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WatchMojo account compromised. One of the most popular YouTube channels has been hacked. “HACKED BY OBNOXIOUS AND PEIN twitter.com/poodlecorp”.
With over 12 million subscribers WatchMojo is one of the biggest youtube channels. On wednesday evening subscribers were surprised with substitute title. One of most popular youtube channel WatchMojo was hacked by hackers known as Obnoxious and Pein. Almost all of WatchMojo’s videos were renamed with the title “HACKED BY OBNOXIOUS AND PEIN twitter.com/poodlecorp”. Along with the new title, two new videos has been uploaded by the hackers, “Top 5 Facts About the Yakuza” and a video about Neanderthal myths. It seems that hackers have not touched anything else on the channel.The popular channel WatchMojo announced its awareness of the current situation and that they have already contacted YouTube about the hackers. WatchMojo stated that they already starting to fix the problem.
The question is it really a hack or WatchMojo act to make itself more popular, we don’t know. Hoever a chanel hacked with over 12 million subscribers could lead to further and even worse consequences. So far the identity of the hackers has not been determined. After announcement that the chanel has been compromised, others encouraged WatchMojo to delete the channel and all of its content.
Considering the problem we can not exclude the possibility of a massive malicious attack, delivering ransomware to all subscribers. We have seen big companies like linkedin has been hacked before and users passwords sold.


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Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution
The FBI is reportedly investigating a major cybersecurity breach of a government agency, which has potentially compromised the personal data of 4 million current and former government employees.
The breach affected the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which detected the intrusion in April. In a statement released Thursday, the department said it has since adopted tougher data security measures.
Cybersecurity breaches are notoriously difficult to track, but several U.S. officials have already begun pointing the finger at China. The country was implicated in cyberwarfare efforts against U.S. companies last year.
The Office of Personnel Management says it will offer credit monitoring and identity theft detection services to those who are potentially affected.
Credit freeze is the best answer
As always when these things happen, the best rememdy is a full credit freeze. Often the result of criminals having a lot of your personal info is that they’ll try to open new lines of credit in your name and charge them up.
A credit freeze allow you to seal your credit reports and use a personal identification number (PIN) that only you know and can use to temporarily ‘thaw’ your credit so that legitimate applications for credit and services can be processed. That added layer of security means that thieves can’t establish new credit in your name even if they are able to obtain your ID.
Freezing your credit files has no impact whatsoever on your existing lines of credit, such as credit cards. You can continue to use them as you regularly would even when your credit is frozen.

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BY MOST measures, the Web site Megaupload was a 21st-century success story, with 50 million daily visitors and $175 million in profits. According to the Obama administration, it was also an “international organized crime enterprise.”
In an indictment last week, the Justice Department accused the company and several of its principals of conspiracy, racketeering and vast violations of copyright law. The loss to copyright owners of movies, television programs, entertainment software and other content: some $500 million. The government calls this the largest criminal copyright case in the nation’s history.
Megaupload maintained servers in the United States and relied on U.S.-registered domain names, allowing U.S. prosecutors to tap domestic laws to shutter the business. But what if the Web site had been run using only foreign-based servers and foreign-registered domain names? U.S. law enforcers would have had a difficult if not impossible time stopping the alleged wrongdoing.
That reality, of course, is what gave rise to the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and its House counterpart, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which proposed to give the Justice Department and copyright owners the legal reach and muscle to thwart overseas theft of American intellectual property. SOPA was fatally flawed, with vague provisions that could have made legitimate Web sites vulnerable to sanctions. PIPA was more measured, allowing action against a site only if a federal judge concluded it was “dedicated to” profiting from the unauthorized peddling of others’ work.
Still, Internet giants such as Google railed against the bills, arguing they sanctioned government censorship and threatened the viability and security of the Internet. The protests culminated last week in a remarkable, largely unprecedented protest during which sites such as Wikipedia temporarily went dark. Millions of individuals — many of them armed with distorted descriptions of the bills — phoned, e-mailed and used social networks to demand that they be quashed.
Whether it was democracy in action or spinelessness by cowed lawmakers, the campaign worked. House and Senate leaders said they would pull back the bills for further consideration. While a temporary breather may be helpful, lawmakers should not abandon the quest to curb the multibillion-dollar problem that is overseas online piracy.
Some opponents will fight any regulation of the Internet. This should not be acceptable. A free and viable Internet is essential to nurturing and sustaining the kinds of revolutionary innovations that have touched every aspect of modern life. But freedom and lawlessness are not synonymous. The Constitution does not protect the right to steal, and that is true whether it is in a bricks-and-mortar store or online.


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American restaurant chain and international franchise Pizza Hut is set to open its doors in Harare, Zimbabwe in February 2018.
According to a Fin24 report, the new launch is in partnership with local Zimbabwean company Silicoade Capital which owns the franchise for Pizza Hut and Ster-Kinekor Zim.
Responding to Fin24, Pizza Hut Zimbabwe said “it was motivated to open shop by the country’s potential for growth”.
“Pizza Hut and its parent company Yum! Brands see Zimbabwe as a strategically integral market to its expansion across Africa.
“The Zimbabwean market has displayed large potential for growth despite economic challenges,” the company said.


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- Barclays partners with Amazon, using branches as delivery points
- Scheme trialling in London at the moment
- Could be rolled out across 1,500 branches
Amazon has partnered with Barclays to use the bank’s branches as delivery collection points as it expands its click-and-collect network.
Etail giant Amazon has been trialling the scheme, which uses delivery lockers across Barclays branches in London. If successful, it could be rolled out across all 1,500 of the bank’s branches.
The scheme could provide a new use and source of revenue for the Barclays branches. Owing to the rise of internet banking, branch banking has been shrinking. Half of all high street bank branches have closed over the past 20 years.
Amazon already has myriad click-and-collect locations around the UK. Customers can pick up parcels from Post Offices, independent newsagents and train stations among other sites.
In another retailer tie-up, Barclays has partnered with Asda, offering the bank’s services in eight supermarkets.
It was widely reported last week that banks are to close many high street branches this year – HSBC is planning to shutter 200 locations, while Barclays and RBS could close 100 each.


