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Kids are at Risk
the Buzz Online
Children face a variety of challenges that were unknown only a few decades ago, such as: cyber bullying, online predators and scams and being exposed to inappropriate content.
Jim Kilian, Director of Information Security at Midco, said parents need to be mindful of what their children are doing online, but should also take advantage of technological solutions available to reduce the risks children face on the web.
Firewalls, restricting Internet access, privacy settings on profiles and settings on search engines should all be managed by parents, Kilian said.
But technology can’t do everything, he pointed out. So even after taking advantage of what technology has to offer, talking to your children about their Internet use is important because young people are more susceptible to online threats.
“The biggest problem we see with kids involves their inability to recognize risks and threats (online),” Kilian said.
For instance, a child would recognize a tiger as a threat right away. But in the electronic world, a child is dealing with a person that isn’t physically there, making the threat much more difficult to distinguish.
In chat rooms and on social sites, your child has no idea who is at the other end of the conversation and it could be someone using a con game to gain his or her trust. Conversations with strangers, emails announcing prize winnings, unclear website offers and anything that is just too good to be true should be cautiously approached or avoided entirely.
Parents are the key to educating children about online predators and scams. Simple steps like keeping the computer in an open area, explaining to your child to not post personal identifiers and how to keep information private and for friends-only can go a long way to protect a child online.
Wired Up and Ready
When purchasing online, keeping your bank details secure is crucial.
You can pay directly from your bank account through PayPal, but it is worth noting: if you use this method and things go wrong, certain consumer protection options that apply to credit cards may not be available to you. So, always select the credit card option when using PayPal, advises wiredsafety.com.
All U.S. credit cards are required to correct any billing related to fraud. They also have an obligation, if you notify them in the manner set out in their policies, to credit any charge related to a certain kind of dispute. And, if you have a valid dispute that isn’t resolved by the seller, that credit becomes permanent. Even if PayPal and other payment mechanisms offer buyer protection, it may not be as good as what you get under existing credit card dispute laws. So, if in doubt, opt for a credit card payment.
WiredSafety recommends using one card for all online purchases. You’ll find it’s easier to track spending and protect your financial identity at the same time.


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Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More
Viv Labs CEO Dag Kittlaus envisions a day when appliances speak to you as soon as you take them out of a box, are aware of your preferences, can talk you through a tutorial, and can build an emotional bond.
Kittlaus and Viv Labs cofounder Adam Cheyer, both co-creators of Apple’s Siri, debuted the Bixby Developer Studio for creating voice apps with Bixby, an AI assistant that will learn how to speak five new languages next year.
Viv Labs technology fuels Bixby 2.0, which was introduced last year and enhances the assistant’s natural language abilities and can deep-link with a variety of services.
“I have a vision — and I think a lot of us here at Samsung share this vision — where it’s not just about buying a cool, shiny object anymore. I can imagine a day where every time you buy a Samsung product, you literally take it out of the box, plug it in, authenticate yourself somehow and it says, ‘Hi Spike, how’s it going today? I just downloaded your favorite preferences. Do you have any questions on how to use me?'” Kittlaus said onstage at the Samsung Developer Conference.
Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls.
Kittlaus spoke with Her director Spike Jonze and Samsung CMO Marc Mathieu onstage Thursday during a keynote address on day two of the conference.
It’s one thing for a run of the mill smart home appliance manufacturer to share such a vision, but it’s quite another coming from Samsung, a company that ships 500 million televisions, dishwashers, and other devices a year and is one of the biggest manufacturers on Earth.
Samsung has committed to making all of its products connected and intelligent by 2020.
“It knows you, and that is sort of the first step toward moving from ‘Wow, this is a really cool, shiny, new device’ to creating an emotional relationship with a brand or a company that has gone so far as to take these ideas and really turn them into products, where it just makes you feel good when you pull it out of the box. And it knows you, and it knows your past, and can help you,” he said.
In Her, an AI assistant named Samantha — voiced by Scarlett Johansson — forms a deep emotional bond with a lonely male character played by Joaquin Phoenix.
Kittlaus thanked Jonze for making Her and said its contribution to the imaginations of conversation experience designers is akin to that of Hal 9000 from Space Odyssey: 2001 and Kitt from Knight Rider. He also repeatedly implored developers making conversational experiences for Bixby (called capsules) to appeal to users’ humanity.
“This now sets a new bar for what we’re talking about, so I’m appreciative of that, because it’s brought to life something that we have to really actually think about as we’re building the future,” Jonze said.
Her wasn’t made with technology in mind, Jonze said. Instead, he was thinking about human needs, like people’s longing for intimacy and fear of revealing themselves.
Jonze said he believes it’s necessary for the people making voice assistants to recognize what makes them feel more or less connected, something Kittlaus also urged developers making capsules for Bixby to consider.
Doing so will allow Samsung to leapfrog its competitors in the space, he said.
“There’s lessons learned here over and over and in many different contexts that [you need to give] it a little bit of personality, have thoughtful process around it as you’re developing things for Bixby, for example, make it a little more human. Because you know what? It’s going to be more well-received. There’s plenty of evidence all over the place that just the human touch creates that connection, and that inherently will increase engagement people have with the product,” he said.
Kittlaus joins a chorus of voices emphasizing that context-specific and emotionally intelligent experiences are key to creating a deeper connection.
Ashwin Ram, the technical director of AI at Google Cloud and former head of the Alexa Prize at Amazon, suggested assistants that can maintain a conversation could be an antidote to the loneliness epidemic that claims too many lives in modern society.
Assistant connection also came up last month at VentureBeat’s VB Summit, where eBay VP of applied research and machine learning Alexander Stojanovic asserted that the future belongs to companies that can make the deepest connection with users, and Amazon VP Mariam Daniel said Alexa has an ESTJ personality on the Meyers-Briggs scale.
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Apple has often been called, for better and sometimes for worse, the luxury automobile of personal computers. Now it seems that metaphor has influenced reality as Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to integrate the iPhone and Siri's voice control functions into its new A-Class vehicle, according to a PSFK report.
The new A-Class vehicle will seamlessly merge iPhone 4S functions into the car's in-vehicle display via Daimler's Digital DriveStyle App and COMAND Online multimedia system. While docked in the car, the iPhone 4S will receive an automatic charge and offer access to the device's content as well as social networking applications, including Facebook and Twitter.
But the biggest win here for Apple is the fact that Mercedes-Benz is the first carmaker to offer Siri as a part of its voice control systems. Using Siri, drivers will be able to send SMS text messages and emails while traveling, check location and weather, schedule appointments on-the-go, as well as select from the full menu of music available on their iPhone 4S. This hands-free, mobile control of a device that many consider their primary computer gives us our first real glimpse at what traveling with a virtual assistant feels like.
This latest news may also explain why late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs seemed so closely tied to his famous license plate-free Mercedes-Benz he may have been testing this integration out personally for the last couple years. According to reports, Jobs purchased a new Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG about every six months to avoid getting plates, but the reasoning behind sticking with one car particular brand of vehicle, year in, year out, perhaps had just as much to do with research and development as it had to do with personal taste.
Although the first rollout of this iPhone 4S pairing is limited to the brand's A-Class vehicles, Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce the Apple integration in the B-, C- and E-Class vehicles starting this fall.


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A World Trade Organization (WTO) appellate body issued a report today affirming the United States victory in the U.S. challenge to India’s “localization” rules, which discriminated against imported solar cells and modules under India’s National Solar Mission.
World Trade Organization
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A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel ruled in favor of the United States today in the U.S. challenge to India's "localization" rules discriminating against imported solar cells and modules under India's National Solar Mission.
WASHINGTON, DC - Calling it “justified and necessary,” Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement today, supporting the U.S. government’s decision to move forward with its World Trade Organization (WTO) case against India:
With no end in sight to the ongoing solar trade dispute between the United States and China, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is offering an industry compromise between the U.S. and Chinese solar industries, which could serve as the centerpiece for a fair, negotiated settlement of outstanding issues, benefit end users, and encourage the proliferation of solar energy in the United States and globally.
Conflict: Existing solar-related trade remedy orders and investigations between the United States and China are causing significant adverse and unintended effects across the global solar supply chain, without sufficiently


