text:
- Verizon is selling blogging site Tumblr to Automattic, the parent company of other blogging site WordPress, the companies announced on Monday.
- The financial terms of the deal were not announced, but according to Axios, the price was less than $20 million — a remarkable discount to the $1.1 billion that Tumblr sold for in 2013.
- Automattic will take on 200 Tumblr employees as part of the deal.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Verizon is selling blogging site Tumblr to Automattic, the parent company of publishing site WordPress, the companies announced on Monday.
The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, though a source told Axios the price was "well below $20 million" — an astounding discount to the $1.1 billion that Tumblr fetched when Yahoo acquired it in 2013.
Automattic will take on 200 Tumblr employees as part of its deal with Verizon.
The deal marks the latest change of ownership for Tumblr, a social-media infused blogging platform that at one time ranked among the web's hottest properties. Launched in New York in 2007 by web entrepreneur David Karp, Tumblr quickly became popular among artists and writers for its niche culture and easy-to-use services.
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg said in a statement on Monday that Tumblr, which has 475 million blogs on its service, represents an "iconic" brand known for helping people share ideas, culture, and experiences.
But the fire-sale price of the deal underscored how far Tumblr has fallen from its heyday, and the nearly insurmountable challenges facing consumer web companies trying to mount a comeback.
Verizon, formerly known as Oath, has been reportedly shopping around for a buyer for Tumblr since May as part of the ongoing restructuring of the media portion of its business that includes HuffPost, AOL, and TechCrunch, among others.
Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan described the Tumblr sale as the "culmination of a thoughtful, thorough and strategic process."
A billion-dollar sale and then a downward spiral
Verizon inherited the popular blogging site through its 2017 acquisition of Yahoo, which had itself acquired Tumblr in 2013.
Yahoo paid a premium price for Tumblr in 2013, hoping Tumblr's younger users could revive the fortunes of its aging web portal. But the $1.1 billion deal was deemed excessive even at the time, given that Tumblr barely generated any revenue. And as Tumblr's popularity faded in the following years, as larger sites from Reddit to Facebook proved more adept at attracting and retaining traffic, Yahoo was forced to write off hundreds of millions of dollars for its acquisition.
When Yahoo was swallowed up by Verizon, Tumblr's fate only worsened: Many devoted Tumblr users who turned to the site for its lax rules around hosting adult content were outraged over Verizon's decision to ban all adult content from the site in 2018.
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news of the sale, that he intends to keep the ban in place.
Automattic oversees several publishing companies in addition to WordPress, including long-form site Longreads, a comment filtering and tracking service, and an avatar generator.
The deal is subject to customary closing conditions.


text:
Acquia Won't Rush IPO [Dec. 19, 2013]
By Rohan Pearce
Boston-based Web technology company Acquia is heading towards an IPO but it's in no rush to go public according to Dries Buytaert, Acquia's co-founder and the creator of the open source CMS Drupal.
"For us [an IPO] is something that we're working on but it's not front and centre right now," Buytaert, the CTO of the Drupal services firm, said.
"We think it's a key milestone, but it's only just that as well: It's a milestone in a much longer path to building a significant independent company. So that's the reason I say we're not obsessed with it."
Earlier this year, the company hired Dennis Morgan as CFO, which is "obviously a key component for being able to do an IPO," the CTO added.
"In general we want to be an IPO-ready company such that we have the luxury to file for an IPO if we were to choose to," Buytaert said.

domain: news


text:
India's retail inflation saw a sharp rise to 6.95% in March, at 17 month high compared to 6.07% in February over higher food prices, the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. The CPI inflation during the corresponding period last year stood at 4.29%.
But what exactly is inflation, how is it measured, and how is it calculated? We explain everything you need to know about WPI and CPI in this story.
What is Inflation?
Inflation is the rate at which prices rise over a specific time period. Inflation is often defined as a broad metric, such as the overall increase in prices or the cost of living in a country.
For example, if the rate of rice a year ago was ₹100 a kilo and currently it is ₹110 a kilo, the inflation in the rice prices would be at 10 percent.
Inflationary pressures also reduce the buying power of investments. In other words, when you need to use the money you invested, it will be worthless. That is why it is critical to focus on investments that will generate a higher rate of return than the value of inflation.
Inflation rates are measured both year over year — how prices have changed over the last year — and month over month — how prices have changed over the past month.
How Inflation is Measured?
There are two measures of inflation in India, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
To measure the average consumer’s cost of living, RBI conducts Households’ Inflation Expectations Survey to identify a basket of commonly purchased items and track them over time.
The consumer price index (CPI) is the cost of this basket at a given time expressed relative to a base year, and consumer price inflation is the percentage change in the CPI over a given period. This basket of products and services shows the consumer's cost of living at a specific level of income and prices.
On the other hand, the goods or services sold by businesses to smaller businesses for further sale are captured by the WPI. In India, both WPI (wholesale price index) and CPI (consumer price index) are used to measure inflation.
Policymakers also keep an eye on core consumer inflation, which focuses on the underlying and persistent trends in inflation by eliminating government-set prices and the more volatile prices of things like food and energy, which are most affected by seasonal factors or temporary supply shortages.
How does CPI work?
CPI is now calculated in India using a basket of 299 commodities. CPI is computed by taking the average weighted value of each item in the basket and multiplying it by the change in retail prices of goods and services.


text:
TRENDING ON ONEINDIA
- 2019 Lok Sabha — All You Need To Know
- Hero ISL To Resume From Jan 25th; Kerala Blasters To Face ATK
- Owning A Maruti Suzuki Is Now A Special Occasion — Here's How
- Asus ZenFone Max M2 — Detailed Review
- Why Cheat India — Movie Review
- 7 Best SBI Mutual Fund Schemes To Invest Through SIP
- Benefits Of Drinking Black Coffee
- Vikramshila — The Forgotten University In Bhagalpur, Bihar
2019 Kawasaki Z650 launched in India: Kawasaki has launched the new 2019 Z650 naked motorcycle in the country. The 2019 Kawasaki Z650 is priced at Rs 5.29 lakh ex-showroom (Delhi). The updated Z650 joins the recently launched 2019 Kawasaki Versys 650 and the Z900.
The 2019 Kawasaki Z650 features only cosmetic updates in the form of new body graphics. The 2019 iteration of the Z650 is available in Metallic Flat Spark Black / Metallic Spark Black colour. Apart from the new graphics, the overall design of the middleweight naked motorcycle remains the same.
The Kawasaki Z650 was launched in India in 2017 as a replacement for the ER-6n. The overall design of the Z650 is based on the Sugomi design philosophy with an aggressive stance that is similar to its elder siblings, the Z900 and the Z1000. The chassis of the motorcycle has been tuned to offer superior handling.
The Kawasaki Z650 draws power from the same 649cc liquid-cooled, parallel-twin engine that produces 67bhp and 66Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox. Mechanically, the 2019 Kawasaki Z650 does not get any changes and the power figures also remain the same.
The 2019 Kawasaki Z650 is equipped with 41mm telescopic forks at the front and adjustable monoshock suspension at the rear. Braking duties are handled by 300mm disc at the front and 220mm disc at the rear with dual-channel ABS as standard.
Managing Director of India Kawasaki Motors, Yutaka Yamashita said, "In this festive season we already have launched Versys 650 and Z900 of MY2019. Now we are introducing Z650 MY2019 as it is one of our best versatile bikes. It is commendable for long tours, useful in traffic and good on the track also."
Thoughts On The 2019 Kawasaki Z650
Kawasaki has introduced the new 2019 Z650 with minor updates to the body graphics. The 2019 Kawasaki Z650 is one of the versatile bikes in the middleweight segment. Kawasaki has also launched the 2019 Versys 650 and the Z900 in the country. The Kawasaki Z650 rivals the likes of Benelli TNT 600i and the Harley-Davidson Street 750.


text:
Several of them will be released later today
On Tuesday (August 18), Nintendo hosted the Indie World Showcase, where it announced a slew of new games headed to its Nintendo Switch platform.
The event played host to the reveal of over 20 upcoming titles, including ports of popular games like the Subnautica series and Torchlight III, as well as a timed-console exclusive titled Bear And Breakfast from Armor Games Studios.
Although a majority of the games will only be released from Fall 2020 onwards, a handful will be available starting today. They include Thunder Lotus’ management sim Spiritfarer, puzzle game Manifold Garden and Nodding Heads Games’ Raji: An Ancient Epic.
Watch the full Indie World Showcase here.
In addition to the impressive lineup of new Switch games, Nintendo also announced during the event that Untitled Goose Game is set to receive a multiplayer mode in a forthcoming update. The two-player co-op mode will be released for free on September 23, with physical versions of the game scheduled for release in the future.
In other Nintendo Switch news, Wii-exclusive The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword might be re-released on the platform, according to a new listing on Amazon UK. However, Nintendo has yet to officially announce the port.
Check out the full list of games and their release dates below.


text:
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — McNeil Consumer Healthcare has returned approximately 75% of its OTC portfolio to store shelves, Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson chairman and CEO told analysts Tuesday. "Growth in the consumer segment was achieved in part as a result of our success in restoring a reliable supply of OTC products to the United States marketplace, and we’re starting to see them gain traction as well, once they’re back in the market," he said. Gorsky outlined a number of brands that have grown J&J's U.S. OTC business by 21.6%, including Neutrogena, Listerine, Tylenol and Motrin.
"And we’re going to continue backing these brands with strong scientifically based and endorsed claims to differentiate them in the marketplace," he added. "We’re also investing in things like cross channel marketing across TV, print, social media, to really support their launch and do it in a benchmark way."
Customers have not held J&J's production woes of several years ago against the company as it brings each brand back to market in a big way, Gorsky suggested. "We still have a substantial volume that we would have to make up to get back to the earlier volumes that we saw, but every time we introduce the product to the market, Extra Strength Tylenol, if you look at Children’s Tylenol, Children’s Motrin, pediatric, we’re seeing customers respond," he said. "The other factor is, though, we’re very pleased with the partnership that’s been taking place with our major trade partners. So all the major outlets have been enthusiastic about working with us to get these brands back on the shelves."