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Marriott International announced the opening of the design-led Aloft Palm Jumeirah, the first Aloft to open in Dubai.
Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International said: “We see a strong demand for Aloft properties in the region as the brand continues to re-define the traditional hotel experience with its vision and innovation. In the UAE alone, the brand will double its portfolio in the next three years with five new openings.”
Aloft Palm Jumeirah offers 206 loft-inspired guestrooms equipped with SPG Keyless, the industry’s first truly mobile check-in system where guests can utilize their mobile phones as room keys.
The hotel is home to six dining and social spaces, a fitness center and pools. The property also features two on-site Tactic meeting rooms with outdoor function spaces.
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After a year dominated by NFTs, one of OpenSea’s major markets is whetting investors’ appetites and is now valued at $ 13.3 billion, up from $ 1.5 billion just six months ago. A lightning-fast acceleration for this startup launched in 2017 that has raised ever greater sums since the rise of NFTs in 2021.
OpenSea raised just over $ 4 million between 2017 and 2021, before welcoming famed fund Andreessen Horowitz to its shareholders, which led the company’s A and B series for a total of $ 123 million. Yesterday, January 4, OpenSea announced a $ 300 million Series C round, primarily made by Paradigm and Coatue.
“We have four goals for this funding: 1) accelerate product development, 2) significantly improve customer service and customer security, 3) significantly invest in the broader NFT and Web community, and 4) expand our team. “explains Devin Finzer, co-founder of OpenSea, in a blog post.
Ever increasing transaction volumes
The platform looks set to break all records, with ever-increasing transaction volumes. It has recorded $ 700 million in transactions since January 1, 2022 and could very well beat its record of 3.4 billion transactions in August 2021. Recall that the company received hundreds of millions of dollars in commissions in 2020 and intends to establish itself as the essential market for the purchase and sale of NFTs.
“OpenSea’s vision is to become the premier destination for growing these new open digital economies, building the ultimate hot and the most reliable in the world with the best selection “adds Devin Finzer.
The NFT market also seems to be consolidating, with the arrival of traditional auction houses, such as Sotheby’s, which announced last October the creation of a digital space reserved for NFT collectors and a now six-monthly sale of these digital objects. Likewise, the major players in the cryptocurrency sector are looking more and more seriously at this market, such as the American giant Coinbase, which recently unveiled its ambitions in this sector.
Market : the market is estimated at $ 40 billion according to a Chainalysis study
Founders: Alex Atallah, Devin Finzer
Financing: $ 427.2 million since its inception in 2017


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BAGUIO CITY – The National Food Authority (NFA) assures the public that there is no proof that fake rice is being sold in Philippine markets including Baguio City at present.
NFA Baguio-Benguet Provincial Manager Cecilia Concubierta recently led an inspection of the various stalls selling rice in the Baguio Public Market to ensure that fake rice has not entered the city. The NFA also conducted inspection at the market areas in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Concubierta said NFA conducted daily monitoring of the rice market situation and has not found any adulterated or unusual rice stocks in any of the markets covered.
Reports in social media showing alleged fake or plastic rice are being verified by NFA’s investigation and enforcement department. NFA management has instructed its field offices to further heighten their monitoring activities and seek out people complaining about alleged fake rice in their respective areas.
On Friday, a consumer from Baguio City posted on social media that they bought fake rice. NFA took samples of the alleged fake rice and conducted laboratory analysis and it was found out that it was real rice and not fake rice.
The public is also being encouraged to be vigilant and report to NFA observations about any unusual features in the rice that they buy, in terms of appearance, smell or tastes, so that the agency can send enforcement agents to the source of the stocks and samples can be taken for laboratory analysis by the agency’s Food Development Center.
Meanwhile, in the wake of reports about alleged fake rice in the market, the NFA has released guidelines for the public to ensure that what they are buying is real rice.
For raw rice, consumers should make sure that they buy only from retailers accredited by the NFA or from their “suki” rather than from vendors they do not know or trust. An NFA accredited store displays the trader’s full name and license number.
If the grains are uniformly-sized, there’s a chance they may have been made by a machine. All rice grains have a chalky dot or scar at the tip of the kernel where the germ or embryo was removed. It looks like a small groove at the tip of each grain of rice.
Aside from the appearance, consumers should also be aware of the smell of rice. If it smells anything like plastic or any synthetic material, it should be subjected to laboratory analysis to ascertain the composition of the “grain.”
For cooked rice, consumers must also make sure it does not smell unusual. There should be no foam -like substance left on top of the rice when cooked. If one feels ill from eating any suspected fake rice, it is best to see a doctor immediately.
Sample of the rice, at least 1 kilogram, should be brought to the NFA-FDC for analysis. For those who cannot go to NFA directly, they may give their address and contact details so that NFA agents can get the samples from them.
Anyone may contact the NFA Bantay Bigas Hotline 0906-4363133 to report any complaints related to suspected fake rice or rice trading violations. /RMC, M. Paquiz & P. Otoman-PIA CAR/UP Interns


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Total imports of goods saw a DKK 145 million year-on-year decrease in the first 10 months of this year
With a year-on-year value decrease of DKK 286 million, fuel imports have seen the biggest drop this year. This is due to lower oil prices as the volume of fuel imports have increased in volume.
Imports of goods for household consumption increased by 8% this year. Durable and semi-durable consumer goods saw the biggest increase, while imports of clothes and footwear decreased slightly.


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ANCHORAGE (AP) -- An air cargo company based in Anchorage is suing the federal government over new mail-hauling rules in Alaska, saying they are unconstitutional and unfairly limit competition.
Alaska Central Express Inc. says the government, the U.S. Postal Service and four larger airlines have conspired to drive the company out of business, costing about 100 jobs.
''The legislation severely questions the ongoing viability of this company,'' said Mike Bergt, the airline's general manager. Alaska Central Express has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since January.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage Aug. 2, the day President Bush signed into law new rules that limit the number of air carriers that can handle federally subsidized mail in Alaska.
Bergt told the Alaska Journal of Commerce that about 70 percent of the company revenues come from bypass mail, a system unique to Alaska where shipments of at least 1,000 pounds are never touched by postal workers but are delivered at parcel post rates.
Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young, who sponsored the law, say it will save the government about $30 million annually and passenger service to rural villages will increase because most of the mail delivered to villages will have to be carried in airplanes that also haul passengers.
But Alaska Central Express only operates small all-cargo aircraft.
Bergt said the legislation closes the door on competition and will actually boost bypass mail costs.
Some 35 airlines have hauled bypass mail in the past year, according to the Postal Service.
In smaller Bush markets, the new law will give 70 percent of mail to carriers who provide passenger service and 20 percent to carriers providing non-mail freight service. The remaining 10 percent would be split equally among all other carriers and will be phased out over the next three years. Carriers not qualifying for one of the new bypass mail pools will no longer get a cut of the service.
A bankruptcy judge in February ruled that Alaska Central Express could continue to haul mail during the legal dispute with the Postal Service. Shortly after, San Diego-based Western States Investment Corp., which had been majority owner of the airline, purchased the remaining 49 percent of company from Anne Butler, wife of former MarkAir owner Neil Bergt.
Craig Collins, Alaska Central Express' Los Angeles-based attorney, said the airline will continue to carry bypass mail until there is a ruling on the company's lawsuit.
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It’s going to be better than ever, with a purpose-built MTB test track including North Shore.
This year’s Cycle Show at ExCel in London’s Docklands is promising to be the best show ever, with plenty to see and do including a purpose-built outdoor MTB test track with some North Shore to challenge the most experienced of riders. It starts this Friday [6th October] to Sunday [8th].
You’ll be able to test plenty of bikes from loads of great manufacturers including Cotic, DMR, Felt, Kona, Iron Horse, Specialized, Scott, Rock Mountain.the list goes on.
And if you want to sit back and relax, there’ll be an Onza international trials competition taking place on a huge stage surrounded by tiered seating – the same stage that the fashion shows will take place on, to showcase top cycling brands including Endura, Foska and Gore.
Another of this year’s brand new features includes the Condor Clothing Retail Zone, where visitors will, for the first time at the show, be able to buy clothing and accessories from the likes of Endura, Gore, Specialized and Crumpler.
And as if this isn’t enough excitement for you to take in, the MBUK editorial crew will be at the show too, so be sure to say hello if you see us.
To find out more and to book tickets visit here or phone 0870 126 1786.


