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Finally, AWS made changes in the AWS identity APIs to recognize Kubernetes pods, so each K8S Pod can have specific IAM Role to acquire proper permission to access AWS cloud resource (This feature called IRSA). For the AWS Hosted K8S (A.K.A. EKS), official provided detail document and blog post to demonstrate how to achieve it, but there is still not many online resource to talk about how to enable it for Self-Hosted K8S in AWS, hence, I write this post to go through how to enable IRSA in Self-Hosted K8S.
In this article, we will introduce LibraSwap, an experimental project to bridge Libra with Ethereum. It aims to implement a minimum viable prototype to fulfill token swap between Libra and Ethereum. There are two reasons why we choose this fun project. On the one hand, we want to learn more on how Libra works. On the other hand, we are familiar with Ethereum blockchain. However, due to the limitation of Libra testnet, we can not deploy and interact with Libra smart contract. We implement a unilateral Libra swap instead of the standard atomic swap.
本文我們將介紹 LibraSwap，這是個實驗性質的專案，旨在實作 MVP 來實現 Libra 與 ETH 之間的 Swap 互換。挑選這個專案的原因，一方面是為了學習 Libra 區塊鏈，另一方面是我們對於以太坊區塊鏈較為熟悉，但是考量目前 Libra 測試鏈上僅能收送交易，尚無法部署合約交易功能，所以這個專案我們將會實作單方向的 Swap 互換。
On June 18, Facebook unveiled its blockchain project, called Libra. The goal of Libra is to build a new financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people to access financial service efficiently and cheaply. According to the white paper, Libra is expected to launch in 2020. However, the emergence of Libra makes the US Congress ask Facebook to pause its development because the new global currency it brings would harm existing financial system. Libra published the white paper, open sourced the projects, and release the Testnet. Thus, developers can play around with the Libra and contribute to Libra Core. Currently, the Libra project is under ongoing development and the discussion forum is active too.
今年六月，臉書宣布其區塊鏈計畫 — Libra，旨在打造一個普惠金融 (Inclusive Financing) 的支付系統。按臉書原先的計畫，預計會在 2020 正式上線，雖然美國國會要求臉書暫緩 Libra 專案，除此之外，臉書也發佈了 Libra 白皮書，並且開源 Libra 原始碼以及測試鏈，讓開發者可以先嘗鮮。截至目前，Libra 的開源項目仍在持續開發，程式碼不停在更新，討論區也是相當活躍。
AMIS/MaiCoin/ MAX 執行長劉世偉


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Of course, Google has concerns about its consumers’ safety and privacy. To give the best facilities, the company keeps on updating its policies and systems. But do you know that there are at least 55% of apps in the Google Play Store that is constantly looking at your data and sharing it with third-party servers?
That’s not an assumption or speculation, but a fact. The report is coming from the table of Incogni cooperation. Consequently, the researchers have made a giant leap in the Google Play Store and found that approx 55.2 percent of apps are sharing users’ data in an irrelevant manner.
Surprisingly, those apps that do not charge a fee share seven times more of the data in comparison to their paid parts. The same is with the popularity mode. Those apps that are more famous among users transmit more data than unpopular applications.
To make a good search on which apps are employed in this sharing field, Incogni has gone into the depths of the Google Play data safety section. The company published these details in July this year regarding the security practices of app developers.
These apps affect your data!
Consequently, apps falling in the category of shopping, business, food, and drinks services collect and share most of the user’s data. However, a large amount of data goes into the social media and business applications section.
Although, Google specifically mentions that the definition of sharing is quite different in the technical field. Also, this definition does not include the transfer of data to a service provider. This means, till the time you will become aware of your information, it will end up transferring to another system.
Some apps follow safety regulations and do not transmit encrypted info. Yet, again the point is the same as how to identify which app is taking more of the information. The US tech giant hasn’t made any word till now on this matter. But, it’s important to understand the theory of Google behind the term ‘sharing data’.
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There’s a secret Facebook app called Blink. Built for employees only, it’s how the company tests new video formats it’s hoping will become the next Boomerang or SuperZoom. They range from artsy Blur effects to a way even old Android phones can use Slo-Mo. One exciting format in development offers audio beat detection that syncs visual embellishments to songs playing in the background or added via the Music feature for adding licensed songs as soundtracks that is coming to Facebook Stories after debuting on Instagram.
“When we first formed the team . . . we brought in film makers and cinematographers to help the broader team understand the tropes around storytelling and film making,” says Dantley Davis, Facebook Stories’ director of design. He knows those tropes himself, having spent seven years at Netflix leading the design of its apps and absorbing creative tricks from countless movies. He wants to democratize those effects once trapped inside expensive desktop editing software. “We’re working on formats to enable people to take the video they have and turn it into something special.”
For all the jabs about Facebook stealing Stories from Snapchat, it’s working hard to differentiate. That’s in part because there’s not much left to copy, and because it’s largely succeeded in conquering the prodigal startup that refused to be acquired. Snapchat’s user count shrank last quarter to 188 million daily users.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s versions continue to grow. The Messenger Day brand was retired a year ago and now Stories posts to either the chat app or Facebook sync to both. After announcing in May that Facebook Stories had 150 million users, with Messenger citing 70 million last September, today the company revealed they have a combined 300 million daily users. The Middle East, Central Latin America and Southeast Asia, where people already use Facebook and Messenger most, are driving that rapid growth.
With the success of any product comes the mandate to monetize it. That push ended up pushing out the founders of Facebook acquisition WhatsApp, and encroachment on product decision-making did the same to Instagram’s founders who this week announced they were resigning.
Now the mandate has reached Facebook Stories, which today opened up to advertisers globally, and also started syndicating those ads into Stories within Messenger. Facebook is even running “Stories School” programs to teach ad execs the visual language of ephemerality since all four of its family of apps will monetize Stories with ads. WhatsApp will start to show ads in its Status version of Stories starting next year now that its founders that hated ads have left.
As sharing to Stories is predicted to surpass feed sharing in 2019, Facebook is counting on the ephemeral slideshows to sustain its ad revenue. Fears they wouldn’t lopped $120 billion off Facebook’s market cap this summer.
But to run ads you need viewers, and that will require responses to questions that have dogged Facebook Stories since its debut in early 2017: “Why do I need Stories here too when I already have Instagram Stories and WhatsApp Status?” Many find it annoying that Stories have infected every one of Facebook’s products.
The answer may be creativity. However, Facebook is taking a scientific approach to determining which creative tools to build. Liz Keneski is a user experience research manager at Facebook. She leads the investigative trips, internal testing and focus groups that shape Facebook’s products. Keneski laid out the different types of research Facebook employs to go from vague idea to polished launch:
- Foundational Research – “This is the really future-looking research. It’s not necessarily about any specific products but trying to understand people’s needs.”
- Contextual Inquiry – “People are kind enough to invite us into their homes and talk with us about how they use technology.” Sometimes Facebook does “street intercepts” where they find people in public and spend five minutes watching and discussing how they use their phone. It also conducts “diary studies” where people journal about how they spend their time with tech.
- Descriptive Research – “When we’re exploring a defined product space,” this lets Facebook get feedback on exactly what users would want a new feature to do.
- Participatory Design – “It’s kind of like research arts and crafts. We give people different artifacts and design elements and actually ask them to a deign what an experience that would be ideal for them might look like.”
- Product Research – “Seeing how people interact with a specific product, the things they’re like or don’t like, the things they might want to change” lets Facebook figure out how to tweak features it’s built so they’re ready to launch.
Last year Facebook went on a foundational research expedition to India. Devanshi Bhandari, who works on the globalization, discovered that even in emerging markets where Snapchat never got popular, people already knew how to use Stories. “We’ve been kind of surprised to learn . . . Ephemeral sharing wasn’t as new to some people as we expected,” she tells me. It turns out there are regional Stories copycats around the globe.


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Coming with fully enabled Tonga GPU
We already talked about a possible fully-enabled Tonga GPU back when Radeon R9 285 was launched, and now it appears that AMD has finally decided to launch such GPU which will be a part of Radeon R9 380X graphics card.
Exclusive: Talks taking place
Our industry sources claim that Microsoft is seriously talking to AMD about buying the chipmaker. The pair have been in talks for a while, but we are unsure if the deal is happening or when something will be announced.
For US $649/€699
Although officially launched in late August, the AMD Fiji GPU-based mini-ITX Radeon R9 Nano has now started to show up in retail/e-tail, priced at US $649 in the US and around €699 in Europe. The first reviews are coming in.
Three new parts
AMD will expand its socket FM2+ chip lineup with three new parts – the A10-7890K and A8-7690K APUs, and the Athlon X4 880K CPU.
Runs all graphics and reports to Lisa
AMD has announced that our old friend Raja Koduri has been promoted to Radeon technologies' Senior Vice president and chief architect.
EXCLUSIVE: Silver Lake also owns a chunk of Dell
Our well informed industry sources have told us that AMD is about to sell 20 percent of its stake to a private equity outfit called Silver Lake.
Kaveri without its GPU
The spec for the AMD Athlon X4 880K has leaked onto the internet. This AMD processor is based on Kaveri, but without a GPU.
Trash talk on Rededit
AMD claims that it has the majority of DX12 games signed up in a partnership.
Jon Carvill is now VP of communications
A rock star PR who worked as a Senior Director of communication at Qualcomm has been poached by the music outfit Vevo.
Brings Oculus 0.7 SDK support and game optimization
AMD has released its newest Catalyst 15.8 Beta drivers which add support for recently released graphics cards, integrates Oculus 0.7 SDK and brings performance optimizations and fixes for some games.