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Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are obsessed with Christmas, like, really obsessed. The couple, who star together in an adorable Samsung holiday commercial, tell Us Weekly they're complete "holiday junkies."
In the commercial, which Us has an exclusive first look at, the Parenthood actor, 39, and Veronica Mars alum, 34, emulate their real life and don matching Christmas ensembles and adorn their home with everything from fake snow to popcorn garlands.
"Being in the holiday campaign is even better because we are both complete and utter holiday junkies," Bell, who is expecting her second child, told Us. "Any excuse we have to celebrate a little more, it feels very natural to us! We're just showing people a snapshot of our real life."
And they're not kidding — Shepard says they even wear matching sweaters in their own home.
"It's literally our favorite season, our favorite time of the year," the funnyman said. "We start with wearing matching Christmas sweaters the day after Halloween. And matching for the entire family, so not only us but that includes our daughter [Lincoln] and the canines too. And again that's not bulls–t because you can go on our Twitter and see three years ago us fully clad in matching outfits with the dogs," he added.
Bell, who is visibly pregnant in the commercial and needs help tying her shoes, tells Us she's feeling "great" but when it comes to sleeping, her husband has a different opinion. See photos of Bell's maternity style.
"The nighttime gets a little dangerous," he joked. "It's like sleeping next to a giant wounded elk who's been hit by a semi and won't die — snoring, drooling, grunting, kicking, getting up and walking…The other night she was eating a big glass of ice cubes, like crunching very loudly as she did all those other things. That was a really great time."
Watch the cute ad above for yourselves!
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Simmons Financial institution promoted Laura Condley, Tim Maiden and Dion Gray to senior vice president roles and director of marketplace advancement roles within its not too long ago created metro sector growth workforce.
Erica Preston and Ray Torrence III also have been additional to the crew in the exact same roles for unique markets.
These key leaders will oversee private shopper and business enterprise banking, deepen and create consumer interactions and give collaborative economic merchandise and expert services, the financial institution reported on Wednesday.
Chris White, executive vice president of metro industry progress, stated in a news release that this enlargement is the immediate consequence of the bank’s expansion across its 6-state footprint.
Condley will guide Fort Value industry advancement. She joined Simmons Lender in 2020 as a current market retail manager and has almost 20 decades of banking, internet marketing and retail practical experience.
Maiden will direct Dallas industry growth. He has more than 20 yrs of commercial banking experience. Maiden joined Simmons Lender in 2019 and was not too long ago named the bank’s Volunteer of the 12 months.
Grey will lead Memphis marketplace progress and has more than 20 years of practical experience in the banking and finance market. He joined Simmons Bank final yr.
Preston will direct northwest Arkansas current market growth. Prior to signing up for Simmons, she served as main operating officer for Chambers Lender in Danville. She is a graduate of the College of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Colorado University of Banking.
Torrence will lead St. Louis sector enhancement and delivers practically 25 years of banking experience to the table. He will come to Simmons Financial institution soon after top retail and company banking teams at Areas Financial institution.


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Rodon Group LLC, a custom injection molder out of Hatfield, Pa., is setting its sights on a new product line that it says could have a significant impact on sales and profitability for the company in the years to come.
The product, called SillDry, is a patented one-piece sill pan flashing that is designed to protect vulnerable areas of windows and doors from water intrusion. The expandable, waterproof design has a raised back dam with a built-in slope and features an accordion-style expansion capability.
The part is made of thermoplastic polyolefin and can be molded in a cycle time of 30-60 seconds depending on the size, which can range from "18 inches to infinity," according to co-inventor Joel Glickman. The largest size so far has been 12 feet, he said.
"And it solves a problem where there are builders out there who have gone out of business because they're being sued for what the SillDry pan protects against, which is the windows leaking," Glickman said in a phone interview.
"The house settles, and the windows crack in the corners. They can't help it, so water gets in, seeps down under the window and rots out the sill underneath it," he said. "The SillDry sill pan takes the water that could conceivably seep through there and disperses it into and out of the building."
Glickman is chairman and CEO of Rodon Group and the inventor of K'Nex construction toys. He's also now principal at Sill Dry Industries LLC alongside Kieran McMahon, a construction industry veteran who originally presented the window-leaking problem to Glickman.
"People come to us with problems — they require something — and we help them solve them," Glickman said. "They need a product, and we help them design something that's both manufacturable and what they need for whatever they're building."
Glickman invented K'Nex in 1991. The company, founded in 1992, makes the widely known construction sets based on interconnecting plastic girders and supports that can be assembled into various structures.
K'Nex Brands' assets were sold to Basic Fun, a toy and novelty company in Boca Raton, Fla., in a January 2018 auction, but Rodon still molds the components, Glickman said.
"I made a decision that we couldn't finance both businesses appropriately," he said of K'Nex and Sill Dry.
Glickman said he had been contemplating expanding into SillDry and, ultimately, determined it had more potential. "You're talking significant dollars," he said.
"K'Nex is and continues to be a wonderful product. It's now been almost 30 years that it's been in existence, and I imagine it'll outlast me," he added. "But SillDry represents a much, much larger opportunity financially."


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that Tesla would be suspending the option to pay for vehicles using Bitcoin. In a tweet, Elon Musk said Tesla had suspended vehicle purchases using BTC out of concerns of rapid usage of fossil fuels in mining and transactions.
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel. Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment” Elon Musk.
Tesla first announced it was accepting BTC for car payments starting in February. The announcement after a $1.5 billion investment in the digital asset as a treasury asset.
Elon Musk further stated Tesla would not be selling any BTC, and they intend to use it for transactions as soon as mining transitions to more sustainable energy. The electric car maker revealed they are looking at other cryptocurrencies that use <1% of Bitcoin’s energy/transaction.
During the first quarter of 2021, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of “digital assets,” then sold $272 million worth. According to a financial filing from Tesla on April 26, profits from bitcoin sales specifically allowed the company to notch a $101 million “positive impact” toward profitability.
The electric car maker has been expressing its growing interest in dogecoin, the meme-inspired token.
This past weekend, Elon Musk made his hosting debut Saturday Night Live” and devoted part of his opening monologue and one sketch to talking up dogecoin. He polled his nearly 54 million Twitter followers asking whether Tesla should accept Dogecoin as a payment option.
However, Instead of helping drive up the price of the meme-inspired token, dogecoin actually tanked 30% over the course of the hour that Musk was hosting SNL.
Performance of Bitcoin
Following the announcement, the price of bitcoin dropped about 5% in the first minutes. The digital currency has continued to decline, falling over 10% in the last 24 hours. As of 10.00 A.M East African Time, bitcoin was exchanging hands at $ 51,177.10.
Following Musk’s announcement on Thursday, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that the team will continue to accept BTC and other cryptocurrencies because “we know that replacing Gold as a store of value will help the environment.”


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TOKYO, July 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- LINE Corporation, owners and operators of the free calling and messaging app, "LINE", announced that registered user numbers for the app have exceed 200 million worldwide today.
Since its launch in June 2011, LINE has grown to become a service enjoyed by users all over the world, reaching out from Japan to as far as Taiwan, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, Spain, India, and South America. We here at LINE would like to express our sincere gratitude to all you 200 million users for your support.
Since its launch, LINE has also taken various efforts to localize its service and contents for each country and region. For example, we have offered special Brown and Cony Ramadan stickers to users in Islamic regions in conjunction with Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that is marked by daily fasting from dawn to sunset. Additionally, in Indonesia, we have also donated all proceeds for the sale of a set of orangutan stickers to a fund aimed at the conservation of this endangered species in that country.
To celebrate the milestone of 200M registered users, and to share the outcomes of our various activities domestically and abroad, and our goals for the future, LINE will be conducting a business conference this August, called Hello, Friends in Tokyo 2013. LINE is offering 100 users a chance to win a pair of invitations to the event. Please visit our website for more details.
All download figures are for iPhone/Android/Windows Phone/BlackBerry/Nokia Asha/feature phone apps combined.
LINE is a smartphone app which allows users to enjoy free calls and messages to one another, both nationally and internationally, regardless of which mobile network provider they are using. Launched in June 2011 by NHN, LINE has more than 100 million users worldwide. It has also been ranked no. 1 in 41 countries in the free app category including Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Macau, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Latvia. LINE carries various unique features such as 'instant translation service,' 'Official Accounts' that enable users to interact with famous public figures, 'Timeline and Home' to share recent updates with friends, 'Shake it,' a fun way of exchanging ids and many 'Emoji/Stickers/Emoticons.' For more information visit: http://line.naver.jp/en/.
About NHN Corporation
NHN Corporation is Korea's premier Internet company, operating the nation's top search portal, Naver (www.naver.com) the leading online game portal, Hangame (www.hangame.com) the nation's largest children's portal, Jr. Naver (jr.naver.com), Korea's first online donation portal, Happybean (happybean.naver.com) and microblog service Me2DAY (http://me2day.net/).Starting from the two business pillars of search and games, NHN has rolled out a wide range of innovative and convenient online services that enable people to enjoy their lives. NHN outgrew the confines of the national borders. Not only did we build a good reputation in Japan but it also set up NHN USA, forging toward becoming a world-class internet company. The key mission is to connect users with the best quality services. For more information visit: http://www.nhncorp.com/nhnen/index.nhn .
© 2013 NHN Corporation. All rights reserved. NHN, LINE logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NHN Corporation in Korea and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.
SOURCE LINE Corporation


