “We only used GPS for our prepaid accounts, and now run entirely on technology we’ve built ourselves, so we won’t have been affected.”
Starling responded to a sarcastic comment (not from us) on Twitter about this outage and the “open banking revolution”.
Back in November 2017, and due to similar problems, Revolut said it was building its own in-house processor, following a string of outages caused by its current third-party provider.
On 1 July, Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s founder and CEO, wrote an apology due to the latest events.
“About ten months ago, I had to write a similar letter apologising for card payments being declined for a substantial amount of time, and yet here we are again.
“I’m not coming to you with excuses or meaningless apologies. I’m here to explain what happened and what we are doing behind the scenes to stop this from happening again.”
He says the issue was due to a third-party payment processor.
The processor experienced “severe latency” when processing data from merchants, which caused card payments to time out and then ultimately fail. This happens when data is not pulled fast enough from a merchant.
Storonsky explains that its own in-house payment processor is “on track” to deliver this project by the end of the year and proceed to roll it out across Europe.
Last year, it said it would be ready by early 2018.


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Emergency workers were called to Amazon warehouses across the United States at least 189 times for suicide threats and mental health breakdowns between 2013 and 2018, a new report has revealed.
Audio from 911 calls, obtained by The Daily Beast, contain the shocking descriptions of several suicide attempts.
Some of the Amazon workers are heard describing co-workers as having suicidal thoughts, overdosing and attempting to cut themselves with box cutters.
The reports came from all over the country, including Twinsburg, Ohio; Hebron, Kentucky; Joliet, Illinois and Chester, Virginia, just to name a few.
In one case, the employee at the Hebron location threatened to stab herself in the stomach.
She was pregnant at the time and other employees had fears that she would harm the baby.
Emergency workers were called to Amazon warehouses (pictured, Lebanon, Tennessee) across the US at least 189 times for suicide threats and mental health breakdowns between 2013 and 2018, a new report has revealed
In January 2015, a young man threatened to ‘jump from [the] second floor’ of the warehouse in Chester, according to the Daily Beast.
The report says that the 911 calls came from 46 warehouses in 17 states.
That total is roughly a quarter of the sorting and fulfillment centers that make up the company’s US network.
Employees who spoke to the Daily Beast described the relentless pressure from working at Amazon.
They described a work environment where employees are treated ‘like robots’ in an ‘isolating colony of hell’.
Jace Crouch, a former Amazon employee in Lakeland, Florida, told the news outlet that ‘people having breakdowns is a regular occurrence’.
Crouch, who had his own emotional crisis while on the job, said it is ‘mentally taxing to do the same task super fast for 10-hour shifts, four or five days a week’.
Another former employee from the Etna, Ohio, warehouse said it was often impossible to physically keep up with the workload.
‘Even if it isn’t your fault, they ignore any explanation that you could give,’ the employee told the Daily Beast, adding that he feared for his job.
A former employee from the Etna, Ohio, warehouse (pictured) said it was often impossible to physically keep up with the workload
Five of the six current or former Amazon workers who were interviewed by the Daily Beast, revealed that after their breakdowns at work, they were put on short-term medical or disability leave. Workers are seen inside the Lebanon, Tennessee, warehouse
‘Once you have enough write-ups, you’re out the door. There goes your livelihood.
‘There was a constant sense of, “did I screw that up, did I screw that up, did I screw that up?”‘ he said, adding that it was like having ‘permanent anxiety’.
Five of the six current or former Amazon workers who were interviewed by the Daily Beast, revealed that after their breakdowns at work, they were put on short-term medical or disability leave.
During that leave, they said they struggled to obtain promised compensation and in some cases were ultimately fired.
According to the Daily Beast, while on leave some of the workers used Amazon’s assistance program, which includes three phone conversations with a counselor,
But even with the Amazon-provided health insurance, the costs were also a financial burden.
The Daily Beast report also describes one particular incident in which 36-year-old Jonathan Forrest took his own life while working for Amazon.
Forrest had initially been excited to start the new position as a picker at Amazon and even ranked number 8 out of 100 pickers, whose job it was to place items in bins.
But his father, Butch, said after a few months on the job, his son started to hate his position and began making suicidal comments in the summer of 2017.
Forrest qualified for medical leave and sought out help from a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with bipolar disorder and prescribed him medication.
Soon after Forrest returned to work at the Amazon warehouse, he started making more suicidal comments, according to the Daily Beast.
His mental health continued to deteriorate and in January 2018, Forrest took his life.
This isn’t the first time Amazon (file image) has made headlines for its ‘hellish’ working conditions. Last April, at least 100 Amazon workers in the UK said in a survey that they suffered from depression, and eight of those individuals said they’d thought about killing themselves
Forrest’s father told the news outlet that he knows his son was struggling on many levels, but he believes that working at Amazon played a major role in his suicide.
‘When it came to holidays it would be five days in a row,’ Butch said. ‘It killed him.’
This isn’t the first time Amazon has made headlines for its ‘hellish’ working conditions.
Last April, at least 100 Amazon workers in the UK said in a survey that they suffered from depression, and eight of those individuals said they’d thought about killing themselves.
The survey was carried out by Organise, which campaigns for employment unions.
James Bloodworth, who worked ten-hour shifts at a warehouse in Rugeley, Staffordshire, claimed staff were peeing in bottles because they were scared of getting in trouble for taking toilet breaks.
The Rugeley warehouse measures 700,000sqft and some of the 1,200 workers face a ten minute, quarter-of-a-mile walk to two toilets on the ground floor of the four-storey building.
He said: ‘For those of us who worked on the top floor, the closest toilets were down four flights of stairs.’
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest person with $131billion
Bloodworth revealed workers were continually monitored for time wasting by supervisors and claimed the strictness was what caused the ‘toilet bottle’ system.
Nearly three quarters of those polled said they were so frightened of missing productivity targets that they’d starve themselves of water so they wouldn’t need the toilet.
Amazon warehouse workers in New York are pushing for unionization to fight what they claim are unfair quotas and insufficient breaks.
Staff at Amazon’s new warehouse in Staten Island officially announced their campaign in December, backed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
They have raised safety and health concerns regarding 12-hour shifts and demands they pack 240 to 400 items per hour; one every 10-15 seconds.
One Staten Island employee said that ‘if an employee is a picker, they want that person to pick up 400 items per hour, picking each item every seven seconds’.
In a statement released in December, Amazon said: ‘We work hard every day to ensure all of our employees are treated fairly and with dignity and respect.
‘Amazon offers a great employment opportunity with excellent pay – ranging here from $16.25-$20.80 an hour, and comprehensive benefits including health care, up to 20 weeks parental leave, paid education, promotional opportunities, and more.
Amazon has more than 75 ‘fulfillment centers’ across the country where purchased merchandise is packaged and shipped.
The centers employ more than 125,000 full-time employees, according to the company.
A DailyMail.com request for comment to Amazon was not immediately returned.
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest person, ahead of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, according to the latest Forbes list of the ultra wealthy.
According to the list announced last Tuesday by Forbes, the riches of Bezos, 55, have swelled by $19billion in one year and he is now worth $131billion.


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Senior marketing executives in several countries agree that the use of social media for corporate, brand and product marketing is not a passing fad, according to research sponsored by TNS media intelligence/Cymfony. In fact, nearly 50% believe it is a vital component of corporate communications that should be monitored at the executive level and allocated significant resources.
Think you have a great product or service? Why not create a video to post on YouTube? A blog to communicate with customers about how great it is? Twitter a word-of-mouth campaign?