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TORONTO, March 28, 2022 /CNW/ – TOQi Technologies Ltd., award-winning creators of elegantly designed cannabis technology products, has partnered with Cannabis Amnesty, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to righting the historical wrongs created by cannabis prohibition, to launch the TOQi Fellowship for Cannabis Amnesty. The inaugural Fellows, who will begin their internships during the summer of 2022, will also be supported by Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NASDAQ: ACB) (TSX: ACB), a global leader in the medical and recreational cannabis industry, committed to high quality products and access for patients and consumers. This paid internship is designed to create economic opportunities for people from communities harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition while increasing Cannabis Amnesty’s capacity to develop groundbreaking advocacy and programming.
The internship is designed to create economic opportunities for people from communities harmed by cannabis prohibition.
The TOQi Fellowship is a summer internship program running May through August for ambitious individuals who wish to gain experience in advocacy and communications. The two salaried positions will receive mentorship, networking opportunities, and insight into all aspects of the cannabis industry and Cannabis Amnesty’s mission to help those harmed by cannabis prohibition.
“People of today should not bear the burden of the laws of yesterday; while the world has changed and we are able to profit from the industry, it is our civic duty to liberate those who do not enjoy this privilege,” said Drew Henson, CEO and Founder, TOQi Technologies. “The hard-working and passionate advocates at Cannabis Amnesty have set the stage to right some of these wrongs, and we are honored to support their cause.”
“Historically, cannabis laws were unequally enforced by law enforcement in Canada, disproportionately impacting Black, Indigenous and under-resourced communities. Cannabis convictions limit economic opportunities for people from these communities, thus further entrenching systemic racism through poverty and disenfranchisement,” said Annamaria Enenajor, Executive Director, Cannabis Amnesty. “We are grateful to TOQi and Aurora Cannabis for their leadership in supporting our efforts to dismantle these economic barriers and look forward to welcoming more cannabis brands to our shared vision of justice and equality in the cannabis industry.”
“As a proudly Canadian company, Aurora values our roots in advocating for cannabis record pardons with Cannabis Amnesty. We have a responsibility to those who have been disproportionately impacted and commit to doing our part. Canadians, or anyone for that matter, shouldn’t be burdened with a criminal record for a minor, non-harmful act that is no longer a crime,” says Miguel Martin, CEO, Aurora Cannabis. “We deeply admire the team at Cannabis Amnesty for their relentless pursuit of fairness and are honoured to be a part of affording others the opportunity to also be a part of this critical cause.”
Applicants can visit TOQiFellowship4CA.com for additional information and to apply. Cannabis Amnesty encourages applications from underrepresented communities and those who have been affected by the harms of cannabis prohibition. Applications will be accepted until April 19, 2022. Companies interested in being an ally and joining the movement for 2023’s TOQi Fellowship can contact firstname.lastname@example.org.
About TOQi Technologies LTD.
Founded by award-winning designers, TOQi creates purposeful, premium industry leading cannabis consumption technology from their headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Inspired by the intersection of design and culture, TOQi believes that attention to detail and user experience are of the utmost importance. For more information, visit mytoqi.com. TOQi does not produce, manufacture or distribute cannabis. Not for sale to minors.
About Cannabis Amnesty
Cannabis Amnesty is a registered not-for-profit organization focused on righting the historical wrongs caused by decades of cannabis criminalization, particularly its impact on racialized communities. Since 2018, Cannabis Amnesty has been at the forefront of advocating for justice and fairness on behalf of those who continue to suffer as a result of cannabis convictions. We challenge the stigma of cannabis convictions, lobby the government on behalf of communities harmed by criminalization and champion equity within the cannabis industry. Learn more at www.cannabisamnesty.ca and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Aurora Cannabis
Aurora is a global leader in the cannabis industry, serving both the medical and consumer markets. Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Aurora is a pioneer in global cannabis, dedicated to helping people improve their lives. The Company’s adult-use brand portfolio includes Aurora Drift, San Rafael ’71, Daily Special, and Whistler, as well as CBD brands, Reliva and KG7. Medical cannabis brands include MedReleaf, CanniMed, Aurora and Whistler Medical Marijuana Co. Driven by science and innovation, and with a focus on high-quality cannabis products, Aurora’s brands continue to break through as industry leaders in the medical, performance, wellness and adult recreational markets wherever they are launched. Learn more at www.auroramj.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Aurora’s common shares trade on the NASDAQ and TSX under the symbol “ACB” and is a constituent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
SOURCE Cannabis Amnesty
For further information: Media contact: Katy Lim, email@example.com, +1 415 375 0663


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Executives with the International Council of Shopping Centers have sent letters to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney urging swift government action to meet a growing crisis for the retail industry in this country.
“Your provincial retailers need assistance now from the provincial and municipal levels to help guarantee their survival and ensure there is a market left to serve the community post crisis,” wrote John Morrison, ICSC Vice Chairman, and Tom McGee, ICSC President & CEO, in a letter to Kenney.
“We believe that your government can be helpful in areas of corporate taxation, sales tax deferments as well as other areas under your jurisdiction. Municipalities can also play a major role in extending a lifeline to retailers by reducing utility rates, and local taxes during this difficult period. We would ask that your office reach out to municipalities in your province and ask them to support their local shopping centres and retailers and assist them in this time of need as we rebuild our communities and economic centres of life.”
In an interview with Retail Insider, Michael Kehoe, Lead Ambassador in Canada for the New-York based ICSC, said all levels of government across Canada need to recognize the retail real estate industry and the integral role it plays in the social, civic and economic vibrancy of communities across the country.
“Canadian shopping centres generate nearly $25.5 billion of taxes for all levels of government. Most retailers and shopping centres in Canada are not only engaged in a health crisis but a financial crisis as well forcing many to close and lay off their staff. 1.7 million Canadians are employed in shopping centres across the country. Retail and food service sales and the resulting income have stopped or been reduced but many of the expenses continue such as rent, utilities, payroll and payroll taxes, corporate taxes as well as payments to municipalities for property and business taxes,” said Kehoe, a veteran of more than 40 years in the industry and broker/owner of Fairfield Commercial Real Estate in Calgary.
“Nearly 70 per cent of shopping centre tenants are small businesses that employ less than 10 people and many retailers and restaurants across the country are concerned that they may not survive. Canadian consumer real estate landlords are assisting their tenants where possible but who is going to give relief to the landlords? Perhaps their banks or their lenders? Everyone in the transactional chain should be assisting to help each other at this critical time.
“They must work together in the short term to avoid jeopardizing the entire consumer real estate industry causing long-term damage, rampant unemployment and irreparable harm to the retail sector and communities across our country. Canadian retailers and restauranteurs need assistance now from the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government to help guarantee their survival and ensure there is a market left to serve the community post crisis.”
In the letter to Premier Kenney, the ICSC executives said many retailers are concerned they may not survive because of the bills they have to pay rent, utilities, payroll and payroll taxes, corporate taxes as well as payments to municipalities for property and business taxes.
“This is a grave concern to ICSC as Canadian shopping centres and retailers provide needed employment and pay substantial taxes at all levels of government. Many landlords have already been able to assist their tenants, but others are unable to do so due to their own particular financial circumstances,” said the letter.
“Our collective action is required now. At ICSC, our mission is to ensure the retail real estate industry is broadly recognized for the integral role it plays in the social, civic and economic vibrancy of communities across the globe. Founded in 1957, today we are a 70,000-member network joined together in one vibrant global community.”
In the letter to the Prime Minister, the ICSC said the majority of the estimated $737 billion of consumer activity generated by the retail, food-and-beverage, entertainment and consumer service industries occurs within Canada’s shopping centres, with nearly one out of seven Canadian jobs retail related.
“The long-term strength of the shopping centre industry is critical to the economic, civic, and social viability of communities across the country,” it said.
“Federal, provincial, and local government and health officials are implementing unprecedented steps to limit the risk of COVID-19 community spread. Canada’s shopping centre owners, developers, and tenants applaud the efforts that are taking place and stand ready to support the nation as we confront this public health crisis. Many of our member companies have already begun supporting local and national efforts with many more ready to assist immediately.
“The necessary public health and safety actions being taken have required retailers, restaurants, gyms, and other service providers to close. These closures are placing an insurmountable strain on our members, and we believe federal government action is urgently needed. In the most immediate term, we believe the federal government should guarantee or directly pay for business interruption coverage for retailers, restaurants and other tenants as well as landlords. This will allow these businesses to continue to pay their employees and suppliers.”
Without ensuring the stability of its tenant base, the repayment of secured and unsecured debt underlying the shopping centre industry will be at risk, said the letter.
“This will jeopardize the entire industry and cause long-term damage to financial markets, rampant unemployment and irreparable harm to communities across our country. As the ramifications of the crisis become clearer in the near term, the industry will require further federal support associated with outstanding debt obligations as well as tax and regulatory relief.”


