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Bill gives Niihau leis
Leis with that label would
have to be made completely
from shells from the island
Pam Dow says it's the beauty and the luster of the Niihau shell leis that make them one of Hawaii's treasures.
Saturday, March 27, 2003
>> The state Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Wednesday that the full Senate approve Gov. Linda Lingle's appointment of Deputy Maui Prosecutor Simone Polak to the Maui District Court bench. In a story on Page A3 in yesterday's early edition, Polak's name was misspelled as Polack.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at firstname.lastname@example.org.
The long-lasting Niihau shell leis are worthy of the same protections enjoyed by Hawaii products, such as Kona coffee, said Dow, owner of Forever Kauai and Waimea Canyon General Store in Kekaha who lectures on authenticity and integrity of the leis.
The Senate Economic Development Committee heard testimony like Dow's yesterday and passed a bill that would prohibit jewelry from being labeled Niihau if it was not made 100 percent with shells from the island and made within the state. House Bill 2569 House Draft 1 will go to the Senate Consumer Protection and Housing Committee.
The bill also would require items made with at least 80 percent of Niihau shells to be labeled with the percentage content.
Niihau lei makers spend years collecting the rare-colored shells, said Dow, who also sells the leis at Na Mea Hawaii and Native Books & Beautiful Things stores in Honolulu.
The retail value of Niihau shell leis can run from $125 to $25,000, Dow said.
Rep. Jon Karamatsu (D, Waipahu-Waikele) said he introduced the bill because he wanted to protect local business owners and to prevent fraudulent sales.
"The potential of abuse is out there," said Karamatsu, who also runs a small business.
The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs recently submitted testimony supporting the bill, stating that "these shells and lei are official emblems of their native land. Generations of Niihau families have collected and strung Pupu o Niihau, momi and Kahelelani on the beaches of Niihau and Kauai."
According to OHA, "Not only are the shells scarce -- with the collection of enough of some colors and types of shells taking years to make one lei -- but the craftmanship of these special lei takes much skill, precision, patience and dexterity.
"Commercialization of yet another treasured, cultural tradition of these islands must be controlled and trademarked as much as possible."
Rep. Hermina Morita (D, Hanalei-Kapaa), who co-sponsored the bill, said, "For me, this type of lei and lei making is traditionally associated with Niihau."
"There are limited economic opportunities for Niihauans. That's why the labeling of this is critical because when people talk about Niihau shell leis, they're more than likely getting a premium price for the lei."
The premium price of the lei is tied to its traditional craftmanship and heritage, said Morita.
"Personally, if I could afford one, I would expect that all of the shells come from Niihau and would be made from someone who has ties with Niihau," he said.


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When Levitation Festival was abruptly cancelled due to severe weather at the end of last month, it was a drag for everyone involved. The fest rescheduled pop up shows with Levitation artists at clubs, but most of them sold out in minutes, before most fans in town for the fest had a chance to buy tickets.
Disappointed Levitation fans received another blow this week. The refunds festival organizers had hoped would hit ticket buyers’ accounts in 30 days are still unprocessed.
Levitation organizers posted the following message to their website explaining the delay this week:
“We expected refunds to be processed within 30 days of the event, and hopefully sooner, but unfortunately the timeline isn’t up to us. It may take longer. We realize that the wait for refunds is frustrating, and we also understand that many customers are confused as to why it’s taking so long.
“Many events have financial backing, from investors or parent companies, which can be tapped into to immediately refund money. Levitation is an independently owned event, and the cancellation has been an unprecedented blow for the tiny company and record label that organizes it, The Reverberation Appreciation Society. All funds that came in from ticket sales went to paying for event costs – paying deposits for performers, production vendors and all other event costs. Like every other year, every penny was spent on event costs as it came in and even though the festival was cancelled, all of those costs still have to be paid. We simply do not have the funds or any way to process refunds to customers until the insurance claim has been paid out, and these things move at their own pace, unfortunately. Despite the urgency and our working night and day to try to expedite the process, it’s taking longer than anyone would like.
“We will make an announcement as soon as we have a definitive timeline and will let customers know when to expect a refund.”]]

domain: news


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Volkswagen Group will build its Scout Motors assembly plant in South Carolina, according to a tweet by the state’s governor Friday morning.
Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted: “This morning we got the call that Scout Motors is coming to South Carolina – bringing with them 4,000 new jobs and a $2 billion investment! This decision will provide thousands of South Carolinians jobs, opportunities and prosperity for generations to come.”
The plant, set to build electric-powered pickups and SUVs, will be Volkswagen’s second U.S. assembly factory along with its existing operations in Chattanooga. Production is expected to begin in 2026.
No further details about the new plant were immediately available. Volkswagen’s board has been meeting in Germany today and reportedly is discussing plans for new plants in North America.
This report will be updated.


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Student Textbook Spending Declines
With ever more affordable options available to them, a new report shows that students are spending somewhat less on average for their textbooks than in previous years. According to the Student Watch study conducted by the OnCampus Research division of the National Association of College Stores (NACS), students spent $655 on required course materials this year, down from $667 two years ago and from $702 four years ago.
“This is terrific news for students, who continue to be pressured by the higher cost of attending college. The steady decline indicates that the money-saving strategies college stores are implementing to keep required course materials as affordable as possible for their students are having a positive impact,” said Julie Traylor, NACS’ chief of planning and research.
Textbook rental has caught on in a big way at colleges and universities around the country, thanks to efforts by campus retailers such as Follett and Barnes & Noble. In 2009, there were approximately 300 campus stores offering rental options. That number had grown to more than 2,500 last fall. Students can often save up to 66 percent off the price of a new print textbook. College stores are also carrying more used textbooks (a 25 percent savings) and digital (a 40 percent savings), according to the report.


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Can’t afford to buy new? Buy used. That’s what the state of West Virginia is doing. State officials hope to save $800,000 over four years by buying used cars and trucks. The state recently awarded a contract to Chrysler Financial Services to supply used Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles for state agencies. The used cars cost up to 40 percent less than new ones. Officials say the used cars get low mileage and are covered by warranties. ***MARLAR: And then next year they can make money with Cash 4 Clunkers.
It’s the vacation deal of a lifetime. A romantic weekend at a four-star hotel near Venice, Italy, for just a penny. Turns out the Internet offer was someone’s goof. The mistake was made at the Atlanta offices of Intercontinental Hotels Group. But a company spokeswoman says the chain will honor the 1-cent offer to the nearly 230 patrons who booked reservations before the mistake was discovered. The Crowne Plaza hotel stands to lose nearly $130,000 because of what’s termed a human error. ***MARLAR: Along with 230 towels and seven bucks worth of stolen shampoo.
It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. And that someone at the University of Nebraska is Sol Morton. He has to power-wash each seat at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln before the football season starts. It takes the building service technician 22 days to wash away the dirt, dust and bird doo from the more than 80,000 seats. Morton says he loves being part of the Nebraska Athletic Department. And Morton tells the Lincoln Journal Star he — quote — “wouldn’t trade this job for nothing.” ***MARLAR: To ensure he has job security, on the off-season he raises pigeons.
A 1,224-pound triple vanilla cupcake with pink frosting has set a record as the world’s largest. The sugary behemoth was unveiled Saturday at the Woodward Dream Cruise classic cars event in Royal Oak, Michigan. A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on hand to certify the cupcake’s girth. It was more than eight times the size of the previous record holder. The colossal cupcake took 12 hours to bake and included 800 eggs and 200 pounds each of sugar and flour. Slices of the cupcake were served in exchange for donations to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer organization. Ryan Abood, owner of New Hampshire-based Gourmetgiftbaskets.com who made the cupcake, told the Detroit Free Press that it clocked in at an estimated 2 million calories. ***MARLAR: And in case you’re wondering – if you did eat the whole thing yourself, the number of calories would make you immediately gain 666 pounds.
According to a new study, here’s some news that you probably already figured out for yourself if you’re a fan of Twitter. It seems that a big percentage of the messages posted on the popular micro-blogging web site are pointless rather than vital information! Pear Analytics, a San Antonio-based marketing firm, began its study based on the hypothesis that Twitter is “used predominantly for self-promotion.” But of the 27 million users, only 27% of users are on regularly and in fact, only 1% of users contribute to over 35% of all traffic. And according to their survey, over 40% of all tweets are “pointless babble” — things like “I am eating a sandwich right now.” ***MARLAR: Gee… who knew?
A New Jersey man has eaten a medium pizza and four diet cokes from Domino’s Pizza almost every day for five years. Mike Uris estimates he’s eaten 2,000 eight-slice pizzas in the five years, starting each day with six slices for lunch. He drinks two of the cokes with lunch and then has one each with a slice of pizza for dinner at 6pm and supper at 11pm. ***MARLAR: Mike’s now been asked to be a spokesman… for Lipitor.
Blind people could one day use their tongues to help them “see”. Scientists have developed a device which transfers visual cues from a video camera to the brain through electrodes in the mouth. A map of the outside world is sent to a postage stamp-sized “tongue display unit” made of 144 electrodes which stimulates the highly sensitive tongue. ***MARLAR: So if someone sticks their tongue out at you, they may just be sight-seeing!