text:
A new report has revealed the top 10 most common uses for handsets as part of a study into the relationship between our mobiles and the cities we live in
Accompanying the new Microsoft Health app, the wearable Band will make you into the superhuman you've always wanted to be
We’ve teamed up with Beano to give you a FREE interactive copy of Dennis the Menace, Britain’s best- loved children’s comic!
Samaritans Radar app scans Twitter for friends' suicidal tweets and then sends you an email alert along with guidance about how to reach out
Clare Kerrigan had given up hope of ever finding her phone when she received a text from Apple to say it had resurfaced
Scotland Yard said the man had been messaging another man through the popular online gay dating app Grindr and invited him round to his home in west London
Snapchat has introduced advertising to its messaging service because it needs to make money, but it promises not to be creepy
With a GPS tracking app specifically aimed at men who want to keep an eye on their wives - can it ever be okay to spy in secret?
With cases of Ebola in West Africa continuing to skyrocket, scientists are looking to technology to quickly diagnose the disease and stop it spreading
Apple has launched desktop operating system OS X Yosemite today
Just don't expect to control your army of domestic cleaning droids with it... yet
Melissa Vasquez, 28, was saved after a tech-savvy police officer guessed the password on her home PC, logged in and found where she was using the Find My iPhone app
Game of Thrones fans can now learn the fictional Dothraki language through a mobile app
In the wake of ’The Snappening’, which saw almost 100,000 Snapchat users’ images leaked online, Snapchat has warned against using third-party apps
Hackers are claiming they've hacked 6.9 million Dropbox accounts, but Dropbox says their security is not compromised
A file containing almost 100,000 images of Snapchat users - many of whom are teenagers - has been posted online in what is being referred to as The Snappening
Hackers claim to have infiltrated picture messaging app and say they will release images online
Youngsters reckon airline's new grub is better than mum's, Heathrow launches Helper scheme - and in Hotel checkout Premier Inn opens app-friendly hotel
Ampy is a gadget that converts your movement into energy that it stores in a battery. You can then use that power to charge your phone
Sneaky wrongdoers deleting evidence from afar before police are able to secure phones
New iOS closes date-time loophole that made old school games playable on iPhones and iPads
I was a victim of identity fraud as crooks got into my bank account and stole my cash
New medical apps are being planned - or is it all just another way of getting a look at your personal info?
Siren's USP means that men only get to see who they're trying to woo once they've answered a few important questions
A fraction of the latest Apple iPad Air for £399, the cheap-as-chips hudl2 is poised for a Christmas sell out
AntiTagging will stop pics of you ending up on Facebook without your knowledge
Yom Kippur is now in cyberspace thanks to the online scapegoat
Going back to school or uni? Here are some great apps to help you manage your life
Profits are dropping faster than an egg bomb from Matilda's undercarriage
Microsoft say "it wouldn't be right to call it Windows 9", so they skipped it and went to 10
Remember when dating used to involve picking up the landline phone and arranging a date? A lot has changed...
25% of parents don't feel confident teaching their children about online safety, so Internet Matters has developed an app to help kickstart that conversation
The Mirror teamed up with Kalixa Pro to launch the Spirit of Small Business Awards in July to celebrate small businesses and sole traders - now you can pick a winner...
Luxy is a new dating app that describes itself as 'like Tinder but minus the poor people' - but it's not the only terrible dating app out there
Your personal info will be used by the social network to rake in even more cash
The iPhone 6 is a great device. It's also big, expensive and out of stock almost everywhere. Here's five alternatives for those not swept up by the hype
Access to the photo-sharing site denied for locals
The leak comes just two months after former TOWIE regular Lauren Goodger had a six-second sex tape of her shared on mobile phones
Keeping tabs on former lovers on social media can cause 'increased distress' according to psychologists, and become addictive
Sir Richard Branson’s airline heads to Georgia to celebrate three decades of flying with wi-fi streamed concert on board by chart-toppers Rudimental


text:
G-Core makes CDN go faster in the east
G-Core Labs has expanded its content delivery network infrastructure in Russia and in CIS countries.
The company has opened new CDN points in the capitals of Armenia and Azerbaijan - Yerevan and Baku - and has launched an extra CDN cluster in Kazan, Russia.
Sam Davis (pictured), vice president of products at G-Core Labs, said: “The launch of three new locations has allowed us to set new content delivery rate records in the region among local and international providers.
“Minimising delays with CDN propels online business development, especially in areas requiring peak speed under high loads. Speeding up websites fuels conversion and pre-loading the content relieves the client’s own infrastructure,” said Davis.
The Yerevan CDN data centre site, for instance, allows the company to deliver content with delays of about 5 ms, it said, which is “five times faster” than the networks of competitors, claims the company.
The firm now has over 120 points-of-presence (PoP) in over 100 cities worldwide, with the overall network capacity exceeding over 75Tbps. It is also planning an additional PoP in Uzbekistan.


text:
The Finance Ministry is to issue an imminent decree under which banks will have to review some recently-imposed charges which affect specific vulnerable groups of the population, Phileleftheros reports.
The issue has already been debated twice by the House Institutions Committee in the presence of Central Bank of Cyprus Governor Constantinos Herodotou.
The first time was on November 6, last year, and the second early in February. The third such debate is to take place on Wednesday with results of a comparative study on charges imposed by EU banks also to be presented. The study was carried out by the Central Bank.
Insiders said the Ministry is ready to issue a decree requiring banks to differentiate charges for basic services as they affect certain vulnerable groups of the population.
The parliamentary committee is also expected to be briefed on Wednesday on the intentions of the ministry and what exactly the decree will provide. It is the first time that the Ministry will actually execute the right of a decree as provided in comparable charges legislation.
The Treasury decree is expected to demand a targeted revision of charges to low-income and low-income-guaranteed accounts, whose owners cannot use the Internet or reside in remote communities and may not have easy access to bank branches.
Pursuant to this Law, basic bank charges that may fall under the ceiling are: All operations required before opening, operating and closing a payment account, and services that allow funds to be deposited into a payment account.
As well as services enabling cash withdrawals from a payment account within the European Union through a customer service fund or through automated teller machines, during or outside the opening hours of credit -economic foundation.
Also, the execution of the following payment transactions within the Union: direct debits, payment card payment transactions, including online payments, credit transfers, including standing orders, terminals, if any, and customer service funds and through the credit facility’s online services.
By Theano Theiopoulou


text:
The Nokia Lumia 630 is a low-end phone. As it is set to sell for around £100, you could call it Nokia’s Windows Phone 8.1 alternative to the Motorola Moto G, currently one of the most popular lower-cost phones.
The screen disappoints next to the best Android phones at the price, but otherwise this is a likeable phone for those on a budget.
Back in the early days of Windows Phone 8, the fly-in Live Tiles that are the signature of the OS drew praise and criticism in equal measure - praise for their novelty and potential, and criticism for their inflexibility and occasionally sluggish performance.
In one update, WP8.1 remedies both flaws. The animations are now lightning fast and ultra-smooth, and you can customise the Live Tile interface to your heart’s content.
I didn’t think too much of the earlier Cortana leaks, but after seeing it perform in person and diving into all that it can do I think this smart personal assistant may even bring people to Windows Phone from iOS and Android.
The Lumia 930 is seriously bright and comes with Windows Phone 8.1
The Nokia Lumia 930 is the successor to the Lumia 925. It’s a high-end 5-inch screen Windows Phone, with a focus on camera technology. However, it’s not quite as camera-obsessed as the Lumia 1020, making it a slightly more accessible phone.
We took a closer look the phone at its launch to find out if it deserves to head-up Nokia’s 2014 phone line-up
The Nokia Lumia 1320 is a very large Windows phone. It has a 6-inch screen, and is quite an imposing presence. The more affordable sibling of the Lumia 1520, it cuts out some of that phone’s higher-end features to sell for around £270 SIM-free, or around £21 a month on a contract.
However, its sheer girth makes it a little hard to live with, and the extra screen inches aren’t beneficial enough yet.
Microsoft could allow Windows Phone to support Android apps in the future, according to a new report.
New information suggests that Microsoft is at least considering the possibility of supporting Android apps on Windows Phone and Windows one day.
Speaking to The Verge, “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans” say Microsoft is talking over the idea of accepting Android apps into the Windows and Windows Phone ecosystems.
The sources say that the discussions are still in the early stages and planning “is ongoing”, but Microsoft is talking about the possibility.
Apparently, Microsoft is discussing whether to simply allow Android apps to appear within the Windows and Windows Phone stores, but some execs suggest it could destroy the platform entirely, especially on mobile.
More details leaked online about Nokia’s Normandy handset, a reported Android phone the company is working on. A pair of home screen images appeared on Thursday, courtesy of the well-connected @evleaks. You’d be hard pressed to see anything remotely looking like Android though. The user interface is far more reminiscent of Windows Phone.
Nokia is set to make quite a splash at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, if the latest whispers turn out to be true.
According to @NextLeaks, Nokia will reveal its Lumia 1820 flagship at the show, and it’s got quite the spec list. To put it mildly.
A 5.2in 2K display, a quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor and 3GB of RAM are all said to be included in the 1820, along with a 3,400mAh battery, 32GB of expandable storage and a camera with a Xenon flash and Lytro-like technology which allows for post-capture re-focusing.