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Kaixin Auto is Just a Wildly Speculative Bet on the EV Boom
Electric vehicle stocks could have another big year ahead.
After all, with Joe Biden in the White House, and Democrats in control of Congress, we’re likely to see a greener future. In fact Biden already said the U.S. will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and mentioned a $2 trillion clean energy plan, with hopes for net zero emissions by 2050.
Biden also said he would work to support the deployment of more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by the end of 2030. So, it’s no wonder EV stocks have gone ballistic.
- Tesla(NASDAQ:TSLA) ran from a July low of $187.43 to $766
- Nio(NYSE:NIO) ran from $6.80 to $52
- Li Auto(NASDAQ:LI) ran from $16 to $32
- Workhorse Group(NASDAQ:WKHS) ran from $4.14 to $24
- Kandi Technologies(NASDAQ:KNDI) ran from $4.10 to $7.40
Then there are electric vehicle stocks like Kaixin Auto Holdings (NASDAQ:KXIN)
While I’d love to tell you this is a strong investment, I can’t. Granted, over the last few months, the KXIN stock ran from 48 cents to a high of $13.40. Then it ran from $3 to $10.19. While EV speculation could have been a contributing factor, the company had no news.
In fact, even they were shocked. “There is no change in the status of Kaixin’s business operations since the company filed the last 6-K on Aug. 23, 2020, and its dealership business is still in halt,” the company said in a statement.
If you want to take a wildly speculative bet here, you can always buy on pullbacks, and wait for the stock to hopefully explode on nothing again. However, if you’re looking to invest in a solid EV company, you may want to look elsewhere.
There are Too Many Red Flags with the KXIN Stock
Something stinks here. Private Chinese firm, Haitaoche took a stake in the KXIN stock on Nov. 5.
According to Investorplace contributor, Mark R. Hake, CFA, “it signed a ‘binding’ term sheet to buy, with no cash, a majority stake in the company, via a reverse merger.” He added, “Kaixin’s parent company, which owns 79% of Kaixin, allowed Haitaoche to receive a 51% stake in KXIN stock. That company is called Renren (NYSE:RENN). Renren is a sort of failed social media company in China.”
On Jan. 4, Kaixin Auto announced entry into a share purchase agreement with shareholders of Haitaoche. This will now supersede the Nov. 4 announcement. In addition, pursuant to agreement, KXIN will acquire 100% of the share capital of Haitaoche from the sellers.
Plus, as also noted by Hake, no one knows anything about the size or sales of Haitaoche. But wait, there’s more.
KXIN Earnings are Horrendous
In the first half of 2020, total net revenue fell 84.5% from $220.8 million to $34.2 million year over year. Gross profits fell 89.3% year over year to $900,000 from $8.6 million. Net loss attributable to the company was $5.8 million, as compared to attributable net income of $57.3 million year over year. Adjusted net loss was $4.6 million, compared with a loss of $1.7 million year over year. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $3.9 million as compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $2,000 in first half of 2019. Hold on. It gets far worse here.
Given the “serious challenges,” it also halted its used-car dealership business while reexamining its business model. Plus, “total revenues for the second half of 2020 to be of a minimal amount.”
Yet, while all of this mess is happening, speculators are jumping in. They ride the dud stock higher on no news, then dump it. If you want to speculate here, the stock could rocket higher again on no news. It’s done so twice before.
However, if you’re a long-term investor looking for a hot EV trade, avoid KXIN. Just because it’s involved in EVs isn’t enough reason to sink money into the stock.
On the date of publication, Ian Cooper did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Ian Cooper, a contributor to InvestorPlace.com, has been analyzing stocks and options for web-based advisories since 1999.


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£1bn offer for AB Ports
Associated British Ports is set to announce that the Japanese investment bank Nomura has made a £1 billion bid offer. ABP, the biggest ports operator in the UK, is worth around £900m and its share price is currently languishing more than £1 down on its value two years ago. A statement is due to be made to the stock exchange on Tuesday after the May Day bank holiday. Neither side would comment in advance of this official statement.
Nomura has recently made a similar bid for Hyder, the Welsh utility firm, though it is now in a bid battle for the firm with Western Power Distribution of the US.
While ABP is seen as a classic 'old economy' stock, chief executive Bo Lerenius said last week that its performance so far this year was on target. Many experts say its share price has fallen further than it should have done in recent months as technology stocks gathered all the attention.
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Tesla is building a self-driving vehicle in China as sleeping at the wheel evolves from a phrase into a nightmare.
Wearing money bags of tax-payer subsidies strategically placed as counter-weights for the Crane fly drone mechanism of hot air balloons set to traverse the Pacific, Elon Musk sets off on the adventure of a lifetime in the Orient. Rumors are ablaze that Lebron James personally advised the Tesla founder and vaudeville salesman of grandeur dreams, to curry favor with hardliners in Beijing and forming a potential 3-point strategic collaboration. The perverse relationship could forever change the landscape of US-Sino diplomatic relations in advancing awkwardness to the hinterlands of a love triangle. At the very least, China can successfully absorb the NBA as an offshoot of the People’s Liberation Army, with James and Yao as the co-luminaries donning camo jerseys and Tesla emerging as a headline sponsor for the league.
The critical question underlying the plausible devious alliance, surrounds the performance concerns of the electronic vehicle batteries, and the potentially hazardous conditions in properly disposing of the highly toxic core. Musk and brand advocates are reluctant to address this subject, or steep energy requirements of the assembly line compared with a traditional vehicle manufacturing, as the hot selling sedan has become a symbol for the commercialization of the green industry. However, the corrupt and slimy story lines seeping from the Tesla empire, in gelatinous tendrils of ethics destroying microbes, are the perfect complement to the sordid political and business climate afflicting China. The two concepts of society have been warped and played together within the Communist regime so often, that they are now virtually indiscernible.
As the underwhelming track record of Musk’s brain child is set to headquarter manufacturing efforts near Shanghai reports the BBC news, the problematic issues of productions delays, unsustainable overheads, and lack of satisfactory quality control methods, simply find a home in a new land. Different location, same results. But Tesla cannot escape the reality that the organization is bolting from US based operations with monetary channels sustained by the sweat of American workers, a despicable plot authored by a fake narcissistic entrepreneur, who has never been able to achieve a bottom line in a business venture without other taking people’s money.
China will allegedly drop a hefty tax stipulation as an incentive in the $2 billion dollar venture, which steals jobs from the US workforce, and the timing of the agreement is deliberately contumacious considering the presence of Trump administration tariffs. Yes, Musk is “that guy”, rivaling the Norse god Loki in both detestable temperament and unforgivable pranks that are on the other end of the spectrum from funny. About the only silver lining to the construction of the Model 3 factory, is that the self-driving vehicles produced at the plant can assist with population control, as the autopilot lust for blood plows through downtown intersections bowling over unfortunate pedestrians. The reprehensible response to the glaring safety issues by the tech community is to backlog the Tesla automobile waiting list to five years with a massive uptick in putting $50 thousand down per order.
The old wives’ tale of insanity out of the Chinese Cold War archives is the story of the state-funded motorcycle factory based on the reverse engineering knowledge and success of a global brand name. The factory produced tens of thousands of bike clones which went unsold and sat idly on the factory lot for two years. Prompted by mid-level bureaucrats and corporate officials, the company transformed itself into a scrapyard to justify the massive business losses, and sold off the recycled materials to be used in similar ventures straining the basis of reason.
The bizarre instance of failure and other mind-numbing anomalies driven by the forced infusion of superficial Capitalism, are well-known red flags that operating within Chinese soil comes with inherent and unacceptable risks. However, as Musk turns a blind eye in doing business directly with a Communist oligarchy and ignoring the obvious devilish proclivities on an entity set on world domination, credibility, decency, and sanity have to be called into question.
Echoing the Twitter meltdown failure of James and advisers to grasp the intricacies of Chinese policy and economic infrastructure, Musk has essentially facilitated a billion dollar pipeline made possible by taxes and jobs directly into the economy of an ideological adversary. Like previous tycoons selling out the American people by outsourcing jobs and production capabilities to a rogue nation, the broken record of questionable business decisions persists with the regressive play by Tesla in a lame attempt to trim astronomic financial losses, only to be bailed out time and time again by Uncle Sam.
As Tesla and the NBA help to bolster the prestige of the Communist party and the obligatory formation of nefarious secret funding channels emerge to constantly reshape the volatile power hierarchy of bureaucrats, the indelible pair of Musk and Lebron are the real stars of the show, at least from the perspective of Beijing. Legacies notwithstanding, the new celebrity pretended power couple can claim credit for at least one thing, indirectly giving the assist to the Chinese government in staunching the Hong Kong protests and effectively eliminating any hope of reform for residents swept under an exploitative riptide of subversion and ideological incongruencies.
Read the BBC news story here.