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Editor’s note: This article was written as a follow-up to the piece, “Say goodbye to NPEs in teat dip,” published in the Jan. 19, 2015 issue of Progressive Dairyman. Editor's note: This article has been corrected to indicate the duties of the National Mastitis Council in recommending protocols, not testing for efficacy of teat dips. Recent action in international markets banning nonyl-phenol ethoxylates (NPE) in milk has raised U.S. dairy producers’ awareness of the substance in teat dips.
Used as a surfactant to bind iodine and keep it in suspension, NPEs have provided economical disinfectants and skin conditioners for years.
But the science now shows NPEs can leave residue in milk, and that residue can have health and environmental implications. And that creates economic implications. Companies exporting milk to China, Canada and the European Union are not allowed to have NPE residue in their product. That means U.S. producers supplying that market must avoid the ingredient.
Product manufacturers, accustomed to meeting the needs of European markets where NPEs have long been banned, are responding with new non-iodine NPE-free products for the U.S.
But are those products really safe? While most producers trust their supplier representative and the company they represent, there is a faction of the industry that isn’t so sure that’s the safest way to operate.
“The milk is tested for NPEs,” says David Wood, vice president of technical services for CLSolutions LLC, an Omaha company that specializes in contract manufacturing, packaging and design, and includes a non-NPE teat dip in its lineup. “But there’s no way to know where they came from without testing the elements on the front end.”
The National Mastitis Council recommends protocols for testing the efficacy of teat disinfectants and provides protocols for researchers and/or manufacturers to follow when evaluating teat dips.
“Therefore,” says an NMC publication, “teat dips can be manufactured and marketed without demonstrating effectiveness or safety. In this ‘buyer beware’ market, the consumer is responsible for determining whether a particular product has been tested and proven effective.
Before using or recommending a particular product, request written information from the manufacturer on compliance with federal regulations and results of controlled research studies showing effectiveness.” The same goes for safety.
That’s not to imply teat dips are not controlled. They are classified as animal drugs and must be registered with the FDA. That means manufacturers must follow rigid good manufacturing processes (GMP) set by the FDA and manufacturing facilities are subject to FDA inspection, including review of raw materials, equipment, lab standards and labeling.
At the dairy, production methods can account for NPE contamination in milk. Failure to thoroughly clean detergent from equipment can leave NPE residue that appears in the final product.
Or the NPEs may come from the products themselves. “The label may not list NPEs as an ingredient, but it is not required to say ‘NPE-free,’” explains Wood. “It doesn’t hurt to have verification of the contents of the products you’re using.”
Some producers are seeking third-party testing to get that verification.
Custom Industrial Analysis Labs (CIA Labs) in St. Joseph, Missouri, is one lab that performs that type of product testing. Labs like CIA Labs are often enlisted by manufacturers during the research and development phase to perform testing that larger labs avoid for efficiency purposes. Likewise, smaller labs are more willing to perform the individual testing producers may desire.
“So far the requests have been few,” says Dr. Richard Schwarz, CEO of CIA Labs, “but the potential is there.”
The lab uses a process known as high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to test for NPEs. HPLC is a method for separating and quantitatively determining compounds or ingredients.
Testing begins by using a reference standard, or pure material, in this case NPE. The standard is injected into the HPLC. At a certain time, a peak for the NPE is detected by the instrument and noted on a graph.
The sample mixture in question is then injected into the HPLC, and the researcher looks for a possible peak at the same time the NPE standard was noted.
If no corresponding peak is noted, the mixture is free of NPE. If it is present, the amount of NPE is calculated.
“So far, in the teat dips we’ve tested, there were no NPEs present,” Schwarz says.
He adds producer concern should probably be correlated to the source of the product. “It depends on where they’re getting it, where it’s made. If it’s made in a country without strong environmental controls, there could be cause for concern.”
Cost for the testing is $150 to $200 per sample.
Wood sees value in testing – as a way to continue competitiveness in foreign markets and as a way to maintain transparency in a time when scrutinizing eyes are focused on agriculture.
“With a global focus on sustainability and environmental concerns, people are watching,” he says.
And so are industry insiders.
“Producers are more interested than ever in what goes on downstream,” he adds. “We should be testing everything to know what’s in there. That’s part of how the dairy industry will continue to adjust and improve.”
Future teat dips will need to meet new and expanding environmental regulations, leave non-toxic residues and be effective in meeting worldwide demands. And it will be up to the producer to ensure the products he uses meet those expectations. PD
Terri Queck-Matzie is a freelance writer in Fontanelle, Iowa.
PHOTO: Testing for NPEs in teat dips involves a process known as high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). CIA Labs in St. Joseph, Missouri, is one independent lab that offers the testing to dairy producers. Photo courtesy CIA Labs.


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After inspecting models from five major laptop manufacturers, those by Hewlett Packard (HP) and Apple registered the highest levels of certain hazardous substances, according to environmental group Greenpeace.
Aside from those by HP and Apple, Greenpeace said in a statement said it tested purchased laptop models from Acer, Dell and Sony. The test was conducted by an independent Danish laboratory, which checked the presence of hazardous substances in a variety of internal and external components.
According to a Greenpeace study, the lab findings on HP’s laptop registered high levels of Polybrominated Diphenylethers (PBDE is a class of Brominated flame retardants or BFRs), including decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in the fan. Lead was also found in the soldering.
On the other hand, the Apple Macbook registered a concentration of 262 mg/kg of Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA is another class of BFR) in the fan.
“During the sampling process it was remarkable to note that, whether Mac or PC, once you by-pass the sleek and cool design of these computers, hazardous substances are a component common to all,” said Kevin Brigden from the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, who oversaw the sampling analyses and produced the report.
Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace Southeast Asia toxics campaigner, said that developing countries, like the Philippines, are the most imperiled by the backward policies of these electronic companies.
“The absence of a fully-functioning global take-back system means that these contaminated products will find their way to scrap yards in Asia, exposing communities to hazardous substances that electronic companies have neglected to eliminate from their products, properly dispose of, or contain,” Baconguis said.
Greenpeace is calling on the electronics industry to go beyond the European Union (EU) RoHS directive. The EU RoHS Directive (the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) is intended to reduce the use of substances that may pose risks to human health or the environment.
Greenpeace is also calling on companies to eliminate all hazardous chemicals, including all type of BFRs and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastic. According to Greenpeace, no company has yet put on the market a product that is clean of all of these chemicals.
Many of the chemicals found in the laptops, including lead, PVC, and some BFRs, are hazardous to health and persist in the environment.
Long-term exposure to some BFRs (certain PBDEs) has been associated with abnormal brain development in animals, with possible long-term impacts on memory, learning and behavior.
Some BFRs also interfere with thyroid and estrogen hormone systems. TBBPA has been shown in some laboratory studies to be toxic to the nervous system. The presence of PBDE and TBBPA, or other bromine containing chemicals, in electronics products has the potential to generate brominated dioxins and furans, when the electronic waste comes to be smelted, incinerated or burnt in the open.
Brominated dioxins and furans may be of equivalent toxicity to chlorinated dioxins and furans, chemical compounds widely recognized as some of the most toxic chemicals many being toxic even in very low concentrations.
Meanwhile, when PVCs are produced or disposed by incineration, chlorinated dioxins and furans are released. Dioxins and furans are classes of chemical compounds widely recognized as some of the most toxic chemicals ever made by humans and many are toxic even in very low concentrations.


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A-List Film Snacks as Electric Cinema Goes Local
The famous Electric Cinema in Birmingham, the UK’s oldest working cinema, has added another quirk for film fans – locally made popcorn flavoured fudge.
The Electric Cinema, on Station Street, banned popcorn from its screens because of the noise and mess, but following a meeting with food group HEART of ENGLAND fine foods (HEFF), a fun and tasty solution has been found.
Sam Bishop from The Electric Cinema contacted the HEFF Trading Desk, a one stop shop for sourcing local food and drink, to source some local snack products suitable to be eaten in the dark that would create minimum noise when eaten.
The Trading Desk team set to work on looking to source suitable products to present to Sam and within a week showcased a range of samples along with prices and delivery information.
Three producers were successful in gaining a listing; Cake Aspirations, Chokolit and Tropical Tastes. The Trading Desk team also identified three other HEFF members’ products already on the menu; Hogan’s Cider, Purity Brewing and Just Rachel Quality Desserts. Products from all six producers will all now be promoted through point of sale material from the Trading Desk as ‘Try Something Local’.
As a result of the showcase, Ross-on-Wye based Cake Aspirations are now making a bespoke popcorn flavoured fudge to bring the popcorn flavour back to the Electric Cinema, without the noise and mess of the traditional bagged popcorn. Cake Aspirations has also been shortlisted for a HEFF Diamond Award for its Vanilla Fudge. The winners will be announced at the Diamond Awards Gala Dinner on Saturday 12 May.
Mr Bishop said: “The HEFF Trading Desk was invaluable in me being able to add the kind of products and choice I wanted at my venue. I had very specific requirements for my menu and it was thanks to the advice and resources of the Trading Desk that I was able to achieve exactly what I wanted.
“I am very proud to be offering locally produced products and we have found that our customers are very proud to be buying them!”
HEFF Supply Chain Development Manager Jon May said: “The HEFF Trading Desk allows us to assist buyers in sourcing local food and drink whilst helping producers expand markets and maximise profits. The Electric Cinema has seen the benefits already of working with small, flexible businesses which are better able to adapt to fit the needs of the buyer.”
For more information about the HEFF Trading Desk call the team on 01743 452812.