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Mazda is celebrating its centenary in 2020 and the company is marking this milestone year with eight retro-inspired limited-edition models in the Japanese market. Mazda, the Japanese car man... Read more
Bentley Motors completed its official centenary celebrations in the region with the first ever gathering of Bentley cars in the region. This was the first such event Bentley has held in the... Read more
Bentley has issued a book that celebrates its centenary year. This is not just any book but is likely to be a book that might become more celebrated than the cars made by this luxury brand.... Read more
Bentley will soon be launching its limited-edition Centenary collection golf clubs to mark the 100 years that the brand has been in business. Bentley had launched its first set of golf clubs... Read more
There are no upcoming events at this time.
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Crocs (NASDAQ:CROX) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Pivotal Research from $68.00 to $87.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the textile maker’s stock. Pivotal Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.93% from the company’s current price.
Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Crocs from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Crocs from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 9th. BidaskClub lowered shares of Crocs from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 28th. OTR Global started coverage on shares of Crocs in a report on Thursday, January 7th. They issued a “positive” rating for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Crocs from $67.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Crocs presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.50.
NASDAQ CROX opened at $76.36 on Tuesday. Crocs has a 52 week low of $8.40 and a 52 week high of $78.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.87, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.92.
In other news, CEO Andrew Rees sold 34,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.10, for a total transaction of $2,516,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 849,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,274,040.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Anne Mehlman sold 2,082 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $114,510.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 98,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,439,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 92,040 shares of company stock valued at $5,744,560 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.
Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Crocs by 50.9% in the second quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 996 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Crocs during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Cerebellum GP LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Crocs during the third quarter worth about $64,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Crocs during the third quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Crocs by 59.4% during the second quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 2,079 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.34% of the company’s stock.
Crocs, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes casual lifestyle footwear and accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. It offers various footwear products, including clogs, sandals, flips and slides, shoes, and boots under the Crocs brand name.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for ready-to-eat (RTE) ham product because the product may not be fully cooked due to underprocessing. FSIS is issuing this public health alert to ensure that consumers are aware that this product should not be consumed. A recall was not requested because it is believed that the product is no longer available for consumers to purchase.
The RTE, sliced Black Forest Ham item was produced by Plumrose USA, doing business as Swift Prepared Foods, a Council Bluffs, Iowa establishment, from April 28, 2022 through May 1, 2022. The following product is subject to the public health alert [view labels]:
- 1-lb resealable plastic packages containing “Great Value Black Forest Ham Water Added” with a “BEST IF USED BY 07/15/22” date.
The product subject to this public health alert bears establishment number “EST. 26C” inside the USDA mark of inspection. This item was shipped to Walmart stores in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
The problem was discovered when the firm identified product that did not appear to be fully cooked, which prompted the establishment to perform an investigation and notify FSIS of their findings that the ham was underprocessed.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a healthcare provider.
FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
Members of the media with questions about the public health alert can contact Nikki Richardson, head of communications, Swift Prepared Foods, at email@example.com. Consumers with questions about the public health alert can contact Rusty Parker, strategic accounts manager, Swift Prepared Foods, at 479-268-7131.


