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TokenMarket 2018 Conference is in Gibraltar 28-29th June. Cryptfunder is a decentralized funding source for startup ICOs and blockchain companies. According to my estimates, the overall volume of ICO projects in 2018 could reach a breathtaking $12-15 billion and even more. The fourth wealthiest cryptocurrency investor weighed bitcoin's prospect against gold and came up with a resounding verdict.
Top ICO List is updated multiple times per day so it's always up to date and has the best NEW initial coin offerings in 2018 and beyond. The aim of this session is to gain a deeper understanding of what type of applications are coming on the market, as well as give investors more information about crypto investment opportunities.
Since many ICO projects are at an early stage of development, they are subject to numerous uncertainties. This information is important because it is possible to purchase tokens at a better rate during the pre-ICO stage. To submit an ICO for listing on Coinschedule, blockchain project founders simply need to sign up for the site.
When it comes to ICO's and blockchain, the product is important, but so is the team behind it and the community it springs. But during the digital coin sale, scammers pretending to be the founders of Bee Token inserted themselves into the money flow, by sending an email to people prompting them to invest in that ICO.
For example, candidates would be able to manage the blockchain based record of their education, skill performance, references, and training, while employers would be able to gain access to potential data of people who match their criteria to fulfil their job role.
Claim your free ICO tokens by clicking on Claim Your Free Token” bottom that will appear on the dashboard as soon as you sign in. Want to receive updates about ICO's and tokensales. sought opinions of 13 cryptocurrency experts and concluded that Bitcoin price will witness a 300% growth to land at $43,000 by the end of the year.
The ICORating Agency rates the Storm Token Project at Risky+. CC tokens issued during the ICO are the only tokens which will be issued by Cubaaz. ICOs that collected less than $100,000 were not considered. Many analysis tell that Bitcoin will up trend and i believe this will have big impact to lending platform.
Oliver Bussmann, founder and managing partner at Bussmann Advisory, the president of not-for-profit Crypto Valley Association and former group CIO and managing director at Swiss financial holding UBS, firmly believes that the world of ICOs will become more mature in 2018 as more blockchain app traditional players get involved.
April 10, 2018 - Berlin, Germany - TokenMarket , an industry leading ICO advisory service recently awarded ‘The Best ICO Advisor' at Cryptocurrency World Expo Berlin Summit 2018 The firm stood out in the category which featured notable nominees including; Argon Group, Element Group and Bitcoin Suisse AG. The Berlin Summit was attended by the full gamut of the global cryptocurrency community from the biggest exchanges, payments providers, ICO participants, blockchain developers and entrepreneurs with over 1,600 delegates and 60 companies attending.
Over 6 billion dollars have been invested into token sales and ICOs since July 2017. SkrillaKing produces crypto news and market analysis with a large emphasis on altcoin and ICO investment research. At Bacancy Technology, we provide an all-inclusive infrastructure such as token creation, distribution, ICO platform hosting, landing page design and an extensive list of digital marketing services.
When you sign up on the platform, you are entitled to claim 25 Koin tokens. Leveraging Blockchain technology to secure and distribute fiat investments to the SME world. Founded in 2017, Binance is the youngest cryptocurrency exchange company that is currently located in Hong Kong.


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Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Coffing Data Warehousing.
June 22, 2015 Middletown, Ohio: Coffing Data Warehousing announces the launch of the Nexus Chameleon, a visualization, integration and query tool now available on Microsoft Azure.
Tom Coffing, CEO of Coffing Data Warehousing, today announced the general availability of the Nexus Chameleon, an integrated end-to-end SaaS platform for desktop application development and deployment. The announcement addresses the increasing demand for robust, desktop applications that need to query and integrate multiple systems together.
Tom Coffing said today, “We have had a decade long passion to produce the Nexus Chameleon to be able to query, integrate and visualize data across the majority of major platforms. Having Nexus on Azure is bringing our technology to the mainstream at the perfect time.”
Todd Wilson, CTO of Coffing Data Warehousing said, “The Nexus Chameleon does several things that align brilliantly with cloud computing: They are visualizing tables and data, automatically writing the ETL and SQL with the click of a button, compare and synchronization and cross-system joins.”
Leslie Nolander, CFO of Coffing Data Warehousing stated, “The dream has been to provide a tool that puts the data scientist on the same playing field with the business user. Nexus allows users to see the tables, their relationships and then Nexus builds the SQL. Users can point-and-click and quickly get answer sets, even across different platforms, which makes Nexus outstanding for cloud computing.”
Vibhor Kapoor, Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure said, “As new cloud scenarios emerge, products like Nexus are harnessing the power to provide their customers with innovative options that convert table structures and move data between systems, plus the ability to perform visualization and cross-system joins makes Nexus an excellent software asset for cloud computing.”
Coffing Data Warehousing has been in business for 21 years and provide books, training, videos and software aligned with big data. CoffingDW has been working with many of the largest companies in the world for the past two decades.

domain: news


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Search For "bpm company"
Updated : 4 weeks ago IST
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 28 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Datamatics, a Global Digital Solutions, Intelligent Automation products, IT Solutions, and BPM company, today announced the launch of a new version of TruCap+, an AI-enabled Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) product.
Updated : 1 month, 1 week ago IST
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 13 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Datamatics, a global Digital Solutions, Technology, and BPM company, today announced the successful implementation of its Digital Workplace Solution for UTI Mutual Fund, one of India's biggest Mutual Fund companies.
Updated : 2 months, 3 weeks ago IST
New Delhi [India], December 2 (ANI/NewsVoir): Vision Plus Security Control Pvt. Ltd., a Delhi based mid-sized Technology Services and BPM company, in partnership with Ajay Guliya, a BPM industry veteran, has acquired nearly 59 per cent stake in CPG BPM.
Updated : 6 months, 2 weeks ago IST
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]/Palo Alto (California) [USA], Aug 12 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Uniphore, an early leader in Conversational Service Automation, today announced that it will be providing its advanced conversational service automation platform to WNS, a leading Business Process Man


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Imbibe Transitions to E-Invoicing and Renewals
E-mail-based system helps improve ROI, magazine says.
Imbibe, a 63,000-circ Portland, Oregon-based magazine for “liquid culture” enthusiasts—read: wine, spirits, beer, coffee and tea—has, like many publishers, begun exploiting the cost and time benefits of e-marketing tactics. The magazine is transferring its renewal and invoicing services to an e-mail-based system that has allowed it to realize greater ROI on billing and renewals, as well as a much tighter revenue turnaround.
According to Imbibe’s circulation manager, Siobhan Crosby—who previously worked for Web-based financial site Motley Fool—transitioning to the e-mail-based system was a no-brainer. “Coming to magazines where so much is done by print it was like, ‘Wait a minute.’ I know we’ve got a print product and we’re mailing it out, but when it comes to communicating with our customers and doing business with them [e-marketing] is just a natural fit,” she says.”
Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend—the platform Imbibe uses for its e-marketing—adds that freshly-launched media companies are more likely to use digital services right off the bat. Magazines, he says, are at varying degrees of online invoicing and renewal. Many are using a combined approach while others are completely online. “It seems like companies that are new to the market are more digitally oriented,” he says. “They’ve started with the mindset that they’ll be heading in that direction, so it’s part of the planning.”
Imbibe launched in 2006, and Crosby says she has e-mail addresses for about 60 percent of her file—enough to realize significant savings in her invoicing and renewal processes. “On average, instead of more than a dollar per piece that I’m sending out, I’m spending 50 cents or less per invoice or e-renewal piece,” she says.
Response rates are at about 30 percent in the first two weeks of a series, and the average across the entire campaign is about 15 percent. Plus, Crosby can filter her list as the digital responses come in to whittle down her print-based follow-ups to realize further savings.
Timing is a huge advantage with e-renewals and invoicing as well. “I’m not able to know the total impact from a mailed series until about a month. With e-mail, I can safely look at my numbers within less than a week,” says Crosby.
The e-mails also offer greater flexibility with graphics and color. Eschewing the bland two-color printed package for a four-color e-mail, Crosby can remind subscribers of the magazine’s lush and photo-rich design by adding photos and covers to the e-mails.
Notices are created by uploading into the StreamSend platform the dozen or so fields Crosby needs to key off of—anything from name and e-mail to last issue, pricing and different offers. Unsubcribes or preference changes are downloaded post-campaign and brought back into Crosby’s file. Transactions are simply handled through Imbibe’s existing e-commerce system.


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The head of Doncaster Council’s economic investment arm, Business Doncaster, has revealed the project is in the pipeline in a message about the borough’s manufacturing economic base.
He also said manufacturers were in talks over some of the space on the Unity Project development, near junction five of the M18 and the former Hatfield Colliery site.
Chris Dungworth, head of Business Doncaster, said in a message he published on social media: “In the not too distant future, with our assistance, we will see a new inward investment of national significance announced which will bring hundreds of new manufacturing jobs to Doncaster.”
No more details were revealed on the plans.
He said that for too long it had been said that Doncaster had lost its manufacturing and engineering identity, and some had described the borough as a town full of logistics sheds with low level employment, since losing ICI, International Harvesters, Ford, and Crompton Lighting
He said manufacturing and engineering was still alive, well and thriving in Doncaster, manufacturing world-class goods that were sold and used on world renowned structures and products globally such as Ardagh Glass, Polypipe, Pegler, and Bridon Bearkart, as well as rail engineering firms.
Some Doncaster based small and medium sized firms were growing, such as Agemaspark at Kirk Sandall, Firma Engineering in Balby and Hallam Castings in Thorne.
He said: “New industries and emerging technology companies are establishing themselves in the town. Companies such as Clean Power Hydrogen in Wheatley are developing and manufacturing green hydrogen technology products to be used across the world and Energise Energy Solutions, based at Finningley, is a leading specialist in electric vehicle charging points and are expanding rapidly.
“There are many more examples of companies situated on business parks across the whole of the town that go under the radar.”
“We are excited about our future and about new manufacturing, engineering and green jobs coming to Doncaster. We have a platform for growth second to none and a team ready to help and make a positive difference.”