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Nestlé celebrates 10 years of its Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre
Posted: 15 June 2015 | Victoria White | No comments yet
Nestlé is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre – an R&D facility dedicated to Nestlé’s out-of-home beverage business…
Nestlé is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre in Orbe, Switzerland.
The Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre is Nestlé’s R&D facility entirely dedicated to its out-of-home beverage business. The ceremony was attended by Stefan Catsicas, Chief Technology Officer, Head of Innovation, Technology, Research and Development, and Martial Rolland, CEO of Nestlé Professional.
The event demonstrates how the Nestlé Professional beverage business today uses innovative two way digital communication with customers and consumers. Inside new generation beverage machines such as Nescafé Milano 2 and Nescafé Alegria 2, operators can now use digital platforms and new technology to increase interactive communication. A demonstration at the company’s Beverage Centre showed how, for example, a coffee machine located in a restaurant can be updated remotely by an operator located in the head-office in just a few seconds to serve a perfectly layered Latte Macchiato tailored to local-specific taste profiles.
Nestlé Professional customers can now monitor beverage consumption online
Martial Rolland, CEO of Nestlé Professional, the Nestlé business that supplies the food service out-of-home industry, said, “The ‘Internet of Things’ is creating a new dawn in terms of customer and consumer connectivity and interactive communication. There are many possibilities. Connected customers can now benefit from a series of new online features, such as menu management, monitoring beverage consumption and promotions management. And, thanks to telemetry, our customers can access real-time performance data, allowing them to run their businesses in a more efficient manner and make better facts and insights-based business decisions.”
Specific display rooms at the Centre are dedicated to the “Science, Art and Technology” of beverage creation. Exhibitions and live demonstrations highlight the design, manufacturing and digital connectivity of the new generation machines.
Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé’s Chief Technology Officer, concluded, “In addition to the Nestlé Professional Beverage Centre, our Orbe site here in Switzerland site hosts a number of other units, including our Systems Technology Centre, our Beverages Product Technology Centre, Cereal Partners Worldwide and our Nescafé and Nespresso factories. This cluster of experience and expertise creates both synergies and economies of scale, helping to accelerate innovation and integrate it into exciting new products and systems. These centres are part of a wider worldwide network of 39 dedicated R&D units spearheading Nestlé’s aim to be the world’s leading company in Nutrition, Health and Wellness.”


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Hackers have successfully compromised around 110 million Americans in the past 12 months alone, nearly half of all adults in the country, as companies struggle to keep up with growing cyber threats. It's hard to identify exact numbers, with larger companies not providing precise data of affected users following a large-scale data breach.
The compromised information typically includes various forms of personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, debit and credit card information, or bank account numbers. Companies such as Target and eBay suffered massive data breaches, while other companies are compromised to a smaller degree.
Collecting a lot of information about an individual is more valuable [for attackers]," said Larry Ponemon, Ponemon Institute head, in a statement to SCMagazine. "They'll take the data, and wait patiently. Then, two or three years after the breach, [the impacted] become the victim of identity theft."
If companies are unable to quickly identify when a data breach occurs, and what information was taken, then it makes sense that hackers are able to sit on stolen information. It's not uncommon for compromised data to be sold or traded on underground forums, where names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank account information can be found.
- > NEXT STORY: BioShock lives! 2K Marin will take over development on the franchise
- < PREVIOUS STORY: Red Dead Redemption described as a permanent franchise by Take-Two CEO


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Noting that the two companies recently extended their licensing agreement through 2016, Tommo now demands SNK to "retract its press release and any attempts to terminate the license agreement." Though SNK advised customers to contact retail sources for Neo Geo X Gold returns and exchanges, Tommo announced that it will continue to provide customer service and warranty support for the unit and its games.
Debuting late last year, the Neo Geo X Gold is a portable console and plug-and-play unit that includes several games originally released for SNK's 16-bit Neo Geo system. Tommo followed up the console's launch with five additional game pack releases, expanding the system's library to more than 30 games.
Worldwide publisher and manufacturer of games and accessories continues to support and distribute NEOGEO X
Los Angeles, Calif. – October 7, 2013 – Tommo, Inc., today responded to the press release that appeared on the SNK PLAYMORE USA Corp website last week. Tommo, Inc. denies that any breach of contract exists in their agreement with SNK PLAYMORE USA Corp and are continuing to support and market the popular NEOGEO X GOLDentertainment system, its accessories, and games. Due to the popularity of the system, Tommo and SNK extended the agreement earlier this year until 2016. Tommo fully expects this agreement to be honored by all parties. To date, Tommo has performed all of its obligations under its license agreement with SNK and is disappointed by SNK's sudden and unjustified termination of the agreement. Tommo has demanded that SNK retract its press release and any attempts to terminate the license agreement.
"Tommo is still taking care of all customer service and product warranties in North America as are our master distribution partners, Success in Asia and Blaze in Europe," said Jonathan Wan, CEO of Tommo, Inc.. "We're continuing to sell NEOGEO X products, including the NEOGEO X GOLD System, Arcade Stick, MEGA PACK Volume 1 and Classics Volumes 1-5. The license agreement which allows Tommo to sell and market these products remains in effect."
Tommo Inc. would like to thank the thousands of NEOGEO X fans who have shown amazing support for NEOGEO X in the last week and want them to know we will continue to support them, their NEOGEO X GOLD systems and products.
Tommo Neo Geo X Gold


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O’Reilly Auto Parts Chooses Horn Lake, Mississippi, for Distribution Hub
O’Reilly is retrofitting a 580,000-square-foot facility the company purchased from Core5 Industrial in February and will be located in the DeSoto 55 Logistics Center.
In addition, the Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for equipment installation and workforce training. The city of Horn Lake is providing assistance in the form of property tax exemptions.
“Mississippi’s location in the center of the Southeast U.S. offers companies strategic transportation advantages, so the Mississippi Development Authority proudly salutes O’Reilly Auto Parts for choosing to locate in Horn Lake, Mississippi, gaining logistical opportunities to deliver products to their customers around the world in a timely, efficient manner,” said MDA Executive Director Glenn McCullough, Jr. “We commend the DeSoto County Economic Development Council, Desoto County and the city of Horn Lake for their teamwork with MDA, bringing hundreds of new careers to the people of Horn Lake, DeSoto County and North Mississippi.”
“This announcement marks approximately 1,300 new jobs announced through state-assisted projects this year for the citizens of DeSoto County,” Governor Phil Bryant said. “I appreciate the O’Reilly team for placing their confidence in our workforce by bringing so many new jobs to DeSoto County, and I wish the company many years of success at its new Horn Lake location.”
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Sputnik: How exactly has the data of these 50 million American citizens been compromised?
Tianqing Zhu: This is an accident of data sharing. So as a user we submit our data to Facebook, and when we submit our data, we register it on Facebook and sign our agreement, or, tick our agreement, saying that we allow Facebook to share our data to other third parties. Cambridge Analytica is a third party. They ask for data from Facebook. So at the beginning it is legal, because they claimed that they wanted to do a research project about the psychological effects, something like that. It's legal. Facebook shared the data with them. However, they changed their target. Originally, they had said it was for research purposes, but later they misused the data, and tried to dig out the personal information from the data and created user profiles. These user — profiles were used later for the presidential election. I think that the word 'misusing' is the key point of this scandal.
Sputnik: Mark Zuckerberg has become something of an antihero — but was this not anticipated all along?
Tianqing Zhu: Mr. Zuckerberg has created a huge kingdom and changed the rules of the game of social networking. But with great power comes great responsibility. His company has collected a huge amount of data, so how to control, maintain and preserve privacy of personal related data is a big challenge. Actually this challenge is using the companies who are collecting our private data, including banks, hospitals, online shops, airlines and governments. Facebook is not an exception.
Sputnik: We give our data away with everything we do (driving licenses, card payments, loyalty cards), will deleting Facebook increase our data privacy, or is it more of symbolic action?
Tianqing Zhu: In my point of view, it is a symbolic action. Privacy leakage is everywhere nowadays. When we drive through toll gates, they can collect our travel habits. When we pay via credit card, the banks and supermarket collect all of our shopping habits. When we call our friends, the phone company collects our conversation habits. So also now there are people that have multiple accounts, on multiple social networks. Deleting a Facebook account will not do anything to improve our wall of privacy.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.


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Live WebinarBotiss biomaterials and BLX implants: a smart combination
16 Dec 2019, 12:00 PM EST (New York)
Dr. Massimo Frosecchi
With a legacy of setting the standard for quality craftsmanship and introducing transformative products to the medical vision industry, Orascoptic is proud to be recognized for its advanced product performance and clinician-first features. According to the Orascoptic, it is hoped that these three products will help bring the world closer to the day when every health-care procedure will be performed with superior visualization and under ideal ergonomic conditions, in order to drive the best patient outcomes.
Orascoptic believes fully in this vision, and there is no better place to drive this vision forward than at the Greater New York Dental Meeting, one of the largest dental congresses with tens of thousands of professionals from all over the world.
At the Greater New York Dental Meeting, Orascoptic is excited to have the three award-winning products, as well as the rest of its extensive line of loupes and headlights, on display at its booth for all attendees to see and test out. You can also visit Orascoptic.com to learn more about products that focus on magnification, illumination and ergonomics.


