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Contact: hi (at) gamermalaya.my
Left Alive Confirmed Coming To Malaysia On March 5th For PS4
Left Alive, the stealth-action game made by a star-lineup of developers set in the Front Mission universe is releasing soon. And it’s definitely coming to Malaysia on its worldwide release date, March 5th.
You play as three different characters in Left Alive, with different backgrounds and motivations as they make their way out war-torn Novo Slava. It features third-person stealth-action akin to the Metal Gear Solid series, at least at first glance. And yes, you do get to take control of the Wanzers, the giant mechs that are the star of the Front Mission universe.
Physical copies will be priced at RM239 while on digital it will be RM229. However, the digital release will be one day later, March 6th. So keep that in mind.
Left Alive will also be released on PC (Steam).


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By Sophia Kunthara,
Direct-to-consumer shoe company Allbirds’ stock closed at $28.64 on Wednesday, nearly 91 percent above its IPO price.
The company raised around $303 million through its IPO after pricing its shares at $15 apiece. Allbirds set an IPO price range of between $12 and $14 per share, and the company’s stock opened Wednesday at $21.21, 41 percent above its IPO price.
As a private company, Allbirds raised more than $202 million from investors including Tiger Global Management and Lerer Hippeau. Most recently, it raised a $100 million Series E in September 2020.
Allbirds’ IPO comes as many other consumer-facing companies hit the public markets. Companies including eyeglass maker Warby Parker, clothing rental company Rent the Runway, and haircare brand Olaplex are among the consumer companies to go public in recent weeks.
Allbirds also leans into the sustainability angle that investors and consumers have embraced in recent years. The company is known for its eco-friendly shoes, which have become popular among consumers–especially those working in the tech industry (they’ve been called part of the “tech worker uniform”). Consumer companies like Rent the Runway and second-hand clothing marketplaces have also leaned into the sustainability factor that’s become more important to younger consumers.
Allbirds is trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker BIRD
Source : https://news.crunchbase.com/news/allbirds-ipo-trading/

domain: news


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The Creepiness Continues: So yesterday we told you about that new app Creepy, well here is another example of how easy it is to find and use geolocation information to map out a person’s life, literally. German politician Malte Spitz, in an effort to raise awareness about data privacy, sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom release six months of his phone data that he then made gave to the newspaper Zeit Online. The newspaper then combined this geolocation phone data with information relating to Spitz’s political career (taken from online sources like Twitter, blogs, and websites) to create an animated map that tracks Malte Spitz. Just push play. Really, really creepy. Zeit Online
Facebook 101: Some New York libraries are starting to offer Facebook 101 classes for the AARP set. I think my dad, who just turned 59 yesterday, needs to sign up for one of these classes ASAP. He still doesn’t understand “The Facebook” or search engines. (“Wait a minute, so you’re telling me that I can type a question in and it finds answers?”). NYT
Blog to Bookshelf: See, sometimes the Internet doesn’t kill print. The 2-year-old blog My Parents Were Awesome, which features user-submitted photos of parents and grandparents, is being released in a print edition by Villard Books/Random House. urlesque
Parting Words: Joshua Topolsky, former Engadget editor, and a bunch of his old staff have left Engadget to start a new gadget site with their former boss Jim Bankoff at SB Nation. On his personal blog, Topolsky explains his new venture and subtly takes a few jabs at the quality of journalism at AOL. Gawker
Video of the Day: Awwwww! Japan ‘tsunami dog’ Ban is reunited with owner after surviving at sea.
More in Media
The retail giant paired its insights unit Luminate with Walmart Connect to help suppliers optimize for customer consumption, just in time for the holidays, explained the company’s CRO Seth Dallaire.
In this week’s Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine BuzzFeed’s plans to pivot the business to an AI-driven tech and media company, how marketers’ use of X and ad spending has dropped dramatically, and how agency executives are fed up with Meta’s ad platform bugs and overcharges, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.
Despite the hope that 2024 would be a turning point for publishers’ advertising businesses, the first quarter of the year proved to be a mixed bag, according to three publishers.


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Bottle Logic Brewing’s newest addition to its most popular series was inspired by the flavors found in chocolate covered bananas.
That beer is Equivalent Dose 2019, a 13.49 percent ABV imperial stout that was fermented with cactus honey from Arizona before being aged for “nearly two years” in a combination of bourbon barrels and “ex-bourbon barrels” that previously contained Superstition Meadery mead. The stout was then blended with “an intensely potent small-batch beer built on our pilot system with mountains of real bananas” and filtered through a “bed of sweet, earthy cacao nibs” before being bottled.
Equivalent Dose 2019 is a member of Bottle Logic’s Stasis Project Series, which “celebrates the barrel as a fifth ingredient” and includes other notables such as Fundamental Theorem 2019 (20.59 percent ABV), El Duende (14 percent ABV) and Arcane Rituals 2019 (13.59 percent ABV.)
According to Bottle Logic, Equivalent Dose 2019 will be packaged in 500ml bottles ($23.95) and will have a three bottle per person purchase limit. Interested parties will have the chance to order tickets redeemable for bottles on Sept. 22 via Eventbrite with bottle pickups starting Sept. 28 and no proxies will be allowed. Finally, bottles may be available for purchase in the Tasting Room if they do not sell out during the online sale.


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In the fall of 2006, concerned parents and anti-alcohol-abuse groups set out to curb the proliferation of sugary, hard drinks that appeal to teenagers. They were particularly worried about so-called “cheerleader beer” and “alcopops” — soda-like drinks that are fortified with alcohol, such as Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice. So they convinced state regulators to levy a huge new tax on these low-priced drinks to make them less affordable for teens. But now, more than three years later, the alcopop manufacturers have found a loophole in the new regulations and the hefty tax is instead coming down hard on an unintended victim — small, local breweries.
Among them are Bison Brewing Company of Berkeley and Black Diamond Brewing Company in Concord. The reason is that these brewers are increasingly selling beer that they age in barrels that once held bourbon, brandy, rye or rum. Such beers are favored for their potent flavors of coconut, vanilla, and butter, but they may also absorb a stiff shot of alcohol from the booze-saturated barrel wood. Although these upscale artisan beers are marketed to adults, they’re now subject to the hefty tax originally meant for cheap alcopops.
And the tax is considerable. The standard beer tax in California runs 20 cents per gallon sold within the state. But under the changed rules, the state treats barrel-aged beers as if they were hard liquor and taxes them at a rate of $3.30 per gallon.
Craft beers are being hit with the high tax because when the bourbon or brandy in the barrel wood seeps into the brew, it raises the alcohol content. Parents and anti-alcohol-abuse groups decided to target such “fortification” processes because alcopops have been made in a similar fashion — by adding alcohol to a weaker drink.
But craft brews are expensive to begin with, and a tax hike of nearly 1,600 percent has made them too costly for many beer lovers. A 16.9-ounce bottle of North Coast’s bourbon barrel stout, for example, retails at approximately $20 with the higher tax.
Dan Del Grande, owner of Berkeley’s Bison Brewing Company, believes that the rules adopted by the state Board of Equalization were poorly written. And when his barrel-aged brown ale goes on the market later this spring, it may be subject to the heavy tax. “The people writing these regulations just don’t understand anything technically about what we’re doing in our breweries,” Del Grande said.
Breweries like Anchor, Deschutes, Drake’s, El Toro, Lagunitas, Magnolia, and Rogue have all worked with spirits barrels. Concord’s Black Diamond Brewing Company has a particularly active program, with 22 brandy and bourbon barrels currently filled with beer. Brewmaster Derek Smith said he understands the state’s concerns over alcohol abuse and cheap alcopops, but barrel-aged beers are about more than alcohol. “Gaining flavors from barrels is a true art form, whereas alcopops are just a way to put alcohol into a sweet drink, and they’re aimed at a young crowd,” he said. “Barrel-aged beers are for specialty high-end retailers.”
The controversy over barrel-aged beers comes on the heels of a debate involving bartenders who infuse spirits with herbs and other ingredients to add flavors to their drinks. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control cracked down last month on bartenders who infuse. The state says that mixing ingredients and immediately serving them as cocktails is legal but that allowing the infusions to mature is a breach of law, prohibited because it poses possible health risks associated with leaving foods on the shelf for long periods. But opponents of the crackdown, including the United States Bartenders Guild, have vowed to fight, arguing that liquors containing high alcohol levels naturally protect against pathogens and that the law is affecting bartenders unnecessarily.
The craft-beer industry, meanwhile, saw the tax problem coming two years ago, said Tom McCormick, executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association. McCormick attended a public hearing in 2008 at which he unsuccessfully urged the Board of Equalization’s members to amend the wording of the tax regulations and avoid an inadvertent hit to the beer industry. The board listened but made no such amendment. “Now we’re just getting caught in the net,” McCormick said. The law’s proponents “were going after cheap high-alcohol drinks that people drink out of a paper bag, not craft beer.”
Brewers point out that the state regulations operate in head-scratching ways. Many non-barreled beers, for example, are yeast fermented to levels of 15 percent alcohol and more, but they aren’t subject to the tax. But barrel-aged beers can have a lower alcohol content of 9 or 11 percent, and yet, under the revised rules, they’re considered a distilled spirit subject to the huge tax.
The problem is that tax regulations were designed to nab alcopops — not craft beers. Alcopops are traditionally made by starting with a flavorless beer-derived base of roughly 2 percent alcohol by volume and subsequently fortifying it to about 5 percent using neutral grain alcohol, according to Del Grande of Bison Brewing Company, who’s familiar with alcopop production. Under the changed rules, that type of fortification qualifies the drink as a distilled spirit subject to the higher tax.
Similarly, some barrel-aged beers can gain as much as two percentage points of alcohol by volume — far exceeding the half-percent increase that the Board of Equalization decided would be the fortification limit before a beverage must be classified and taxed as a distilled spirit. “I can make a 13- or 14-percent beer with no problem,” explained brewmaster Steve Altimari at Valley Brewing Company in Stockton. “But if I put a 10-percent beer in a barrel and it gains a half-percent alcohol, then it’s a distilled spirit and I have to pay a tax.”
However, the original backers of the new tax regulations appear to have little sympathy for craft brewers. In an interview, Michele Simon, research and policy director of the Marin Institute, an anti-alcohol-abuse organization in San Rafael that was one of several groups that initially petitioned the state to tax alcopops as distilled spirits, seemed unconcerned that an effort to go after “soft” drinks aimed at children had ensnared craft brews meant for adults. “It’s typical of people to whine about new regulations causing them problems,” Simon said. “We’re busy trying to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors, and it’s up to them to figure out how to reformulate their recipes.”
But it’s the alcopop makers who have reformulated their recipes since the higher tax took effect about eighteen months ago. And now the higher tax no longer applies to them. Board of Equalization spokeswoman Anita Gore said that after the tax was approved, major alcopop producers crafted new product formulas that allowed them to dodge the tax, while still selling sweet, soda-like drinks with as much alcohol as the average pale ale.
Mike’s Hard Lemonade Company, one of the nation’s biggest alcopop producers, has reported to the state that 27 flavors of its leading product line no longer meet the definition of a “distilled spirit.” Diageo-Guinness USA Inc. has reported that 14 flavors of Smirnoff Ice drinks do not fit the bill. Anheuser-Busch has reported that seven Bacardi brand beverages formerly fortified with liquor no longer are.
The change of recipe for alcopop makers was simple, according to Del Grande, who said he learned the details through conversations with a producer. He said that instead of fortifying their drinks with alcohol, the alcopop manufacturers just reversed the process. They now start with a clear malt beverage base — by definition a beer — of about 8 percent alcohol by volume and blend down the strength with syrups, flavorings, and water. Although they add no distilled spirits, the final product has about the same alcohol content as a traditional alcopop and is still as sweet as ever and still readily available today — and yet free of the higher liquor tax. “They just skirted the law,” Del Grande explained, “and these alcopops are still out there.”
Some craft brewers, such as North Coast Brewing Company, have decided to just pay the tax, but others are following the alcopop makers’ lead. Altimari of Valley Brewing Company in Stockton slightly dilutes his barrel-aged beers with weaker ales. That way there is no fortification process that would trigger the higher tax. Altimari has also rinsed out new barrels with water to remove any lingering pools of whiskey, though he wishes he didn’t have to. “I’d love to soak up my beer with bourbon if I could,” he said.
In the coming year, Black Diamond’s Derek Smith said has plans to release multiple batches of bourbon and brandy barrel beers, and he also doesn’t plan to pay a dime in alcopop taxes. Like Altimari and others, he will simply blend down his barrel-aged beers to keep them out of the distilled spirit tax bracket. It’s probably the easiest legal fix there is. But the required paperwork, Smith said, is a different story. “Since the law passed it’s now up to us to submit these reports proving that every single new beer we make isn’t fortified with other alcohols,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of alcopops myself, and I understand what they’re trying to achieve, but it’s become a pain in the ass.”


