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Online casino game developer Peter & Sons has beefed up its powerhouse of talent with two new hires as it flexes new muscle found in a recent significant investment from SkillOnNet.
Coming on as a co-CEO is SkillOnNet’s senior vice president of corporate development, Maor Nutkevitch. The CEO will stay on with his position at SkillOnNet and help Peter & Sons navigate its way through the already charted pathways to expansion and growth in regulated markets that are key to its success as a challenger brand among the standard-bearers of Tier-one operations.
Account management will be headed up by the experience mind and hand of Christina Mirnaia, an experienced business management professional with CV jump-outs including important roles at Bwin Party and Entain, but most recently at the so-far unsung creative dynamo of Barbara Bang where Mirnaia was most recently Head of Partnerships and Business Development.
Adds to Crucial Partnerships
Peter & Sons already has crucial partnerships with more well-known brands such as Bragg Gaming (formerly Oryx), Relax, and Yggdrasil. Mirnaia will deepen those partnerships while bringing new business in through Peter & Sons’ new remote gaming server platform.
The account manager said: “It’s always exciting to join a fast-growing project and to be part of building something special and Peter & Sons has been like a breath of fresh air for the industry.
“The games are already famous for their creativity, art, and math, and that makes my job a whole lot easier. I also can’t wait to start working with the Peter & Sons team, which is amazingly dynamic, professional, and creative, producing games that are already making waves in the industry,” Mirnaia said.
For those as yet unfamiliar with the Peter & Sons portfolio of games, the company “works with world-class artists, mathematicians, and musicians to produce some of the most innovative, creative, and entertaining slots on the market,” according to a press release the company issued announcing the two new hires.
Among its most popular and well-executed games are Legend of Musashi, Dragon Blox, and the recently released title, Book of Books – a bold take on a popular but highly competitive genre in game theme and mechanics.
Peter & Sons Rising
SkillOnNet could have chosen to incubate, invest, and stand behind any number of up-and-coming talent powerhouses out there and this deal bodes well for the as-yet unseen-by most outright low rumble of absolute power intrinsic in the young studio.
“Having the ability to distribute the games in many regulated markets is a fantastic platform for growth which is not always available for relatively new studios. It’s really exciting to be part of a project at such a key moment in Peter & Sons’ trajectory.”
Peter & Sons founder and commercial director, Yann Bautista added: “I’d officially like to welcome Maor and Christina to the team and say how thrilled we are to have you both on board. This is a major milestone in the short life of our studio as we continue our journey to becoming a major force in the content world.”
Source: Peter & Sons Welcomes New Hires as It Gears for Growth, European Gaming News, March 29, 2023


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Is Cisco still worthy of being a Dow component?
The networking company’s shares are taking it on the chin today following disappointing quarterly results. Cisco offered a cautious outlook, due to “ongoing economic challenges,” particularly in Europe. CEO John Chambers also warned big business customers are being “cautious” with their tech spending.
The stock is down 10% today to $16.91, falling to its lowest level since October, and the slump hasn’t been limited to just today. Shares are down more than 13% since June 2009, when the company replaced GM in the Dow. That makes Cisco the fourth-worst Dow performer during that time frame, Bespoke Investment Group says, as it trails only Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America and Alcoa.
Considering Cisco’s ongoing struggles, Bespoke wonders how the Dow would look if Apple — the most valuable company in the world — was added to the Dow instead of Cisco. The difference is startling.
After reconstructing the Dow to include Apple instead of Cisco, Bespoke Investment Group concluded the blue-chip average would be at 15459. That represents about a 20% premium from current levels. It’s also more than 9% above the Dow’s all-time high hit in October 2007. By comparison the Dow is down 9.4% from that peak, through Wednesday’s close.
To be sure, there are caveats to consider. While it’s easy to criticize the decision to include Cisco, Apple’s weighting in the Dow would have thrown the price-weighting metrics out of whack. Apple’s price would make up about 1/4 of the index, more than twice as much as IBM, which currently is the biggest weighted component.
Here’s what John Prestbo, executive director of Dow Jones Indexes, told Barron’s last month about including a capped weighting for Apple:
“It would be a methodological mess,” he asserts. “You’d have a 29½-stock index.”
“My job and that of the index committee is to administer the Dow so that it does its job of reflecting the stock market, not to get companies into the Dow that people want,” Prestbo says. “Everybody is in love with Apple because it keeps defying gravity. That doesn’t mean the Dow isn’t doing its job of reflecting the market. Apple certainly qualifies in every respect except one, price.”
Prestbo notes that with its limited size, the Dow cannot include all leading companies; Berkshire Hathaway and Comcast, for example, are not included.
But as Cisco continues to struggle, and Apple keeps knocking the cover off the ball, this is a debate that won’t go away anytime soon.

domain: news


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For the first time in six years, Apple became the leading smartphone brand in China three months ago. It has now fallen behind its Kannada competitors, who have hit harder than others by dropping sales in the first quarter. Apple (AAPL) has slipped to third place, behind Android makers, according to two research studies released this week. Changes in market conditions occur as China experiences a dramatic economic downturn and as Covid’s policies become consumer spending.
Smartphone sales in China declined 14% in the first quarter, as rates fell “near the levels seen during the severe pandemic of Q1 2020,” Counterpoint Research said in a report on Thursday. Apple’s iPhone sales fell in China during the first quarter of 2022, as the country’s economy slowed. Apple’s iPhone sales fell in China during the first quarter of 2022, as the country’s economy slowed. Apple’s sales (AAPL) fell 23% in the three months to March, compared with the previous quarter, Counterpoint Research added. The company enjoyed rapid growth in China last year, shortly after the release of the iPhone 13.
Its market share in China now stands at 17.9%, compared with 21.7% in the quarter ended December. A report by Canalys on Friday also showed Apple falling back from market share in China to third place, with its first quarter moving down 36% from the previous quarter. Canalys tracked shipments by manufacturers to retail stores, rather than sales to customers. China’s trade in the first quarter was positive. Locks left ‘in trouble’
China’s trade in the first quarter was positive. Locks left ‘in crisis Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, attributed Apple’s decline to economic downturn in China affecting money in people’s pockets. ” Chinese brands – including Vivo, Honor and Oppo̦ – are better than Apple as their sales rebound after suffering an iPhone 13 power outage in the last quarter of 2021, Lam adds. Overall, time constraints in demand and major economic uncertainty have hit the market in the first few months of this year.


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DC is going back to its Detective roots with the launch of a gaming app featuring puzzle adventure games and interactive narratives for children, with a brand new story featuring a variety of DC Super Heroes.
The project is spearheaded by StoryToys, a leading publisher of kids’ games, books and educational software for tablets and phones, and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, in partnership with DC Entertainment.
Test your detective skills in Batman Unlimited: Gotham City’s Most Wanted, a storybook adventure app for tablets, mobile phones and Apple TV, combining decision-making, problem-solving and fast-paced action.
Immerse yourself in a brand new Batman story featuring your favorite DC Super Heroes including The Flash, Green Arrow and Cyborg. As the moon rises over Gotham City, a bizarre crime wave breaks out. Nightwing, Batgirl and even Red Robin are under suspicion. It’s your job to clear their name, piece together the clues, and track down the mastermind behind the crimes.
Pit your wits against Gotham City’s villains in over 40 interactive story pages and 10 immersive interactive experiences:
• Fly above the streets of Gotham City
• Help Cyborg hack into a computer and track down the secret hideout
• Practise your archery skills as Green Arrow sneaks into a heavily-guarded laboratory
• Direct The Flash through the streets of Gotham City as he gathers evidence at lightning speed
• Help Batman grill Scarecrow, Solomon Grundy and Silver Banshee in Arkham Asylum
• Burn rubber in the Batmobile in a high speed chase across town.
There’s a crime to be solved – and Batman needs your help!
Watch the Batman Unlimited – Gotham City’s Most Wanted trailer in the player below:
Batman Unlimited app is now available in iOS App Store + is coming soon to Google Play


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While many growth stocks are soaring this year, retailers and some dividend payers are trailing the market in 2023. Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) stock is rarely available at a discount. Costco gets most of its earnings from subscription fees, for one, which makes its profit highly stable through the ups and downs of the economic cycle.
In just the past month, shares of Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) have surged more than 50%, making it one of the hottest investments to own lately. Shopify is a top e-commerce stock to own and its performance relies heavily on the state of the economy. On Saturday, Shopify reported that its merchants sold $4.1 billion in products and services on its platform during Black Friday, a 22% increase from the previous year.
Did you buy at the pandemic highs and now your stock is in the red? What to do now.


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Swedish fashion giant H&M saw its sales slump in China, months after it became the target of a Chinese boycott.
H&M was among several brands that raised concerns over alleged human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
Its statement led celebrities to cut ties with the brand and e-commerce platforms to drop H&M.
The sales slide came even as H&M’s global business returned to profit as the impact of the pandemic eased.
China accounted for around 5% of the retail group’s sales last year and is one of its biggest suppliers.
H&M’s sales in China were down 23% in the local currency for the second quarter of 2021, compared to the same time last year.
“With regards to China the situation remains complex. Beyond that we refer to what we have said before,” Chief Executive Helena Helmersson said as H&M quantified for the first time the impact of the boycott.
Why was H&M boycotted in China?
Several Western brands, including H&M and Nike, recently faced a backlash from Chinese shoppers after the firms expressed concerns about the alleged use of Uyghur forced labour in cotton production.
In March, H&M was removed from the Chinese online retail platform Tmall and domestic phone makers’ app stores after it expressed concerns about the alleged use of Uyghur forced labour in cotton production.
But later in March, H&M said it was dedicated to regaining the trust of customers and partners China and that its commitment to the country remained strong.
Last week, the boss of Nike, which also faced a boycott in China, made a robust defence of the sportswear giant’s business in the country.
Mr Donahoe made the comments during a discussion on Nike’s fourth quarter earnings, which showed revenues had doubled to a better-than-expected $12.3bn (£8.8bn) for the three months to the end of March.
What is Xinjiang and who are the Uyghurs?
- Xinjiang, China’s biggest region, produces about a fifth of the world’s cotton. An autonomous region in theory, in reality it faces restrictions which have only increased in recent years
- Millions of China’s Uyghurs, a Muslim minority that sees itself as culturally and ethnically close to Central Asian nations, live in Xinjiang
- In recent decades, mass migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) to Xinjiang has fuelled tensions with Uyghurs which has at points flared into deadly violence
- This has resulted in a massive security crackdown and an extensive state surveillance programme, which critics say violate Uyghur human rights. China says such measures are necessary to combat separatism and terrorism
- Uyghurs have been detained at camps where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged. China has denied these claims saying the camps are “re-education” facilities aimed at lifting Uyghurs out of poverty
In March, a group of Western countries imposed sanctions on officials in China over rights abuses against the Uyghurs.
The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, UK, US and Canada.