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Bling Empire is the latest Netflix reality show that everyone you know has been watching. With the stars’ lavish lifestyles and enviable wardrobes, it’s easy to see why these so-called “crazy rich Asians” make the perfect escapist TV.
One of the first season’s breakout stars is Kane Lim, whose extensive designer shoe collection is valued at $300,000, according to Women’s Wear Daily. His luxury shopping habits shocked viewers on Bling Empire, but he’s been flexing expensive jewelry and clothes on his Instagram for years. Kane is also the only member of his notoriously private family to have any social media presence, as Screen Rant reported. All that’s known for certain about his father is that he controls a company worth a billion dollars, which is connected to real estate, shipping, oil, and tankers.
Kane’s appearance also raised some eyebrows and sparked speculation online about whether he had used fillers, especially in his cheeks. One Twitter user wrote that Kane’s face made them feel “unstable,” another Tweet spoke about the phenomenon of “plastic surgery faces” on the show, and other Bling Empire viewers called his use of fillers “nuts.
Kane Lim is no stranger to a life of luxury
A quick look through Kane Lim’s Instagram shows what he looked like back in 2013, posing for mirror selfies in Balmain jackets. The star has always been interested in clothing and originally moved to America in order to study merchandise marketing at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, according to Screen Rant.
Bustle reported Kane used a loan from his father to start building his investment portfolio at age 17, focusing on mainly fashion and stocks. He earned his first million before turning 20. He credits his online platform not to his family’s extreme wealth, but to the singer Rihanna. “I have to credit the iconic Rihanna who followed me one day, and because of her I vividly remember how my phone died from the amounts of notifications I had,” he told VoyageLA. “I have used my social media presence mainly to connect with individuals who enjoy fashion, but more importantly I have used this platform to raise awareness for charities that I support.”
As Bling Empire shows, Kane’s Buddhist practices are important to him. What audiences don’t know is he only discovered the religion in recent years and was actually raised as a devout Catholic. Another surprising fact about the Singapore-born entrepreneur is that he came up with the show’s concept, according to Screen Rant. After watching Crazy Rich Asians, Kane and his fellow castmate Kelly Mi Li pitched a docuseries about their lives to producer Jeff Jenkins, and Netflix quickly came onboard.
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The ‘God’s Own Country’ has been voted the top travel and tourism destination in India by a poll conducted by the Outlook Traveller magazine. The results of the poll handed the ‘Favourite Indian State in Travel and Tourism’ award to Kerala at the Outlook Traveller Awards 2010 presented on Saturday night in New Delhi.
Kerala’s Tourism Secretary Dr Venu V received the award from Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at a glittering ceremony at the Hotel Claridges attended by leaders of the country’s travel and tourism industry.
The awards were decided by a survey conducted by the reputed global consumer
research company Nielsen among the magazine’s readers. Readers were polled through the magazine and the Outlook Traveller website. “More than 4,000 readers took part in the survey and responded to an eight-page questionnaire to decide which is the best destination,” said Outlook Group editor-in-chief Vinod Mehta.
“The online and offline polls surprisingly agreed with each other, The winners are those our readers chose,” said Outlook Group publisher Maheshwer Peri.
The Outlook Traveller survey is an authoritative benchmark of consumer preferences in travel and tourism across 17 categories including hotels, airlines and holiday destinations. The awards were given away in all the 17 categories. Dr Venu said the award was an honour for Kerala. “Coming from a respected travel magazine, it’s an honour. I accept it on behalf of all the stakeholders, the private sector and the government of Kerala,” he said in the acceptance speech.
Kerala had to face the toughest competition in the entire 17 categories of awards. Compared to four choices for winners in categories like ‘Favourite Summer Destination’ (won by Himachal Pradesh) and ‘Favourite Winter Destination (won by Goa), the readers had to choose from the country’s 29 states to decide the ‘Favourite Indian State for Travel and Tourism’.
This is the fifth award for the state, which is famous for its breathtaking backwaters, pristine beaches, calm countryside and misty hills, in the last six months. In August last year, subscribers of the online travel portal SmartTravelAsia.com voted Kerala ahead of Phuket and Bali as Asia’s ‘best destination’. In September, the state was adjudged the ‘Most preferred destination’ in India at the CNBC Awaaz Awards 2010. Kerala Tourism also won the Best Tourism Board award at the CNBC Awaaz Awards 2010. Last week, Kerala Tourism won the award for the best international stand at FITUR, the second biggest tourism exhibition in the world, held in Madrid, Spain during January 19-23. Kerala was voted ‘One of the Ten Paradises in the World’ by the National Geographic Traveller in 2000.
Sheila Dikshit, who joked that she would collect the Outlook Traveller magazine copies henceforth for using “after retirement”, complimented the Indian travel and tourism industry for the strides it had made in the past few years. “The travel and tourism industry has become vibrant,” she said while congratulating the winners.
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Dickey's Barbecue restaurant in Utah that mistakenly served toxic iced tea to a woman two years ago is suing the manufacturer and distributor of a chemical product that an employee put in the tea mix thinking it was sugar.
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court, the restaurant says the packaging of the chemical cleaning product didn't have proper safety warnings.
The Dickey's franchise is seeking $5 million in damages from U.S. Foods and Ecolab. The company's reputation took a severe hit because of the widespread coverage of the incident, costing it profits.
Ecolab, a Minnesota-based company that manufactures the chemical, doesn't have a comment on the lawsuit, company spokesman Roman Blahoski said. U.S. Foods, an Illinois-based company that distributes the chemical, doesn't comment on pending lawsuits, company spokeswoman Debra Ceffalio said Friday.
Jan Harding drank the iced tea in August 2014 at a Dickey's in the Salt Lake City suburb of South Jordan. She immediately began choking and suffered severe burns to her esophagus.
Harding was hospitalized for two weeks and was in critical condition for several days. She has since made a good recovery.
Authorities say a Dickey's worker inadvertently mixed an industrial cleaning solution, lye, into an iced tea dispenser. Lye, an odorless chemical that looks like sugar, is used for degreasing deep fryers and is the active ingredient in Drano.
Prosecutors decided not to file charges in the incident, saying there were errors and mishaps but no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Harding reached an undisclosed settlement with Dickey's in December 2014. As part of the agreement, Dickey's vowed to make extensive changes to ensure the incident wasn't repeated.
The lawsuit was first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune.
The Utah franchise of Dickey's, called Finger Lickin' Brands, says that U.S. Foods sent the cleaning product in cardboard boxes filled with unmarked plastic bags. Each plastic bag should have been labeled to ensure employees knew what it was, Dickey's says in the lawsuit.
One of those bags became separated from the cardboard box, leading the employee to mistake it for sugar and put it into the iced tea mix, the lawsuit says.


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Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) maker BYD (BYDDY 3.55%) has raised $3.9 billion by selling new shares on the Hong Kong market, according to The Wall Street Journal. The automaker initially planned to raise $3.6 billion, but increased the offer, taking advantage of high investor interest in the sector.
Other growing Chinese EV companies, including NIO (NIO 0.07%) and XPeng (XPEV 0.98%), have also recently raised fresh capital as stock prices have soared. XPeng raised almost $2.5 billion last month, while NIO has added more than $4.5 billion to its balance sheet since December in two separate offerings.
Warren Buffett first invested in BYD in 2008, and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.15%) (BRK.B -0.17%) has 25% ownership in the company. The automaker sold almost 131,000 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2020, and more than 460,000 vehicles overall. Though its BEV sales were down 11% in 2020, BYD outsold rivals like NIO, which delivered 43,728 total vehicles in 2020.
Investors are betting that EV growth in China will continue, and have been piling into these companies' shares over the past year. NIO is now valued at about the same level of BYD, after its stock has gained more than 1,000% over the past year.
Chinese EV makers are raising money to increase production capacity as China aims to produce 5 million EVs by 2025, compared to about 1.1 million in 2020.


