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A new Geekbench listing has just revealed that LG is working on an Android 9 Pie update for its flagship smartphone, the LG V40 ThinQ. This listing is dated for November 21, which was yesterday, and along with sharing some single-core and multi-core results for the device's performance, it also hints that Android 9 Pie is on the way. The listing says that one of the LG V40 ThinQ units has been tested with Android 9 Pie onboard, which suggests that the company is testing the update as we speak, though it's hard to predict when will it be available based on this listing, of course. LG will hopefully share more info in the coming weeks. That being said, this unit managed to score 2,315 points in the single-core test on Geekbench, while it hit 7.242 points in the multi-core test. These results are comparable to the Oreo-powered LG V40 ThinQ, which was to be expected. Now, once it arrives, Android 9 Pie on the LG V40 ThinQ will not be stock, not at all, as LG's skin will be applied on top of it.
Background: The LG G7 One is the only LG-branded smartphone to have received Android 9 Pie thus far, though that is an Android One smartphone, and it sports stock Android. The LG V40 ThinQ may become the very first LG-branded smartphone with LG's software on top of it, to receive Android 9 Pie. As part of that update, the device will probably get all the major Android 9 Pie features, including the Adaptive Brightness and battery-related improvements that Google introduced with Android 9 Pie, which means that the system will handle rogue apps much better than before. LG is also expected to change up its UI a bit with this update, though no info surfaced just yet, so we don't know what exactly will it look like once it becomes available. The LG G7 One received the Android 9 Pie update quite recently, actually, the update started rolling out about a week ago, and is one of the first Android One smartphone to have received Android 9 Pie.
The LG V40 ThinQ is LG's most powerful smartphone at the moment, and chances are it will stay that way until the LG G8 ThinQ or the company's foldable smartphone don't become official next year. The LG V40 ThinQ was announced last month, and it ships with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, with LG's UX 7.1 skin. The LG V40 ThinQ is made out of metal and glass, while the device is both IP68 and MIL-STD-810G certified, which means that it is water and dust resistant, while it can also take a hit better than your regular phone. The device is fueled by the Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core processor, while it features a 6.4-inch QHD+ P-OLED display. A 3,300mAh battery is included on the LG V40 ThinQ (with Quick Charge 3.0), while the phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, and 32-bit/192kHz audio. The phone features two 12-megapixel cameras and one 16-megapixel camera on the back, while you will find an 8-megapixel and 5-megapixel cameras on the phone's front side. A fingerprint scanner is placed on the back of this phone, while both single and dual-SIM variants of the device got announced. The LG V40 ThinQ features really thin bezels, but it also ships with a display notch.
We still do not have any info when it comes to the company's G8 flagship which is expected to arrive next year, but LG is expected to introduce its foldable smartphone in early 2019. The company is actually rumored to show off that phone at CES 2019 in January, but it remains to be seen how accurate that info is. LG will probably show something similar to what Samsung demoed during its press conference, which probably means that the company will show off a device with a flexible display, which can be folded right down the middle. It remains to be seen if the phone will be folded inwards or outwards, in other words, if it will have one large display and one small one, or just one large display half of which will power off when the device is folded. LG did patent a lot of designs over the course of the last couple of years, so it's not exactly easy to predict what to expect, but when it comes to the LG G8, chances are that we'll get a phone with a camera hole in the display, LG actually patented a design with two camera holes (oval-shaped) in the display recently, so… that may be the LG G8's design, we'll see.
Impact: The LG V40 ThinQ's performance on Android 8.1 Oreo is really good, as we were able to find out in our review. That being said, Android 9 Pie is expected to bring all of that to a whole new level. Google introduced a number of under-the-hood improvements with Android 9 Pie, in addition to some features that we've mentioned, and those improvements are expected to boost the LG V40 ThinQ's performance even more. Now, in addition to Adaptive Brightness and battery-related improvements, LG is also expected to introduce navigation gestures along with Android 9 Pie update for the V40 ThinQ. It remains to be seen if the company will come up with its own navigation gestures, like Xiaomi, Samsung, and OnePlus, for example, or will it follow Google's example and simply adopt what Google introduced. Improved security features will also be packed into the update, while it remains to be seen if LG plans to implement Digital Wellbeing into its version of Android 9 Pie. Chances are we'll get a redesigned accessibility menu, as Google redesign it quite a bit in Android 9 Pie, while the screen rotation prompt while using on-screen buttons or Google's navigation gestures may become available as well. Easier text selection will be included as well, almost certainly, while a number of additional, small tweaks will be implemented as well, though it remains to be seen what exactly. It is still unknown what LG-made software additions we'll see in this update, though, but some info will hopefully pop up soon.


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New Delhi: Daimler's Chinese truck venture partner Beiqi Foton Motor aims to sell 200,000 new energy commercial vehicles by 2025, its chairman, Zhang Xiyong, told a conference on Saturday.
Foton, a BAIC Group unit, will develop battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell and gasoline-electric trucks and vans, Zhang said, without giving details of the company's investment in the project.
Previously, the company has also announced to jointly invest with PMI Electro Mobility Solutions for setting up an electric bus manufacturing plant at Pune, India in the next two to three years.
For this, overall investment is around Rs 500 crore. Meanwhile, Foton PMI has bagged orders to supply 700 electric busses to Uttar Pradesh in the next one year. It has already supplied 50 electric buses to Himachal State Road Transport Corporation.
"ICVs are seeing a spurt in demand and this is the best time to introduce our proven I-Gen6 BS-VI technology in one of our best-selling brands in the portfolio. These launches will further strengthen our portfolio and help us achieve our vision of being in the global top 10 CV makers," Vipin Sondhi said.

domain: news


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Bringing the online casino experience to the blockchain is an arduous process that requires careful consideration of the current technological limitations and how to mitigate them. Making it work in real-time while also supporting the volume of transactions necessary for a complex game is another challenge. Online gaming platform BitBoss has found a solution to these problems with the release of the first blackjack game run entirely on-chain.
Bitcoin CEO Matt Dickson and CTO Alex Shore sat down with the Bitcoin Association to explain how they achieved this feat and what it means for their industry’s future.
BitBoss announces the first Blackjack game running on #BSV. Content Creators can configure our game rules and get paid in real time. All game play is on chain and all bet results are provably fair. Try playing – visit our white label partner at https://t.co/KMDh7ETy0f pic.twitter.com/sYDdkh4kHf
— bitbossio (@bitbossio) October 5, 2020
“Like with our other offerings, every single bet and bet result for our blackjack game is a transaction on the Bitcoin SV blockchain. But with blackjack, we go further because blackjack is a multi-action game—every action is recorded as a blockchain transaction. This has a ton of benefits because everything is provably fair. You don’t have to build off-chain technology and try to scale it. Everything is on the Bitcoin SV blockchain.”
Dickson followed up, noting how BitBoss created something public and usable, not hidden or obscured behind company servers. “It’s a public ledger, and that’s the joy of it,” says Matt Dickson while also noting that this allows for the creation of new business models in iGaming.
A blockchain-based casino game’s benefits are the same as those that underpin a blockchain itself: transparency, accessibility, and immutability. Players can garner a better awareness of their own habits, successes, and failures, which they can use to improve as players or monitor their gambling usage to identify and curb problematic usage.
The iGaming operator can use this information to run their platform with total transparency and compliance. Hence, regulators see for themselves what’s going on in real-time rather than as part of an operator’s monthly report. The regulator has the certainty that the records they are assessing are accurate and complete, with no room for any party to alter or exclude records.
BitBoss still faces some technical limitations with its on-chain game. Financial transactions remain subject to the time constraints of the block discovery mechanism. They have come up with a creative workaround solution to prevent lulls in in-play action by giving players more options to have different unspent outputs or UTXOs, that they can use to place new bets and start different chains on these other UTXOs.
“We have a limit where we can chain 50 transactions together (which works out to 25 bets), and we can do things where players can move BSV around, and we end up where we have many different UTXOs to begin a new chain. We might hit the limit on one of these chains, but then we can start another and another,” says Shore.
Both Shore and Dickson expect they will remove the limit on unchained transactions within a matter of months. Until then, they remain confident in the modifications made to make the game fully operable now.
“We’ve done a lot of work on this limit, but when it goes away, our system is going to be that much more powerful. Even if a block takes 90 minutes to get mined, it doesn’t matter,” insists Shore. “Even if you play now before you hit the limit, you can play a lot, and it’s fast. It’s the same speed as playing a client-server game, and to us, that’s revolutionary.”
Once the limit is removed, both Dickson and Shore believe it will be massive for online gambling. It will make Bitcoin SV the ultimate blockchain for gambling.
New to blockchain? Check out CoinGeek’s Blockchain for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about blockchain technology.


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Booth Hill School
The Father’s Club Pancake Palooza Breakfast will take place on Superbowl Sunday, Feb. 1, from 7:30-11:30 a.m. Cost is $10 a person and $30 per family. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at boothhillschool.wordpress.com. The breakfast will feature games, prizes, raffles and a Breakfast Blitz menu of pancakes (original, chocolate chip, and blueberry), eggs, sausage, bacon, coffee, milk and orange juice. Batter, butter and syrup donated by Chip’s in Trumbull.