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Your favorite Apple, iPhone, iPad, iOS, Jailbreak, and Cydia site.
07-10-2014, 09:24 AM #1
Apple's CarPlay May See 24 Million Installs in 2019
Apple's CarPlay service, which effectively brings a comfortable extension of iOS to the automobile, may see a much more accelerated rate of adoption than previously anticipated.
On Thursday, MMi was privy to details from a new ABI Research report which attaches some numbers to the lofty but previously unspecific expectations we have been hearing about CarPlay adoption.
In response to the impressive list of automobile manufacturers now supporting CarPlay, ABI Research forecasts that in 2019 over 24 million new cars will be fitted with CarPlay.
"As well as CarPlay," the report summary reads, "ABI Research believes that the uptake of MirrorLink will also be fairly significant but predicts that more cars will be fitted with CarPlay. In addition to CarPlay, earlier this year Google also announced it would start an Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) and its standard will be known as 'Android Auto.'"
Ford, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar/Land Rover, Toyota, Nissan, and Volvo are already among those who have pledged to support CarPlay with many more expected to follow next year and beyond.
Source: ABI Research


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Motion club has revealed its dates for In:Motion running from September 30 to January 1 2017.
The line-up will see the likes of Adam Beyer, Joris Voorn, Bicep, DJ EZ, Dusky, Eats Everything (pictured), Kölsch, Joy Orbison, Paul Van Dyk, Rødhåd make appearances over the season.
The club also will team up with event brands Drumcode, Cream Ibiza, Bugged Out!, ANTS, Hot Creations, Just Jack and more.
This year Motion celebrates its tenth anniversary and will hold a day party with Hypercolour on November 6 with an exclusive performance from Laurent Garnier.
Bristol-boy Eats Everything said: “Motion is one of the best clubs in the world, known for bringing ravers together from all over the shop for the simple love of dancing to some of the best music around. It's moved up a notch in the last year or so and I for one can't wait to get back in there!"
General release tickets go on sale tomorrow at 11am. You can find out more about the line-up and tickets here.
Jaguar is Mixmag's Weekend Editor. You can follow her on Twitter here.


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Intelligent Systems has announced that the Fire Emblem Expo II event, which was originally scheduled for May 5th and May 6th of this year, has unfortunately been canceled.
The reason for the fan-focused convention’s closure is shared with no room for speculation: that it is to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic and their priority of consumer health and safety.
This update follows after many other real-world events across the globe, including those associated with the Fire Emblem Cipher trading card game in Japan, have taken similar countermeasures in light of the dangers, so news of cancellation or postponement has been speculated by fans for some time.
It is today that Intelligent Systems finally addresses those concerns, and is now offering refunds to those who ordered tickets to attend the two-day event. The Zepp Tokyo venue will ultimately not be open for anyone to attend, and the dates will pass as any other during this year of Fire Emblem‘s 30th anniversary.
Despite this news, all is not entirely lost. It was also shared that the various merchandise which would have been sold at the location, ranging from Elwind tome pouches to Keepsake Ring replicas, will become available for purchase on the official Fire Emblem Online Shop at a later date. For an overview of all the Expo II merchandise, you can check our write-up here.
Speaking of merchandise, one particular item inspired by the event has been available for a while and is still sold at vendors as we speak: the Fire Emblem Premium Arrange II album, a soundtrack CD of select music performances which would have been played live at Expo II’s concert. For anyone interested in importing this item for their enjoyment, we can recommend sites such as AmiAmi or CD Japan. Fun fact: One of its tracks is exclusive to the very CD!
Following the announcement of Cipher’s discontinuation earlier in the week, we understand that these can be trying times to be a Fire Emblem fan, especially on a year meant to be a landmark for the series’ 30th anniversary. Let’s hope that the rest of what this year may have in store will make up for them.


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一则关于"粟海集团(Suhai group, a meat supplier from Shanxi province)供KFC原料鸡45天速成"的消息吸引了高度关注。24日，供应商粟海集团在其官方网站上发表声明指出："我司使用的是中国肉鸡行业普遍使用的白羽鸡(white feathered chicken)，45天属于正常生长"，并强调该公司对鸡养殖过程"严格执行国家相关标准"。
肯德基(KFC)和麦当劳(McDonald's)两家快餐企业也在微博(Weibo, China's leading microblog)发布有关声明。麦当劳官方微博说"报道中说到的供应商不是我们现有鸡肉供应商。"而肯德基则解释说"粟海集团在肯德基鸡肉原料供应仅占鸡肉采购量的1%左右。"但是肯德基方面也讲到，会进行调查而加强检验。
Recent news that 'Suhai group (a large meat supplier from Shanxi province) supplied KFC with raw material from chicken that were instantly bred for 45 days' has drew wide public attention. On November 24, the supplier Suhai group published a statement on its official webpage: "Our business uses white chicken that is commonly used by the Chinese meat industry. 45 days is considered a normal time of growth." The company also emphasized that it "strictly follows that national standards" concerning chicken breeding.
The fast-food chains KFC and McDonald's also posted statements on Weibo. The official statement by McDonald's said "the supplier mentioned in the report is not our current meat supplier." KFC explained by saying: "Suhai group supplies only 1% of the raw meat for KFC." Nevertheless, KFC stated that it would investigate the matter and strengthen its inspections.
Original article published by 财经网
 原料 yuánliào - raw material
 速成 sùchéng - fast-growing
 供应商 gōngyìng shāng - supplier
 官方网站 guānfāng wǎngzhàn - official website
 肉鸡行业 ròu jī hángyè - meat industry
 养殖 yǎngzhí - breed
 快餐 kuàicān - fast-food
 声明 shēngmíng - announcement
 检验 jiǎnyàn - inspection


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Facebook Messenger will soon incorporate a payments feature that will allow app users to send money to each other for free. The feature will become available to Android, iOS and desktop users in the U.S. in the next few months.
To use the service, users have to link their Visa or MasterCard debit card to their Messenger account and then simply tap on the dollar sign in the chat box to send their friends money. Users can also add a PIN code or Touch ID for an extra layer of protection while making the money transfers. Facebook adds that it has no plans to monetize the service right now.
Facebook is putting a lot of emphasis on the security it built into this system and adds that it is avoiding credit cards to cut down on fraud and fees. "We use secure systems that encrypt the connection between you and Facebook as well as your card information when you ask us to store it for you."
Facebook had been hinting about the service for a while now. The internet giant had hired David Marcus, former president of PayPal as the new head of Messenger. Images of the new feature were leaked last year in October, which revealed a new person-to-person payment interface.
The feature will help Facebook keep up with other social apps that let friends exchange funds including messaging service SnapChat. Last November, Snapchat introduced a new feature called Snapcash that lets users 18 years or older to send money to anyone using the app free of charge. Mobile-payments company Square also have the ability to send money to others for free over email with a debit card.


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Reading Abbey may be closed for repairs but it is being celebrated with a new beer this month.
West Berkshire Brewery has made a special brew called Aucherius which honours the abbey right back to its earliest days in 868.
The beer is this month’s Brew of the Month for the brewery.
Owner David Maggs said: “We brew a special beer each month offering our regular customers some variety. Each year our brewers decide on a theme for the ales and for 2010 the names are of places and landmarks of historical interest.
“The abbey obviously played a significant role in the town’s development, so we decided to name our beer after the abbey’s second abbot Aucherius, who founded a hospital for lepers in 1134.”
Many abbeys had their own brewhouses and Aucherius’s red hue is intended to be like old ales which may have been brewed at the abbey.
Barrels of the beer are being rolled out to pubs throughout Berkshire. Beer of the Month for November will celebrate Donnington Castle.
Pubs selling the beer include The Nag’s Head in Russell Street, The Hobgoblin in Broad Street and The Retreat in St John’s Road.


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Hankook extending core competencies to drive future growth
Hankook’s global launch of Laufenn brand commercial vehicle tyres, targeting the segment’s second tier, represents a substantial development for the company’s commercial vehicle tyre business. For the UK market in which Hankook is a leader in terms of sales, the initial nine Laufenn patterns cover more than 85 per cent of tyres in the market for goods and people transportation, as well as construction truck tyres. Most sizes also offer the three peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) marking for use in winter conditions. The Laufenn range was due to be presented in the UK at the Commercial Vehicle Show, before the Birmingham NEC event was cancelled due to the pandemic. Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity of the launch to speak to Guy Heywood, Hankook’s European marketing and strategy director for its truck and bus business, and UK sales director Paul Emery about the addition of Laufenn to the manufacturer’s European commercial vehicle tyre portfolio, Hankook’s position as a leading player in the segment, and its response to the coronavirus crisis and the financial headwinds emanating from the pandemic.


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The Zoom software, the Spotify audio platform or even the manufacturer of electronic chips AMD can say thank you respectively to confinement, teleworking, the need for relaxation in times of stress and the shortage of semiconductors. Zoom, Spotify and AMD are among the brands that this year join this ranking of companies having experienced the strongest growth over the last twelve months.
The Kantar index takes into account the opinions of consumers and the financial performance of companies. The 2020 edition shows that the cumulative value of the 100 brands screened has increased by more than 40%, a historic performance. 2020 – 2021 were record years for the growth of brands that were able to react and take advantage of the new expectations generated by the pandemic. Zoom, Spotify and AMD integrate a ranking that is still dominated by Amazon and Apple, therefore, predominance of Americans. American hegemony is confirmed: 56 of the top 100 brands in the Kantar ranking are from across the Atlantic, ahead of China. Electric car maker Tesla is the brand that recorded the strongest year-on-year growth (+ 275%) alongside Chinese TikTok. The video sharing mobile app has doubled in value.
The first European is in 21st position, it is the luxury group Louis Vuitton. Five French brands appear in this ranking: Chanel is 40th, Hermès 43rd, L’Oréal 48th and the telecommunications operator Orange 91st. Total value of the growth achieved over one year by the hundred classified companies: a little more than 7,000 billion dollars (nearly 6,000 billion euros), the equivalent of the GDP (the wealth produced over the year) of France and Germany together.