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Lodging sets new summer records at western resorts
As expected, western resorts in the U.S. have broken their summer lodging records, which could be a good sign for Summit County’s economy coming into the 2018-19 ski season so blessed by early snowfall.
Compared to summer 2017, occupancy was up 2.3 percent, the average daily rate was up 2.5 percent and revenue jumped 4.8 percent for participating western mountain properties that had their summer season end on Oct. 31.
The statistics were released Nov. 20 by Inntopia in the company’s monthly DestiMetrics Market Briefing. Inntopia is a Denver-based market research firm hired by resorts, mountain communities, chambers of commerce and other groups to collect information on trends in the resort lodging industry.
Regardless of some ups and downs in individual months over the six-month summer period spanning May through October, the season set its sixth consecutive records for occupancy and average daily rate at the same time that revenue set a seventh consecutive record.
“Despite a rough wildfire season around the western U.S. and Canada that created smoky conditions over wide areas, the majority of our participating lodging properties reported minimal impact on their business,” said Tom Foley, senior vice president for the business intelligence division of Inntopia.
“One of the most interesting findings from our data this summer was that summer occupancy is now getting very close to parity with winter,” he said. Aggregated summer occupancy rates were surprisingly 97 percent of actual occupancy last winter.
This doesn’t necessarily appear to be true in Breckenridge, however. The town typically sees between $20-35 million in lodging sales most winter months but only logged $12.1 million this July, the most ever for any one summer month.
Still, lodging in Breckenridge is up 13 percent year to date through the first nine months of 2018, representing a $14.8 million jump over 2017 with over $129 million in sales so far.
The lodging industry’s double-digit growth rate in Breckenridge is the second most dramatic across the town’s eight sectors behind the catch-all category “other,” which is up 15.78 percent with $1.9 million in sales year to date.
Lodging is considered an important industry for the local economy, not just because of the high-dollar totals it generates, but because lodging rates reflect trends in local tourism traffic, a driving force for many other economic categories.
In Frisco, the town’s hotels and inns are actually down 1.03 percent year to date, but short-term rentals, up 22.72 percent, have offset losses at hotels and inns. The month of September was no outlier with hotels and inns down and vacation rentals up again.
“On the face of it, the decline in hotels and inns in September could easily be chalked up to changing consumer habits and a shift away form traditional lodgers toward vacation rentals,” wrote the town’s revenue specialist Chad Most in an analysis of Frisco’s most recent sales tax receipts.
With summer in the books, DestiMetrics is now focused on the upcoming winter season and describing an early season cooling trend, which was first detected last month, as a “snow hangover.”
In a year-over-year comparison to winter 2017, bookings for October arrivals in November declined 5.6 percent and December arrival bookings were down 3.9 percent as of Oct. 31. However, bookings made in October for arrivals at western destinations are up 18 percent for January, 11 percent for February and a whopping 37.4 percent for March.
“This data was collected through Oct. 31 and before significant snowfall fell at many mountain locations in early November and any impact from that will hopefully be more apparent in next month’s report,” Foley explained.
While snowfall plays a crucial role in resort destinations’ lodging revenues, a strong economy is also vital, according to the firm, which sees many positive economic indicators suggesting this winter could be a good one.
“For most of the past decade, record summers have led to consecutively stronger winter seasons, but the pattern shifted slightly last year with inconsistent snow quality in much of the West, which seems to have at least temporarily halted the upward trends in winter occupancy,” Foley said.
If the snowfall Summit County has seen in October and November continues throughout this winter, that won’t be a problem locally.
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In another move coming out of nowhere, unconfirmed and unannounced through official channels, Microsoft has now apparently started serving the 64-bit variant of Vista SP1 RTM to end users. The availability of the first service pack for Windows Vista does by no means fall under the category of standard Microsoft releases. In fact, the Redmond company has been feeding end users bits and pieces of the service pack, managing to build
up a healthy level of frustration, even if the Vista SP1 is on the immediate horizon. The sinuous course Microsoft has chosen to serve the gold bits of Vista SP1 began with the fact that the first taste of SP1 failed to coincide with general availability.
According to Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management, the delivery of Vista SP1 RTM was pushed as far back as mid-March, in an effort to ensure an as smooth as possible process, starting with the download and finishing with the installation experience. Since it tried to avoid Vista SP1 running into similar device driver incompatibility problems as the RTM version of the latest Windows client, Microsoft simply cut access to the final build of the service pack until what now seems to be March 18
Still, Microsoft is now diverging yet again from the initial roadmap outlined for Windows Vista SP1. Hexus
has reported that the x64 version of Vista SP1 is available for download via Windows Update. The download weighs between 120 MB and 711 .6 MB and comes as an Important update under the label "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for x64 Systems (KB936330)." Microsoft has yet to reveal if it has indeed released 64-bit Vista SP1 RTM through Windows Update.
The company has backpedaled once in the past as far as Vista SP1 is concerned, by offering the service pack to beta testers, Volume License customers and MSDN and TechNet plus subscribers the past week, ahead of the dates announced initially. As far as I can tell, users of 32-bit Vista still have to wait until mid-March to get their hands on SP1.


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A new LG device with a Snapdragon 800 processor has shown up in an AnTuTu benchmark today, although we’re still scratching our heads as to what the device could be. The benchmark shows a device with a model number of LG-F320, which some are saying could be the rumored LG Optimus G2.
The LG Optimus G2 is rumored to have a release date of sometime in Q3, and has been confirmed to tout a Snapdragon 800 processor. The benchmark, which shows a processor running at 2.3GHz (the assumed speed of the Snapdragon 800) makes us assume the device is LG’s next flagship smartphone, the LG G2.
We will be hearing more about the LG Optimus G2 soon, possibly at LG’s press event in New York on August 7th.
[Via: The Full Signal]


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What innovations await at the intersection of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain? IBM plans to find out.
The Armonk, NY-based IT giant announced this week that it intends to invest $200 million in its new Watson IoT headquarters in Munich, Germany. Among the areas IBM will pursue is connecting Watson IoT to blockchain, the distributed database technology that helps make cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin possible.
Businesses, particularly those in financial technology (fintech) circles, are keeping a close eye on blockchain. By its very nature, the technology highly resistant to tampering and fraud – blockchain-based ledgers are decentralized and immutable – traits enterprises hope will help streamline and secure countless workloads, from banking transactions to healthcare records management.
Now IBM is combining blockchain with its Watson IoT platform to create private blockchains that will help businesses to securely share IoT data while reducing costs and simplifying operations. Already, a Finnish economic development company called Kouvola Innovation is using the IBM Watson IoT Platform to track IoT-enabled shipping containers, IBM reported.
Kouvola Innovation isn’t the only Watson IoT customer. Others include Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Aerialtronics, a Netherlands-based maker of unmanned aircraft systems, and German industrial equipment supplier Schaeffler.
According to IBM, 6,000 customers have flocked to the solutions suite, up from 4,000 eight months ago.
“IBM is making tremendous strides to ensure that businesses around the world are able to take advantage of this incredible period of technological transformation and develop new products and services that really change people’s lives,” said Harriet Green, global head of IBM Watson IoT, in a statement. “Germany is at the forefront of the Industry 4.0 initiative and by inviting our clients and partners to join us in Munich, we are opening up our talent and technologies to help deliver on the promise of IoT and establishing a global hotbed for collaborative innovation.”
In addition to Watson IoT and Blockchain, IBM announced a new Natural Language Interface for the development of voice interfaces and a new developer resource called the Cognitive IoT Cookbook, complete with sample code.
IBM is also rolling out new IoT Security Solutions and Services designed to help businesses protect their IoT devices from attackers. And not a moment too soon.
Recently, famed security researcher Brian Krebs was struck by a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The flood of bogus traffic was generated by over a million video cameras, set-top boxes, video recorders and other internet-connected devices.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.


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Black Friday starts early at Best Buy with big deals on iPads, Apple Watches, and MacBook Pros
Thursday, 8 November 2018 () Black Friday is starting early this year at Best Buy, which tends to be one of the best places to find deals on Apple products regardless of the season. If you visit its site today, you’ll find fantastic deals on the iPad, Apple Watch, and the new MacBook Pros.
The best deal available is easily the $100 discount on the 2018 128GB 9.7-inch iPadRemove non-product link, which brings the price down to $329.99. That’s exactly the same price the entry-level 32GB model usually sells for, and it’s the best price we’ve ever seen for this particular model. It’s a powerful, portable device, and it also supports the first-generation Apple PencilRemove non-product link (which, alas, is sold separately).
Black Friday 2018 is almost here. And while it may not be as big an event as it was 10 years ago, millions of shoppers will still head out Thanksgiving night, many of them looking for the best deals of the year on new TVs.
One of the most popular times of the year to search for deals online is leading into the holiday season around the time of Black Friday, but during that time, there are numerous scams that pop up that..