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• This article discusses how the United States can learn from other countries’ crypto regulations.
• It highlights 11 key lessons U.S. regulators should take away, from accepting cryptocurrencies as genuine goods to considering a “sandbox” approach.
• The article also suggests that information dissemination should be a priority for U.S. regulatory bodies in order to provide investor protections and reduce risk.
What Can the US Learn From Other Nations’ Crypto Regulations?
The United States might be late to the game when it comes to creating effective laws and guidelines for cryptocurrency, but this doesn’t mean they have to start from scratch. 11 members of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle have discussed some of the most important lessons U.S regulators can learn from other countries which have forged ahead when it comes crypto regulation, such as Indonesia and Turkey.
Accept Cryptocurrencies as Genuine Goods
Innovation and investor safety are promoted by other countries’ acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a genuine good when there are clear regulations and consumer protection in place – something the US could benefit from adopting too.
Consider a ‘Sandbox’ Approach
The UK and Singapore have already adopted what is known as a “sandbox” approach- where firms are allowed to test out innovative fintech and blockchain products live with some leniency on regulation, striking a balance between growth and stability- something US regulators could look into implementing too.
Focus on Disseminating Information
U.S regulators need to focus on information dissemination around potential sales of new tokens or projects in order to lessen risk and create investor protections, much like why the Securities and Exchange Commission was created back in 1930s- pre internet era-to counter bad actors raising capital for scams.
Recognize Crypto as Different Asset Class
Regulators should recognize cryptocurrency as its own unique asset class instead of applying existing fiat regulations which may not always work since crypto is so different to traditional financial systems, such as having decentralized networks rather than centralized ones that require different regulatory measures when it comes to protecting investors interests etc…


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In a mega leak, highly detailed images of the BlackBerry Venice slider Android smartphone have been leaked. The multiple shots give us our clearest look yet at the upcoming device.
One new detail that the latest leak has revealed is that the Venice will feature the SIM and SD card slots at the top and not on the side like most smartphones. We also get to take a closer look at the slider mechanism of the hardware QWERTY keyboard.
As far as the UI goes, the device caught in the photos appears to run an almost stock version of Android with almost no changes made by BlackBerry. However, it is expected that the final version will include a number of BB10 features, and perhaps an overhauled user-interface as well.
The BlackBerry Venice is expected to be unveiled around November, so there is still a lot of waiting to do for prospective buyers.


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STEVE ISRAEL: Is US Mail system 'too complex' to straighten out?
The abysmal US mail delays really hit home in September. Checks I ordered from North Carolina took three weeks to arrive by first-class mail, instead of the usual two or three days – which meant I had to order another batch. My check for school taxes took two and a half weeks to reach Buffalo, which meant writing another check to avoid the penalty. Since then – and not including the holiday season - I've had mail delays of at least two weeks to and from places like New Jersey, Illinois, Florida and Texas.
The United States Postal Service’s own numbers for on-time delivery of first-class mail illustrate the performance one watchdog calls "horrific."
While the USPS target for on-time delivery of 2-3 days is 96%, our region plummeted to a 45% on-time rate for first-class mail for the week of Dec. 26, the most recent week of the USPS “service performance report.” Prior to the holiday, on Dec. 5, it was a dismal 76%. The on-time rate for one week in August was about 89%, compared to about 93% in pre-pandemic February.
No wonder that postal service watchdog Steve Hutkins of Dutchess County, who runs the website SaveThePostOffice.com, calls the abysmal performance “unprecedented.”
“A complete breakdown of the system,” says the retired NYU English professor.
Don’t get me wrong.
This has nothing to do with local post office people. During these scary times, everyone – from the folks who deliver our mail to those who sort it and sell stamps - go the extra mile, often literally, to deliver my mail. But they can’t go that extra mile if they don’t get that mail on time.
What’s the problem?
A spokesperson for our region of USPS, Gail Branham, cited three reasons for delays:
“Unprecedented volume, a true focus on the largest election mail season in American history, and the impact and uncertainty that COVID-19 has had on staffing.”
She said that the postal service has had “over 38,000” cases of COVID-19.
The pandemic also meant that flights and truck deliveries carrying mail were canceled, further delaying delivery, according to Congressional postal service testimony.
But Branham did not respond to questions about the impact of cutbacks ordered by the new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed in May after giving more than $1 million to the Trump campaign. They’re cutbacks that Hutkins says slowed delivery.
Because DeJoy this summer reportedly ordered cuts of overtime, if a postal carrier, delivery person or truck driver couldn’t deliver all of that day’s mail, she had to wait until the next day, when there was even more mail to deliver.
DeJoy also ordered mail delivery trucks to depart processing centers on schedule – even if they weren’t fully loaded with mail because it hadn’t been sorted. The mail left behind was delayed.
The result, combined with thousands of COVID-19 worker absences in a workforce that had already been cut by 30% from 1999 to 2019, is a system that, Hutkins says, has been “clogged up” all over the place – even though the number of truck trips has since increased.
“And it’s not going away because of the holidays are over,” Hutkins says.
Even though spokesperson Branham says the USPS has added some 10,000 full-time positions – but not necessarily new employees - kept temporary workers on past the holidays and is “fully utilizing overtime,” that doesn’t mean we’ll soon go back to getting our mail on time.
“The problem,” Hutkins says, “is far too complex.”
And so, I’m afraid, is any solution.


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YouTube announced that it will have stricter rules when it comes to firearms videos on the platform. It will no longer permit videos that encourage the sale of firearms and certain accessories through direct sales or links. Additionally, instructional videos about how to manufacture or install firearms, ammunition, high capacity magazines, as well as some accessories will be banned.
According to LocalSYR, Google, which is the parent company of YouTube faced criticism for allowing videos like these on their platform.
You can read YouTube's full policy here.
What're your thoughts on this?
Photo: Getty Images


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Kia vehicle owners are being warned to urgently contact the car company after a dangerous defect was detected.
According to 7news.com.au, two different models, the Kia QL Sportage MY2016-2021 and the CK Stinger MY2017-2019 are at the centre of the recall.
The cars can burst into flames even if the vehicle is switched off, according to Product Safety Australia.
Around 57,000 people own an affected car across Australia.
A defect means that the system controlling the Anti-lock Braking System, Electronic Stability Control System and Traction Control System can experience an electrical short-circuit if water enters it.
This can then cause an engine compartment fire when the key is switched off and the vehicle is parked.
Anyone who owns this car is being advised to park it away from their homes or indoor structures, especially away from anything flammable.
Consumers are urged to contact their local Kia branch so that they can arrange for a car inspection and a repair if needed.
The inspections and repairs will be completed free of charge.
The Kia QL Sportage was sold between 2016-2021, with 56,203 people owning the car model.
Much fewer people have been affected by the Kia CK Stinger, which was sold between 2017-2019 as only 1648 people own the Stinger.
Kia isn’t the only car brand with risks of engine fire. Earlier this year, Hyundai urgently recalled nearly 100,000 cars. In February, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued an alert for Hyundai Tucson with model years from 2015 to 2021. A failure in its Anti-Lock Braking System also caused the potential for an engine compartment fire. The cars were sold nationally as early as November 2014 until November 2020.


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Health and wellness retailer Healthy Life has opened two new Queensland stores in Taigum and Capalaba, both managed by women. Naturopath Juliana Ribeiro has been named the Store Manager of health and wellness retailer Healthy Life’s newest store in Taigum who will be one of the first stores to stock an exclusive Kombucha drink and Probiotic cleaning range.
Two new Queensland stores have opened at Taigum Square and Capalaba Park Shopping Centre, and are one of the first in Australia to stock Remedy Kombucha’s new flavour, a limited edition Beet & Apple drink, which has been created in partnership with Healthy Life.
Combining the nutrients of beetroot and apple with live cultures, Juliana said the new drink was set to be the ‘it’ drink this summer for health-conscious Queenslanders. “Beetroot is one of the most underrated vegetables. Recent studies have shown that the humble beet can assist with everything from improving athletic performance and lowering blood pressure to increasing blood flow, improving digestion and reducing inflammation,” Juliana said. “Combined with apples – which are rich in vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants including quercetin, catechin, and chlorogenic acid – and Remedy Kombucha’s live cultures, organic acids and antioxidants that are good for your gut and overall wellbeing, this fruit and vegetable beverage combination is a powerful tonic with the potential for far-reaching health benefits.”
The stores also stock Australia’s first probiotic cleaner, Counter Culture, Capalaba Store Manager and Naturopath Beatrice Dean (pictured) said was like kombucha for your kitchen. “With every new study, we’re learning more and more about the delicate balance between good and bad bacteria, and how we rely on the trillions of beneficial bacteria to maintain almost every aspect of our health and wellness. From supporting our digestion to boosting our immune system and balancing our moods, bacteria is central to the healthy functioning of our body’s physiological processes, which is why it’s critical to keep our microbiome in check,” Beatrice said.
“While we know all about probiotics for our gut, our hands and home also need a balanced biome. Despite supermarket shelves being filled with products promising to kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria, excessive use of antibacterial products can create an imbalance in the skin’s microbiome, which can lead to an increased risk of psoriasis, allergies, eczema, rosacea, yeast and fungal infections and even accelerated skin ageing. Apart from killing bacteria, many cleaners also contain toxic chemicals, which can cause harm to our endocrine system, while new research is starting to reveal the effect of household chemicals on children and adults including links to obesity and asthma.”
Natural health is an area that often requires some guidance, therefore both stores are manned by qualified health practitioners such as nutritionists and naturopaths who provide customers with access to free health advice. The retailer has 49 stores across Australia and will continue to roll out new stores and refurbish existing outlets with its fresh, new look, all with the aim of bringing the traditional health food store into the modern era.
Readers also enjoyed this story about Health Week.