text:
Ireland’s national food safety agency issued a recall of Sriracha hot sauce produced by Irwindale-based Huy Fong Foods because of the sauce “exploding” once bottles are opened.
The recall, issued Nov. 29 by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, applies to 470 milliliter bottles of Tuong Ot Sriracha sauce, which Huy Fong produces, bearing a best before date of March 2021.
“The above batch of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce is being recalled due to the risk of the contents exploding once the bottle is opened,” reads the recall notice. “This poses a risk of hot chili sauce irritating eyes or skin.”
#FoodAlert Recall of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce due to risk of the contents exploding. Please see: https://t.co/eMYQKZoBLg pic.twitter.com/CEGicHeTkf
— FoodSafetyAuthority (@FSAIinfo) November 29, 2019
In a statement issued Tuesday, Huy Fong said it has been addressing “the issue” with its Sriracha Chili Sauce, specifically the 28-ounce size. However, consumers should refrain from attempting to open bottles that are bloated or feel “firm” to a slight squeeze.
“We would like to advise the public that the affected products do not pose a ‘food safety’ concern (absence of salmonella, e-coli, listeria),” the statement reads. “Some product produced in March 2019, with the expiration of March 2021, may experience the bottle being bloated with pressure due to continued fermentation.”
Not every bottle in that particular batch was affected, Huy Fong said in the statement. Anyone who notices a bloated bottle should contact Huy Frong’s customer service department at firstname.lastname@example.org or by phone at 626-286-8328.
A spokeswoman for the authority told the Irish Times the agency was not aware exactly why the sauce was exploding out of bottles but said that the phenomenon “is usually caused by a buildup of gas in the product caused by spoilage or uncontrolled fermentation.”
Huy Fong last made headlines when a jury awarded $23.3 million to the ranch that grew red jalapeño peppers for its Sriracha hot sauce in July.
A Ventura County civil court jury found that Huy Fong broke its contract with Ventura County’s Underwood Ranches and committed fraud by misrepresenting and concealing information.
Huy Fong’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment in July, but told the Ventura County Star the Sriracha maker intends to appeal the verdict.


text:
Nissan Sharing A Glimpse Of 2015 Juke
2015 Nissan Juke is to be revealed for the first time at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. The brand is teasing the public by releasing an image of the side of the new car, which is wrapped in something like a net.
Juke is undoubtedly a car which has triggered the birth of many opinions, and Nissan is promising that people will continue to talk about it. The latest version of the premium B-segment crossover promises even more striking design, and we are definitely already eager to see it.
Furthermore, the new Juke will also offer improved efficiency and enhanced refinement, thus ensuring its place among the stars at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show. Until then, the brand is starting a campaign: it will unveil the 2015 Juke gradually via its social channels (such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). There the image of the model will become clearer and will define some new design cues.


text:
AT&T is giving Google a run for its money when it comes to building ultra high-speed gigabit broadband networks.
On Monday, AT&T announced that it has begun talking to municipalities in at least 21 major metropolitan areas to bring its AT&T U-Verse GigaPower fiber network to these communities. Like Google Fiber, the U-Verse GigaPower network offers broadband customers 1 gigabit per second downloads at what's expected to be an affordable price.
AT&T hasn't announced pricing for the U-Verse with GigaPower service in the new territories, but in Austin, where it's already launched U-Verse with GigaPower, it has priced the service to match Google's $70 a month service. If all goes well in negotiating with each city, AT&T said it plans to begin building these networks by the end of the year.
AT&T has already begun selling 300 megabits per second broadband service on a fiber-to-the-home network in Austin, Texas. It has plans to upgrade the service to 1Gbps download speeds later this year. The company has already announced plans to bring the gigabit broadband service to Dallas, and it's in advanced talks to deploy the service in the Triangle region of North Carolina.
Now AT&T is expanding beyond those initial deployments and taking gigabit broadband to as many as 100 municipalities within the 21 metro markets. The move will pit AT&T against Google Fiber in a total of 14 markets, including Austin and San Antonio, Texas; eight cities in the Triangle region of North Carolina; Kansas City; San Jose, Calif.; and Atlanta, Ga.
AT&T is also planning to build the network in several major cities in which Google has not yet expressed interest, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, and Houston
Even though AT&T denies that its gigabit fiber service is in any way a reaction to the service that Google has been building, it's clear that Google's presence in the market has changed the dynamics.
Initially, the idea behind Google Fiber was for the company to build a commercial fiber-based high-speed broadband network that Google and others could use to test new business models and applications that need very fast connections -- upward of 1Gbps. Google still sees this as an important component behind the service, but it also sees Google Fiber as a money making opportunity.
"We expect to make money from Google Fiber," he said. "This is a great business to be in."
It looks like AT&T, which initially began building its U-Verse high-speed broadband network more than a decade ago, using a combination of fiber and traditional cabling, has also gotten the religion. But the fact that AT&T has changed the architecture of its network to include extending fiber directly to homes instead of stopping at the home or the curb isn't the exciting part of the company's new efforts. It's the fact that the company is following in Google's footsteps in offering an ultra-high speed service that offers downloads of 1 gigabit per second at a price that is expected to be less than $100 per month.
This is where the Google Fiber service was truly revolutionary. Other cities and other broadband operators have built networks capable of delivering 1Gbps service. Cable operators, which use a different network technology, have also demonstrated download speeds of 1Gbps. Verizon Communications has also built an all fiber network called Fios, which is also capable of delivering 1 Gbps. But cable operators and Verizon have said that customers don't need or want a service at those speeds.
But the reality is that consumers likely don't want to pay a high price tag for such a service. Traditional broadband providers, including AT&T, have sold their fastest tiers of broadband service for well over $100 a month. Google was the first to offer a 1Gbps service at an affordable price tag of $70 per month, which is about $20 more than the average broadband service.
It's hard to say whether AT&T will keep the price tag of $70 per month throughout its new GigaPower territory.
"It's too soon to speculate," said Dahna Hull, vice president and general manager at AT&T. "We need to get the agreements in the various cities in place first. Then we'll share more news on pricing as we have it."
Currently, AT&T offers the service for $70 a month to customers who sign a one-year contract and agree to allow AT&T to track their data usage. The price is guaranteed for three years, but customers can opt out of the service entirely or the Internet Preferences program after a year. Customers who don't want their activity tracked through the Internet Preferences program can get the 1Gbps service for $100 a month. Prices go up when phone and TV service is added to the package.


text:
Gates told financial analysts during a meeting Thursday that the company plans to spend $5.3 billion in fiscal 2002, which began July 1. In 2001, Microsoft spent $4.38 billion on R&D. "We're not scaling back our R&D ambition at all," Gates said.
The next versions of Office and Windows--subsequent to the recently released Office XP and this fall's Windows XP--will include improved features Microsoft calls Office Update and Windows Update. The software today lets users download drivers and bug fixes from Microsoft's Web site. Upcoming versions of the operating system and productivity suite will let users report crashes and other problems to Microsoft from their desktop PC, using features that Gates calls a "red button" and "yellow button," for problems of varying severity. Updates will be "dramatically more central to the user experience than ever before," he says.
Other aspects of the user-interface initiative, which Gates calls "Always Works," aim to build into Windows and productivity applications new ways of pointing to and annotating text. As LCD display prices fall, Microsoft plans to eventually replace the computer mouse with large screens that let users point to and manipulate text with a digital pen. Pointing, along with refined speech recognition, will complement keyboard input, Gates says. It will take two to three releases for Microsoft to introduce all its planned features.
"Always Works" could also ensure that PCs and handheld computers continually back up and synchronize data. Gates says the WiFi standard (previously called 802.11) for wireless communication among devices will become pervasive in homes, and low-power versions of WiFi chipsets will emerge. But stubbornly low household penetration rates of broadband connectivity will hold back consumer wireless computing and home PC networking, according to Gates. Microsoft's answer: a strategy that relies "aggressively" on caching data on local disks, whose prices continue to fall.
Other products will carry premium prices. Gates says Microsoft will require PC makers releasing Windows XP-driven Tablet PCs--a new Microsoft product expected this fall--to include a "high-quality" digital converter of pen strokes (applied to the screen) into handwriting. One measure: A computer mouse typically reads input at about 40 samples per second; the Tablet PC's pen reads about 133 samples per second. Tablet PCs will cost a bit more than comparably powered notebook computers, Gates says, but the high-quality component requirement "will get the whole idea of reading and annotating off to a strong start."
In a demonstration, Microsoft Group VP Jeff Raikes showed an instant-messaging app the company is developing that lets users transmit wireless messages that combine text and simple diagrams drawn with the Tablet PC's digital pen.


text:
Realme Q3s is all set to launch alongside Realme GT Neo 2T on October 19. Ahead of the official debut, an image of the upcoming Realme smartphone's retail box was leaked online, suggesting price details. Realme Q3s is tipped to come as a mid-range offering. The handset is confirmed to feature an LCD display, with a variable refresh rate (VRR) of up to 144Hz. It will also have HDR10 support. The latest Realme smartphone will pack Snapdragon 778G SoC as well.
Noted tipster Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) tweeted the retail box image of Realme Q3s on October 18.
As per the leak, Realme Q3s may come with a price tag of CNY 1,999 (roughly Rs. 23,400). As of yet, there is no word on whether the phone will be released in markets outside China. The handset is tipped to come with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of onboard storage, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC.
Recently, Realme announced that Realme Q3s will be launched on October 19 at 2pm CST (11:30am IST) — along with Realme GT Neo 2T. The smartphone brand via Weibo confirmed a few specifications and colour options of Realme Q3s. The smartphone will be offered in Blue and Purple colour options. The company says that Realme Q3s will sport an LCD display with variable refresh rates. Realme Q3s will get seven refresh rate options — 30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, and 144Hz. The display will have a DCI-P3 movie-wide colour gamut option as well. Realme Q3s will also have HDR10 support with 4,096 levels of fine dimming.
Earlier, a Realme smartphone was spotted in TENAA listing with the model number RMX3461/ RMX3463, and it is speculated to be the upcoming Realme Q3s. The TENAA listing suggested that Realme Q3 could feature a 6.59-inch full-HD+ (1,080x2,412 pixels) LTPS display, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of onboard storage, and a triple rear camera setup — highlighted by a 48-megapixel primary sensor and two 2-megapixel sensors. As per the listing, the RMX3461 smartphone will have a battery with 4,880mAh rated capacity and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth joins Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast for an exclusive wide-ranging interview, as he talks about the 5G push, Make in India, Realme GT series and Book Slim, and how stores can improve their standing. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts. Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2024 hub.