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The estimated number of foreign visitors to Japan this year totaled 23.79 million as of the end of October, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Tourism Agency said Wednesday.
The agency attributed the rise to the increased number of low-cost flights, mainly from South Korea and Taiwan, as well as visa relaxations for Chinese and Russian nationals.
The tourism minister said last week that as of Nov. 4, the figure had surpassed the previous record of 24,039,700 logged last year.
By country and region, China accounted for the largest number of visitors at 6.22 million, up 12.9 percent, followed by South Korea at 5.84 million, up 40.0 percent, and Taiwan at 3.88 million, up 8.2 percent. The number of visitors from Russia grew 40.2 percent to 63,700.
In October alone, the estimated figure increased 21.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.60 million, boosted by travelers from China during its long holiday to mark founding day and visitors from South Korea during its harvest festival.
The agency also said the number of duty-free shops in Japan had risen to 42,791 as of Oct. 1, up 5.6 percent from 40,532 as of April 1.
The agency also released other survey results Wednesday on the use of accommodation by foreign visitors, including minpaku paid accommodation in private homes.
In the July to September period, 12.4 percent of foreign visitors used such accommodation, while 75.1 percent stayed in hotels and 18.2 percent in traditional Japanese ryokan inns. Multiple answers were allowed in the survey.
The visitors using minpaku accommodation mainly came from France, Singapore and Australia.
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The Newly Renovated Dunkin’ In Madison Opens Tomorrow
Hey Madison, you're just a few hours away from getting your Boston Cream donuts, Munchkins, Snacking Bacon, and hot coffee (or, cold brew coffee - it's never too cold to drink cold brew!).
According to a press release from the Skowhegan Regional Chamber of Commerce, the newly renovated Dunkin' location at 164 Main Street in Madison, Maine will re-open tomorrow (November 7th).
The location will officially re-open with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10 AM
The press release says, in part:
"The new concept store features a modern atmosphere and new and innovative technologies and design elements, including the first drive-thru exclusively for mobile ordering, fully-integrated digital kiosks, new crew uniforms designed by Life is Good and a tap system serving eight consistently cold beverages such as coffees, iced teas, cold brew coffee and nitro infused cold brew coffee."
The new location will be very similar to the Dunkin location at Mulligan's in Manchester.
And, if you are an "iced coffee" connoisseur who loves regular cold brew coffee, you REALLY need to try the nitro-infused cold brew. Basically, it is the Guinness Draught of iced coffee. It is so smooth that you really don't need to add cream or sugar to it.
The first Dunkin (Dunkin' Donuts back then) was opened by Bill Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950. Just five short years later, the company began to franchise locations. Now, if you live on the East Coast, you're never more than a few minutes' drive from a Dunkin location.
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Toyota Invests $600 Million In the Heartland, Verifies Its Loyalty
Toyota is planning a $600 million expansion of its Princeton, Indiana assembly plant to enhance production capacity and modernize the factory for the next-generation Highlander.
The company’s financial commitment underscores Toyota’s new and carefully domesticated image while serving to remind everyone that its cars are built in America for Americans — not unlike the company’s red, white, and blue display cars at this year’s North American International Auto Show.
“This announcement shows Toyota’s commitment to continued U.S. investment,” the company said in its official announcement. “This expansion is part of Toyota’s localization strategy to build vehicles where they are sold.”
It is difficult to blame Toyota for wearing its patriotism on its sleeve. President Donald Trump spent much of this week suggesting the imposition of tariffs on imported vehicles, and had previously criticized Toyota for its presence in Mexico. The company’s Tijuana factory, which produces the immensely popular Tacoma pickup truck, is currently undergoing a multi-million dollar expansion.
The large U.S. investment will supposedly secure 400 American jobs and, according to Toyota, improve the plant’s annual capacity by a full 40,000 units. Along with the Highlander, the Sequoia SUV and Sienna minivan will also be produced in Princeton.
Over 400,000 units rolled out of the Indiana-based plant last year, the highest in its twenty year history. Likewise, the Highlander had its best year on record with 204,343 units sold in North America, and sales of midsize crossover have been climbing steadily since 2013.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky


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Hibbett Sports saw first-quarter net sales skyrocket to a record $506.9 million, up 87.8 percent from $269.8 million a year ago, and generated earnings of $5 per share, smashing the consensus Wall Street estimates of $2.77.
The athletic-inspired fashion retailer has raised its full-year outlook for comparable sales, diluted earnings per share and gross margin as it continues to attract and retain new customers.
In a Nutshell: The retailer, which operates 1,071 stores across its Hibbett Sports and City Gear banners, saw “triple-digit gains” across all individual apparel categories, including branded apparel, fashion apparel, licensed apparel and accessories, according to Jared Briskin, the company’s senior vice president and chief merchant.
All genders saw “significant growth,” led by the retailer’s women’s business, which grew triple digits. Team sports recovered from the Covid-19 declines, also achieving triple-digit growth.
Footwear sales were up in the “low 70s” with basketball, lifestyle and slides as the standout categories in the quarter, according to Briskin. Women’s footwear was the retailer’s fastest-growing area with “triple-digit” sales gains, while men’s grew in the “low 80s” and kids’ in the “high 60s.”
The company said it will see “double-digit unit store growth” for each brand in 2021, meaning there will be at least 10 net new store openings for both Hibbett Sports and City Gear, as the retailer capitalizes on the current opportunity from closures at nearby J.C. Penney and Stage Stores locations.
“Stores that did have a [J.C. Penney or Stage] closure in their market are performing better than our average so we’re very pleased with what we’ve seen from that so far,” Briskin said.
Total inventory was $182.4 million, a 24.6 percent decrease compared to the prior-year first quarter total of $242 million. Strong brick-and-mortar demand and ongoing supply chain constraints during the quarter were the main drivers of the inventory reduction.
In the call, Mike Longo, president and CEO of Hibbett Sports, felt the current supply chain conditions held the retailer back despite its successful quarter.
“We estimate our inventory position at the end of the first quarter was approximately $80 million to $100 million below where we wanted it to be in order to support customer demand, and that shortfall cost us sales,” Longo said. “We expect to make progress toward achieving our desired inventory levels in the coming months. When our inventory position improves, we expect that the increased revenue from a higher in-stock position will provide the opportunity to deliver incremental sales, that will help mitigate much of the drag when the benefit of the temporary factors fades.”
Gross margin was 41.4 percent of net sales for the quarter compared with 27.5 percent of net sales in the year-ago period. The approximate 1,390 basis point increase was driven by higher sell-through, a low promotional environment, a shift away from e-commerce sales which carry a lower margin due to incremental fulfillment costs and the leverage of store occupancy expenses.
Average unit retail—the average selling price of an item—and the amount of units per ticket both increased.
Hibbett Sports ended the quarter with $270.9 million of available cash and cash equivalents, up from $106.2 million a year ago. As of May 1, the retailer had no debt outstanding and full availability under its $75 million secured credit facility.
Capital expenditures were $7 million, compared to $4.1 million in last year’s first quarter. The spending was predominantly related to store development activities including store openings, relocations, expansions and remodels. In total, the company expects to spend between $45 million and $50 million in the full year on organic growth opportunities and on various infrastructure projects related to distribution and the back office.
For the full year, which Hibbett Sports identifies as Fiscal 2022, the retailer expects comparable sales to be in a range from “positive high-single digits” to “positive low-double digits,” up from previous guidance of “negative low-single digits” to “positive low-single digits.”
Diluted earnings per share is expected to be in the range of $8.50 to $9, compared to prior estimates of a $5 to $5.50 range.
Gross margin is expected to be lower over the next three quarters in relation to the first quarter, but favorable to last year’s totals on a full year basis. Previously, guidance projected an unfavorable performance against the prior year.
Store operating, selling and administrative (SG&A) is expected to increase as a percent of sales over the next three quarters in comparison to the first quarter of Fiscal 2022, but is still anticipated to decline as a percent of sales on a full-year basis.
Net Sales: Hibbett Sports saw net sales increase 87.8 percent to $506.9 million from $269.8 million in last year’s first quarter.
Comparable sales increased 87.3 percent, with brick-and mortar comparable sales increasing 113.5 percent since stores were open to the public for approximately 60 percent of the available days. Comparable sales increase 51.4 percent on a two-year basis.
E-commerce sales only grew by 1 percent and represented 11.7 percent of total net sales for the first quarter, compared to 22.3 percent in the prior-year first quarter.
Net Earnings: First-quarter net income was $84.8 million, or $5 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $15.3 million, or 92 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Operating income for the quarter surpassed $110.1 million, compared to a $22.1 million loss in last year’s first quarter.
CEO’s Take: Longo said that the company has three priorities within its supply chain initiatives: velocity, capacity and efficiency, in that order.
“A lot of those initiatives are underway, and they started with frequency of delivery, and speed to market. Those have yielded great results and you see them in the sales line, and in the gross margin line,” Longo said. “We’ve gone from a five-day-a-week operation to a seven-day-a-week operation by judiciously investing in things that increase throughput through the distribution centers as well as in the transportation side.”