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The Lee County Enterprise Zone in Dixon recently announced a high-profile project that had been kept under wraps as the highly secretive âProject Kodiakâ for many months. It was revealed by Zone Administrator and President of Lee County Industrial Development Association (LCIDA) John Thompson that the facility was in fact going to be a new 576,000 square foot (expandable to 800,000 SF) packaging and distribution center for the Rayovac Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin.
Thompson made the announcement along with Dixon Mayor James Burke timed just after Rayovac made the project known to its own employees and stockholders. Rayovac had been working for well over a year to develop the Dixon project as part of its new global strategies that included purchase of the German battery company Varta. With the Varta acquisition, Rayovac is one of the worldâs leading battery and lighting device companies with revenues over $1 billion. Rayovac products are sold in over 115 countries.
The new $20 million distribution and packaging center complex is located in the Lee County Business Park owned by LCIDA and contained in the Lee County Enterprise Zone. Construction began last June and Rayovac anticipates full operation later into 2003. The facility consolidates distribution and packaging operations currently being handled at several Rayovac facilities and outside suppliers. A total of 300 employees are expected to work in the complex when the ramp-up is complete.
Higgins Development Partnership of Chicago is the real estate developer for the building complex and Mc Shane Construction, one of the Mc Shane Companies, is the contractor for the building that covers 18 acres, including truck aprons, of the 55-acre site.
Dixon was chosen after an in-depth study encompassing an evaluation of alternate solutions to eliminate current inefficient multi-location operations and to best serve the Companyâs ever growing customer base. The site search stretched throughout the mid-central and mid-east portions of the United States. The Facility and Location Strategy Implementation Department of Chicago-based Deloitte & Touche acted as consultants for Rayovac.
âThis new centralized packaging and distribution center is expected to result in significant annual savings in freight, inventory and operating costs,â said Dave Jones, Rayovac Chairman and CEO.
Locating the new complex in Dixon near the new $200 million-plus Union Pacific Railroad intermodal (also in the Lee County Enterprise Zone) being built in nearby Rochelle, will allow Rayovac to better serve its entire U.S. customer base while significantly reducing freight costs. The centralization will also reduce inventory levels necessary in Rayovacâs current multi-location architecture.
âSuccessful companies understand the importance of having easy access to their markets. Illinois has long been known as the nationâs transportation hub, and the siting of this project in Dixon further bolsters that claim,â said Illinois Governor George H. Ryan. âInitiatives like Illinois FIRST have infused a significant amount of resources into upgrading the stateâs infrastructure in order for us to maintain this leadership role in the way goods are distributed across the country.â
The Dixon facility will serve as Rayovacâs main packaging facility for its products and will be the companyâs largest distribution center in North America. Rayovac also operates distribution centers in Fresno, CA, La Vergne, TN, and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Rayovac is eligible to receive benefits through the Illinois Enterprise Zone Program due to its location in the Lee County Zone at Dixon. Rayovac is also eligible to receive EDGE tax credits administered through DCCA.
The Rayovac announcement was very well received in Dixon, Lee County, throughout the region and across Illinois. âWe are thrilled to have a household name such as Rayovac here,â said Dixon Mayor Jim G. Burke. âThe facility will provide quality jobs to hundreds of our citizens and it doesnât get any better than that.â
âLCIDA worked had for over a year to site this project. We got strong support from the State of Illinois,â said John Thompson. âDCCAâs Pam McDonough, Dennis Pescitelli, Craig Coil, Tom Henderson, Mark Gauss, Dave Goben and Dennis Gorss were especially helpful along with the City of Dixon and its Mayor Burke, Finance Commissioner Bridgeman, the City Council and department heads,â Thompson concluded.
The Rayovac facility is clearly visible in Rayovacâs new blue, black and gray corporate colors at the Dixon interchange of I-88 and Illinois Route 26. Rayovac plans a major opening celebration and open house at the end of March.


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India is planning to promote faith tourism by developing more religious tourist circuits to attract foreign travelers and encourage greater domestic traveling that has seen double digit growth in recent years assisting the local economy.
The Indian government is making efforts to promote pilgrimage tourism from ASEAN countries to Buddhist centers. Other circuits could be the Sufi centers and the British-era war cemeteries in the country. There are also plans to connect pilgrimage centers in the North with those in the South.
While identifying and developing the circuits, efforts would be made to plug infrastructure gaps and provide necessary facilities to tourists. In market promotion level, India has gain tremendous amount of digital space.
After the downturn following the world financial crisis and Mumbai terror attack, foreign tourist arrivals have been on the rise and the government wants to maintain the momentum by developing more sites. According to the Planning Commission Working Group on Tourism, India is targeting one percent of world tourist arrivals by the end of 2017.
According to WTTC, nearly 40 million Indians are employed in tourism. Recognizing this and the significance of the industry, the government relaxed its tourist visa rules by lifting restrictions imposed on foreign visitors.
And as more business is taking place at the digital space, the Indian Tourism Ministry would soon come out with a website listing important tourist destinations in India and facilities available there.


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Finally, some clarity on Greece! But investors seem unsure how to take the private-sector involvement results and European stocks have spent most of the morning teetering between small gains and losses.
UBS has turned more defensive on stocks, saying valuations are no longer as attractive, while the macro backdrop is expected to get tougher. The brokerage downgraded its stance on U.K. and European miners to neutral from overweight. However, it upgraded U.K. and European pharma to overweight from neutral, along with U.K. media, citing attractive valuations and U.S. exposure. To balance out the portfolio, UBS cut its recommendation on tech hardware to neutral from overweight. Overall, there is still value in equities long term, said UBS, but near-term consolidation is likely.
A housing market survey out earlier Tuesday reported a more upbeat performance in December with house prices falling by the lowest margin since June 2010 and an increase in activity due to more property coming onto the market.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said this was good news. But it could augur the beginning of yet more bad news for Britain’s battered housing market.
[Read on over the jump]
It is so refreshing to hear upbeat comments from a house builder, especially when they are supported by consensus-beating figures. And from the usually ultra cautious Persimmon of all house builders.
The company’s trading update beat consensus forecasts in almost every measure, sending the shares soaring 6.5%. Hats off to CEO Mike Farley. Well done.
One analyst called the update “cautiously optimistic” but the cautious bit is a disclaimer only I think. Farley seemed to agree this morning, telling me that he is optimistic about the traditionally strong autumn selling season and that the market has come back from the election-slowdown.
But he remains concerned about the macro economic climate. And he is right. It seems nigh on impossible to predict what crisis is lurking round the corner, ready to hit consumer confidence on the head.
“The housing market we can judge, but we can’t see what impact spending cuts and job cuts will have.”
Still, there is one little thing niggling me.
It might look like UK house builders are through the worst.
Take the UK’s largest house builder, Persimmon, which today released a pretty positive half-yearly update, with great forward sales and another cut in debt guidance. The shares built up 2.8% having doubled since the start of the year.
This had a positive knock-on effect for the rest of the sector. Barratt, Bellway, Bovis Homes and Berkeley Group have all seen significant gains today.
But are the prospects for Britain’s battered house building sector really as rosy as they seem?
We don’t think so. On the negative side, Persimmon CEO Mike Farley said that not many land deals are happening in the market and that we still aren’t in a normal market.
There’s still a huge amount of downward pressure on margins and we could well be looking forward to months of house price deflation, if Rightmove’s predictions turn out to be correct. And this will inevitably precipitate another wave of write downs. [Read on over the jump.]
It may be pouring with rain here in London, but its seems traders are determined to start the day with a sunny disposition with the FTSE reckoned to open between 20 and 30 points higher.
Their optimism is being driven by a strong Asian session and better-than-expected Japanese GDP data.Whether or not the FTSE will make a sustained move past the now all-important 5300 level remains to be seen.
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but right now things aren’t looking good.
Customers are deserting supermarket Sainsbury’s in favour of its main rivals, for the first time in the recession, according to a story in The Times. Apparently, customers are voting with their feet, switching more than £11 million worth of their grocery shopping directly to its main competitors in the 12 weeks to November.
This could well take the bounce out of CEO Justin ‘Tigger’ King’s usually upbeat rhetoric, and I can’t imagine it will do much for the group’s share price.
The housebuilders are also likely to come under pressure today, with Rightmove predicting three months of falling house prices. [Read the report.]
It is possible Persimmon may buck the trend. In a trading update out this morning it said “sales volumes over recent weeks have continued to be satisfactory with the encouraging rate of sales achieved through the summer months being maintained during the autumn period”.
Prices have also held firm, said the housebuilder. “Forward sales are now well ahead of last year and we expect to carry forward a healthy order book into 2010. We are currently fully sold up for 2009 and have a further c. £500 million of sales already taken for 2010 which is c. 50% ahead of the same point last year.” [Read the statement.]
EADS is another company with disappointing news this morning. The defence group is also expected to come under downward pressure after reporting a 77% plunge in third-quarter earnings to EUR201 million, down from EUR860 million last time.
The company said a weak dollar could further challenge its performance over time due to a weakening hedge book.
And while it has new orders of up to 300 aircraft this year, and expects to deliver around 490 aircraft in 2009, it regretfully added that the South African government has decided to withdraw from the A400M project. [Read the press release.]
The misery continues with miner Lonmin reporting underlying pre-tax losses of $111m for the year to September, compared to profits of $997 million a year earlier.While the group insists it is continuing its programme to restore operational health, with industry-wide challenges continuing it faces an uphill task. [Read the statement.]
A note of merriment comes from wine merchant Majestic Wines, which has announced a 9% rise in profits to £7.1 million, and a 5.4% rise in like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of new store openings. [Read the statement.]
There is no UK economic data of note due out today. Though traders will be watching out for US retail sales data for October, due out at 1330 GMT.
Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets says a strong uptick in consumer confidence is expected to feed into positive US figures.
But, as he says: “Failure to deliver here is going to heap pressure on Wall Street and although the S&P’s break above 1,100 is increasingly being portrayed as having the potential to determine that this is no bear market rally, anything that suggests consumer confidence is taking a hit as we approach the holiday shopping season could initiate a wave of profit taking in the US – the impact of which would doubtless be felt on markets across the globe.”