text:
‘Under one umbrella’: New Singapore food institute to deliver unified approach to product innovation and market entry
Singapore’s major food research entities will be consolidated under a new institute by the second quarter of 2020, enabling F&B firms large and small to access a ‘one-stop shop’ of research and information pertaining to food safety, regulations and innovation.
The institute, dubbed the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation (SIFBI) is fronted by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), but major participating organisations include food science and technology programmes from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), various labs, polytechnics and industry bodies in the country, as well as newly-established regulatory body Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
The institute’s overarching goals include addressing local food security and food waste issues, but working with F&B companies will also be a major area of focus, and both smaller companies as well as MNCs in the F&B industry will benefit from this, according to A*STAR Biomedical Research Council Senior Director Dr Ralph Graichen.
“As much time and attention will be spent with start-ups as with MNCs [in looking at product development and innovation] with SIFBI,” he said during a media briefing, in response to queries from FoodNavigator-Asia.
Delaying decay: Internationally-backed Indian shelf-life extension nanotech moves to commercialisation
An internationally-backed Indian nanotechnology-based fruit and vegetable shelf-life extension formulation has moved beyond the research phase into commercialisation, claiming to extend freshness by a minimum of two weeks.
Headed by the Department of Nano Science and Technology at the country’s top-ranked state university Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), the project started as a collaboration with the University of Guelph in Canada to tackle the ‘global issue of spoilage fruits and vegetables are facing’.
“This project is moving into the commercialisation phase soon – we already had a meeting with over 200 stakeholders last month about this,” Dr K. S. Subramaniam, TNAU Director of Research and Chair of Indian regulatory body National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Grossly irresponsible? Study finds high salt diet bad for cognition, but experts question trial design
A new study on mice has again shown that a diet high in salt is bad for the brain, but experts have questioned the amount of salt that was fed to the animals, with one even claiming it is “grossly irresponsible in terms of science.”
In a study conducted by researchers from USA, mice which were given a high sodium diet consisting of four or 8% NaCl for 12 weeks (8-16 times higher in salt than normal mouse diet – 0/5% NaCl) were found to accumulate modified tau, a protein associated with conditions that cause dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers found that high sodium diet mice were significantly less able to navigate mazes (p<0.05) and recognise new objects (p=0.0188).
However, Australian researchers have questioned elements of the study.
Distinguished scientist from The Hudson Institute, Professor John Funder AC ssaid: “Normal mouse chow contains 0.3% sodium chloride; which would be a high salt intake in humans. The New York mice in question got 8% sodium chloride, despite which, curiously, their blood pressure did not go up; they did, however, eat more and weigh less - not a starter for sensible human weight loss.”
“Any extrapolation from mice on a salt intake of 8% to the human situation may be cute, but it is grossly irresponsible in terms of science.”
‘Trillion-dollar industry’: CSIRO-linked plant-based firm v2foods seeks to conquer APAC
Australian plant-based foods firm v2foods is banking on its strong science backing from governmental science agency Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in its bid to expand into and develop products for the Asia Pacific region.
The firm is backed by both CSIRO and Hungry Jack’s (Australia’s version of Burger King) founder Jack Cowin. v2foods has piloted its first plant-based burger patties in Hungry Jack’s via the Rebel Whopper burger, and has sold half a million burgers in its first four weeks.
In the United States, Rebel Whopper patties are supplied by Impossible Foods, whereas in Europe these are from Unilever.
“We’re starting in Australia first, but ultimately the aim is to focus on expansion across Asia Pacific, and we see big opportunities in this region for other products too, particularly since in will be impossible to meet the meat consumption and population growth demands here using animal meat,” v2foods Founder and CEO Nick Hazell told FoodNavigator-Asia.
From palm oil to cocoa: Can technology pave the way to Asia’s sustainable food future?
Sustainability is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics in APAC’s food and beverage industry, but it can be hard to distinguish between greenwashing and a genuine commitment best practice. That’s why in this edition of Asia’s Food Future: Industry 4.0, we take a look at some of the groundbreaking technology that can be utilised to create sustainable and ethically-sourced products in the region.
From a manufacturer’s point of view, one of the most major ways to enhance sustainability in food is to ensure the use of sustainable raw materials – here, traceability and transparency of these food sources is key, and this is where technology comes into play.
Global food and beverage MNC Nestle uses blockchain as a means to hit sustainability targets, based on a project the company has been working on for the past one to two years with tech firm IBM and pushed out to retailers such as Carrefour.
“We looked at how we could back our sustainability claims through data and verifiable data flows from partners, suppliers and customers,” Nestle Supply Chain Digital Development Manager Benjamin Dubois told FoodNavigator-Asia.


text:
ISLAMABAD: With a significant decrease in prices of vegetables, no change was witnessed in the prices of other essential kitchen items during the past week as compared to the preceding week, revealed a survey carried out by Business Recorder here on Saturday.
Traders and wholesalers in different markets of the twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad said that the price of chicken and eggs increased while that of vegetables declined significantly in the week past as compared to the preceding week.
The survey noted sharp decline in vegetables prices as tomato was available at Rs 60 per kg against Rs 80 per kg last week price, registering a decrease of Rs 20 per kg, onions were being sold at Rs 50 per kg against Rs 70 per kg week past prices, potato was available at Rs 40 per kg against Rs60 last week price, cabbage at Rs 40 per kg, shimla mirch was being sold at Rs 90 per kg , cucumber was being sold at Rs 50 per kg, carrot at Rs 50 per kg, peas were being sold at Rs 120-180 against Rs 160-200 per kg week past price, radish at Rs 45 per kg and green-chili at Rs 70 per kg.
No change was observed in fruit prices during the past week as compared to the preceding week, as apple was available at Rs 80-120 per kg, banana was being sold at Rs 60-100 per dozen, grapes at Rs 100- 180 per kg, chikko (Sapodilla) was being sold at Rs180 per kg.
The survey also observed that meat prices remained stable during last week as mutton was available at Rs 560 per kg, and beef at Rs 380 per kg. However, chicken was available at Rs 130 to Rs 140 per kg and eggs were being sold at Rs115 per dozen.
However, pulses price remained stable during the week past against the preceding week, as mash was available at Rs 160-180 against Rs 160 per kg week past price, moong at Rs 150 per kg, lobia at Rs 150 per kg, masoor at Rs 130 per kg, channa at Rs 120-140 per kg and white channa at Rs 140-155 per kg.
Similarly, rice prices also remained unchanged as colonel rice was available at Rs 140 per kg while broken rice at Rs 90 per kg. However, prices of ghee/cooking oil remained stable during the last week as compared to the preceding week.
Source: Business Recorder


text:
WATCH: Inside the program training NFL players for life after football
Jordan Howard of the Chicago Bears and Josh Dobbs of the Pittsburgh Steelers discuss their "externships" with Fanatics that gives them skills for life after their sports careers.
3 days ago - ABC News
Which European country has the most Unesco world heritage sites? The Weekend quiz
From heretical crusades to the 1,000 Guineas, test your knowledge with the Weekend quiz 1 What did John Hinckley Jr do in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster? 2 Which crusading...
6 days ago - The Guardian
P.F. Chang's offering ‘Pyeongchang Lettuce Wraps' following on-air flub by Chicago news station
The marketing team for the Pyeongchang restaurant chain - pardon us, we mean the P.F. Chang's restaurant chain - has a great sense of humor.
7 days ago - FOX News
WATCH: 'Roseanne' star on the first time she met co-star Laurie M
Lecy Goranson, who played the original Becky, said she was so excited to meet Metcalfe, who was a star in the Chicago theater world.
8 days ago - ABC News - 2 articles
Chicago Town is selling a new mac ‘n' cheese pizza
Chicago Town has just released two mini mac ‘n' cheese pizzas, which come topped with bacon. The deep dish pizzas come as a new limited edition addition to the range, and are...
10 days ago - Metro
2018 Chicago Auto Show new car debuts
14 days ago - FOX News
Editor's Letter: T's Women's Fashion Issue: Editor's Letter
This issue is a celebration of all the different ways beauty is expressed and manifested, and all the different faces it wears.
15 days ago - NYT
The Story Behind T's Judy Chicago Cover
For our spring women's fashion issue, we took inspiration from one of the feminist artist's most iconic images - which takes on new meaning today.
15 days ago - NYT - 2 articles
Willy Chavarria put a different kind of model on his runway. The effect was powerful
The Chicago designer made his fall 2018 show a celebration of working-class and minority men.
15 days ago - The Washington Post - 2 articles
Los Angeles Times owner will sell paper, ending a long-troubled relationship
A local businessman is expected to buy it from Chicago-based Tronc Inc., along with the San Diego Union-Tribune.
16 days ago - The Washington Post - 6 articles
The headlines of Very International People
Those naked exercise classes are coming to London
Would you? Earlier this year we reported that naked exercise classes were coming to New York City. The NYC gym launched a nude, full body workout , promising health benefits...
Kylie Jenner's baby Stormi already has her own makeup collection
The Eye Of The Storm eye palette Say what you like about the Kardashians, but those gals have all got their business heads on. Rising to fame through a reality show, the...
It's Reggaeton Time! Dance To Hot New Track ‘Duro Y Suave'
When you hit the dance floor to shake away your day, you don't go lightly, do you? No. Chances are, you hit that floor hard and leave everything behind when your hour of...
Bruno Mars ‘Finesse' ft. Cardi B + Zumba® Choreography
A post shared by Tommy Ezedunor on Feb 14, 2018 at 5:11pm PST Nostalgia is soooo in right now. Hear me out. Take a look at the movies that have been released lately and the...
TRASH AND VAUDEVILLE IS HIRING A SALES ASSOCIATE IN NEW YORK
Trash and Vaudeville is looking for a full-time/part-time sales associate for our East Village location. We are seeking a responsible, creative, fashion forward, and dependable...
GoodSkin Los Angeles Is Hiring A Part-Time Receptionist / Executive Office...
GoodSkin Los Angeles is a highly intimate, private and upscale med-spa located in Brentwood, California. It is vital that you are comfortable corresponding and spending time...
Even in a year of ‘Wonder Woman' and ‘Lady Bird,' there were still fewer...
With the birth of the MeToo movement and success of movies like “Wonder Woman,” 2017 was an empowering year for women in Hollywood. But the year's top films may not have...
Maura's Favorite-Ever Face Mask That Brings Her Back to Life After a Long Day
Over the holidays, I put out an ask over social media for people's favorite-ever skin-care products, as I had a couple of Amazon gift cards burning a hole in my wallet that I...
‘We've All Done Things We Weren't Totally Into': 8 Men And Women On Dating...
Photo, Getty. In early October, the New York Times broke the story of Harvey Weinstein's alleged decades-long history of sexually harassing and assaulting women. That story...
What is anthrax powder and what are the effects of an attack?
Anthrax bacteria The threat of anthrax has emerged once again after a letter containing a white powder was sent to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle , sparking fears of an...