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Germany. The land of poets and thinkers, schnauzers and bratwursts, aspirin, Adolf Hitler and… Claudia Schiffer. And now the land where some of the most highly anticipated Android devices of the early 2013 have been priced.
A new day, a new set of Huawei Ascend P2-related leaks. After seeing the upcoming beast wave to the public in a couple of unofficial photos less than 24 hours ago, it’s time for a second date with Mr. Blurrycam.
Huawei Ascend P2 to pack 8-core CPU and cost only $480?
Huawei has had a very strong CES showing last month, grabbing the headlines with both the Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate, but that doesn’t mean the company’s not holding some aces up its sleeve for February’s MWC as well.
Huawei Ascend P2 Mini reportedly confirmed for MWC 2013 announcement


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When is New York Fashion Week? 2023 New York Fashion Week will begin on Friday, February 10, and ends on Wednesday, February 15.
In partnership with IMG, the Council of Fashion Designers of America released the first official New York Fashion Week schedule from Feb. 10 to 15.
“NYFW’s strength is its city and how it continues to drive our talent. Steven Kolb, chief executive of the CDFA, stated that designers would continue to show in unique venues and areas throughout New York.
“September shows continued momentum for CFDA and brands’ important reach through NYFW,” Kolb said. Kolb stated that this season features a notable international roster, returning designers, first shows, and our CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists. It also reflects the most incredible diversity in NYFW history.
Fashion Week Dates
Do you want one of the most sought-after tickets to Fashion Weeks across the globe? This is your chance to see and experience something the public has only imagined. You are here because Fashion Week Dates are available for any market. NYFW will be held from February 10-15.
New York Fashion Week Dates
Everybody knows about New York Fashion Week. You are familiar with the name, even if fashion is not your thing. New York is the first city to kick off fashion month.
New York’s Fashion Week is well-known for featuring more ready-to-wear styles. Most of the pieces can be worn straight off the runway. Fashion week is in New York City so you will see many fashionable but mostly practical outfits on the streets.
- Jan 10 – 13, 2023 PITTI. UOMO 2023.
- Jan 17 – 22, 2023 PARIS. FASHION WEEK MEN’S.
- Jan 23 – 26, 2023 PARIS. HAUTE COUTURE.
- Feb 10 – 15, 2023 NEW YORK FASHION. WEEK FALL-WINTER 2023.
- Feb 17 – 21, 2023 LONDON FASHION.
- Feb 21 – 27, 2023 MILAN FASHION.
- Feb 27 – Mar 7, 2023 PARIS FASHION.
- Apr 11 – 13, 2023 NYFW.
London Fashion Week Dates
London is the second destination for fashion month. It’s more challenging to wear than the previous week.
It has a more experimental and grungy vibe than any other fashion week. It is the newest of the four fashion weeks. This is the vibe that Londoners get anyway. This week features many young designers and some of the more established ones.
- London Fashion Week will take place from 17th – 21st February, 10th – 12th June and 15th – 19th September 2023 showcasing both menswear and womenswear, as a hybrid digital and physical event.
Paris Fashion Week Dates
Paris is the city that I love. It is also a significant hitter during fashion month. Many people believe it is preserving the best for last. This is perfectly understandable. Paris Fashion Week is unlike any other week.
Paris is all about haute couture. The Paris shows are all about elegance and creativity. Major brands, whether luxury or not, will be noticed this week. This week, Paris is the epitome of class and artistic imagination.
- Tue, Jan 17, 2023 – Sun, Jan 22, 2023
Los Angeles Fashion Week Dates
Los Angeles Fashion Week is a two-month event in March and October. It combines Hollywood with the Fashion World.
Street Style, Vibe, and the Shows
Expect to be entertained and have a concert-based experience. You always need to find out who may be sitting next to you.
- March 24-26, 2023
Miami Swim Week Dates
Miami is known for its beautiful beaches, vibrant nightlife, and warm weather. It is a significant draw for resort and swimwear fashion designers from all over the globe every July. It is a great event to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and tropical flair.
The Shows, Street Style, and Vibe
Miami is all about resort wear and swimwear. Lifestyle experiences are becoming more common at this event. Yoga is offered in the morning, and there are many social events.
- July 13, 2023 – July 20, 2023
New York Fashion Week Information
- While Paris is the home of the modern fashion show and the world’s first organized seasonally, New York was the first to organize them. In 1943, the first New York fashion show, Fashion Press Week, was held.
- New York Fashion Week is the first of the Big Four fashion shows worldwide, followed by London Fashion Week, Milan, and Paris.
- New York was the LAST of the Big Four before Helmut Lang, a designer from Vienna, moved to New York in 1998 and decided to display his collection in September. This was before the major European shows. Lang was soon joined by Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and others. The last major fashion show was suddenly the first.
- New York Fashion Week attracts over 200,000 people yearly and generates more revenue than the U.S. Tennis Open or the New York City Marathon.
- NYFW preparations take three weeks because design and construction crews work 24/7.
- To attract more attention to their latest fashion lines, top fashion designers will often pay $100,000 to have a celebrity sit in the front row of NYFW.
The Skinny at New York Fashion Week
Fashion Week is now taking place in the city. Attendees need to keep their eyes open for clues about who will be showing where. For a complete list, see the link to this year’s schedule.
It’s impossible to get tickets to New York Fashion Week if you aren’t a media member or an insider in the fashion industry. However, with luck, you might still be able to get tickets to a public event.
Can’t you go? You can sit back and relax as the New York Fashion Week live streams take place at FashionWeekOnline.
New York Fashion Week Spring 2023
The New York Fashion Week lineup includes 109 designers, including Altuzarra, Brandon Maxwell, and Carolina Herrera. Christian Siriano, Gabriela Hearst. Jason Wu, Khaite. LaQuan Smith, Luar, Markarian, Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung. Sergio Hudson, Theophilio, Tory Burch, Victor Glemaud. Willy Chavarria. IMG Fashion Alliance was launched last year. It supports designers who commit to showing their collections in New York. Area and Tommy Hilfiger are back, and three international brands, Fendi and Marni, are making an appearance.
The CFDA stated that all events in person on the schedule would comply with New York State Health Guidelines. It also announced that it would release an updated Covid-19 Health & Safety Memo before New York Fashion Week.
Steven Kolb, CFDA’s CEO, stated that this year marks the 60th birthday of the organization. He also said he was proud to announce an NYFW lineup that reflects his founding principle, which is to promote American fashion globally. We celebrate the industry’s collective excellence, diversity, and resilience, and we look forward to American solid collections seasons with our distinguished international guests.”
Fashion Week FAQs
Which are the leading fashion weeks?
Paris Fashion Week is the most well-known Fashion Week in the world. It attracts buyers, media, top models, and celebrities who proudly present their latest collections.
Can a regular person go to fashion week?
Is NYFW open to everyone? Although many NYFW shows require invitations, there are still options for those who want to see models in person. You have many options to gain access to events.
Which is the essential fashion week?
It is one of the most influential fashion weeks around the globe. It will be next to Paris, Milan, London, and Milan. We’ll also discuss them in this post.
The majority of invitations are for fashion insiders. This includes editors, columnists, stylists, photographers, and casting directors.
I hope you enjoyed reading, you may also like: Dior Men Pre-Fall 2023, and Top Fashion Brands Name.
Images and videos included from "Creative Commons License", "www.instagram.com", "www.pexels.com".