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Sprint Pushing Software Fix to Galaxy Nexus
Sprint is distributing a software update to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that corrects a bug preventing some users from accessing Sprint's cellular data network.
The latest version of Android offers a lot of performance upgrades and some new whiz-bang features. Phone Scoop takes it for a spin on the Galaxy Nexus.
Jan 9, 2012
Sprint has published a web site talking up its forthcoming Long Term Evolution 4G network. As part of the site, it revealed that it will sell the Samsung Galaxy Nexus device with LTE support.
The Galaxy Nexus, being sold by Verizon Wireless, is the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone. Phone Scoop's full review tackles the new operating system in depth as well as the hardware from Samsung.
Jan 5, 2012
An advertisement briefly appeared on CNet's web site today announcing a version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with LTE for Sprint's network. The ad, which has since been pulled, revealed that the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus has a 1.5GHz processor, rather than the 1.2GHz processor on the global and Verizon variants.
Oct 21, 2011
Verizon Wireless today announced that it will carry a Long Term Evolution 4G version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus — the first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone — later this year. Verizon didn't provide pricing or an exact launch date.


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25 Aug MEP Manuela Ripa (ÖDP) draws attention to the dramatic situation of animal shelters
(Saarbrücken/25.08.2022) MEP Manuela Ripa of the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) is concerned about reports of overcrowded animal shelters and the suffering they cause to animals. Apparently, many people have decided to get a pet during the pandemic, but they are now overwhelmed with care for them. In addition, the return from the home office to the office ensures that people have less time for their new housemates. According to the German Animal Welfare Association, the situation is worsened due to the vacation season, which has always been a sad peak season for animal shelters. Manuela Ripa, therefore, calls on people not to get a pet impulsively, but to consider this decision carefully. In addition, the MEP notes: “Moreover, the worsening inflation brings additional costs that also make many pet owners financially overwhelmed. Not only there are rising costs of animal food but in addition, there are also often high veterinary costs, if the animal falls ill or has an accident.”
Like all other goods, animal food products are also affected by massive price increases. The ÖDP politician, therefore, calls on people to make a precise calculation before getting an animal. It is important to think of long-term financing from the beginning in order to avoid the painful separation afterward. Moreover, if one nevertheless decides to acquire a domestic animal, they should adopt one from an animal shelter, since they are at their limits as many thoughtless owners of impulsively acquired animals leave their pets there.
This creates an emergency in animal shelters. Many shelters have additional costs and no more free capacities for new animals. As the number of abandoned pets increases, quite a few animals die if they are not found in time. The MEP, therefore, calls on politicians to support animal shelters more – also financially. “Just like private pet owners, animal shelters are also affected by the increasing inflation as they have to pay for energy, water, and food costs. At the same time, the donation incomes sink, because people have less money at disposal. Therefore, I call the politicians to create a well-equipped special fund, with whose assistance the animal shelters can carry the massively risen costs”, concludes Manuela Ripa.


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China market: Handset makers upgrading hardware specifications of sub-CNY1,000 smartphone models
Erica Yen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES
China-based handset makers, including ZTE, Huawei Device, Lenovo and Coolpad, have continued to upgrade the hardware specifications of their sub-CNY1,000 (US$159) smartphone models due to intensifying competition in the segment, according to industry...
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Cryptocurrencies, and especially Ethereum, are a source of income at a “reasonable” cost that uses graphic cards as the main mining support. We are not going to count or waste time in emphasizing how this market has developed and how it has harmed the common user, but after the announcement by the developers about the change of this cryptocurrency towards a new mining model, the hopes came as water in the desert, but … Things they won’t be so simple.
Almost a month and a half ago we talked about the change that this cryptocurrency, the main driver of price and stock problems for gaming graphics cards, is going to experience in its proof-of-work model. This was planned from the beginning to the end of the year, so every player who has refused to pay the extra cost of more than 100% of the real value of a graphics card had his eyes on 2022. Well, we are sorry to tell you that everything is going to delay and by quite a bit.
“The Merge” is delayed, Ethereum will continue to be mined with GPU
The first change that Ethereum.org made with its hard fork has brought dire consequences for Ethereum-based assets, since approximately 2 billion dollars in cryptocurrencies were lost, but at the same time we have seen how the Hash has increased thanks to the NFT and recovered much of what was lost.
This means that they continue to buy and use GPUs to mine, so the catastrophe did not occur as such and the market has remained the same or even worse for the common gamer user. This was a disappointment as such, but hope was still alive by the end of this year. The problem is that according to reports today the so-called “The Merge” will not occur until at least the first half of 2022, which implies at least 8 more months of waiting for the market to begin to regularize little by little.
Overlap of architectures and prices
What is going to happen with this now confirmed scenario? Well, prices will either continue to rise or maintain the rate. The stock has returned to stores, so except for a specific model we have availability of models to buy, so this excuse for the price has volatilized.
The scenario is also daunting, because GPUs will continue to be sold at a gold price until the RTX 40 is almost on the market and with this there will be an overlap of architectures and prices, since then stores and manufacturers will have to lower them to be able to sell them. Unless NVIDIA breaks the balance by further increasing MSRPs and then it will be total catastrophe.
TSMC’s 5nm node isn’t cheap at all, wafers are through the roof (+-$ 20,000 and going up) so on GPU alone it’s going to be difficult to contain the expense without increasing prices. Will NVIDIA delay the launch? Will you force the fall with the new Ada LoveLace architecture? Complicated to predict, but what is certain is that we will maintain a situation similar to the current one for at least 7 or 8 more months.


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A collection of news and information related to Palm Inc published by this site and its partners.
Displaying items 1-12 of 27 » View courant.com items only
Truly twisted: Suit filed over use of Chubby Checker's name for app that estimates the size of a man's penisFloriDUHChubby Checker, a singer best known for his mega 1960's hit and dance sensation 'The Twist,' has hired powerhouse attorney Willie Gary of Stuart to go against Hewlett-Packard and its subsidiary Palm Inc. over the use of Checker's name on a software app...
TechnologyHewlett-Packard will make its webOS software available to open-source community; Meg Whitman says HP plans to make new tablet devices...
L.A. Times Tech BlogHewlett-Packard Co. may spin off its personal computer business -- the world's largest -- as well as continue to reconfigure itself as a corporate technology provider by acquiring the British software firm Autonomy Corp. The company said it would...
Los Angeles Times Staff WritersLOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO -- When a top-secret prototype of Apple Inc.'s new iPhone went missing recently, the computer giant summoned Silicon Valley's version of the cavalry -- an elite squad whose main mission is investigating crimes against high-...
Money & CompanyHewlett-Packard Co. is looking to take on the Apple Inc.'s blockbuster selling iPad, not using Google's Android operating system and not using Microsoft Windows 7, but on its own -- with its WebOS. The world's largest computer company also rolled out...
Apr 8, 2010 |Story| Associated PressJan 7, 2010 | Los Angeles TimesL.A. Times Tech BlogPalm CEO Jon Rubinstein announces two new smart phones for Verizon. Photo by Michelle Maltais / Los Angeles Times Last year at CES, Palm introduced the Pre exclusively on Sprint. This year, Palm unveiled two new devices for Verizon Wireless. The Palm...Aug 9, 2010 |Story| Associated PressJul 3, 2009 |Story| Los Angeles TimesThe new, high-octane iPhone 3GS is loaded with features that could light up your life -- but its battery isn't one of them. Buyers are finding that the device, introduced two weeks ago, has trouble making it through a workday without a rest stop at the...Sep 9, 2009 |Story| KTLA-LTVJan 7, 2007 |Story| Chicago TribuneTribune staff reporterLG Electronics officially announced Sunday morning one of the worst kept secrets of this year's Consumer Electronics Show. The company's BH100 will play both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, the first device of its kind--a clear victory for consumers who...Original site for Palm Inc topic gallery.
Feb 13, 2013 |Story| South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Dec 9, 2011 | Los Angeles Times
Aug 18, 2011 | Los Angeles Times
May 5, 2010 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Feb 10, 2011 | Los Angeles Times
Jul 24, 2009 |Story| Associated Press
Palm Inc Photos