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Britax Child Safety Inc. Invests $26 Million On New Facility In York County, South Carolina
"This new facility offers us the opportunity to expand and enhance our work environment. The new, open floor plan will foster collaboration and innovation in product development, further enabling us to bring the best products to our customers and consumers. We are pleased to relocate to York County and appreciate all the support we've received from South Carolina state and local officials," said Jon Chamberlain, president of Britax Child Safety.
Britax will build a new 500,000-square-foot facility located on Pleasant Road in north central, South Carolina. The new facility is expected to begin operations during the second half of 2013 and will house the company's U.S. headquarters and operations including product development, testing and assembly, warehousing and distribution.
"Another household name company is making a home in South Carolina. We celebrate Britax Child Safety's decision to invest more than $26 million and bring 243 new jobs to York County. Investments like this one show that South Carolina's business-friendly climate is continuing to attract companies and create jobs," said Gov. Nikki Haley.
"Britax is a world-class company and it's great to see them establish operations here in South Carolina. The Palmetto State continues to see our manufacturing sector grow and add jobs, and announcements like this one serve as another sign of that trend," said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt.
As an incentive the Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved the company for job development credits, which will be available when hiring targets are met.
ArcelorMittal Chooses Mobile County, Alabama, for Steel Manufacturing Electric Arc Furnace
Mazda Toyota Manufacturing Plans $830 Million Assembly Plant Expansion at Huntsville, Alabama Campus
How are Uncertain Times Altering Company Location Strategies?
Site Selection 2020: The Importance of “Regional Depth” with Global Reach
2019 Top States for Doing Business: Georgia Ranks #1 Sixth Year in a Row
2019 Leading Metro Locations: Pacific and South-Atlantic Metros Dominate the List
A Heightened Focus on Reshoring
34th Annual Corporate Survey & the 16th Annual Consultants Survey


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It’s been a rough journey for the cryptocurrency market in 2022. As of November the market was down by more than 70 percent from the previous high at the end of November. Just when the market was looking down, the FTX crash turned them even worse. What is the likelihood that the cryptocurrency market rebound in 2023?
Crypto Market Dips are Cyclical
The cryptocurrency market, specifically Bitcoin has experienced many dips in the past. And every time, it’s bounced back with a big increase.
In 2013, for instance, Bitcoin reached a peak of $1,160, then fell for over a year before hitting a low of $150. In 2017 it broke that record, and hit a new highest of $19,600. Fast forward to 2018, it was trading at $3,100. And in the year 2020 it struck through that resistance and reached a new high of $68,000 in November 2021. Just like that, we’ve had another dip. However, history has shown us that at the end of every dip there’s a bull-run.
Every Dip is Followed by a Long Bull Run
Similar to what we’ve witnessed in the past, dips tend to be followed by a prolonged bull run that finally surpasses the resistance created by the previous high price. This pattern is evident in not just Bitcoin but also in other cryptocurrencies.
Growing Use of Crypto and Blockchain
Blockchain technology and cryptography have come a long way in recent years. With more and better companies and industries taking to the technology, its use and acceptance is growing. From banking to gaming the use of crypto is increasing in a variety of ways. The growing popularity of crypto could result in more people being involved in the market, which in turn could boost prices.
The rise in interest of institutions in crypto
In recent times, we’ve seen a growing demand from investors of institutional scale in crypto. From banks to hedge funds and even large corporations are starting to explore the potential in crypto currencies. The increasing interest from institutions could bring more stability to the crypto market and lead to more expensive prices.
Regulations from the Government
As the market for crypto continues to mature and mature, governments across the globe are starting to create more favorable rules for crypto. This could help attract more investors and increase the adoption rate of crypto.
A broader range of blockchain applications
The technology that underlies the majority of cryptocurrencies, blockchain has a wide range of potential use cases that go beyond financial transactions. In addition to supply chain management, voting and other systems companies are beginning to look at ways they can benefit from blockchain technology, which could stimulate more investment and excitement in cryptocurrency.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency technology is at the very beginning of development. As advancements continue to be made in areas like security and scalability, potential of crypto assets will expand. This could lead to more use and increase in prices.
Rising global economic uncertainty
With the ongoing instability in the economy caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors many investors are looking for safe haven assets like bitcoin and even gold. Because the global economic climate remains uncertain it could result in more demand for crypto as well as higher prices.
Interest from retail investors
Investors from institutions aren’t the only one who’s showing an interest in crypto. Retail investors, or even individual investors, are also starting to invest in the market for crypto. With increasing numbers of people are educated about crypto and how to invest in it, this could lead to more demand and higher prices.
Growing awareness and acceptance of crypto
As the market for crypto is maturing as more and more people are beginning to learn about it and comprehend it. As understanding and acceptance grows of crypto, this could lead to increasing numbers of people purchasing and holding crypto, which can drive up prices.
The Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is a rapidly growing area of the crypto market, which allows financial services to be developed upon blockchain technology. As DeFi expands and more projects and platforms are launched, it will lead to a rise in adoption and higher prices for crypto.
Developments in crypto payment methods
As the market for crypto continues to grow as more and more businesses are beginning accepting crypto payments as a method of payment. This could result in increased use of crypto in regular transactions and higher prices.
Increased investment from sovereign wealth funds
The sovereign wealth fund, also known as owned by the state as investment vehicles, are beginning to show interest in crypto as a potential asset class. As more of these funds devote a percentage of their portfolio to crypto, it could increase demand and increased prices.
Cryptocurrency is used for international payments
One of the biggest benefits of crypto is the capability to perform quick and inexpensive cross-border payments. As more and more people and businesses start to utilize crypto for international transactions, this can lead to a rise in the demand for it and a rise in prices.
Increasing numbers of crypto ATM’s
As the number of ATMs for crypto continue to increase it will be more convenient for individuals to purchase and store crypto, which could boost demand and increase prices.
The development of security tokens
Security tokens, also known as digital assets that represent ownership in an asset such as stock or real estate, are a rapidly growing segment of the cryptocurrency market. With the increasing number of security tokens being created and traded, this can lead to a higher demand, and thus higher prices for crypto.
Merchants are more likely to adopt the concept.
In the event that more merchants begin accepting crypto as a means of payment, it makes it easier for people to utilize and store crypto, which can drive up demand and prices.
So, will crypto grow in 2023? It’s only time to find out. But with these factors in mind, it’s possible that the cryptocurrency market will see a recovery in 2023. If you’re in it for the long-term, being patient and disciplined will be key.


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Randall recently served as President and CEO of Katerra, Inc., a Silicon Valley startup redefining the multi-trillion-dollar construction industry through applying tech-centric innovation to product design and sourcing, procurement and supply chain, logistics, and customer service. He continues to sit on the Katerra board of directors, while providing strategic advisory services to startup companies. Randall’s extensive experience also includes senior management positions in operations and supply chain with Google, Amazon, Flextronics and Nokia.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Mark to the ConnectedYard team,” said Co-Founder and CEO Justin Miller. “His proven expertise in operations, logistics and fulfillment is a key addition to our management group to support the rapid growth of our company.”
ConnectedYard has assembled a team of 30 people with skills in strategic planning, hardware and software development, operations, business development, marketing and fulfillment who are driving the success of its first two products, pHin and Pool Service on Demand. Randall is expected to make important contributions across the organization as well as helping to find and attract additional topflight talent for the company.
pHin combines a bluetooth and WiFi enabled water monitor, a smartphone app and unique chemical pods to take the guesswork out of pool and hot tub care. Notifications are sent to the smartphone when water chemistry needs rebalancing, and pre-measured, color-coded, single-dose pods are shipped right to the owner’s door. pHin also provides one-touch access to on-demand pool technicians.
Pool Service On Demand is a unique network of pre-qualified pool service providers offering pre-negotiated pricing. It connects professional technicians with pool and hot tub owners across America for their maintenance and repair needs. It also offers service techs a gateway into the smart pool industry with access to new revenue streams, broader market coverage, increased service margins and 24/7 customer insight.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/connectedyard-announces-engagement-of-operations-logistics-and-supply-chain-veteran-mark-randall-as-advisor-to-board-of-directors-300242970.html


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Despite strong sales growth online and at its flagship stores Canadian Tire, retailer Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. reported a loss in the second quarter, as the impact of store closings during COVID-19 affected performance.
The Toronto-based retailer reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of $ 20 million or 33 cents per share in the second quarter ended June 27, compared with earnings of $ 177.4 million or $ 2.87 per share at the same period last year.
Like many retailers, the company has been forced to close its SportChek, Mark’s and Helly Hansen stores due to public health measures during the pandemic. Canadian Tire stores in Ontario were also closed for most of April, representing 40% of the company’s store footprint.
Overall, retail sales rose 1.7% in the quarter to nearly $ 4.4 billion, led by 20.3% growth in flagship stores, and led by a decline 24.9% sales at SportCheck, 36.4% at Mark’s and 46.4% decline at Gas + locations. Excluding lower oil sales, overall retail sales increased 9.3%.
However, the company’s revenue has lagged, in part because its franchise stores have reduced product orders in response to uncertainty created by the pandemic. The company also faced disruptions in the global supply chain that made it difficult to meet demand for certain items, which also affected revenues.
As retail sales in stores increased, Canadian Tire’s revenue for the quarter declined 14.2% to approximately $ 3.2 billion. The company noted that revenue started to pick up once stores were fully reopened, increasing 24% in June.
Store closings have led many shoppers to turn to e-commerce channels. The company’s online sales increased 400 percent to approximately $ 600 million, surpassing Canadian Tire’s online sales by a quarter for the entire last year.
The company’s spending increased due to COVID-19, with $ 41.2 million in costs related to paying bonuses for frontline workers and increased security measures.
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Wednesday, September 12 08:55:50
Production is ramping up at the Cork-based Alcon Laboratories as the firm reports a decline of 16.5pc last year in pre-tax profits to E2.3m. According to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office, revenues at Alcon Laboratories Ltd increased by 7pc from E28.4m to E30.4m in the 12 months to the end of Dec 2011.
The principal activity of the firm is the manufacture of intraocular lens (IOLs). IOLs are used to replace the natural lens that is removed during cataract surgery. The directors explain that "IOL demand is based on medical need as induced by the removal of a cataract." "The company will continue to develop its IOL product and expand its market. The company is presently experiencing a product ramp up, which is expected to continue in the medium term."
The report states that "the directors are satisfied with the performance of the company during the year". Shareholder funds at the firm last year increased to E11.1m, including E4.5m in accumulated profits. Operating profits last year decreased from E3.13m to E2.94m. The directors state: "The decrease reflects changes in product mix and cost recovery."