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Minister for Agriculture and Livestock John Simon was very impressed with a local manufacturer – Vitis Industries Limited.
The Vitis group made its name through production and selling of a variety of beverages including alcohol, soft drinks and other agriculture based production.
Mr Simon said this while visiting the Vitis Industry headquarters at 9-Mile, Port Moresby, on Friday last week.
He toured the main production factory lines where the organisation has extended in over a decade of operation and is now looking at venturing into other industrial products including tobacco production.
Mr Simon was impressed with how the organisation has focused on agri-business having a good number of its product base drawn from raw goods including coffee and vanilla.
With more than 2000 employees – the multi-functional manufacturing company processes different raw goods with a major input from coffee; The company now owns and operates a factory which processes parchment coffee, green beans, roasted coffee and concentrated coffee.
Some of this processed coffee is then turned into different coffee products.
Mr Simon was impressed with the downstream processing also carried out in the factory where coffee is also bought by Vitis from different growers throughout the country, including growers from Eastern Highlands, Northern and Central provinces.
The company has also ventured into processing vanilla extracts which are then used in food products such as biscuits, ice-cream and beverages.
Vitis has 1200ha estate in Wau (Morobe), a 700ha coffee plantation and two coffee factories producing parchment coffee and green coffee beans.
With at least K200 million being invested back into the county since 2012 – the manufacturing company has also had its fair shares challenges including the lack, if not the absence of government intervention into SME manufacturers.
Vitis highlighted a need for government action – considering that Industry had recommendations to each major government decisions in regards to their products, this included an increase excise rate by 400 per cent for pre -mix drinks, the industry recommended an application of 20 per cent increase for excise as opposed to 400 per cent.
The positive outcome saw re-employment of over 300 staff, reduction of consumption of illegal products including, home brew (steam /fire-wara).
While coffee and vanilla buying in Central, Gulf, Milne-Bay, Northern and Highlands provinces was resumed following the amendment of the government’s description code 2206.00.10 which discourages local fruit based alcohol production.


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Meta to mimic Apple on app developer commissions despite years of criticism
Meta has been one of the most critical voices of Apple’s App Store business model. Mark Zuckerberg himself has accused the Cupertino company of “blocking innovation and competition” with App Store fees. However, Meta is going to do exactly the same with developers who help it grow the Metaverse, the ambitious project with which it hopes to continue leading on the internet after Facebook’s decline.
The Oculus Quest Store, the app store for the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality goggles, charges a 30% commission for all digital purchases and between 15% and 30% for subscriptions. This stance by Meta is prompting a growing backlash from developers creating virtual reality apps for a company that had previously criticized the business model it has now adopted.
Some developers believe Meta believed they could take advantage of the fact that Facebook’s metaverse app store is still largely empty and Zuckerberg needs developers to fill it with content that appeals to users, similar to what happened with Facebook. However, Meta has not been slow to impose a commission equal to Apple’s, which will make many developers think about it because an application for virtual or augmented reality requires an infinitely greater investment than one for mobile because in the metaverse everything is still to be done and even technologies have to be developed, with the huge cost that this implies.
Nevertheless, Meta defends its strategy. The company led by Mark Zuckerberg argues that its business model has a very important difference in relation to Apple. As they explain, there are no restrictions for users to install applications outside the official Oculus Quest Store, nor for developers to take their apps to third-party stores.
The truth is that criticism from one side or the other between Apple and Meta has been going on for some time. Earlier this year, when Meta announced that it would charge an additional 17.5% fee on top of Apple’s 30% commission for sales made through the Meta Quest Store within its virtual reality platform, Horizon Worlds, the Cupertino company accused Zuckerberg’s of “hypocrisy.”
Earlier, in August 2020, the two tech giants clashed when Facebook asked Apple to waive the 30% commission related to its online events app or allow payment through Facebook Pay. The Cupertino-based refused arguing that such a request violated App Store rules.
Meta had also tried unsuccessfully to add games to the Facebook app when App Store rules do not allow third-party apps to distribute games as a separate platform, which is why, for example, there is no Xbox Cloud Gaming app on iPhone or iPad.
What is clear is that with this measure there will be many development studios that will consider happily jumping into the Facebook metaverse at the prospect of losing 30% of their revenue and perhaps explore other more open alternatives or simply lower fees. Yet another stumbling block for the birth of Zuckerberg’s metaverse.


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Instagram users have used hashtags to classify billions of images, unintentionally creating great labels to train the company’s computer vision algorithms.
The news: Facebook created a data set of 3.5 billion pictures and 17,000 hashtags pulled from public Instagram accounts to improve how well it can recognize objects in images, the company announced on stage at its annual F8 developer conference today. Using a subset of that data set, Facebook was able to label 85.4 percent of photos correctly, the highest level the company has achieved to date.
But: This free labor does have drawbacks: some hashtags like #photooftheday or #tbt—short for throwback Thursday—don’t describe what’s in the image and can confuse the algorithm.
Why it matters: More accurate computer vision could do everything from surface more relevant content to help keep abusive posts off the site. Of course, Mark Zuckerberg has already had to answer for how users’ data gets handled, and not everyone might be happy to find out that their vacation photos are being put to work.
This artist is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not happy about it.
Greg Rutkowski is a more popular prompt than Picasso.
What does GPT-3 “know” about me?
Large language models are trained on troves of personal data hoovered from the internet. So I wanted to know: What does it have on me?
An AI that can design new proteins could help unlock new cures and materials
The machine-learning tool could help researchers discover entirely new proteins not yet known to science.
DeepMind’s new chatbot uses Google searches plus humans to give better answers
The lab trained a chatbot to learn from human feedback and search the internet for information to support its claims.
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The global “Huda Beauty” company, which specializes in cosmetic products, donated one million dirhams to the “100 million meals” campaign, the largest in the region, to feed food in 30 Arab, Asian and African countries throughout the month of Ramadan. A million dirhams can provide the basic components for preparing one million meals and distributing them as part of the “100 million meals campaign” in the lower-income communities with low purchasing power, within the thirty countries covered by the campaign, in order to provide food support to those who deserve it in those communities throughout the holy month of Ramadan.
In order to achieve the goals of the “100 Million Meals” campaign organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, it cooperates with the World Food Program, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, the regional network of food banks and a group of charitable and humanitarian institutions to reach millions of individuals and families in their whereabouts. . “The past year witnessed a lot of suffering around the world, and we are honored to contribute to the 100 million meals campaign based on the core values of Ramadan and in support of our global community,” said Hoda Kattan, founder and chairman of Huda Beauty.
Huda Beauty started from a cosmetic blog that was established in 2010, to launch a series of cosmetics in 2013, and became a global company specializing in cosmetics and related products, until it offered more than 140 unique products through its digital platforms and in many international stores specialized in materials Cosmetic. The company also announced the creation of new product lines in the area of skin care and perfumery.
#Huda #Beauty #donates #million #dirhams #equivalent #million #meals


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Less than 24 hours before Apple's conference, the New York Times reported that Facebook's data-sharing partnerships with device makers, including Apple, were still in effect despite Facebook's claim that they'd cut off such data sharing in 2015.
A new feature called Siri Shortcuts allows users to create customized actions for Siri, to be triggered by certain phrases; and Apple has launched new APIs to help developers take advantage of this functionality.
At the Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose, California, on Monday, Apple's software VP Craig Federighi said the new features of their web browser, Safari, will be safe from prying from social media sites.
Parents can also remotely schedule when Downtime is active, essentially locking a child out of all iOS devices at bedtime.
All of these upgrades will be available later in the year with Apple expected to released iOS 12 in September alongside its next generation of iPhones. "Ultimately, Apple might be able to sell more phones by telling people, "Our phones come with these structures that allow you to not spend so much time on your phone'".
"This is beyond remarkable", Cook said, noting that the online App Store will be 10 years old in July. Apple is taking aim at Facebook's Like buttons, Disqus comments widgets and other third-party APIs that can be used for data collection, tracking and ad targeting. Once your time limit is up, you are locked out of the app until the following day.
"We have never been about maximizing the number of times you pick [the phone] up, the number of hours that you use it", Cook said.
Now, Apple is raising the bar to allow for 32 simultaneous FaceTime users.
In iOS 12, the Photos app will now display search suggestions when a user is looking for a specific picture, based on things that appear in the photo, including cars, dogs and flowers.