text:
WASHINGTON – Anniversary Intel’s $20 Billion Investment In a new semiconductor plant in Ohio, President Biden on Friday sought to kick-start a stalled element of his economic and national security agenda: a massive federal investment state into the production, research and development of technologies that China also seeks to dominate.
With two other major legislative priorities being supported by Congress – the Better Rebuilding Act and the voting protection legislation – Mr. Biden turned to the press for another bill and one with backing. significantly bipartisan.
But he has lost seven important months since the Senate passed the measure, a vast Chinese competition bill that would spend nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars on domestic chip production, artificial intelligence research, robotics, quantum computing and a host of other technologies. Invoice amount most extensive industrial policy law in US history.
Speaking at the White House, Mr. Biden said the US was in a “severe economic and technological competition” with China. He chose the words deliberately, knowing that although it sounded obvious to Americans, Chinese officials in recent months had objected to the use of the word “competition,” claiming that it had a Chinese undertone. a contest like the Cold War.
“We’re going to ask everyone, including China, to play by the same rules,” Biden continued. “We will invest whatever is needed in America, in American innovation, in American communities, in American workers.”
He thinks the initiative will be a long-term solution to supply chain disruptions and rising inflation and will free American weapons systems from dependence on foreign parts.
After months in which he rarely mentioned the China competition bill so as not to lose focus on other elements of his agenda, Biden on Friday said it was necessary to pass the bill “because benefits of our economic competitiveness and national security.”
Understanding the supply chain crisis
Today, we produce only 10% of computer chips, despite being a leader in chip design and research, he said. “Right now we don’t have the capacity to make the most advanced chips.”
By some estimates, the increasingly widespread shortage of chips, which are needed to power everything from cars and washing machines to medical equipment and the power grid, have forced some factories to shut down their wires. production line and completely knocked out US growth last year.
Although the Biden administration has counted Intel’s new investment near Columbus, Ohio, as a partial remedy for supply chain disruptions that have led to global chip shortages and fueled inflation, the project will does nothing to solve any short-term economic problems. The Ohio plant, an early stage that Intel says could be an investment of up to $100 billion, is expected to start operating through 2025, and many analysts have forecast chip shortages will start to decline by the end of this year.
But beyond providing positive headlines for a besieged White House, Intel’s plans could help build momentum for a key element of Mr Biden’s agenda that has been pushed aside. as lawmakers face ambitious bills on infrastructure, social spending and voting rights. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that House committees would soon move to negotiations with the Senate to move China’s competition law to a vote.
When the bill passed the Senate by a wide margin in June, it was sold partly as a jobs plan and partly as a move to avoid leaving America dangerously dependent on a geopolitical rival. his biggest.
China is not yet a major producer of the world’s most advanced chips, and it does not have the capacity to manufacture semiconductors with the tiniest circuits – partly because the United States and its allies have banned them. purchase the lithographic equipment needed to manufacture those chips. .
But Beijing is pumping massive amounts of government funding to develop the sector, and it is also flexing its military scope on Taiwan, one of the largest manufacturers of advanced chips. China accounts for 9% of global chip sales in 2020, second only to the global market share of Japan and the European Union, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. This is only up from 3.8% of global chip sales five years ago.
At this week’s World Economic Forum, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced the plan Europe will propose its own legislation early next month to promote the development of the semiconductor industry and predict shortages.
John Neuffer, executive director of the Semiconductor Industry Association, said Japan, South Korea, India and other countries are also introducing their own incentives in an effort to attract an industry. strategically important.
“The clock is ticking,” Mr. Neuffer said. “None of us are working in a vacuum. This is a global industry.”
Mr. Biden’s push to enact the China competition bill comes amid growing frustration in the business world about his economic policies towards the country. Executives have complained that the authorities is not clear yet whether it will lift any tariffs President Donald Trump has placed on China or how it will press Beijing for further trade concessions.
How is the supply chain crisis unfolding?
The pandemic has sparked the problem. Complex and interconnected global supply chains are in flux. Much of the crisis can stemming from the outbreak of Covid-19, causing an economic downturn, mass layoffs, and production shutdowns. Here’s what happened next:
The bill passed by the Senate, known as the US Competition and Innovation Act, includes a series of provisions aimed at boosting the US economy to compete with China, but its focus is 52. billion dollars in federal investment to encourage chip research, design, and manufacturing in the United States.
The chip funding itself has broad bipartisan support and could be passed into law as soon as a few months, advocates say; the question is whether other measures already hidden in the package reduce its prospects. The Senate bill includes a number of trade-related provisions that some House Democrats may oppose, including an investigation into foreign digital trade practices.
The global chip shortage and the terrible inflation that accompanies it has spurred more interest in attracting semiconductor production to the United States. But whether Congress approves billions of dollars in new funding — and how the Biden administration decides to distribute it — seems likely to determine whether an investment like Intel’s is a one-off. is a trend.
Companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Texas Instruments, Micron Technology and SK Group have all announced recent expansion operations in the United States. Samsung promised a $17 billion facility in Texas, while GlobalFoundries has committed a second factory in New York.
But the focus of the global industry remains on East Asia. Although the United States has much advanced research and design in the chip industry, it has gone from being the largest semiconductor producer in the world several decades ago, mainly outsourcing production to Asian factories.
That has proven to be a loophole as pandemic-related closures leave companies around the world short of workers and raw materials, leading to shortages and prices of many goods, especially especially semiconductors skyrocketed. Automakers in particular have been affected, with most of the major automakers forced to cut production last year.
Chip shortages have also become one of the biggest single factors in inflation, which is now a major concern among American voters as they approach the midterm elections. Inflation hit 40-year high in December, driven by a 37% increase in used car prices.
In an effort to ease chip shortages, the Biden administration convened meetings with semiconductor executives, set up a global alert system to identify shortages, and demanded large amount of information from chip companies about potential bottlenecks. The Commerce Department is expected to release some of that information before the end of the month.
Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, said in a statement Friday that Intel’s investment is a win for the company, for the US manufacturing industry, and for “American consumers who can expect waiting for lower prices as we bring back the semiconductor manufacturing that keeps our economy running.”
But analysts say the administration has little control over any short-term trends in the industry, given the long time it takes to build semiconductor facilities.
Neuffer said his industry welcomes the interest the White House has shown the sector, including encouraging companies to share more information. “But the reality is, only the government can do so much,” he said. “These are very complex, far-reaching global supply chains, and the market will have to work through this.”
Catie Edmondson contribution report.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/us/politics/biden-intel-semiconductors-china.html Biden looks to Intel investment in the US to advance his China agenda


text:
OUR BIG WINNER TODAY
guy.gordon at monsieur-biographie.com
Sun Nov 4 12:44:33 PST 2012
Hello, fellow insiders, Wow! What a last few days we just faced!
Between the hurricane, website outages and shorters, PN GM still
managed a substantial 30 percent rise!!!
Trade Date: Mon, November 5, 2012
OTCBB: Pengram Gold
Stock Symbol: PN GM
Get it at: $.06
We believe this is just the start, with another big press release set
to be released sometime in the next few days. I am expecting PN GM to
break through the 10 cent threshold and shove these naked shorts out
of the stock once and for all!!!
More information about the GClist


text:
National Parking Association
1112 16th Street NW, Suite 840
Washington, DC 20036
Includes Decision Maker Trends, Technology Adoption by Sector and Mobile Technology Usage
Washington, DC (October 22, 2012)—The National Parking Association (NPA) has announced the release of a North American study to analyze trends, purchasing, buying power and preferences in technology among parking industry professionals. The report signals technology adoption trends across each sector of the parking industry, including private, public, college and university segments. The report also signals emerging adoption of mobile marketing and pay technologies.
“More and more, the parking industry is combining high tech with high touch customer service,” says NPA President Christine Banning, CAE, in announcing the survey results. “In today’s parking marketplace, that means advances in revenue control, access control mobile payment, and mobile marketing.”
Among the key findings in the study:
The report is available for purchase at www.npapark.org.
About NPA: The National Parking Association is the nation's leading parking trade group advancing the interests of the private and public sector in parking technology, sustainable mobility, certification, advocacy, research and education. Founded in 1951, NPA has more than 800 member firms, 2,500 members and represents all facets of the parking industry. Online at www.npapark.org.