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If it seems as though more people are “tweeting” these days, it’s because they are. Twitter currently boasts more than 4.5 million users—70 per cent of which joined in 2008 alone. So what’s driving Twitter’s exponential growth? Some believe the recession has been a main contributor to Twitter’s recent growth with many marketers cutting back on traditional media spending in favour of social media.
In a time when many marketing budgets are being trimmed, Forrester research has found that 53 per cent of marketers plan to increase their social media budget during the recession, while 42 per cent will maintain their spending on social media. Compared to most traditional media, Twitter is inexpensive and many marketers are finding real value in the word-of-mouth generated from the social media site.
Even traditional media organizations have embraced Twitter to market themselves. Of the mainstream media players on Twitter, CNN, The New York Times, and BBC currently have the greatest reach. With marketers and even traditional media outlets themselves adopting Twitter and other social media sites into their marketing plans, one can only wonder if what the impact on traditional media will be. With social media on the upswing, traditional media will likely have to adapt or get left behind.


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EU to scrap mobile roaming charges within two years
EU to abolish international roaming and establishes net neutrality regulations
The EU has announced that data roaming charges will be abolished by June 2017.
In a victory for consumers, a decision has been reached to limit the surcharges EU telecom firms can apply to customers consuming mobile data while abroad in Europe.
The new law will not come into effect for another two years, and companies will be permitted to add additional charges to their domestic rates for a temporary 14-month period after April 2016.
Net neutrality regulations were also outlined; while providers can use blocking to counter cybercrime, they will not be permitted to prioritise or restrict specific traffic.
There are also provisions to ensure that "specialised or innovative services" such as video conferencing or remote tele-surgery have a minimum acceptable standard.
While the decision is mainly for the benefit of business travellers and holidaymakers, the EU has also touted the advantages for "the cross-border use of connected devices and services (e.g. connected cars)".
This victory is something of an about-face for the EU. Earlier in the year, it was announced that data roaming charges would remain until at least 2018.
The previous defeat of EU net neutrality legislation was due to a substantial pushback from member states, despite approval from both the European Commission and European Parliament.
It also echoes similar rules which recently came into effect in America.
Under new net neutrality rules, US cable giants like AT&T, Time Warner and Comcast are prevented from artificially throttling internet speeds or blocking legitimate content.
However, the EU restrictions are a little laxer than those implemented in the US, as they include fair use' provisions.
"The rules prevent abusive uses: for example, if the customer buys a SIM card in another EU country where domestic prices are lower to use it at home; or if the customer permanently stays abroad with a domestic subscription of his home country."
"This is not the usual use of roaming as the vast majority of Europeans experience it. These unusual behaviours are also called 'permanent roaming' and could have a negative impact on domestic prices, and ultimately on consumers."
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The company, founded by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, EFFORT, said that the listing of its WOZX token on the exchange increased its market value tenfold — up to $950 million, according to the New York Post.
On Thursday, December 3, the coin began trading on the HBTC cryptocurrency exchange. From an initial price of $0.1, WOZX rose to more than $1.42 at its peak. At the time of writing, the token’s quotes are around $1.26.
WOZX is expected to be listed on the South Korean Bithumb platform next week.
EFFORCE aims to use blockchain and cryptocurrencies to facilitate the financing of energy efficiency projects.
“We created EFFORCE to become the first decentralized platform that allows everyone to participate and benefit financially from global energy efficiency projects, as well as make meaningful changes to the environment,” Wozniak said.
Investors can buy the company’s tokens and use them to participate in projects hosted on its platform. EFFORCE tracks their energy savings and returns them to investors in an energy loan that can be used or sold.
According to the firm’s co-founder, Jacopo Visetti, many small businesses find it difficult to find the funds to implement energy-efficient solutions to save them money in the end.
“EFFORCE allows business owners to securely register their energy supply modernization project online and receive funding from all types of investors around the world,” he said.
Wozniak was among the co-founders of EFFORCE last year. According to the firm’s statement, most of the past time has been spent by EFFORCE on creating its blockchain platform’s architecture and servicing the first batch of test projects.


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Is the way we’re consuming TV influencing home design?
Most Kiwi households can probably relate to being scattered around the home on different devices so everyone can watch their favourite Netflix series or YouTube channel without having to fight over the remote.
Does this mean the days of having the TV as the centrepiece of the living room are gone? No, not quite yet it seems.
Although some of us may have moved our TV out of the main living space to another area of the house, or have gotten rid of the TV screen altogether, Jasmax senior interior designer Tessa Pawson says she hasn’t seen a huge trend in New Zealanders ditching the traditional living room set up just yet.
“At the moment televisions are still very much the centrepiece of many Kiwis’ living rooms and there’s still a demand for the latest and greatest TV. Smart TVs are now mainstream and screens seem to be getting bigger and better,” says Tessa.
One trend Tessa noticed while attending the world’s leading furniture design fair in Milan last year was how many creative ways designers are coming up with concealing TVs and other AV equipment into beautiful objects and furniture. “People can then hide them away when they’re not using them. It’s a simple and clever way to blend technology into our everyday surroundings.”
While TVs still exist in many living rooms, Tessa says household members may spend more time on separate devices in different parts of the home. “In all types of interior design, we think heavily about the communal spaces of a home, and the ways they encourage human contact and conversations. We create opportunities for people to interact with each other in interior environments, be that an office, apartment building or new hotel. Creating these moments is all the more important in today’s world as more of our entertainment is moving onto personal handheld devices, and people are consuming entertainment when and where it suits them.”


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Denmark McDonald's Workers Get Paid Vastly Higher Wages
Fast food workers across the globe have been holding protests and walking out on their jobs in an attempt to force the industry to raise wages to at least $15 an hour.
In response to the protests, McDonald's, one of the largest fast food chains in the world, has warned that wage increases would force franchisees to raise menu prices.
But in Denmark, McDonald's employees make twice what they do in the U.S., and the Big Mac costs just 35 cents more, William Finnegan writes in the New Yorker.
McDonald's workers in the U.S. make a median hourly wage of $9.15, according a New York Times report citing PayScale, a firm that tracks compensation data. McDonald's does not provide data on its wages.
"In Denmark, McDonald's workers over the age of eighteen earn more than $20 an hour — they are also unionized — and the price of a Big Mac is only thirty-five cents more than it is in the United States," Finnegan writes.
Thanks to unionization, workers in Denmark also get paid sick leave and overtime pay.
On average, the Big Mac costs about $4.80 in the U.S. and $5.15 in Denmark, according to the Economist's Big Mac index, which tracks the price of Big Macs across the world.
There are also domestic fast food chains, such as In-N-Out Burger, that have managed to pay employees more than McDonald's while still selling food at cheap prices, Finnegan points out. In-N-Out's starting wages are $11 an hour.
Fast food companies' "traditional defense of miserable pay — that most of their employees are young, part time, just working for gas money, really — has grown threadbare," Finnegan writes.
- Denmark McDonald's Workers Get Paid Vastly Higher Wages
- Check Out The First McDonald's Burger Stand From 1948
- Kids Are Too 'Sophisticated' To Go To Mcdonald's
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WESTPORT, CT. (Top40 Charts/ Paid Inc) - DEEP PURPLE is now offering VIP fan experience packages in conjunction with its European tour performances that kick off in Bucharest, Romania on 31 October. The tour includes Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, France and Belgium. The VIP packages are now on sale through DEEP PURPLE's new web site, www.DeepPurple.org, coordinated by Paid, Inc. celebrity services.
"DEEP PURPLE loves to perform and interact with its fans, that's why they continue to tour for nearly nine months every year," said DEEP PURPLE manager Bruce Payne.
In response to fan requests, DEEP PURPLE is offering a broad array of options that fans can purchase separately from their tickets. Fans can add backstage tours; meet & greets and photo ops with the band members at select events; exclusive merchandise, autographs, early entry to the venue and more.
VIP packages are on sale for the following events:
Event Date Location
31 Oct. Bucharest, Romania (*Meet & Greet)
01 Nov. Sofia, Bulgaria
03 Nov. Sarajevo, Bosnia + Herzegovina (*Meet & Greet)
04 Nov. Split, Croatia
06 Nov. Budapest, Hungary (*Meet & Greet)
08 Nov. Graz, Austria
09 Nov. Pordeone, Italy
10 Nov. Mantova, Italy
12 Nov. Varese, Italy
14 Nov. Chateauroux, France
15 Nov. Toulon, France
16 Nov. Perpignan, France
18 Nov. Paris, France (*Meet & Greet)
19 Nov. Liege, Belgium (*Meet & Greet)
21 Nov. Le Havre, France
22 Nov. Angers, France
23 Nov. Brest, France
25 Nov. Le Mans, France
26 Nov. Orleans, France
27 Nov. Angouleme, France
28 Nov. Besancon, France
To access the VIP packages, go to www.DeepPurple.org. Fans without Internet access may call +1 508 791-6710, 4 p.m. - midnight CEST.
Since starting in the UK in 1968, DEEP PURPLE has reinvented itself multiple times, first establishing the sound that would eventually be known as "hard rock." Fans worldwide immediately recognize the pulsating chords of DEEP PURPLE's "Smoke on the Water," and "Highway Star" (the 8th greatest rock guitar solo of all time). The band's numerous albums, including "Deep Purple in Rock" (1970) and "Machine Head" (1972), and their more recent successes such as "Rapture of the Deep" (2005), have placed them firmly in the ranks of the best-selling artists of all time, with more than 100 million sold.