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Apple’s iOS 8 distribution back on track, now on 60% of devices
By AppleInsider Staff — Earlier this week, Apple revealed fresh statistics on iOS 8 distribution as seen through the iOS App Store, saying its latest mobile operating system is now running on 60% of iPhones and iPads.
Apple Watch website revamped with new UI and UX details — Apple on Wednesday updated its dedicated Apple Watch website to include additional information on operating system features unique to the wearable device, including break-out categories covering health and fitness, timekeeping and messaging. This is the link for the Apple Watch site.
Apple and a Chinese sapphire plant with Foxconn — Apple’s GT Advanced Technologies troubles are well-known, but a report coming out of Taiwan suggests Apple isn’t ready to give up on sapphire displays for iPhone just yet. Chinese-language The China Economic Weekly reported (via English-language Focus Taiwan) that Apple-supplier Foxconn is building a plant in China to produce sapphire for iPhone displays.
Apple touts iOS 8 voice messaging in new iPhone 6 ad — One day after delivering two iPhone 6 ads highlighting Continuity and gaming performance, Apple released a new ad for the new-for-iOS 8 feature that lets users send audio via Messages.
Get 6 MacPhun iOS apps for only US99¢ (NZ$1.29) during Black Friday — The regular price for these apps is $30 on the App Store. That’s Sumptuous, FX Studio Pro, Floorboard Education, TextExpander, the almost magical iTranslate Voice ($2.59 instead of $6) and Star Walk.


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While the big news out of Nvidia overnight was the launch of the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, the company also decided to share some new information about G-Sync, their adaptive refresh rate technology that's been available for a couple of years now.
Nvidia is finally ready to launch mobile G-Sync, bringing variable refresh rates to gaming notebooks. Mobile G-Sync doesn't require a dedicated G-Sync controller chip; instead it uses the functionality built in to embedded DisplayPort to adaptively drive notebook displays, similar to how AMD's FreeSync tech leverages DisplayPort Adaptive Sync on desktop displays.
G-Sync on notebooks works in basically the same way as G-Sync on desktops, even though there is no G-Sync-specific chip involved. However, notebooks that do support G-Sync will have to forgo Nvidia Optimus, which switches between the Nvidia GPU and integrated graphics to save power, as the display needs to be directly connected to the GPU in order to support adaptive sync.
While there will be a battery life hit from the lack of Optimus technology, Nvidia's latest Maxwell architecture has low idle power consumption, so the reduction shouldn't be massive.
Nvidia has also announced that G-Sync now supports windowed mode, allowing you to play games either in fullscreen windowed mode or in standard windows. G-Sync will use whichever window is active to determine the refresh rate, so switching away from a game to browse the web will result in the web browser dictating refresh rates to the display.
G-Sync also now supports a feature that was previously only found in FreeSync: the ability to turn on or off v-sync above the refresh rate limit of a monitor. This allows users to choose between faster input or no tearing, depending on their preferences.
Lastly, Nvidia has announced seven new G-Sync monitors: four from Acer, and three from Asus. Two of these are ultra-wide monitors with IPS panels, while another two are 4K IPS displays with 60 Hz refresh rates. There's no word on pricing or exact availability, although Nvidia states that the displays will be available later this year.


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McKesson has linked up with Red Hat to reduce the cost of its medical IT systems by using open source software.
Michael Simpson, chief technology officer for McKesson Provider Technologies, said, “The Red Hat solution offers our customers a reliable, affordable platform for delivering safe, high-quality patient care using McKesson's clinical applications.”
Simpson added, “The introduction of a high-value, open platform designed specifically for the needs of healthcare IT represents a major step forward in encouraging the use of open source technologies, instead of closed, proprietary technologies that are costly to acquire, maintain and scale.”
The Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, and other open source technologies.
McKesson has already deployed many of its Horizon Clinicals applications on Linux running on Intel-based hardware in hospitals. It says hospitals using these systems have already made cost savings of up to 60%, when compared with traditional system deployments.
The Swedish Armed Forces and the Kingfisher retail group also recently announced Red Hat Linux usage in their operations.
Comment on this article: [email protected]


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A kiss is still a kiss. And if it's of the "light" and "passive" variety, and you throw in a little "hugging" and keep it up for, say, 10 minutes, you'll burn around 10 calories. At that rate, you'd have to kiss for 26 minutes to work off the 26 calories in a milk chocolate Hershey's Kiss. Get hotter and heavier, and you can burn off that chocolate in half the time.
Not exactly the elliptical trainer, but lots more fun.
These caloric measurements come courtesy of Livehealthier.com, a membership website aimed at creating networks of healthier-living friends and acquaintances who share their trials and triumphs online. "It's sort of the upside of peer pressure," explains CEO Mary Moslander, who launched the site in December.
Moslander is also interested in reminding would-be weight-losers that there is plenty of physical activity outside the gym. Some of it is inside the bedroom or the kitchen or out in the yard. (Alas, a half-hour of lawn mowing consumes twice the calories of a half-hour make-out session. But who needs a neat lawn?)
Kissing has another health benefit, according to the American Academy of General Dentistry. Because it stimulates the production of saliva, it can help prevent dental cavities. Saliva is composed of water, proteins, electrolytes and mineral salts. The mineral ions in saliva help remineralize early lesions in tooth enamel. But even heavy-calorie-burning kissing is no substitute for brushing and flossing.
Of course, sometimes one swaps more than saliva. The Health Behavior News Service reports on a British study published last week that showed that adolescents who do a lot of "intimate kissing" with multiple partners quadruple their risk of contracting meningitis. Two factors proved to be protective against meningitis: the meningitis vaccine and "religious observance."
Maybe those heart-shaped chocolate boxes are more appropriate than we thought.
Experts from a host of major universities gathered last week in Washington to present and discuss new research that suggests that cocoa -- which comes from the seed of the Theobroma cacao plant -- may help prevent heart disease and cancer. Cocoa contains certain plant nutrients called flavonoids and, in particular, a class of flavonoids called flavanols.
The flavanols found in cocoa -- and in some chocolate -- appear to assist in blood circulation by helping blood vessels relax. The use of a cocoa-rich drink in one study showed that it had an aspirin-like effect in that it decreased the likelihood of blood clots. When combined with aspirin, it amplified the aspirin's impact on blood-clotting. There also were studies suggesting that flavanol-rich chocolate can improve blood cholesterol levels. One of the major sponsors of the conference was Mars Inc., which has devised a method for creating chocolate products in which the flavonoids are retained. The nutrients are often destroyed in typical cocoa processing.
For that reason -- as well as chocolate's considerable fat content and high calories -- don't expect your doctor to prescribe a chocolate bar a day. Cocoa-based drugs and supplements are on the distant horizon.
The research does provide short-term relief for guilt, however. Go ahead, break into the Russell Stovers.


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When you’re dealing with a lot of dirty diapers, you may be thinking, “Oh, well, it’s my problem, so I can just put them away.”
But it turns out you may need to store them longer.
In fact, the average adult diapers are stored for an average of just under eight months.
So you might want to consider storing them longer than that, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.
“I think the research really supports the fact that you need to keep your diapers at least a year,” says researcher Sarah Daugherty.
“That would allow you to keep them dryer and more comfortable.”
In fact if you store your diapers for a little longer, they’re likely to last longer.
Daugherty, a UC Davis graduate student, analyzed data from the National Household Survey on Household Management, which asks adults to report how often they store diapers, and how often their children do.
The data revealed that parents were more likely to store diapers for longer than their children.
They also reported that they store their diapers longer than adults in general.
According to Daugyssey, “Children tend to store their diaper at the end of their bedtime, as opposed to at their bedside, which is what adults tend to do.”
So, what’s the best way to store toiletries longer?
It depends on your priorities.
“You might be thinking to yourself, ‘Oh, my gosh, I really need to use these towels to wash the toilet,’ but I think that’s a mistake,” Daugyys said.
“I think if you really need it to be used, and it is, you’re going to want to store it in the refrigerator.
You may not want to use it all at once, but you should at least use it when it’s dry.
That way, you don’t get to be the one who ends up with that mess that you don.
And you don, too, have to deal with the mess that the kids end up with.”
Daugyks study also showed that parents of children who live with other adults also reported longer storage periods, at least for diapers.
Daugidyys also said it may be helpful to keep diapers at home, in case your kid or grandchild needs a little extra storage space.
“You may want to have some of the dry clothes, but the dry wipes, the towels, that kind of thing,” she said.
So if you don-t have any extra clothes lying around, you could use those diapers as a drying pad, which can help to keep dryer temperatures down.
You may also want to think about storing your diapers in a separate, clean, dry location.
Dough towels aren’t going to work in a car or a hotel room, so it might be better to store the diapers in your home’s laundry room.
And it’s best to store those diapers in the fridge, where they’ll keep longer.


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The organiser of the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards has announced it will not go ahead with its planned ceremony in June.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards were set to be held in Antwerp on 2 June.
“We make a pledge that even though there will be no celebration of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants this year, we will act to support and defend restaurants today and in the future,” said William Drew, director of content at organiser William Reed.
The decision to reschedule the World’s 50 Best to 2021 followed the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ditching its live event for an online format.
“We’ll be working to try and see what we can do, how we can connect people and how we can use our global audience to assist and put restaurants in a better place to recover,” said Drew.