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This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headliners include Nike (NYSE:NKE) and D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI), both of which are enjoying upgrades on the Street this morning. But would you care to Guess? (NYSE:GES) which company isn't?
You Guess?ed right
Let's get the bad news out of the way first, and start off with Guess? The L.A.-based apparel designer popped more than 5% after reporting an "earnings beat" yesterday, and is up another couple of percent this morning. And yet, the stock was downgraded this morning by analysts at Caris & Co. (to "average").
Why? Perhaps it's because while Guess? beat estimates yesterday, the profits it reported were still down 40% from last year's third quarter -- quite a drop considering that revenues were only down 2%. What's more, looking forward, Guess? warned investors that the fourth quarter could see it earn as much as a dime less than the $0.95 per share that Wall Street has been looking for, and the company's likely to miss on revenues as well. Needless to say, full-year estimates are coming down. At the midpoint, Guess? now predicts it will earn about $2.10 for the year, or $0.07 short of the consensus number.
So it's time to sell Guess?, right? Well, maybe not. At less than 11 times earnings, the stock really doesn't look all that expensive based on a long-term growth rate expected to approach 10%. Add in Guess?' regular 3.3% dividend yield -- and the extra $1.20 a share management now says it will pay shareholders on Dec. 28 -- and its shares look at worst fairly priced, and probably a bit cheap. My Guess? It's still cheap enough to buy.
On Wall Street's flip side today, we find homebuilder D.R. Horton getting a lift from Compass Point. The analyst removed its sell rating on the stock this morning, upgrading to "neutral," and set an $18 price target on the stock. Good news?
Well, it's better than a downgrade, certainly. But it's still not a reason to buy the stock. Consider: At seven times earnings, D.R. Horton already costs more than its 5% projected growth rate would seem to justify. And for investors who prefer to focus on forward P/E ratios... that one's even worse. Based on next year's estimates, the company's carrying a forward P/E of 14!
Topping it all off, Compass Point's $18 price target is more than a buck below where the stock trades today, suggesting that even after the upgrade, this stock has nowhere to go but down.
Off to the races, or off with the laces?
And finally, we turn to Nike, recipient of an upgrade and a full-fledged overweight rating from HSBC Securities this morning. Bullish news out of Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) and Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) earlier this month set CNBC's Jim Cramer to making bullish noises about Nike a few days ago, and now it seems the folks at HSBC agree.
This morning the British banker upped Nike to a $112 price target, suggesting a nice 12.5% profit awaits investors who buy the stock today. Don't believe it.
Generating subpar free cash flow, paying a miserly sub-1% dividend yield, and growing at a mere 8%, Nike is vastly overpriced at a P/E ratio of nearly 22. While it's a terrific brand and a terrific company, there's simply no chance that investors will make money by buying this stock at today's prices.
My response to HSBC's buy recommendation? Just don't do it.
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Nike and Under Armour. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Guess?, Nike, and Under Armour.


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- The South Australian honey industry is in crisis....Wednesday 12 February 2014
- Saturday 14 December 2013
- While not plentiful, the rainfall received across South Australia at the weekend was welcomed....Monday 13 May 2013
- The famous shiraz grapes have started coming off the vines in the Barossa valley, signalling the start of the wine harvest for this year....Thursday 31 January 2013
- The proponents of a South Australian greenhouse that uses salt water to grow vegetables say an expansion is planned for early next year....Tuesday 11 December 2012
Explore by Topic
Latest Fruit stories on ABC North and West SA
Latest Fruit stories on ABC Online
- He may only be 25, but Nathan Free has more than a decade's experience selling fruit and vegetables. ...
- A new state of the art greenhouse facility will be built at the University of Western Sydney, focusing on research and development, in the horticulture industry. ...Thursday 10 July 2014
- ...Wednesday 9 July 2014
Explore ABC North and West SA by Topic
Search ABC Local
- Biggest fencing job
- Jeff Bolan from South Australia's far north discusses the challenges of looking after the world's longest fence.
- Farmers and scientists say they're still not sure why this virus has had such a wide impact.
- Future of virus-affected canola still unknown
- National wild dog action plan launched


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SodaStream – Sparkling Summer
2017 was the year of the new SodaStream… no longer about the sugar filled drinks you remember from the 70s and 80s – instead your SodaStream can produce sparkling water, at the touch of a button. Keep your family hydrated, and cut out sugar filled drinks from the diet. The brief was to create a multifaceted programme of activity spanning consumer, corporate, social media and influencer relations – to deliver the health proposition to audiences.
Taking a ‘corpsumer’ approach, with a series of campaigns and activations that showed the consumer what SodaStream stood for:
CEO Interviews – A packed 48-hour schedule of interviews saw the straight-talking CEO fly to the UK to outline the SodaStream mission to national and broadcast business press. His transparency and willingness to discuss hard-hitting issues was key to securing in-depth coverage.
#50ShadesOfYellow – Put tap water back on the map in summer with our tongue-in-cheek report that played on that key hydration indicator: the colour of your urine.
Driving Sales – Tapped into influencers to co-create bespoke content across the year that inspired their audience, and pushed to the e-commerce site to generate hard revenue.
Over 350 coverage hits for the CEO media activity and #50ShadesOfSummer – including all nationals & broadcast (interviews on BBC News and Sky News ran for almost 7minutes). Influencer activity saw the biggest week for sales in last five years – directly tracked from Instagram! A strong foundation to further push the boundaries of what SodaStream stands for as we moved into 2018.
The Mobile World Congress series, which focuses on connectivity, mobile, and networks, has come to an end after another exciting year. This year witnessed many new innovations, led… Read More


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British American Tobacco recognised as global leader for engaging its supply chain on climate change
12 February 2020
British American Tobacco (BAT) has been identified as a global leader for engaging with its suppliers on climate change, being awarded a position on the Supplier Engagement Leaderboard compiled by global environmental impact non-profit organisation CDP.
BAT has been recognised for its actions and strategies to reduce emissions and manage climate risks in its supply chain in the past reporting year. Over 4,800 companies were assessed by CDP. They were given a Supplier Engagement Rating based on answers to questions about governance, targets, scope 3 emissions, value chain engagement of their response to the CDP 2019 climate change questionnaire and their overall CDP climate change score. BAT is among the top 3% of organisations assessed by CDP and one of almost 160 companies on this year’s Leaderboard.
Inclusion on the Leaderboard follows BAT achieving a place on CDP's prestigious ‘A List’ for climate change, last month.
Simon Cleverly, Group Head of Corporate Affairs at BAT, said: “Climate change is a global issue and multi-stakeholder collaboration to address its impacts and find innovative new solutions for a low carbon economy is essential. Partnering with suppliers and other stakeholders across our value chain is a key element of our mission to reach our science-based targets and I’m delighted that our work in this area has been recognised by inclusion on the CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard.”
In March 2019, BAT published its Scope 3 emissions, shortly followed by its first Science-Based Targets. The targets include reducing emissions of purchased goods and services by 16% by 2030 (vs 2017) and engaging with its ‘top 70% suppliers by spend’ on their commitment to carbon footprint reduction. Since then, BAT has presented its Climate Change Strategy to all tobacco suppliers and held internal workshops with Category Managers. The top 70% suppliers by spend have received BAT’s 2030 targets and taken part in supplier-BAT engagement sessions. BAT’s customised approach will speed up data sharing by suppliers and give BAT greater accuracy and fairness when reporting Scope 3 emissions and materials’ footprint evolution.
Dexter Galvin, Director of Corporates and Supply Chains at CDP said: “Congratulations to all the companies on the CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard for this year. They are showing leadership on engaging their suppliers to manage climate risk and cut emissions. Given that supply chain emissions are on average 5.5 times as high as a company’s operational emissions, this couldn’t be more crucial. If we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and decarbonise the economy, then other companies learning from these leaders and engaging their suppliers is going to be vital.”
The Supplier Engagement Leaderboard is released today and available on CDP’s website . It follows CDP’s most recent supply chain report, Changing the Chain , which showed the vast potential for driving climate action at scale in the supply chain. The report found that major companies working with CDP could potentially cut a gigaton of emissions by driving their suppliers to increase their average proportion of renewable power by 20%.
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s leading environmental disclosure platform. In 2019, over 8,400 companies disclosed environmental data through CDP. The data was requested by 125 major purchasing organisations with US$3.6 trillion in purchasing spend, and 525 investors with US$96 trillion in assets, making CDP the gold standard in corporate environmental reporting.
Notes to editors
The full list of 159 companies on the CDP Supplier Engagement Leaderboard is available on their website.
CDP is a global non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. The company has been voted number one climate research provider by investors and works with institutional investors with assets of US$96 trillion. CDP leverages investor and buyer power to motivate companies to disclose and manage their environmental impacts. Over 8,400 companies with over 50% of global market capitalisation disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2019. This is in addition to the over 920 cities, states and regions who disclosed, making CDP’s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Visit the CDP website to find out more.