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AIDA Cruises is expanding its fining offerings with the addition of a new restaurant serving sustainable, plant-based cuisine.
AIDA Cruises has become the first big ship cruise line to incorporate biofuels into its range of maritime fuel sources.
AIDAprima has undergone a mini-refurb with a new LEGO store and play area introduced ahead of her Hamburg season.
AIDA Cruises has launched additional AIDA Ahoy voyages aboard AIDAsol out of Kiel, Germany as a result of unexpectedly high demand.
AIDA Cruises‘ planned Arabian Gulf cruise itineraries for the 2021/22 cruise season from Dubai have been removed from its website.
AIDA Cruises‘ mega cruise ship AIDAprima has departed Dubai after spending several months in warm lay-up at the Dubai Cruise Terminal.
German cruise line AIDA Cruises has become the first cruise line to use the new Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal adjacent the famous Dubai Palm, opposite the city’s tourist JBR and The Walk […]
AIDA Cruises has cancelled its planned 2020/21 Dubai cruise season, further suspending all cruises globally until March due to new anti-coronavirus measures introduced in Germany and across much of Europe.
AIDAprima isn’t due to start cruising from Dubai for the 2020/21 cruise season until December, but AIDA Cruises have already positioned her in Port Rashid in preparation for the ship’s return to […]
AIDA Cruises has joined MSC Cruises in confirming that it will return to the Arabian Gulf cruise sector for the 2020/21 cruise season, deploying its second-largest ship AIDAprima out of Dubai.
AIDAprima, a mega cruise ship belonging to German cruise line AIDA Cruises, lit up with a message of thanks to Dubai for all its help during the Coronavirus pandemic, as she departed […]
There are some seven cruise ships in hot lay up in Port Rashid in Dubai, the UAE’s primary cruise port, as the cruise industry remains in a global shutdown.
New shows, creative TV formats and a diverse entertainment program with celebrities and experts will debut across the AIDA Cruises fleet in 2020, the cruise line has announced. AIDA Cruises offers exclusive […]
AIDA Cruises says it has no plans to change it upcoming cruise itineraries from Dubai for the 2019/2020 cruise season, adding that the city “enjoys great popularity among our guests”.
Three’s a charm for AIDAprima as the German cruise line AIDA Cruises announces itineraries for her third cruise season out of Dubai in the Arabian Gulf during the 2020/21 winter season.
AIDA Cruises’ second-largest ship AIDAprima, will be cruising roundtrip from Dubai for the second time during next year’s Arabian Gulf cruise season.
For the first time ever, eight cruise lines will be homeporting nine cruise ships in Dubai for the 2019/2020 winter cruise season that runs from November to March annually.
The German line AIDA Cruises is offering a seven-day roundtrip cruise from Dubai on November 23rd, 2018 aboard its new flagship AIDAprima that will coincide with the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand […]
Homeporting in the Dubai cruise market for the 2018/19 cruise season, AIDAprima is the new flagship of AIDA Cruises and one of the largest cruise ships ever to cruise roundtrip in the Arabian Gulf. She is also the only cruise ship in the Middle East with a ‘nudist’ area.
During her final Middle East cruise season sailing roundtrip out of Dubai, AIDAstella was put into drydock at Dubai Drydocks World for a 5-day refit. The German cruise line is one of […]


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HOLDEN has used Tasmania to reveal its cheapest homemade model in 21 years, namely a $19,490 remake of its Cruze small car.
On sale next month, the Adelaide-made sedan or hatchback is priced under its closest rivals by $500 to $1000, but has more equipment.
In relative terms, the $19,490 price tag is the smallest ask ever for an Australian-made Holden.
Its features were unveiled to motoring journalists at a launch in Tasmania. The extensively re-worked 2013 Cruze sedan or hatch has standard fittings that are rare among even modern small cars, especially bargain-price models.
They include a 7-inch touchscreen multi-media system with Pandora streaming music and 17-inch alloy wheels. It also has a five-star crash safety rating with six airbags.
The previous cheapest Holden was the Nova hatchback, a copy of a basic Toyota Corolla. The Nova was priced at $17,200 increasing to $20,748 in 1993. The new Toyota Corolla and Nissan Pulsar start from $19,990. The best-selling Mazda3 is priced from $20,330.
The Mazda and Toyota out-sold the Cruze by as much as 1500 units in February. The Pulsar, returning after a six-year absence, sold 1275 cars to the Cruze's 1729.
The Cruze is the first stage of Holden's fightback after its worst month for seven years, one in which they were the first time beaten by these three Japanese brands.
All Cruze variants are reduced in price, some by as much as $3000, but now have a full range of equipment.
The new SRi variant, which uses a powerful turbo engine from Europe, starts at $22,490.
The Cruze will get satellite navigation in June when the new system that is being developed concurrently for the VF Commodore comes online.
Holden chief executive Mike Devereux said the Cruze was now the cheapest but best equipped model among its competitors in the small car segment, which last year recorded 252,000 sales.


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Indian farming sector has witnessed enhance in the subsidyand import of fertilisers in the very last 3 decades.
In a reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemical compounds and Fertilisers, claimed the total volume of subsidy disbursed on fertilisers improved to ₹1.31 lakh crore in 2020-21 towards ₹83,467 crore in 2019-20. It was at ₹73,435 crore in 2018-19.
Import of urea improved to ninety eight.28 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2020-21 from ninety one.23 lt in 2019-20 and 74.eighty one lt in 2018-19.
The import of NPK improved to 13.90 lt in 2020-21 towards 7.46 lt in 2019-20 and 5.46 lt in 2018-19.
All through 2020-21, the import of MOP and DAP improved to 42.27 lt (36.70 lt in 2019-20), and 48.82 lt (48.70 lt), respectively.
Use of bio-fertilisers
To a independent question on the use of bio-fertilisers and pesticides, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, claimed bio-fertilisers are promoted as a result of built-in nutrient management and are designed integral part of package of practices created by ICAR and condition agriculture universities.
The consumption of chemical pesticides improved from fifty nine,699 tonnes in 2018-19 to sixty one,701 tonnes in 2019-20, and to 62,192 tonnes in 2020-21.
To a question on the problems of existence of harmful chemicals in food products, Tomar claimed the Food Security and Regular Authority of India (FSSAI) has set the Greatest Residue Limits (MRLs) for different pesticides, antibiotics, and so forth in food commodities less than Food Security and Specifications (Contaminants, Toxic compounds and Residues) Regulations 2011, which are reviewed from time to time.
Further more, samples of vegetables, fruits and other crops are gathered from the retail retailers, markets, farm gate, and so forth less than a central sector plan — ‘Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at Countrywide Level’ — and analysed for pesticide residues.
From the examination of a total of 1,seventy two,437 samples of different food commodities through April 2014 to March 2021, residues were found exceeding previously mentioned MRLs in four,680 (two.7 for every cent) samples. Studies of this sort of occasions were shared with involved Condition governments to take proper legal and corrective steps as for every the provisions of the Insecticides Act 1968, he claimed.


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Food industry news of the week - Ackman and Mondelez, Maggi, Nakd
Activist US investor Bill Ackman got the market talking this week with the disclosure he has invested in Mondelez International. Could he be betting on an eventual bid for the Cadbury owner from the new Kraft Heinz Co.? Meanwhile, the row over the Maggi continued, with India's food safety watchdog brushing off tests that appeared to clear Nestle's noodles. And three UK snacks businesses hit the headlines. The owners of Nakd owner Natural Balance Foods are weighing up their options, Bear owner Urban Fresh Foods is looking at ways to expand internationally - which could involve investment in the business. And crisp firm Tyrrells snapped up an Australian snack maker.
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- Mondelez plays down impact of union action
- Recipe-kit firm HelloFresh launches into UK retail
- Germany's Haribo plans first US candy plant


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2012 BMW M5 – Click above for high-res image galleryDr. Kay Sigler, head of BMW's M division has confirmed to no one's surprise that the next generation M5 would indeed use a twin-turbocharged V8 in place of the current model's V10. In fact, after last year's debut of the X5 M and X6 M we ...
Next generation BMW 6 Series convertible – Click above for high-res image galleryBMW has had a remarkably steady flow of new product hitting the market in the last couple of years, and now that the latest 5 Series is starting to hit the streets and the X3 is coming this fall, one of the ...


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See A Penny Pick It Up
7 January 2019, 15:37
The Dogs Trust is celebrating their first puppy to find a forever home in 2019.
Staffordshire Bull Terrier Cross Penny arrived at the charity’s rehoming centre in Basildon at 8 weeks old, just days before Christmas, after being purchased via an online classified advertising website.
Dogs Trust is now asking people to be cautious when purchasing dogs via adverts on online sites as they can be used as a cover for unscrupulous sellers, who are often pedalling sick or illegally imported puppies.
Lisa Cooper, Rehoming Centre Manager said:
"Penny is just one of the many puppies we see bought online before Christmas, but we are pleased that her owners came to us when they realised they might not be able to give Penny the right home. Sometimes people don't appreciate how big a responsibility a puppy is, and we ask everyone to really research everything that comes with dog ownership before bringing one into their homes."
Last year Dogs Trust Basildon rehomed more than 700 dogs.