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Optus on Friday showcased various 5G sports streaming use cases at its Sydney headquarters to demonstrate what capabilities are currently possible with the next-generation network.
In the showcase, Optus partnered with Unbnd, an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) company, to demonstrate a 360-degree 'virtual theatre' that allows viewers to experience National Basketball Association (NBA) content in either 2D or 3D, such as live games and replays, while also providing access to additional mixed reality information like scores and statistics, as well as the ability to buy NBA products such as basketball jerseys.
The streaming demonstration was powered by Optus' 5G tower located at its headquarters in Macquarie Park, Sydney.
The pair also showcased an immersive sportscar racing experience which was streamed to a 5G-capable handset. In that mixed-reality experience, viewers could see three 4K video streams concurrently -- ranging from driver POV streams to the main race coverage -- in addition to real-time statistics such as the positions of race cars on the track map and the speed of each driver that are tracked by Internet of Things sensors.
According to Unbnd CEO Antony Arena, data such as the condition of a race car's tyres and fuel capacity could also potentially be part of the experience.
"It's a huge win for customers that can access 5G right now, to be able to start to look at [these technologies] as we start to roll these features out," Arena told ZDNet.
The mixed reality NBA product, called MIA, is already available on the Apple app and Google Play stores.
Unbnd is also currently in discussions with the NBA about what features would work well in a 5G product with mixed reality content, the company's CEO said.
See also: Optus set for CEO switch in April 2020 as Lew heads to Thailand
While consumers can already access this streaming experience via their mobile devices, Arena noted that 5G is still not widespread. What this means, according to Ubnd's CEO, is the ability to experience this kind of streaming at its optimal state is not achievable for most consumers yet as infrastructure for 5G is still being rolled out.
"We're waiting for a particular tipping point … it's at that point we know we can quickly add new features that will take advantage of the network, so it's a bit of a chicken and the egg situation of us deciding when is the right time to start to add something; or we might have to release a standard version of the app as well as a 5G version," he said.
Whereas Arena described the current 5G reality as one akin to a waiting game, Optus head of 5G Harvey Wright viewed the 5G rollout as being an "evolution not revolution".
"You're going to see progressive advancements and coverage of infrastructure and capability so I don't think it will be a 'big bang' where all of a sudden 5G use cases are there and they're available," Wright told ZDNet.
"I think this is a classic case of ecosystem development because each part of this puzzle is dependent upon the other; so we're building one piece of the puzzle, these guys are content providers, [there are] device manufacturers, and all of that has to sort of evolve and get to a point where it becomes the main form."
Speaking to what VR developers should focus on when building their use cases, Arena told ZDNet that a key focus should be ensuring that they allow people to engage and interact with their environment rather than just "doing a 360 degree video and calling it VR".
On the telco side of things, Wright said the future of VR would depend on how innovation unfolds and doubling down on what makes most sense for consumers.
"I think you know these guys have got some great insights into different use cases around real estate, music, different sporting content, etcetera. It will depend upon which of those do take off and then basically doubling down on the area that makes the most sense for consumers," he said.
Optus' 5G Home fixed wireless services are currently available for around 138,000 homes. The 5G services kicked off at the start of last year, with customers paying AU$70 per month for unlimited data at a 50Mbps minimum speed guarantee.
On the same day of the 5G showcase, Optus was hit with a AU$504,000 fine for breaking spam laws by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
Between 1 June and 4 December 2018, ACMA said Optus had sent SMS and email marketing messages to users that had unsubscribed. The Singtel-owned telco sent "commercial emails in the form of billing notices" without having a way to unsubscribe.
"This is the second largest infringement notice that has ever been paid to the ACMA, and the largest paid for spamming," ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin said.
Optus hit with Australia's biggest spamming fine
Singtel-owned telco cops second biggest infringement notice ever paid to ACMA.
Optus booted from ACMA complaints report and told to get external audit
ACMA has clamped down on Optus' record keeping, excluding it from the latest Telecommunications complaints handling report.
Aussie Broadband pins unlimited 100/20Mbps plan as new NBN flagship
Reducing residential upload speeds on the 250Mbps tier from 100Mbps to 25Mbps allows for an AU$80/month saving.
Optus makes 5G Home fixed wireless generally available
Users on NBN-alternative network to gain access to 4K streaming beginning with 2020 football championships and leagues.
5G expansion continues but devices struggle to keep up (TechRepublic)
Findings from PwC's latest 5G Index show that fewer than 1% of mobile devices currently in use are 5G enabled.


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Mulberry Group PLC (MUL.LN) said Wednesday that fiscal 2018 pretax profit declined 8% and that it will form a new majority-owned joint venture to develop its business in South Korea.
The luxury leather-goods company said it has signed an agreement with SHK Holdings Ltd. to form a new entity called Mulberry (Korea) Co.
Mulberry said it will own 60% of the new entity and the two companies will invest 4.6 million pounds ($6.1 million) to buy assets and to develop the business in South Korea. Mulberry expects to incur around GBP3 million of costs in the current financial year for the joint venture.
Meanwhile, for the financial year ended March 31, Mulberry said it made a profit of GBP6.9 million compared with GBP7.5 million the year earlier.
Revenue rose 1% to GBP169.7 million from GBP168.1 million, it said. Retail sales grew 3%, with U.K sales broadly flat and international sales up 20%. Digital sales grew 14% making up to 17% of group revenue, the company said.
For current trading, Mulberry said retail like-for-like sales fell 7% in the 10 weeks to June 2 with international sales up 1%. However, U.K. sales were down 9% due to lower footfall in the period, it said.
London-listed Mulberry maintained the dividend at 5 pence a share.
"Following another period of cash generation, our balance sheet is strong. Although the U.K. market remains challenging, we will continue to invest in our strategy to develop Mulberry into a global luxury brand to deliver increased shareholder value," Mulberry Chief Executive Thierry Andretta said.


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Fans of the lineups of FCA and PSA can breathe a sigh of relief. For the time being, PSA CEO Carlos Tavares said, there are no plans to drop any of the existing brands in either company's portfolio after the merger is completed.
"I see that all these brands, without exception, have one thing in common: they have a fabulous history," Tavares told France's BFM Business Friday.
"We love the history of car brands, it gives us a foundation on which we can project ourselves into the future. So today, I don't see any need, if this deal is concluded, to remove brands because they all have their history and they all have their strengths."
This is especially good news for FCA fans, Automotive News Europe reported Friday. Chrysler and Dodge have both been on the short list for elimination as the company looked to shed redundancies and trim under-performing models.
While brands may not be eliminated entirely, there will likely be cut-backs and re-organizations. Alfa Romeo future roadmap has already been "significantly scaled back, with a corresponding reduction in capital spending," in FCA CEO Mike Manley's own words.
Alfa Romeo's portfolio has been slashed from seven models down to just four, with the cuts coming from the brand's enthusiast-oriented portfolio. The previously promised GTV coupe and convertible and 8C supercar have been axed, along with the replacement for the compact Giulietta.
The news for FCA's higher-end luxury subsidiary, Maserati, appears to be brighter, thanks to the division's commitment to future-proofing its lineup. The Ghibli sedan will be the first in a new range of electrified Maseratis, including an all-electric sports car (which will be the company's first dedicated EV), an electric crossover SUV, and then battery-powered variants of the GranTurismo and GranCabrio.
Meanwhile, at the lower end of the FCA lineup, Jeep is on the cusp of launching its hybrid Jeep Wrangler, which could pave the way for more electrified 4x4s.


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By partnering with the big shots in African Tech Scene, KickCity plans to drive millions of Blockchain transactions in Africa.
Mohammed Ibrahim Jega is joining KickCity’s board as an advisor for Business development and growth in Africa. He is a serial entrepreneur and tech savvy marketer with vast experience in Business Development, Project Management, Content Marketing, and Application Development. Mohammed co-founded several successful startups, such as Emerge Tech Africa, an International Information Communication Technology firm; and Startup Arewa, a sustainable development platform. Mohammed is the Head of Business Development Africa at VoguePay Africa, a Founding Director at the Young CEOs Business Forum, and a Board Member at Young Innovators Nigeria, Cyber Security Challenge Nigeria and Aiesec Zaria LC. He is one of the pioneers of Blockchain in Africa.
KickCity plans to target 10% of Facebook’s 170 million users in Africa. As an Ethereal based DAPP, KickCity will be driving the biggest Ethereum traffic in Africa. African are event lovers. By providing an opportunity for anyone to earn while enjoying events, KickCity will be dominating figure and will truly drive mass adoption of cryptocurrencies.
KickCity is an event platform and marketing protocol on Blockchain that uses social interactions to increase ticket sales exponentially. Crowdsale starts on February 1st 2018.
We are building a decentralized reward-based event marketing protocol on Blockchain. This simply means that users can invite their friends and when their friends buy tickets, they earn Tokens (cryptocurrency), while the user who bought ticket gets a kind of cash back — motivation to buy more tickets on KickCity platform.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and should NOT be viewed as an endorsement by EtherWorld. Readers are requested to do their research before investing into any project.
Follow us at Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Steemit and Medium for more interesting stories. To receive weekly newsletter, subscribe here. To publish Press Release and listing of ICO at our website, email at email@example.com.