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There’s a great, ongoing trend when it comes to noise-canceling headphones: they’re getting cheaper. Once focused solely on the high end, more and more manufacturers are releasing noise-canceling headphones that are $200 or less. But one major player appears to be sitting out the fight: the historical king and originator of the category, Bose.
Sennheiser and Sony are the two biggest players in the premium noise-canceling headphone market, that are taking this swing. Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless headphones have a list price of $400, and Sony’s WH-1000XM3 cost $350 — though both can be found on the second-hand market for much cheaper. And perhaps to bring those buyers back into the fold, the brand-new Sennheiser HD 450BT and the Sony WH-CH710N both cost $200 and have similar acoustic and noise-canceling qualities of their flagship siblings, but with a larger percentage of plastic than their more luxe cousins.
Meanwhile, if you wanted to buy a pair of Bose noise-canceling headphones for less than $200 right now, you’d have to buy a pair of Bose QuietComfort 25, which aren’t wireless and are over five-years-old. Or you’d have to go the refurbished route, but even then you’re still unlikely to find a pair of QuietComfort 35s (Series I or II) that are under $200.
Instead, Bose has turned in a different direction. Last year’s Headphones 700 ($400) mark the first time in the company’s history that Bose’s flagship noise-canceling headphones weren’t in its QuietComfort line. It’s a move that has relegated Bose’s QuietComfort line to a position of “great-but-not-best.” Except those “great-but-not-best” QuietComfort 35 IIs still cost $350.
So far there are no indications that Bose is working on a pair of sub-$200 noise-canceling headphones but with more manufacturers of noise-canceling headphones, Bose has more competition today than ever before. If it were to release a pair of $200 noise-canceling headphones, like Sennheiser and Sony, there’s little doubt the large, legacy brand could throw some serious weight around. But it seems like the giant may be content to leave that ground to its competitors, at least for now.


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Contact Us | Media Information | Global Military Communications | SatTV Week
Articles and Q&As
February 19, 2020
Satellite Evolution Group
A new study of the online content viewing behaviour of Taiwanese consumers, revealed that 33% of consumers have accessed streaming piracy w...
January 20, 2020
The Indonesia based IndoXXI group, which controls a large number of illegal piracy websites and applications, has “claimed” that it had off...
January 10, 2020
BT is stepping up its efforts to combat the illegal piracy of premium subscription-based content through a new partnership with leading vid...
January 3, 2020
The Indonesia based indoXXi group, which controls a large number of illegal piracy websites and applications, has claimed that it had offic...
November 8, 2019
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) welcomed over 500 senior video executives to the Asia Video Summit, held at the Ritz Carlton, Mi...
October 30, 2019
In a landmark court case brought by the Premier League, Singtel, StarHub and Fox Networks Group, a Singapore retail outlet Synnex Trading a...
September 13, 2019
Content redistribution piracy remains a big threat to the media and entertainment industry and, with increasing budgets for original conten...
September 3, 2019
A new study of the content viewing behavior of Malaysian consumers, revealed that 23% of consumers use a TV box which can be used to stream...


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Apple Rating Reiterated by Needham & Company (AAPL)
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Needham & Company in a research report issued on Tuesday, Stock Ratings Network reports. They currently have a $595.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.29% from the company’s current price.
In other Apple news, SVP Jeffrey E. Williams sold 1,843 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $501.09, for a total transaction of $923,508.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
A number of other firms have also recently commented on AAPL. Analysts at Barclays raised their price target on shares of Apple from $540.00 to $585.00 in a research note to investors on Tuesday. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Apple to $600.00 in a research note to investors on Tuesday. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at Piper Jaffray Cos. reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note to investors on Tuesday. They now have a $640.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $576.61.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) traded down 1.47% on Tuesday, hitting $522.08. The stock had a trading volume of 16,497,675 shares. Apple has a 52 week low of $385.10 and a 52 week high of $705.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $481.3 and a 200-day moving average of $444.. The company has a market cap of $474.3 billion and a P/E ratio of 13.21.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $8.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.86 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.67 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Apple will post $39.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $3.05 per share. This represents a $12.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.30%.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications.
Get Analysts' Upgrades and Downgrades via Email - Stay on top of analysts' coverage with Analyst Ratings Network's FREE daily email newsletter that provides a concise list of analysts' upgrades and downgrades. Click here to register now.


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Fortnite continues its impressive run on iOS as it has managed to surpass $100 million in user spending in three months since being available on the App Store. The $100 million mark comes after the game had surpassed $50 million in revenue in just 45 days.
The report also highlights that Fortnite’s popular alternative, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), is not so popular after all. The game has so far generated only $5.2 million in user spending on iOS, with Tencent still working out how it should monetize its user base. The company recently released took an approach similar to Epic Games and released a Royale Pass for the game similar to Fortnite’s Battle Pass. It remains to be seen how this affects the revenue generated by the game.
Are you still playing Fortnite? If yes, how much have you spent in the game to acquire various items?[Via Sensor Tower]


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Key Motorsports is pleased to welcome JohnDow Industries, Inc. as an official sponsor of the No. 40 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team for the 2008 season.
“We’re excited to welcome JohnDow Industries, Inc. as a sponsor for 2008”, commented team owner Curtis Key. “In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, it’s the support from sponsors that makes it possible for teams to race every week. We are pleased to share the excitement of Craftsman Truck Racing with JohnDow Industries”.
About Key Motorsports
Curtis Key has been a race team owner since the early 90’s and has fielded the successful Busch Series, now Nationwide Series, as well as Craftsman Trucks. The #40 Craftsman Truck is currently piloted by 14 year veteran Chad Chaffin.
For more information, visit www.keymotorsports.us.
About JohnDow Industries, Inc.
JohnDow Industries is a manufacturer of automotive shop equipment and supplies.
Brands include Eurovent, Vehicle Exhaust Extraction; Fuel Chief, Portable Fuel &
Handling; Crew Chief, Used Oil & Fluid Handling; JohnDow, Automotive Service Equipment; and Shop RX, Automotive Service Supplies.
For more information, visit www.johndow.com.


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Steak performs well for Cousins Subs, because core customers see it as a point of differentiation for a sandwich QSR, says Justin McCoy, VP of marketing at the 122-unit chain based in Menamonee Falls, Wis. So in the last quarter of 2014, R&D developed a cheesesteak that layers a more generous portion of steak with premium ingredients. Guests have been willing to pay for the higher-end sandwich, says McCoy, already making it one of the strongest LTOs in Cousins’ history, despite the cost of beef.
1. Beefing it up
Cousins sources frozen, thinly sliced steak cut from the rib-eye cap. “We spec about 50 percent more meat than we used a couple of years ago,” says McCoy. The chain also is purchasing more steak across the menu, which helps control costs. In the 70 percent of Cousins’ locations equipped with flat tops, steak is grilled to order. The rest of the units spec precooked, sauced steak slices to warm in the microwave.
2. Signature saucing
For this LTO, Cousins brought back bistro sauce—a proprietary product used in past menu items to good customer response. It’s a blend of olive oil, tomato puree, horseradish and garlic. “We sauce the bread first, before layering on the other ingredients. The tomato base and horseradish notes pair well with the steak,” says McCoy.
3. Kicking the can
Cousins is using presliced, preseasoned, vacuum-packed mushrooms, which are sauteed to order on the flat top along with the steak. Canned mushrooms, used on past steak sandwiches, didn’t deliver the fresh taste, texture and quality wanted to add a perception of value to this sub, McCoy says.
4. Finishing touches
Melted Swiss rounds out the cheesesteak. The team tried provolone and cheddar, but those richer, more assertive cheeses overpowered the sandwich, says McCoy. Strips of cooked bacon, already in inventory for a BLT, complete the build. Bacon further boosts the value perception, he says, pushing up the price.
5. Minimizing distractions
Lettuce and tomato initially were included, but gave up too much moisture in the hot sandwich. Cousins’ existing garlic herb bread wasn’t a good match either. “We went with Italian bread as the carrier so it wouldn’t detract from the flavor of the bacon or sauce,” says McCoy.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.


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An expanding number of enterprise customers and a growing diversity of a surging revenue mix gives encouragement to MaxPoint CEO in the first quarter after the ecommerce and advertising firm went public. But don’t expect profits any time soon.
After the markets closed Wednesday, MaxPoint (NYSE: MXPT) reported an 87 percent in first-quarter revenue compared to a year ago, but its losses also increased.
However, maxPoint CEO Joe Epperson, who led the company to an IPO in March, hailed the results.
“We had a very solid quarter and start to the year,” Epperson said. “We continue to demonstrate our ability to advance our business and gain market share within our industry as evidenced by our growth in revenue and number of enterprise customers. We are as focused as ever on increasing shareholder value since our initial public offering in March of this year.”
MaxPoint revenues hit $28.7 million, nearly double the $15.4 million of one year ago.
Revenue topped Wall Street expectations by $1.02 million, according to financial news website SeekingAlpha.
Losses also climbed – up to $8.1 million from $3.1 million, and the adjusted loss-per-share jumped to 37 cents from 21 cents. But that figure also was better than expectations by 27 cents, SeekingAlpha noted.
But encouraging signs included a jump in enterprise customers to 529, up 62 percent from 2014’s first quarter.
The advertising mix also was more diversified with non-display dollars growing to 24 percent of revenue from 20 percent.
Meanwhile, MaxPoint continued to expand the reach of its proprietary Digital Zips technology, which helps clients find and deliver customers by neighborhood.
However, in its revenue forecast, MaxPoint did say it expects losses to continue this year.