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Iowa’s newer payday loan guidelines begin Saturday. What exactly is altering and just what it method for one
One out of 10 Ohioans has brought out an alleged “payday finance,” usually just where funds are pilfered against a post-dated consult.
But establishing Saturday, the regular payday loans will recede from Ohio, courtesy a law passed away just the past year intended to split down on sky-high rates of interest and tricky expenses.
It’ll be substituted for “short-term lending” with a lengthier finance compensation duration, a cap on focus and fees and limits how much could be pilfered. Modifications is thought saving Ohioans $75 million annually.
Premises payment 123 grabbed benefit in April, but companies have 180 days to change within the newer rules. Pay check as well as other tiny loan lenders said legislation would turn off their companies, but about 200 locations have actually registered to operate beneath new laws, like 15 in Cincinnati.
CheckSmart established saturday it could end providing funds but consistently present examine cashing alongside services including gather costs on outstanding financing.
Another huge Iowa pay check loan company, Cincinnati-based Axcess Investment, challenged whether or not it could continue the confirm ‘n run shops loose under the brand new procedures.
“huge authorities possibilities hardly ever advantages consumer or retail needs but we will see how markets replies to it,” Doug Clark, president of Axcess Investment, claimed in a statement. “We believe huge gaps maintain the state-regulated loans industry and much more assets pushed users may have the hardest occasion continue with HB 123 merchandise.”
Charges recruit Rep. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, explained the fresh constraints can make it tough for predatory creditors to take benefit from someone. Koehler mentioned a vehicle headings finance store in Springfield would be informing individuals these people needed seriously to pay up as a result of the new law or miss the company’s business. The grocery store presented Koehler’s amounts to disgruntled consumers.
I find that despicable, being genuine truthful, they would heal consumers this way,” Koehler stated. “back when we remedied regulations to secure individuals and additionally they would take care of all of them in that way.”
Learn a run-down of exactly what has changed.
Debts would be capped
One finance might end up being taken away from a loan provider at any given time. That is a significant difference within the aged type, just where consumers would use extra cash to pay back off of the very first money and sometimes end up in a cycle of personal debt.
The law limitations the balance obtained to $2,500 from 1 or multiple loan providers.
Consumers ought to sign a testimony they don’t have more than $2,500 in short term financial products, and creditors need to make a serious work evaluate.
Money may well be more reasonable and transparent
What the law states hats lending products at a 28per cent annual percentage rate and set brand new restrictions on costs.
For money less than 3 months, the payment per month (adding rates) cannot surpass 6 % regarding the customer’s gross month-to-month profit or 7 per cent of net month-to-month money. For debts more than 90 days but below one year, charge and interests cannot exceed sixty percent of first loan amount.
That implies, in the event you took out a $500 finance, you won’t spend much more than $300 in rates.
Each month charges are actually topped to 10 % of the initial amount borrowed or $30, whichever happens to be much less.
What the law states in addition closes an ambiguity financial institutions familiar with supply car subject money, the spot that the buyer’s vehicle registration is collateral for that financing.
Debtors changes their own mind and repay early on
There’s a three-day sophistication period where a customer can terminate the mortgage and come back this money without punishment.
If a loan is definitely paid back very early, the purchaser would get back a prorated volume prices and curiosity.
There’ll be less locations to get a brief finance
Iowa experienced over 650 pay check and smaller loan lenders prior to the new guidelines.
Simply 10 providers are trained provides lending products according to the latest law at 217 locations:
Another 10 corporations has requested for certificates through the Kansas Department of marketing.
Old pay day loan storefronts may continue to be available and gives solutions such as dollars orders, cash transmit, prepaid poster, expense paying business, tax prep and look cashing.
“Presently, one state-licensed loan provider has https://paydayloansexpert.com/payday-loans-ri/ to offer financing entirely compliance with all the General finance laws,” the organization said in an announcement. “CheckSmart search toward some other lenders taking items for this sector concept to supply users with choices to in shape their debt specifications.”
While there are a lot fewer brick-and-mortar sites promoting personal loans, on-line creditors can run within the regulation and a few have now been accredited. You’re Seattle-based achievable Finance, a mobile cellphone software. Conceivable fund tends to make finance being refunded in four payments over eight days. Funding happen to be sanctioned based on studies regarding the buyer’s bank-account transaction.
“ultimately, the prediction that each payday creditors would write the state of Kansas haven’t arrive at fruitionKoehler explained. In fact, we’ve folks coming over to Kansas.


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What Future Holds For Bitcoin: A Perfect Guide For You
Bitcoin modified the traditional high value a handful of hours at the start of 2021, checking the $40,000 mark. What allowed the first virtual currency to rise so rapidly? What patterns and activities in 2020 have we been seeing? In specific, what is the prospect of cryptocurrencies?
Successful Halving With Performance:
Bitcoin also increased by 20 percent in January 2020-the last period such a rise was reported in 2012. A profound correction accompanied this, and several expected an adverse existence for Bitcoin. Professionals were likely to say that when it gets financially unviable to mine, Bitcoins may reach rock ground in 2020, particularly given the halving, which would be to start happening in May.
Halving-is another halving of the volume of compensation for attaching a large structure to the network charged to mining. Satoshi Nakamoto programmatically halved the bitcoin protocol per 210 hundred blocks and then every four years before the blockchain problem was completed with the recovery of 1.5 million coins (presumably in 2140). Bitcoin stalwartly survived quadrupling and did not collapse to mining’s underinvestment but started to recover the currency value on the opposite and has just been more costly ever since. What has helped it to improve?
New Consumers And Funds For Projects:
Initially, the coronavirus epidemic adversely fled the blockchain business, but then, on the other side, prompted the explosion of new consumers. Among those persons who are cut off, sacked, and was sent to recover within their own cost now of the outbreak, immigrants flooded in. The number of passengers online has soared. The epidemic has restored cryptocurrencies to the interest of global investors, which diminished slightly in 2019. Three Private equity evidence of high quickly traded in Bitcoin, and one followed their acts by commenting that Bitcoin would be a more valuable and stable currency currently than the yen. If you are in any way interested in terminology then visit the site d-addicts.com to learn more.
Wealth investment firm Rasterized has spent as much as 80 percent in BTC during 2020, higher than it is in the earlier generation. Grayscale’s cryptocurrency confidence announced in September that it would have in its funds a minimum of 450,000 BTC. This constitutes nearly 2.5 percent of all coins distributed by the system. For around 250 million dollars, MicroStrategy bought BTC. To improve the appreciation of holders’ savings also in long run, the current overall business approach includes the conversion of funds to Bitcoin. Bitcoin, which is nearly $50 million, has donated 1 percent of its overall funding to the group of entrepreneurs Square. The firm has issued an important announcement that in the face of the event of a recession and weakening of the ruling party currencies, the blockchain is evolving.
Hedging Vulnerability And An Inverse Association With The Currency Of The United States:
As a consequence, Bitcoin was analyzed as a risk management mechanism in the volatility which was exhibited by the capital sector at the period: the blockchain was acquired to expand the portfolio because, after the delivery of tons in monetary stimulus, such an unshakable commodity as the dollar started to lose quality. A range of leading experts has started finding out a direct link amongst Bitcoin to gold or an opposite connection with the US dollar during June 2020.
In practice, several traders have noted why the Fed’s news of quantitative tightening and fresh fiscal initiatives have contributed to a spike in the BTC/USD pair, or conversely. Which has encouraged the awareness and exchange in cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the proliferation of new customers has rendered the exchange tool more robust.
Fears And Aspirations:
Around the same period, the leading policymakers in the nation are also not willing to endorse cryptocurrencies publicly. The UK Financial Times (FCA) thus advises that a large degree of danger is involved with cryptocurrencies investments, and notes whether traders should be forced to accept all their capital if they are invested in bitcoins.
The TON project by Mikhail Durov was unable to receive clearance from the US Stock Exchange. GRAM tickets were accepted by the SEC as shares and ordered the termination of the company. Durov declined to operate on them and vowed to refund to holders a portion of the money. No funding from the US risk analyst was also obtained from another big virtual currency project, Google’s Libra. However, in the relationship between the cryptocurrency community and the system in 2020, there have still been bright sides. A new app has been introduced by a Payment processing service that enables consumers to acquire, retain and sell cryptocurrencies.
As a consequence, their e-wallets have acquired access to cryptocurrencies from more than 26 million citizens. Most notably, the Department Of Public Retail Banking has issued PayPal with conditional licenses. The value of cryptocurrency exchanges on the PayPal website accumulated to 242 million dollars in October 2021. So far, this program is only open to US residents, but the management is hoping to extend that to the whole world eventually. Meanwhile, together with all the ForexMart trader, which provides a very comfortable climate for trade Discounts or other common currencies, we encourage you to dive into the cryptocurrency world.