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Final Days For Bon Ton
Their "going out business" sale has been going on for several weeks now and the end is nearing for Bon Ton stores. The company will be closing all of their 212 stores for good no later than this Wednesday. Some could close before that.
Bon Ton has operated eight stores in Western New York. Of those eight locations, one property already has a new tenant lined up. The Eastern Hills store will be leased to Raymour and Flanagan.
The Lockport location along with several others will be auctioned off on September 2nd. Plans have yet to be announced for stores in Tonawanda, West Seneca, McKinley Mall, Chautauqua Mall, Olean Center Mall and the former Summit Mall.
The closing of Bon Ton and Sears at the Summit Mall are the final nails in the coffin of what was once a thriving mall in the Town of Wheatfield. A Canadian developer owns the property and a number of proposals have been aired out to replace the mall, but nothing has panned out.


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No matter where you stand on cell-cultured food or how you decide what to put into your body, lab-grown and 3D-printed food is real, out there, and developing new and more scalable techniques to get to market with every passing day.
A new intradepartmental study from the University of California, Davis, however, may pump the brakes a bit on some of the pro-cell-cultured food community. Its conclusion: lab-grown meat may be up to 25 times worse for the environment than natural, pasture-raised cattle/retail beef.
The study has yet to be peer-reviewed. Nonetheless, it’s been making waves across the food industry due to its approach to the subject matter; by analyzing the known CO2 emissions from the in-lab purification process, the study concludes that the global warming potential of cultured meat is between four and possibly 25 times higher than that of traditional retail beef.
“The animal cell growth medium was the major driver of the environmental impact in our work. We examined scenarios which took into the account the purification/refinement of the growth medium and scenarios which did not account for the purification/refinement of the growth medium. My initial reaction was that our study highlighted the need for development of an animal growth medium that is less refined than pharmaceutical-grade and can support cell densities (cells/ml) that will be commercially viable for animal cell-based meat,” said Derrick Risner, PhD, MS, an IIFH Innovator Fellow with UC Davis, in an e-mail to The Food Institute.
The lab purification process to remove endotoxins is resource-heavy and intrinsic to boneless meat production, but current technologies are simply neither efficient enough nor environmentally scalable for a market that may not be quite ready to embrace the end product anyway. (It also bears mentioning that no conclusive study nor evidence exists that lab-grown meat presents any real health issues.)
“Our results indicate that ACBM [animal cell-based meat] is likely to be more resource-intensive than most meat production systems,” the authors wrote. By focusing on the most common aspects of cell-cultured production, the authors attempted to present the most balanced conclusion possible and help establish a new, more realistic metric by which to judge this brave new world of food science.
Lab-grown meat is only currently approved for retail sale in Singapore. It is estimated that lab-grown meat could be found in American restaurants by the end of 2023, however, and in grocery stores and retail centers by 2028.
The study cites that the fossil fuel requirements associated with purifying cell-cultured meat are between three and 17 times greater than that of traditional retail beef. The study also explains that past measures of environmental feasibility for cell-cultured meat have relied on technologies that either don’t exist or whose efficacy is specious at best. Thus, many past analyses have jumped the shark a bit, as their methods of comparison aren’t nearly as viable in the real world anyway.
“If companies are having to purify growth media to pharmaceutical levels, it uses more resources, which then increases global warming potential,” said lead author and doctoral graduate Derrick Risner, UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. “If this product continues to be produced using the ‘pharma’ approach, it’s going to be worse for the environment and more expensive than conventional beef production.”
Boon or Bust for Global Culture?
Some communities are opposed to cell-cultured meat from a purely cultural perspective. The government of Italy, for example, is considering a bill banning cell-cultured meat entirely from its borders. Francesco Lollobrigida, Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, took to social media to decry the unknown future of lab-grown meat.
“Italy is the first nation free from the risks of synthetic foods,” he wrote. “In defense of citizens’ health, of our production model, of our quality, of our culture, simply our FOOD SOVEREIGNTY,” he continued. Under the proposed bill, anyone who violates the ban on lab-grown meat could face a fine of €60,000 (approximately $65,022 USD).
The report states: Despite the highly limited availability of ACBM products, investment in ACBM companies has continued to increase, with a total investment of over $2 billion (as of 2021). This investor excitement is likely linked to analysts’ reports which are bullish on meat alternatives with some reports predicting a 60-70% displacement of ground beef by 2030-2040. … More recent reports seem to be more modest with their predictions of replacing a half of a percent of conventional meat products with ACBM products by 2030. With 12.6 billion kg of beef produced in the United States in 2021, even this more conservative estimate of predicted displacement would have a massive impact on the food system.
Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson once said that the thing about science is that it’s true whether you believe in it or not. As impartial professionals, one of the goals of the study is to help define a future where cell-cultured meat is viable and can represent an efficient and environmentally friendly option to help feed the masses. If proper technology and facilities can be developed to lessen the current emissions costs of lab-grown products, then yes, the research team found cultured meat to be much more environmentally competitive and with a potential wide range of applications. Today, though, the scientific/environmental/cultural jump “from pharma to food” remains an expensive and taxing endeavor for mother Earth.
The report concludes, “Investing in scaling this technology before solving key issues like developing an environmentally friendly method for endotoxin removal…would be counter to the environmental goals which this sector has espoused.”
And it’s big business. The global cultured meat market was valued at over $180 billion in 2022 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 23.2% through 2032, reaching over 1 trillion by the next decade.
In Jurassic Park, proprietor John Hammond spared no expense and famously argued that “Creation is an act of pure will.” What the UC Davis study gets to is that yes, this technology exists and is potentially life changing for millions of people around the globe, both in the food industry, pharmaceuticals, and possibly other unknown applications. Whether or not the industry and its consumers are prepared to embrace that kind of creation – and its ensuant change and cultural shift amid consumers – remains to be seen.


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Just For Laughs Launches New Record Label, JFL Originals
Montréal, November 19, 2019 – Just For Laughs has earned a global reputation for producing premium quality content from their international festivals to countless hours of television and comedy tours worldwide. Today, Just For Laughs is excited to announce that it is expanding into the audio business with the launch of a Canadian-owned JFL record label. Under the banner “JFL Originals,” this new label will record and promote new original comedy content from Canadian talent.
From emerging Canadian comedians who are looking for a distribution outlet to seasoned comics with whom JFL already has a long-standing relationship, to others seeking to work with JFL for the first time, JFL Originals will embrace them all. The new label, featuring multi-comic compilation albums, will be distributed to leading audio suppliers including iHeartRadio Canada, Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and more.
“There is a growing thirst for audio recorded comedy, both here in Canada and internationally. We are always looking to grow the JFL brand in ways that satisfy comedy fans and we want to capture and distribute more Canadian content to meet these demands,” says JFL President, Bruce Hills. “JFL has identified an opportunity within the audio industry to create new, fresh audio content. We intend to reach out to a wide repertoire of artists who have immense comedic talent and appeal. We are looking forward to being a part of the creative process with them.”
The debut albums for this new JFL initiative will be recorded early next year, with additional opportunities to be unveiled in the coming months.
About Just For Laughs:
Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group’s growth is concentrated on three major focal points: festivals (in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney, Australia); television production and stand-up specials (most notably Gags, seen in 150 countries and on 100 airlines); and live shows (Canadian tour dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Trevor Noah, Kevin Hart, Jim Gaffigan, Bill Burr, Sebastian Maniscalco, John Mulaney, Jimmy Carr, Danny Bhoy, Amy Schumer, North American dates for John Cleese & Eric Idle, to name a few). The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, which celebrated its 37th edition in 2019, is the world’s largest and most prestigious comedy event, welcoming more than 2 million people each summer.


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They may be a little late to the 4K TV party, but Polaroid will be making some noise this summer when it offers its first line of Ultra High-Def (UHD) TVs: the company’s smallest entry, 43 inches, will hit retail for $500, and its largest size, 65 inches, will be available for $1,000.
The LED, internet-connected TVs will feature Google Cast, allowing owners to stream content in 4K, with a large selection of movies, music and other entertainment apps, Polaroid announced.
“We’re excited to announce we are working closely with Google to bring our first 4K UHD connected TV line to market later this summer,” said Scott W. Hardy, Polaroid president and CEO. “By teaming up with a company such as Google, we are able to offer consumers the latest in TV technology so they can easily share and enjoy their favorite content, and more importantly, deliver tremendous value to those looking to upgrade to a higher-resolution.”
Google Cast allows users to stream content to connected products via smartphones, tablets and laptops, and currently covers more than 1,000 apps, 200,000-plus TV shows and movies, and more than 30 million songs.
The 4K UHD TVs will feature 120hz refresh rates, handle more than 8 million pixels and HDMI 2.0 inputs.
Polaroid plans on releasing a larger, 75-inch model, with a retail price of $1,900, by the end of the year.