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The $40.5 billion merger that’s transforming the generics industry is the biggest yet in a series of deals by drugmakers adjusting to a market that has fewer buyers.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.’s deal for Allergan Plc’s generic business is partly a response to consolidation taking place among distributors, which purchase the lower-priced copycat drugs for eventual sale to patients. To gain negotiating leverage with those buyers, more generic makers may have to combine.
Four major buyers control most of generic purchasing in the U.S.: McKesson Corp.; CVS Health Corp. through its partnership with Cardinal Health Inc.; Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. through its arrangement with AmerisourceBergen Corp.; and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
McKesson bought Celesio AG for about $5 billion in 2014 to get more clout in drug distribution, and CVS and Walgreens struck their partnerships the previous year.
“The consolidation among the buyer groups in our most important market, which is the U.S.,” helped persuade Allergan to sell its generic division, Chief Executive Officer Brent Saunders said in an interview. The size of Teva’s offer, in cash and stock, also played a role, he said.
There are other reasons generic makers may want to get together. U.S. regulators are more heavily scrutinizing the industry’s manufacturing safety, increasing costs. And fewer big-name drugs are coming off patents, limiting growth opportunities.
Deals in the generic-drug business are part of a general acquisition frenzy that’s sweeping the health-care industry, from pharmaceuticals to insurance to hospitals. Drugmaker Shire Plc was the latest to enter the fray, announcing an unsolicited $30 billion offer Tuesday for Baxalta Inc., a developer of treatments for rare diseases.
The Teva-Allergan deal, expected to close early next year if regulators approve it, creates far and away the biggest generic drugmaker. Novartis AG’s Sandoz unit, with $9.56 billion in annual sales, and Mylan NV, with $6.52 billion in generic revenue, are the industry’s other major competitors, followed by a slew of smaller companies.
Among that latter group are some obvious dealmakers. Endo International Plc has made no secret of its ambitions, making an unsuccessful bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in March and agreeing to buy Par Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc. in May for $8.05 billion.
“Endo’s clearly looking to do deals to get bigger,” Gabelli Funds portfolio manager Jeff Jonas said. He cited Akorn Inc., a $5.3 billion maker of eye drugs and injectables, as a potential target. Gabelli holds shares of both Endo and Akorn.
Other potential targets in the generics industry include Impax Laboratories Inc., Lannett Co. and Sagent Pharmaceuticals Inc., said Tim Chiang, an analyst at BTIG.
The bigger companies are also likely to continue bulking up. Mylan is in the process of trying to acquire Perrigo Co., a maker of over-the-counter and generic drugs, in a hostile takeover for about $33 billion. Teva is looking at opportunities to “execute against our priorities in the generic space,” CEO Erez Vigodman said on the same day his company announced the Allergan deal.
More mergers could lead to higher generic-drug prices, a trend that’s already getting attention in Washington and among consumer groups. The National Community Pharmacists Association surveyed about 700 members and found earlier this year that virtually all pharmacists have experienced a “large upswing” in the cost of buying generic drugs in the prior six months. About 80 percent of respondents experienced price spikes at least 26 times -- equivalent to once a week.
Still, Teva’s Allergan deal is likely to win approval from U.S. regulators, who may force some divestitures, according to Jennifer Rie, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“We have a giant Teva and we have a Sandoz and Mylan, those are your big three now -- it’s not even the big four anymore,” Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat said. “There might be an interest in having another large, large player emerge.”


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One of the recent job listing published by Apple Inc. has put to rest the speculations regarding its next-in-line product using Liquid metal. There have been confirmed reports about the Company working on the Liquid metal technology for quite some years. It is now time for Apple to unveil its efforts in the form of the iPhone 6. HTC seems to be following the lead set by Apple and is expected to launch its new smart phone with Liquid metal technology—later this year.
One of the most sought after features of the HTC One is its fully anodized aluminum unibody case—which is obviously its USP which needs to be adopted by the Korean Giant as well. According to reports released by Digitimes, HTC is aware of the fact that Apple has renewed a 2 year contract with a company called Liquid Metal Intellectual – the team with which it had been working since the past few years.
To keep up with the competition HTC has triggered of its Research and Development efforts and has signed up with Jabon, a well known company which will help HTC build its Liquid metal case.


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DARREN GUIVER started out as a trainee at a Ford dealership in 1986. He moved quickly up through management, buying dealerships until he had created Spire Automotive group, a network of 12 across south-east England. Two years ago Group 1, America’s third-largest dealership network, made him an offer he couldn’t resist. So Mr Guiver joined thousands of small dealers selling out to global investors and dealership groups.
Since 2014 around 1,000 such dealerships have been bought or sold in America. According to Kerrigan Advisors, a firm that helps sellers, around 200 more will change hands this year. The largest deal to date came in 2015, when Warren Buffett bought Van Tuyl Group, a network of 78 dealerships with over $8bn in annual revenue. Holding companies such as South Africa’s Imperial and Super Group have been buying showrooms across England. Penske, an American group, has become the largest dealer network in Europe by revenue.
Car showrooms might seem an unlikely asset class to go global. For decades manufacturers relied on individual franchise-holders to sell and repair vehicles in local markets. Carmakers liked this fragmented market, because dealers lacked the clout to demand large discounts. For franchise-holders, the advantage was having a local monopoly on the brands they sold.
But the car market is changing in ways that favour consolidation. The spread of ride-hailing means fewer young city-dwellers are buying cars. Larger networks will be better placed to survive, says Andy Bruce, the boss of Lookers, since they have the scale to offer better deals on high-margin financing and insurance. Moreover, says Gianluca Camplone, a partner at McKinsey, a consulting firm, only the biggest dealerships will have the capital to invest in the equipment and training needed to service high-tech electric and, one day, autonomous vehicles.
For manufacturers, consolidation may mean a loss of pricing power. But there is a consolation, says David Kendrick, who specialises in dealership transactions at UHY Hacker Young, an accountancy firm. Interacting with a few dozen networks will be more straightforward than dealing with lots of individual ones—though carmakers still usually seek to ensure that no retailer has more than 10% of a national market.
The appeal of dealerships as an investment is boosted by their location, generally on major roads near retail centres. Such prime plots lend themselves to repurposing as industrial warehouses or e-commerce fulfilment centres, says Tim Savage of CBRE, a property company. Although interiors are tailored to the brands sold, the structure is frequently made of steel portal frames with internal partitioning that is easily redesigned. And it is often a condition of franchises that car showrooms are refurbished every three to five years, meaning they stay in excellent condition.
For small franchises, the main reason for selling may be that they would struggle to find enough capital on their own. Carmakers want their products sold in bigger, more luxurious outlets than they used to, says Mr Guiver. This year he became managing director of Group 1’s British operations, overseeing 53 dealerships across the country. Though he no longer owns the business he built piece by piece, he will still see the investment pour in.
Japan still has great influence on global financial markets
IT IS the summer of 1979 and Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, the everyman-hero of John Updike’s series of novels, is running a car showroom in Brewer, Pennsylvania. There is a pervasive mood of decline. Local textile mills have closed. Gas prices are soaring. No one wants the traded-in, Detroit-made cars clogging the lot. Yet Rabbit is serene. His is a Toyota franchise. So his cars have the best mileage and lowest servicing costs. When you buy one, he tells his customers, you are turning your dollars into yen.
“Rabbit is Rich” evokes the time when America was first unnerved by the rise of a rival economic power. Japan had taken leadership from America in a succession of industries, including textiles, consumer electronics and steel. It was threatening to topple the car industry, too. Today Japan’s economic position is much reduced. It has lost its place as the world’s second-largest economy (and primary target of American trade hawks) to China. Yet in one regard, its sway still holds.
This week the board of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) voted to leave its monetary policy broadly unchanged. But leading up to its policy meeting, rumours that it might make a substantial change caused a few jitters in global bond markets. The anxiety was justified. A sudden change of tack by the BoJ would be felt far beyond Japan’s shores.
One reason is that Japan’s influence on global asset markets has kept growing as decades of the country’s surplus savings have piled up. Japan’s net foreign assets—what its residents own abroad minus what they owe to foreigners—have risen to around $3trn, or 60% of the country’s annual GDP (see top chart).
But it is also a consequence of very loose monetary policy. The BoJ has deployed an arsenal of special measures to battle Japan’s persistently low inflation. Its benchmark interest rate is negative (-0.1%). It is committed to purchasing ¥80trn ($715bn) of government bonds each year with the aim of keeping Japan’s ten-year bond yield around zero. And it is buying baskets of Japan’s leading stocks to the tune of ¥6trn a year.
Tokyo storm warning
These measures, once unorthodox but now familiar, have pushed Japan’s banks, insurance firms and ordinary savers into buying foreign stocks and bonds that offer better returns than they can get at home. Indeed, Japanese investors have loaded up on short-term foreign debt to enable them to buy even more. Holdings of foreign assets in Japan rose from 111% of GDP in 2010 to 185% in 2017 (see bottom chart). The impact of capital outflows is evident in currency markets. The yen is cheap. On The Economist’s Big Mac index, a gauge based on burger prices, it is the most undervalued of any major currency.
Investors from Japan have also kept a lid on bond yields in the rich world. They own almost a tenth of the sovereign bonds issued by France, for instance, and more than 15% of those issued by Australia and Sweden, according to analysts at J.P. Morgan. Japanese insurance companies own lots of corporate bonds in America, although this year the rising cost of hedging dollars has caused a switch into European corporate bonds. The value of Japan’s holdings of foreign equities has tripled since 2012. They now make up almost a fifth of its overseas assets.
What happens in Japan thus matters a great deal to an array of global asset prices. A meaningful shift in monetary policy would probably have a dramatic effect. It is not natural for Japan to be the cheapest place to buy a Big Mac, a latté or an iPad, says Kit Juckes of Société Générale. The yen would surge. A retreat from special measures by the BoJ would be a signal that the era of quantitative easing was truly ending. Broader market turbulence would be likely. Yet a corollary is that as long as the BoJ maintains its current policies—and it seems minded to do so for a while—it will continue to be a prop to global asset prices.
Rabbit’s sales patter seemed to have a similar foundation. Anyone sceptical of his mileage figures would be referred to the April issue of Consumer Reports. Yet one part of his spiel proved suspect. The dollar, which he thought was decaying in 1979, was actually about to revive. This recovery owed a lot to a big increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. It was also, in part, made in Japan. In 1980 Japan liberalised its capital account. Its investors began selling yen to buy dollars. The shopping spree for foreign assets that started then has yet to cease.
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Shanghai Liulishuo Information Technology Co., Ltd, a spoken English learning app, went public in NYSE under LAIX on September 27.
The trading opened at $16.00 per share, 28% up the initial offering price $12.5. The stock price settled to $12.65 after the first trading day ended. This would boost Liulishuo’s market cap to around $600 million.
“I am very satisfied with the good opening performance of the stock, given the recent [capital] market turbulence. Short-term fluctuations are normal, but it’s all about the long-term, ” Wang Yi, CEO at Liuliushuo, told to TechNode soon after the trading began.
Established by Wang, a Princeton Computer Science Ph.D. and also an expert in advertising, in 2013, Liulishuo aims to tackle the shortage of high-quality teachers as well as time-and-space limitations of traditional English learning, particularly oral English learning. The company offers voice recognition and phonetics detection AI platform to allow a user to read English content on portable devices and receive real-time feedback generated by machine algorithms.
Liulishuo is far away from profiting, however. The company reported a net loss of RMB 182.3 million ($27.5 million) for the first half of 2018 (ended June 30), despite a net revenue of $232.3 million recorded for the same time period.
Liulishuo is also in the high marketing expenses trap which usually brings private education institutions market attention and temporary strong market share. For the first half of this year, the company recorded an RMB 259.8 million sales and marketing expenses, whereas the research and development expenses were RMB 60.9 million.
“R&D is the engine, and marketing is the wing [of a plane]. Over the past decades, China has seen internet and tech companies that have changed the country’s ways of living, and the habit development process requires essential marketing input, ” Wang explained. He believes that since learning with a virtual mentor is still new, as long as Liulishuo’s long-term fiscal prospects are healthy, marketing investment is necessary.
The company reported an average monthly active user of 7.2 million for the first half of this year. Paid users increased to around 1 million, for the same time period. In the past 6 years since the business started, according to Liulishuo, the company has served 83.8 million cumulative registered users.