text:
Another cruise line is officially back to business.
On Sunday, Norwegian Cruise Line marked its return to sailing when Norwegian Jade set sail on a seven-night cruise from Piraeus, Greece (the port for Athens). Not only does this mark Norwegian’s return to service, but it also marks the first time a Norwegian Cruise Line ship has ever homeported in Piraeus.
Calls along the voyage will include Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos, Corfu, and Argostoli. The ship will operate this itinerary through November 2021.
“Welcoming our guests and crew on board has been one of the most memorable moments of my over 30-year career,” said Harry Sommer, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line. “We are excited to embark on the Great Cruise Comeback with a brand-new itinerary and homeport for our brand, offering our guests an even greater selection of unique vacations at sea.”
Greek Minister of Tourism Harry Theoharis added, “We are overjoyed to welcome Norwegian Jade and her guests to Greece. The planned itineraries will offer unique experiences that combine our rich history, bustling culture and famous gastronomy.”
READ MORE: The Pros and Cons of Future Cruise Credits
Norwegian Jade‘s deployment in Piraeus is part of a long-term plan to increase the line’s presence in Europe. Through 2023, Norwegian plans to put nine ships in the region, with Norwegian Dawn, Epic, Escape, Getaway, Gem, Jade, and Star scheduled to sail in Greece.
Following Norwegian Jade‘s return to cruising, Norwegian Encore is scheduled to be the first Norwegian ship to resume cruises in the U.S. when she departs Seattle for Alaska on August 7. On August 15, Norwegian Gem is set to depart Miami for the Caribbean, kicking off Norwegian Cruise Line’s resumption of sailings from Florida.
The line will require that all passengers and crew be fully vaccinated through at least October 31, 2021.
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Peace of Mind cancellation policy remain in effect for embarkation dates through October 31, 2021. Those booked on these sailings have the flexibility to cancel their cruise 15 days prior to departure and receive a full future cruise credit that can be used for any sailing through December 31, 2022.


text:
As we revealed in an article last year, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer announced his intentions to migrate the widely-beloved Game Pass to Windows 10 users, which has been the privilege of Xbox Players until now. It seems the service is about to launch in beta form soon, and Microsoft has finally revealed the pricing for early adopters.
It has been announced that the service will set you back roughly the equivalent of $4.99 per month for the basic package. For your fiver, you will get access to a collection of seven confirmed games, with three upcoming games also announced, namely Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and The Master Chief Collection for PC.
According to the article published by Microsoft, the seven games you will definitely have access to include:
- Hello Neighbour
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- State of Decay
- Sea of Thieves
- We Happy Few
- Forza Horizon 4
- Ark: Survival Evolved
Be sure to check out Microsoft’s E3 presentation this afternoon for more news!
Pieter hails all the way from the tip of southern Africa and suffers from serious PC technophilia. Therapists say it is incurable. Now he has to remind himself constantly that gaming doesn’t count as a religion even if DRM is the devil. Thankfully, writing reviews sometimes helps with the worst symptoms.


text:
Today is the first May Day morning in nine years that we have not woken up at 4am to go to work. The reason we have been able to enjoy a well-earned lie in is that we no longer have a coffee shop in the centre of Oxford.
You might know of the ancient tradition that is celebrated in Oxford at 6am on May morning with the choristers of Magdalen College choir singing Hymnus Eucharisticus from the Great Tower. Tens of thousands of people visit the centre of town at this ungodly hour and so it brings with it a massive opportunity for coffee shops that open early. Only if they are open from 5 am can take advantage of all those extra people who are hungry and thirsty so early in the morning.
Over the years, we have had some fantastic trading days on May Day morning often taking whole day sales before 9 o'clock in the morning and confusing delivery drivers who can't get through the door for customers.
We always order an extra amount of bacon for the bacon sandwiches, and because we have advertised it widely both in the shop and on social media we stand back for the onslaught that starts at about 6 o'clock.
Because it is the first time since 2011 that May Morning has fallen on a weekend and that the weather is perfect this morning I would expect that all the hospitality businesses in Oxford who opened early today are sat there with a great big grin on their face albeit a tired one. Have a look at BBC Radio Oxfords Facebook page to some excellent coverage https://www.facebook.com/bbcoxford
The question for you today is 'what local events are happening in your area that you could take advantage, of by just opening earlier or closing later or adapting the menu?"
Our style of hospitality business is disproportionately affected by weather, events or holiday times. So getting a real understanding of what is going on can provide you with extra sales by doing little apart from proper planning.
There are so many great examples of businesses marketing proactively to the people who are likely to be outside their businesses once a year. For example at last week's London Marathon restaurants were offering free meals to medal winners knowing that each medal winner has an entourage to feed as well. This weekend in Yorkshire there will be plenty of cafes and coffee shops that are getting ready for the influx of 1.5 million extra visitors to their region, due to the Tour De Yorkshire.
About the Authors
Andrew & Claire Bowen are the authors of 'The Daily Grind - how to open a coffee shop that makes money' Available on Amazon, and Founders of Cafe Success cafesuccesshub.com - the ultimate resource site for coffee shop, cafe and tea room owners worldwide.
To buy The Daily Grind on Amazon Click Here


text:
Sheesh, nearly half a billion will be paid out to 34 states in a settlement agreement surrounding Juul’s marketing of vapes to teens.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday between the parties and resolves a two-year investigation into e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Lab’s marketing and sales practices.
The settlement will also force the company to comply with a series of strict injunctive terms that severely limits its marketing and sales practices, ABC News reported.
The company is accused of misrepresenting its product, claiming it was a smoking cessation device but did not have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to make that claim, according to the investigation.
Traditional cigarette smoking has significantly plummeted among youth, but vaping has skyrocketed, undermining national progress toward reducing tobacco use.
The National Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that more than 5 million youth said that they had used e-cigarettes within the past 30 days, which was a notable increase from the 3.6 million the year before.
The FDA has since removed Juul products from the U.S. Market this year.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, one of those states involved in the settlement, slammed Juul by saying the company became the dominant player in the vape market “by willfully engaging in an advertising campaign that appealed to youth, even though its e-cigarettes are both illegal for them to purchase and are unhealthy for youth to use.”
The investigation revealed that Juul relentlessly marketed to minors with launch parties, advertisements that used young and trendy-looking models, social media posts, and free samples.
It also marketed a technology-focused, sleek design that could be easily concealed. The company went a step further by marketing products in flavors that typically attract underage users. Juul is accused of manipulating the chemical makeup of its product so that the vapor would be less harsh on the throats of the young and inexperienced users, according to the investigators.
Juul relied on age-verification techniques that it knew were ineffective, Tong added.
The investigation further uncovered that the manufacturer’s original packaging was also misleading because it didn’t disclose that it contained nicotine and implied that it had a lower concentration than it actually did.
The settlement says consumers were also led to believe that consuming one Juul pod was equal to smoking one pack of cigarettes.


text:
Shares in Gateway 2000 Inc lost $1.375 on Wednesday amid speculation that the PC maker would issue a warning on earnings for the current quarter on Thursday. Gateway’s chief financial officer Dave McKittrick, speaking at the Paine Webber Technology Conference in New York, wouldn’t comment on the company’s performance, according to a Reuters report, but instead discussed the company’s plans for a $900 network PC in July and its eventual – most likely 1998 – foray into the world of servers. He said Gateway has made a definite decision to get into the server market.
This article is from the CBROnline archive: some formatting and images may not be present.
CBR Online legacy content.


text:
The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission said on Sunday that Google was giving consumers a "binary and somewhat brutal" choice on whether they want to go along with the changes to the company's privacy policies set to go into effect next week.
Jon Leibowitz was asked by Tech Daily Dose during an appearance on C-Span's Newsmakers show whether he is personally concerned about the changes Google is making to its privacy policies. The company announced last month that it was consolidating more than 60 privacy policies and that it would begin tracking consumers as they move from one Google service to another.
"Other than saying that they have been clear, and that it's a fairly binary and somewhat brutal choice that they are giving consumers, I think I can't say much more," Leibowitz said. "But we're aware."
Leibowitz urged companies to provide more understandable and clear privacy policies that would allow consumers to make a choice on whether they want to continue to visit a website or use an online service offered by those companies.
"If companies gave clearer disclosures and, again some companies do give pretty clear disclosures, and Google in what it is doing is giving clear disclosure, I think consumers will be able to make a choice," he said. "And maybe, by the way, you have competition over privacy policies, which would be a good thing."
Privacy advocates, lawmakers and a group of state attorneys general, however, have criticized Google for not offering consumers a clear way to "opt out" of being tracked as they move from one Google service to another.
Google has defended its privacy changes by saying it is not collecting any new information and that it offers consumers many tools to control the level of privacy they want.
The FTC reached a privacy settlement with Google last year over allegations the company deceived consumers by automatically signing up its Gmail users for its now-defunct social networking service Buzz. Privacy groups have argued that Google's changes to its privacy practices, which are set to go into effect on Thursday, violate that FTC settlement.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit against the FTC earlier this month to require the commission to enforce its settlement with Google. A judge dismissed the lawsuit on Friday but EPIC said it plans to appeal the decision.