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After launching new MacBook Airs and Airport devices with support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi at its WWDC keynote today, Apple has now updated its AirPort Utility iOS app and Airport Utility on Mac to support the faster wireless standard.
The AirPort Utility iOS app is now in version 1.3 and comes with the ability to “configure and manage the new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule with 802.11ac Wi-Fi.”
The Utility on the Mac received an update to version 6.3, also bringing support for the new AirPort Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme with 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
Apple says the new standard provides “wireless performance that is up to three times faster when connected to an 802.11ac base station.”
Release notes below:
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Pokie manufacturer Aristocrat has upped its bet on the online gaming market with the $US500 million ($635 million) acquisition of Plarium, the Israeli gaming company behind Vikings: War of Clans.
Aristocrat's shares rallied as much as 6.15 per cent before closing up 1.9 per cent at $21.19 on Thursday.
Plarium has nine key titles including Terminator, Soldiers Inc and Sparta: War of Empires, and a pipeline of future releases. Its most popular game, Vikings: War of Clans, has repeatedly ranked in the top 10 grossing strategy games since its release in August 2015. Plarium's games are free to play, but certain features are available for players to buy.
Aristocrat, which derives the bulk of its earnings from electronic gaming equipment, hardware and systems sales, said the deal would increase the revenue contribution from its fast-growing digital business from 14 to 22 per cent on a pro forma basis.
The Plarium agreement follows the acquisition of Product Madness in 2012, which the company says is now a top-five social casino gaming publisher globally.
Plarium, headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, has more than 1200 employees across five genre-specific studios and multiple offices throughout Europe, Israel and the US.
"Plarium's business is strongly aligned with Aristocrat's, with similar operational approaches to game development and segment and market entry, common focus on producing the world's best gaming content and a common aspiration to be a market leader in our key target segments," Aristocrat chief executive Trevor Croker said.
Mr Croker took over as CEO from Jamie Odell in February.
"The transaction will not only transform the scale of our digital business today, but will also preserve Aristocrat's options to pursue acquisitions in the future in key growth segments."
The acquisition of Plarium allowed Aristocrat to immediately expand its addressable market from $US3.2 billion in the social casino segment, to $US25.4 billion when including the strategy, RPG [role-playing game] and casual segments, he said.
"It also provides us with a stronger platform to target the $US43.6 billion overall mobile and web games market as growth segments."
Mr Croker told Fairfax Media social gaming was an area the company had been eyeing for some time and was a "natural progression" as part of its overall digital growth strategy.
"We've been monitoring this sector for some years and looked at a number of different companies," he said.
The company had been eyeing Israeli companies "given there's a lot of talent and innovation coming out of Israel".
Israel is a new hotspot for start-ups, and Tel Aviv is one of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's innovation "landing pads" across the world. The launching pads are designed to allow start-ups opportunities to network and move their ideas into successful businesses.
Mr Croker said the company wanted to become more clever in reading user preferences based on data analytics.
The acquisition of Plarium would provide greater digital insights, and allow Aristocrat to offer "challenges and choices" to the consumer.
CEO and co-founder of Plarium, Avraham Shalel, said Aristocrat was "an ideal partner for us given our common aspiration to be a global leader in social gaming".
Mr Shalel would continue to lead Plarium post acquisition. He and 12 other members of the firm's management team would stay on and had agreed to deferred consideration arrangements with Aristocrat.
The deal is expected to be completed at the end of this calendar year. It implies a multiple of 10 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at year's end and is tipped to be earnings per share accretive in fiscal 2018.


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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of the Ghana Investments Promotions Centre (GIPC), Yofi Grant has said it was time Ghana committed to making the needed financial investments to tap into the full potential of cocoa and chocolate industry for the desired economic transformation.
He said the chocolate industry was expected to grow to $160 billion this year, spelling out the opportunities available in the sector that must be cashed on.
“We have to push for more investments into the value addition of cocoa, as a mainstream economic project. Produce cocoa, maximize and optimize the revenues realized. Chocolate gives us the perfect means to do that.
We, therefore, have to find ways to motivate, invest, grow and to earn a large share of the market, given that together with Cote d’Ivoire we produce 67% of the world’s global cocoa.”
Mr Grant backed a policy intended to serve the three million children that were accessing Ghana’s educational system with either cocoa drinks or chocolate bars on a daily basis, confident such a move would transform the local economy.
“We have three million children going through our education system, that is 10 percent of our population, if we decide to supply these children with cocoa drinks for the health benefits that it provides – helps with a retentive memory and the health of their heart – it would mean a major economic boost and employment opportunities for the sector.”
Mr Grant espoused these ideas as the Keynote Speaker at the maiden Business of Chocolate Summit dubbed ‘Chocolatarium 2022’ at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra.
The event was organized by the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) in partnership with public and private sector agencies such as the Cocoa Value Additional Artisans Association of Ghana (COVAAAGH).
Others were Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), Ghana Exports Promotions Authority (GEPA) and EXIM Bank.
The event brought together stakeholders in the cocoa industry to discuss the business of chocolate and its contribution to the growth of the economy.
It was also an occasion for more than two dozen Ghanaian artisanal chocolate makers and cocoa innovators to put their products on display.
Expanding on the idea of providing Ghanaian school children with cocoa and chocolate bars, Mr Grant said if the policy was successful it could be expanded to the West African sub-region with an estimated population of five million children.
He also said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with a population of 1.3 billion people offered Ghana the opportunity to dream about taking over the chocolate trade in Africa which would be a significant route into realizing a big share of the global financial value from chocolate.
He also revealed that his outfit, GIPC, were engaging partners, especially from the gulf region that had expressed interest in purchasing and making Ghana their preferred destination for cocoa and chocolate products and therefore projecting that local processing needed to expand to meet such demands.
Special guest and a Deputy Minister of Finance, John Kumah, said the government under the Ghana Covid-19 Alleviation and Revitalisation of Enterprise Support (Ghana CARES) was rolling out a programme where special arrangements would be made with banks and financial institutions to make funds available at reduced interest rates with flexible arrangements that would allow stakeholders in the cocoa industry to invest in cocoa value addition equipment and infrastructure to scale up their business.
He added that the government was also putting in place measures to increase locally installed processing capacity.
He stated that currently, the nationally installed cocoa marketing capacity was around 544,000 tonnes indicating that it rendered some factories under-utilized.
He posited that when you consider the contributions of artisanal producers it called for strategic support.
On his part, CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Akwasi Agyemang said the summit was a platform for players within the tourism and hospitality sector especially hotels and restaurants to get acquainted with locally manufactured chocolate and cocoa derived products and to patronise them.
- Let’s Invest In Cocoa Value Addition For Economic Transformation - February 22, 2022
- Increased Cocoa Consumption Can Significantly Reduce Annual Health Bill - February 9, 2022
- Nigeria Targets World No.1 Position In Cocoa Production By Next 5 Years - February 7, 2022


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While the market has registered double-digit shipment growth the past few years, tougher times lie ahead.
PC unit growth is forecast to average 5.7 percent annually from 2006 through 2008, half the 11.3 percent average of 2003 through 2005. PC revenue growth will average 2 percent annually from 2006 through 2008, less than half the 4.7 percent average of 2003 through 2005. Emerging markets will account for more than 60 percent of PC market growth from 2006 through 2008.
“With PC replacements still in full swing, 2005 should be a reasonably strong year for PC vendors,” said Leslie Fiering, research vice president for Gartner’s Client Platforms group. “However, the end of the replacement cycle is likely to strain viability for even the largest PC vendors in 2006 and beyond.”
Currently, the top 10 worldwide PC vendors, by unit shipment, are Dell, HP, IBM, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, Toshiba, NEC, Apple Computer, Lenovo Group and Gateway. Of the top 10 worldwide vendors, only Dell has consistently been profitable in the past several years. The PC divisions of HP and IBM are vulnerable to being spun off if their drag on margins and profitability are deemed too great by their parent companies.
Gartner’s detailed analysis on consolidation trends and other important issues for the PC industry through 2008 is available to the news media in the Gartner Research Note “Predicts 2005: PC Technologies Due for Transition.” This report is available on Gartner’s Web site at http://www3.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=458912.
PC price competition will intensify as vendors struggle to maintain growth in a competitive market environment characterized by weak replacement activity and the increasing significance of emerging markets.
“Global vendors will be forced to continue maximizing supply chain efficiencies and, finally, abandon any efforts to differentiate other than on price and service levels,” Ms. Fiering said. “Vendors that have yet to do so may attempt to diversify into related markets pursuits, such as consumer electronics, to bolster margins. Others may attempt mergers with rivals to improve margins through economies of scale.”
She added, “Exiting the market may be the only logical choice for global vendors bleeding profits and struggling for share.”
The growing prominence of emerging markets could open opportunities for local vendors in those regions to pursue global markets. Particularly in Asia/Pacific, leading local vendors, such as China’s Lenovo, appear well positioned to leverage their strong local-market standing and low-cost operating models into a global presence.
“Local PC vendors in emerging markets should consider acquiring local rivals as a means to consolidate home market position and develop the scale economies required to springboard into a global presence,” Ms. Fiering said.
Gartner analysts said customers will be able to exploit the approaching buyers’ market to pressure vendors on price and other incentives. However, customers also must consider the vendor’s commitment to the PC market, as well as the vendor’s “staying power” when selecting a manufacturer.