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Digital TV News: Broadpeak
Broadpeak CDN selection tool available in AWS Marketplace
Apr 20, 2021 – Broadpeak's umbrellaCDN CDN selection solution is now available in the AWS Marketplace. umbrellaCDN allows video service providers to always select the best CDN for streaming video content.
News categories: Broadpeak, AWS, Jacques Le Mancq, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Worldwide
Broadpeak demonstrates Streaming Video Alliance Open Caching APIs
Mar 25, 2021 – Broadpeak has performed a live demonstration of Streaming Video Alliance Open Caching APIs. The APIs enable local caching which reduces traffic across a telecom operator's core network and improves QoE.
News categories: Broadpeak, Streaming Video Alliance, Guillaume Bichot, Jason Thibeault, Content Distribution, Digital TV, OTT, Worldwide
Broadpeak powers multiscreen video delivery for Cellcom TV
Mar 9, 2021 – Broadpeak has announced that Cellcom has upgraded its Cellcom TV service with a multiscreen video delivery architecture powered by Broadpeak's nanoCDN multicast ABR and analytics solutions.
News categories: Broadpeak, Cellcom, Jacques Le Mancq, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Israel, OTT
Megacable launches OTT service powered by Viaccess-Orca
Mar 4, 2021 – Megacable is expanding the delivery of its Xview+ OTT service to Android TV set-top boxes using Viaccess-Orca's TV Platform. Xview+ brings together content in one place, creating a unified experience for subscribers.
News categories: Viaccess-Orca, Megacable, Philippe Leonetti, Gerardo Seifert, Android TV, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Mexico, OTT, Set Top Box
Brazil's MultTV upgrades IPTV system with Beenius
Feb 24, 2021 – Beenius has announced that MultTV, a consortium of 13 Brazilian ISPs, has upgraded its existing IPTV system with the Beenius OTT solution. Currently, MultTV is offering services and products to 40+ operators.
News categories: Beenius, MultTV, Verimatrix, Broadpeak, Martin Zorz, Luiz Adolfo Gewers, Asaf Ashkenazi, Brazil, Content Distribution, Content Protection, Digital TV, IPTV, UX
Broadpeak upgrades BkYou ad personalization solution
Feb 24, 2021 – Broadpeak has announced the next generation of its BkYou ad personalization solution. The new BkYou can boost the monetization of live, cloud PVR, and VOD video streaming services delivered in HLS or DASH format.
News categories: Broadpeak, Jacques Le Mancq, Advertising, Content Distribution, OTT, Worldwide
Broadpeak powers StarHub TV+ in Singapore
Dec 9, 2020 – Broadpeak has announced that it is powering StarHub TV+, a converged IPTV and OTT TV service offered by StarHub. StarHub is using a complete CDN, content packaging, storage, and origination solution from Broadpeak.
News categories: Broadpeak, StarHub, Jacques Le Mancq, Ong Bee Lian, Content Distribution, Digital TV, IPTV, OTT, Singapore
ENENSYS ATSC 3.0 solution deployed by SEI and VSatcast
Oct 19, 2020 – ENENSYS has announced that its ATSC 3.0 solution has been deployed by Spectrum Evolution and VSatcast to as aprt of their Network Function Virtualization, cloud-hosted, Broadcast Internet service.
News categories: ENENSYS, Richard Lhermitte, Greg Herman, Jacques Le Mancq, Jae Park, Gopal Miglani, ATSC 3, Content Distribution, Digital TV, USA
Spectrum Evolution and VSatcast virtualize NextGen TV Broadcast Internet
Oct 9, 2020 – Spectrum Evolution and VSatcast have implemented a Network Function Virtualization (NFV), cloud-hosted, Broadcast Internet service - a step towards the deployment of the broadcast component of a 5G network.
News categories: ENENSYS, Broadpeak, Alticast, BitRouter, Richard Lhermitte, Jacques Le Mancq, Jae Park, Gopal Miglani, ATSC 3, Broadband, Content Distribution, Digital TV, USA
- Connected TV continues to drive U.S. digital video ad growth
- VBox announces ATSC 3.0 Android TV Gateway
- Small growth in global pay TV subscribers to 2026
- Brightcove powers Studio Mojo's ‘Koode’ OTT service
- Vivendi, Fininvest and Mediaset end their disputes
- fuboTV partners with LiveRamp on addressable ad targeting
- Verizon Media to be acquired by Apollo funds
- Stoneroos acquired by NEP The Netherlands
- AirConsole casual gaming for TrueID TV Box users in Thailand
- Charter residential video customers down 156,000 in 1Q 2021
- Megacable subscribers up 24,000 in 1Q 2021
- Proximus Luxembourg selects Verimatrix VCAS
- Accedo supports 'AWS for Media & Entertainment' initiative
- Verizon Media and VIZIO announce connected TV advertising partnership
- IBM extends Watson advertising AI to OTT media and streaming
- Conviva releases Q1 2021 State of Streaming report
- Comcast cable video subscribers down 491,000 in 1Q 2021
- HISPASAT to take over Media Networks Latin America
- DISH Network pay TV subscribers down 230,000 in 1Q 2021
- Amazon Prime Video app added to UPC TV in Switzerland


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Reported by The Courier – the news we share raises awareness of equality issues being reported in the media.
An organisation that supports people with autism across the north-east of Scotland is marking World Autism Awareness Day today by highlighting the services available to those on the spectrum in order to help them better cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Grampian Autistic Society works year-round to assist people with autism, as well as their families and friends, and help them deal with the challenges posed by daily life.
However, with daily life completely changed due to the disruption caused by Covid-19, people with autism are facing even more difficulties than usual, according to one of the society’s directors Gary Wade.
Mr Wade said: “With autism, something that’s really needed is repetition.
“With this lockdown, it’s knocked everything off-kilter, as no two days can be the same.
“For example, even going shopping can be trouble.
“Going during the vulnerable shopping period can be a problem, as it’s an invisible disability, and during busier periods it can make sensory issues go off the scale.”
Mr Wade is now appealing for people with autism and those that care for them to make sure they know what support services are available.
#Fife #LocalServices #EqNews #Autism #COVID-19


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NASCAR- Miller Lite and Harley-Davidson Give Rusty Wallace a Wild New Ride
7 March 2000
DAYTONA, Fla.--NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace Monday unveiled a new look for his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Taurus, featuring a special paint scheme with a Harley-Davidson theme.
The unveiling ceremony was held at Daytona Bike Week, a 10-day festival that welcomes hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts each year. Wallace, Miller Lite, and Harley-Davidson Motor Co. will give NASCAR fans their first glimpse of the car at a trackside press conference on March 23 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Wallace's Miller Lite machine will be wearing flames and the Harley-Davidson(R) logo over a sleek metallic blue body paint for three races this summer. Fans can catch the Miller Lite/Harley-Davidson Ford in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 1, at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 26, and the Sept. 9 race at Richmond International Raceway.
"I also feel especially good about running this car at tracks where I've had successful races before."
Miller Brewing Co. and Harley-Davidson introduced a special-edition Miller Lite/Harley-Davidson paint scheme to NASCAR last summer with great enthusiasm from the fans.