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The requested news item does not exist. Please return to News
New research highlights growth in Vietnam and Indonesia
Southeast Asia remains a bright spot amid a subdued global economic outlook, as ASEAN economies continue to grow at 5 percent per year compared to a global growth rate of 3.5 percent per year.
According to data released by real estate consultant JLL, Vietnam is a rising star in terms of real estate investment with strong opportunities in the office, residential and retail sectors. Occupancy of Grade A office space in Ho Chi Minh City exceeded 95 percent in Q4 2016, while retail occupancy in the city's CBD was over 92 percent for the same period. In the residential sector, the number of new apartments launched increased 46 percent from 2015 to 2016.
"The real estate sector in Vietnam has been hitting its stride since 2015, spurred in part by recent government reforms, such as stronger financial requirements for property developers and the relaxation of rules on foreign investment," says Chris Fossick, Managing Director, Singapore and Southeast Asia, JLL.
"With the rapid expansion of Vietnam's consumer market and the economy transitioning towards higher value activities, there have been significant levels of foreign direct investment and the construction of office, retail and hotel stock to meet growing demand. As a result, we're seeing strong demand for office space, particularly in the financial services, law, manufacturing, consumer goods and technology sectors."
Disbursed foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam hit a record US$15.8 billion in 2016, while FDI into the real estate sector reached nearly US$1.7 billion at the end of 2016.
Improving outlook in other Southeast Asian markets
Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia's economy is expected to lift off, with the logistics sector garnering investor interest, according to a new report on Jakarta published by JLL. The sector has historically been held back by infrastructure and regulatory challenges. However, the Jokowi administration is making headway in improving infrastructure, easing bureaucracy and encouraging investment.
"The potential has been there for some time as Indonesia offers the scale in terms of demographics and population that is required for logistics to grow," says Mr Fossick. "With increased political and economic stability alongside a growth in demand for consumer products, e-commerce is on a growth trajectory meaning that demand for logistics space will follow."
Meanwhile, Singapore's attractiveness as a core market has become more compelling following a correction in capital values. Gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow 2.3 percent in 2017, recovering slightly from 1.8 percent in 2016.
"While demand for office, retail and food & beverage real estate slowed between 2012 and 2015, we believe this bottomed out in 2016 and we expect a modest recovery in the next couple of years. In particular, the prices of prime residential properties remain attractive to investors as compared to other global cities."
Download our report 'Jakarta until 2024: offices and industrial may outperform' here.
– ends –
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with, as of December 31, 2015, revenue of $6.0 billion and fee revenue of $5.2 billion, more than 280 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of more than 70,000. On behalf of its clients, the company provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 4.0 billion square feet, or 372 million square meters, and completed $138 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2015. As of September 30, 2016, its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $59.7 billion of real estate assets under management. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit www.jll.com.
JLL has over 50 years of experience in Asia Pacific, with 34,000 employees operating in 92 offices in 16 countries across the region. The firm won 15 awards at the International Property Awards Asia Pacific in 2016 and was named number one real estate advisor in Asia at the 2015 Euromoney Real Estate Awards. www.ap.jll.com.
+84 8 3911 9395


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JD Fresh gets direct cherry sources from Chilean exporters
China takes up 95% of Chile’s cherry exports.
JD Fresh has signed agreements with four top Chilean cherry exporters—Garces Fruit, Copefrut, Nature South, and Fruittita, for direct sourcing of cherries from Chile, the company revealed in a press release.
Crispy and sweet, Chilean cherries are well received by Chinese consumers, JD said. China is the world’s largest market for Chilean cherries, and nearly 95% of Chilean cherries for export are sold to China, noted Chile ambassador to China Luis Schmidt Montes.
Under the uncertainties of the supply chain, direct sourcing from Chile will ensure supply chain efficiency and control losses, the company said.
To standardise cherries, JD has implemented several measures on specifications, weight, packaging, and more.


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In this segment from Wednesday's Investor Beat, Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser and Simon Erickson each pick one stock that they're watching closely today.
Simon's pick today is Cerner Corp. (NASDAQ:CERN), an IT solutions company for large hospitals. He sees an enormous amount of wasteful hospital spending at the moment that solutions like these could make more efficient, and sees the company as potentially poised to take advantage of a major coming trend. Meanwhile, Jason takes a look at LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) ahead of its earnings tomorrow. While he loves the focus of the company, its three business segments have seen declining growth, and he's going to be watching closely tomorrow to see what the company has to say on this.
Are you ready to profit from this $14.4 trillion revolution?
Every investor wants to get in on revolutionary ideas before they hit it big -- like buying PC maker Dell in the late 1980s, before the consumer computing boom, or purchasing stock in e-commerce pioneer Amazon.com in the late 1990s, when it was nothing more than an upstart online bookstore. The problem is, most investors don't understand the key to investing in hypergrowth markets. The real trick is to find a small-cap "pure play" and then watch as it grows in explosive fashion within its industry. Our expert team of equity analysts has identified one stock that's poised to produce rocket-ship returns with the next $14.4 trillion industry. Click here to get the full story in this eye-opening report.
Chris Hill owns shares of Amazon.com. Jason Moser owns shares of Amazon.com and LinkedIn. Simon Erickson has options on LinkedIn and Cerner. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Amazon.com and LinkedIn. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Counter-Strike 2 officially launched and over 1 MILLION players are already on Steam – see how Valve’s sequel SMASHED records to become the platform’s biggest game!
The long-awaited evolution of CS:GO arrives as Counter-Strike 2 officially launches on Steam following a limited beta test period. Ready to download now!
Popular streamer Shroud dropped a bombshell take claiming Counter Strike 2 has become easier than Valorant, arguing the tactical shooter has overtaken CS2 as the #1 FPS game.
Valve recently posted a cryptic message teasing the potential September 27th release date for the highly anticipated Counter-Strike 2.
Uncover the bombshell changes coming to your favourite Inferno map in Counter-Strike 2. Discover how these changes could rewrite the rules of the game.
Revolutionary changes to the core loadout mechanics in Valve’s highly anticipated Counter-Strike 2.
Discover the latest news in the gaming world as CS:GO breaks its all-time concurrent user record yet again, cementing its place as one of Steam’s biggest-ever games.
Get Ready for Counter-Strike 2: A Comprehensive Guide to Release Date, Price, Beta Test, New Features, and More
Prepare for Counter-Strike 2 with our comprehensive article, covering release date, price, beta test details, new features, and more.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive game developers have announced via their official Twitter account, that CS will finally have the ability to add silencers as primary weapons in the latest patch update. Related: CS:GO Breaks All-Time Concurrent User Record Again Up until now, the tactical online first-person shooter didn’t allow silenced weapons like the previous installments…


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Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, announces she will step down in the next few weeks. Why does she decide to leave the company which she launched 11 years ago?
Just as what she says on Twitter today: “I thought HuffPost would be my last act. But I’ve decided to step down as HuffPost’s editor-in-chief to run my new venture, Thrive Global.”
The website of Thrive Global is under construction at the moment, but we still can obtain some general information about this startup.
About Thrive Global
Thrive Global is corporate and consumer wellbeing and productivity platform, founded and led by Arianna Huffington, which has closed its Series A funding round. Thrive Global’s mission is to change the way we work and live.
The platform will provide science-based training, content, commerce and support to help worldwide individuals and companies to reduce stress, burnout. Improving health and productivity is Thrive Global’s another offer.
In the fall of 2016, Thrive Global will be launched and located in New York. Let’s see what we can monetize from it in autumn.
Arianna Huffington, who is 66 years old, decides to devote her rest of time to a new startup. The passion and courage that she shows just echo what she says, “It’s time to move from knowing what to do to actually doing it.”
All the best with your new venture!


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The news: US startup Agility Robotics has just made its two-legged robot Digit available to buy for the first time. The first customer is car giant Ford, which has been testing the robot for vehicle-to-door delivery since May 2019.
Digit’s digits: It’s similar in size to a small adult, able to carry items weighing up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms), and can navigate semi-autonomously, using cameras and lidar sensors. The robot is able to pick boxes up and put them down without guidance, but tasks like avoiding obstacles still require help from humans via a teleoperation system. You can see a video of Digit in action here. Agility’s CEO, Damion Shelton, didn’t specify how much each one will cost but told The Verge it is in “the low-mid six figures.” Pricey, in other words.
How it could be used: At this stage, Digit is being tested as a way of delivering packages. However, it could someday be used in warehouses, or for industrial inspection. But let’s not get too excited: Digit is still a work in progress. Agility Robotics expects to make a maximum of 30 of the bots in 2020, and Digit has yet to be fully tested in messy, unpredictable working environments around humans.
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(Pocket-lint) - A Dell patent has come to light shows a dual-screen device where the screens essentially act as one display.
We've heard previous rumours about various laptop manufacturers working on laptop-style devices that use a large, single display that would cover the interior of both sides of the clamshell casing.
A previous Dell patent showed a 2-in-1 device with a continuous flexible display. That was filed in September 2018 and showed a Surface Book 2-style hinge that makes a gap between the two halves so the screens don't rest on one another.
The latest patent shows what is, perhaps, a more likely scenario - two distinct displays that, essentially, act as one display yet leave space for the hinge. Because of the need for laptops to be super-robust, we think a gap between the displays is much more likely to make it to market in the short-to-medium term.
The design incorporates a 'narrow width dual axes' hinge - which we'd say is basically design code for "it's really thin yet strong". Dell says "the torque mechanism shifts away from the gear mechanism to reduce cap size at gear mechanism, providing a cleaner and more eloquent system appearance".
The narrow part means that the two halves could be basically used as a single display.