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DETROIT - Rubber product manufacturers often are caught between a rock and a hard place - between price-cutting demands of the automotive companies and unpredictable raw material costs.
This year General Motors is offering to ease that pressure by becoming both the customer and the raw-material supplier.
If GM can work out the specifics, some rubber company officials say they would be happy to work with the automaker in a new capacity. Others say, 'No thanks.'
For years, automakers have forced their suppliers to cut prices on original equipment auto parts. Although GM has tried to shake its reputation as a bully - dating back to the days of international purchasing director J. Ignacio Lopez - the automaker still wants to pay less for components.
BUYING FOR DELPHI
GM already buys natural and synthetic rubber and chemical products for its subsidiary Delphi Automotive Systems, one of the nation's largest makers of rubber products. The automaker's purchasing department believes if it buys even more raw materials - possibly from Southeast Asia - to resell to its supply base, it can secure lower fixed prices for everyone.
In this way, GM can decrease component prices even more and 'do it in a way that's not decimating the bottom line of the suppliers,' said Louis Fierens, worldwide chemical commodity manager at GM who oversees the purchase of rubber materials and parts.
A few rubber industry executives have talked to GM about a raw-material resale program, although they emphasize it has not gone beyond discussion. (One official said he had talked to Ford Motor Co. about a similar program. Ford declined to comment.) They and others in the industry -who are hearing about the program for the first time - are skeptical that GM can pull it off.
A few raw-material suppliers are just plain scared. 'It has been often talked about but never done,' said an official at a major synthetic rubber producer. 'There's nothing but bad news in that program, whether you're a raw-material supplier or a converter,' he said.
WHO GETS HURT?
The biggest question on the minds of many sources is: Who will feel the pain if raw material prices rise - GM, the makers of rubber products or the suppliers of raw materials?
Typically, rubber product makers absorb the increases. But GM said with the resale program, it will assume the risks involved with fluctuating material costs.
If GM is offering to take that burden away from the molders and extruders, 'we would love for them to take that on,' said an official at a company that molds rubber-to-metal parts.
'As long as you're the guy not getting squeezed, you're not going to mind,' said Harry Millis of Cleveland, a consultant to the rubber industry. In addition, suppliers who have shown their flexibility to GM on pricing in the past have done pretty well, Millis said.
If GM gets fixed prices on raw materials, the burden logically becomes that of the natural rubber, synthetic rubber and chemical producers. 'It just moves the area where the pressure is felt,' said Peter Boorman, former business manager of Shell International Chemical Co. and now a consultant to the rubber industry with Polymer Elastomer Business.
NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN
That's not exactly a cause for concern at GM. What should worry the automaker, according to the synthetic rubber company official and others, is that potential savings from the resale program might be eliminated anyway by the very nature of the auto industry.
For one thing, makers of rubber products have worked hard to meet auto companies' pricing demands by increasing efficiency and quality and decreasing defective parts.
Also, automakers such as GM require an extensive approval process for any new materials. Since every rubber source - whether it is natural or synthetic - is different, finding a new material or material supplier can be a long and daunting task.
'You still have to meet the (customer's) engineering specifications,' said William Schumann of Acadia Polymers, a Roanoke, Va., manufacturer of dynamic seals. If GM can find a way around that, Acadia would be interested, he said.
Another problem is that rubber product makers use a wide variety of ingredients for automotive applications. Even rubbers used for similar purposes, such as engine sealing, can differ greatly because of various requirements regarding temperature, chemical resistance and durability.
GM approached Eagle-Picher Industries Inc. of Cincinnati a couple of years ago with a similar resale project, said former Eagle-Picher official William Oeters, who is now president of joint venture Eagle-Picher-Boge LLC. However, Eagle-Picher uses so many different types of rubber at its various subsidiaries that the two companies could not find good fits, he said.
Over the years, automakers also have delegated more responsibilities to their supply base. In turn, suppliers have relied more on their relationships with full-service raw material sources.
The synthetic rubber industry official asked how, if GM finds cheaper suppliers in Southeast Asia, those material suppliers will be able to provide U.S. manufacturers with adequate technical support.
Others wonder what will become of the rubber trade. The head of one rubber trading company said GM began talking a year ago about not using the trade to acquire natural rubber.
Some consumers feel they can do things better and more efficiently themselves, the trader said.
Rubber traders, who have lower overhead, know where the rubber sources are and how much they should be paying for materials.
'(GM) is getting into an area they have very little experience in,' the executive said.
'Their shortsightedness might kill the trade.'


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Volvo said it expects a slight growth in overall demand, driven mainly by China and Europe, but added that 2014 will see a reduction in costs.
VECV, the joint venture between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, is revving up export plans from India and exploring new global markets.
Sweden's Aktiespararna shareholders association is recommending that its members accept Volkswagen's 200 crown per share offer to buy out minority stockholders.
Wabco Holdings, the Warren Buffett-backed auto parts maker, has cornered a majority of the market in several segments in India.
Infosys forecast an increase in IT spending by its US and European clients to boost sales between 7 and 9% this fiscal year, in line with expectations.


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Chef-restaurateur Alexis Gauthier has predicted that his restaurant — Gauthier Soho on Romilly Street — will go “fully vegan” within the next 18 months to two years. Even considering veganism’s recent exponential growth, it is the most high-profile restaurant in the capital to declare such an unequivocal move towards so-called “plant-based” cooking.
Speaking to the National Restaurant Congress last week, and as reported by Big Hospitality, Gauthier, who is no stranger to bold measures, gave an “impassioned” speech about veganism and his own personal vision for the “future of food.” He claims that “if you work in hospitality in 2018 and still look at veganism and plant-based eating as a ‘fad’ or ‘weird’, you are ‘a dinosaur, living in denial.”
Detailing his experiences of the past five years, including his own adoption of veganism, he discussed the events that have led to his belief in the importance and viability of putting (only) vegetables at the centre of what his restaurant does. He called it a “natural progression.”
Specifically citing the effect of anti foie gras protestors, Gauthier said he began to question his relationship with animals — and how they have found their way into diets. Selflessly, though, he said: “I can cook what I’ve been taught for the next 25 years and make money, but do I really want to carry on ignoring what’s happening?”
And yet, the profitability of serving meat might be more nuanced than it seems. Gauthier added: “While it is hard to make this choice because of some existing customers’ love of our classic French meat and fish dishes, actually it is customers driving this move. For example our ‘Les Plantes’ vegan tasting menu gift cards now outsell classic tasting menu gift cards by 2:1. I think we will have to just slowly convince our beloved regulars.”
But Gauthier, who in 2013 released a recipe book called Vegetronic, has for a long time nurtured his own reputation for privileging vegetables, at least within the milieu of French fine-dining in London.
Gauthier detailed his rationale, highlighting the following key points:
• What he called “the fundamental futility of the industry’s approach to sustainability, namely meat production and use in restaurant menus.”
Asked what specifically about sustainability elsewhere irked him and if he believed it to be a ruse, he told Eater:
I don’t think it’s a ruse, I think people are genuinely concerned and want to do the right thing. But it’s like we are all living in denial. It’s good for business to be seen to be doing something, like supporting small scale farming, rearing animals with less antibiotics and space to live. But deep inside we all know that it’s not how the animals are farmed, but the fact we are farming them in the first place. If we really wanted to be sustainable we would stop eating meat altogether. It’s very simple.
• He also claimed that “we are living on the brink of a global environmental catastrophe,” saying that livestock farming is “the single biggest contributing factor.” Restaurants, he said, were responsible for setting an example. “We have the chance to make being conscientious an exciting thing to do,” he added.
Eater asked Gauthier why chefs can’t just use minimal meat and fish and source only from ‘certified’ environmentally conscientious farmers — or whether, indeed, he believed there was no such thing. He said:
I’m sure there will always be some people who what to eat animals, and make cheese and butter etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am French and I know only too well the deliciousness of butter! And of course in a perfect world, there will be some wonderful farmers who keep cows with love like their own children, taking milk only when they are on a natural lactation cycle and making cheese which will taste like heaven and hopefully be worth more per kilo than white truffles.
But unfortunately the world is driven by greed, and desire for profit creates hell for the vast majority of animals in the world.
My standpoint is to give people no reason to want to eat that £1 chicken in the first place. If a classically trained French chef can be vegan, then believe me, anyone can. The only thing I have is creativity and my little restaurant in central London to showcase it. Hopefully this can help people make a move in the right direction.
• Gauthier hopes he can use his “incredibly fortunate” platform — as a chef with a central London restaurant, independent and without backers — “to forge new ground in the creation of plant-based eating.”
• He says for the last six months, the “creative sector” of the Gauthier kitchen has moved away from meat, fish and dairy and “focussed 100 percent on developing plant-based dishes.”
• He said that as young chef from Avignon, it was always in London that he dreamed he would live — “because of its unresting creativity and enthusiasm for the new and exciting.”
In conclusion, he urged the industry to join him in helping make London the “creative centre of plant-based eating and dining,” — as “when London creates, as with music, art and fashion,” he said, “the world follows.”


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Xbox One users will certainly now be able to play their Xbox 360 video games on Microsoft’s latest console thanks to the backwards compatibility function revealed by the Windows maker, with a few titles already prepped up and offered for the experience.
When Microsoft announced the Xbox One, it was generously clear that Xbox 360 games would not be suitable to operate on the brand-new console.
It was anticipated however still a frustration for many 360 users who were updating to Xbox One as they needed to start constructing brand-new games library from scratch for Microsoft’s newest gaming powerhouse. Speaking at the E3 opening keynote, Microsoft announced that all of that is now history as the company intends on bringing “native” in reverse compatibility to the Xbox One.
Sharing this extraordinary piece of news, Phil Spencer, the Xbox chief, even more puttinged that a select couple of titles would be available to Xbox One preview members starting today, with over a hundred titles anticipated to make the cut by this holiday – – however Microsoft hasn’t explained ‘‘ which’ titles they are going to be. So, exactly what if you already possess an Xbox 360 video game?
Undoubtedly, you shouldn’t be charged anything, considering you’ve currently paid for the video game, and thankfully this is precisely how Microsoft is playing it out – – offered that any option would beat the whole function of this update.
Users who currently have Xbox 360 titles will certainly see their video games turn up instantly in their account, and to sweeten the deal, Microsoft is also including the ability to broadcast, take screenshots, enable DVR features on these 360 games, providing users a somewhat fresher experience of those old video games.
For users who have a plethora of Xbox 360 video games, moving on to the Xbox One has actually been simplified thanks to the 1TB HDD-wielding design, which gives users ample area to store their older and newer titles under the very same roofing.
This is a substantially big step from Microsoft, and one that will absolutely decrease well with hardcore gamers around the globe. If you have an old Xbox 360 library of games lying around, Microsoft has actually today offered you a good factor to latch on to it for the time to come.
We’ll bring you more details on this news as we hear more from Microsoft on this at E3 this week, so stay tuned.
Update: Here are some of the Xbox 360 games that will be suitable to run on Xbox One. More to come soon!
- Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts-n-Bolts
- BattleBlock Theater
- Defense Grid
- Geometry Wars Evolved
- Hexis HD
- Jetpac Refuelled
- Mass Effect
- Perfect Dark
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Small Arms
- Super Meat Boy
- Toy Soldiers
- Toy Soldiers: Cold War
- Viva Piñata
- Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise


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Demand Soars For Gold Coins
Published: January 16, 1991
The United States Mint said yesterday that sales of its American Eagle bullion gold coin had skyrocketed yesterday and Monday. Analysts say fears about the possibility of war in the Middle East had caused demand to soar.
Laura Johnston, a spokeswoman for the Mint, said 31,000 ounces of the gold coins were sold between Monday afternoon and yesterday afternoon. By comparison, 33,000 ounces were sold in all of December. So far this month, 48,000 ounces of the bullion coins have been sold, Ms. Johnston said.
Demand for the coins, which trade at a small premium over the market price for bullion itself, has been falling in recent years. And sales remained sluggish last year until the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
"We have seen in the last week a really dramatic increase in gold Eagle sales as a direct result of the activities in the Middle East," said Rick D. Lawson, vice president of the Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank, a commercial bank subsidiary of the Bank of Boston, an authorized distributor of the American Eagle gold and silver coins.
He added, "Gold is seen as a safe haven in times of economic or political upheaval."


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Posted on September 25, 2018
Southtown Audio Video, located at 75 Lake Street in the village of Hamburg has been hard at work on first the exterior and now an interior renovation.
You probably noticed the work that started last October on the façade of the buildings on the corner of Lake and Union Street. What you have not seen is the interior work that has been happening inside the doors of Southtown Audio Video (SAV).
“The face of retail has changed,” remarks Heather Sidorowicz, President and Owner of the firm. “When I saw long successful companies close at the local Malls, I new we had to do something.”
Read the full article here: The Reinvention of Southtown Audio Video


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Have you ever used a Skrill digital wallet? Well, if you have, there is more you can do with it now. Skrill Digital wallet is a platform owned by Paysafe, a platform that specializes in payments. Now, the Skrill Digital Wallet made a very interesting announcement that it will now be expanding to cryptocurrencies. This expansion will be valid in the US and will be in partnership with Coinbase.
The deal here boils down to the fact that Coinbase provides a white label solution to the Digital Wallet, Skrill. Through this solution, the users of Skrill will be able to engage in buying and selling cryptocurrencies in over 37 states in the US.
The crypto offering of Skrill was spearheaded in 2018. After this period, Skrill has reached out to over 30 countries. Now, the customers residing in the State of Georgia, Washington, D.C., Washington state, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Puerto Rico, etc will be able to use the wallet to engage in Cryptocurrency exchange.
This is not Skrill’s first teamwork with Coinbase. It has had a history of integration with Coinbase in Europe wherein the support is rendered by Skrill as a liquidity exchange partner. Through the newest expansion, the residents of these States will be able to deal in the purchase and selling of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. By doing this, it goes in tandem with the recent fad and inclination towards cryptocurrencies. Most wallets are either just cryptocurrency-based or just dollar-based, Skrill provides a great conglomeration of both.
With Skrill, you cannot only use the US dollar to buy cryptocurrencies but can also use Bitcoin to buy other cryptocurrencies. Thus, without the hassle of conversion, the payments can be done in real-time equivalent currencies. You do not have to undergo the hassle of conversion from one currency to another and then pay through relevant currency mode. With the lack of conversion paraphernalia, Skrill users will also face lower transaction fees.
Skrill is all set to mark its success in the eyes and digital wallets of American consumers. The CEO of Skrill, Lorenzo Pellegrino said, “U.S. consumer interest in cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency trading is stronger than ever, so we’re delighted to better serve our customers’ needs by launching our Skrill crypto offering in the country in partnership with Coinbase. Powered by Coinbase’s sophisticated platform, our crypto offering is just Skrill’s latest U.S. move to provide consumers with a best-in-class digital wallet.”
Coinbase, too, has great anticipation about this upcoming partnership. Coinbase’s Brett Tejpaul (Institutional Trading Head) has said, “As we focus on building the crypto-economy, we look to partner with leaders like Skrill who can white-label our turnkey solution to provide and support digital assets to their clients without having to learn the nuances of building a crypto exchange.”
We hope this integration would lead to a better and more integrated wallet. Skrill’s digital wallet has already earned massive patronage. It is only likely to get better with this new transformation.


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Southfield-based Federal-Mogul Corp. (OTCBB: FDMLQ) said Tuesday it is scheduled to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Dec. 27.
On that date, Federal-Mogul will begin operating outside of bankruptcy court protection for the first time in six years.
Federal-Mogul filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. and England in October 2001 to escape asbestos liabilities stemming from companies Federal-Mogul acquired in the 1990s.
Federal-Moguls plan of reorganization was confirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Nov. 8 and affirmed by the U.S. District Court on Nov. 14.
We are delighted to have reached this significant milestone in Federal-Moguls 108-year history of serving the global automotive industry, said Federal-Mogul chairman, president and CEO Josȁ; Maria Alapont in a statement.
We are confident about our future and wish to acknowledge the support and loyalty of our customers, suppliers and employees worldwide.
Federal-Mogul reported 2006 sales of $6.3 billion.
The company makes automotive parts, including Champion spark plugs, for the aftermarket automotive industry as well as parts for automobile manufacturers.


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PC fans have really taken to Monster Hunter with the launch of Monster Hunter World. And Capcom has really keyed into the success and spun various other franchise entries into major success like Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry 5. Monster Hunter World in particular is a major success for the company, pushing millions of units. A big part of this sale milestone success was the massive improvements to the gameplay formula, which are only getting better in Iceborne.
The visuals are getting souped up too, as various improvements will be applied to the PC version with the launch of expansion patch. 4K resolution, an uncapped frame rate, ultra-widescreen support, DirectX 12 support, and a high-resolution texture pack will all be added to the monster hunting extravaganza in that patch. Gameplay changes are also coming to streamline some elements, namely with improved mouse and keyboard controls, to make the game easier to deal with. And this is very welcome as Iceborne will also introduce new tools and weapons that completely rebalance the combat, like the Clutch Claw.
But not content to just add new hunting tools, Capcom is also throwing in a major upgrade to the roster of beasts to hunt with said tools. Zinogre is making a return to the franchise. Joined by a whole host of subspecies of MHW monsters like new Viper Tobi-Kadachi with its much more vicious attack patterns. And the whole roster is capped off by a new Elder Dragon too.
All this sounds great to me, as I’m among many fans eagerly awaiting the launch of this new expansion after fully migrating to the PC version. We won’t have to wait much longer though, as an announcement from Capcom has revealed that the expansion will arrive on January 9, 2020. Check it out in another new trailer released for the update, down below.
If you’re looking to prepare for the expansion, we actually have some tips on how to get prepared for the journey into the Hoarfroast Reach. There’s a lot of gear to collect, especially the event Arch-Tempered Gamma gear sets which will be very useful for starting out in Iceborne. Luckily for returning players, the Autumn seasonal event is live now, bringing back all the event quests at once including AT Kulve Taroth. If you want to snatch these older sets at a later date, the PC modding scene has your back with a way to play the MHW event quests at any time.
But don’t hold onto that Gamma set too long, as it will be very easily outclassed by the new + Sets.
You can preorder Monster Hunter World: Iceborne for $39.99 on Steam. Monster Hunter World is also on sale for 50% off until October 28. Monster Hunter World Iceborne is out now for PS4 and Xbox One, and will of course be out on Jan 9th on PC. If you want to grab a copy, go over to Amazon to do just that.