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Could Amazon be killing inflation?
Interest rates around the world are at staggering lows, with some countries experiencing negative rates.
At home, the Reserve Bank recently cut its cash rate to a record low 1.5 per cent, and is predicted to keep cutting. Low inflation is one reason for this, but there are also signs of a greater structural change at play.
– Shane Oliver, Chief Economist and Director of Investment Strategy at AMP Capital
– David Glance, co-owner of Gleebooks
Image: ‘Clifden book store, Galway, Ireland’ by janmennens on Flickr


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Gish Biomedical Inc., a Santa Ana-based maker of disposable medical products used in hospitals, said net income for its fiscal 1987 third quarter ended March 31 was $198,230, more than 10 times the $16,782 reported for the same period last year. Sales for the period of $2.6 million were up 36% from $1.9 million a year earlier.
For the first nine months, the company reported net earnings of $449,858, contrasted with a $282,410 net loss the previous year. Sales of $7 million were up 40% from the year-earlier $5 million.
The company attributed the higher sales in part to increased sales of new products and in part to the savings from its recent move into automated production.
Separately, Gish said its common stock will begin trading on the National Market System of the National Assn. of Securities Dealers beginning Tuesday. The company now trades on the over-the-counter market and closed Wednesday at $6.25 per share.


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Windows 10 has hit record highs around the world
Windows 10 is now on more devices across the world than ever before.
Microsoft says that over 400 million active devices, including phones, tablets and desktop computers, are now running its Windows 10 software, making it the fastest-adopted release in history.
The figures, revealed at the company's Microsoft Ignite conference in Atlanta this week, mean Microsoft is edging closer to its ultimate goal of having Windows 10 running on a billion devices worldwide.
The news marks the latest point of Microsoft's climb toward this goal, as it previously revealed that Windows 10 had passed the 300 million mark on May 5th.
The company has continued to roll out incremental updates since the launch of Windows 10 back in July 2015.
This was followed by the release of the official Anniversary Update just over a year later, bringing a whole range of new features and services to the software.
Despite mixed reviews, Windows 10 has been a success
Originally free to download for customers with genuine copies of Windows 7 and Windows 8.x, Microsoft now charges customers $119 – or £99 – for Windows 10 Home.
Meanwhile, Windows 10 Pro will set you back $199 or £130.
The news comes as renowned Microsoft author and pundit Paul Thurrott said the popularity and new capabilities built into iOS and Android could spell the end for Microsoft and Windows 10. Thurrott said Microsoft was currently facing "a potential extinction moment."
Windows 10 has been largely well-received, with Express.co.uk praising the next-generation operating system, stating it "feels like the natural evolution of Windows 7" and "manages to right many of the wrongs committed by Windows 8."
But the new software has not been without issues.
Users have reported infuriatingly slow boot-up speeds, trouble with wifi connections, privacy concerns and issues with child safety features following the jump to Windows 10.


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Microsoft kicked off Mobile World Congress 2011 by giving people a glimpse of what the rest of the year will bring for Windows Phone 7. Among the updates are several new features and the integration of even more Microsoft products with the phone.
A concrete example of the company’s vision is the new strategic partnership with Nokia. “This partnership will combine the strengths of our two companies, and fuel our growth as we build the global Windows Phone ecosystem. This is a great win for us, for Nokia, and for our existing and new customers around the world,” said Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business.
“...A year ago, we introduced Windows Phone 7 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We described how we are putting the entire muscle of our company behind our mobile strategy including Windows, Windows Live, Bing, Zune, Xbox LIVE, Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and our developer tools,” Lees said. “Our alliance with Nokia creates opportunities for both companies far beyond what we could achieve separately, and offers a compelling alternative to the existing choices for consumers, mobile operators and developers.”
The first goal with Windows Phone 7, Lees said, was to deliver a uniquely delightful customer experience. And the results, as provided by Windows Phone 7 users, show that the overall experience is great. “So far we’ve had a fantastic reaction from customers, with a 93 percent customer satisfaction rate and nine out of 10 customers saying they are likely to recommend [the phone] to someone else,” Lees said. “All of this contributed to Nokia choosing us. And with this partnership, we are taking another big step toward driving global scale, reach and impact.”
Microsoft announced several new Windows Phone 7 features coming in 2011:
• Copy and paste functionality via first major update, coming in the next month
• Twitter integration directly into the People Hub in 2011
• Support for Office documents in the cloud in 2011
• Dramatically enhanced Web browser experience based on IE9 in 2011
• A new wave of multitasking applications in 2011
• Targeting significant volume of Nokia Windows Phones in 2012
Microsoft sold 2 million phone licenses in Windows Phone 7’s first two months, and the phone is now available from 60 mobile operators in 30 countries around the world, Lees said. As phone availability and sales grow, so too does the app marketplace – there are now more than 8,000 apps in the marketplace and 28,000 registered developers.
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) will be available for Windows Phone 7 in the second half of 2011, offering "a dramatically enhanced mobile Web browser experience." The desktop version of IE9 beta has been downloaded an estimated 25 million times and has now reached the Release Candidate stage.
In addition, the phone will be available soon on U.S. CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint.
“We’re in the race – it’s not a sprint but we are certainly gaining momentum and we’re in it for the long run,” said Achim Berg, a corporate vice president in Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business and Marketing Group. “We know we have tough competition, and this is a completely new product. Our design is different, our platform is different, our customer experience is different, and our long-term strategy for earning widespread adoption is different.”
Over the next year, the company will continue to work with third parties on phone innovation and will add new features and apps that customers want and that make using Windows Phone 7 a “delightful experience.” Microsoft also will work to engage more of the nearly 80 percent of worldwide phone users who are not using a smart phone, said JP Wollersheim, a Windows Phone 7 product manager.


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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - U.S. retailers reported surprisingly strong July sales on Thursday, as shoppers scooped up discounted summer gear and did some early back-to-school shopping, even as they struggled with record-breaking temperatures, high energy prices and rising interest rates.
Nordstrom Inc., Wet Seal, Guess? Inc., Bebe Stores and Jos. A. Bank were among the fashion-right retailers that sported above-expectations results.
"Those who get it right get it right," said Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst at retail consultant NPD Group.
With 59 retailers reporting, the International Council of Shopping Centers tallied a cumulative 3.5% gain in same-store sales. That was ahead of its last forecast on Tuesday for 2.5% gain, and at the top of a 2.5% to 3.5% increase it projected a month ago.
With 51 of 53 retailers reporting, Thomson Financial estimated that 50% had outpaced the average results of its analysts' poll, while 48% had fallen short.
Overall, the Thomson Financial results show retailers rose 3.6% in the month.
Interestingly, however, is that between the two, ICSC's results show a slight year-over-year decline in growth rates while Thomson Financial has an equally slim year-over-year gain.
Overall, however, the numbers show that large numbers of consumers are still out there buying. Many retailers, however, are holding on to cautious outlooks amid increasing signs that the economy is slowing and that prices are rising.
"I wouldn't over-interpret these numbers," said Mike Niemira, chief economist at ICSC. "The trends are broadly similar to what we've been seeing playing out over the last number of months and that's of a modest overall slowdown.
"But it's one of those things that it is not affecting everybody evenly," he said. "You look at the numbers and you think, 'Gee, it's not as bad as feared.' The numbers actually did show some pockets of strength out there."
Early back-to-school shopping, for example, helped some results at retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores and Children's Place but did little to others such as Target Corp. and Abercrombie & Fitch. Meanwhile, there was a flurry of inventory clearing going on at retailers such as Gap Inc., hurting sales and margins.
July is now largely considered the onset of the back-to-school season, and tax-free shopping days in such states as Florida were expected to boost the overall figures.
J.C. Penney JCP was also among the beneficiaries of an early back-to-school rush -- enough so to raise its second-quarter profit projection -- but isn't convinced the force will stay with it. "While the company is entering the back-to-school selling season with positive momentum, it continues to take a cautious approach toward future guidance given macroeconomic conditions," Penney said.
Penney's same-store sales climbed 4.9%, outrunning the 3% estimate calculated at Thomson Financial.
Federated Department Stores FD said comparable-store sales were higher by 3.3%, just ahead of the 3.2% projection.
Target Corp., however, appears to have been among those hurt by early promotions among its rivals. The discount retailer said same-store sales saw a 3.1% gain, just missing the 3.8% increase expected. Two weeks ago, Target
Wet Seal WTSLA was an upside surprise too, knocking out a 6.4% same-stores sales increase compared with the 2% forecast at Thomson Financial.
While a handful of specialty retailers enjoyed the early back-to-school rush, there were others left holding the bag.
Pacific Sunwear PSUN was chief among the latter, missing expectations by a wide margin and warning that second-quarter earnings would be soft.
The teen-wear retailer known for its so-called California look said same-store sales slumped 10.6% for the month, compared with the drop of 1.4% that analysts had been expecting. Comparable-store sales at namesake stores and outlets were off 10.2%, while the d.e.m.o. concept's same-store sales tumbled 13.4%.
Sales at Hot Topic HOTT went cold, too. Late Tuesday, the teen retailer whose apparel rings of music and band themes, also warned investors of a quarterly loss because of a sharp drop in July sales.
Admittedly struggling to turn the company around, Chief Executive Betsy McLaughlin seemed surprised by what she called a "very disappointing" turnout on tax-free shopping days.
"We believe our back-to-school assortment, especially our men's and women's fashion statements, are on trend and look better than they have looked in years," she said.
Late Wednesday, American Eagle Outfitters AEOS turned in what its chief executive said were good results and even raised its earnings forecast for the second quarter. But the same-store sales gain of 7% was short of the 8.9% expectation.
Others that missed included Chico's FAS
Elsewhere, Costco Wholesale
"We put a strategic plan in place this year to improve product, refresh stores, and support our brands to achieve better results in the second half of the year and beyond," said spokeswoman Sabrina Simmons. See full story.
At Nordstrom Inc.
Limited Brands Inc. LTD saw its same-store sales outdo expectations as well, turning in a 7% increase, compared with a projected 4.5%. The parent of its namesake stores as well as Express, Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works said the results were helped by a push for Victoria's Secret's Pink apparel line -- aimed at young women -- and its latest bra styles.
The 13% jump in same-store sales at Victoria's Secret helped the retailer overcome a 10% drop at the Express stores and a 12% decline at the Limited stores. Bath & Body Works sales surged 16%.
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers JOSB said same-store sales spiked 15.9% -- nearly tripling the 5.8% expected.