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Tomkins boosts profits despite dented car market
TOMKINS, the engineering group focused on automotive parts and construction work, reported an 11 per cent jump in profits yesterday, despite the poor state of the global car market and the effect of hurricanes in the United States on raw material costs.
The increase in third-quarter pre-restructuring profits to £83.1 million was attributed to recent acquisitions.
The British company has substantial exposure to the American market, which has seen the car giants Ford and General Motors make big cuts in production. Sixty-five per cent of Tomkins’ sales are in the US.
James Nichol, the chief executive, said: “The contribution from our recent acquisitions and the actions we have taken to improve profitability during difficult market conditions are expected to result in continued progress.”


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Lenovo intends to continue to release smartphones made by the Google Project Tango, despite weak interest to her firstborn Phab 2 Pro. Next year we will have at least one such device from the Chinese brand, and given that Lenovo now owns Motorola and ZUK, then these phones could eventually be more.
At the moment no details about the new smartphone Lenovo with a set of options Google Project Tango yet, as well as details on phones from other manufacturers, which the representatives of the Lenovo subtly hinted. The reason is not very high popularity of Google Project Tango is its lack of advantages over traditional phones in terms of everyday use.
Everyone in them buns is good for a single use, and no more, as applications for them in Google Play very little. But here there is a kind of vicious circle — the few smartphones because of a lack of applications and demand, and apps no one pischet owing to the little interest in mobile phones. To break the cycle just that, apparently, is going to make Lenovo. Such actions, by the way, recalled that rumors about her departure from the smartphone market are without any justification.
© 2016, z-news.link. All rights reserved.


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There's a major rumour doing the rounds that Apple is about the ditch the headphone port on its next iPhone.
This controversial design change could allow the US tech giant to make their next smartphone thinner, lighter and feature a much bigger screen.
And there's another advantage of ditching the headphone socket as users would probably plug their new headphones directly into Apple's lightning port.
This new connection could bring noise cancelling to headphones without the need for the bulky battery packs currently used on sound busting cans.
There's no official word if this rumour is true but it could land in September when Apple is likely to unveil its next generation iPhone 7.
However, it appears someone has just beaten them to the idea.
HTC announced its latest smartphone yesterday, which features a new camera, processor and simplified operating system.
But the HTC 10 also includes the latest USB Type-C charging port and the Taiwanese tech firm is about to use it in an innovative way.
In a collaboration with JBL, HTC is set to launch the world’s first USB-C sport earphone with noise cancellation and adaptive noise control.
Plugging directly into the USB C port, the JBL Reflect Aware C earphones will combine sweat proof design with digital audio and battery-free active noise cancellation.
DAILY STAR ONLINE/DAVE SNELLING
HTC is currently staying tight-lipped on when we will see these new headphones, but they are expected to launch in selected countries soon.
It's worth noting that HTC 10 still includes a standard headphone socket but it's the first sign that this ageing port could be heading for the history books.
Daily Star Online has already had our hands on the new HTC 10 and there's plenty to like about this updated smartphone.


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A recent increase in shareholder activism has prompted companies to become more strategic in dealing with activist demands, though investors are also viewed as better suited to combat opposition against their campaigns. And activism is expected to continue to increase the volume of M&A deals in the coming 12 months according to 80% of experts.
In order to find out how shareholder activism will impact 2018 dealmaking, Toppan Vintage, in partnership with Activistmonitor and Mergermarket, is pleased to present the newest edition of the M&A Pulse newsletter.
Toppan Vintage question: What effect do you predict shareholder activism will have on global M&A activity over the coming 12 months? Leading deal experts weigh in...
One caricature of activists portrays them as singlemindedly focused on “strategic alternatives” to give shareholders an immediate windfall. But ActivistMonitor data shows that just 12% of activist demands in Q1-Q3 2017 involved pushing a company to sell itself, which is slightly higher than the 10.75% seen in 2016. Another 3% of demands in Q1-Q3 2017 were for a bolt-on, divestiture, or spin-off and 1.9% involved a push for an acquisition or merger.
Nonetheless, a large majority of our survey respondents said they expect activism to cause M&A activity to increase either significantly (44%) or somewhat (36%) over the coming 12 months. Eight percent think it will actually cause dealmaking to decrease somewhat and 12% believe it will have a negligible effect either way.
Indeed, activism could have a noteworthy effect on the number of public M&A deals if more funds campaign for them. ActivistMonitor figures show there were 73 demands related to M&A in Q1- Q3 2017 at North American and EMEA public companies; over that same period, there were a total of 635 deals for public companies in those regions. And to be sure, some high-profile activist situations have ended in transactions. For instance, a push by Jana Partners helped drive one of the splashiest deals of 2017: Whole Foods’ sale to Amazon for US$13.4bn in June. The activist, which also prodded retailer PetSmart into selling to private equity firm BC Partners in 2014, earned a profit of around US$300m on the Whole Foods exit.
A managing director at a US investment bank in the top 15 of the North America M&A league table in 2017 argued that more activists will push for deals if their initial demands are not met.
“Investors are becoming better prepared for the ways in which companies could retaliate or defend against their campaigns. I am sure that M&A deals will be the Plan B for many of these activists,” the banker said.


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ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, US — Net income at CHS Inc. for the 2020 fiscal year increased to $422.4 million, down from $829.9 million in the 2019 fiscal year.
Revenue for the year fell to $28.4 billion, down from $31.9 billion compared to 2019.
The Ag segment, which includes domestic and global grain marketing and crop nutrients, renewable fuels, local retail operations, and processing and food ingredients businesses, had a pre-tax earnings of $53.7 million in the third 2020, up from $43 million in the same period a year ago.
CHS attributed the boosted earnings to optimism for improved trade relations between the US and foreign trade partners and favorable weather during fiscal year 2020 spring planting.
In fiscal year 2020, the co-op’s Corporate and Other segment had pretax earnings of $56 million, down compared to $81.5 million in the previous year.
CHS said lower earnings from its investment in Ventura Foods resulting from decreased demand due to COVID-19 in the food service industry.
The Energy segment pretax earnings for fiscal year 2020 were $225.3 million, down from $618.1 million in 2019.
“Significantly less advantageous market conditions in refined fuels business compared to the prior year that resulted in lower margins and volumes,” said CHS. “These market conditions were driven by decreased crude oil differentials on heavy Canadian crude oil processed by our refineries and decreased crack spreads, which were both negatively impacted by demand shock associated with COVID-19.”
CHS did note that increased propane volumes and improved margins helped partially offset decreased overall earnings in its Energy segment.
“We delivered record earnings in propane and benefited from good weather that led to a good planting season,” said Jay Debertin, president and chief executive officer of CHS. “Consistent with our focus on innovation in agriculture, we were awarded a patent for a crop input product that can help plants access more phosphorus and, in turn, have better yield. Continued work on integration of the West Central acquisition of 2019 and leveraging commercial synergies resulted in strong crop protection sales, and we moved increased volumes of grain because of improved trade relations.
“Like many companies, we were not immune to the challenges posed by the impacts of the pandemic especially in our refined fuels business and with our Ventura Foods joint venture.”


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At WWDC, Apple announced that Siri on iOS and HomePod will gain support for over 100,000 live stations from iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Radio.com It was initially assumed that this feature would be rolled out once iOS 13 was released to the public later this year. However, it looks like Apple has already started rolling out this feature.
As reported by Macerkopf.de, many iPhone and HomePod users in Germany have been successfully able to play live national radio stations using Siri on iOS 12. The feature is also working for some iPhone and HomePod users outside of Germany. Apple still highlights on the HomePod page that the feature will be available this fall.
Apple states that once the feature is rolled out this fall, over 100,000 stations will be available via Siri to iPhone and HomePod users. It is possible that the company is slowly rolling out the feature and testing it out before starting a wider global rollout around the time iOS 13 is released to the public.
Alongside iOS 13, Apple will also release an update for the HomePod in September which will add useful features like music hand-off, multi-user support with the ability to recognize six different voices, and more.[Via Macerkopf]


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Ford’s Chinese arm has undergone some big changes in recent years, developments that include the launch of a host of new products such as the third-generation Ford F-150 Raptor and Ford Mustang Mach-E, both of which are being sold directly to customers in that country. With sales proving to be a bit disappointing recently, FoMoCo is also working to utilize cellular based vehicle-to-everything technology , or C-V2X, in its Chinese vehicles as well. Meanwhile, Ford Changan – a joint-venture between The Blue Oval and Changan Automobile – is faring quite well in terms of its dealership experience, according to the newly released J.D. Power 2022 China Sales Satisfaction Study.
J.D. Power’s 2022 China Sales Satisfaction Study measured customer satisfaction with the purchase experience among new-vehicle buyers as well as among rejecters, defined as those who seriously consider one brand but ultimately choose to buy a vehicle from another brand. In that regard, Changan Ford finished above the industry average of 750 out of 1,000 possible points with a score of 753. That also ranked it ahead of rivals such as SAIC Volkswagen, FAW-Volkswagen, and FAW Toyota, but behind several others including Buick, GAC Honda, FAW Hongqi, GAC Toyota, Dongfeng Honda, and Dongfeng Nissan.
Other key findings in this particular study include the fact that more customers are opting to purchase their new vehicle following a test drive – 21 percent versus 15 percent last year. In fact, the percentages of consumers deciding to purchase during all other steps in the purchase process declined, which highlights the important of the traditional test drive, even in today’s increasingly connected world.
“Currently, consumers in China who visit a dealership spend a lot of time experiencing and verifying products by themselves instead of receiving information from salespeople,” said Ann Xie, digital retail consulting practice at J.D. Power China. “Faced with this challenge, improving the service capabilities during the whole process of the test drive is very important. Brands need to change based on the needs of their customers, including the upgrade of the existing test drive, as well as improving the process and experience of scheduling a test drive online, which will effectively help brands to drive sales.”
We’ll have more insights like this to share soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for non-stop Ford news coverage.
The Chinese will accept anything, and do not know what quality is, after living through decades of state owned company products.