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Next year, Jersey City residents looking to get high may be able to step into a cannabis consumption lounge, buy a joint, and smoke it on-site.
Neighboring Bayonne may be home to retail shops and a marijuana grow — but no lounges.
And just up the hill in Union City, there will be no cannabis businesses whatsoever.
Under New Jersey’s landmark recreational marijuana law, passed in February, municipalities across the state have until Aug. 21 to implement rules about cannabis businesses — but have broad leeway in determining what those rules say.
Now, as that deadline approaches, Hudson County’s patchwork of recreational marijuana laws are coming into focus.
“It’s not every day that cities have an opportunity to really touch and be a part of an entirely new industry,” said Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, a longtime advocate of legal marijuana.
So far, Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, North Bergen and East Newark have passed or are considering rules that would open the towns up for cannabis businesses.
Earlier this month, Jersey City’s Planning Board passed a zoning ordinance allowing all types of cannabis businesses within city limits, except delivery businesses. There are no limits on how many such businesses will be allowed.
Fulop highlighted the “social justice component” in the city’s plans to allow on-site consumption lounges, noting that, since the drug is still a controlled substance under federal law, it cannot be used in federally subsidized housing.
“If you’re really focused on social justice, you can’t say that somebody can get cannabis for medical or adult use and not have a place to use it for medical or adult use,” he said.
Neighboring Hoboken is taking a similar route: an ordinance introduced earlier this month would allow a total of five dispensaries or retail shops in the city and would open the door for on-site consumption lounges.
North Bergen’s board of commissioners is also considering an ordinance that would open the town up to all marijuana businesses except delivery services and lounges. Only two retailers would be allowed under the ordinance, and applicants would have to apply for licenses to the “cannabis committee,” a body set to include the police chief, township administrator, and director of community improvement.
East Newark, which is roughly one-tenth of a square mile in size, is considering an ordinance that would allow up to 10 cannabis businesses, with a maximum of two of each type: retail, cultivation, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution.
Meanwhile, Bayonne’s city council voted this spring to limit cannabis businesses in the city to only four: two retailers, one grower, and one processing facility.
“We think that’s plenty, especially for something so new,” City Council President Sharon Nadrowski said at the time.
Businesses seeking to operate in those municipalities would still need approval from the state and from town officials, and would be subject to those towns’ zoning rules. City officials plan to implement rules limiting how close businesses can be to schools and each other, as well as security and odor mitigation measures.
Cannabis rules differ from town to town on more trivial matters, too. In North Bergen, the proposed cannabis ordinance bars weed businesses from operating “without opaque barriers to shield operations.”
But in East Newark, the proposed rules would prohibit windows from being “coated in any type of protective film, laminate or glazing” that “prevents the East Newark Police Department from being able to look into the establishments for security reasons.”
West New York and Harrison have not yet introduced cannabis ordinances, officials there said.
Meanwhile, five Hudson County towns — Union City, Kearny, Weehawken, Secaucus, and Guttenberg — have introduced or passed ordinances banning all recreational marijuana businesses, with the exception of medical facilities.
“As a mayor, I get dozens of calls a week concerning people smoking marijuana and other issues surrounding quality of life,” Union City Mayor Brian Stack said in May. “Union City is just too densely populated to become a location for recreational sales.”
But officials in Secaucus and Guttenberg say that their rules could change in the future.
Under the terms of New Jersey’s law, towns that fail to pass ordinances before Aug. 21 automatically become open to all types of cannabis businesses for five years. But by passing a ban, municipalities can maintain the status quo while working out the terms of a future ordinance.
Guttenberg Mayor Wayne Zitt said that a proposed ban on cannabis businesses, which the board of commissioners approved on first reading Monday, is effectively a placeholder that will give the town more flexibility later.
The small, densely packed town is “not conducive” for growing marijuana, Zitt said, but he is open to the possibility of a retailer opening someday.
“It’s definitely not a hard no,” Zitt said. “It’s just putting things in place because we don’t want anybody dictating to us what they’re going to do.”


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THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) was prejudiced of significant gate taking revenue at its “Big Five” music bash last Friday in a ticket racket, Independent Xtra can reveal.
ify>The music extravaganza, which featured superstar Oliver Mutukudzi, mbira impresario Ambuya Stella Chiweshe, Tongai Moyo and South African outfits Bongo Maffin and Mafikizolo was part of the tourism authority’s Travel Expo seeking to attract dwindling tourism business.
According to ZTA, 1 200 complimentary tickets were disbursed to tourism stakeholders who included exhibitors and buyers but only 60% of the free tickets were accounted for at the gate.
Independent Xtra witnessed a group of people, potentially connected to ZTA insiders, disposing of their complimentary tickets at “rock bottom” prices in full view of security officers who were manning the outside exhibition stands at the Rainbow Towers Hotel. An advance ticket for the music show was $20 000 while those who paid at the gate had to fork out $25 000. VIP tickets were selling at $30 000.
The people would approach unsuspecting revellers, especially those who turned up late at the venue, and offered their “extra tickets” for as little as $5 000 while others settled for $10 000.
ZTA this week maintained that the concert was a non-profit undertaking thus they never accrued financial loss.
Calculations of the missing tickets sold amount to about $12 million, that is 40% of the 1 200 tickets distributed multiplied by the $25 000 gate entry fee.
ZTA chief executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke, admitted that the authority had been alerted to the ticket scandal and said a “lot of people” had been arrested in connection with the fraudulent act.
“We were informed of the development and a lot of arrests were made,” said Kaseke. “What we found out was that these tickets were not fraudulent but genuine tickets. We gave away a total of 1 200 tickets mainly to our stakeholders.”
Kaseke said the event had only been organised for key players in the tourism sector but later made open to the public due to the visiting South African musical outfits.
“This thing (tourism music show) was meant for our stakeholders. It was neither a commercial venture nor fundraising occasion. We are not worried about the money. Takasiyana nawaya mapromoters wanounza ana Kanda Bongoman (We’re different from those musical promoters who bring Kanda Bongoman).
Also spoiling the evening were thieves running amok stealing cash and mobile phones from members of the audience.
ZTA has of late started to encroach into the entertainment industry, with one such example being the authority’s takeover of the Miss Zimbabwe pageant and renaming it Miss Zimbabwe Tourism.


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The present administration is anti-business—it’s that simple.
By Benjamin Seevers
The Biden administration has been and will likely continue to be a disaster throughout 2024. The actions of his administration and the federal government since 2021 have taken on an overwhelmingly interventionist character in regards to the economy. His failed economic policies come with little to no silver lining. The executive’s approval of antitrust policy is no exception to the failure of the Biden White House.
Antitrust laws are intended to discourage the formation of monopolies. But in reality, antitrust laws are mostly extended to fight any business that attempts to acquire any market power, therefore, stamping out competition rather than enhancing it.
The Biden administration has repeatedly stepped in the way of companies attempting to merge. This is unfortunate because mergers are always an attempt to improve consumer satisfaction. The acquiring company’s goal is to take the acquired company’s assets, increase the value, and hopefully make a profit by doing so.
Economics teaches us that obtaining higher profits indicates that a company successfully served the interests of consumers. Ludwig von Mises, one of Grove City College’s guiding stars, excellently explains this phenomenon. Consumer sovereignty, as Mises calls it, is the idea that all production in a voluntary economy is ultimately for the satisfaction of final consumers.
Because of this, the consumer guides all economic activity, like a captain at the wheel of a great ship. All mergers are, therefore, at the direction of the consumer, and likewise for the satisfaction of consumer desires.
So, how has the Biden administration prevented this beneficial economic activity? Let’s examine the antitrust actions of this past year. 2023 began with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) bringing antitrust action against Microsoft. What was Microsoft’s crime? Microsoft tried to acquire a smaller video game firm, Activision Blizzard. The percentage of the market Microsoft would hold after merging with Activision Blizzard would have been a measly 10.7 percent, which is hardly anything to write home about.
Microsoft’s competitor, Sony, alleges that Microsoft would gain an unfair advantage in acquiring Activision. In other words, Microsoft would not be acting competitively. Conversely, it is the FTC that is helping to create an unfair advantage. The FTC preventing Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard is an anti-competitive measure because preventing the merger serves Sony, who currently has the advantage of owning the rights to the PlayStation 5, a game console that has proven to be much more popular than Microsoft’s new Xbox.
Here lies one of the biggest contradictions of antitrust policy. Antitrust is intended to protect and improve competition, but it actually ends up limiting competition and protecting more efficient firms. Sony’s strong market power is undeniably harmed by Microsoft’s acquisitions.
A Year of Anti-Business
So what other antitrust actions has the Biden admin taken this year? Google has been subject to the Justice Department’s whims over allegedly holding a monopoly in the internet advertisement space market. While this accusation may be strong, what is the FTC leaving out?
Google, by selling advertisements along with metadata, provides many people with a free and effective search engine as well as various services such as Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets, which are all free alternatives to Microsoft’s products such as Bing, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. This lawsuit embroiled Google in hearings all year and wasted funds that could have been directed toward providing consumers with new products and services. If the government comes out on top, the consumer will suffer, and perhaps only Microsoft and their politicians will benefit.
Most recently, Amazon has come under fire as well. This should come as no surprise. Lina Khan, Biden’s anti-Big Tech crusading FTC chair, has had Amazon in her crosshairs since her time studying at Yale Law School. She wants to break up the company, which would be an absolute disaster. The quick and easy shopping that the average person has access to would disappear or become much less efficient. Countless other services that Amazon provides would be eliminated or limited and any innovations that Amazon brings about in the future would be snuffed out before they ever see the light of day. We should pray that Khan never succeeds.
Stepping away from Big Tech, the Biden administration has gone after a number of airline companies as well. The Justice Department attacked a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines. What was so bad about this partnership? Nothing! The partnership lowered costs for travelers across the Northeast region of the U.S., and it increased competitiveness as well. Neither JetBlue nor American held a significant market share in the airports this partnership affected. In fact, breaking up this partnership benefited the dominant airline companies in the region.
Now, JetBlue is refocusing its efforts on appealing the suit against its merger with Spirit Airlines, which was filed earlier in the year. Let’s hope it succeeds. Have you detected a theme yet? The major antitrust actions taken in 2023 benefit large firms at the expense of their smaller competitors and consumers. Consumers are harmed for political advantages. 2024 is likely to be no different.
About the Author
Benjamin Seevers ’23 is a economics PhD student at West Virginia University and holds a BA in economics from Grove City College. He was a 2023 Mises Summer Fellow. His research interests include private governance, public policy, and libertarian ethics.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grove City College, the Institute for Faith and Freedom, or their affiliates.