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NGO and manufacturers unite to call on government to boost resource efficiency plans for materials such as steel and rubber
Businesses and enviromental campaigners will today call on the government to strengthen its plans for greater resource efficiency, warning the UK is facing a looming natural resources crisis that will...
Global Briefing: Coronavirus crisis will have 'negligible' impact on emissions without green recovery, study warns
All the green business news from around the world this week
Deal to enable rollout of 100 EV charging hubs hailed as an example of 'private sector green recovery at its most promising'
The tech giant is looking to turn the Just Transition concept into a clean energy investment reality
Some of America's largest retailers have teamed up to help accelerate efforts to curb plastic bag waste


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Moncler shares climbed 10.64 percent to 42.96 euros by noon Thursday on the Italian Stock Exchange following a Bloomberg report that Kering is holding exploratory talks to buy the luxury brand. That Kering is seriously thinking of a takeover of Moncler. It has the liquidity and it is already discussing the deal with a number of banks.
The deal could be in the range of 13.5 billion to 14 billion euros, a 30 to 40 percent premium on a capitalization of 10 billion euros. could take a matter of days, perhaps two week he forecast, viewing the deal as a response to the recent LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton proposed acquisition of Tiffany.
However, buying Moncler would do nothing to enhance Kering’s position in hard luxury. At the same time, the French group would clearly benefit from diversification: given the extraordinary success of Gucci, EBIT has become c.80 percent dependent on it. Moncler would be another step in trying to balance this out. Kering would also secure a first class management team assuming they would still all be involved.
; In October, Solca argued that Moncler has built an “enviable position” at the top of the outerwear market. “Moncler has done virtually everything right in recent years, from relentless product newness to achieving unprecedented EBIT margins [29.2% in 2018] at small scale. No competitor has been able to match their casual-plus-expensive product offer.”
In February, Kering chairman and ceo François-Henri Pinault expressed readiness to add brands to the “backbone” represented by Gucci, after a year of purging the group of non-core brands including Puma and Volcom as part of its transformation into a pure luxury player.
“Our ambition is to make Kering the most influential group in the world in terms of creativity, social and environmental responsibility, innovation and financial performance,” Pinault declared.


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KUALA LUMPUR: A shoe shop at the Mines shopping mall was burnt down in a fire.
Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Datuk Norazam Khamis said the incident occurred at about 11.52am on Sunday (Jan 15).
"Firemen from three fire stations were dispatched to the scene. The shoplot was completely destroyed in the fire," he said when contacted.
Norazam added that the fire was brought under control by 12.25pm.
"We are still investigating the cause of the fire," he said, adding that no victims were involved in the fire.


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Electric vehicle brand Nikola has announced plans to raise $100 million in cash as it looks to increase production of its battery-powered semis.
Initially, the automaker will offer $100 million in stock to public traders on the secondary market. Citigroup is set to underwrite the offering, and can choose to buy another $15 million in shares. Should the secondary offer fail to generate the targeted amount, an Nikola has already made an arrangement with an anonymous investor, who will purchase the remaining stocks. In 2020, the brand’s initial public trading offer was $12 billion. Shortly after announcing this financial strategy, the company’s share price fell to an all time low of 17.8%.
The money will nearly double the company’s current unrestricted cash, which sat at $123 million as of Tuesday. Nikola lost considerable amounts of money throughout last year, spending $221.1 million in Q4 alone. Since making the first deliveries of its Tre BEV class 8 semi in 2021, the automaker has struggled to meet both its production and sales targets. Last year, it manufactured 258 units and sold 131. For 2023, the brand hopes to deliver between 250 to 350 electric trucks. When it launches the fuel cell version of the semis later in the year, the company expects to sell 125 to 150 units.
Although other EV brands are trading slightly higher in early 2023 after losing considerable value over the course of last year, many share the same demand and production challenges facing Nikola. However, while electric cars are already a niche product, little demand currently exists for battery-powered semis, despite the technology’s significance. With little chance to turn a profit for the next several years, the brand will be forced to balance investor confidence with its relatively small budget until its customer base grows to a sustainable size. Last year, the automaker said it could seek to raise as much as $400 million from selling shares to ensure its annual targets are met.


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Apple FaceTime Bug Lets Users Listen in on Others
- Author: Latoya Cobb Jan 30, 2019,
Jan 30, 2019, 0:22
If you keep it active, just be aware that incoming callers may be able to listen and/or view you from your iPhone.
"Now would be a good time to disable FaceTime on everything".
A new FaceTime bug can allow people to listen in to iPhone and Mac users.
Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, speaks about group FaceTime during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, June 4, 2018, in San Jose, Calif.
The bug is believed to affect any pair of iOS devices running iOS 12.1 or later.
If the caller then enters their own number as that of the added caller, a group call begins even though the person being called hasn't even answered.
Apple has also recently been highlighting its credentials as a company that protects user privacy, using a large billboard overlooking the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas last month to declare "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone". Mashable discovered that it also let callers see through the recipient's FaceTime (front-facing) camera. "The FaceTime bug is an egregious breach of privacy", Cuomo said in a statement, the New York Post reported. We've all said/done silly things when waiting for someone to pick up, so to avoid any embarrassing mishaps, here's how you can turn it off.
In addition to turning off the affected FaceTime feature, Apple (aapl) said this week that it's working on a software update that will fix the bug.
My family and I are running Apple iOS 12.1.3 on our iPhone XS and iPhone 7 devices.
Alternatively on an iPhone or iPad select "Settings", then "FaceTime" after which you can turn off the green toggle at the top of the screen.
After that, she tried contacting Apple to warn the company about the issue. Then go to the menu bar in the upper right hand corner, click FaceTime Preferences Sign out.