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We have finally arrived at 1 January 2019, the date from which the prohibition to produce and sell cotton buds with non-biodegradable plastic sticks.
The cotton swabs on the market will now only have a biodegradable and compostable plastic stick.
The provision comes into force in Italy thanks to one of the laws in favor of the environment approved in 2017 by the Gentiloni government, anticipating the prohibition envisaged for 2021 by the European directive which also contains other measures to combat the use of single-use plastic.
The European directive in fact provides that starting from 2021 the sale of cotton buds will be prohibited in the EU Member States, plastic tableware, straws and stirrers for drinks and plastic sticks for helium inflated balloons.
These products can be replaced with others made of biodegradable material so as not to endanger the environment. In fact, these are products that after being used end up in our seas, polluting them and endangering the life of many marine animal species which, by swallowing them, risk suffocation.
The data provided last year by Legambiente on the polluting potential of cotton buds is impressive: over 90% of the waste identified on 46 monitored beaches in our country was made up of the sticks used to clean the ears!
Another provision of the new directive concerns all beverage containers of plastic that will only be legal if the caps cannot be physically detached from the container itself.
Another important measure provides for the contribution to waste management costs by the manufacturers of cigarettes, balloons and fishing gear made of plastic.
We will also speak on the product labeling with the obligation to highlight the potential negative effect on the environment on the packaging of all products made of plastic and derivatives.
Further production reduction targets will also be envisaged for rigid food containers and disposable cups. The measures to discourage the use of disposable products will include a ban on offering them for free.
They will be incentives for products made with recyclable materials and reward systems must be envisaged on the bail-deposit logic for single-use plastic products, such as plastic bottles.
To make us aware of the pollutant factor of single-use plastics, the vice president of the European commission, Frans Timmermans, reminds us that single-use plastic products take only 5 seconds to produce, are used for 5 minutes and require 500 years to be decomposed naturally by the environment!
In recent months I had published an article about a Sky initiative to raise public awareness on the importance of minimizing the use of disposable plastics, here is the video I had shot at the installation created by Sky for the occasion explaining how the plastic waste collected to carry out the installation had been “assembled” in 10 days of work but that it would have taken 500 years to dispose of it at the sea!
Currently, citizens of the European Union generate 25 million tons of plastic waste each year, but only 30% of this immense volume is collected and recycled correctly.
There is a lot of work to be done but if action is not taken soon the prospects are really sad!
Further measures that will have to be worked on will be those aimed at promoting the use of tap water and spreading free public water dispensers on our streets.
On this issue I am happy that, albeit with "some hitch", the project of "Houses of water”Installed in various streets of Milan to offer citizens free still and sparkling water!
The last one was installed in Largo Tel Aviv, just a few hundred meters from our headquarters IdeeGreen Srl Benefit Company but many others are present and functioning in other areas of Milan.
This is the right path and the duty of citizens, municipalities and states is to join efforts to return our seas and our environment to their former glory, guaranteeing the benefits to future generations.
Water House in via Menotti Serrati
Furthermore, from January 2020, again thanks to the latest Gentiloni budget law, the call for microplastics present in rinsing cosmetic products with exfoliating or cleansing action will be launched.
Microplastics as you can guess from the name are tiny grains of plastic present in various cosmetic products that when they end up in our rivers and therefore in our seas put at risk the life of the peach trees that ingest them and consequently also our health risking to end up on the our tables.


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FIFA 21 publisher Electronic Arts (EA) Games’ system has been compromised and hackers have stolen valuable information, the company said.
Through a bunch of posts, the hacker has taken the route of underground hacking forums and claimed “You have full capability of exploiting on all EA services.” The hackers also revealed that they have stolen the source code of the popular sports game FIFA 21, along with source code and tools for the Frostbite engine, that controls various EA games title including Battlefield.
Apart from that, the hackers have also stolen information including software development kits (SDKs), proprietary EA frameworks and a bunch of codes. The hackers claimed that in total EA’s 780GB of data have been stolen.
The gaming giant EA has revealed to Motherboard that the stolen data doesn’t include players data and their players’ privacy is safe.
“We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen.No player data was accessed, and we have no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy. Following the incident, we’ve already made security improvements and do not expect an impact on our games or our business. We are actively working with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of this ongoing criminal investigation,” an EA spokesperson told Motherboard in a statement.
Currently, the stolen data seems to be out for sale as the underground hacking forums have advertised it. The type of data which are at sale right now helps cheat makers to create cheats using the source codes.
On the other hand, Electronic Arts has also announced that Kofi A. Bruce will be nominated to EA’s board of directors at EA’s 2021 annual stockholders meeting. Bruce is expected to be appointed to EA’s Audit Committee.
“We are delighted to welcome Kofi to the Electronic Arts board. In addition to his breadth of financial expertise across global consumer brands, Kofi is a values-driven leader who will bring new perspectives and insights to our board as we continue to drive further growth, innovation and new experiences for our players,” said Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson.
“I’ve long admired Electronic Arts’ ability to inspire the world to play through its entertaining, engaging and diverse games. That has never been so evident as this past year, where we saw just how powerful EA’s gaming experiences can be to virtually connect players across generations, cultures and geographies. Coming off a strong year, the future is bright and I’m honoured to join the board and the entire EA team during this exciting time of transformative growth and opportunity,” said Bruce.


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31 CFR 103.121 - Federal
regulations requiring the CIP.
In addition, no company may 'export' financial software to certain countries listed on the Commerce Control List, which currently includes Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. http://www.access.gpo.gov/bis/ear/pdf/740.pdf The location and user identity of a download cannot be reasonably determined during an online transaction to comply with this export regulation. All software classified as "payment software" must ship to a physical address to comply with export regulations.
Due Diligence is required as cited in
the US Securities Act to determine that
the end user is not an individual that is likely
to commit fraud, launder money, or fund
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently prosecuted Versa Check Brand, owner of Q-Chex software for their use of easy to download payment processing software.
A federal judge ordered "Q-Chex" to cease its current method of online payment processing, which U.S. regulators said facilitated fraud. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleged that the company's practices violate federal law and successfully obtained an injunction to stop such practices.


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ROME, October 15. / Corr. Faith Shcherbakov/. The financial guard of Italy (the power division of the Ministry of Finance) held on Thursday searched the General headquarters of the Italian mission Volkswagen in Verona. On it informs Agency ANSA.
It clarifies the Agency, the Prosecutor’s office of Verona opened an investigation against several managers of the company on suspicion of commercial fraud. In addition, searches were held in the headquarters Lambarghini in Bologna. Famous Italian brand of luxury car enters the group of the German automaker.
In September the Volkswagen stated that he had installed a diesel machine software, which allows to reduce the content of harmful substances in exhaust gases. The purpose of this was to pass the environmental tests in the United States. Because this program can be disabled by the authorities of the United States and several other countries have deemed these actions are fraudulent and launched an investigation.
Volkswagen acknowledged that such a program was installed on 11 million cars produced by this company around the world.
In Italy the Ministry of transport began its investigation. Checks are sold in the Apennines “suspicious” cars.