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Vernee Mars presale is over and the first customers are beginning to receive their new handsets. Since the Vernee Mars sports a not-so-common side-mounted fingerprint scanner, some people were worried that the unlocking mechanism wasn’t up to its expectations.
That’s not the case, though, as the issue is most likely to be on the user side; some people are not accustomed to the narrower than usual recognition area. This is why Vernee published a video showing their customers how to properly register their fingerprints!
Check out the video:
Once the fingerprint is registered correctly the unlocking looks pretty snappy, that’s why Vernee also decided to compare it to the iPhone 6S and Meizu Pro 6:
Gizchina News of the week
Other than for the side-mounted fingerprint scanner the Vernee Mars also shines for its all metal back cover and new arc antenna band. The phone, which sports 5.5-inch FHD screen, is powered by a MediaTek Helio P10, 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The Sony 13MP IMX258 camera features PDAF and has an aperture of f2.0. The Vernee Mars also supports quick charge and comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. If you want to know more, head over to our post about the Vernee Mars specifications.
Verne Mars’ retail price is $249.99 but it can be found now for $199.99 here.


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Main Street stores featured on national MSNBC TV show
NATCHEZ — You get a little bit of everything when you come to Natchez.
A downtown shop owner that sells everything from clothes and jewelry to fudge and furniture and two new entrepreneurs specializing in home décor and gifts will be a few local faces that will be featured in a segment of MSNBC’s Sunday morning show “Your Business.”
The segment, producer Frank Silverstein said, will focus on the ability of Main Street shop owners in Natchez to diversify their businesses, allowing them to thrive while other businesses succumb to tough economic times.
Silverstein said initially the show’s crew was choosing towns on which to focus based on geography.
“Then our viewers got excited about the project and started sending in messages about places we should go,” he said. “Somebody wrote in and said, ‘You should go to Natchez.’”
Silverstein said the number of Main Street business owners that offer more than one service or a variety of products intrigued him.
For example, he said, Darby Short, who with her husband Dennis own Darby’s Everything Under the Sun and Darby’s Furniture, offers a wide variety of products, including clothing, jewelry, fudge and also offers furniture and interior design services.
Short said she was asked about what she has found works during her nearly 32 years on Main Street.
“It was basically what are the things that we have done that we feel like have helped us survive against Walmart or big box stores or big heavy discounters and what are some of the things that kept us going,” she said.
Short said she feels like putting customer service first, willingness to put in extra hours or go to people’s houses and staying ahead of the curve on trends has helped make her businesses successful.
Short said she hopes to inspire a business owner perhaps on the edge of going out of business or someone afraid to make the leap into small business ownership.
“Why not follow your dream?” she said.
Not giving up is also a key to keeping a small business alive.
“Don’t close your shop at 3 on a Saturday just because you haven’t had the kind of day you wanted,” she said.
Ashley McManus Smith and Amber Rayborn, owners of the recently opened A Gallerie, will also be featured on the “Your Business” segment.
Rayborn said she talked to producers about why she and Smith chose to open a shop on Main Street.
“Natchez needed to be revitalized, and we needed a new, fresh store in the area,” she said.
Rayborn said she could relate to people who may be hesitant to open their own business.
“Were we scared? Yes, we were scared. But we both love decorating, and we believed we could do it.”
A Gallerie offers a variety of products, from accent furniture to home décor and jewelry.
But Natchez business owners are not the only ones diversifying their assets, Silverstein said.
“I feel like it is echoed and reflected by the town itself,” he said. ‘The economic base is a combination of tourism … and the town has lost a lot of industry, which is typical to a lot of small towns, but they’ve managed to bring in some of the oil industry, so they’re looking to keep an industrial base of some sort.”
Silverstein said Natchez’s use of the Natchez Convention Center and the Natchez Grand Hotel, which also spurred the construction of several other hotels, brings a lot of people to town and helps support the downtown culture.
“So I felt like the town itself was trying to diversify its economy, as well as the merchants,” he said.
The show will also feature Kimbrell’s Office Supply, M. Schon Gallery and One Of A Kind Gifts.
“Your Business” is a half-hour show that focuses on entrepreneurship and small businesses. It seeks to provide viewers with useful tips and “news you can use” to successfully own your own business. The show also profiles small business owners and showcases their experiences in an effort to show best practices and useful things that might apply to other businesses, Silverstein said.
Silverstein said Natchez’s segment does not yet have an air date, but he said it will likely air in about six weeks.
JJ Ramberg, who is a small business owner herself, hosts the show.
Silverstein said he has been overwhelmed by Natchez’s Southern hospitality.
“The people in this town are unbelievably friendly,” he said. “I’m a Northern guy from New York City, and I’m used to people in New York being extremely friendly and extremely outgoing to me, which is not the stereotype, but it’s the reality. But everybody that I met here went out of their way to introduce me to this town and show me around. The hospitality in Natchez is astounding.”


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In the era of digital transformation, every company needs a CISO. In the ongoing war against ad threat attacks, there’s good news and bad news. The good news: Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2019, the rate of digital ads containing lower-risk malvertising declined to .07 percent compared to 1.25 percent in 2018. The bad news: More than 60 percent of holiday ad threat attacks were far more malicious exploits.
Now more than ever, publishers and advertisers must remain vigilant to combat online security threats that constantly seek to steal the private data and credit card information of consumers. Preparedness begins with an understanding of the threat itself, and what it means for a company’s security efforts.
Understanding Ad Threats
First things first: What is an ad threat?
Many executives are well aware of ad fraud, in which bad actors manipulate marketers into paying for fraudulent ad views. Ad threat, however, is a different breed of trouble. Ad threat represents the weaponization of AdTech to distribute malware, trojans and other malicious attacks to consumers, in addition to defrauding marketers and publishers.
Ad fraud typically refers to efforts by criminals to steal advertising revenue from publishers and advertisers, victimizing brands and website owners. Ad threat instead refers to attacks that victimize audiences, users, and citizens who interact with websites and online applications. By exploiting ad tech vendors, cybercriminals can run scams, collect sensitive data, and distribute malware. Given the ever-tightening regulatory environment around consumer data and privacy, these attacks are increasingly exposing companies to huge potential fines, not to mention alienated customers.
- Abuse of a service provider’s code: Bad actors abuse service provider code by creating fake accounts with ad networks and using that company’s ad tags to deliver exploits onto sites, without ever needing to compromise the target company’s servers.
- Partner exploitation: In the case of attacks that look to steal information from checkout and login pages, attackers look for third-party partners on those pages and identify those that are most easily compromised. That code is then used to gain access and collect user data as consumers are entering it.
Shoring Up Vulnerabilities
While the proliferation of ad fraud has long been viewed as a problem for Marketing teams to address, ad threat security gaps represent serious potential breaches that must be monitored and managed by security teams. After all, it’s not just ad revenue and user experiences that are at stake.
Executives looking to avoid similar fates need to start by creating cultures of security within their companies. That means ensuring CTOs, CISOs or CIOs—whoever spearheads data security within your organization—have the resources needed to maintain site safety and security across all emerging areas of threat. (You might even consider appointing your CISO or CIO to sit on the board.)
It’s also important for companies to regularly evaluate security risks and mitigators across all departments and emerging technologies. Meanwhile, be sure to review your cybersecurity insurance to make sure that your organization has the right controls and mitigators in place to meet the requirements.
Above all, remember: Online security is an ongoing journey, not a destination. As bad actors evolve, it’s imperative that company executives be constantly reevaluating their practices to ensure they’re always one step ahead.


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The demand for information technology (IT) skills is expected to significantly rise in a post covid world as even traditionally non-technology companies have been forced to embrace digital transformation. Digital is no longer the prerogative of IT companies as it has percolated to organisations across sizes and sectors, said experts.
As per an Ernst & Young report, the Covid-19 crisis has made many organisations realise that they were “underestimating” the speed of technology and “under investing” in technologies and tools that can enable them to operate in a digital world. The main concept of digital business is merging the physical and digital world into something that creates new revenue streams, new customer segments or drives radically new customer experiences,” said Arup Roy, research vice president, Gartner.
Source: Economic Times


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Started as a customer-centric initiative in 2014, mShoppe offers customers various facilities like real time price updates, information on part features and benefits, new part line introductions, etc.
Recently, the company inaugurated 5 mShoppe outlets on a single day, taking the number of mShoppe outlets to 102.
Today, mShoppe outlets are spread across the country, from Leh in J&K to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Godhra in Gujarat to Tura in Meghalaya.
According to Hemant Sikka, president – CPO, Powerol & Spares Business, “For automakers, the biggest concern is that counterfeit parts make vehicles unsafe. Today, spurious parts reportedly make up a third of the total supplies in the market which only puts into context the magnitude of the problem. Having said that, customer awareness and ready availability of genuine spare parts is the key to curb the sale of these counterfeit products."
"At Mahindra, we recognise this growing menace and have hence, set up these mShoppes across the country, which are first-of-their-kind retail outlets for genuine Mahindra spare parts. Going forward, we will set up many such outlets, making genuine parts easily available and adding to the convenience of our customers.”
The company conducts regular counterfeit checks and has also launched mechanic and retailer meets and various outreach programs through its spare parts distributors, aimed at educating influencers and end consumers on the various initiatives taken by the company to control the sale of counterfeit parts.
In recent times, the company has successfully conducted 79 raids across the country and intends to expand such actions to newer territories in the current financial year.
British bus maker Optare will deliver its final batches of diesel buses over the next 6-8 weeks, bringing down curtains on a 115-year journey in different forms. This development can be seen as a significant example of the transition of the automotive industry towards electrification.
Apart from Guleria, Pradeep Pandey senior vice-president (customer service), HMSI has put in his papers. In February this year Shekhar MC, formerly general manager (finished vehicles logistics), too exited the company and joined Ola Electric Mobility.