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- Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building - http://inhabitat.com -
Japanese Workers Told to Dress Casually to Save Energy
Posted By Timon Singh On June 2, 2011 @ 4:00 pm In Accessories and Fashion,Design,Environment,Renewable Energy | No Comments
The recent Japanese earthquake  and the resulting tsunami devastated the country, particularly its energy infrastructure. With nuclear power no longer energizing Japan, due to the Fukushima disaster , the government is doing everything they can to save energy – including encourage people to dress casually for work. This week, Tokyo saw the launch of Super Cool Biz , a concept designed to promote energy-friendly clothes. The start of initiative began with a fashion show in Tokyo to showcase eco-friendly fashion .
By allowing women to wear open-toe sandals and by encouraging men to ditch their ties, the government hope to reduce the amount of energy that is used to power air -conditioning systems.
“As we are lacking electricity, the Japanese government is asking for a 15% reduction in electricity consumption,” environment minister Ryu Matsumoto said. “This is not just about surviving this summer, but this is a big turning point for changing the way Japanese people live.”
The casual clothing trend is expected to last till the end of October and will see employees all around the country ditch the traditional suit for t-shirts, jeans and sandals.
The idea was actually conceived in 2005 when Japan’s Ministry of the Environment began encouraging businesses to help conserve energy by setting air conditioners to 28ºC throughout the summer months. The Cool Biz campaign was designed to ensure that office workers could work in comfort in the face of higher indoor temperatures.
While it means the country is saving power, it also means that “Dress-Down Friday” is no longer as exciting as it used to be.
+ UNIQLO
via Sky News
Images busyPrinting
Article printed from Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/japanese-workers-told-to-dress-casually-to-save-energy/
URLs in this post:
 Japanese earthquake: http://inhabitat.com/japanese-workers-take-just-6-days-to-fix-earthquake-shattered- road/
 Fukushima disaster: http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=+Fukushima
 Super Cool Biz: http://www.uniqlo.com/
 eco-friendly fashion: http://www.ecouterre.com
 Sky News: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Japan-Nuclear-Crisis-Government-Launches-Super-Cool-Biz-To-Save-Energy-After-March-Disaster/Article/201106116004056?lpos=World_News_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_16004056_Japan_Nuclear_Crisis:_Government_Launches_Super_Cool_Biz_To_Save_Energy_After_March_Disaster
 busyPrinting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/busyprinting/
Copyright © 2011 Inhabitat Local - New York. All rights reserved.


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Unilever, one of the world’s heftiest advertising spenders, has warned to pull out digital ads in technology firms that fail to quell the spread of divisive and hate-mongering content.
In a Monday address at the annual Interactive Advertising Bureau conference in California, Unilever chief marketing officer Keith Weed described online platforms — sans any particularity — as often behaving a “little better than a swamp” when it comes to transparency.
Unilever is known for its top global brands like Dove, Axe, Magnum, Knorr, and Lipton.
Weed reiterated that the company cannot afford to be exposed in an environment where their consumers don’t feel it’s safe to trust the information they are being bombarded with. He noted that about a third of the firm’s ads are delivered through digital platforms.
This was not the first time Weed expressed his lament over digital media. Last year, he emphasized the need to improve digital advertising, which can be done if only advertisers can peep behind the “walled gardens” of Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter to understand its dynamics.
Social media ads issues
Weed’s recent remark comes at a time when the role of tech giants like Google and Facebook is being questioned. Lawmakers, academicians, and other industry players have since been challenging the firms to step up regulation in better filtering misinformation and vulgar content. The broader public discussion was sparked by Russia’s alleged abuse of Facebook to influence the American perspective during the 2016 electoral campaign.
Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser revealed that Facebook and Google dominate the sale of digital ads in several countries. The duopoly makes up about three-quarters of all digital advertising in the US, which increased from 63 percent of Q2 2015.
Still, a boycott against these digital ad platforms proved possible. Last year, YouTube saw over 250 of its clients withdraw from its services after finding out that their ads were posted next to videos advocating extremist ideas or hate speech.
These brands, which included behemoths like L’Oreal, McDonald’s, Audi, and HSBC, only returned when Google offered assurances that their video ads will not be misplaced beside terrorist videos. The video platform lost millions of dollars in the whole debacle.
Giants slash digital ad funds
Last year, Unilever reported having poured out around $9.4 billion on its marketing campaign, a third of which was spent on digital ads. The firm has been aggressive in penetrating digital media as its spending for online content over the last five years has increased more than two folds.
In the latter part of 2017, Unilever announced cutting costs by halving its agencies worldwide and reduce its ads by 30 percent to simplify marketing efforts.
The same cuts were done by another high-spending firm, Procter & Gamble (P&G), which annually spends about $7.1 billion on advertising. Last year, the packaged-goods giant slashed its digital ad budget by $100 million to $140 million on the back of brand safety concerns and inefficiencies.
P&G Chief Marketing Officer Marc Pritchard slammed the digital media supply chain as being “murky at best” and “fraudulent at worst” in terms of transparency and its standards on viewability. He stated that only about 25 percent of online ad spending reaches the targeted consumer.
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CustomRetailer June 2011 issue
High-end video projection manufacturer SIM2 hosted its top dealers last month at the company's Research and Technology Center in Pordenone, Italy. A select few press were invited, and I was fortunate enough to have been included.
CustomRetailer recognizes some of those manufacturers who are officially involved in the summer’s most exciting consumer electronics and custom install event: CE Week in NYC! By CR Staff
Irecently became a board member of the CEA TechHome Division. My first meeting was last month in Washington D.C. This trip turned out to be a great experience and one that I learned a lot from, so I thought I would recap some of the highlights in this month’s column. During my time in D.C., I attended CES Capitol Hill, our division’s board meeting, the Digital Patriots Dinner and I also met several members of Congress, including my own Congressman from Charleston, Tim Scott, during the CEA Lobby Day. T
CR: What do you see is the biggest mistake electronic systems contractors are making now as it pertains to 3D?
Most service issues in A/V systems are directly related to networks or service providers. Recently networks have become increasingly complicated as end users continue to add new products into their systems, resulting in an overwhelming growth in service calls.
In a recent issue, we focused on the HomeConnecTeam (HCT), a consortium of about 80 independent dealers organized by former CEDIA President Rob Gerhardt in response to the entry of ADT, Verizon, Comcast, and others into our world of home integration.


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According to surveys conducted by Phoenix Solutions Group (PSG), close to 80 percent of body shop customers choose a collision repair facility that they feel has their best interests at heart.
Nick Schoolcraft, president of the Illinois-based company, said shop owners and employees need to stop worrying about what their insurance partners and competitors are doing and how they are marketing. Instead, he stressed the importance of understanding how to best interact with customers and connect with them emotionally.
“A collision is an extremely emotional event. We really need to focus on building a strong relationship with customers as soon as they walk in the door,” said Nick during a presentation he gave this past November at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, NV, as part of the SCRS Repairer Driven Education Series. He told conference attendees that taking the time to build this type of relationship will help shops gain repeat customers, referrals, increase sales and ultimately, run a more successful business.
Nick’s father, Steve, founded PSG in 1988 following a car accident.
“The experience was so horrible, he set out to change the industry,” said Nick.
Since then, the company has concentrated 100 percent of its efforts on developing marketing strategies for repair facilities. Part of that focus includes surveying collision clients, which gives the company tremendous insight on current industry trends and ensures shops have a multi-dimensional understanding of the voice of the customer.
Based on PSG’s research, the company found that most shops focus on quality.
“Quality isn’t a differentiator or motivator---it’s an expectation,” said Nick. “Truly understanding your customers is the only way to build loyalty.”
During his SEMA presentation, “The Time Has Arrived for Change,” Nick discussed the new consumer mindset.
“Customers are expecting different types of experiences than they used to,” he said. “They are no longer delineating between a retail store and a body shop.”
Instead, they are expecting the same type of experience they receive from forward-thinking companies, regardless of the industry.
“Eighty-seven percent of consumers measure all brands against Apple, Amazon and Netflix, so having a deeper understanding of the voice of the customer is critical for businesses operating today,” explained Nick.
PSG surveys specifically focus on gathering this type of information for the collision repair industry.
“Gone are the days where quality and efficiency led the charge for how people chose a body shop,” he said. “Those reasons are actually 1 percent of the total decision that we see in our data.”
Nick said customers are now choosing where to take their vehicles based on past experiences, reputation, honesty and additional factors that lead to a really great customer experience.
“What’s even more interesting is that in the past 10 years, we’ve seen a 750 percent increase in the number of decision factors that people go through when deciding on a body shop,” said Nick. “More people want the opportunity to make a decision on their own. They don’t want to be told what to do or where to bring their cars.”
He pointed out that this movement toward consumer choice is becoming apparent with insurance companies too, which has been demonstrated by the recent closing of estimating facilities and the implementation of mobile estimating applications.
With an extensive background in marketing, Nick joined Accenture six years ago as a subject matter expert focusing predominantly on customer and employee experience strategies for Fortune 100 brands.
“The best type of marketing today is word-of-mouth---interactions with human beings,” he explained. “The ability to connect with a human being is the best way to sell anything. You typically want to buy from those you care about.”
Typically, after individuals have been in an accident, they go through a series of processes such as calling the insurance company, the police and the rental car company. When it comes to making a final decision on which shop they ultimately go to, they reach out to those they are closest to, such as friends and family, as well as do online research.
“By understanding what your customers want, how they are feeling and what they are looking for, you have the opportunity to differentiate yourself through empathy,” said Nick. “This ensures a shop has a leg up when selling its services.”
He also recommended offering customers an experience that is unmatched.
“The problem is that a lot of body shops believe it’s all about getting the vehicle in and out,” said Nick.
PSG surveys have consistently shown that customers expect that the car will look the same as it did before the accident.
“The differentiator is the shop’s ability to connect one-on-one with the customer,” Nick said.
By taking the time to really understand customers and learn exactly what they want, Nick said shops can drive a better marketing strategy and enhance customer interactions. Being courteous, shaking hands, looking a customer in the eye and keeping customers informed about the repair process all contribute to connecting with them emotionally. Nick said that a mutually beneficial relationship with customers in which they feel part of the repair process has been shown to drive best-in-class experiences.