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Controversial store group Sports Direct has been having trouble finding a chairman, so Retail Week has turned headhunter in a bid to help out. George MacDonald compiles our shortlist of 10 candidates with the skills for the most challenging role in the industry. Over to you, Mr Ashley…
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Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, has expressed his eagerness to release AI products during his recent announcements at Google’s annual I/O developer conference. In an email sent to all staff, Pichai emphasized the company’s growing momentum and the progress he sees everywhere within Google.
Pichai firmly believes that AI will have a profound impact on every industry and job, leading to the need for regulations and guidelines to ensure alignment with human values. While he is optimistic about the increasing awareness of AI’s implications, he also acknowledges society’s potential lack of preparedness for the rapid pace of advancements in this field.
Despite these concerns, Pichai remains committed to releasing AI products that not only simplify and enhance people’s lives but also have the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work. Recognizing the transformative power of AI, Google has been actively developing various AI products to cater to different needs.
Here are some of the upcoming AI products that Google is working on:
1. AI Snapshots: Google is introducing AI Snapshots to its flagship search engine. This feature utilizes AI-generated answers at the top of search results, providing users with relevant context. Users can also engage in follow-up questions to obtain more specific information.
2. Duet AI: As part of its Workspace suite of apps, such as Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Gmail, Google has been incorporating AI features for several months. At the conference, Google unveiled the official branding for this effort, naming it Duet AI.
3. Generative AI: Google has been leveraging AI to enhance its existing products. With generative AI, Google is taking a significant step forward, reimagining core products, including Search. The integration of AI can be seen in features like “Help Me Write” in Gmail and the ability to search Google Photos for specific objects or themes.
4. Search Generative Experience: Google’s search engine is currently testing the “Search Generative Experience,” an AI-powered capability that aims to provide a new look and feel to search results. Pichai announced that several Google products would be implementing increased AI presence throughout the year.
5. Bard: Google is publicly testing its chat AI, Bard. However, Pichai mentioned that the company is holding back more advanced AIs to allow society to familiarize themselves gradually with the technology.
In conclusion, Sundar Pichai’s eagerness to release AI products stems from his firm belief in the transformative potential of AI. Google’s dedication to responsible and innovative AI development is evident through the various AI-focused projects and services they are actively working on.
Q: Why is Sundar Pichai eager to release AI products?
A: Sundar Pichai believes that AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work, making our lives easier and more productive.
Q: What are some of the AI products Google is developing?
A: Google is working on AI Snapshots, Duet AI for its Workspace suite, Generative AI, Search Generative Experience, and Bard.
Q: Why is Google taking a responsible approach to AI development?
A: Google aims to ensure that AI development aligns with human values and anticipates potential societal challenges associated with rapidly advancing AI technology.


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SDL Property Auctions has held its final live-streamed Auction Event of 2021 as another successful auction year draws to a triumphant close.
Despite the continuing challenges presented by the pandemic, it has been a year of impressive achievements for the award-winning auctioneer which has sold more than 1,600 properties and raised more than £240million for sellers in the past 12 months.
One of the most spectacular results in December was achieved for a terraced house in Leicester. Despite requiring renovation – and every room being filled with junk – 37 Myrtle Road drew
Leading property auctioneer Auction House has applauded the resilience and ingenuity demonstrated throughout the sector over the last 18 months.
Managing Director Jeremy Prior says that since the beginning of the pandemic the industry has moved heaven and earth to continue to work for their vendor and buyer clients. This has involved embracing cutting edge technology which has powered the entire industry forward by at least five to ten years and has changed the way auctioneers conduct their businesses forever.
He explains: “Before Covid, all property auctions were conducted in
Bond Wolfe Auction News: Two lots selling for a million pounds and more were the highlights of Bond Wolfe’s live streamed December auction which saw the fast growing firm set a new annual record.
The attractive Grade II listed self-contained offices at 54 Newhall Street (pictured) in Birmingham’s Central Business District, sold prior to the auction for £1 million.
But this result was outdone by the prior sale of commercial investment Chapel Court on the corner of Market Street and Queen Street in Wolverhampton, which raised £1.65 million.
These were just two of the
Family-sized homes have exceeded all expectations at Network Auctions’ latest online auction sale held 9th December. Leading auctioneer, Toby Limbrick, to say, ‘We’re seeing a new breed of buyer in the auction room.’
The sale, which recorded an 84% success rate and raised £6.3 million, saw a huge spike in hammer prices paid for lots which would be suitable for family accommodation. A four-room detached bungalow requiring modernisation in Bell Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire (pictured), sold for £701,500, against a reserve of £450,000.
A luxurious ready-to-move-into four-bedroom barn in
Clive Emson's auctions often include the unusual and this December’s auction is no different. With Christmas just round the corner perhaps Lot 12 is one you could buy for your loved one?
It’s an interesting piece of real estate and believed to be have been built circa 1926. The Western Undercliff Lift in Ramsgate certainly has the feel of Art Deco comprising a Grade II listed lift shaft with recessed central panel infilled with coloured glass graded from dark blue at the base (Royal Harbour Approach Road) to white at the top (Westcliff Promenade) divided into three stages by cross
Two more holiday homes on a 35-acre country park in Cornwall are appearing at Bond Wolfe’s next online property auction on Wednesday 8 December.
Both properties have access to the country park’s nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, fishing lake, swimming pool, popular bar and restaurant.
The pair of lots follow four previous sales of Hengar Manor homes in recent Bond Wolfe property auctions, with
Dozens of Black Country homes with guide prices way belong current market rates are set to attract bidders from across the country to Bond Wolfe’s auction in December.
From large properties in the countryside beyond Wolverhampton city limits to two-bedroomed terraced houses with guide prices* starting as low as £14,000, more than 50 homes are set to go under the hammer at the sale event.
Typical is a four bedroom mid-terraced house at 208 Newhampton Road East, Wolverhampton, (pictured) with a guide price of just £39,000+*. With a large rear yard, gas fired central heating and UPVC
Auction House London says the Coronavirus pandemic has proved that the power of livestream sales far outweighs the impact of ‘ebay-style’ online auctions, with its latest sale attracting its highest ever number of lots and successfully selling 90% of them.
Auctioneer and Director of Auction House London, Andrew Binstock says: “Since we were forced to move to livestream sales as a result of Covid, our numbers are just going up and up. In our last sale we had 172 properties listed - our highest ever in any auction. There are more sellers and buyers flocking to us at each sale and the
The growing reach of commercial property experts Bond Wolfe has been underlined by the firm’s appointment to sell a string of ground rents in Kent and Surrey at its December auction.
The West Midland’s based agency has built a strong national reputation for successful sales with its online auctions attracting bidders from across the UK and overseas.
As a result, Bond Wolfe will be handling the auction of 10 separate lots of ground rents on properties across the south east at its upcoming auction on Wednesday 8 December.
Jonathan Hackett, consultant director at Bond
One of Wolverhampton’s most prominent city centre buildings, housing a large Job Centre Plus office, is coming up for auction with a guide price* of £1.25 million.
Also occupied by Merkur Slots, the building extends to 18,784 sq ft and, alongside its potential for redevelopment, Chapel Court in Market Street currently generates £145,966 per annum in rent.
It is now set to be one of the starring lots at Bond Wolfe’s upcoming auction on Wednesday 8 December.
Ian Tudor, joint managing director auctions at Bond Wolfe, said: “This property occupies a prime position in


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Activision today announced that they have teamed up with YouTube to allow live streaming of Black Ops 2 video, directly from your Xbox 360 or PS3 onto YouTube. Check out the details.
Tag Archive: call of duty black ops 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is coming really soon… and so is the bonus Nuketown 2025 map for those who pre-order the game. Get a sneak peek at it in trailer form within.
Robert Downey Jr. surprises in new Guy Ritchie-directed Call of Duty: Black Ops II live action trailer
Surprise! A new Call of Duty: Black Ops II trailer has gone live, and it's certainly a little different than previous trailers that's for sure. Take a look.
Sure, Call of Duty: Black Ops II is still a few weeks away, but that isn't stopping Activision from releasing a launch trailer.
If you were looking into subscribing to Call of Duty Elite service specifically for Black Ops II, there's now no reason to. Find out why and take a look at the service in action in the new trailer.
Zombies, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and a new trailer. That's all CoD fans probably need to hear. So check out the latest trailer.
Activision today finally let the cat out of the bag in regards to the deluxe, collector's edition versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. And if you're a CoD super fan who is looking for something spectacular to spend $180 on, they have an option for you. [UPDATE: Pre-orders now available]
Call of Duty: Black Ops II. New gamescom 2012 screenshots. What more do you need to know? Boom!
When it comes to Call of Duty trailers there isn't much that needs to be said. So… here's the new multiplayer reveal trailer.
When it comes to new Call of Duty trailers there isn't much that needs to be said. So… check it out.
Activision today announced that the popular Nuketown multiplayer map from CoD:BLOPS is officially returning to service in Call of Duty: Black Ops II as the reimagined Nuketown 2025 bonus map.
Activision shows off the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 with a new behind the scenes trailer just in time for E3. Check it out behind the cut.
The E3 is about to begin and Activision this morning sent over their lineup of titles that will be present at the show in one way or another. Black Ops II, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Skylanders Giants, The Amazing Spider-Man and 007 Legends are the highlights at the moment.
While it's not necessarily official numbers by any means, Amazon and Activision have revealed that pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops II have destroyed the number of pre-orders for the original Black Ops (and Modern Warfare 3) for day 1.


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Israeli firm Nanomotion has developed a new type of motor which uses time actuators to produce high-speed linear or rotary motion. It allows for positional accuracy which can be measured in nanometres.
The motor is cost-effective for specialist equipment makers such as microscope slideways, says Graham Mackrell, sales director of Chichester-based Heason technologies, which is importing it.
The development may have car industry applications in automated wing mirrors, sun roofs, central locking systems and windscreen wipers. But, says Mackrell, although they cost less than $1 a piece, it could be a couple of years before the conservative car industry adopts them.
Nanomotion’s motor is made up of tiny ceramic ‘inverse-piezo effect’ motion controllers, called actuators. These behave as a friction drive, pushing and pulling an alumina plate which moves a linear slide.
The technology derives from work by the Curie brothers in 1880, who produced an electric charge by stressing certain materials. Conversely, Nanomotion applies an electric field to the ceramic material to induce stress and hence motion.
The smallest motor, rated at 5N linear force, has a velocity of up to 500mm/sec and a resolution down to 5nm. It weighs 18g.
Several motors can be used to convert linear into rotary motion.
There are plans to extend the velocity range to 1,000mm/sec.