text:
Blockchain Startup MakerDAO, Tradeshift Partner To Tokenize Unpaid Invoicesbr>
Founded in 2010, Tradeshift offers solutions for procurers to pay, supplier engagement, and financial services, and enables companies and partners to build custom or commercial apps on its platform. It enables supply chain payments and marketplaces for more than 1.5 million businesses globally, including large enterprise brands such as Air France-KLM, DHL, Fujitsu, HSBC, Siemens, Societe Generale, Unilever, and Volvo.
MakerDAO is a decentralized organization dedicated to bringing stability to the crypto economy. In 2017, MakerDAO launched DAI, a decentralized stablecoin on the ethereum blockchain. DAI eliminates volatility through an autonomous system of smart contracts. It was specifically designed to respond to market dynamics in order to maintain a price pegged to the US dollar.
In its announcement, MakerDAO said that DAI is currently in a pilot test for Tradeshift Cash, an instant invoice financing solution, in a bid to tokenize unpaid invoices of small businesses. The goal is to combine Tradeshift Cash with the stability and security of the Dai Credit System to establish a supply chain liquidity marketplace for businesses, developers and investors.
“The trade receivables market has very tight margins, which leaves no room for a volatile digital currency as instrument for settlement,” said Tradeshift co-founder Gert Sylvest and GM of Frontiers, Tradeshift digital innovation arm. “The Dai Credit System is a unique vision for a transparent and stable token that allows anyone to represent real-world currency settlements on the blockchain. It is a vision that we are very excited about.”
The partnership will enable businesses to create real-time and short-term financing models backed by anything from institutional finance to peer lending. Developers will be able to build investor applications to enable real-world B2B settlements that benefit from the efficiency, transparency, speed and security of the blockchain utilizing the DAI stablecoin.
“Our partnership with Tradeshift proves the potential of the blockchain to level the economic playing field for businesses of all sizes around the globe,” said Rune Christensen, CEO of MakerDAO. “At the same time, we’re delivering new options for investors by creating an entirely new class of investment vehicles with vetted risk, based on real world assets.”
The partnership came after Tradeshift announced a $250 million Series E funding round led by Goldman Sachs and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).


text:
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: Toyota president’s, Akio Toyoda, says he won’t be making the trip to Washington to testify on Capitol Hill later this month. The automaker exec said today he thinks his North America chief is the logical choice to testify in U.S. congressional hearings. Now this is the third time Toyoda’s appeared before the press since the recall began. It’s just one of the reasons Toyota has been criticized for its handling of the crisis. But as Marketplace automotive reporter Alisa Roth explains, it’s partly cultural.
Alisa Roth: The American way of dealing with a crisis is to deny, deny, deny. And when things go wrong at a company, we expect to hear from the CEO right away.
James Lincoln is a finance professor at UC Berkeley’s business school:
James Lincoln: The U.S. corporation has a tendency to deny that was at fault.
He says here, admitting fault can leave you open to lawsuits. But in Japan, nobody’s worried about getting sued. So companies there delay until they’re ready to talk. And few companies are more traditionally Japanese than Toyota.
Lincoln: So I think it is very much a part of the culture to apologize, hang your head low, sorry, say we screwed up, we will do better.
Michael Cusumano is a management professor at MIT’s Sloan school. He says Toyota’s just not worldly enough to know how to deal with an international PR problem.
Michael Cusumano: Toyota is really still at heart a country bumpkin kind of company.
It may just need to study its own example: there was a big recall of Lexus right after the cars were introduced in the U.S. Toyota pulled out all the stops to make the fix as easy as possible for customers. And until now, has been the textbook case for how to handle a recall.
I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.


text:
The Cuba Travel Maze
At first, June 5th, 2019 looked like the end of travel to Cuba for Americans. No more cruise ship visits. Elimination of all people-to-people program trips. Tough rhetoric against the Cuban government from the Trump Administration. Every Cuba lover was freaking out, figuring they had either missed their chance to visit the island nation off the southern coast of Florida or they could never visit again.
But the initial headlines were alarmist and in some ways 180 degrees from the reality. Travel to Cuba has become a little more complicated. That is true. You can’t jump on a seven-day cruise out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami to the Caribbean with stops in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago. You also can’t take your private yacht or fly your private jet to Cuba. Similarly, the many tourists who were skirting the intent of the rules by using them to vacation in Cuba, complete with trips to the beaches and sightseeing in Havana, will find those loopholes specifically prohibited under the new regulations. Despite the changes, any American can still buy a ticket on any one of the five airlines that offer direct flights to Cuba from various points of departure in the United States. Those trips are legal under the Support for the Cuban People program, which has the same 12 categories of permitted reasons to travel to Cuba as the previous people-to-people program, which had governed travel to Cuba for nearly 20 years. “The U.S. government basically consolidated the people-to-people program into the Support for the Cuban People,” says Tom Popper, the president of insightCuba, the largest tour operator for trips to Cuba. “I’m seeing a lot of interest this summer for trips during the fall and winter.” The bottom line is Americans can still travel to Cuba under those 12 categories of permitted travel in the Support for the Cuban People regulation. Those categories include: family visits; official business for the U.S. government, foreign governments and certain intergovernmental agencies; journalistic activity; professional research and professional meetings; educational activities; religious activities; public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions and exhibitions; support for the Cuban people; humanitarian projects; activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes; exportation, importation or transmission of information or information materials; and certain authorized export transactions. Travelers also can still buy Cuban cigars and Cuban rum in Cuba and in third-party countries during their travels and bring them back to the United States. The limits are the same as before: $800 worth of purchased goods, but the number of cigars imported cannot exceed 100. If you exceed those amounts, and stay within an ambiguous definition “for personal use,” you pay only an import duty of four percent on the excess quantities. But based on anecdotes reported to Cigar Aficionado, travelers should be wary of exceeding the limits on cigars, because an individual customs agent can declare on the spot that they are for resale, not personal consumption, and therefore seize the cigars. So how do the new regulations work? Years ago, a traveler had to solicit a specific license from the U.S. Treasury department to travel to Cuba legally. But those requirements were loosened years ago, and now, even in the wake of the June 5th ruling, each traveler buying an air ticket to Cuba is asked only to self-certify that he or she is visiting Cuba under one of the 12 permitted categories. The traveler is then required under the regulation to comply with the basic rule that all interactions—from daily activities to which hotels they stay in and where they eat—be directly with the Cuban people, and not with Cuban government entities. They also are required to keep a detailed itinerary of their activities and expenses, and for a period of five years be ready to show them to the U.S. government. Those rules are no different than what was on the books when the Obama Administration began a diplomatic thaw in 2014 that led to the opening of an official U.S. Embassy in Havana in 2016. But enforcement was nonexistent. What does all this mean in practical terms? First of all, if you were planning on seeing Cuba through ports of call on one of the cruise lines, you have to make other plans. More than 800,000 travelers were scheduled to arrive in Cuba on board ships during the course of the next year, and those stops have been canceled. The cruise lines have created new itineraries, in some cases (when the June 5th announcement was made) while the ships were at sea. The cruise lines have offered discounts and incentives to people who had booked cruises with stops in Cuba going forward. The air travel providers remain committed to their schedules. American Airlines spokesperson Laura Masvidal says that the airline is not only continuing to operate its full schedule to Cuba, but has added two daily flights since the June 5th announcement. One is from Miami to Santiago, Cuba, and the other is an additional flight from Miami to Havana, bringing the total daily round-trip flights on that route to six. She declined to respond to questions about the airline’s projection for demand or the percentage of seats occupied on each flight. While airlines are very reluctant to release information on demand for seats, their actions suggest demand remains high on all the Cuba routes. A Delta Airlines statement says it has not changed its flight schedules to Havana as a result of the Trump Administration action. Delta flies one daily round trip from Atlanta to Havana, and two daily round trips to Havana from Miami. Other airlines flying to Cuba include JetBlue (from New York’s JFK and Fort Lauderdale), Southwest (from Tampa and Fort Lauderdale) and United (from Newark). Some airline analysts have speculated that since many of the cruise ship travelers may still have interest in visiting Cuba, once they learn they can still travel by air, flights may actually increase in 2020. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that about 893,000 persons flew from the United States to Cuba in 2018, with two-thirds of them having relatives in Cuba. In all, Cuba received nearly four million tourists in 2018. There has also been confusion over whether Americans traveling under Support for the Cuban People could lodge in hotels. The original SPC regulations said people could only stay in private homes. But the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) clarified immediately after the June 5th announcement that all travelers could now stay at hotels as long as they were not on the published restricted list, which focuses primarily on hotels owned by the Cuban military. The list includes dozens of hotels on the island, among them the Conde de Villanueva, the Ambos Mundos and the new and opulent Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski, which opened in 2017. Some analysts believe there is a gray area, allowing a traveler to stay at one of the restricted hotels as long as it was booked through an offshore agency and the traveler doesn’t pay the hotels directly. “My advice to people if they have a question is get in touch with OFAC,” says John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. “They are not trying to catch people. They want to keep people from doing something wrong.” v


text:
America will soon be getting more of its energy from the sun than ever, thanks to a planned expansion in solar power production that President Obama announced Friday at a Walmart store in California.
The announcement follows the release of his administration's 2014 Climate Assessment report, which signaled the president's shift toward an agenda focused more on environmental policy.
More than 300 public and private entities have committed to making their buildings more energy efficient and increasing their reliance on solar power, according to a White House fact sheet released shortly before the president's announcement. The new solar power energy produced could power almost 130,000 homes. The projected energy efficiency savings are, according to the president, "the equivalent of taking 80 million cars off the road."
During Friday event in Mountain View, Calif., the president jabbed at "climate deniers" in Washington and repudiated the argument that climate change mitigation and economic growth are mutually exclusive goals.
"It will be good for the economy long-term," he said. "And if we don't [mitigate climate change], that will be bad for the economy. Rising sea levels, drought, wildfire, more severe storms -- those are bad for the economy. So we can't afford to wait."
Shortly before the president's speech, the White House announced that solar panels had been installed on the first family's residence. Yet the new panels, while they will surely reduce the Obama family's carbon footprint, are unlikely to bring it down to the level of even an average American family. Carbon emissions are, to a certain extent, an inextricable part of the presidency; case in point, the president's frequent use of Air Force One, a Boeing 747, to travel nationally and internationally. Planes of that model burn about five gallons of fuel per mile.
While the new solar investments will bring the United States closer to the front of the pack when it comes to renewable resources, Germany will likely still lead the world in solar power generation.
Solar power announcement aside, the president's speech marked another milestone: According to Walmart USA president and CEO Bill Simon, it was the first time that a sitting president has ever visited a Walmart store.
Not everyone was pleased about the choice of venue, which coincided with Walmart's announcement that it would "double the number of on-site solar energy projects" at U.S. facilities by 2020. For the past year and a half, the retail goliath has been locked in a prolonged labor struggle with the workers' group OUR Walmart, which accuses the company of paying poverty-level wages and enforcing miserable working conditions.
When the president arrived at the Mountain View Walmart, he was met by protesters from the group. The day before, Salon published an op-ed from local OUR Walmart member Pam Ramos, asking the president to "help us and tell Wal-Mart to pay us enough to cover the bills and take care of our families."
Obama also got some pushback from prominent supporters, including former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
"Obama should use this opportunity not to praise Walmart but to condemn it for its irresponsible labor practices, to call for it to allow its workers to unionize, and meet with Walmart workers to hear first-hand about how they’re treated," wrote Reich in a Facebook post.