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Sony Announces Killer PlayStation Store Deals, Introduces A PS4 Pro Deals For $400By Emily Schultz, UniversityHerald Reporter
Good news for thousands of PS4 owners out there. PS4 is getting another big week of PlayStation Store deals. The upcoming deals have finally arrived for PS4, PS3, Vita, and PSP owners.
Great PlayStation Deals Announced
According to GameSpot, the PlayStation Store offer come as part of separate EA and Critics' Choice sales, with the latter features even lower prices and more discounts on some quality games.
In the PlayStation Store deals, PS4 Plus subscribers can now get the action RPG "The Witcher 3" (Complete Edition) for just $25, the Respawn's first-person shooter game "Titanfall 2" for just $24, the dungeon crawling game "Darkest Dungeon" for $10, and last, the action-adventure stealth game "Metal Gear Solid V" (Definitive Edition) for just $25.
Additionally, the recently announced discount on the racing game "Dirt Rally" along with its new VR bundle have also been extended until February 28 along with the rest of these PlayStation Store deals.
Meanwhile, PS3 owners can also find some great deals for this week. The Obsidian's role-playing game "South Park: The Stick of Truth" are now selling for just $8, while the popular hack and slash action RPG "Diablo 3" (Ultimate Evil Edition) is now selling for $15, GameSpot reported.
On PS Vita, DrinkBox Studios' action-adventure game Severed is currently on sale for $4.50 only, while Dennaton Games' top-down shooter game "Hotline Miami 2" is selling at $7.50.
And there's a lot more to come, Atlus' role-playing games Persona games are also on sale for just $10, which include Persona 4, Persona 3 FES (PS3) and Persona 3 Portable (PSP and Vita).
Electronic Arts also offering the same prices, the hard-hitting "Battlefield 1" is priced at $30, players can get a copy of the action-packed "Titanfall 2" for only $49.49.
PS4, PS3 and Vita owner can check out all of this week's PlayStation Store deals at the PlayStation Store's official website.
In addition to the great deals, Sony is also running a limited time promotion similar to the deal that has been offered before. Players who have spent a $100 on PSN by the end of February is entitled to receive a PlayStation Store credit worth $15.
Great PS4 Pro Deals For $400 Only
Sony has also some great news for PS4 Pro owners, the PlayStation Store deals have finally arrived, offering gamers a great chance to have the system along with two quality titles for just $400.
As mentioned earlier by GameSpot, Newegg's eBay account has the PlayStation deal, bundling the system with "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" and "Dishonored 2."
In other news, PS4 VR is getting some update this week, which includes new enhancements for those with a PS4 Pro. As mentioned earlier in a PlayStation Blog, with the newly arrived free update, players will now be able to play on a standard display or with PSVR headsets.


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Consumer Sector Update for 09/09/2019: SERV,BXG,BXX,KAR,SHOP,SHOP.TO
Top Consumer Stocks
Consumer stocks were narrowly mixed in late trade, with shares of consumer staples companies in the S&P 500 (XLP) down 0.3% this afternoon while shares of consumer discretionary firms in the S&P 500 (XLY) were ahead more than 0.1%.
Among consumer stocks moving on news:
(-) ServiceMaster Global Holdings (SERV) was down nearly 1.2% shortly before Monday's closing bell after the home and commercial services company said it has acquired Nomor Holding AB from private-equity investors Norvestor for around $200 million. ServiceMaster said it is expecting the Swedish pest control company to boost revenue by about $60 million per year and $14 million in non-GAAP earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
In other sector news:
(+) KAR Auction Services (KAR) motored to a 5% gain after the vehicle auction house late Friday was selected by S&P Dow Jones to join the S&P MidCap 400, effective with the opening bell on Monday, Sept. 23.
(+) Bluegreen Vacations (BXG) rose 4% on Monday after the time-share company said Anthony Puleo will retire as chief financial officer on Sept. 30 and will be succeeded by Raymond Lopez, who will also continue to serve as CFO of BBX Capital (BXX), which owns 90.3% of Bluegreen Vacations.
(-) Shopify (SHOP) dropped over 7% despite Robert W. Baird & Co Monday raising its price target for the Canadian e-commerce company by $40 to $410 a share. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian also kept his outperform rating for Shopify stock, explaining the company is on track to exceed one million merchant customers by the end of the year.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.


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Salt Bae opens Florida Restaurant, Noma delayed. The best comfort food in Paris according to some great chefs.Toro from Boston goes to Dubai. How to cook for the best chef in the world.
Time for more restaurant news, as always if you have a tip or some news of your own, do reach out. Now let’s see the news.
Salt Bae opens Florida Restaurant
Internet sensation and meat aficionado Nusret Gökçe also known as Salt Bae will open his first US restaurant this year. The restaurant which will, of course, be a Turkish meat-focused restaurant will open in the now-closed Coya in Miami according to the Miami Herald.
Noma delayed until 2018
The least surprising news this week is that the reopening of Noma in Copenhagen will be delayed until early 2018. An ancient wall was discovered during the renovation and the project had to be put on hold which caused the delay.
Where to eat in Paris according to Michelin starred chefs
Vogue asked a few Michelin starred chefs where they like to eat comfort food in Paris. Plenty of great tips in where to head out for dinner if you find yourself in Paris soon. That is if you’re not will be eating at any of the Michelin star restaurants that is.
Boston Restaurant Toro goes to Dubai
The Spanish restaurant Toro in Boston is expanding even more. The original location by the two chefs Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette is in Boston but has expanded to New York and Bangkok as well. Now the fourth location in Dubai has been opened. For those of you who don’t know Dubai is one of the most popular fake cities in the world.
How to cook for the World’s best chef
Being the wife of chef René Redzepi can be tricky, what do you cook for the best chef in the world? Turns out that is not a problem, a new cookbook is coming from the Noma wife Nadine Levy Redzepi, a full coverage here.
Mario Batali likes minimum wage, keep it low
This is old news but in case you missed it Croc wearing chef Mario Batali don’t want to raise the minimum wage. I’m guessing it been some time since Mario himself earned that. Read the full story here.
Restaurant News is a regular category here at Ateriet. The idea is to highlight interesting stories about chefs and restaurant that is relevant to an international audience. You can read all Restaurant News here. If you have a tip for a great story or have some news of your own that you think would be a great fit here don’t hesitate to reach out.


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Audi’s 2014 sales up eight percent
Mumbai: German luxury car manufacturer Audi on Thursday reported yearly sales growth of 8.48 percent for 2014 at 10,851 units against 10,002 units in 2013.
“Audi continues to be the undisputed No.1 in the luxury car market and has remained
the preferred choice of luxury mobility for car enthusiasts in India. The sheer
acceptance of our brand in this country is tremendous,” said Joe King, head, Audi India.
“We believe for Audi, India is a long journey and it’s not just about a month or a year. The strategy that we have implemented in this journey has helped us to not only achieve leadership but also to maintain it.”
According to the company, 2014 sales results marks the seventh successive year of growth for the company which last year became the first luxury car manufacturer to achieve sales of 10,000 units in a calendar year, as well as, financial year in India.
The company said that heavy demand outstripped supply, enabling Audi India to achieve a 17 percent sales growth during the last quarter (October to December 2014) which stood at 3,044 units from 2,611 units sold in the corresponding period of 2013.