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Earlier this year, Kathryn Sheaffer made her daily commute to the Palo Alto, California, offices of Waze, a start-up that makes a social-navigation app. From her seat at a long communal table next to Waze CEO Noam Bardin, she made phone calls, reviewed mockups of the app, and participated in marathon brainstorming sessions.
Sheaffer, however, isn't an employee of Waze. She is senior associate brand manager at Stride Gum, which is owned by Mondelez International, the company formerly known as Kraft Foods. She was one of more than two dozen Mondelez managers from brands such as Trident and Oreo who spent a week embedded inside select mobile-technology start-ups as part of Mobile Futures, Mondelez's three-month accelerator program.
Mondelez's goal was to impart some entrepreneurial thinking to executives while at the same time getting to know promising tech companies that could further Mondelez's efforts to amp up its mobile marketing campaigns.
For young companies like Waze, the program represents a big shift in how early-stage start-ups interact and deal with big corporations. No more stiff and awkward meetings, communicating through ad agencies, or trying to guess what big brands might actually want before building products for them.
Mondelez's managers gave the start-ups involved in the program input and feedback on their technology and promised to be an early customer. "Having direct access, we were able to get in their head about what they would like to see in a perfect world," says Bardin. "That's been very powerful for us."
Mondelez is among a number of corporations--including Nike, Microsoft, American Express, and PepsiCo--that have created accelerators, investment funds, and other programs aimed at start-ups. For small companies, it's a chance to receive funding while building a relationship with a potential major client. Most of these programs are run through an open application process, links to which can usually be found through the corporation's website.
Big companies see these programs as an opportunity to find new ideas early and perhaps partner with, invest in, or learn from today's most innovative entrepreneurs.
"It's either disrupt or be disrupted," says David Kidder, CEO of Bionic, a New York City-based start-up that teaches corporate executives how to think more like entrepreneurs. "Big companies need organic growth, and they are going back to their start-up roots to get it."
Corporations aren't looking just for app developers. Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline each put $50 million last year into a $200 million venture fund to support early-stage biotech firms. In addition, J&J is creating four innovation centers--in Boston, London, Shanghai, and San Francisco--to fund early-stage life-science research and help push products forward faster. Roughly 70 J&J scientists and research and development executives at the centers will mentor entrepreneurs and provide industry introductions. The company also created a biotech incubator at its Janssen Labs in San Diego, where early-stage companies can rent office and lab space without having to commit any of their research to J&J.
One of the incubator's 18 tenants is Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, a nine-employee start-up that is developing ways to fight lethal fungal infections. Amplyx now has access to expensive laboratory equipment and machines that have helped it attract top scientists and sped up the business's productivity. In the past, Amplyx had to send samples to outside companies for testing. Now those testing machines are located next door--and they are free. "The amount of work we have achieved in the last eight or nine months is as much as we achieved in the previous four years," says Dinu Sen, CEO of Amplyx.
Sen also appreciated J&J's no-strings-attached policy. He said he would not have moved his company to the incubator if J&J had required any sort of contractual rights to Amplyx's research. "They know what we're doing," says Sen. "But by and large, they leave us alone."
PepsiCo has two initiatives designed to tap into exciting new companies. PepsiCo10 is an incubator program, started in 2010, that invests in 10 promising start-ups each year. Pepsi Digital Labs takes a less formal approach to start-ups by focusing on mentoring, networking, and partnerships.
As part of Digital Labs, Andrea Harrison, PepsiCo's director of digital engagement, works two days a week among tech entrepreneurs at a New York City co-working space called WeWork Labs. It was there that she met Josh Emert and Austin Evarts, co-founders of GoChime, a company that serves targeted ads to Internet users based on the material in their social-media pages. She tapped GoChime to work on an ad campaign aimed at fans of the television show X Factor.
It took only six weeks for GoChime to launch a campaign. Emert says that is the same amount of time it would normally take him to track down and contact the right person at a typical large corporation and set up a meeting. The only drawback for GoChime has been the stress of working with such a large client. "There is much more pressure," Emert says. "You never want to fail on such a large stage."
There are other, more serious, risks involved with working with a big corporation. If your business is reliant on a relationship with one company, then you are subject to any sudden change in priorities, budgets, or personnel. Such changes can quickly end a partnership or even put an end to your business.
Those issues did not concern Noam Bardin of Waze, which has long worked with retailers such as Dunkin' Donuts and Taco Bell. From Sheaffer, Waze learned how to work with packaged-goods companies like Mondelez. It's knowledge that can help Waze sign up more advertisers. "Seeing how they think and what moves the needle for them has been fascinating," Bardin says.
This Way In
Large corporations are eager to tap into the expertise of innovative entrepreneurs. To do so, many have established incubators or funds aimed at start-ups. Here's a quick look at a few of those opportunities.
Nike teamed up with TechStars for a three-month program that mentors 10 start-ups that are building technologies for Nike's activity-tracking devices, like its FuelBand.
What it offers: Each start-up gets a $20,000 investment from TechStars and the chance to pitch investors and Nike at the session's end.
Microsoft also joined with TechStars to create a three-month incubator in Seattle for companies that are designing products for Microsoft Kinect and Windows Azure.
What it offers: Start-ups get mentorship, technical training and support, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the program.
Pepsi's PepsiCo10 is a digital incubator program that selects 10 tech start-ups in entertainment, mobile, retail, and sustainability.
What it offers: In addition to receiving funding, companies are matched with PepsiCo brands, such as Gatorade or Frito-Lay, for mentoring and pilot campaigns.
J&J is creating four innovation centers--in Boston, London, Shanghai, and San Francisco--to fund early-stage life-science companies. It also created a biotech incubator in San Diego that houses 18 start-ups.
What it offers: Companies that rent at the San Diego incubator have access to office space, lab equipment, and mentoring.


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- MANAIA GROVE LIMITED | CIV 2017-435-15
- GPL LIMITED | CIV 2017-404-1423
- ABSOLUTE INSULATION LIMITED | CIV 2017-404-1414
- SOUTH SIDE STEELYZ LIMITED | CIV 2017-404-1459
- SUPER TURF LIMITED | CIV 2017-404-1701
- VELTMEYER ROOFING LIMITED | CIV 2017-404-1089
- LAVENDER HOUSE LIMITED | CIV 2017-470-103
- HEAVY HAULAGE NORTHLAND LIMITED | CIV 2017-488-74
- DALE STRIMLING ENGINEERING CONTRACTORS LIMITED | CIV 2017-406-14
- SEACHANGE BEACH CAFE LIMITED | CIV 2017-488-81
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More than 50 per cent of Australians intend to travel in the subsequent six months, says Tourism Australia.
Australia’s tourism business, which employs 5 per cent of Australia’s workforce, has skilled a tricky 12 months, impacted by bushfires, the pandemic and interstate and nationwide border closures.
However, business consultants have noticed a rising Australian sentiment in the direction of home travel.
Australia is amongst the world’s few nations which have COVID-19 comparatively managed. With low an infection charges and easing state border restrictions by Christmas, a surge in home travel is anticipated.
Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison informed Dynamic Business that there has by no means been a greater time to get out and discover Australia.
“Summer holidays are just around the corner so it is the ideal time to make holiday plans around catching up with family and friends in different parts of the country or contemplating somewhere new in Australia to explore,” mentioned Ms Harrison.
“We are also urging those who have the means to do so to tick off some of those bucket list trips, like visiting Uluru or the Great Barrier Reef or even take a city break staycation to one of our big cities, which have really been impacted by the downturn in travel this year.”
This week, Lonely Planet awarded Australia the “Best In Travel 2021 award” for its restoration efforts in rebuilding communities and preserving Australia’s distinctive wildlife after the devastating bushfires earlier this 12 months.
COVID-19 has impacted holiday plans
The ABS Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey exhibits that COVID-19 has impacted holiday plans throughout the subsequent 4 months together with Christmas, New Years and Australia Day.
Normally, three in 4 individuals would travel right now of 12 months.
COVID-19 travel restrictions, considerations about the threat of COVID-19 and an excessive amount of uncertainty are the major causes for an absence of intent to travel.
However, the survey was carried out between 16 and 26 October, a month earlier than Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced plans to ease states border restrictions by Christmas.
Travel the proper manner in 2020
Consulting agency McKinsey’s August 2020 travel survey exhibits that self-guided or self-driving excursions are the present trending methods of travel.
CEO Justin Hales of Camplify, Australia’s largest caravan & motorhome sharing neighborhood, echoed this development, saying 65,000 Aussies are anticipated to rejoice the coming festive break in a caravan or campervan.
“The record-breaking success we have seen over these past few months is a true testament to Australians’ hunger for travel in their own backyard,” mentioned Mr Hales.
“Camping is a great way for families to spend the summer break, whilst staying safe and last year contributed $8 billion to the local tourism economy. Our offering of self-contained caravans and campervans provide socially distanced holidays, perfect for all Australians in 2020 and beyond.”
Camplify reported an 85 per cent 12 months on 12 months improve in summer season bookings throughout all states.
Following the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions in Victoria state, Camplify noticed a 200 per cent surge in Victorian bookings final week.
For inspiration to begin planning a memorable street journey, take a look at Tourism Australia’s web site right here: australia.com


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Left 4 Dead was a bit of a zeitgeist back in its heyday. Not only was everybody playing it, but everybody was also modding it, and so a legend in its own right was born. Though it was a great game on its own, it would be hard to argue that it was mods that made it as popular as it was on PC. Earthfall might be going down a similar path, hopefully.
Earthfall is a multiplayer cooperative first-person shooter with a near-future setting, where players have to fend off an alien invasion by using various items, 3D-printed firearms, assorted gadgets and similar technological doodahs. Before Earthfall was released, Game Watcher interviewed one of the developers and asked what their plans with modding were, but the response was essentially a non-committal. Tides do seem to be turning, however.
Holospark are pretty eager when it comes to responding to community requests made via Steam, and so when a user asked what was up with modding, one of the developers came out and said that it is something they "could consider in the future," which seems like a more optimistic answer than what was previously offered.
According to the interview with Game Watcher, the main issue lies in not having enough manpower to handle the additional workload, but given the type of game that Earthfall is, not supporting mods at all seems like a real shame.
In the end, it'll come down to what and how the developers want to work on Earthfall, but their latest responses to Steam Community requests may well be an affirmation of direction. Or, at least, one can certainly hope so.


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https://callstar.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/home5.jpg 1055 1875 admin https://callstar.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CallStar-Logo-kdm.jpg admin2012-10-23 14:18:242015-10-02 19:39:23Home building and remodeling take a bite out of the recession!
Buyers are ready.
The phones are ringing day and night. Even though you answer your phones during the day be advised buyers are calling nights and week-ends. Buyers don’t care what time it is they are shopping 24/7.
- New home construction rose 15% in September* USA Today 10/18/12
- Home remodeling projects are on the rise for the first time since 2007* BizJournal.com 9/1/12
- Construction spending jumps to 4 year high* Tampa Bay Times 10/18/12


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Toshiba plans to launch an external battery charger based on a DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) in the next two months, its new president said on Wednesday.
The charger will be a portable device that can be used to charge the batteries in portable gadgets such as cell phones, music players and portable game devices instead of plugging them into an electrical outlet.
DMFCs produce electricity from a reaction between methanol, water and air. The only by-products are a small amount of water vapor and carbon dioxide, so DMFCs are often seen as a greener source of energy than traditional batteries. Another advantage is that they can be replenished with a new cartridge of methanol in seconds.
The new charger will be on sale before the end of the first half of Toshiba’s current financial year, which is the period from April to September. The launch, when it comes, will represent a roughly 6-month delay for the product, which was originally promised in the first quarter of this year.
Following the launch of the portable charger Toshiba will look at commercializing DMFCs for cell phones and laptop computers, it said.
Toshiba is targeting sales of ¥160 billion (US$1.68 billion) for its fuel cell business in 2015.
No other details on the device were immediately available.