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The European tech startup arena is one of the happening markets all over the world. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, there have been numerous funding rounds across industries showing the sizzling growth. Likewise, this week too, the European tech startup market has been witnessing numerous developments including attractive funding rounds.
European tech startups roundup
Here is a roundup of all the happenings in the tech startup arena in Europe this week.
New plastics that leaves no trace
London-based Polymateria, which is advancing science to help nature tackle with plastic pollution has pocketed £15 million (nearly €16.5 million) funding from Planet First Partners (PFP). The company will use this investment to accelerate the rollout of its new technology called Biotransformation in many countries across the world alongside partnerships with foreign governments.
Founded in 2018 by Jonathan Sieff and Lee Davy-Martin, Polymateria has won two research grants from Innovate UK, which is a part of UK Research and Innovation and is funded by the government for the development of its Biotransformation technology for PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) and the first ‘petro-plastic’, which adheres to the international standards.This tech biodegrades common forms of plastic completely leaving absolutely no microplastics, thereby resulting in no harm to the environment.
Robinhood not coming to UK
Some sad news for Robinhood traders! Recently, the US-based stock trading service Robinhood has been facing a rough patch due to controversies as one of its customers killed himself. On account of this incident, the company has announced that it will delay its UK launch as it is fighting the pressure imposed by US politicians.
Until last week, the stock trading app had a waiting list of over 250,000 eager users in the UK as its launch over there was planned for this year. However, as 20-year-old Alex Kearns killed himself mistaking to have lost $730,000 (nearly €630,000) by using the app, Robinhood founded by Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev in 2013 had to hold its expansion plans. In an email statement sent to people in its waiting list, the service notes that their global expansion plans are on hold as of now and that they will look forward to bring their service to the UK.
Montreal-based investment app enters European
The Canadian personal finance app Mylo has been rebranded as Moka and has entered the French fintech market as a part of its expansion into Europe. Notably, France is the first market outside of Montreal to get this app. It has been rebranded as Moka in order to address a new growing global community. The fintech startup will let millennials to save more, spend less, and invest smarter.
Founded in 2017 in Montreal by Philip Barrer, this fintech app has since been downloaded over 750,000 users in Canada and earned thousands of 5-star reviews. The Moka app is known for its roundup feature, which automatically rounds up daily purchases and invests the spare change in personalised, diversified portfolios of low-cost Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).
Digitalising real estate
Prosperty, a Greek real estate startup is a pioneering online platform operating with the promise to change the way people buy and sell property. Earlier this week, Prosperty has bagged €2.1 million seed funding from Velocity.Partners and Metavallon along with participation from angel investors. With this investment, this company intends to launch the platform, where a huge number of properties will be available gradually for rent or sale.
CO-founded by Antonis Markopoulos, Nikos Patsiogiannis and Antonis Despotakis, Prosperty provides completely innovative digital solutions along with process automation. It ensures to provide transparency and professionalism without comprising on competitive pricing. Its platform offers full promotional services that will make properties listed in both Greece and abroad visible to private buyers as well as investors.
€443 million for Europe’s most promising tech companies
One Peak Partners, a leading tech VC investor targeted at European growth-stage companies has announced the closing of its second fund. The One Peak Capital II was closed at €443 million and will take the firm’s assets under the management to nearly €700 million. This fundraise was launched in Q1 2020 and closed in Q2 2020.
Founded by Humbert de Liedekerke and David Klein in 2014, One Peak focuses significantly on minority investments in proven and rapidly growing European tech companies with global aspirations. The VC firm partners with some of the best entrepreneurs in Europe and scale their businesses by providing the necessary growth capital. It intends to transform innovative businesses into lasting and category-defining leaders.
Pride-themed EV chargers
In Amsterdam, it is a common sight to see colourfully dressed public chargers used to charge EVs during Pride festivities. On Thursday, many residents of the city woke up to the same rainbow makeover from a volunteer team from EVBox, charging station manufacturer, Everon, charging software provider and Vattenfall, utility provider.
The Dutch Pride week will be hosted between July 25 and August 2. And, during the same, the revenue that is generated from over 100 specially-covered stations throughout the city will be donated to COC, the Dutch LGBTQ+ association. The cheque will the overall amount will be handed over to Astrid Oosenbrug, the COC-chair next month.
Main image picture credits: Robinhood