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It’s fun to watch foodies freak-out when mainstream restaurants adopt their over-the-top food combinations. Writing in Time Magazine, Josh Ozersky hyperventilates that family-style restaurant Denny’s has launched a bacon menu called “Baconalia” featuring items like bacon sundaes, bacon pancakes and bacon meatloaf. It’s all very Top Chef meets Middle America.
Frankly, none of it sounds very appetizing to me but Ozersky isn’t actually critical of how things taste at the family restaurants; he’s clear that this sort of food creativity has no place at Denny’s.
Bacon has enjoyed a renaissance in the last several years. No longer just a partner to eggs and pancakes in the morning, bacon can be found in the most curious places (dipped in chocolate or blended into vanilla ice cream seem the most common combinations lately). Adding salty bacon to sweet confections was the hot new culinary trick a couple of years ago (I recall a lot of bacon ice creams in the first season of Top Chef). Foodies swooned for these creations; praised chefs for thinking outside the box and for skillfully crafting whole new flavor profiles.
Well…apparently now, bacon is soooo last year. And Denny’s is soooo unworthy of such foodie behavior, at least according to Ozersky who can barley hide his horror that normal Americans might actually enjoy these bacon-filled dishes. And he’s quick to say that Denny’s is behind the curve on this whole bacon craze:
This promotion, like so many in recent years, is a cheap attempt to milk a bacon fad that, in reality, ended years ago…At one time it might have seemed vaguely outrageous, but now it’s just a standby, a last resort when they can’t think of anything else. Bacon may have ceased being something cool to talk about, but it stayed something wonderful to eat. And Denny’s could easily be tapping into the true greatness of bacon, which is among America’s greatest and oldest gifts to the world.
But then Ozersky gets to the real ummm…meat of the matter. The bacon that Denny’s is using, you see, isn’t refined enough…or expensive enough. And…try not to laugh…it can’t be called by name:
Denny’s is just coming up with zany recipes using cheap, waterlogged bacon, bacon that doesn’t even have a name, bacon that I am willing to bet was cured using injection and puncture brining, and that is cut as thin as a cat’s ear. Which is a shame since, in many ways, we are living in a golden age of bacon. We have more and better bacon, available by mail to everyone, than at any time previous, and new ones are emerging all the time. To say you’re doing a bacon promotion and use just generic food-service slices is like having a baby-naming ceremony and then asking for suggestions from the crowd. Bacon deserves better!
Oh boy. Someone get this guy a cocktail…or a book about something other than food! Bacon without a name! It’s tragic!!
Ozersky (who has written a book about the history of burgers and is currently working on a book about KFC) continues his article by educating us about bacon; its many flavors and textures, where it comes from and which heritage beasts create the best tasting bacon. He then says “real bacon enthusiasts” (read: people who don’t eat at Denny’s) usually have “three or four bacons on hand for different occasions.”
I never thought it could happen, but this guy has fully turned me off bacon-possibly for good. And that’s what foodies do, turn people off eating. To them, eating is a religion with strict rules of conduct. It is a serious matter and only serious people should muck around in the food world.
What Denny’s did was sin and not once but twice.
Denny’s rose above its station — taking a foodie concept and bringing it to Middle America. Second, they demystified a foodie trick — reworking American classics with a modern twist.
Interestingly, Ozersky works as a writer for Rachel Ray — the food network personality who is regularly the target of foodie attacks. To many foodies, Ray’s Food Network show 30-Minute Meals is an affront to real food lovers who think a meal prepared in anything less than 7-days isn’t worth a taste test.
I wonder what Ozersky has to say about his boss’s shortcut weeknight dinner recipes. I’m a fan of the show…but I’ve never seen Ms. Ray call her bacon by name before throwing it in the pan.


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Indian coffee is set to undergo a transformation starting with India Coffee Houses, the popular addas of the 1970s and 80s, which are in a derelict condition, with two bidders — Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) and Afoozo vying for its 13 outlets — Coffee Board secretary and CEO Srivatsa Krishna said.
The deal also puts the India business in a piquant situation. Costa Coffee in India is operated by rival PepsiCo’s biggest and long-standing, exclusive bottling partner RJ Corp, which operates about 70 outlets.
Nestle’s program is part of a change in direction for the 152-year-old company.
Nestle had announced in May it would pay $7.15 billion (6.13 billion euros) for the rights to market Starbucks coffee globally.
Political parties are expected to rain largesse on potential voters, especially in key rural markets, boosting consumer demand in the hinterland, they said.
Any inorganic opportunity in the market is evaluated by Nestle. But it will depend on the long term strategic fit, said Nestle's chairman Suresh Narayanan.
Total income during the quarter stood at Rs 2,758.63 crore.
EU's intellectual property office has been told to revisit Nestle's exclusive rights for Kit-Kat in the region.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSA) Chairman Ashish Bahuguna said the industry has bigger responsibility to ensure quality and safe products to consumers.
The company's market valuation stood at Rs 1,01,541.66 crore at close of trade on BSE today.
The marketplace will offer best-ever deals on FMCG products across categories such as food, grocery, staples, beauty, personal care, baby care, detergent and home care during Prime Day, with the backing of brands.
While cos such as Pepsi-Co, Cremica Food Industries, and Allied Blenders and Distillers consider increased use of glass in packaging, they feel adopting collaborative technology to recycle waste is the best way to deal with the plastic waste menace.
The scramble for Horlicks underlines the immense brand value of the product. GSK’s Horlicks and Boost brands have strong positioning in Indian market.
This marks an entirely new foray for the Atlanta headquartered firm and could give it bandwidth to play in the pure health-nutrition space aimed primarily at children.
While, referring to the recent big ticket investments in e-commerce space, he said this channel would improve and grow further in coming years.
Nestle has been struggling with slowing sales growth for years. Now it is also under pressure from activist shareholder Daniel Loeb to increase investor returns.
The U.S. coffee chain, which recently raised $7.15 billion in a deal with Nestle SA, aims to have 6,000 stores in the country by the end of 2022


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While the partnership with the Hyundai group is not yet official, rumor has it that the Kia subsidiary assembles the Apple electric car in one of its factories in the United States.
In oblivion for years, the Apple electric car seems to be confirmed week by week. At the end of December, it was an association with Hyundai that gave more substance to the rumor.
New information adds details from South Korea. The eDaily media announced that the Kia brand would be responsible for producing the Apple Car. The vehicle would come out of the West Point plant in Georgia. A site that currently assembles the Sorento SUV, the large Telluride or the Optima sedan.
Information which echoes Kia’s new plan announcing 7 electrics by 2027. The Korean manufacturer’s strategy could stick to the spirit of the “Project Titan” of the apple firm. Kia responded, however, that the talks are “At too early a stage” concerning this American production.
The “Made in USA” to remake an image?
Apple is in the sights of US presidents. The company still manufactures its iPhones in China, which it tries to hide under the slogan “Designed by Apple in California”. However, CEO Tim Cook gave in to pressure from Barack Obama and then Donald Trump to keep Mac computer manufacturing in Texas.
Also, local auto manufacturing has been a source of tension in the United States since Trump’s arrival. The soon to be ex-President had pointed the finger at his national manufacturers for imports from Mexico from China.
A local construction would allow Apple to go under the radar and forget the Made in China of its phones.


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The CEO of Starbucks recently announced that the company is making a “dominant shift” towards a plant-based menu. Starbucks adding plant-based options is nothing new. However, they may increase vegan food items with their changing menu.
According to VegNews, during an investor earnings call this week, the company’s CEO, Kevin Johnson, announced the decision to include more plant-based options to meet the demand.
Starbucks has been slowly increasing its plant-based and vegetarian options over the years. Just last spring, their featured menu items included coconut milk and a vegetarian wrap. The coffee chain also announced that it’d be introducing a Beyond Meat breakfast sandwich. Unfortunately, that sandwich is only suitable for vegetarians since it contains both eggs and cheese.
While Starbucks does currently have quite a range of options for vegetarians (which is awesome!), options for vegans are really lacking. Thankfully, this new announcement means that’s going to change.
“If I were to say what is probably the most dominant shift in consumer behavior, [it] is this whole shift to plant-based,” Johnson said. “And that is a shift both in beverage and in food.”
Starbucks Does Trial Of Vegan Options
Acting on the increased demand, and seeing success from the Beyond Burger vegetarian sandwich, Starbucks decided to try something for vegans.
A location in Issaquah, Washington released vegan breakfast options, including an all-vegan breakfast sandwich. And they didn’t stop there. That same location also experimented with offering a vegan quiche alternative made from plant-based “eggs.” They further added chickpea bites and cashew milk cream cheese.
“We use that [store] as sort of a test area when we innovate, create things here in our support center,” the CEO revealed. “We test in that store. So, if I think about both beverage and food, the number one trend I would highlight there is just the consumer shift and consumer preferences around plant-based.”
We’re excited to see Starbucks evolve to accommodate vegan diets! Hopefully those vegan breakfast sandwiches and other goodies make it nation-wide.


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Industry giant China Telecom recently released a whitepaper elucidating on its 5G blockchain phone. China Telecom Corporation first revealed the product in the China Internation Artificial Intelligence Industry Fair.
The news was reported by local sources earlier this week. This is another move by a state-owned industry player into the blockchain ecosystem. The company even plans on releasing their own smartphone based on the technology and has detailed the concept in the whitepaper released.
What is China Telecom?
The China Telecom Corporation is a state-owned telecom company. The company is one of the biggest telecom companies in China and boasts a userbase of over one hundred and fifty million (153M) users as in 2017. The company has an annual revenue of more than three hundred and fifty billion Chinese Yuan (CNY352.3bn). The company currently has more than a quarter-million employees (287,000).
China Telecom: The 5G mobile phone
The company advertised the phone as a device capable of managing digital assets as well as data in the 5G era. Moreover, many companies have taken an interest in blockchain, yet no mass production has occurred. China Telecom seeks to change it and establish a precedent.
The phone will become more prone to cyber-attacks as well as other frauds and scams. Furthermore, the user will be able to access his/her digital assets through the device. Moreover, all device information will be encrypted through blockchain and hence make it prone to information leaks or data theft.
However, the most useful applications of the device would be its digital identity verification and supply chain tracking. Digital ID verification allows users to authenticate their contacts. Meanwhile, supply chain tracking would allow small-scale businesses to keep an accurate record of there stocks.
The proposal by China Telecom is the most ambitious development of blockchain mobile devices to date. However, a launch date is yet to be announced.
China Telecom’s move towards blockchain might be a result of the “China Coin,” a state-backed cryptocurrency to be offered by the Chinese Central Bank.