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Unilever Opens Sustainable Ice Cream Factory
The facility in Konya, Turkey (pictured) will be the model for all future Heartbrand factories around the world. Unilever’s Heartbrand products include ice cream brands Magnum, Cornetto, Solero, Vienetta and Carte d’Or.
Unilever is pursuing LEED certification for the facility, making it the first of the company’s 35 ice cream factories to meet such a standard. The factory also is designed to be a zero-non-hazardous waste-to-landfill facility.
The factory fits into Unilever’s business model, which centers on sustainability, the company says. The company’s so-called Sustainable Living Plan, created in 2010, outlines 50 targets to reach by 2020, including halving greenhouse gas emissions and water use associated with the consumer use of its products. The plan also aims to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions generated in the manufacturing process.
Earlier this month, Unilever launched a crowdsourcing campaign to design an environmentally friendly shower shower that uses less water and has a smaller carbon footprint than current models.
Unilever will award €10,000 ($13,000) and a trip to London to develop the winning idea. Submissions for the “shower of the future” competition need to be cost efficient and affordable to the end user, have an innovative design that fits within a typical modern bathroom and should use no more than 10 liters (2.6 gallons) of water in a single use.
In July, Unilever was chosen as one of the 2013 winners of 2degrees Sustainability Champions Awards, an annual program that recognizes success in the execution of sustainability initiatives.
Unilever won the supply chain category for its efforts to redesign and improve its distribution network for homecare, personal care and food products in the UK and Ireland.
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Remember, the corporate goal is disposable, cheap labor with no legal protections:
Among the many lies told by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently, chief Chamber lobbyist Bruce Josten said that his organization’s foreign affiliates, called AmChams, are only “comprised of American companies doing business abroad in those countries.” In fact, the Chinese AmCham is comprised of Chinese firms like Northern Light Venture Capital; the AmCham in Russia is comprised of Russian state-run companies like VTB Bank; and, the AmCham of Abu Dhabi is comprised of UAE state-run oil companies.
The ties between the AmChams and the U.S. Chamber are deep. In addition to sharing staff members, the Chinese AmCham has worked closely with the U.S. Chamber and the Chinese government to sponsor a series of seminars in America to teach American businesses how to outsource jobs to China (called the China Grassroots Program). Below is an invite to an event sponsored by the right-wing billionaire Sheldon Adelson, inviting local businesses in Florida to come to Jacksonville and learn about outsourcing from Chinese government officials like Li Haiyan, the Counselor for Economic Affairs for the People’s Republic of China, U.S. Chamber lobbyist Joseph Fawkner, and BChinaB, a firm that specializes in helping American firms outsource their manufacturing jobs to China.


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Length: 34 cm
Since last summer, demand for air travel in the USA, which plummeted with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, has been gradually recovering due to the loosening of entry restrictions on flights to the United States. For this reason, Lufthansa launched the marketing campaign “Together again” in the USA in August of 2021. As flying ambassador of the campaign, the Airbus A350-900, registered D-AIXP and named for the City of Braunschweig (Brunswick) with “Lufthansa & you” titles has been flying throughout the route network of the crane airline since June last year. The model is being released simultaneously in the 1/500 and 1/200 scales.


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As the whole world eagerly awaits the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Bridebook.co.uk, the number one wedding planning app in the UK, has compiled the Royal Wedding by numbers. With millennials already reinventing the way they plan their wedding, millennial royal couple Meghan and Harry will be throwing a celebration unlike any other.
The party of over 4,000 guests will be treated to 28,000 canapés and billions of champagne bubbles, but they won’t be the only ones celebrating the wedding. Thousands of tourists will be travelling to London to see the newlyweds, and thousands more will be partying in their honour. The celebration of the century will require millions of flower petals, miles and miles of bunting, and enough cucumber sandwiches to feed the entire British population.
With 3 billion global viewers and an expected £280 million boost to the British economy, this is the Royal Wedding by the numbers!
With 4,040 guests, each expected to have at least 4 glasses of champagne throughout the day and evening, that will be at least 16,000 glasses filled with 250 billion bubbles!
There will be 1 million handfuls of confetti in Windsor on the big day, eagerly awaiting to throw 8 million flower petals in the air to celebrate the newlyweds.
The National Grid will see a staggeringly high demand for power following the wedding service, as the Brits go straight for the kettle for a relaxing cup of tea. 3 million kettles are expected to be boiled to celebrate the newlywed couple!
Meghan Markle is currently getting 12 times more search traffic than British Prime Minister Theresa May, and on peak days has received 42% more searches than “Brexit”… and 32% more than “Jesus”.
20 silver-plated fanfare trumpets stamped with the Royal Coat of Arms have already been requested, and they each come between £3,000 and £6,000 a piece/toot! That will be £90,000 for trumpets!
500,000 people are expected to visit Windsor for the Royal Wedding. They will get to witness the most Disney moment of the day: the Royal Carriage procession!
With 2,600 members of the public attending the wedding, we are hoping they each get a cup of tea and a sausage roll while they cheer on the happy couple.
With a budget of £110,000 on flowers, from larger stems to buttonholes and delicate bouquets, more than 200,000 flowers will be styled by around 60 florists across all three venues for the big day.
At 5381 square feet, the size of St George’s Hall will ensure no guests are stepping on each other’s toes during the reception. The hall is 10 times the size of the average British home!
28,000 canapés will be needed to keep the Royal Wedding guests happy throughout the day and evening events.
If this wedding lives up to Pippa Middleton’s, there will be luxury mobile toilets for the guests at the 3 different events. With a guest list this big, it comes down to at least 40 super luxury mobile units with a likely price tag of £35,000.
Alongside the 500 people team who work at Windsor Castle on a daily basis, another additional 500 are likely to be on duty on the day. From waiters to chefs to porters to florists, a Royal army will be ensuring the day runs like clockwork. Plus the 5,000 police which will be on duty.
Although most won’t be revealed, Meghan and Harry’s wedding photographer, and the team to support him will make their flashes go off at least 28,000 times throughout the day and evening!
Since US media claimed Harry and Meghan have been using UK wedding planning app Bridebook.co.uk under a secret account, more than 16,000 couples have signed up to plan their wedding on the app!
Harry has been rumoured to have enjoyed 3 stag do’s (bachelor parties) with different groups of friends. Including a skiing trip, a classic Scotland stag-do with his closest mates, and to celebrity hotspot Hedsor House, near Windsor.
Pubs all over the UK will extend their curfew to 1 AM for the Royal Wedding celebrations! That’s two more hours of toasting to Harry and Meghan, and an extra 10.5 million each drink served!
After 5,500 street parties were thrown for William and Kate on a Thursday in April, there are expected to be a lot more for Harry and Meghan. Councils will be busy managing the requests to allow over 8,000 street parties all over the UK.
London is the council with the most street party requests, with over 900 submissions.
With at least 24 million people expected to watch the Royal Wedding in the UK, plus the FA Cup Final and extended pub opening hours, the whole of the UK is going to be toasting Harry and Meghan!
Start cutting off those crusts, as the UK public will likely munch through over 1.4 million sandwiches at their street parties alone! M&S are already stocking up.
With 8,000 street parties along with endless garden parties, there will be a British bunting bonanza, stretching 330 miles of bunting across the UK. (In 2011, Tesco alone sold 120 miles of bunting for William and Kate’s wedding).
More than 200,000 bin bags of rubbish, weighing 2,500 tons, are expected as a result of royal wedding street parties and family get-togethers which will happen all over the UK.
8,500 journalists were in London alone to cover William and Kate’s big day, and the same number will be back to cover the momentous occasion of Harry and Meghan.
From grenadier guards to armed police to snipers and undercover officers, 5,000 officers are expected to be on duty on the day to keep everyone safe.
American tourists are hiring out homes that overlook the Royal Wedding route for six-figure values so that they can get the perfect view.
After 350,000 tourists came to the UK for William and Kate’s wedding, we are now expecting 450,000 flying over to see the beloved Meghan get married to Prince Harry. The average national spend of a tourist in the UK is £596 per visit, that is a tidy quarter of a billion boost to the British economy.
5,901 couples will be getting married the same day as Meghan and Harry in the UK according to the Bridebook.co.uk – the UK’s leading wedding planning app – which plans over 100,000 UK weddings per year.
From lifestyle blogs about Meghan’s wedding dress to online betting sites predicting the odds of rain on May 19th – there are already over 3.3 million pages online about the Royal Wedding!
Since their engagement was announced, the hashtag #RoyalWedding has been used 730,000 times on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Twitter takes the cake with the most discussions, with an average of 1,200 tweets using the hashtag every day.
Instagram has over 460 Royal Wedding hashtags. However, not everyone has the #RoyalWeddingFever, with some couples tagging their photos as #HarryandMeghanStoleMyDate.
After more than 2 billion people watched William and Kate’s wedding, and the global rise of the smartphone and social media since then, more than 3 billion people are expected to watch this Royal Wedding, which is expected to be the most viewed event in history.
With a total audience of 3 billion viewers, and half expected to shed a tear, that is a distance of tissue almost enough to get you to the moon! 300,000 kilometres of tissue to be precise, or a mere 7.5 times around the Earth.
The Royal Wedding is going to be one of the most significant non-sporting events of 2018 for betting sites. With over half a million bets expected on the Royal Wedding.
More than 17 dress designers are in the running for designing Meghan’s dress, with leading odds on Ralph and Russo, Erdem, and British bridal-designer Philippa Lepley!
If the name Meghan is as predicted expected to become the top baby name of 2018, we can expect more than five thousand baby Meghan’s to be born in the next year in the UK, knocking “Olivia” off the top spot.
Continuing the tradition started by Kate and William, Meghan and Harry have asked guests to donate to their chosen charities. If they are as successful at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the newlyweds should get at least £1 million in donations.
We calculated the above numbers following an analysis of over 170,000 weddings via Bridebook.co.uk‘s wedding planning tools and budget calculator, and a review of more than 70,000 wedding industry suppliers listed on Bridebook.co.uk’s wedding venue and supplier directory. Over 100,000 UK couples are using Bridebook.co.uk to plan their wedding, and therefore we have an unparalleled understanding of the wedding planning process, as well as relationships with brides and grooms and wedding industry suppliers across the country.
For further information, please contact Harriet Hunt Communications: [email protected] T: 0208 871 2246 M: 07886 96908
“Meghan’s dress will undoubtedly be the most well-kept secret leading up the Royal Wedding. Once Meghan’s dress is revealed it will inspire brides for generations to come!”
“People from the UK and all over the world are eager to witness what will be the most iconic Royal Wedding of the century. Half a million members of the public will be in the streets of Windsor to celebrate and greet the newlyweds.”
“Meghan and Harry’s wedding is expected to be the largest social media event of all time. With “Meghan Markle” already getting more search traffic in the UK than “Brexit”, global interest is going to be stratospheric.”
“It’s no secret that British people love to party, and this is the Royal Wedding is the perfect occasion to bring out the barbeques and throw roaring neighbourhood parties!”
“With 8,000 street parties planned all over the UK, the amount of bunting alone will be enough to cover 330 miles!”
“Meghan and Harry’s wedding will be more spectacular and iconic than any Royal Wedding we have ever seen. The millennial couple are already defying and giving way to new Royal Family traditions!”
Notes To Editor:
Bridebook.co.uk is the UK’s no. 1 wedding planning app, currently being used by 1 in 3 UK couples to help plan their wedding.
Launched in 2016, Bridebook.co.uk‘s leading wedding planning toolkit, with fully personalised Wedding Checklist, Wedding Budgeter and Wedding Guestlist Manager, gives engaged couples the power to plan their entire wedding from any device, anywhere, anytime, all in one place, for free. With over 70,000 wedding venues and suppliers in its directory, Bridebook.co.uk stretches the digital presence of wedding industry professionals and connects them directly with engaged couples. Bridebook.co.uk has also partnered with leading industry experts such as Bobbi Brown, Marry Berry and Jimmy Choo, to provide reliable expert advice and inspiration to couples.
Bridebook.co.uk was founded by Hamish Shephard, an industry professional and recently married groom who used Bridebook.co.uk to plan his own wedding back in 2016. Visit Bridebook.co.uk online and the Bridebook.co.uk App on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.
Take the Royal Wedding Quiz and find out which Royal Wedding guest you are!
Bridebook.co.uk is the UK’s number one free wedding planning app, with over 16,000 registered wedding businesses and more than 100K couples planning their wedding with us.
Are you are an engaged couple looking for your wedding team?
Are you looking for wedding inspiration? Start here:


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As seen on Instagram on Friday, Kylie Jenner changed her ever-evolving hair into yet another fresh look, possibly and plausibly helped by extensions since her black hair rocked such a long braid. The woven strands hung in front of her insane swimsuit, past her waist, and below her navel.
The aforementioned insane swimsuit was yet another vintage designer garment added to this style-driven celebrity’s other throwback fashion finds, including her rare Chanel bikini that The Inquisitr talked about earlier this month.
This time, Kylie had put her hands on a scarce camo bikini armed with utilitarian orange zippers and designed for Dior by John Galliano for the brand’s 2001 ready-to-wear collection.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, a never-worn version of the same bikini was recently on sale from online auction house, 1st Dibs.
The source of the suit, which sold for $950, operates out of Los Angeles, as does Jenner. So, the model-mogul was possibly the lucky person who snapped up this fashion discovery just in time to own the curious sartorial statement that is beyond hard to find.
When this piece and companion camo garments hit the runway eight years ago — with supermodel Gisele Bundchen swaggering down the Dior catwalk wearing a one-piece version of Kylie’s bikini, as Vogue pictured — these styles and the others that year from John Galliano caused quite a stir.
“A contest of camouflage, leopard- and leather-trimmed bikinis segued into an array of ravaged prom queens who had clearly had too many drinks (not to mention a pill or two or three) the night before.”
The warped, yet extravagant description by a buoyant Vogue writer went into great detail about the odd collection’s many facets.
“Highbrow eyebrows were raised from the very beginning of John Galliano’s outrageous presentation for Dior, as a sexy blaring soundtrack introduced a cavalcade of tough babes in patchwork wrapped skirts, sequined, pinned and frayed jackets, rough leather belts, vice squad-defiant heels and pop-colored fishnet stockings….Destruction, reconstruction, punk, recycling, tiaras, sex, patchwork, saddles, logos, commerce, camouflage, street, diffusion, vintage cars…only Galliano could pull it off.”
With that in mind, Kylie’s recent Instagram post proved that — like Galliano — she can pull off the sartorial master’s way-out looks without hesitation. The 21-year-old billionaire seemed to be crouched down in front of a cream-colored building that featured faded green shutters while being photographed in her peculiar bathing suit.
Still, this social media superstar appeared to be as comfortable as can be in this snap, while the camo bikini’s utilitarian zippers hung around in such a discombobulated way that even Galliano might find them difficult to interpret.
Meanwhile, curious minds beg to understand why the zippers don’t seem to do anything, making them even more curious than if they did. In other words, why did this high-profile designer add these orange accoutrements to his military-esque creation that Kylie Jenner now owns?


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To achieve this, GM plans to idle 13 plants for up to nine weeks each in an effort GM hopes will trim high dealership inventories and put production in line with slowing sales.
GM also said the cuts could help prevent a GM shutdown in case Delphi, GM's troubled former parts unit, could not deliver parts because of its own financial problems.
"We're taking aggressive steps to accelerate our inventory initiatives that have worked well since the first of the year," said GM's North American President, Troy Clarke. "While sales have been performing at or close to our plan estimates, and dealer inventories have been reduced accordingly, we want to more closely align our inventories with even more conservative market assumptions."
Mr Clarke also said GM had planned to gradually reduce vehicle inventories at the start of 2009, but that GM CEO Fritz Henderson decided to accelerate the inventory reduction with the plant closings to help GM meet the goals in its viability plan.
GM consulted with President Obama's Automotive Task Force, but was not given orders to shut the plants.
"It was an internal decision, part of reinventing GM, part of the viability plan," said Mr Clarke. "We certainly advised the task force of our actions so that they are familiar with what we are trying to get done."
Plants that assemble new or redesigned vehicles, including the Chevrolet Camaro, Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Equinox and Cadillac SRX will not be affected by the shutdown.
GM said it had 767,000 vehicles in inventory at the end of March and that sales are not likely to improve any time soon. The company hopes to cut its inventory to 525,000 units by July.


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Continental will be showcasing technologies for the safe, clean and connected mobility of the future at the IAA 2019. “Mobility is the Heartbeat of Life” is the technology company’s slogan for this year’s trade fair.
Continental will be presenting its fully integrated axle drive for electric cars – a global innovation that the company will supply to customers in China and Europe and for which production is scheduled to start this year. Another production-ready highlight is the new short-range radar, which assists car drivers when turning and protects cyclists and pedestrians. For the first time, visitors will experience these and other Continental innovations at the IAA 2019.
“Environmentally efficient and socially accepted technologies are the key ingredients for a healthy mobility ecosystem,” said Continental’s Chairman of the Executive Board Dr. Elmar Degenhart ahead of this year’s IAA, adding: “Zero accidents, zero emissions and zero stress thanks to smart connectivity and convenience: this is what our pioneering technologies are helping to realise. Technology is our strength and is an area in which Continental has an outstanding level of expertise.”
Continental is thus the first supplier worldwide to produce a fully integrated axle drive module. “Our fully integrated axle drive module makes us pioneers and puts us a clear step ahead of the competition. The system allows both established large-scale manufacturers and new suppliers to quickly produce efficient, fully electric-powered vehicles,” said Andreas Wolf, head of Continental’s Powertrain business.
The compact axle drive weighs less than 80 kilograms and consists of an electric motor, transmission and inverter. As a package, the three elements make the electric vehicle around 20 kilograms lighter – not least because numerous cable connections and plugs are dispensed with.
Another highlight is the 48-volt high-power drive, which enables full hybrid vehicles based only on 48-volt electric drive train to reach speeds of 50 to 56 mph (80 to 90 km/h) on electric power only. This will make a vital contribution to reducing vehicle CO2 emissions.
Continental will showcase its new short-range radar at the IAA 2019, which is able to detect other road users and obstacles with extremely high precision. This allows cornering assistance systems to recognise danger earlier than before and warn the driver faster, request emergency braking or automatically trigger emergency braking.
In collaboration with EasyMile, a manufacturer of driverless vehicles, Continental will also be offering IAA visitors the chance to take a test drive in a robo-taxi. Equipped with Continental technology, the vehicle will be driving autonomously around the exhibition grounds during the IAA.
Robo-taxis of the future will be able to perform tyre maintenance themselves. The latest Continental tyre study for driverless taxis demonstrates how this will work. Continental sensors built into the treads of tires are already able to transmit information on tread depth, possible damage and tyre temperature as well as the correct inflation pressure.
In the future, the rims will also be fitted with air pumps that adjust the tire pressure even while driving. This new wheel and tire concept is called Conti C.A.R.E. and is connected to the fleet management system via the Internet. The benefit is that it can provide information in almost real time and warn fleet managers of irregularities or noncompliance with standard conditions, saving repair costs and reducing vehicle downtime.
Continental will also let visitors to its booth at the Frankfurt Motor Show to board a fully connected driving demonstrator and experience first-hand the world of intelligent mobility. Whether traveling with the family to an amusement park or alone to a business appointment, visitors will gain an insight from the driver’s seat into how connected systems make driving safer, more pleasant and more relaxed – regardless of whether they prefer automated or manual driving. To this end, Continental has integrated a variety of technologies from the research and innovation lab into the demonstrator. The result is a holistic, multimedia experience of driving in the future that turns science fiction into reality.
Continental will demonstrate at the IAA how automotive electronics will in the future enable vehicles to continuously learn new functions. Flexible electronics and an intelligent vehicle network new hardware, software and functions to be integrated even after thousands of miles. Specialists visiting the trade fair will get a chance to learn more about the required framework conditions.