text:
Canadian ebook company Kobo, which was acquired by Japanese retail giant Rakuten in 2011, is replacing its founder and CEO Michael Serbinis with a Japanese executive, the company announced Tuesday. Takahito “Taka” Aiki, who was the CEO of Rakuten’s telecom company Fusion Communications, steps into the new role effective immediately, while Serbinis remains involved with the company as vice chairman.
According to Kobo’s announcement, Aiki “was responsible for the online business of Japan’s top bookstore and video rental company Tsutaya, where he helped grow its online membership by 250% in only two years” — though his LinkedIn(s IN) profile says that was from 2002 to 2004, long before the rise of ebooks. “The Kobo team is extremely talented and, working together, I look forward to driving Kobo’s leadership in e-reading,” Aiki said in a statement.
Serbinis said, “I welcome Takahito as Kobo’s new CEO, and look forward to achieving Kobo’s future goals together.”
Kobo didn’t provide a reason why Serbinis is stepping down. But the company’s share of the ebook market in the U.S. is far behind that of Amazon (s AMZN), Barnes & Noble (s BKS) and Apple (s AAPL). The company has largely focused on an international strategy of partnering with local bookstore chains to sell its e-readers, which may be increasingly difficult as Kindle availability expands abroad rapidly. Kobo released an e-reader and three new tablets — including a $399 tablet, which in my view was a dumb move — in the U.S. last year.
Kobo PR Manager René d’Entremont said Serbinis and Aiki “will be spending the next few weeks focused on customers, partners and employees” and “are not doing interviews at this time.”


text:
"In this year's Super Bowl of advertising, nothing else was a Pepsi," the Los Angeles Times wrote after Super Bowl XXIX.
Viewers remembered Pepsi's ads best, according to to a survey by Creative Marketing Consultants, the Times reported, adding that Muse Cordero Chen Chairman Jo Muse called this spot in particular "a fresh approach, with a taste message, an outstanding piece of work."
"Inner Tube," by BBDO New York, also topped USA Today's annual Ad Meter measuring entertainment value, a recognition almost every creative wanted and absolutely every marketer desired, despite eternal questions about its bearing on sales. ("Inner Tube" actually set a record high score on the Ad Meter, beating the high set in 1994 by Pepsi's "Chimp Experiment," which itself had topped the record set in 1993 by McDonald's "The Showdown.") The spot went on to win a Gold Lion in Film at what was then called the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.
Pepsi went on to win the top three spots on the Ad Meter in Super Bowl XXX.
Director: Simon West. Production company: Propaganda Films' Satellite division.
Creative Director: Don Schneider. Copywriter/art director: Donna Weinheim. Agency Producer: Hyatt Choate.


text:
SEIA proposes Chinese fund for US solar industry instead of duties - report
Sep 23, 2013 - The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is proposing a fund financed by Chinese solar manufacturers to back the growth of US peers as an alternative to the punitive anti-dumping duties imposed by both sides, Bloomberg said today.
John Smirnow, SEIA’s vice president for trade and competitiveness, told the business news provider that the fund’s size could be in the “hundreds of millions of dollars” over the coming three years, though it is subject to many negotiations.
In 2012 the US imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties of up to 250% on Chinese solar cell imports in a bid to protect its domestic manufacturers amid global oversupply and severe pricing competition. China recently responded with anti-dumping duties of up to 57% on imports of US polysilicon. According to Smirnow trading rules would not do much to help either the US or China as the solar sector has a very complex supply chain globally, Bloomberg said. The SEIA vice president is pointing to several flaws in the current situation to uphold the proposed Chinese fund for the US solar industry that is to be presented officially soon. One of the weak spots of the current anti-dumping duties is that Chinese companies are now buying solar cells from Taiwan to avoid the punitive tariffs, Smirnow notes as cited by Bloomberg. At the same time, prices of solar equipment in the US are hiking, which may be good for manufacturers, but is hurting installers and customers.


text: Bragi which was founded in 2013. Almost 16.000 supporters worldwide have pledged more than US$ 3.3 million on kickstarter. This makes The Dash still the most successful European crowdfunding campaign on kickstarter ever. In its short history, Bragi has already gone from being a promising startup to becoming a market-moving creator of innovative technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, Bragi wants to transform the world of wearable technologies. Munich-based Bragi, announced today that its wireless headphones The Dash won the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 Innovation Award BEST OF INNOVATION in the Headphones product category.


text:
New research presented at The Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Atlanta showed that eating high protein breakfasts curbed hunger throughout the morning, compared with a low-protein breakfast. Read More »
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the old adage says, and it looks like U.S. consumers are growing more conscious of the importance of a healthy start to the day. According to latest research from Mintel on the breakfast food market in… Read More »
Two-thirds of consumers (67%) say that satiety is an important factor in their food and beverage choices, according to a survey from NPD Group conducted for Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), Rosemont, IL. Read More »
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2009.
Research: Studies indicate that women who get the recommended amount of fiber in their diet may have lower estrogen levels and ovulate less often than women who… Read More »


text:
Looking back on 2014, it has been an incredibly dynamic year in the world of cyberthreats. It takes only two names to sum up the impact the cybercriminal had on the 2014 headlines: Home Depot and Sony. The Home Depot breach yielded about 110 million stolen pieces of sensitive information, including social security numbers and email addresses. And, in a classic case of hacktivism, Sony lost more than just emails and employee social security numbers; it suffered significant brand damage.
For more information and in-depth analysis of the major cyber threats in 2014, download a copy of CYREN’s Cyber Threats Yearbook
For some, these headlines say everything that needs to be said about cyberthreats in 2014. The headlines lead you to believe that cybercriminals are only targeting the “big guys” for their money and profile, and that everyone else is safe because the criminals aren’t going to bother unless you’re a Fortune 1000 corporation. Well, not quite. Enterprises of all sizes are now besieged by cybercrime at an alarming rate. In fact, during the four year period between 2010 and 2014:
The number of successful cyberattacks on businesses of all sizes increased by 144%.
The cost of cybercrime per company increased by 95%.
The average time to resolve incidents increased by 221%.
The problem with making companies like Home Depot and Sony the poster-children for cybercrime is that it gives the vast majority of businesses in the world the false impression that they won’t be targeted. But this perception couldn’t be further from the truth. When it comes to cybercrime, businesses regularly misjudge their risk profile because they misunderstand what is valuable to the cybercriminal. The game is money- driven and value can be extracted from many different types of data. In fact, stealing personally identifiable information (PII)—such as email addresses and social security numbers—is actually more lucrative than credit card number theft. Social security numbers can yield criminals millions of dollars. Email address lists can be sold to spammers and malware distributors. And, ultimately every enterprise holds some amount of PII data. At the same time, cybercriminals are getting more creative in their approach. Today’s cybercriminals are well-educated, sophisticated “crime professionals” with highly developed business networks that focus their efforts on threat innovation geared towards penetrating corporate systems.
So, as threats continue to evolve, the challenge for businesses isn’t the massive volume of known hreats, it is the smaller volume of unknown threats, like the malicious socially engineered phishing email, designed to look like it came from the HR department and sent to a handful of select employees to test the corporate defenses. But ultimately, protecting the business enterprise is about more than just algorithms or software. It’s about the data that powers the solution. With rapidly evolving distribution and attack methods, to be effective security solutions must employ a detection-based methodology that combines high-quality threat data
CYREN cyber intelligence powers the security solutions of over 200 global partners; we are the security provider to the security industry, and we specialize in creating solutions that identify and block previously unknown threats. The people at CYREN work day and night to increase the size, scope, and value of our data, enrich the level of analysis, and enhance and expand our solutions to ensure that enterprises can be protected from ever- encroaching cyberthreats. The cybercriminal thrives on threat innovation; at CYREN, we are committed to identifying and stopping cybercrime by innovating cybersecurity solutions with an even greater opposing force. Some of our newest advances include:
Making the massive cyber-intelligence that already powers the security industry available direct to businesses or enterprises, through a cloud-based web security solution
Pioneering a detection method that leverages our massive database to identify and stop advanced persistent threats as early as possible
Using our deep and broad global threat data, to find new ways to understand the subtle differences between cybercriminal, legitimate user, and machine behavior patterns to create security solutions that protect the enterprise on all levels
In CYREN’s Cyber Threats Yearbook, along with the numbers, we present an in-depth analysis of individual threats captured by CYREN in 2014 to illustrate how the cybercriminals engage in the business of crime, how they target the business enterprise, and what CYREN is doing to halt the advance of cybercrime in its tracks.