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Singer Vehicle, which created the Zinger 21C hypercar in 2020 and then announced plans to expand its range of cars to six or seven models by 2030, has announced two new cars. The first of the new products was the Czinger 21C V Max — a modification of an existing coupe — and the second was a completely new car, known so far under the code name Czinger Hyper GT. And this is despite the fact that deliveries have not even begun to the model that already exists in reality-the firstborn.
Buyers of the Zinger 21C have not yet received their models, and they have already been offered a new Czinger 21C V Max hypercar. The car, designed to drive at maximum speed, has a new body design — the front and rear parts of the car have been redesigned, almost all aerodynamic elements have been removed and the most streamlined shapes have been given.
There are no technical changes, which means that the hypercar printed on a 3D printer has retained a 1,250-horsepower power plant, including a 2.9-liter V8 turbo engine and two electric motors – one on each of the front wheels – combined with a 7—speed robotic gearbox and all-wheel drive.
The second novelty should be the Czinger Hyper GT. Luxury four-seater Grand Turismo with doors of the “wings of the seagull” type, expensive finishes, and rich equipment. However, there is no detailed information about the new model.
It is promised only that it will receive a hybrid power plant. There is no information about the timing of the start of production and the circulation of new items — the same 21C V Max will be made in the amount of 80 pieces with delivery to customers in 2023.


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Motorola, an American multinational telecommunications, is all set to host a smartphone launch event in India on June 20. The Lenovo-owned company has not revealed the product portfolio but according to the media reports, it is expected that the new smartphone would be One Vision Android smartphone. It is to be noted that Motorola One Vision was launched in Brazil last month.
The major highlights of One Vision is a hole-punch display, a dual rear camera setup with a 48-megapixel sensor, a 25-megapixel selfie sensor, rear fingerprint sensor, a 21:9 display and many more.
Motorola has confirmed that it is hosting an event on June 20 in India with 'block your date invites' sent to the press. The invite says, "Building on the benchmark, we are bringing to you another premium device on Thursday, 20th of June 2019... Save the date to experience the brilliance."
Coming back to the Motorola One Vision, the premium smartphone is priced at an RRP (recommended retail price) of EUR 299 (approx Rs 23,500). It went on sale in Brazil for BRL 1,999 (approx Rs 35,000). In Brazil, the smartphone is available in two colour options i.e. Sapphire Blue and Brown. Also, Saudi Arabia and Thailand markets are selling the Motorola One Vision already.
Motorola One Vision specifications
Motorola One Vision features a 6.3-inch Full HD+ 21:9 display with 21:9 CinemaVision aspect ratio and adopts a hole-punch display design. It is powered by the 2.2GHz Exynos 9609 octa-core processor. The premium smartphone packs 4GB of RAM and offers 128GB internal storage as well. Importantly, the storage can further be expanded via microSD card slot support (up to 512GB). The One Vision phone measures at 160.1x71.2x8.7mm, and weighs 181 grams.
As far as the optics of the smartphone are concerned, the Motorola One Vision sports one 48-megapixel snapper with f/1.7 aperture and another 5-megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture. The smartphone also supports dual-LED flash, 8x digital zoom, portrait mode, manual mode, cinemagraph, panorama, active display mode, Auto HDR and many more. On the front, there is a 25-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture as well.
The Motorola One Vision packs a 3,500mAh battery with TurboPower fast charging support. Connectivity options include Bluetooth v5, USB Type-C port, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, more. Sensors on board include fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, compass, and magnetometer.


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The new model could also be hit by production problems, according to expert predictions
By Sara Kamouni
13th May 2017,6:40 pm
Updated: 15th May 2017,5:08 am
THE next iPhone is set to cost over £850, a new research note has suggested.
The 10th-anniversary smartphone will reportedly have 256GB of storage, augmented reality technologies, 3D sensors and high-quality OLED display, according to the Daily Mail.
The research note, produced by Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski, predicted there will also be more demand for larger models which support the latest technology.
She wrote: “We think the higher demand for the larger (5.8″) form factor will be supported by the fact that the iPhone 8 will have compelling new features not available in the smaller form factors.”
It follows rumours reported in Digitimes that production of the A11 processor set to power the iPhone 8 has already started at the Taiwan Seminconductor Manufacturing Company – and whispers that the handset may actually be released as early as October.
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But there have also been claims that the manufacturing process may be subject to shipment delays. 9to5Mac reported Ming-Chi Kuo, of Asia-Pacific financial services group KGI, warned earlier this week there is a “rising probability” of production difficulties thanks to the major hardware upgrades involved.
The Goldman Sachs note priced the iPhone 8 at $1,099 (£852) – exceeding previous rumours it would cost $1,000 (£775).
Apple users outraged as new iPhone 8 has relocated home button to the BACK
Wepay for yourstories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.org or call 0207 782 4368


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Monday, January 6, 2020 - The State of New Mexico has become the first in the nation to sue Johnson & Johnson and three other manufacturers over talc products believed to contain asbestos. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas filed the suit January 3, 2020 in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico against four corporations: Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Corporation; and Valeant Pharmaceuticals North America, LLC.
"Our office will take immediate action any time a corporation misleads a New Mexican consumer or endangers the health and safety of our families," Balderas said in a statement issued by his office. "These products have been targeted at minority groups, especially Black and Hispanic women and children, with false messages about their safety, and I will hold these companies accountable."
The lawsuit alleges these manufacturers have known for more than four decades that their baby powders and other talc products contained asbestos, which has been linked to increased risk of ovarian and other types of cancer, yet they hid risks from both the FDA and consumers.
Over 15,000 women who have suffered ovarian cancer they believe is linked to talcum powder use have filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson. The vast majority of those cases are being represented by Onder Law Firm. To-date, Onder Law clients have won over $300 million in the handful of cases that have been litigated so far.
The New Mexico suit marks the first time a state has taken action against Johnson & Johnson for its talc products, although the company is facing multiple lawsuits filed by states over its manufacture and sale of opioids.
If you used Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder or Shower to Shower for more than four years and were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, contact Onder Law Firm for a free consultation at 314-963-9000.
OnderLaw, LLC in St. Louis has developed a solid reputation of excellence as a personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. The Onder Law Firm has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, including Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, Actos, Risperdal and others. The Onder Law Firm has won verdicts of more than $300 million in talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits, and has more experience representing Bayer/Monsanto glyphosate cancer victims than any other law firm in the country.


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Stonewin expands into commercial bunkering.
tonewin, a supplier of fuels to defence and security institutions, is branching out into the commercial bunkering business with the launch of a physical bunkering operation in Port Louis, Mauritius.
The new operation is actively supplying bunkers as of January 2, 2019.
Stonewin says it is using the 2008-built, doublehuled bunker barge MT Hakkasan to deliver IFO180 and MGO products under its own Bunker Delivery Note(BDN) via a fully controlled supply chain.
Stonewin is using the 2008-built bunker
barge MT Hakkasan. Image Credit: Stonewin
"The launch of our Mauritius operation is a significant next step in Stonewin’s successful growth strategy," said Alexander Schaltuper, CEO, Stonewin.
"It enhances our global presence and offers diversification to our business. Allowing us to strengthen existing, and build new relationships with our customers, through providing a firstclass bunkering service."


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Uber completed the $3.1 billion acquisition of Careem's businesses across the Middle East.
The Dubai ride-hailing company retains operational and brand independence even as it becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American firm. Careem co-founder Mudassir Sheikha also remains chief executive.
Its board will be made up of three representatives from Uber and two representatives from Careem.
The closing of the deal, initially announced in March, means that Uber now owns Careem's mobility, delivery, and payments businesses across the region, including in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
On Monday, the acquisition was given the go-ahead by the Egyptian Competition Authority, clearing a key regulatory hurdle.
However, regulatory approval is still pending in Pakistan, Qatar and Morocco, which means the deal has not yet closed in those countries, the companies said on Friday.
In an email sent to the staff of both firms, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said that "working in parallel, our two brands will be able to build upon the unique strengths of each, to the benefit of drivers… riders, and the cities we serve across the greater Middle East".
Mr Sheikha wrote in a response that “we have a great deal of respect for Uber from our days of competing with you, and we look forward to working alongside you all to accelerate the size and speed of our collective impact”.
San Francisco-headquartered Uber's purchase of Careem marked the region's biggest technology sector acquisition to date.


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Day Two of the 2005 NAMM Show
Attendees Check Out the Latest Products, Celebrity Appearances and Musical Entertainment
NAMM, the International Music Products Association, kicked off the second day of the 2005 NAMM Show with a well-attended early-morning NAMM University breakfast session at the Hilton Anaheim Hotel.
The panel discussion, "The Increasingly Changing Demographics of Your Customers: Where Do We Go from Here?' was moderated by industry expert Bob Popyk and featured a group of industry insiders. NAMM U presented two other hour-long seminars throughout the day, in addition to 11 shorter, more focused sessions held at the Idea Center within the exhibit hall.
Just before show opening, the Wicked Tinkers put on a high-energy performance in the Anaheim Convention Center lobby. This unique musical group has become a NAMM Show favorite, providing morning entertainment at each show during the past few years.
Once the doors to the exhibit halls opened, crowds took over the floor for a second day of business meetings, informational sessions, product demos and celebrity sightings. Several famous musicians made appearances, including Carlos Santana, Peter Frampton and Dave Navarro, as well as R&B musician/songwriter John Legend, who performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus stage.
A constant stream of participants and onlookers swarmed the NAMM International Fastest Drummer booth, where competitions are being held through Saturday. The final heats for the titles of “Fastest Hands” and “Fastest Feet ” will take place Sunday.
Live music was found throughout the day on performance stages around the show area—the outdoor stage, the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus stage and finally at the Annual All-Industry Drum Circle, which drew hundreds of participants at the close of the show day.
As the show closed for the day, exhibitor from around the globe expressed positive feedback on the first two days of show.
“The show has been very good—far better than we expected,” said Peter Tune of Moeck Musikinstrumente + Verlag, Celle, Germany. “There’s quite a lot of new dealers who have contacted us, so there’s been a very positive resonance to the show up to now.”
Pam Shelley of Pikcard USA in Chatsworth, Calif., reported excellent sales for her company, which has only been in existence since July 2004. “We can’t believe how much business we’re getting. It’s been fantastic. This is the best place to just get as many people gathered to see your product in one place, instead of hunting them down or spending money on marketing and cold calls. This is by far the best way to make as many contacts as possible. We couldn’t be happier.”