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In honor of National Taco Day, El Pollo Loco is welcoming back the Crunchy Taco as the brand’s first-ever, digital-only menu item starting October 4, 2021.
The returning fan favorite taco will be available for purchase through the El Pollo Loco app and online at ElPolloLoco.com through November 1, 2021.
El Pollo Loco’s Crunchy Taco features shredded chicken, Jack cheese, lettuce, and smoky tinga sauce in a crispy tortilla shell.
To celebrate both the much anticipated return of the Crunchy Taco and National Taco Day, El Pollo Loco is teaming up with Coca-Cola to offer fans a free, ice-cold Mexican Coke with every Crunchy Taco order on Monday, October 4, 2021.
But that’s not all. Loco Rewards members will also receive a special BOGO offer in their account that can be used to redeem another Crunchy Taco for free on National Taco Day.
The Crunchy Taco will be available exclusively on the El Pollo Loco app and website for a limited time from October 4 through November 1, 2021.


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16 January 2019
One of the founding fathers of modern video games is making his way across to the tabletop.
Nolan Bushnell co-founded Atari, the home console and video game maker that defined much of the 1970s with games such as Pong, Asteroids and Missile Command.
Bushnell’s latest venture is X2 Games, a games and technology studio co-founded with Zai Ortiz, a Hollywood creative director who has worked on films including Mission Impossible, Sherlock Holmes, Thor and Tron Legacy. Ortiz was responsible for the hologram visuals of J.A.R.V.I.S., the artificial intelligence from Marvel’s Iron Man movies.
The studio’s first mix of tech and gameplay is St. Noire, a board game that uses a companion app (‘skill’) for Amazon’s Alexa AI home speaker to drive a murder-mystery puzzle.
The co-operative game combines Alexa’s narration and audio effects, such as voice acting, with a physical board and cards. Players move between locations to interview witnesses, asking Alexa to question them about specific details, such as where they were at the time of the crime. Suspects can lie, and when players visit certain locations or speak to characters can have an effect on the clues they gather.
Within the six main storylines available, the solution – as in Cluedo, you’re looking for the murderer, location and weapon used – is randomised each time. A built-in timer means that the murderer will ultimately escape if players take too long or make too many wrong guesses; playthroughs are estimated to take between 15 and 30 minutes.
St. Noire is due for release towards the end of February or at the beginning of March, and will cost between $30 and $40 in the US.
It’s not the first hybrid board game to use Alexa as a narrator and game master, though. Last year’s When in Rome, from the creators of app-connected stacking game Beasts of Balance, used the AI as a quizmaster during a travel trivia game and was the first in the ‘Voice Originals’ series of Alexa-powered games.
In our review, we found it to be “a promising next step for the idea of tech on the tabletop” but noted its lack of staying power – maybe St. Noire might be just what we need to make Alexa a regular at the table. You can watch a swish trailer for the game over on the St. Noire website.


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Govt aims to slash plastic imports by half in five years. The Indonesian government plans to halve the imports of industrial-use plastics in the next five years by encouraging more investors to enter the plastic manufacturing industry in the country.
The increase in local plastic production would also help improve the country’s manufacturing capability and reduce imports.
Indonesia imported a staggering US$20 billion worth of plastic as intermediary goods and manufacturing ingredients in 2018, 10.6 percent of Indonesia’s overall exports, the Industry Ministry’s director general for the chemical, textile and miscellaneous industries, Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono, said at a manufacturing exhibition on Tuesday last week.
In the same year, the domestic plastic industry grew by a modest 6.9 percent, even though it was far better than the 2.47 percent growth recorded in 2017. It also contributed Rp92.6 trillion ($6.6 billion) to gross domestic product (GDP), a much smaller figure than imports.
“If we can enhance investments in this sector […] in the next five years, we hope that we will be able to substitute 50 percent of our [annual] plastic imports with local products,” Sigit said.
He pointed out that the recovery of last year’s plastic industry growth was thanks to two major investments by the Korea-based Lotte Chemical Titan, which amounted to $3.5 billion, and Chandra Asri Petrochemicals, which amounted to $4 billion.
In earlier statements last year, Sigit expressed confidence that once the two companies began production in 2023, it would reduce imports of cracked naphtha, which is a main ingredient to make plastics, by 60 percent.
However, despite the opportunities the industry had offered, it still faces multiple challenges, he said.
“Domestic producers of plastic ingredients are still unable to fulfill domestic demand, both in terms of quantity and specifications,” he said. “The rampant rejection of plastic products that leads to decreasing plastic usage is also a challenge, even when the actual cause is our poor waste management.”
Plastic manufacturing is an Indonesian industrial mainstay, data from Industry Ministry shows. With 925 companies that employ more than 37,000 people, the sector produced a total of 7.23 million tons of plastic in 2018.
The sector has also seen a stable, albeit weak, growth in demand over the past five years of an average of 5 percent, the ministry claims.
Responding to the government’s import substitution target, Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (INAplas) secretary-general Fajar Budiyono said a 50 percent import substitution by 2025 would be incredibly hard to achieve as it required a huge investment.
“If we can maintain our demand at 5 percent annually, we might be able to close in on that substitution target,” Fajar said on the sidelines of the exhibition, acknowledging that demand would be unlikely to improve, thus discouraging more investments.
Furthermore, Fajar noted that it would take years for plastic investors to set up their production bases in Indonesia, given the complexity of the production chain, making it impossible to see a sudden spike of locally made plastic in the near future.
“Investments take time to be realized regardless of the location and we also have a problem whereas our investment growth is being held back by stagnating demand. Nevertheless, once this problem is addressed, we believe that the import substitution target could be achieved,” he said.
Fajar also mentioned the government’s plan of charging excise on plastic bags, claiming the uncertainty over its implementation had made investors wary of expanding their businesses.
“The cross-ministry coordination between the Industry Ministry [and other concerned ministries] still has not resulted in a uniform agreement […] but investors are looking forward to seeing the details of how this excise is going to be applied.” Govt aims to slash plastic imports by half in five years (Rachmadea Aisyah, The Jakarta Post)


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I tried Whataburger once last time before they bit the dust (they close all central florida locations including Orlando this May 31st). I never liked it and it reconfirmed my distaste for the burger.
I ordered the Whataburger and I did like the slightly sweet buns but the hamburger meat itself was flavorless and chewy and all in all bad quality. I see why they are shutting down. Farewell Whataburger!
what a not too appetizing burger =
Orlando Sentinel report –
Texas-based Whataburger Restaurants will shut down its Central Florida locations May 31.
“It just became a situation where they were no longer a financially sound investment for us,” spokeswoman Pam Cox said. “Sales were low and costs were high.”
The company is shutting down 14 Florida Whataburger locations. It is also shutting down three restaurants in Phoenix and one in Sherman, Texas.
Whataburger Restaurants has about 700 restaurants around the country. The chain had been in the Central Florida market since 2005. It has two locations in Orlando and one in Winter Park.
TASTY CHOMPS!! RATING!!
2 out of 5 NOT SO TASTY CHOMPS!!
7727 University Blvd, Winter Park –


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The Serpa Sales team was recently recognized for their invaluable contributions to the company:
Fernando Ferreira received the Leader of the Pack Award for leading the team in sales numbers for 2018.
Neshka Roshe received the The Grinder Award for her drive and perseverance in establishing herself in a brand new territory for 2018.
Ken Austen received the Rookie of the Year Award for his outstanding performance in his first year at Serpa.
We truly appreciate our Regional Sales Manager’s efforts in being the face of our company on the road and for always putting our customers first.