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Article content continued
Thursday’s application to the court, provided by HBC, called the lockdown restrictions “unreasonable,” “irrational” and “arbitrary.”
HBC took aim at the restrictions that allow certain big-box retailers to remain open for in-store shopping, provided they sell groceries.
“Lockdown regulations have created an absurd result that bears no relationship to the statutory purpose and is causing great harm to retailers deemed ‘non-essential,’” the court filing said. “Costco is open as a big box retailer selling groceries, but continues to sell apparel, toys, home décor products, and small appliances … Wal-Mart, too, is permitted to be open under this exemption, but it devotes significant portions of its floor space to apparel, toys, bath and linen products, cosmetics, and seasonal items.”
The court challenge comes a little more than a week after HBC and 46 other retailers sent a letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott, urging them to relax restrictions to allow non-essential stores to reopen at 25-per-cent capacity.
“The problem is that Ontario’s policy of segregating ‘non-essential’ retailers from those deemed essential might actually be making things worse,” the Dec. 1 letter said. “Shutting down Toronto and Peel hasn’t reduced the number of shoppers.”


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It's meat wars! Aldi announces 16oz steak to rival Morrisons monster burger
CAN you dad handle these big daddies?
Aldi and Morrisons seem to think they know what’s on the menu this Father’s Day - huge slabs of red meat.
Earlier this week Morrison’s launched its over-sized burger.
And now Morrisons has joined the fray with a 16oz steak.
Morrisons has branches in Portsmouth, Gosport and Horndean.
There are Aldi stores in Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport and Havant.


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Companies are tracking your every move, hackers are stealing your personal information, and online advertisers know what you had for lunch. Time for the government to step in, right?
Wrong, says Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, Toomey questioned the need for sweeping national legislation to protect online privacy and prevent data breaches, at least immediately.
"I'm not sure we've considered the unintended consequences that would come from this legislation," he said.
And Toomey's reservations were backed up by Thomas Lenard, president of the Technology Policy Institute, who testified that there is not enough information to determine what kind of legislation is needed.
"Without substantially better data and analysis, there is no way of knowing with any confidence whether proposals currently under consideration will improve consumer welfare," Lenard told the committee.
For more on Wednesday's hearing and the debate over privacy legislation in Congress, visit our Tech page.
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Despite the news earlier today that Ubisoft is bringing former Wii U exclusive Rayman Legends to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the company says that they will continue to support the Wii U. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told IGN that they have a number of very high quality games coming to Wii U, all of which will take full advantage of the console and its unique controller.
“We have a pipeline of games of very high quality coming on that machine, like Rayman Legends, which makes fantastic use of what the machine can do. [Nintendo] will make the necessary changes to the machine to make sure that it continues to grow fast on the market.”
“On the very big games you will see less platform exclusives happen in the future generation because of the potential, the possibilities of next-generation PCs and the next-generation of consoles will bring. That’s for the big games. For the smaller games, like you have on Xbox Live Arcade or PSN, you will probably still see some exclusive games.”


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The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during June 2017, according to data from STR.
In a year-over-year comparison with June 2016, the industry reported the following:
- Occupancy: +0.7% to 73.4%
- Average daily rate (ADR): +2.1% to US$129.12
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +2.8% to US$94.73
“The industry sold more roomnights than any other June on record and achieved a record occupancy level for the month,” said Jan Freitag, STR’s senior VP for lodging insights.
“Once again we were a bit surprised by the strength in room demand. Transient occupancy (bookings of less than 10 rooms) increased 1.4%, while Group occupancy (bookings of 10 or more rooms) was actually down 2.1%. So the current demand environment is driven by individual travelers, be they domestic or foreign summer travelers. As long as unemployment numbers remain low, and modest but healthy economic growth remains the norm, the hotel industry will continue to benefit.”
RevPAR has now grown year over year for 88 consecutive months in the U.S.
Two Top 25 Markets posted double-digit growth in RevPAR for the month: Orlando, Florida (+11.5% to US$91.39), and Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (+10.7% to US$92.67).
Seattle, Washington, posted the largest growth in ADR (+7.8% to US$192.22).
Norfolk/Virginia Beach reported the largest increase in occupancy (+6.9% to 77.1%).
San Francisco/San Mateo, California, experienced the largest RevPAR decrease (-12.6% to US$197.97), due primarily to the steepest decline in ADR (-9.6% to US$225.58).
Houston, Texas, reported the largest drop in occupancy (-6.2% to 61.4%) and the only other double-digit decrease in RevPAR (-10.8% to US$60.22).
STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com.
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.


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Harvard Business Review: Big Business Increasingly Supports Gay Rights
October 2, 2012 by HRC staff
Post submitted by Nicholas Peterson, HRC Diversity Intern
Susan McPherson, senior vice president at Fenton, and Laura Clise, director of Sustainable Development and Continuous Improvement for AREVA Inc., recently wrote the article, “Big Business Increasingly Supports Gay Rights”, on Harvard Business Review’s blog. The article discusses the momentous trend for large businesses such as Apple, Google and Nike to establish an internal company position on gay marriage and LGBT rights.
Companies realize that they must create an inclusive and diverse environment in order to attract and retain the best talent. Like any other demographic, LGBT consumers invest in companies that they believe are advancing their interests.
Businesses’ public support does not come without risk, however, as backlash from anti-equality entities challenges the economic and business benefits that come with supporting LGBT equality. However, companies have decided to stand by their commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equality. To find out more about how companies have expanded their inclusion practices and addressed such backlash, please click here to read the full article.
March 24, 2015
March 31, 2015