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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
If there ever was any uncertainty around the acceptance of Egypt as a growing entrepreneurship hub, a few recent developments are likely to put it to rest. Even as the world watched Egyptian entrepreneur Mai Medhat appear on a panel discussion alongside US President Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, two Egyptian startups Instabug and Drofie made significant financial headway with their enterprises by raising funds from international investors.
Instabug, a startup that facilitates seamless bug reporting and in-app feedback for mobile apps, has raised US$1.7 million in a round led by Silicon Valley's Accel Partners and other angel investors including Amr Awadallah, co-founder, Cloudera, and Jim Payne, founder and CEO, MoPub. According to a statement, Instabug plans to utilize the funds to offer "full scale solutions to help mobile apps engage with beta users and production users," and to grow its new San Francisco office. Launched in 2013 as a basic SDK (Software Development Kit) to help mobile users report bugs in apps by shaking their phones, Instabug's unique product claims to have reported over 20 million bugs since then, serving over 12,000 mobile apps. The easy-to-use crash reporting system, in-app conversations and data analytic capabilities of Instabug has made it popular among app developers for beta testing and developing user engagement.
Instabug founders with the team of Lyft - a user of Instabug. Source: Instabug's Facebook page.
Commenting on the fundraising, Omar Gabr, CEO and co-founder, Instabug says: "The Accel team are the exact investors we were looking for. Their experience in the mobile and developer tools industry is what we wanted to add to help us to grow the company." Revealing details of the investment in a Medium post,
the Accel Partners team said that Instabug is their first investment in Egypt: "We met Omar and Mo [Moataz Soliman, CTO and co-founder, Instabug] during YC [Y Combinator] and were amazed by the kind of organization and culture they'd built (with one of the more incredible origin stories we've heard)." As part of Flat6Labs Cairo network, Instabug raised $300,000 from angel investors in 2013, and then joined Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch as the second Egyptian company ever in the accelerator. Accel Partners' other investments in developer tools and mobile platforms include Dropbox, Sentry, MoPub, and Segment, among others.
Source: Drofie's Facebook page.
Another Egyptian startup that made its presence felt recently is Drofie, a startup that has created what it refers to as the "flying selfie stick." Developed in Egypt by founder Mohamed Ghaith and team, and currently based out of Latvia, Drofie (Drone Selfie) beat 850+ applicants globally to win a place for itself in the Switzerland-based Kickstart Accelerator,
raising CHF25,000 in the process. Picked up under the Smart and Connected Machines vertical of the program, Drofie will benefit from mentorship, corporate contacts and workshops that the accelerator program offers. Speaking to startup community platform Labs of Lativa,
Drofie founder and CEO Mohamed Ghaith says that the strong technology ecosystem of Switzerland and the 25,000 CHF funding will help Drofie "create traction and momentum to raise the other seed round which we will launch soon."
Mohamed Ghaith, Founder and CEO, Drofie at LOGIN Startup Fair 2016. Source: Drofie's Facebook page.
Currently in pre-launch stage, Drofie takes the craze for selfie sticks to the next level as its prototype uses a patent-pending auto-pilot technology that enables the device to capture stable pictures while on the move. With a 15-megapixel camera, the device is portable and boasts of capabilities to maneuver around walls owing to its built –in infrared technology, and even follows a person around, capturing their every move, once thrown in the air. With a keen focus on design, Drofie is also being made in various colors, to personalize it to users' tastes.
Related: Flat6Labs And Barclays Launch 1864 Accelerator To Focus On Fintech In Egypt


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“Our customers are busy people. Whether they’re homeowners or commercial property managers, they have limited time to focus on energy management. Our latest eMonitor mobile app provides more powerful ways for these customers to manage their energy usage without having to go to their computers,” said Jason Roeder, director of energy products and services for Powerhouse Dynamics.
The company said the eMonitor mobile app enables users to drill-down to see real-time equipment operating profiles. This allows, for example, a facility manager who receives a report of a malfunctioning rooftop unit to immediately view the status of the HVAC unit via a smartphone to determine the best course of action for resolving the issue, saving valuable time.
The latest eMonitor app release also provides other new features, including support for Powerhouse Dynamics’ commercial thermostat that enables up to eight different set points per day, giving managers greater ability to fine tune heating and cooling systems. “Many of our customers are now empowered to impress their own customers,” said Roeder. “For example, in the case of restaurant guests who feel too hot or too cold — the host can simply use his or her smartphone and make the adjustment on the spot.”
“With this new release of our eMonitor mobile app, we’re adding even more power to an already powerful mobile energy and asset management platform,” said Powerhouse CEO Martin Flusberg. “We’ve listened to our customers and understand how important it is for them to have access to control functions and detailed energy information from their mobile devices. This new release addresses many customer requests.”
The new eMonitor mobile app is available to eMonitor users for download for the iPhone from the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play.
For more information, visit www.powerhousedynamics.com.
Publication date: 10/22/2012


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RuPay credit card launch put off till June
NPCI plans to tie up with 5-6 banks for the launch of its credit card operations and will later expand services to other banks
Why RuPay has potential to end the dominance of Visa and MasterCard in India
The payment gateway has surely helped the govt achieve its socia...
National Payments Corp of India gets RBI nod to tie-up with China UnionPay
The Reserve Bank promoted NPCI which so for offers payment service...
Chinese payments company China UnionPay to set up shop in India
Bankers said that the fact that the company is seeking to fill positions in India could only mean that it has some inprinciple approval from the central bank.
Indian rival in works to take swipe at Visa, MasterCard
Visa and MasterCard that play a major role when anyone uses a credit card, will face an unusual rival in India.
Visa, MasterCard and American Express demand action against China
Visa, Amex and MasterCard talked with officials about taking action against China for shutting the cos out of its $723 bn payment-processing market. US-China Yuan Battle
PayPal to tie up with Chinese partner
China's top provider of electronic payment services will tie up with online payment platform PayPal, the two companies said, in a move that will let Chinese customers buy from overseas merchants.
PayPal plans to double staff in Asia
PayPal, a unit of online auction site operator eBay Inc., plans to double its staff in Asia to 2,000 by the end of the year, president Scott Thompson said Wednesday.
China has 1.3 bn bank cards almost equal to its population
More than 1.3 billion bank cards have been issued by the end of September in China, roughly one for every person of an equal population figure, the state media reported.


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"So the end game at the end of the day is to trade tokens, the end game is smart contacts, the end game is to provide that area of the market that would like this product, to start to do so in a secure manner."It’s clear that JSE want to make this work, and are exploring the potential of a full blockchain overhaul, including the integration of not just tradeable crypto assets, but other blockchain products too. Moreover:
"We have a steering committee that was designed and formulated to look at the Blockstation product, to look at the blockchain technology in general and to go through the phases to ensure that we understand what we are getting involved with and are also trained in what this entire trading of cryptocurrency involves.”Likewise, the co-founder of Blockstation, Jai Waterman, has told Coindesk:
"Our mission is to provide … a secure method of trading cryptocurrencies with broker-dealers and stock exchanges," he said. "We're providing the stock exchange the technology for a broker-dealer network and repository, so that from end-to-end, their life cycle of trading – just like with securities – they can do the exact same thing with blockchain and cryptocurrencies."See more for yourself, here. It will no doubt be a long process, the JSE do not want to rush into this and want to be sure that any listings come with an intrinsic advantage to their investors. Moreover, they need their crypto and digital asset listings to compliment the products already listed on the stock exchange and not to compete with them or drown them out. Clearly, the JSE are looking to attract a new crowd, but also know they need to retain an attraction to traditional stocks and exchanges. We expect that the start of 2019 will be very fruitful for this partnership, one that could inspire a heap of investment within Jamaica, and perhaps across the rest of the caribbean.


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Last year, the iPhone 11 truly won the war when it came to Black Friday phone deals. Despite only having been released a few weeks prior to savings silly season, retailers went BIG on savings and there were some extraordinary tariffs for shoppers to get their claws into.
Sadly, it seems that iPhone 12 deals are going to remain stubbornly high this time around. But – in much brighter news – the iPhone 11 is still a fantastic Apple phone and it’s now even cheaper.
If you don’t mind spending a bit upfront, you can get the bills of the 2019 flagship (yep, it’s still only just over a year old) down to a bargain £26 per month. Alternatively, you can get the handset absolutely free. Either way, you’re going to get a big fat stack of data, calls and texts to use every month.
Black Friday iPhone 11 deals: the top three so far
iPhone 11 deals: what’s the iPhone 11 like?
iPhone 11 review
Of course, with the annual turnaround of flashy new flagships, it’s easy to get swept away with the latest and greatest. However, it’s important to remember ex-flagship handsets like the iPhone 11 still capture some of the best, up-to-date technology. Better still, as previously mentioned, you can bag them for a far cheaper price point than at release.
The more budget-friendly of Apple’s ex-flagship range from 2019, the iPhone 11 continues to prove itself as a top phone choice, mixing strong specs and the aforementioned affordable pricing.
Internally, there’s a 3110mAh battery, Apple’s high-powered A13 Bionic chip, and an IP68 rating. Look outside, and Apple rocks a Liquid Retina PS LCD display – very high-definition, in other words, with an array of colourful yet muted variants to choose from – purple, yellow, green, as well as the usual white, black and PRODUCT(Red) culprits.
But where this phone really shines is its camera with 4K video, impressive night mode, portrait mode and a dual lens set-up. And let’s not forget you can now capture the not-quite-cottoned-on ‘Slofie’ with slo-mo functionality included in the iPhone 11’s front-facing camera.