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Story of refugee workers in Turkey’s textile sector
Many world famous clothing companies have their goods produced by textile houses in Turkey. Brands tell suppliers: “Produce this amount of that product.” Suppliers distribute the order to the contracting firms they work with.
Daily Hürriyet reported last week that some of these firms were using child laborers. Those reports follow stories last year when the BBC revealed child labor at a workshop in Turkey producing goods for H&M.
But child laborers are not the only issue in textile workshops in Turkey. The illegal hiring of refugees is another.
On paper, everything looks clean. There is a strict contract between the giant brand that has its clothes produced in Turkey and the supplier. The contract concerns the legal circumstances in workshops where production is made, and all brands are required to ensure that all workshops comply with all legal conditions.
But illegal or child laborers can still be spotted in these workshops. The workshop management mentality in Turkey rarely complies with such written conditions. Certain brands that know this do not trust suppliers or workshops and monitor workshops themselves. Often, when they raid workshops in their production chain they find several illegal refugees working under adverse conditions.
Some textile firms claim “there are no illegally hired refugees in our workshops.” But this is shown to be untrue when you visit their workshops. If the brand says: “I have given verbal warnings to the supplier, there is no such issue in the workshops that are producing for us,” but does not monitor the workshops, it means that it is ignoring this fact even though it knows about it.
Several responsible brands, when they determine illegally hired refugees in the textile workshops they monitor, tell their suppliers that they will provide an improvement process for these workers that the workshop must comply with or face losing the contract.
When the brand says it will quit, it means it will leave together with the workers in that workshop. The brand does not leave the workers alone and can transfer them to the workshop of another supplier.
As these are giant firms, they have serious power when they send such ultimatums to their suppliers.
Four big brands, including the Zara Group’s Indietex, are conducting an improvement process together with the Refugee Support Center (MUDEM).
Brands can tell suppliers to immediately obtain work permit for the refugees they employ, and this partnership with MUDEM is useful if they do not trust their suppliers.
As soon as the brand informs MUDEM that a refugee is illegally employed at a workshop, that person is interviewed by MUDEM, which examines the situation and informs workers of their rights. Hardly any of them know their rights. They accept working for 800 to 900 Turkish Liras a month because they do not know about the minimum wage.
Once informed, MUDEM makes applications for a work permit and the refugee worker is registered to a Turkish language course. Some 200 refugees illegally employed at workshops have so far been included in MUDEM’s improvement program.
As for child laborers, if they are found in workshops they are taken placed in a school. But because stopping the child from working means cutting the family’s income, the brand pays social support to the family until the child reaches the age of 16.
MUDEM has obtained work permits for 50 refugees over the past year and sent nine kids back to school in Turkey.
However, unfortunately there are still many brands that keep their eyes closed to the exploitation of refugee workers and refuse to conduct inspections. If those brands that send boxes of clothes to refugee NGOs are truly responsible, they would do better to just hire refugees legally. They should not leave refugees alone with the workshop owner mentality; they should not ignore their exploitation.


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Making It in China: Food scandal indicative of new era
"One coffee and a chicken sandwich," my co-worker distractedly rattled off in Chinese, ordering his usual lunch at the McDonald's conveniently located a block away from our west Beijing newsroom. I had followed him here to see if the rumors were true.
"Meiyou jirou," said the cashier, without skipping a beat, as if the fast food chain had never offered chicken. They inexplicably didn't have the patties that day (July 28), nor did they have hamburgers, or bread buns softly sandwiching any sort of meat. The recent expired meat scandal originating from Shanghai-based Husi Food Co., Ltd., a supplier to many of China's largest fast-food corporations, had seemingly scared all big-city McDonald's locations away from offering any sort of meat product. Coffee, however, they could do.
"Not even a Filet o' Fish?" my co-worker inquired, choosing the one meat that hadn't been implicated in the recent scandal. Rumor had it that the fish was still available at some lawless locations.
"No meat sandwiches. Only coffee and ice cream," the cashier replied in Chinese, as the menu behind him displayed high-resolution images of mile-high burgers and deals on chicken nuggets. (As a vegetarian, this modified menu had exactly zero impact on my occasional afternoon treat.)
From July 25 to the first week of August, thousands of fast-food locations in Beijing, Guangzhou, and other large cities inadvertently went veggie, either to assuage customers leery of the safety of their hamburgers or because they had genuinely been required to dump all available meat products. Yum! Brands, which includes KFC and Pizza Hut, along with McDonald's, Starbucks and other popular Western fast-food joints who had contracts with Husi Foods were forced to dump thousands of pounds of potentially unsafe meats. Locations of these restaurants in Shanghai will begin offering meat products again later in the month.
Imagine if all major fast food establishments in Des Moines suddenly pulled all products containing beef or pork or chicken from their menus, or if the Iowa State Fair vendors were legally required to dispose of all meat options from their stands right before the yearly event. The reaction in Iowa would likely be similar to the outcry here after the news broke.
The food safety scandal in question, widely reported in China but not warranting much mention in the U.S., arose from an undercover report by Shanghai's Dragon TV where hidden cameras captured footage of Shanghai Husi Food workers changing expiration dates on packaging, mixing expired meat into fresh, and repeatedly violating basic hygiene laws (like dropping raw meat on the floor, and putting it back into production). China is no stranger to tainted food scares — there wasn't even a national food safety law put in place until 1994 — but exposing a multinational company that had repeatedly been lauded by the local government as a model business came as a shock to Chinese citizens.
Immediately following the news program, which aired in Shanghai on the evening of July 20, six people in connection with the operation of Husi Food were taken into custody and government agents shut down the factory and opened an official investigation. The U.S.-based OSI Group, which owns Husi Food and 60 other overseas food production sites, immediately issued a mea culpa. Emails from within the Shanghai factory were later leaked, showing that upper-level management knew precisely what was happening on the cutting floor.
The reaction in China was swift and furious: Most wondered how such an "upstanding" corporation was able to pass annual hygiene inspections; a few questioned how so many fast food outlets had failed to ensure the safety of their products. Though it is rarely insinuated in news reports, the likely culprit — at least in the case of the former — is bribery. Despite President Xi Jinping's continued anti-corruption push, graft exists at all levels in the country, and China's financial capital of Shanghai is no exception.
What is changing, however, is the punishment of corruption. Alongside headlines splashing the details of the Husi Food scandal were those extolling the Xi administration for finally implicating retired security chief and ex-Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang, 71, for extensive graft and corruption during his time in office. Known as one of the "tigers," for whom once existed an unspoken law of "don't ask, don't tell" when it came to personal income, this suggests a shift in the entire psyche of the upper Communist Party of China echelons.
(As my one fellow American colleague noted, this news is the equivalent of the Internal Revenue Service announcing its audit of a top banker on Wall Street — a place so seemingly full of shifty dealings and ill-earned income, regulators have no idea where to start.)
As Chinese media and politics come into a more open era — where Party bribery can be reported as readily as the latest food safety scandal — it's hoped that those in power will use this advantage to right the wrongs, pass stronger regulations and legislation, and enforce punishments on rule-breakers. If not, the population will continue to distrust both politicians and "mystery meat" for the foreseeable future.
Kirsten Jacobsen, a Des Moines native and lifelong Iowan, spent a year in China in 2012 teaching English and writing periodically for the Des Moines Register. Now she's back in Beijing, working for a state-run newspaper and still vowing to become fluent in Chinese "one of these days soon." She is contributing monthly columns to the Register.


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What you need to know
- Seems that the official Apple website in Russia has stopped selling products.
- iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and MacBook appear to be the products affected.
- This comes several days after Ukraine asked Apple to stop sales and shut down App Store access in Russia.
According to a report from iPhones.ru, a Russian-based Apple-focused website, the official Apple website has stopped selling products in Russia.
It appears that models of the iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and MacBook are all currently listed as "currently unavailable."
Although this news does come just mere days after Ukraine asked Apple to stop selling products and limit access to the App Store in Russia, there has been no official statement by Apple commenting on why the products don't appear to be available.
While the armed conflict in Ukraine could be one explanation for the sudden disappearance of Apple products from its website in Russia, it's important to note that Apple has stopped sales of its products in other countries that are dealing with financial distress.
The Russian Ruble is at an all-time low because of sanctions from the U.S., Canada, EU, and other nations, and Apple has pulled its products from sale in Turkey just last year when it was having huge financial woes.


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Bananas, one of the main export star products of Ecuador, is not a simple fruit, it is the special ingredient of some twenty recipes that today are exhibited in the first culinary book launched by the sector, in order to promote its consumption in the world.
The guide, promoted by the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE) , in collaboration with the School of Chefs of Guayaquil, seeks to demonstrate the dishes (sweet or salty) that can be made with bananas, in all its states. José Antonio Hidalgo, director of the banana union, pointed out that the project was born 5 months ago, within the framework of the development of a plan to promote the fruit, which identified the need to teach the various ways of consuming it, including in the market local.
The intention is not only to guarantee the sustainability of international demand, using this guide as a complementary promotional tool at fairs, but to promote greater domestic consumption. In the country, the annual per capita consumption is barely 2.5 kilos, versus the banana that reaches 30 kilos. The sales potential, he said, is here too. “The idea is to reach the consumption that we see at the banana level and at the fruit level in Europe.”
The guide, which proposes the preparation of gourmet dishes such as a casserole or an ice cream based on bananas, was presented at Fruit Attraction 2021 in Madrid, at the beginning of October, then at the XVIII International Banana Convention.
This November 30, 2021, AEBE made an official presentation of the work in Guayaquil, for the general public. “We believe that we have to boost our sales in international markets, but also have the alternative of placing more fruit in the domestic market, if it remains.”
Now that the industry registers certain export drawbacks, given the lack of containers, this is an option that would serve to avoid a decline in sales. Until October, according to AEBE, the sector exported 315 million boxes, that is 2.7% less, compared to the same period as 2020.


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updated: Aug 27, 2021 15:09 +03
ST JULIAN’S, Malta,
August 27, 2021 (Newswire.com) –
Time2play.com, the trustworthy online gaming review site and part of the Kafe Rocks Group, is throwing open its virtual doors to gambling streamers after Twitch announced it will ban links and referral codes as of Aug. 17, 2021.
“It is an understandable, and inevitable, decision by Twitch,” said Tim Tepass, Time2play chairman. “Gambling content should not sit alongside gaming streams that appeal to minors. We are offering a dedicated platform that will connect streamers with adult players, who want to be fully informed about online casinos and the games they offer.”
In keeping with its mission to be fully transparent, Time2play will make it clear to viewers how streamers using its platform are funded. It will also ask streamers to sign and adhere to a code of…