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RestoreCSA Receives New CSA Test Results
August 17th, 2014
Trips to the RestoreCSA postal box can be loads of fun. We recently received some documents and an explanatory letter. The letter began thusly: “Per my discussion with other safety engineers, I was advised that you needed some of CSA illegal / unsafe certifications.” Indeed we do, we’re building a collection. “It appears that CSA International […] has been providing unsafe certification for products that companies have sent to them to obtain safety certification.” What followed was a long and interesting explanation of ongoing CSA practices, some of which we already knew about, a list of CSA personnel engaged in these practices, and a medley of documentation to prove the point. On the whole, a good day at the postal box.
From among these documents, the anonymous insider identified one particularly revealing example of CSA certification. The insider quoted the “Master Contract” and report numbers for a product that had been submitted for CSA safety testing. This product was failed by the engineer assigned to test it (though we have copies of the tests, we’ll decline to name the honest engineers for obvious reasons). That’s a good failure, by the way, the product did not comply with minimum safety standards and failed its safety tests, so the engineer rightly failed it. That’s what they’re supposed to do. After that failure, the product manufacturer resubmitted the same product, with no changes or improvements, for retesting. The product was failed a second time, on this occasion by a different CSA engineer. Again, this engineer acted correctly. RestoreCSA has long maintained that there are good and decent people in CSA’s house of cards, they’re just not in charge of the place.
So what happened to the failed product? “After the two CSA workers found it to be non-compliant to the applicable safety standards, it was reopened by [David] Schaefer and [Moamar] Mustafa who granted certification with no change in the product construction or performance.”
The insider isn’t kidding, we now have copies of the certifications. We also have copies of the failed test results. From the highlight reel:
Input Test: Failed
As is Leakage Test: Missing
Dielectric Strength Test: Missing
Normal Temperature Test: Incomplete
Tip Over Test: Failed
Vertical Wall Test: Failed
Cloth Drape Test: Failed
Hanging Test: Failed
Environmental Test Series: Missing
Current Leakage Test: Missing
Stability Test: Missing
Strain Relief Test: Missing
Ground Bond Test: Missing
Note that these are standard minimum safety tests. Products failing one of these are unsafe. Products failing or missing all of the safety tests are -well lets be charitable, you don’t want these in your home.
One insider is more blunt. From his notes, the items marked “missing” actually mean “never performed” or “never tested, pass / failure never indicated.” In other words, of the tests for the product noted above, every test was either incomplete, a failure, or was never conducted.
Thanks to CSA however, this untested and potentially unsafe product now bears the CSA Certified sticker, as though it was thoroughly tested and had passed all of these tests. According to CSA, “our marks and labels indicate that the certification requirements have been met.” Well, alright then.
The CSA’s claims to professionalism in testing just don’t hold water. Amazingly, even the most basic steps of test preparation, like ensuring that the testing equipment is properly setup, are routinely missing or ignored. “In addition [to the failed tests above], calibrated testing equipments were never indicated.” Calibration is awfully important for accurate results. Its like a wristwatch; if you want to arrive on time your first step is setting your watch to the current time.
Why is all this important? Well, public safety is now in doubt because of practices mandated by CSA leadership. “Please understand that I am concerned that the […] products can cause severe harm to the consumers. The CSA internal investigators have done nothing to combat this culture of fraud.”
That’s a strong word, isn’t it, that last one? Good thing we’re quoting it. This insider is a lot like others that we’ve heard from, these are folks who want to do the right thing but they’re concerned about retribution by CSA, given that “the culture of fraud is so ingrained in this company.”
RestoreCSA is a safe place for insiders willing to work together to restore integrity to CSA conduct. Knowing what we now know, and knowing that readers like you now know it too, restoring the CSA is as increasingly urgent as politically inevitable. The house of cards is starting to fall.


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Gasoline and diesel sales in Turkey reached a record daily high of over 81 million liters (21.4 million gallons) in March, triggered by the coronavirus-induced panic buying and the ongoing price battle between Saudi Arabia and Russia that is flooding markets worldwide with cheap oil.
According to data released by the employers Union of Energy Petroleum Gas Supply Stations (EPGİS) Tuesday, the industry broke its sales record with daily diesel sales reaching 70 million liters and gasoline sales surging to 10.9 million liters on March 11, when Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the first coronavirus case in Turkey.
The high sales continued on March 12 with diesel sales totaling 65.3 million liters and gasoline sales standing at 8.8 million liters, the EPGİS data showed.
The sharp rise in consumption came after the country announced discounts of TL 0.60 per liter on gasoline and TL 0.55 per liter on diesel fuel on March 10 due to the price war between Riyadh and Moscow.
EPGİS President Fesih Aktaş said the market has settled up with a daily average of 55 million liters of diesel and 8 million liters of gasoline sales two weeks after breaking the record.
Aktaş said the record-breaking sales on March 11 most likely resulted from panic buying, as it coincided with the announcement of the first COVID-19 case in Turkey. “Compared with our average daily sales, there had been a 27% increase in diesel sales, and gasoline sales surged by 40% on March 11.”
Please click to read our informative text prepared pursuant to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 and to get information about the cookies used on our website in accordance with the relevant legislation.
6698 sayılı Kişisel Verilerin Korunması Kanunu uyarınca hazırlanmış aydınlatma metnimizi okumak ve sitemizde ilgili mevzuata uygun olarak kullanılan çerezlerle ilgili bilgi almak için lütfen tıklayınız.


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As more retailers are choosing NitroSell as their preferred eCommerce provider, many are regularly reviewing their webstore’s performance with a view to selling even more.
The latest eCommerce articles from the WebSell blog. Here you can get the latest product updates, ‘how-to’ guides, and insights for making the most from your WebStore.
Are you ready for the holiday season? The holidays are just around the corner, and customers worldwide are forecast to spend more online than ever this year.


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KLM has a powerful brand and should be able to withstand this crisis. But it is not a good time for legacy European airlines that usually rely on lucrative corporate travelers.
Skift Forum Europe is here and we're excited! We have a jam-packed agenda that includes keynote presentations, panels, and brand talks with an array of travel leaders as we explore the future of travel leading out of the pandemic.
Dutch airline KLM is seeing modest recovery on short-haul routes, but the long-haul business remains “challenging” and the carrier does not expect full recovery until at least “2023-ish,” the carrier’s CEO said during a session for Skift Forum Europe on Tuesday.
“There is still a lot of uncertainty for consumers,” KLM’s Pieter Elbers told Skift Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan.
KLM is one of many European carriers struggling to survive after Covid-19 decimated its business. The good news is the Dutch government recently came to its aid, with about 3.4 billion euros (about $3.8 billion) in loans and loan guarantees. That should be enough to ensure the airline, which has one of the strongest brands in Europe, survives this crisis. Air France, the other major airline in the Air France-KLM group, received a bailout from France.
Still, it will be a long road back. In June, KLM resumed flying to about half of its European destination, but only with 15 percent of its planned capacity. By August, it plans to fly to almost all of its European destinations, but with half of the capacity it had planned, Elbers said.
The airline is trying to capitalize on an early recover wave, as some Europeans flock to traditional summer vacation spots. But so far, KLM has had many of the challenges as U.S airlines — because the situation is so fluid, the carrier does not know how many passengers who buy tickets will show up.
And that’s the good news. KLM’s long-haul franchise is behind, with the airline flying all-cargo flights to many destinations, including Nairobi and Tokyo Narita, despite using passenger airplanes.
KLM’s passenger long-haul operation will open more in July, with more flights coming in August. It said it will fly to about 75 percent of international destinations in July, though with less frequency than before the crisis.
There is some question about who will be on those long-haul flights. KLM is a premium airline that previously generated significant revenue from its corporate business, especially on intercontinental flights.KLM expects some self-managed business customers to return later this year, Elbers said, but management is less optimistic about bigger companies.
“Some of the large corporates may take longer,” Elbers said. “They have introduced their own travel bans if you wish, especially with long-haul travel.”
Market Share Shakeout
As much as KLM has shrunk, many of its competitors cut capacity even more. Some, including Scandinavian Airlines and Lot Polish Airlines, effectively shut down this spring.
When airlines emerge from the crisis, market share by airline is likely to be different than before Covid-19. Long-term, KLM could benefit from increasing capacity earlier, at the expense of weaker competitors. But Elbers cautioned it’s too soon to know how it will shake out.
“What we see today in the industry is unprecedented,” he told Unnikrishnan. “It’s way too early to give any indication of who is benefiting from what capacity reduction. What I do see, though, is that we are committed to come back, and we are committed to take back our position and our market.”
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Photo credit: KLM CEO Pieter Elbers. KLM


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TruTrace Technologies Inc (CSE:TTT) (OTCMKTS:TTTSF), the medical cannabis verification company, said Tuesday that it has inked a pact with Anandia Laboratories Inc to collaborate on analytical and genetic testing for cannabis.
In a statement, the company said it plans to establish a strategic working relationship with Anandia to collaborate on an integrated testing solution linked to TruTrace's development of StrainSecure, the first blockchain platform, that registers and tracks cannabis intellectual property.
The Vancouver-based firm’s blockchain-based platform is designed to guarantee product quality and genetics throughout the cannabis supply chain from genome to patient. It combines the power of big data with the security of blockchain to provide strain identification, registration and verification available for cannabis at scale.
Anandia is considered an industry leader in science, genetics, and independent cannabis product testing. Following the agreement, Anandia will serve as a primary analytical and genetic testing partner for TruTrace. The two will also explore ways to rapidly expedite the testing processes to meet Health Canada regulations, as well as evolve genetic testing practices in the cannabis industry.
TruTrace recently announced a milestone deal with Shopper Drug Mart, to see a pilot program use TruTrace's StrainSecure technology as a central hub for identity management, asset tracking, validation, and product authentication. StrainSecure will also serve as a master registry for standardized testing, product verification, and quality assurance.
The company said Anandia will provide testing facilities in the Shoppers Drug Mart and TruTrace Technologies medical cannabis verification pilot program.
"We are very excited to have Anandia join us as a testing partner in the StrainSecure ecosystem," said TruTrace Technologies CEO Robert Galarza in a statement.
"Its genetic testing expertise and capabilities combined with its full range of analytical testing makes it a 'one-stop shop' that we expect will play an important role in our traceability program."
Anandia president and cofounder Dr John Coleman said establishing a comprehensive traceability program is key to providing “full transparency and verification” to medical cannabis patients and consumers.
"We are supportive of these objectives and look forward to working with TruTrace, Shoppers and others in the pilot program," added Coleman.
Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive