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Available in both English and Français, the report reveals that:Aaron Rose is a board member, corporate advisor, and co-founder of great companies. He also serves as the editor of Solutions for a Sustainable World.
- The number of unique mobile subscribers across West Africa reached 185 million at the end of 2018, equivalent to 48 percent of the region's population. This number is forecast to rise to 248 million by 2025, 54 percent of the population;
- Future subscriber growth will largely be driven by young consumers owning a mobile phone for the first time; more than 40 percent of the region's population are under 18 years old, according to the report;
- 3G will overtake 2G to become the leading mobile technology in West Africa this year, supporting about half of the region's mobile connections. 4G momentum is also building: ten new 4G networks have recently launched in West Africa, including the first ever 4G networks in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Togo;
- Local mobile operators are increasing investment in their networks and are expected to spend $8.5 billion (capex) on network infrastructure and services over the next two years (2019/2020);
- West Africa's mobile ecosystem directly employs around 200,000 people, supports 800,000 jobs in the informal employment sector, and a further 600,000 jobs across the wider economy; and
- Mobile is the primary platform for accessing the internet in West Africa; at the end of 2018, there were around 100 million mobile internet users in the region, up almost 20 million year-on-year.
On the topic of mobile contribution to social progress, the report says "[t]he mobile industry plays an increasingly important role in accelerating social progress in West Africa. With a sizeable proportion of the sub-region's population excluded from many services, mobile-enabled digital platforms provide a vital opportunity to deliver solutions that can improve the livelihood of the most vulnerable people in the society and foster greater socioeconomic inclusion. Across West Africa, the activities of mobile operators and other ecosystem players are enhancing digital and financial inclusion, driving innovation and supporting efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."
Eleven years remain until the 2030 deadline to achieve the SGDs. The report notes: "Countries in the sub-region face an uphill task to attain these goals, mainly due to acute resource and infrastructure gaps. The mobile industry is, however, well positioned to support governments, the development community and other stakeholders in efforts to accelerate progress on key SDG targets. This is achieved in three main ways:
- Deployment of infrastructure and networks: The mobile industry drives impact through the provision of – and investment in – high-performing mobile networks, which provide the foundations for the digital economy and act as a catalyst for a diverse and innovative range of services.
- Access and connectivity: Mobile operators are continuing to connect the unconnected, with 30 million new mobile subscribers and 50 million new mobile internet subscribers across West Africa since 2015.
- Enabling services and relevant content: Mobile connectivity continues to transform the lives of millions of people across West Africa, by enabling the delivery of life-enhancing services, including education, health and financial inclusion. This is especially significant given the challenge of providing the services by conventional means amid considerable infrastructure and funding gaps."
The report encouragingly explains that "[t]he tech start-up ecosystem in West Africa is growing rapidly, with the emergence of a new generation of tech entrepreneurs and increasing funding from private investors. Tech innovators increasingly use mobile platforms, such as connectivity, mobile money and cellular IoT, to create and distribute innovative solutions that address a wide range of local challenges. This is helping bridge the digital content gap through the development of homegrown content and services with direct relevance to local consumers."
|Infographic: GSMA Intelligence
What localized content or services do you think will provide value to West Africa's mobile ecosystem?


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A fish and chip shop in South Yorkshire has been slammed by food safety inspectors for the "filthy" conditions they discovered during a routine visit.
Ingredients were stored on the floor of the chip shop, cooked food was left outside to cool down and decisions from staff led to "ideal conditions for food positioning bacteria" to grow.
Despite the countless errors, employees at Amy's Fish and Chips in Darfield, near Barnsley, were unfazed by the horrific conditions and "showed little understanding of the risk this may pose".
The business said that while it agreed with the remarks from Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, a number of improvements have been made since the inspection on July 14.
However, the chip shop has been slapped with a zero-star food hygiene rating by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) - the lowest possible grade.
What did inspectors find?
Officials carried out a full food hygiene rating at the chip shop in School Street, Darfield, and filed a troubling report.
Among the most concerning findings were the shocking conditions in which food was kept.
"Food was being stored on the floor of the main cooking area and was at risk of bacterial contamination," said the inspector.
The picture above shows bowls of food lying on the floor as a member of staff works nearby. Food was also found being prepared and stored outside, posing further risks to customers, while cooked rice was left out to cool at room temperature.
Once food was cooked, it was sometimes left in the "danger zone".
The inspector spotted a tray of ribs cooling in a warm oven on their visit, which presented the "ideal conditions for food positioning bacteria".
There was a "general lack of cleaning... and hand washing" from staff, storage containers were damaged and dirty and there were not even enough cleaning supplies in the building.
One area of particular concern was the risk of cross-contamination.
Raw meat was being prepared next to cooked food which was about to be served.
The conditions didn't appear to improve in the fridges either. Here, raw meat and prepared food were stored on the same shelves.
The temperature of the fridge - where raw fish was kept in a washing up bowl - was 12.9°C, almost 8°C warmer than FSA recommendations.
Raw meat was also stored unwrapped in freezers, while the lid to one of the chest freezers at the chip shop did not close properly.
"You must not prepare food for customers who declare they have a food allergy as you are unable to safely prepare food for them to eliminate risk from... cross-contamination," said the inspector.
One of the most startling pictures is of the chopping boards at Amy's Fish and Chips. These were used by staff for prepared food, but the images show how they are covered in black grime.
"Chopping boards used for the preparation of ready to eat food items were found to be in a filthy condition," said the report.
Remarkably, staff told inspectors this was "acceptable" and "showed little understanding of the risk this may pose".
The problems didn't end there though.
The thermometer probe was dirty, but it appears as though the staff didn't use it anyway. Instead, they simply copied temperature records from previous entries, rather than actually checking the food.
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The report added that most of the issues highlighted in the 2021 inspection were also found during previous visits and little progress had been made.
"The hygiene and safety standards noted on this inspection fall well below those expected," it concluded.
What the business had to say
Since the inspection, Amy's Fish and Chips have filed a brief update to FSA.
They claim "the premises have been thoroughly cleaned and procedures are now in place to ensure that cleanliness is maintained".
The owner has also stated that "staff have been trained / re-trained and are under better supervision" and "a new Food Safety Management system has been introduced".
To get the latest email updates from South Yorkshire Live, click here .


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Police: 'Philly Jesus' Arrested At Center City Apple StoreAccording to Philadelphia Police, a man known as 'Philly Jesus,' was arrested on Monday night at the Apple Store at 1607 Walnut Street.
First Time Visitor's Guide To New York CityFirst time visitor's guide to the best attractions and dining in New York City
Police Say Last Minute Christmas Shopping Lands Two South Jersey Men In JailMost of us finished our holiday shopping well before Christmas morning. But apparently not three South Jersey men, who police said were caught on camera breaking into the Cherry Hill Mall.
Apple Fans Line Up To Buy New iPhone 4SPeople throughout the world lined up outside Apple stores, waiting to get their hands on the new iPhone 4S.
Fans of iPad 2 Begin Lining Up Early In NJ and Pennsylvania To Be The First OwnersApple's new "iPad 2" goes on sale at 5 PM today, and those who want to be the first on their block to have one have been lining up at area Apple computer stores.


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Retailer Iceland joined its rivals in warning over the impact of food deflation and price cuts as it revealed annual earnings slumped by more than a quarter after sliding sales.
The frozen food chain, which has 859 stores across the UK, said it had suffered amid an "exceptionally challenging year" as the supermarket price war and wider deflation in the economy left underlying earnings down 26% at £150.2m in the year to March 27.
Comparable store sales dropped 4.4% over the year as it also said customer transactions fell, although new stores that were rolled out over the year saw a better performance, with the chain expanding by another 28 shops.
This helped limit the fall in total sales over the year, down 0.5% to £2.7bn.
Iceland, which employs 24,000 staff, said it had given up on trying to win the price war raging across the sector and is instead looking to boost sales by concentrating on the benefits of its offer - led by the recently launched "Power of Frozen" advertising campaign.
This helped the group see a "more encouraging" performance in underlying sales and profit towards the end of the financial year, according to the group.
Malcolm Walker, chairman and chief executive of Iceland, said: "It has become increasingly clear that concentrating on price alone no longer provides an effective point of difference in an intensely competitive and price-focused market place.
"We have therefore changed our approach to re-emphasise the quality of our products, the uniqueness of Iceland's innovation and the special advantages of frozen food, as well as our enduring commitment to great value."
Mr Walker said moves to continue Iceland's tradition of "successful reinvention" saw it roll out a nationwide online delivery service last year, as well as the launch of its new out-of-town store concept, The Food Warehouse.
It opened the first one in Stoke-on-Trent last September, offering more ranges of luxury and speciality frozen food, chilled meat and fresh produce, as well as value bulk packs of grocery products.
Six of the stores were opened by the end of March and Iceland plans to focus new openings over the year ahead on the Food Warehouse stores, double the size of traditional Iceland outlets.
It hopes to expand by up to another 20 shops overall across the UK and Ireland this financial year. Mr Walker said: "Iceland has not been immune to the pressures in its marketplace but we are strategically well positioned for the new retail environment through our focus on conveniently located neighbourhood stores, our well-established reputation for excellent value and our nationwide online shopping service."


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Kid Cudi announced on Twitter that he will be launching a clothing line that will drop this Summer.
Cudi, whose fashion sense has been at the forefront of his career, will be releasing pieces of denim that he says are, “the perfect pair of jeans,” and have deemed them the “ultimate denims.”
“Finally startin my own clothing line. Been a long time comin and another dream of mine. More madness, true vision, freshness comin soon!!!” Cudi tweeted.


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Scott Disick will reportedly not attend his ex-beau Kourtney Kardashian's third wedding with Travis Barker which is expected to take place in Italy.
A source spilt the beans to Entertainment Tonight that the diva's ex is planning to skip the event.
“He’s not necessarily in a place where he wants to watch Kourtney get married,” the insider shared.
“He just isn’t there emotionally yet. Kourtney wouldn’t want him there if he's going to be weird about it," the source told the outlet.
Disick is already not happy with the couple's Santa Barbara wedding. “Scott is very upset and didn't know about the Santa Barbara wedding ahead of time,” the insider said.
“To find out on social media and through friends was upsetting for him. He’s still not happy about everything, but he’s trying to remain supportive.”
Meanwhile, the Poosh founder is reportedly excited for her big day as "the entire family will be there and be so over the top."
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Scott Disick doesn't want to 'watch Kourtney Kardashian get married': 'He's upset!' have 435 words, post on www.thenews.com.pk at May 20, 2022. This is cached page on Europe Breaking News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.