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7 'new features' iPhones may get in September
Apple recently announced the dates of WWDC 2017, its biggest software event of the year....Read more
Like past many years, this time too the event will see the company unveiling the next- generation of its iOS operating system, iOS 11. The iOS powers the company's iPhones and iPads.
The all-new iOS will debut with the company's 2017 edition of iPhones in
September and will also be rolled out to previous-generation (eligible devices) iPhones.
Here are seven 'new features' that Apple iPhones are speculated to get in September 2017.
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Transcribe Voicemail into text
While this feature is already available in iOS 10, its limited to the OS’ beta versions only. It allows users to transcribe all their voicemails to texts....Read more
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Rumours claim that the Cupertino-based technology giant is planning a slew of changes for its digital assistant....Read more
These reportedly include ability to use Siri offline. Another rumoured feature is Siri may get across-platform support, which means it can follow a command you gave on your iPhone on your iPad.
The company is also said to be working on changing the voice of Siri. Reports claim that Apple is working on making Siri sound more natural and less robotic.
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This is supposed to be one of the biggest features of the upcoming iPhones. The company is said to be betting big on it....Read more
Earlier this year, CEO Tim Cook termed AR 'as a big idea like the smartphone'. The famous Apple analyst KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo too said that Apple's upcoming iPhone, dubbed iPhone 8, will support 3D sensing, AR and biometric authentication. In a note to clients, Kuo reportedly wrote that a pair of sensors on the FaceTime camera will help iPhone 8 provide features ranging from 3D sensing and modelling to advanced biometric authentication.
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Drop support for 32-bit
Apple is reportedly all set to drop 32-bit support with the iOS 11 release....Read more
The company has been warning about this to developers since February this year. This means that the apps that haven't been updated to support 64-bit processor will not work on Apple's next version of operating system, iOS 11.
Some 200,000 apps on App store are said to be become obsolete due to this.
(Image Courtesy: findicons.com)
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iOS 11 may finally bring ‘Dark mode’ to iPhones and iPads....Read more
The feature is already available in beta version(s) of iOS 10 and may finally be rolled out to all users with the new mobile operating system.
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Group FaceTiming calling
Group FaceTime calling is one of the biggest features of Microsoft's Skype that has been missing in Apple's chat app Facetime....Read more
With iOS 11, the company is speculated to add 'group calling' to Facetime.
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Attempting to catch up to rival Google Maps, Apple is reportedly planning to use a fleet of drones to improve its mapping data....Read more
The company is believed to have assembled a team of data collection experts and robotics, responsible for mapping location and map data using drones, instead of the regular mini vans with cameras and other sensors.


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As expected at NAB this week, Pro Tools developer Avid has made several key announcements around ‘Avid Everywhere’, its strategic vision for the media and entertainment industry revealed last year in Europe.
The company introduced its new Avid MediaCentral Platform and a set of modular application suites that “together represent the most open, integrated, and flexible media production and distribution environment in the industry”. The initiative will aid creation, production, distribution and rights management of assets through a centralised model. It was first presented to the market during IBC last September.
“The media industry is going through a period of unprecedented change and needs a leader to step forward with a clear vision for the future,” stated Avid president and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr in Las Vegas (pictured). “Our Avid Everywhere vision uniquely solves the key issues facing the industry. By getting on the Avid MediaCentral Platform today, broadcast, video, and audio customers can strategically address both their current and future needs, with complete choice over how, when, and where they deploy and scale their solutions.”
The MediaCentral Platform is an open, extensible, and customisable “foundation” designed to streamline workflow, “from media creation to distribution and monetisation – with greater flexibility, choice, and security”.
Building on the Avid Everywhere strategic vision, Avid has reorganised its existing hardware and software products and introduced new solutions in three suites (Artist, Media and Storage) all built upon the MediaCentral Platform.
“With on-premises and cloud-enabled deployment options, as well as subscription, floating, and perpetual licensing, customers now have greater choice over how they use Avid solutions,” says the company.
Several product innovations and new technology previews at NAB 2014, including the Avid MediaCentral Connectivity toolkit, which sees Avid working with third-party developers and technology partners to integrate their tools and services into the MediaCentral Platform, “providing customers with a wealth of product and service choices that all work and communicate with each other seamlessly”.
Just ahead of the NAB show launch, Avid held its first Avid Connect event, the inaugural meeting of the Avid Customer Association, which saw over 1,000 broadcast, pro-video and pro-audio professionals and industry influencers gather in the Bellagio, Las Vegas to discuss current challenges and opportunities in the market.
(Photograph from avidblogs.com)


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Rare-earth elements are critical for building efficient motors that power electric vehicles. Ensuring it has a reliable source for these difficult-to-source materials, Stellantis announced on Thursday that it signed a rare-earth offtake term sheet with NioCorp Developments Ltd., a US-based mineral development company.
According to the automaker, this agreement, “envisions a definitive agreement for a 10-year offtake contract for specific amounts of neodymium-praseodymium oxide, dysprosium oxide, and terbium oxide that NioCorp aims to produce at its Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in southeast Nebraska,” assuming the supplier receives adequate financing to get the project up and running. The final volumes of these materials supplied to Stellantis would be set at a future date, outlined in a more definitive agreement.
Globally, Stellantis is aiming to go net carbon neutral by 2038. Electrification is absolutely necessary for the automaker to hit this target, which means it will likely need copious amounts of rare-earth minerals to build thousands of efficient electric motors.
“By working with partners like NioCorp, we are taking important steps, with the aim of decarbonizing mobility and ensuring strategic supplies of raw materials necessary for the success of the Company’s global electrification plans highlighted in our Dare Forward 2030 strategy,” said Maxime Picat, Stellantis’ chief purchasing and supply chain officer in a release shared by the company.
“We are very pleased to announce that NioCorp and Stellantis have agreed to collaboratively develop Stellantis’ magnetic rare earth supply chain, including helping to identify a sintered rare earth permanent magnet manufacturer that provides additional geographic optionality to Stellantis,” said Mark Smith, executive chairman and CEO of NioCorp.
Despite all the sunshine and rainbows, the same media release says that no economic analysis of the Elk Creek Project has yet been completed, so it’s unclear which rare-earth elements are present in this deposit and what their volumes are. Many additional studies will be necessary to determine if the extraction of these materials from this site is economically viable.
Of course, NioCorp is not the only company looking to secure a domestic supply of these critical elements. USA Rare Earth is aiming to do the same thing, though according to company CEO Tom Schneberger, their Roundtop mine in western Texas is well characterized and loaded with rare-earth metals. In an interview with EV Pulse, he said Roundtop could yield 1.2 million metric tons of rare-earth elements and some 500,000 metric tons of lithium over its lifetime, which could be a century.
Schneberger said that right now, more than half of global rare earth production is centered in China, with the populous Asian country producing more than 92% of the world’s permanent magnets. This imbalance underscores the importance of securing reliable domestic supplies of these materials, whether they come from USA Rare Earth, NioCorp or other companies.


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Slim Chickens has confirmed its second restaurant opening in the UK will be in Cardiff.
MCA reported last week that the concept, operated by Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), had secured the former EAT site in St David’s shopping centre for its debut in Wales.
The 2,400sq ft restaurant, which will also offer delivery and a click and collect service, is due to open before Christmas, with the business keen to extend its reach into Wales as well as in Ireland.
Tom Crowley, CEO of BRG said: “We are delighted to be introducing Slim Chickens to St David’s. Cardiff is a lively city with a fantastic student population and booming food scene. It was the obvious choice for us to open our first regional restaurant outside of London.
“We always knew this brand was a good fit for the UK and Ireland and we are pleased with the speed at which Slim’s has already established itself. We’re looking forward to opening in Wales and extending the Slims base into more sites next year.”
The popular US brand opened its first UK site just off Oxford Street earlier this year.