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Nokia unveils new Asha phone, priced at $99
HELSINKI May 9 (Reuters) - Nokia unveiled a new mid-range Asha phone priced at $99, aiming to prevent consumers, particularly in emerging makets, from switching to Google's Android as they upgrade from basic phones.
The Asha phones have some of the basic functions of smartphones including access to Internet and apps like Facebook.
The company said the Asha 501 will start shipping in June, and will be available through around 60 operators and distributors in over 90 countries.
- First Ebola victim in Sierra Leone capital on the run
- Former WWE champ nabs suspected burglar in Arizona
- Apple iPhones allow extraction of deep personal data, researcher finds
- China's Guangdong province removes over 850 'naked officials' from their posts
- EU edges to economic sanctions on Russia but narrows scope |


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Charter Communications Inc. has given consumers in its
Illinois cluster what regulators wanted: picture clarity, more reliable service and 28
So, why aren't officials smiling?
Because the improvements came at a price. By the end of
October, when the 47,000-subscriber cluster across the Mississippi River from St. Louis
lights up all of its $15 million fiber optic upgrade, some customers' bills will have
increased by 22 percent in less than one year.
The hikes come at a time when such increases are lightning
rods for members of Congress who are looking to reopen the issue of rate regulation.
Indeed, National Cable Television Association president Decker Anstrom has repeatedly
warned operators to be very careful about rate hikes. They are the "third rail,"
NCTA executives said, alluding to the source of power and electrocution in subway tunnels.
Torie Clarke, the NCTA's vice president for public
affairs and strategic counsel, stressed that the Charter situation is very unusual: The
average rate hike this year will be 8 percent. Most customers, she insisted, know that
cable has competition and that it needs to upgrade to stay in the game against its growing
"They see the DBS [direct-broadcast satellite] ads in
virtually every paper in the country; they know that they have a choice," Clarke
said. "In a context such as that in Illinois, consumers may not be completely happy,
but they recognize, 'I'm getting a lot more stuff,'" she added.
The local reaction?
"There's been some disappointment expressed at
the amount of the adjustment, but, overall, connects are up, and churn" is static,
said David Niswonger, regional vice president of operations for Charter.
Was this a "careful rate increase?" "The
packaging and price are definitely well worth it," Niswonger said.
Charter notified its customers in February that it would
adjust rates on core programming. Regulated basic rates increased by 2.5 percent, from
$8.25 per month to $8.45. In March, notices started hitting the rebuilt areas, such as
Granite City, Ill., that with the activation of new channels -- Charter has activated 68,
compared with the 40 that it had offered -- the operator would add $4.09 per month to the
bill to pay for several new channels on the expanded-basic tier. Now, the regulated-basic
plus expanded-basic package is $30.78 per month, a 22 percent rise.
City officials said they have heard a few complaints about
the higher rate, mainly by people who were angered that Charter didn't break up its
expanded-basic package into tiers so that they could selectively downgrade to cut their
costs. Niswonger explained that more than 50 percent of the customer base is cable-ready,
so scrambling and tiers would be very disruptive.
"They're [Charter] well within FCC [Federal
Communications Commission] guidelines" on price, said David Williams, Granite
City's cable administrator.
Williams added that during recent refranchising talks,
local communities asked Charter for a rebuild and a programming package comparable to that
offered in metropolitan St. Louis. There, Tele-Communications Inc. sells a 47-channel
basic package priced at $26.34 per month, according to customer-service representatives.
With the large rate increase, Charter has a broader programming lineup and a better
per-channel cost than its urban neighbor (approximately 46 cents per channel, versus
TCI's 56 cents).
In response to complaints, Jim Monday, Madison County
(Ill.) administrator, advised consumers, "[Cable's] not a regulated utility: You
can vote with your feet."
Indeed, local DBS dealers hope that consumers will do just
that. Retailers reported an increase in inquiries about DBS receivers, but they have not
yet reported a jump in sales. Historically, that occurs after the higher bills actually
reach consumers, they said.
DBS sellers will use the hike to beat up on Charter, they
For example, the next EchoStar Communications Corp. Dish
Network "cable-buster" campaign will offer two months of free programming to
purchasers of its dish and a 40- or 60-channel programming package.
Marty Manny, owner of Manny's Satellite TV of Glen
Carbon, Ill., said consumers will receive the rebate through him by turning in their
Charter bills to prove that they downgraded.
Niswonger said the company has countered by aggressively
promoting its improvements, publicizing them on-air and in billstuffers. Subscribers who
called to cancel effective with the higher rates rescinded those orders after they viewed
the new channels for a few days, Niswonger said.
Customer polls helped Charter to select its new programming
lineup. It has added ESPN2, Nick at Nite's TV Land, Home & Garden Television,
Animal Planet, Classic Sports Network, Cartoon Network, Country Music Television, FX and Z
Music. Additionally, networks that formerly shared channels will get slots of their own,
including The Prevue Channel, CNBC, Fox Sports Midwest, C-SPAN, Black Entertainment
Television, Eternal Word Television Network and local-origination channels. New premium
services for the cluster are Home Box Office 2 and 3 and Cinemax.
Charter will add three more networks -- with no further
price increase -- before the end of the year, Niswonger added.


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Building Permit Solutions
Crown Castle CEO: Small cell deployments take 18-24 months, and that won’t change anytime soon
T-Mobile, Sprint reportedly reach ‘major breakthrough’ in merger talks
Is it fair for jurisdictions to charge carriers a premium price for deployment in their cites? Tell us what you think.
Online Permitting is becoming the norm. But, is the process any easier, or does it just lack customer service? We have a solution.
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The new generation of RAM is going to be expensive for a long while yet, so prepare to empty your wallet for an upgrade.
Next-gen RAM prices could be jacked up more so than in the past, adding to the pain of building a new PC.
Popular computer memory manufacturer G.Skill is set to release its DDR5 memory kits in November 2021.
A new Intel Core i9-12900K leak shows it running with overclocked DDR5 memory and reaching serious speeds.
Popular computer memory manufacturer G.Skill is teasing its upcoming DDR5 kits in a short video featuring some familiar RGB.
TeamGroup has launched Elite series DDR5 memory kits in the US, but it might be better to wait than have them sitting around.
If you’re thinking of upgrading your system memory – or getting RAM for a new PC build – it might pay to act soon.
The first DDR5 memory modules are now in mass production by way of Chinese manufacturers Netac and Jiahe Jinwei.
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Powell's to move Tech Store
Powell’s Books Inc. will move its Tech Store to a location across from its flagship bookstore.
The company decided to move the North Park Block store after efforts to prop up the store's declining sales failed.
CEO Miriam Sontz announced the plan to employees Thursday morning.
Powell’s will move the 10,000-square-foot Tech Store into a Powell's training space about half that size near the flagship Powell’s bookstore on Burnside. The move should be complete by Sept. 1.
Powell’s launched several initiatives over the past five years to boost Tech Store sales, including adding new product lines, upgrading its Internet café and moving transportation materials from the main Burnside location.
None of the initiatives could overcome changes in its core business, selling computer books.
Customers have shifted to e-books and other formats. Sontz said in the memo that more than 40 percent of Tech Store business takes place over the Internet.
“We believe it is time to more aggressively address this changing marketplace,” Sontz said in an e-mail sent to employees.
The move will let Powell’s integrate the Tech Store into its Burnside business.
“There are many challenges in the book industry and our goal is to keep Powell’s competitive and strong. Our ability to be flexible and adapt to a changing retail landscape is of paramount importance to our long term survival and prosperity,” she said in the e-mail.
As of August, online sales represented about 25 percent of Powell’s $45.2 million in revenue, according to the Business Journal's archives. Powell’s employs about 500 workers.
Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
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In a new global research report, Nielsen has identified a segment of the population they call the Global Socially Conscious Consumer.
- Two thirds (66%) of consumers around the world say they prefer to buy products and services from companies that have implemented programs to give back to society.
- They prefer to work for these companies (62%), and invest in these companies (59%).
- Still nearly half (46%) say they are willing to pay extra for products and services from these companies.
In the study, respondents were asked if they prefer to buy products and services from companies that implement programs that give back to society. Anticipating a positive response bias, respondents were also asked whether they would be willing to pay extra for those services. For the purposes of this study, Nielsen defines the “socially conscious consumer” as those who say they would be willing to pay the extra.
According to Nielsen, “Cause marketing won’t work with all customer segments—some simply don’t care—but the research suggests that there is a segment of socially conscious consumers that cause marketers should pay attention to.”
New findings from a Nielsen survey of more than 28,000 online respondents from 56 countries around the world provide fresh insights to help businesses better understand the right audience for cause marketers, which programs resonate most strongly with this audience, and what marketing methods may be most effective in reaching these consumers.
Thanks to a tweet from our friend John Gerzema for pointing us to this research which he believes is in line with the findings in his book Spend Shift.