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BEIJING—A Chinese state-owned company is aiming to stoke the country's cultural sector with a tried-and-tested industrial model that has worked in the past for China's manufacturing industries: Create a tax-free zone for companies in the arts-and-entertainment world.
Located adjacent to Beijing Capital Airport, the planned Beijing Freeport of Culture is the brainchild of Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group, a conglomerate owned by the Beijing municipal government. The Freeport, expected to partially open next year, promises warehouses for art storage, offices for companies involved in everything from luxury goods to software design, and production facilities for film and television.
All services and goods exchanged at the Freeport, which is expected to cost Gehua 5 billion yuan (US$802.1 million) to build, will be free of government taxes. Last year, Gehua signed up English auction house Sotheby's BID -2.46 % as a partner to run an art-auction business out of the Freeport.
Gehua, involved in several different media businesses, is already a household name for citizens in the Chinese capital. Most associate the company with Gehua CATV, the city's main cable and home Internet provider. The cable company was spun off in 2001 and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of 7.2 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).
The parent company remains closely attached to China's cultural ministry and was involved in everything from the production of large-scale events—it was instrumental in staging the Beijing 2008 Olympics and continues to operate festivals like Beijing Design Week—to animation and television production. It also runs an outdoor advertising business and a hotel.
For the Freeport project, Gehua is borrowing a page directly from the country's industrial playbook of the 1990s, when the government designated certain zones in the coastal regions for economic development, a policy that has transformed China into a manufacturing powerhouse.
China's top levels of government have tried to generate global interest in Chinese culture in recent years. "The government and our group had the idea to export culture to the world," said Wang Yudong, general manager of Gehua at the company's headquarters in Beijing. "Already, there's a government policy for free-trade areas. We're just applying it to culture."
Gehua's ambitions mirror the tremendous growth in China's cultural industries. The Chinese art market has blossomed to become the world's largest, with auction sales of $18.1 billion (including commissions) in 2011. Moreover, the country last year became the world's second-largest film market, with box-office sales of $2.7 billion.
Gehua not only thinks it can create a cluster akin to Hollywood, Silicon Valley and New York's arty Chelsea District, all wrapped into one, but it plans to attract 50 companies—half of them foreign—doing 50 billion yuan worth of business at the Freeport by 2016.
But some are skeptical. Ji Tao, a researcher with the Auction Research Institute of Central University of Finance and Economy in Beijing, said it is foolish to think creative industries would sprout the same way low-cost manufacturing did in China's special economic zone.
"This is a new concept made up out of nothing," said Mr. Ji. "A Freeport is for industrial products, which need to be processed with raw material inputs. But culture isn't like this."
Mr. Ji interprets the Freeport as essentially a large warehouse that "treats cultural products simply as goods. It should not be like this," he said.
So far, most attention has been given to Gehua's plans for art storage and trading. Gehua joined with Sotheby's, giving Sotheby's an 80% stake in their jointly-held auction company. The Sotheby's China venture represents the first time a foreign auction house has been allowed to own and run its own operation in China.
Gehua approached Sotheby's about the business in 2010. The auction house had a symbolic first sale—an auction of just one work—in September but plans more sales in 2013.
Gehua is also in negotiations to have the help of Euroasia Investment SA, the operators of the Singapore Freeport, in constructing and managing a 893,000-square-foot art warehouse facility, which Eurasia says will cost $100 million to build.
The facility is modeled on Euroasia's existing Singapore Freeport facility, which is a high-security storage facility for art storage and tax-free trading of high-value collectibles. Gehua officials were impressed upon visiting Singapore Freeport in 2009 and invited Euroasia, which also operates a similar tax-free art facility in Geneva, to form a joint venture.
While a contract has yet to be signed, both said they are confident they will be able to complete a deal soon and have a facility running by 2014.
"At first, it seemed quite odd to build a Freeport in China. We didn't see who would use it," said Tony Reynard, chairman of Euroasia. "After exploration, we saw more opportunities."
Mr. Reynard's company is banking on demand from Chinese collectors who wish to avoid the hefty duties and levies on importing valuable art. Imported works of art are subject to a 34% tax of the purchased value.
Many wealthy Chinese collectors who have bought art in Hong Kong or abroad have smuggled their works or played down the value of the works to customs to lessen the tax blow, but the Chinese government has begun to crack down on the evasion. In May, it arrested the German manager of an art shipping company on allegations of tax fraud. Authorities also demanded receipts from auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's as part of the investigation. The auction houses weren't implicated and the German manager's case is still pending.
Kevin Ching, chief executive officer of Sotheby's Asia, said "the current Chinese tax regime for the importation and sale of art is onerous and complex," noting that the Freeport could be a convenient way for trading art.
While economic zones have long been established in cities like Shenzhen in southern China and the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to foster manufacturing, they've yet been applied to more nuanced businesses like art and design. But Gehua's Mr. Wang is confident it can work.
"We are doing the same [as in other economic zones]," he said. "We're just offering basic services, putting together a platform for companies to work here," he said.
contributed to this article.
Write to Jason Chow at Jason.Chow@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Kevin Ching is the chief executive officer of Sotheby's in Asia. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said he was president. Also, Sotheby's first sale in China was in September. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the first sale was in October.


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Where will cryptocurrency go in the months and years ahead? 2019 has been a major year fro cryptos like bitcoin that have mounted an almost full recovery to previous highs in late 2017.
But long term what is the future outlook for the crypto market as a whole? And will bitcoin still prevail as the major market leader or will a new decentralized cryptocurrency come into the mainstream first?
All good questions and things that we look at on MoneyNet.
Follow us for the latest news and updates on upcoming global currencies.


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Apple could face an investigation by US competition authorities into whether the latest version of the software for the firm's iPhone unfairly locks out competitors.
A decision is expected within a week on whether to open an investigation to be led by either the US Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission, according to the Financial Times.
If the investigation goes ahead, it will concentrate on whether Apple is unfairly forcing developers to use Apple's own tools to develop apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, last week detailed the reasons why Apple's mobile devices do not support the widely-used Flash video streaming technology from software firm Adobe.
The software is unreliable, not secure and proprietary, he said in an open letter posted on Apple's website.
Jobs said the decision was based on technology issues and was not an attempt to protect Apple's App Store, as alleged by Adobe.
Apple believes that "all standards pertaining to the web should be open" and supports open standards such as HTML5, he said.
Jobs said it was not true that Apple mobile devices cannot access "the full web" because 75% of video on the web is in Flash, as almost all of that video is also available in H.264 format, which is viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads.


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Torrance, Calif.-based Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. (TMS) Inc. soon will become the largest single worldwide user of 100% renewable power. The company announced that all of the electricity used at its U.S. headquarters site, along with facilities in Long Beach, Irvine, and Ontario, Calif., will now come from power provided by Edison Source, a member of the Edison Enterprises family.
Designed as a cleaner alternative to conventional power, Edison Source's EarthSource electricity is derived from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro-electric, biomass, and geothermal. It creates less air pollution than fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or gas.
TMS is the U.S. sales and marketing arm of Toyota Motor Corp.
"As the fourth-largest auto company in the U.S., Toyota has a responsibility to the environment," said Yoshi Ishizaka, TMS president and CEO. "We must reevaluate every part of our operations from recycling waste paper to purchasing renewable-resource electricity."


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TEXT OF STORY
STEVE CHIOTAKIS: In a couple of days, Rupert Murdoch and Apple execs will unveil The Daily — a new multimedia publication being built exclusively for the iPad. Just don’t call it a newspaper.
From Silicon Valley, Marketplace’s Steve Henn reports.
STEVE HENN: Like everything Apple touches, The Daily is being built in secret. But Damon Kiesow a digital media fellow the Poynter Institute went digging through computer code on The Daily’s website and found mock-ups of its front page.
DAMON KIESOW: With some fun headlines — “Oprah’s Biggest Gamble” and “A Bridge Too Farve.”
So the Daily’s vibe sounds kinda like a national version of the New York Post. The publishing industry is just as eager to get a peak at The Daily’s business model.
KIESOW: The Daily won’t be running Apple’s iAds — which are Apple’s internal advertising service for their mobile devices.
Instead, News Corps will sell its own advertising. And if The Daily knows its subscribers, it could target ads to each person, based on the time of day — even location. But if Apple keeps all that information to itself, individually focused advertising will be impossible.
And The Daily might end up looking a lot more like an old fashion newspaper than Rupert Murdoch would like.
In Silicon Valley I’m Steve Henn for Marketplace.
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The Japanese owner of clothing chain Uniqlo today said overseas growth will help it increase profits by 34% in the coming year.
Fast Retailing, the Japanese giant that also owns labels Theory and Helmut Lang, reported profit down 29% to 74.5 billion yen (£428 million) in the year to the end of August with sales up 21% to 1.38 trillion yen.
But it forecast the current financial year will be strong as sales grow overseas and it expects profit of 100 billion yen and sales up 16% to 1.6 trillion yen.
Currently more than half of its revenue comes from Japan.
Chief Executive Tadashi Yanai, Japan’s richest man, has a sales goal of 5 trillion yen by 2020 with an operating profit of 1 trillion yen and plans to roughly double sales to 2.5 trillion yen in three years.
He said his medium-term vision is for the group to become the “world’s number one apparel manufacturer and retailer” to rival H&M and Zara owner Inditex. He plans to achieve this by “globalization, strengthening our overall group management, and reigniting our entrepreneurial spirit.”
He is focused on rolling out Uniqlo worldwide.Reuse content