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The process of bricking and bricking begins anew.
A month ago, Apple announced both the iPhone 3 G and the iPhone 2.0 software. The 3 G will work on (GSM) 3 G Networks; the 2.0 software will breakout of Safari browser land and work with the interal system with development supported by an SDK. The roll out would be accompanied by a the iPhone App store embedded in iTunes. [Hmm. Wondering if they are pondering an iStore in the future?]
On Friday, July 11, these became available in 22 countries – with 48 more countries lined up for the remainder of the year. The day was accompanied by server meltdowns – both at Apple and at AT&T. People were upset, at least until Monday when the story was unfolded. In the first weekend, over 1 million iPhones were sold, clearing the shelves. Even more interesting, over 10 million applications were downloaded.
Jailbreaking this time around will saner. The worldwide release means that the system has to be easily localized and relocalized; unlocking the sims is more of a feature than ever. The SDK will make it easier for the developers to build robust, interesting, and responsive applications. The ipod development team announced that the phone was ready to be broken – they already had the pre-release system jailbroken and would only have to tweak it for the released version. The unlocking of the 3G will take a bit more time since the hardware was unavailable and, initially at least, more difficult to obtain.


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(Bloomberg) -- Aveva Group Plc’s $5 billion acquisition of SoftBank Group Corp.-backed OSIsoft last week will make the little-known software company one of the U.K.’s largest publicly traded tech companies. It may also make it a target.Aveva, based in Cambridge, England, makes software for industrial firms and specializes in tech that can take data from sensors in factories to predict malfunctions and find ways to improve output. As manufacturers have been pushed to upgrade technology to deal with more remote working and monitoring during the coronavirus lockdowns, that niche has fuelled growth.
Chief Financial Officer James Kidd said that he wants Aveva to continue to expand through deals, scooping up more of the small tech companies that have blossomed around this industry in recent years and incorporating them into an increasingly global enterprise.
Kidd and his colleagues already have experience with dealmaking: Aveva merged with French industrial giant Schneider Electric SE’s software business in 2018 in a transaction that left Schneider as its majority shareholder.
“We learned a lot through the Schneider-Aveva merger,” Kidd said in an interview. “It’s a playbook we could use again first and foremost. The sector is obviously consolidating and we want to play a major part in that.”
With a gross margin that beat Microsoft Corp.’s last fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and subscription revenue that grew 30% in the quarter ending in June, the company’s success could draw the attention of bigger rivals. The total addressable market for all types of industrial software makers is expected to grow more than 30% to over $56 billion by 2024 as more factories deploy digital tools, according to research from the ARC Advisory Group.
“It was in most companies’ three-to-five-year plan, then once the pandemic came, it really accelerated,” said Craig Resnick, vice president of consulting at ARC Advisory. “It’s really difficult to operate these plants remotely without having all the right tools -- not only to be able to monitor and visualize and control what goes on in the plant floor, but also to create digital models of some of the assets on the factory floor.”
Aveva is in a sweet spot having software development expertise and an intimate knowledge of the needs of industrial companies, Chief Executive Officer Craig Hayman said. Companies that don’t have both sets of skills find making this type of product much more difficult.
“It’s a little harder for some of the bigger software companies to do this,” said Julian Serafini, an analyst at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. “It doesn’t mean they won’t try, but Aveva is well-positioned from this angle of specialization.”
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©2020 Bloomberg L.P.


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SINGAPORE - Low-cost carrier Jetstar and Dubai's Emirates have expanded their partnership to give travellers even more flight and destination options.
From Oct 26, customers holding Emirates tickets will be able to access 30 new routes across the Asia-Pacific, including points from Singapore. From here, they will be able to hop onto Jetstar Asia flights to Penang, Yangon in Myanmar and Medan in Indonesia.
The tie-up will boost the number of Jetstar Asia destinations offered to Emirates customers to 12 routes, said the low-cost carrier's chief executive officer, Bara Pasupathi.
He said in a media release on Monday: "Since we launched the partnership, we have seen the number of Emirates' passengers double month on month so we see the extension of the codeshare to three of our most popular routes having tremendous potential."
Emirates customers travelling on Jetstar services will receive full-service features such as food and beverage on board.
The Jetstar group which includes airlines in Australia, Singapore and Vietnam, has been working closely with Emirates since the Middle Eastern carrier announced in September 2012 a new partnership with Australia's Qantas.
As part of the deal, Qantas which owns Jetstar in Australia and has stakes in the other subsidiaries, shifted its stopover point for its Australia-Europe flights from Singapore to Dubai with effect from April last year.


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This is as close as you're ever going to get to visiting the wacky animated mountain town of South Park.
Would you shape a band around the story of a game that seems to barely explain itself?
For more than a week, Twitch.TV users have been collaboratively playing Pokémon Red and Blue, with remarkable and hilarious results.
Fairy-rock type will be the 719th Pokémon to be added to the Pokédex
Titanfall is the first exclusive title for the Xbox One to have true system-selling potential, the way Halo helped move Xbox consoles once upon a time
With the launch of a new hardware option and 'remote play' support, Sony is clearly betting that the market for PS Vita devices is about to heat up
Silicon Studios and Square Enix have delivered an almost classic, very Final Fantasy-esque Japanese role-playing game for Nintendo 3DS
TT Games’ terrific take on the Warner Bros. film is an ode to building bricks; a Lego game made for Lego lovers
Taking a piece of add-on content and turning it into a standalone game is an interesting move for Ubisoft.
Montreal's Matt Kowalewski and Pat Boivin, known online as 'Matt and Pat,' are the stars of Two Best Friends Play, a popular YouTube series.
Read this cheat sheet if you are looking to come up with the next ‘Big Idea’ — and remember you only have to solve one
The race to find a new crop of business leaders to replace retiring Baby Boomers has now hit an unprecedented level of urgency, says Deloitte study
Staffed with chefs and onboard concierge, the 24-day trip stops in L.A., Bora Bora, Thailand, India, London. A deal if you book for two — just $119,000 each
Crunching your own numbers is a better way to determine your magic retirement number than taking some survey’s word for it. Here’s how
Economist says there is wage growth at top and bottom but middle class still lags: 'It is not that we are doing great but that they (Americans) are doing very...


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Could it be possible that you completely forgot a Disney World Resort? We almost did.
Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge was announced back in 2019 and for a while, we were hearing a LOT about it. The upcoming Disney Vacation Club resort was set to occupy the former home of Disney’s River Country water park near Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. In June 2020, it seemed like the resort may have been canceled. What’s going on with Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge?
So what IS Reflections anyway? This resort was announced as an ALL-NEW Disney Vacation Club hotel with more than 900 rooms, originally set to open in 2022. Did we mention it was set to have a Princess and the Frog-themed restaurant? That’s pretty neat.
Well, when the 2020 global health crisis reached the United States, Disney closed the theme parks and had to halt construction for some time. We last saw permits filed for the address of Reflections on April 3rd, 2019, and then — nothing. It’s possible that the resort was at least delayed at this point, if not canceled completely.
It’s been ages since we heard any official word from Disney on this upcoming resort, but reports did note that delivery of materials had been permanently canceled and that work on some already-completed concrete pours has been removed. This points to construction being permanently halted at this time — A.K.A. Reflections may have been canceled.
Oddly enough, Reflections was removed from a WAY old D23 blog post announcing the resort last August, but that’s the last movement we saw on the subject. No construction permits have been publicly filed and Disney is still withholding an update. There have certainly been times in the past where Disney has completely canceled a project or closed an offering without ever making an announcement (Disney’s River Country and Main Street Theater to name a few).
So, it’s been about five months since we last saw ANY news related to Reflections. We won’t blame you if it’s started to slip your mind! Today, we got curious to see if we could find an update and reached out to a Disney World Cast Member to see what they could tell us.
At this time, Cast Members WILL still give out a statement about Reflections: “Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge is a unique resort proposed Disney Vacation Club, drawing inspiration from the wonders of nature and the artistry of Walt Disney!” However, when asked specifically if the resort was still on the docket or not they let us know that they didn’t have any more information and to keep an eye on the Disney website and the Disney Parks Blog for more information.
We asked another Cast Member as well to see if we could get the same answer, and she let us know that the latest information was from way back in 2019 and noted that the resort would open in 2022. She told us to keep an eye out and that “We should have more information as the date gets closer!”
So, our limbo continues! Signs seem to point to cancellation or at least a LENGTHY delay to this resort, but we’re still waiting on an official word from Disney. Of course, you can stay tuned to DFB for the latest updates about Reflections and alllll the other Disney news too!
What do you think of the Reflections situation? Tell us in the comments!


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The 10 Hottest Servers Of 2021 With AMD’s New EPYC Processors
Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are currently battling for server leadership in the global market. The worldwide sever market generated $25.8 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2020, representing an increase of 1.5 percent year over year, according to data from research firm IDC. With nearly 3.3 million server units shipped in the fourth quarter, the global COVID-19 pandemic has yet to significantly slow down the server market as hyperscale players like AWS, Google and Microsoft continue to spend billions each quarter on equipping new data centers.
AMD called its new 7-nanometer EPYC processors, code-named Milan, the “highest-performance server processors in the industry, at the socket level and at the per-core level.”
Here are 10 of the world’s hottest new servers from Dell, HPE, Lenovo and Supermicro based on AMD’s new EPYC processors.