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Cowboys Christmas at The Star
Cowboys Christmas at The Star gives fans an opportunity to enjoy free, family-friendly events throughout the holiday season, including the official Christmas tree lighting, the Cowboys Christmas Spectacular, and the opportunity to book a photo with Santa.
Santa will arrive on Saturday, November 18 and will be stationed inside Fans United at The Star. Fans may book appointments to have their photo taken with Santa inside his custom-built Dallas Cowboys cottage by visiting TheStarInFrisco.com. Photo packages include a printed 5x7 photo and an exclusive Cowboys gift for each child.
The inaugural lighting of The Star’s 52-foot Christmas tree, located on Tostitos Championship Plaza, will take place on Friday, November 24 at 6pm. The tree lighting is a free event that will kick off the Cowboys Christmas Spectacular.
The Cowboys Christmas Spectacular is a weekly holiday performance showcasing the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Dallas Cowboys Rhythm and Blue Dancers and Drumline, appearances by Santa and more. The Cowboys Christmas Spectacular will take place on Tostitos Championship Plaza.


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The Last Straw : Kata Rocks ends the use of plastic straws at its Luxury Resort in Phuket
PHUKET, 21 September 2018 - Kata Rocks has launched its new sustainability and social impact initiative as it moves to eliminate single-use plastics in the luxury resort starting from 1 September and reach its broader goal within one year.
Guests staying at Kata Rocks are increasingly eco-conscious and are a driving force behind the shift in demand for sustainable travel options. It decides to end the use of plastic straws a natural one, as it is also a significant step towards achieving wider sustainability goals that protect natural habitats of many endangered marine species.
According to Infinite Luxury CEO Richard Pope, the resort wants to inspire more hotels to continue reducing plastic products in their day-to-day operations.
“We at Kata Rocks are committed to being part of the leadership for change. To do so, we need to understand and explain the importance of this decision and how it impacts our future.”
‘This initiative reflects our values as an organisation, and how our actions and responsibilities as a resort impact the environment. These assets, the beach, sea and its marine life are the prime reasons tourists come to Phuket,” he added.
Kata Rocks aims to inspire the local community to follow this lead and encourage guests to carry their experiences at the resort back home with them by continuing to reduce their overreliance on plastic bags and straws in their day-to-day lives.
It recently acted to remove all plastic drinking straws from its food and beverage outlets and organised events. Guests will be offered alternatives. Regular plastic straws will be replaced with eco-friendly and paper straws.
Moving forward the resort is also exploring ways how it can eliminate waste from single-use plastic water bottles. Regular plastic water bottles will be replaced with carton – easily recyclable- packaging, which will please nature and guests alike. The resort is also considering bottling its water in reusable glass containers, by developing an onsite water filtration and purification facility, offering still and sparkling water options in fully reusable glass containers.
This comes as Kata Rocks continues to highlight its commitment to Phuket’s environment and ocean conservation, as well as the rescue of imperilled marine animals that are most at risk from plastic.
Plastic straws may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about ocean pollution. Although small and seemingly harmless, Singapore alone uses an estimated 2.2 million plastic straws daily; they cause immense harm to the environment. The issue is critical in Asia, where China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam dump more plastic into oceans than the rest of the world combined, threatening nearly 700 marine species with extinction due to plastic pollution.
Published: September 2018


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March 22, 2013 – NAFCU Research Assistant Doug Christman said Thursday that a combination of pent-up demand and an improving labor market helped drive existing-home sales in February.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales in February came in at 4.98 million units on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis – up 10.2 percent from a year ago. “That was the highest level of sales since the homebuyer tax credit in 2009,” noted Christman.
The inventory level for existing homes stood at 4.7 months of supply in February, up from a revised 4.3 months in January. The median existing-home price rose from a revised $170,600 in January to $173,600 in February. “That’s up from $155,600 a year ago,” Christman noted.
“Limited housing inventories and credit constraints continue to slow the growth of sales, while the reduction in distressed home sales and limited inventory are increasing the average home sale price,” he said.
Christman added that the overall housing market is expected to be “one of the key drivers of economic growth this year.”
For more, view NAFCU’s Macro Data Flash.


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Discovery Bay Games lands $12M to play in space between board and tech
- Greg Lamm
- Staff Writer
Discovery Bay Games has raised $12 million in funding as the Seattle company known for producing traditional board games continues to make the transition into technology-based experiences.
Discovery Bay, founded in 2006, has closed on a $6 million equity round from angel investors, said co-founder and CFO Richard Schmidtke. In addition, the company also has raised another $6 million in convertible debt from angel investments with its Canadian affiliate.
The funding comes at time when the Seattle-based company known for board games such as Saturday Night Live: The Game and Call-it! is growing rapidly. Discovery Bay has 34 employees, and has hired 15 since January, including former employees with Microsoft and the software giant’s Xbox business.
The new employees include Clinton Fowler, who is directing Discovery Bay’s mobile product strategy. Fowler spent more than 10 years at Microsoft, where led strategic design innovation projects across Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices organization. He also has extensive experience working with Xbox Live, Xbox.com and Zune Social.
In December, Discovery Bay Games unveiled Yoomi, a twist on the traditional board game which incorporates a device called the Duo to interact with the iPad. The company plans to launch three more game accessories in 2011, including one with a major content partner.
This week, Discovery Bay announced that Guesstimation for iPad, its multi-player, trivia game App, is now available in 10 languages.
“It really is more of a technical play now that a pure board game play,” said Schmidtke, who said Discovery Bay hopes to raise another $6 million this spring.
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The government has unveiled a transition plan for taxpayers under the goods and services tax to switch to new simpler return forms. In order to ease the transition process, between July-September the new form would be available on trial basis for familiarisation.
The GST Council in its 31st meeting had decided that a new GST return system will be introduced for taxpayers.
The Goods and Services Tax Network had shared a prototype of the offline tool in May, 2019, an official statement said on Tuesday. The look and feel of the offline tool would be same as that of the online portal.
There are three main components to the new return – one main return (FORM GST RET-1)and two annexures (FORM GST ANX-1 and FORM GST ANX-2).
From July, 2019, users would be able to upload invoices using the FORM GST ANX-1 offline tool on trial basis for familiarisation. They would also be able to view and download, the inward supply of invoices using the FORM GST ANX-2 offline tool under the trial program.
The summary of inward supply invoices would also be available for view on the common portal online. They would also be able to import their purchase register in the offline tool and match it with the downloaded inward supply invoices to find mismatches from August 2019.
Between July to September, 2019 for three months, the new return system (ANX-1 & ANX-2 only) would be available for trial for taxpayers to make themselves familiar, the statement said.
This trial would have no impact at the back end on the tax liability or input tax credit of the taxpayer, the statement added.
In this period, taxpayers shall continue to fulfil their compliances by filing FORM GSTR-1 and FORM GSTR-3B i.e. taxpayers would continue to file their outward supply details in FORM GSTR-1 on monthly or quarterly basis and return in FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. Non-filing of these returns shall attract penal provisions under the GST Act, it said.
FORM GST ANX-2may be viewed simultaneously during this period but no action shall be allowed on such FORM GST ANX-2, the statement said.
For October and November, 2019, large taxpayers would continue to file FORM GSTR-3B on monthly basis. They would file their first FORM GST RET-01 for the month of December, 2019 by 20th January, 2020.
The small taxpayers would stop filing FORM GSTR-3B and would start filing FORM GST PMT-08 from October, 2019 onwards. They would file their first FORM GST-RET-01 for the quarter October, 2019 to December, 2019 from 20th January, 2020. From January, 2020 onwards, all taxpayers shall be filing FORM GST RET-01 and FORM GSTR-3B shall be completely phased out, the statement said. The government will issue separate instructions for filing and processing of refund applications between October to December 2019
Source : Economic Times


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Crysis 3 to be the premier sandbox shooter of 2013
Cervat Yerli has introduce more information about Crytek's plans for Crysis 3
Jumping on stage at EA's E3 press conference the Crytek co-founder proudly proclaimed that Crysis 3 would be "the premier sandbox shooter of 2013."
He briefly detailed Crysis 3's environment which consists of seven regions in the 'urban rainforest' allowing you to play the game your way in an unprecendented fashion.
The final revelation was a release window for the game on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 which is Febtuary 2013.
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Update: PlayStation Days of Play 2022 officially starts May 25, 2022. Big sales on games, gear, and accessories, but unfortunately, no PS5 bundles.
PlayStation Days of Play 2022 schedule got leaked ahead of the official announcement from Sony Interactive Entertainment.
PlayStation Days of Play 2022 Happening Soon?
The annual PlayStation Days of Play sale is probably happening soon if SIE will follow tradition where it will be later this month or early June. While there are still no official announcements from the game company, multiple reports have been showing up saying it will be happening soon.
One of the reports come from Cheap Ass Gamer’s Twitter account saying that it will be on May 25, 2022. Many are skeptical that this would be the start date of the biggest sale from PlayStation, but another Twitter user has also confirmed that this would be the case.
Days of Play Leaked Schedule Seconded
Twitter user Wario64 recently shared a new image that shows the PlayStation Days of Play schedule. The image seems legitimate, seemingly copied from an official account of PlayStation. It says the schedule will be on May 25 to June 8, 2022. It also says “Celebrate, The PlayStation event of othe summer is here – from 5.25 – 6.8.” It does not reveal the year, so it looks suspicious, but with two sources saying the same schedule, it could be true.
Limited Edition PS5 Bundle Included?
Someone on Wario65’s account also asked if there will be a limited edition PS5 bundle in the sale, the user then shared a link to a currently unavailable PS5 SKU that is supposedly bundled with a Horizon Forbidden West game. This bundle was leaked last week, so it could be happening.
Which Titles are going to be on Sale?
There were no other specifications shared by both accounts, but with the sale coming up, the games that will have big discounts could be popular titles made from PlayStation Studios and PlayStation exclusives.
PlayStation Days of Play 2022 possibly starting on May 25, 2022.