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Industry bodies representing the UK and EU asset management industry are at odds over whether the planned extension of troubled PRIIPs regulations to cover a wider range of strategies including UCITS vehicles from 31 December 2019 should go ahead, while the European Commission (EC) has clashed with top EU regulators over the plan.
The Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products regulation (PRIIPs), which came into force in January and currently encompasses many retail investment products excluding UCITS funds and non-UCITS...
Headed up by Penny Kyle
Ex-Standard life manager Angela Burns
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Talking Strategies: The number of companies in Asia with higher payout ratios have grown since the mid-1990s, but some investors remain wary of searching for income in Asia and Japan. In this video, Jupiter's Jason Pidcock and Dan Carter explain why this...


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Derek Spier from the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation and Les Thornton from AMI said the company will be hiring 15 employees for a new product line that will be housed in a 96,000 square foot building at 2400 Walter Glaub Drive. AMI has a 5-year lease on the new facility and will be investing $3.75 million in personal property equipment for the new product line to manufacture tubing for the automotive industry.
AMI plans to hire up to a total of 200 workers by 2016 with an hourly pay of $13. They also offer a full benefit package including a 401 K plan.
With plants in Michigan, AMI looked a expanding there but the incentives from the city and tax credits and training dollars from the state were better here.
The Council unanimously approved a resolution confirming a declaratory resolution designating the real-estate to be in an economic revitalization area.
In other business the City Council accepted the Uniform Conflict Interest Disclosure Statement from Councilman Mike Delp in anticipation of the Redevelopment Commission awarding Michiana Contracting the bid for the Metronet conduit installation project for the city’s portion of the project Tuesday evening. Michiana was low bidder when looking at the base bid and the 4 alternates with a bid of $716,480. The next two bids were $725,488 and $731,797.


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Fraud - its forms and reforms - was the top news story in April. Listen to this audio overview of the month's top news items, including:
Hancock Breach Reveals New Trend;
P2P Payments: Simple, Secure Transactions;
How Do You Recover Your Reputation?
Increasingly, consumers long for a simple payment solution that allows them to send money to family and friends via email or text message.
Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU), Washington's largest credit union, is at the forefront of the person-to-person (P2P) payments revolution. And in an exclusive interview,...


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HTC Slams Rumors, Hints Apple is Getting Less Than Half Microsoft's Licensing Fee
November 20, 2012 9:04 AM
comment(s) - last by
Peter Chou calls claims of $6 USD per handset "outrageous", calling the actual fee a "happy settlement"
While HTC Corp. (
) seemed relatively indifferent to rumors that it was paying Microsoft Corp. (
) a licensing settlement of
$10 USD per Android smartphone sold
, its chief executive Peter Chou reacted decisively to claims that it was paying between $6 and $8 USD to Apple, Inc. (
) per device sold for a similar license fee.
Speaking at KDDI Corp.'s (
) launch of the J Butterfly handset -- the twin to
Verizon Wireless's upcoming Droid DNA
-- the HTC CEO remarked, "I think that these estimates are baseless and very, very wrong. It is a outrageous number, but I'm not going to comment anything on a specific number. I believe we have a very, very happy settlement and a good ending."
HTC and Apple
agreed to a truce
in their patent war earlier this month. The patent war between the smartphone makers
began in 2010
, after HTC became the first Android phonemaker sued by Apple. Apple won some preliminary trade court rulings that allowed it to
of HTC handsets into the U.S. back in May, forcing retailers to make due with existing inventory. The blockade was
lifted after a couple of weeks
after HTC r
emoved the UI element
HTC's CEO hinted Apple is getting half of what Microsoft is getting, or less.
[Image Source: Reuters]
But more recently Apple saw its litigation against HTC stall, with courts
refusing bans on top HTC handsets
. At that point Apple CEO Tim Cook finally appeared to get serious about licensing, realizing that simply trying to ban HTC might not be the most beneficial approach. Months later a truce was realized.
Details of that truce were not made public, but the financial impact was not severe enough to cause HTC to bump its earnings guidance lower. If Apple is indeed receiving less than $6 USD per handset, as Mr. Chou's comments seem to imply, that means that its intellectual property licensing rights are worth half of what Microsoft's are, or less.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Is Apple changing Post Steve Jobs?
11/21/2012 10:29:25 AM
At that point Apple CEO Tim Cook finally appeared to get serious about licensing...
So it would seem that just by it's actions that Apple was out to put HTC out of business, but now that calmer minds (other than Steve Jobs) are in charge that they are willing to work with the competition?
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According to an article in Autoweek, Millenials, a generation born between the years of 1980 and 2000, care more about buying cars than we previously thought. As a matter of fact, they happen to be rapidly rising in the ranks, as a considerable segment of the auto buying industry. Who would've thought this young group of people, who grew up in the recession of 2008, could be the driving force in automobile sales. What's bringing them in, and what can dealerships do to use millennial car buying trends to their advantage?
A Millennial's Buying Behavior
Technology still holds a huge impact on their purchasing decisions. It seems that 57% of this younger generation are using mobile apps, more than a web browser. As a matter of fact, 74% of them admitted to comparing prices, as of 2015, by using a technological device. According to another report, put out by Barkley, a marketing service agency, 50% of Millennials use their smartphones as well as tablets to research products while they shop. This young generation, according to an article on AutoGuide's website, spends a lot of time researching and comparing cars before they even step foot on to the dealership lot.
Even with the research, they are not exactly impulse buyers, at least not when it comes to the big-ticket items. Post Online Media reports that older Millenials find saving money a top priority in their life. Millenial car buying trends suggest that they take an average of at least 4 hours more to decide, on a car, than older generations. Selling them a vehicle can be tricky unless you know how to lure them into the sale.
How Can Dealerships Sell to Millennials?
What do Millenials love the most? Technology. They grew up using the internet, some had cell phones, and others used mp3 gadgets. They like it, and they're more likely to purchase devices that will enrich their lives in any way possible, which is why they're heavy smartphone users.
So, it stands to reason, that technology is the way to this generation's heart, so to speak. Just keep in mind, that as a salesperson, you need to know your car, ALL of it. That includes every detail you can learn about the newer vehicle's technological features. If a millennial can't figure out how to run the technology a car has, they're likely to walk away from that sale. Don't let that happen. Teach them how it works and show them how easy they can be to use, and you just might find yourself handing over the keys to a new vehicle owner. For more information about the buying trends of Millennials, check out our ebook and other resources.


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DICE Tease Details Of ‘Diverse’ Battlefield 1 Campaign
DICE announced a new game called Battlefield 1 last week. Dunno if you saw. It was a pretty quiet, reserved affair to be honest – I don’t think many people noticed.
Ah well, despite the fact that this new WWI shooter managed to slip under everyone’s radar, new details have come to light regarding the game’s campaign.
Lead designer Daniel Berlin shared some new information with GamesBeat, and discussed the game’s overall aim to highlight factors of World War One that folk might not be aware of.
Berlin teased that Battlefield 1’s single player campaign may follow multiple characters, and will focus on different stories and different personalities across the world.
Apparently one of the playable characters will be the Bedouin woman warrior from the announcement trailer (the one on the horse at the start).
Berlin said of their aim to highlight lesser known elements of WWI:
When we set out on this game, we wanted to depict not just the common view of what the war was like. We wanted to challenge some preconceptions. We want to delve into some of the unknowns of WW1. Maybe people don’t know that this person fought or that person fought, that this army was involved. We’re stretching out and bringing all those stories into the game.
I can’t speak for everyone, but my knowledge of World War One isn’t exactly amazing, especially when compared to more recent wars. Just another reason that DICE are really on to something with this setting, I guess – we can all learn as we play.
Battlefield 1 is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 21 this year. A beta has also been confirmed for sometime in the next few months.


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Despite the unprecedented conditions on the high street, optimism has remained and has been demonstrated by the number of company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) in the sector in 2018.
This optimism has deteriorated as a number of high profile high street CVAs have failed and exposed the traditional retail model as broken.
In a recent statement from Mike Ashley at Sports Direct, revealing their half year results, he commented “Christmas shopping has been so bad for retailers that it “will literally smash them to pieces…November was the worst on record; unbelievably bad”. His comments on extremely poor sales in the period leading up to Christmas have since been echoed by other retailers and have sent the share prices of a number of major high street retailers spiralling into decline.
This should send out a stark warning to those high street retailers who are depending on good Christmas sales to boost their trading performance. Mr Ashley’s comments should come as no surprise with continued uncertainty on the outcome of the Brexit position and clearly consumers have chosen to tighten their belts with maybe half an eye on significant discounts in the January sales. With rental quarter dates looming at the end of the month and continued uncertainty heading into 2019 in both the UK and World economy, those retailers with weak balance sheets will need to be extremely careful about how they manage their businesses in the near future.
With just two weekends before Christmas, many retailers are already cutting prices to stimulate sales, fuelling fears of a spate of profit warnings and insolvencies in the new year.


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Online furniture seller Saraf Furniture has announced that the company is going to hire 200+ specially-abled individuals for its off-field work activities. The company also announced that they are going to invest Rs. 10 crores approx for expanding its existing portfolio in 2022.
The company will be focusing on its product range of home décor and furnishings in the current investment and categories will include lightning, accessories and rugs and carpets, an official statement highlighted.
The statement also added that the hiring process will take place from various social media platforms like LinkedIn and applications will also be accepted for offline submissions. The specially-abled individuals will be hired for off-field work activities like after sale services, tele-calling, quality check, designing and content writing.
Raghunandan Saraf, Founder and CEO- Saraf Furniture talking about this hiring process said, “ As a business it is our duty to promote equality at workplace. We must lay emphasis to the skills required for working. It’s been some time that we were thinking of this initiative to expand but now with things lining up, we have crafted a base and the production units are ready to ensure increased production capacities. We wish to serve our customers to the best of our abilities.”