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Ingvar Kamprad, the IKEA founder who became one of the world’s richest men by turning a small-scale mail order business into a global furniture empire, has died at 91, the company said Sunday.
The company said in a statement that he was “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century.”
Ingvar Kamprad was born in 1926 in Småland in southern Sweden. At the early age of 17 he founded IKEA – the business that became his lifelong commitment. He used some money his father had given him as a gift for performing well at school despite his dyslexia.
In a statement on Sunday, Ikea said that Mr Kamprad had “peacefully passed away at his home”.
“He worked until the very end of his life, staying true to his own motto that most things remain to be done,” it added. Mr Kamprad eventually stepped down from the company’s board in 2013, at the age of 87.
Furniture designer Jeff Banks said that Mr Kamprad’s creations radically changed how people made and designed products for the home.
“People have tried to reproduce and copy that, but unsuccessfully,” he said.
Mr Kamprad is reported to have come up with the idea of flat-pack furniture after watching an employee remove the legs from a table in order to fit it into a customer’s car.
Banks went on to cal Kamprad “head and shoulders above the rest”.
In an interview in the 1980s, Mr Kamprad said that his vision for Ikea was that it would be a company that would make life easier for its customers.
In more recent years, Mr Kamprad faced scrutiny over links to Nazi groups.
The billionaire revealed some parts of his past in a book in 1988, admitting that he was a close friend of the Swedish fascist activist Per Engdahl, and a member of his New Swedish Movement between 1942 and 1945.
He said that his involvement was youthful “stupidity” and the “greatest mistake” of his life.


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IOWA -- (WTVY) A visit from the Hurts Donuts ambulance would appear to be a good thing, that's before taking a look at its newest passenger. On Thursday, Hurts Donuts in Coralville made 15 deliveries with a creepy clown. It's a limited time delivery option they're offering select days during the month of October.
"It's just something fun that we're doing to get everybody in the Halloween spirit a little bit," Hurts Donuts Co-Owner Kyle Howard, said.
Howard said they got a lot of calls from wives trying to scare their husbands, and parents trying to scare their kids at the University of Iowa.
"Some people are scared of it and they run other people don't really know quite what to think," Howard said.
The last delivery of the day was for UI freshman Trevor Cardenas -- his mom was trying to give him a bit of scare with his birthday.
"I wasn't really scared because I'm not really afraid of clowns. I was just more surprised what the treat was that my mom sent for my birthday," he said. Cardenas said it's his mom who is the one that is scared of clowns, and that she'll be getting a taste of revenge with her own surprise delivery.
Though not everyone is as brave as Cardenas. Innocent bystanders took the delivery worse than he did, and prior deliveries had people running.
"We had one individual decide to take off running from us and we never did get to deliver the donuts to her so we had to give them to her friend. She's just afraid of clowns, her husband sent us," Howard said.
Howard, the man behind the mask, said he enjoyed delivering a fright alongside a dozen donuts.
"So it's kind of like comfort food," he said.
Hurts Donuts will make more clown deliveries on Friday. Howard said they expect to have more delivery dates with it open up later on in the month.


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Nokia has updated its Android home launcher “Z Launcher” to version 1.1.31 Beta. The updated
After Europe, Asia and Middle East, it is now turn of African and Latin American markets
Lumia 930 was earlier revealed to come by end of September to South African market.
Thanks Janus for sending this in. Seems, Nokia's flagship Phablet Lumia 1520 has become available
Great news for Nokia and fans coming from "South Africa". In the "Top Brands
Quick heads-up!! The fully packed Lumia 620 has landed in South Africa now. South African
Great news for South African Nokia fans. Lumia 920 and 820 is heading to South


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OneClickHR reported better than expected profits for 2008.
The company moved from a loss of £46,000 to a profit of £304,000. Revenues fell from £6.34m to £5.85m.
OneClickHR develops human resources software, which is available online and offline. The size of customer accounts varies. Hilton Hotels is generating revenues of around £200,000 a year while other smaller customers are paying hundreds of pounds a year. OneClickHR hopes to migrate more of its older customers to new versions of its .NET product.
Chief executive Frank Beechinor-Collins says that sales cycles have not changed. They remain around three months.
The business is cash generative and cash doubled to £861,000. The company has gross tax losses of more than £8m.
Shares in OneClickHR rose by 0.625p to 5.25p each, which values the company at £7.81m.
House broker KBC Peel Hunt forecasts 2009 profits of £400,000.
© 2021 Aim Micro. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Nintendo has announced a sequel for mini-game collection Wii Play
Which must mean that they've a lot of Motion plus software coming.
Not necessarily. It could just mean that the Wii Remote Plus and the Wii Motion Plus accessory aren't selling as well as they'd like and they're trying to give the public incentive to pick them up.
Another casual game from nintendo....yay.......
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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sweetgreen, the mission-driven restaurant brand serving healthy food at scale, announced the launch of its brand new dessert category, with its first offering being the Crispy Rice Treat.
Made with gluten free grains (organic brown rice, quinoa and puffed millet), butter and roasted sunflower seeds, and naturally sweetened with honey date caramel, this elevated version of a classic sweet treat was conceptualized in partnership with sweetgreen’s first-ever Chef-In-Residence, Malcolm Livingston II.
With nearly 45% of consumers ordering dessert while dining out and a lack of variety when it comes to offerings that are delicious but also healthy, sweetgreen recognized this whitespace and began iterating and testing in their test kitchen two years ago to create the perfect sweet bite to satisfy cravings.
“This is a new category for us, and working with Malcolm has been the key to creating a healthy yet craveable take on this nostalgic treat,” says sweetgreen co-founder and Chief Concept Officer, Nicolas Jammet. “We hope the Crispy Rice Treat provides a sweet moment for our customers after enjoying some of our more savory dishes.”
Chef Malcolm comes to sweetgreen with an extensive background in pastry at renowned restaurants such as Le Cirque, Per Se, wd~50 and noma, the five-time winner of the title “World’s Best Restaurant.” Malcolm also hosted an online cooking series with his 6-year old daughter, Elli, who co-stars in the social media promotional assets for Crispy Rice Treat. As sweetgreen’s first Chef-In-Residence, he will continue to collaborate with sweegreen’s test kitchen as they expand their menu offerings.
“sweetgreen is a brand that values quality of ingredients first, something I admire from a restaurant that serves food on a large scale, and it’s what drew me to want to create this dessert with their team,” adds Chef Malcolm.
To round out the national campaign, sweetgreen tapped digital artists, gabbois and pablo.rochat, for their signature style loved by millions of fans. With the Crispy Rice Treat as their subject, the inspired social content plays into their unique world of tech, humor and the ordinary.
This Friday, November 11, sweetgreen will host ‘Free Dessert Friday’ for the first in-store customers to receive a free Crispy Rice Treat with a minimum purchase of $9.95, while supplies last. sweetgreen will also run a promotion from November 28 to December 4 where sg digital customers can get a Crispy Rice Treat for one dollar with any order placed online of $9.95+. Crispy Rice Treat is now available to purchase at restaurants across the nation and via the sweetgreen app and website for $2.95.


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Apple has shared with The Verge its position on the situation with Epic Games. The game was removed from the App Store (and Google Play as well) after the internal currency, for the purchase of which Epic Games did not pay commission to digital stores.
Coopertinskaya Corporation notes that it would like to keep Epic Games in the ranks of the Apple Developer Program and that its products were presented in the App Store. Apple puts it this way: “Epic Games has created a problem for itself. To solve the problem, it is enough to follow the common rules for all developers to release applications and games in the App Store.
Apple calls Epic Games one of the most successful developers on the App Store platform, whose business is counted in billions of turns. However, Cupertin Corporation states that this circumstance does not make Fortnite developers special: “We will not make an exception for Epic because we believe it is wrong to put their business interests above the rules that protect our users.
Epic Games considers a mandatory 30% commission on every purchase for Apple and Google to be in violation of antitrust laws and has already sued.


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The Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd (ASX: EOS) share price has surged nearly 19% in today’s trading session. By the market’s close, the Electro Optic share price was trading at $5.29.
Let’s take a look at what’s been happening for the defence and aerospace company.
What fuelled the Electro Optic share price today?
Apart from a Change of Directors Interest notice, Electro Optic did not release any highly sensitive news today. As a result, we can only posit that investors are reinterpreting the company’s financial results or regarding the fall in its share price as a buying opportunity.
The Electro Optic share price was down more than 9% at one point on Friday, before recovering slightly.
How has the company been performing?
For FY20, Electro Optic Systems recorded a net loss after tax of $25.6 million for the full year. The defence technology company cited the COVID-19 pandemic as having a widespread impact on its operations.
The company noted that travel bans had caused major disruptions to its supply chain. In addition, lower volumes and split shifts reduced efficiencies which resulted in production running at sub-optimal levels.
As a result, investment into inventory resulted in a negative operating cash flow of $109 million for the full year.
Despite reporting a net loss, Electro Optic did highlight a few positives for the period.
The company delivered a 9% increase in revenue to $180 million from ordinary activities. In addition, Electro Optic noted that $40 million in revenue will be pushed into FY21 due to delivery issues in FY20.
The company also cited its strong capital position, with Electro Optic holding $65.9 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Electro Optic Systems specialises in the development, manufacture and sale of various technology platforms. The company operates in three different sectors being defence, space, and communications.
Defence represents the largest revenue segment for the company, comprising more than 80% of its revenues in FY20.
Electro Optic did not provide guidance for 2021, however the company’s management noted that trading should be more predictable than during 2020.