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Mutual fund titan Bill Miller is talking bitcoin again.
"One of the things that's interesting about bitcoin is that it gets less risky the higher it goes," Miller told CNBC Friday. "That's the opposite of what happens with most stocks."
Miller continued to describe bitcoin as "a supply-and-demand story" with roughly 900 bitcoins created each day and a swarm of retail and institutional investors scooping up enormous chunks of available supply.
Payment companies like Square and PayPal are also funneling retail capital into bitcoin. In Q3 2020, for example, Square reported a record $1 billion in bitcoin revenue via its Cash App mobile wallet. PayPal, after announcing its plan to support bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in October, promptly removed its waitlist for the service less than a month later, citing overwhelming demand.
"For those people who are waiting for the pullback, they got it in the first quarter. You could have bought bitcoin at $4,000 in the first quarter," Miller noted, referencing bitcoin's nearly 50% intraday crash in March 2020.
But amid bitcoin's more than 300% rally in 2020, extended by an additional 40% gain already in 2021, Miller said the price of these returns is the asset's volatility.
"You have to expect that it's going to be very, very volatile," Miller told CNBC. "If you can't take the volatility, you probably shouldn't own it. But its volatility is the price you pay for its performance."
Still, Miller said earlier this week he thinks markets are underpricing bitcoin's value proposition as a potential inflation hedge, calling it cash's "rat poison," a term Warren Buffett famously applied to bitcoin with an entirely opposite connotation.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by Bullish, a cryptocurrency exchange, which in turn is owned by Block.one, a firm with interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets including bitcoin and EOS. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary, and an editorial committee, chaired by a former editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, is being formed to support journalistic integrity.


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By Julie Earle-Levine
Sito Mobile, which helps companies advertise through text messages and location-based marketing, is targeting a group that sends hundreds of messages a day — millennials.
Jerry Hug, the company’s CEO, told our Julie Earle-Levine that major brands are realizing they use mobile devices to reach key markets like Generation Y.
He says 77 million millennials in the US are the largest segment of smartphone owners.
Competitors in the space include Millennial Media, X ad and Hipcricket. Hug says Sito is close to finalizing a deal to acquire Hipcricket, paying $4.5 million in cash.
Last year, Sito had $10 million in revenues. The fastest-growing portion was its location-based ad business. Hugs expects to double in size and scale this year.


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A new report from Fitch Ratings says that the U.S. mobile industry will continue to post profits even though prepaid and reseller additions are fueling much of the subscriber growth. That's because carriers are working hard on improving their postpaid churn and company margins. And data services are helping to stem losses in ARPU.
To read more about Fitch's assessment of the mobile industry:
- check out this article from RCR Wireless News


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Springfield, MO: Today, Springfield’s Double Jump Media announced their video collaboration with Boston-based Neurable, a trailblazer in the neurotech industry. Double Jump produced the video locally as part of an IndieGoGo campaign for Neurable’s first product, “Enten,” a pair of smart headphones that read brain waves to show users when and where they focus best. The campaign, which launched April 28, 2021, funded in a matter of minutes and ended up exceeding its initial goal by 900%. At the heart of the headphones is a brain-computer interface developed by Neurable co-founder Ramses Alcaide, Ph.D. Alcaide designed the interface to give people the ability to control objects and software using only their thoughts. Neurable is part of a wave of revolutionary consumer tech bringing neuroscience into everyday life. A slew of publications has since featured Neurable, including Forbes Magazine, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
Neurable, along with crowdfunding experts Russell Marketing out of Brooklyn, tapped Double Jump to create the campaign video earlier this year. “When Neurable and Russell approached us, it was apparent that what they were launching was something exceptional. We feel honored to be a part of bringing this life-changing tech to people’s attention,” said Ben Clayton, Founder and CEO of Double Jump Media.
Neurable is the latest in a string of successful crowdfunding campaigns that Double Jump has collaborated on with up-and-coming tech companies. Click here to check out Double Jump’s Neurable video. To learn more about Enten headphones, visit their website at www.neurable.com.
About Double Jump Media: Double Jump Media is a Springfield, Missouri-based video production company founded in 2014. Double Jump’s portfolio features videos for domestic and international clients, including Trek Bicycles, Forbes, and Dairy Farmers of America. They take their work very seriously, but not themselves.


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The International Gaming Standards Association has created a Payments Standards Committee to make gaming customers’ payments safer.
The Committee seeks to “create standards governing online payments” and will evaluate various methods to ensure regulators have clear guidelines on how to protect their jurisdiction from theft and fraud.
Unveiling Payments Standards Committee, IGSA welcomed Aristocrat gaming and AXES.ai to its ranks. They are working together to improve the integrity of gaming’s payment markets.
IGSA serves as a bridge between gaming operators and regulatory bodies. It is open to members from more than 20 countries.
The association’s mission is to develop and create intellectual property in order to “ensure its members have a unique strategic advantage.”
It says that members can benefit from “cross-sectorial visibility, reach, and a facility for access to commercialization channels” through its operations.
“Regulators all around the world are continually asking for guidance about how to create a safer payment landscape for their operators,” said Peter DeRaedt President of IGSA. “This committee will ensure our industry members that we will protect them.
“I am proud of how the Board of Directors has embraced this project so quickly since the arrival of Earle G Hall, our new Chairman. Earle’s goal is to ensure that payments are a source of revenue for the Industry while also protecting regulators and operators by maintaining a high standard. We invite the entire industry to come join us.”


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PrivateBank Implemented Cash Withdrawals at ATMs with QR-Code
15.10.2012 820 views
PrivateBank has launched a new service of contactless cash withdrawals with QR-code at its ATMs in Ukraine. Now it is possible to withdraw cash at ATMs with a card issued by any bank using a smartphone. “Virtualization of payment tools is the basic trend of banking technologies development for many years. Smartphone application “Wallet24” is now available to cardholders of any Ukranian and foreign bank”, said Deputy Chairman of PrivateBank Alexander Vityaz.


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Avon Bug Guard Plus Claims Revision Planned Following NAD Inquiry
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Avon's future ad claims comparing Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Plus insect repellent with S.C. Johnson's OFF! Skintastic IV will be modified to reflect the "conditions under which parity was demonstrated," the direct seller told the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus
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Apple has made certain plans for its data center in Reno, Nevada. It wants to set up a solar panel farm for this particular data center. The renewable energy proposal is part of Apple’s environment-friendly strategy.
Reno, Nevada is about to get a facelift. Apple’s data center which is located in the city will be powered by a solar panel farm. The data center itself cost one billion dollars and will yield a minimum of 18 megawatts of power. According to Gigaom, the whole thing got off the ground when Apple Incorporated combined forced with NV Energy to build the 167 acre solar panel unit. NV Energy is a utility company. When it is completed the solar cells on the farms will generate millions of kilowatts of pure pollution-free energy. All that energy will be siphoned off to the Sierra Pacific Power’s electric grid station. This grid station is responsible for energy provision to Apple’s data center. Since its data center needs a lot of electric power, Apple took this decision to use solar energy as the chief means of gaining access to a vital power source.
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Another one of Apple’s central hub in Maiden, North Carolina is supplied renewable energy for its entire operations. The fact of the matter is that all of Apple’s data centers rely on this type of clean energy. And the one in Reno is going to be employing some cutting-edge solar panels that concentrate sunlight in order to extract its vitality.
Some other key Apple sites that are solely running on solar energy include: Cork, Ireland; Elk Grove, California and Austin, Texas. The vast amount of energy generated at the Reno plant will be enough to power 6,400 road-faring vehicles. Apple’s new venture is likely to create at least 1000 new jobs. This will occur both directly and inadvertently. The ultimate objective for Apple is to completely become dependent on renewable resources instead of fossil fuels for its energy requirements.
Apple is one giant conglomerate which is definitely going green. One of the chief ploys used by Apple on its solar farm is to use mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy onto the panels. The level of concentration thus becomes over seven times the normal level of the sun’s brightness. Apple’s fans are happy with this development. They have put their faith in the late Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s brainchild. It is the way of the future and the future looks bright alright.
Image Credit: Getty Images


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2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins is going to be getting a new performance boost in time for its debut on Xbox Game Pass this week, as the game is going to be getting an update to add 60fps.
The news came from the Ubisoft Twitter, saying:
“You’ve been waiting, and now the winds of Egypt are calling…. “
The game is going to be releasing on Game Pass on June 1st as Ubisoft and Microsoft continue to work together and add more games to the subscription service. We knew this update would be coming and now we have the official release date.
You've been waiting, and now the winds of Egypt are calling….
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) May 31, 2022
Assassin’s Creed Origins first came out in 2017 and saw the series get a big revamp, moving into a huge open-world design and going back to explore the beginnings of the Assassin Order. It was followed by Odyssey and Valhalla, all of which have been met with mostly positive reception.
There has been no announcement on if a new game in the series will be releasing this year, though there are rumors of a smaller, standalone game based off of Basim, a character from Valhalla, releasing in 2022 or 2023. There are also rumblings of Ubisoft working on an even bigger game called Assassin’s Creed Infinity.
For all your gaming news and more, be sure to check back in here with BuzzHash.