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OCTOBER 12, 2018 – MIKE WOOLSEY
Alright Android lovers, here is a bit of interesting news! The creator of Android, Andy Rubin is putting most other projects on hold for the development of an Android phone that automatically texts people for you. The phone will try and mimic the user, responding to texts automatically. How is this any different from automatic responses sent by email when you just don’t want to reply because you’re on that “business trip”?
Well…The design of the new mobile device isn’t like a standard smartphone. It would have a small screen and requires users to interact mainly using voice commands, in connection with Essential’s artificial-intelligence software. The idea is for the product to book appointments or respond to emails and text messages on its own, according to the people familiar with the plans. Users would also be able to make phone calls from the planned device.
“If I can get to the point where your phone is a virtual version of you, you can be off enjoying your life, having that dinner, without touching your phone, and you can trust your phone to do things on your behalf,” Rubin said. “I think I can solve part of the addictive behavior.” Put that in your pipe and smoke it Apple! Regardless of how Rubin goes about trying to make a virtual version of the user, it still will remain addictive and most will still be attached to their devices. Yet for many, an AI type device could come in handy! But any user that has spent time with Siri, Alexa or Cortana will tell you there are limits to having a virtual assistant.
So, there you have it, it’s a bit different than the typical automatic email response that is sent when you’re playing hookie! Seems there is a vision and Rubin is working hard to not only compete with others, he’s trying to shape who we are as people and revolutionize the industry as a whole.


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Though it was teased late last year -- on the same day that HTC announced its very first Windows Phone 7
devices, in fact -- the company's QWERTY-packing 7 Pro
has taken its sweet time to make it to American airwaves; in the process, it's gone through a name change and picked up the first big platform update from Microsoft
. The phone we now know as the Arrive
is finally available from Sprint, becoming the first Windows Phone 7 device available on a CDMA network. These days, it's pretty unusual for an HTC handset -- or a handset on any American carrier, really, regardless of manufacturer -- to take this long to make it to subscribers' hands after announcement, but in this case, Sprint's hands were tied: Microsoft simply didn't support CDMA initially, which explains why both AT&T and T-Mobile have been enjoying a selection of models from Samsung, LG, Dell, and HTC alike while Sprint and Verizon have been patiently twiddling their thumbs.
The CDMA dry spell's over, though; the Arrive marks just the first of what should be several Redmond-powered phones over the course of 2011. Is it a fitting first effort? And how does it fare against the GSM models that beat it to market? Read on.


text: The Lambs Farm Arts and Crafts Fair has traditionally meant that Christmas is right around the corner. So why are they setting up shop in April? According to a spokesperson, the public demand for a spring show was high. So this weekend more than 250 booths at the Rosemont O`Hare Expo Center will feature items that fit the season. Gifts for Easter, Mother`s Day and Father`s Day will be on display, with an emphasis on bright, springlike colors. ``A lot of the work will be done on the spot,`` a spokesperson said. For example, there will be booths for crystal repair and personalized yard signs. One of the more interesting items is the dulcimer, a handcrafted folk instrument that resembles a harpsichord. Exhibitors will be coming from 17 states including Colorado and Florida.


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Dubai-based Zeebu has reached a significant milestone, processing over $1 billion in settlement transactions within the first quarter of 2024.
This remarkable feat underscores Zeebu’s rapid ascent as a leading force in the web3 payments landscape, particularly within the telecom carrier industry.
Zeebu’s journey to this milestone began with its alpha trials, which saw an impressive half a billion dollars processed in transactions.
The subsequent launch of its PSP version 4.0 product update introduced governance enhancements and new platform capabilities, propelling Zeebu from settling nearly 5,000 invoices totaling over $500 million to surpassing the $1 billion threshold.
This swift progression not only marks a new era of scalability and efficiency for Zeebu but also establishes the company as a global frontrunner in blockchain-based telecom settlements.
At the heart of Zeebu’s offerings is the ZBU Token, designed to facilitate global transactions and reward its holders for every transaction recorded on its system.
Zeebu’s approach has also transformed the settlement process, reducing invoice settlement times from the industry standard of 7-15 days to a mere 3-7 minutes.
With hundreds of telecom carriers and businesses now leveraging Zeebu’s audacious network, the platform is set for continued growth and deeper market penetration.
Zeebu is a pioneering company that has established itself as the world’s first on-chain invoice settlement platform tailored for the Telecom Carrier industry.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Dubai, Zeebu is at the forefront of leveraging blockchain technology to streamline the settlement process for telecom carriers.
With the creative ZBU Loyalty token, Zeebu incentivizes and rewards carriers for successful invoice settlements, enhancing efficiency and transparency in the telecom sector.
You can learn more about Zeebu by reading their Whitepaper, available here.


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Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More
Yelp is on a mission to dominate local services. Yelp and ReachLocal announced an exclusive partnership today that will enable users to book home services directly on Yelp.
Yelp has made a major push this year to become a place where people actually do business, rather than just research. Millions of people use Yelp to search for repairmen, home cleaners, interior designers etc. By partnering with ReachLocal, Yelp visitors will be able to see current appointment availability and to book and buy home services through a company’s Yelp profile, instead of having to reach out to the business independently.
ReachLocal provides online marketing tools for local businesses. The public company added ReachCommerce to its suite of solutions earlier this year to help small and medium businesses move all their operations online, including scheduling, booking, email confirmations, tracking of technician arrival, digital estimates, and payments. ReachLocal will power home service bookings on Yelp at the end of this year, and ReachCommerce users will have the exclusive ability to integrate booking into their Yelp profiles automatically.
Yelp launched Yelp Platform at MobileBeat 2013, taking a major step towards becoming more than just a reviews site. Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat that his goal is to turn Yelp into a “one-stop shop” for transactions with local businesses. The first vertical on Yelp Platform was a food delivery feature through partnerships with Eat24 and Delivery.com. Consumers could browse for food options on Yelp and then place their orders through the service.
Home services is a huge market of $400 billion a year. Americans spend a lot of money on local services, but the market remains highly fragmented. It is made up of a large number of small, local businesses that don’t have a strong Internet presence. This presents a challenge for consumers, who want a convenient way to hire someone trustworthy and competent, and for businesses that struggle to reach potential customers.
ReachLocal is one of the few companies that has made anyway headway in addressing these challenges. Angie’s List is another. The company provides reviews and discounts on home services and is doing extremely well. In a recent earning call, Angie’s List reported significant growth in memberships and revenue. ReachLocal takes a different approach by primarily targeting businesses rather than consumers, but it spun out a new consumer offering called ClubLocal earlier this year. ReachLocal’s CEO Zorik Gordon told VentureBeat that consumers have come to expect transparent pricing, responsive service, and guaranteed satisfaction when it comes to online purchasing, but they still expect inconvenience when it comes to local services. ClubLocal was intended to eliminate as much friction as possible from the process, and the partnership with Yelp is also part of that vision.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.


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As you all know that approximately one month back Blackberry had reveled their first Blackberry OS 10 based smartphones namely Blackberry Z10 and Blackberry Q10.
It will definitely be a very good news to all loyal Blackberry users in India that Blackberry have finally launched the much awaited BB OS 10 based Full Touch screen smartphone Z10 in India. Z10 is one of the smartphone from Blackberry which will feature much awaited Blackberry OS 10. The other one is Q10 which according to the company officials will be launched in India near April, 2013.
But the main point here is not the latest OS from Blackberry but instead it is the price tag which Blackberry have put on the Z10 smartphone that is massive Rs. 43,490. So Blackberry want to recover their losses from India by pricing their sub standard smartphones at such a high price.
The Z10 features nothing special which justify its high price tag. At Rs. 43,490 there are plethora of options of available in the market that can decimate Z10 from its core. But still Blackberry is so over confident that they have guts to price Z10 so high. I think they want to compete in terms of price but not in terms of features.


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Utility output slumped 3.7% after a 6.4% jump the previous month that was the biggest in six years. Demand for electricity and natural gas returned to normal last month after gaining during the coolest March since 2002, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
Mining production, which includes oil drilling, increased 0.9%.
Greenbrier Cos., a Lake Oswego, Oregon-based rail-car maker, expects orders will grow as international trade improves, consumer demand picks up and the industry works off the excess supply built up in the past few years.
“We think there will be a modest amount of demand continuing in 2013,” Chief Executive Officer William Furman said in a May 8 presentation to investors. “We see substantial demand in 2014 and 2015 building up.”
Details of the industrial production data released today also showed broad-based weakness. Output of business equipment decreased 0.5% in April and consumer goods dropped 0.6%. Machinery production fell 0.4% after a 0.6% decline. Output of construction materials decreased 0.8% after slumping 1.5%.
The economy may cool to a 1.6% pace in the second quarter, after growing at a 2.5% rate in the first three months of 2013, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists from May 3 to May 8. The projected slowdown reflects the lagged effect from a two percentage-point rise in the payroll tax at the start of 2013 and $85 billion in automatic budget cuts that began on March 1.
Business inventories were little changed in March for a second month, as sales fell by the most in nine months, Commerce Department figures showed on May 13.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Official Dragonborn DLC Trailer – Skyrim
Bethesda has released the official trailer for the next DLC in Elder Scrolls Skyrim. Dragonborn DLC features brand new areas, weapons, armor, and even the ability to fly dragons.
Purchase Dragonborn on Xbox Live on December 4th for 1600 MS Points.
Robert Birmingham is Editor-in-chief at Flydrs.com.