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The independent garden centre group is celebrating what it describes as “a fantastic first year of trading” at its Aldermaston site after turning over more than £6million since its opening last September.
The Rosebourne business – headed up by garden industry veterans John Kitching and Neville Prest – puts catering at the heart of its centres, with restaurant and food hall accounting for a combined total of 50% of turnover.
Rosebourne operates two garden centres in the UK - in Weyhill, Hampshire and Aldermaston, Berkshire – also acquiring a former Wyevale site in Hampton in Arden at the end of 2018. At the time, the company announced plans to run the site as a standalone centre before looking at potential of incorporating it into the Rosebourne family.
The Aldermaston centre employees 80 staff and incorporates a food hall, butcher and restaurant with table service alongside its garden and gift offer. It is based on a similar model to Rosebourne’s first site in Weyhill, which boasts a £1.9million turnover for the restaurant alone.
On the approach to its one-year anniversary, Rosebourne in Aldermaston will be celebrating its milestone £6million-plus turnover by hosting a birthday party for the public on Sunday, October 6.
Executive director Jon Kitching said: “We’ve enjoyed a very successful first year at Aldermaston, customers tell us how much they love our food offering and the fact we’re a little different to the norm. Our garden furniture and plants are also proving popular.
“Looking to the future, a third site has been purchased in Hampton-in-Arden near Solihull and we have exciting plans to develop this into a fully operational Rosebourne with large food hall and restaurant this winter.”
The birthday event next month will include a guest appearance from Strictly Come Dancing Judge, Craig Revel Horwood. The first 100 customers will also receive a free orchid on arrival and all shoppers will get 10% off their purchases (excluding the restaurant).


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Starman chooses SeaChange for VoD
May 31, 2012
SeaChange International, a global multi-screen video software specialist, has announced that Estonia’s leading cable television and digital terrestrial television operator, Starman, will roll out a nationwide VoD service based on the open SeaChange Adrenalin video back office. Planned for subscriber availability later this year, Starman’s offering to its digital cable households will include VoD, catch-up TV and nPVR.
From its primary operations center in Tallinn, Starman serves television, Internet and phone on a network that’s currently available to approximately 45 per cent of Estonian homes. Starman is the 28th operator in Europe to select SeaChange’s next generation Adrenalin as a foundation for VoD services.


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Abishur Prakash shared his thoughts with CNN on how geopolitics of tech is creating new obstacles for Chinese tech firms in India. Read Abishur’s comments here.
CNN: Chinese tech companies bet big on India. Now they’re being shut out
by Abishur Prakash on 2.22K views


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Google has settled with French publishers who wanted to be paid for the privilege of having their content linked to – handing over €60 million (£52 million) for an “innovation fund” to help publishers make more money online, and agreeing to help them use its ad tech more effectively.
Everyone seems to think the deal is significant, but no one can agree on what impact it will have.
Some have hailed it as a victory for capitalist common sense – halting French government attempts to force Google to effectively pay a commission for driving traffic to French news sites.phyrric
Others have warned it sets a dangerous precedent – arguing that once Google has shown it is willing to hand over cash when threatened, there’s nothing to stop governments and publishers coming back for more on the grounds that Google has already concluded its business model hurts newspaper publishers.
Drop in the ocean
On a purely financial basis, it seems the French publishers have won a pyrrhic victory at best. With combined revenues of €9.15 billion (£8 billion) in 2011, that €60 million is a drop in the ocean for the French media. To pick just one example, Figaro Group, owner of Le Figaro, generated revenues of €550 million (£469 million) in 2011.
That rather begs the question – if a €60 million fund is going to make much difference, why weren’t the publishers already pumping money into it?
And what does it mean for Google?
Chairman Eric Schmidt may hope the deal will mark the high-watermark of Google’s tussle with European governments over its impact on journalism, but he’s undoubtedly aware the next battleground is Germany where things are likely to get a lot more bloody.
German publishers have already indicated they won’t accept a similar deal to the one the French have negotiated, in part because they (sensibly) argue the issue of who makes money from links isn’t restricted to Google alone.
But is it wise for publishers to try to use governments to squeeze money out of Google – or any other internet firm delivering an audience to their websites? I’d argue no – in fact I’d argue it’s a dangerous game which risks undermining the independence they hold so dear and cutting what little solidity there is in their business strategies.
Continental publishers are involved in a risky balancing act. As Peter Littger argues on TheMediaBriefing here, German newspapers are caught in a dilemma, behaving like publicly funded organisations but relying on their financial independence from the state to back up claims to be democratic watchdogs. That disconnect between behaviour and business model threatens many of them with oblivion.
The situation in France is similar, even though some publications, such as Le Monde, are in fact part-owned by the state.
But how does getting the government to force another outside entity, in this case a corporate behemoth, to fund journalism maintain that independence? Could newspapers really say they were independent when one of the world’s largest companies was subsidising journalist salaries?
And it’s not like Google isn’t doing newspaper publishers a few favours. Its algorithms favour established news sites, and give higher rankings to stories which appear first – something newspapers have spent years prioritising.
More pertinently, newspapers need Google a lot more than it needs them. Its search ads are best-suited to consumers looking for things to buy, where the link between intent and sale is strongest. The extra ad inventory and data from consumers looking for news content is useful for Google, but by no means central to its business (just look at our analysis of how small a proportion of time online is spent on news sites).
Google doesn’t need publishers, but most publishers definitely need Google. Without those links, publishers would see significantly less traffic to their sites. If they have a traditional ad-based model that would have a precipitous impact on revenue, and if they are charging for people to look at the content, what’s the problem?
Despite losses and comments like thesefrom Rupert Murdoch, this kind of battle is unlikely to take place in the UK. Not only do we have a culture where publishers are generally more accepting of Google’s role (you don’t find the Guardian attacking Google, despite its huge losses), but it’s unlikely fleet street would look to the UK government to legislate in their favour against a large corporation when they are trying desperately to assert their independence in the face of statutory regulation.
And the French aren’t completely unaware of the realities either.Louis Dreyfus, president of the executive board of the French newspaper Le Monde, sums up the situation lucidly: “This has come at the right time for the weakest daily newspapers and small magazines… But it doesn’t change the media business model and those who rely on government support to avoid failure are wrong. The media will only be able to count on itself and on the renewal of its offerings.”


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3D Semiconductor Packaging Market Opportunity Assessment, Technology Integration, Segmentation & Forecast 2032
According to MRFR Analysis, 3D Semiconductor Packaging Market is expected to witness a valuation of USD 37,472.7 Million, growing at 16.25% CAGR during the forecast period (2020-2027).
3D semiconductor packaging is a technology that allows for the stacking of multiple semiconductors dies (or chips) in a single package, creating a 3-dimensional structure. This technology is designed to improve the performance and efficiency of electronic devices by reducing the size and power consumption of semiconductor components. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a mixed impact on the 3D semiconductor packaging industry. The increased demand for electronic devices as people spend more time at home has led to an increase in demand for 3D semiconductor packaging. This includes devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and smart home devices, which are in high demand during the pandemic.
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On the 25th of November in the year 2020, the world's largest contractual chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Production Co., has announced the creation of a new microchip manufacturing technology. This technology was created in conjunction with AMD and Google by the firm.
The semiconductor manufacturer has devised a unique packaging method for small chips. One of the latest 3D technologies, called SoIC, is used to stack and connect several types of devices in a single package by TSMC.
Some of the key market players are Intel Corporation, Amkor Technology Inc., Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Corporation Ltd., STMicroelectronics NV, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc., Xilinx Inc., Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd., AMS AG and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
The rapid advancements in the electronics industry have fueled the demand for innovative packaging solutions, leading to the emergence of 3D semiconductor packaging. This groundbreaking technology has revolutionized the way electronic components are integrated, offering enhanced performance, compact size, and improved power efficiency.
The Rise of 3D Semiconductor Packaging:
Semiconductor packaging plays a vital role in protecting and interconnecting the delicate electronic components, enabling their seamless integration into various devices. Traditional 2D packaging approaches are reaching their limitations as consumer demands for smaller, faster, and more efficient devices continue to surge. This has paved the way for the rise of 3D semiconductor packaging, which involves stacking multiple layers of integrated circuits (ICs) to create highly compact and advanced electronic systems.
Advantages of 3D Semiconductor Packaging:
One of the major advantages of 3D semiconductor packaging is its ability to significantly reduce the form factor of electronic devices. By vertically stacking ICs, manufacturers can achieve higher integration densities, enabling the development of smaller and more lightweight products. This miniaturization trend is especially crucial in the consumer electronics sector, where portable devices such as smartphones, wearables, and tablets are in high demand.
Furthermore, 3D packaging techniques offer improved electrical performance by reducing the length of interconnects, resulting in faster signal propagation and reduced power consumption. This translates into enhanced device speed and energy efficiency, making it an attractive choice for applications demanding high performance.
Another key advantage of 3D semiconductor packaging is its versatility. It allows for the integration of heterogeneous components, such as different types of ICs, sensors, and MEMS devices, into a single package. This integration enables seamless communication and interaction between different functionalities, unlocking new possibilities for smart devices, IoT applications, and automotive electronics.
Browse Detailed Report On - https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/3d-semiconductor-packaging-market-7748
The 3D semiconductor packaging market is witnessing remarkable growth, driven by the demand for smaller, faster, and more efficient electronic devices. This innovative technology offers significant advantages, such as miniaturization, improved performance, and heterogeneous integration, making it an ideal choice for various industry verticals. As the electronics industry continues to evolve, 3D semiconductor packaging will play a pivotal role in enabling the development of advanced and cutting-edge electronic systems. With ongoing research and development efforts, the future of 3D semiconductor packaging looks promising, promising exciting advancements that will shape the future of electronics.