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SHOPPERS at a Teesside retail park are being asked to take part in a big fundraising effort for Children in Need.
Tomorrow, is Children in Need and centre management at Teesside Shopping Park have come up with a novel way to raise money for the worthy cause - asking shoppers to pay £1 to park.
Parking is normally free at the park but this Friday volunteers from the local Lions Clubs will be asking for donations from shoppers as they arrive at the park.
Mike Clarke, manager of Teesside Shopping Park, said: “One of the reasons people love shopping at Teesside Park is because it’s free to park. But we thought, just for one day only, it would be a fantastic gesture and a really easy way for shoppers to help raise money for such a worthwhile cause if shoppers could pay just £1 to park for as long as they like.”
Fiona Doyle, Zone Chairman from the Lions Club, said: “Many cars come to Teesside Park on an average Friday, so if only half of those shoppers agree to give £1 then we could raise over £5,000.”
Mike Clarke added: “We know that some people are already giving their time and money in other ways for Children in Need, so we’re not going to make you pay. You’re still welcome to park absolutely free of charge as normal.”


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In a bid to revive the wool industry, Israel’s Woolworths has opened a wool warehouse in the countrys capital of Tel Aviv.
The company is hoping to open an additional 100 wool warehouses throughout Israel, with the aim of reaching the 1.5 million-strong wool industry.
The Woolworth’s warehouse is located on the third floor of a building in the central Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Dizengoff, which has become known as “the Woolworth warehouse”.
“It’s like an old-fashioned warehouse,” the manager of the Woolworth Warehouse told Haaretz.
“We’ve been here for three years, and now we are ready to open our doors.”
The Woolworth is hoping that this will help it to grow its wool production in the future, since there is a need for it to meet growing demand.
“Wool production is a very important sector in Israel, but it’s also a very fragile industry,” the Woolie manager said.
In the past, Woolworth has only made about 1% of the wool that it sells.
It is hoped that the new Woolworth stores will help revive the market and boost its output.
“The Woolie Warehouse in Dizensoff is the best location for our expansion plans,” said the Woolies CEO, Yoav Gonen.
“It has a lot of potential, as well as good facilities and good products.
I hope that the Woolier will be able to offer us even more products.”
“We have a lot to offer,” said Dizening CEO and owner of the Dizen store, Yael Bar-Tal.
Bar-Tal, who also works as the Wooly Manager, said that the newly opened Woolworth store will offer more than just wool, but also produce other products like soap and cosmetics.
According to the Wool’s Manager, Dizeni is the first Woolworth that will open on an industrial scale in Israel.
Although the Wool Warehouse has only been open for a few months, its manager said that there is no doubt that the facility will be successful.
“There is a lot going on inside,” he said.
“Everything is growing fast, and it is going to be really successful.”


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Vodacom, the world’s second-largest telecoms company, is set to launch a bulk SMS mobile service in the US on Monday.
The company has already launched its U.S. SMS mobile offering in Canada, but the U.K. is the first country in Europe to offer it.
The bulk SMS plan is similar to that of Vodaco, the European telecommunications giant that launched its voice services in the U, Canada and the U-K.
Vodacon, which is owned by Vodax, is launching in New York on Monday, and will launch in Australia in the coming days.
The SMS service will be free, with no minimum monthly charges.
Vudakops will continue to offer Voday.com, a prepaid voice service in Europe.
SMS service, called Vodavail, is similar in some ways to Vodapay, which was launched in Britain and the United States, and offers customers in the European Union the option to use Vodashops to pay for voice calls.
It costs around $15 per month.
Vodacomp, a Vodava subsidiary, is also launching in the United Kingdom on Monday and is offering the same service, priced at £1.99 per month, but it’s not clear whether the U and British plans are the same.
Vudafone said in a statement it will launch a US-based mobile SMS service in 2018.
“We believe in offering the widest range of mobile services and we are excited to be bringing this to the United State and Canada in 2018,” said Vodakops President Michael Ladd.
The company also plans to expand its voice and SMS offerings in Canada.
VDACom service will launch later this year, while Vodamac, Vodal and Vodasm will launch this year.
The Voda service, launched in 2010, was the first to offer voice and video calling on a national scale.


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Is she worth $10,000 per tweet? Kim Kardashian earns big money using her Twitter account to advertise to her 2million fans
Some might question her apparent celebrity status, however Kim Kardashian certainly seems to have acquired some pulling power.
According to a report out this week, the U.S. socialite allegedly commands up to $10,000 (£6,300) for every tweet she posts on her Twitter account as part of her contract with in-stream advertising company Ad.ly.
Kim, 29, is the highest earner on the company's books and the most popular on their roster of celebrity tweeters.
Tweet success: Kim Kardashian allegedly earns up to $10,000 per tweet for mentioning advertisers and their products to her 2million followers
The former best friend of Paris Hilton currently has over 2million followers on Twitter and Ad.ly have put her tweeting services up for hire alongside U.S. stars such as Lauren Conrad and Dr. Drew.
It is thought some of Kardashian's advertisers include Reebok EasyTone and Carl's Jr, the fast food chain.
The reality TV star often mentions using products from both companies, in fact out of 30 tweets on her page, five mention products from either company.
Worth $10,000?: The reality TV star shows off a pair of Reebok EasyTone training shoes - the company is thought to be one of her advertisers
Which means, if the reports of her earnings per post are to be believed, she was paid $50,000.
Derek Rey, co-founder of Ad.ly, told U.S. website PRNewser that Kardashian can command $10,000 per tweet and that his company limits its publishers - as it calls Kardashian - to one paid tweet per day so as to not alienate her audience.
'We're not a polluter,' Rey said.
Video star: Kim poses in her leotard which she donned for a photoshoot spoofing Beyonce's Single Ladies video with her sisters Khloe and Kourteney
Kim recently signed a deal with Carl's Jr, which Rey states is not an advertiser with Ad.ly, appearing in a raunchy advertisement for their new salad range.
Meanwhile, the tweetaholic star has posted a behind-the-scenes photograph from a recent photoshoot in which she and her sisters, Khloe and Kourtney, spoofed Beyonce's Single Ladies video.
All three dresssed in tight-fitting Lycra bodysuits, with Kourtney in particular standing out - the eldest of the three sisters has just given birth to her first child.
In a backstage video shot by People magazine, Kim revealed she is currently producing her own TV show and she will launch a new line of footwear due to hit the shelves in 2010.
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Retailers say shoppers thinking red, white, blue
Cookouts and fireworks remain the two most popular July 4 activities and are growing in popularity this year. According to a National Retail Federation survey, 60 percent of Americans will be grilling for the holiday, up more than 10 percent from last year.
"Fourth of July is the biggest grilling holiday of the year," said Leslie Wheeler, a representative of the Hearth Patio and Barbecue Association.
Besides an increase in grill sales, Ed Slagle, operations manager of Lowe's at 2400 W Memorial Road, said he has seen increased sales in utensils, charcoal and water coolers as people prepare to go to the lake.
An Edmond Super Target's sales are up 8 percent from last season, said Scott McPherson, assistant manager for the store at 1200 E Second St. Condiments, hamburgers and hamburger buns, ice, soda and beer are the No.1 sellers.
Pool supplies, festive-foodware and patriotic garland lined the entrance of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, 2200 W Danforth Road in Edmond. Rita and Jack Jencks of Edmond filled their shopping cart in preparation for the Fourth.
"I'm smoking pork meat for the (Bethany) police station," Jack Jencks said. He's cooking the slabs in preparation for Bethany's Centennial Freedom Festival.
His wife said she was stocking "fast foods" such as sandwich stuffs, hot dogs and drinks to take with her to Lake Eufaula for the holiday.
Sales of all kinds also can be seen in the malls.
Jeff Cockroft, general sales manager for the J.C. Penney Co. Inc. in Quail Springs Mall said he hasn't seen an increase in Fourth of July sales, but shorts, tank tops and swimsuits have been the hot items this summer.
Katie Allen of Chandler said she's buying about 12 patriotic T-shirts for all the members of her family this season. She said she found about six, child-size T's at the Disney Store for about $2.50 each.
Consumers also are expected to empty their pocketbooks on fireworks.
"The concerns of there being a fire ban have made people hold off till the last minute," said Linda Gray, manager of TNT Fireworks Supercenter. "Thank God it rained, and it's picking up now."
The supercenter is in Fireworks City USA, a 5-acre township near Mustang. It was incorporated in the mid-1950s by a man who later opened an all-night night club.
"Because it was his own township, he could pretty much do whatever he wanted," Gray said. A state law in the 1980s changed that and OK Fireworks Corp. bought the property in 1986.
"That gives us the uniqueness of being able to sell fireworks near the Oklahoma City city limits."
The store's employees, along with the other fireworks stands in the Mustang area, will spend July 5 cleaning up fireworks debris across Mustang.
"We do 80 percent of our business in the last two days," said Kelly Snodgrass, sales manager of Firecracker Joe Statewide Wholesale in Shawnee. He said he expects to keep the doors open late.