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Sony and Panasonic made their 3D television intentions public last week, and now Sharp has earmarked the technology as one worth following with the announcement of two 3D projectors in May this year.
“Home theatre enthusiasts are expected to embrace 3D as they look to bring the 3D experience, currently found in the cinema, into their homes,” says Denis Kerr, Sharp Deputy Managing Director. “3D requires a big screen to give viewers the full effect and that is what Sharp can offer to households across Australia. Only a Sharp projector with up to a 300 inch screen size can produce the cinema-like experience that 3D viewing deserves.”
The PG-D2500X and the PG-D2710X are designed for home entertainment, education, and business needs, according to the company, and can throw an image with a diagonal from 100cm up to a whopping 762cm. Based on single chip DLP technology, they provide XGA resolution (1024 x 768 pixels), so fall short of being able to display the full HD resolution of 3D Blu-ray discs when they become available. Both projectors support 50 and 100Hz frame rates, with the latter being the minimum necessary for presenting 3D images. Viewers will need to wear special shutter glasses to realise 3D effects from the projectors, but because Sharp employs non-proprietary DLP Link technology, glasses are likely be cheaper that those locked into 3D systems from other brands.
Sharp’s 3D projector duo can, of course, be used to display conventional 2D video material, and provide the usual connections for hooking up to computers, Blu-ray players and video game consoles.


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Subaru of America is now celebrating a huge milestone with the total production of its All-Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicles reaching 15 million units. This was attained in the 44th year of production of AWD vehicles with the launch of the Subaru Leone 4WD Estate Van in September 1972.
Since then, the automaker has continuously improved its AWD technology and the basic functions of its cars, with the goal to make driving not only safer but more enjoyable.
Last year, AWD models accounted for 98 percent of Subaru’s sales worldwide. Equipped with the horizontally-opposed SUBARU Boxer® engine, these models featured the automaker’s unique symmetrical AWD system.
Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is claimed to provide a combination of outstanding stability and traction inherent to AWD and balanced weight distribution provided by the symmetrically-laid-out drivetrain with a longitudinally-mounted BOXER engine positioned in line with it. Thanks to this synergy, the vehicle is able to deliver superior performance such as stability at high speeds and brisk cornering.
According to Subaru, the symmetrical AWD system is one of the key technologies that underscore the automaker’s commitment to driving pleasure and safety. Under the automaker’s “Confidence in Motion” brand statement, it will continue to improve its engineering excellence and unique appeal to provide an “Enjoyment and Peace of Mind” driving experience to customers around the world.
Hamid Moaref has always been fascinated by cars and the automotive industry. His family has a longstanding association with the industry and has been in the tire business for the past 35 years. Raised in Dubai, Hamid attended Capilano University in Vancouver where he graduated with a BBA in marketing before attending an intensive course in magazine publishing in 2005. He has been the publisher and chief editor of Tires & Parts magazine for the past ten years.
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© 2017 Morjan Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Legalizing pot coast-to-coast was supposed to help curb the black market. A local friend-of-a-friend says the market will remain open.
“…I think my regulars will keep coming back, just as a big F-U to the government too.”Local dealer
A Barrie-based drug dealer we spoke to says legalization won’t hurt his business. He claims that while many will be going to provincially-run pot shops, his regulars will be sticking around. “I do this to make a little extra money on the side, and I will continue to deal even after it is legal. I know I’m breaking the law, but I think my regulars will keep coming back, just as a big F-U to the government too. I’m not worried.”
— Barrie 360 (@Barrie360) October 17, 2018
The Dealer tells Barrie 360 there are incentives to continue buying from the black market, including convenience: “Sure, people can go to a pot store and get what they want. Who knows what kinds of choices smokers will have though and what strengths. I get new strands all the time, sometimes really potent stuff, and I deliver right to your house.”
The Ontario Cannabis Store stocks about 90 products now, in either dried bud form, pre-rolled joints, or oils. It is expected delivery would take up to three days to arrive at your door. Brick-and-mortar stores are expected to start opening as of April 1st. The Dealer doesn’t care. He says his prices may fluctuate a bit, but that’s it. “Well yeah, it will eat into my bottom line. I know some of my regular customers are expecting me to drop my prices once these stores open, but it is pretty likely I am and will be charging less than the government will anyway.”
The Barrie Police Service recognizes the black market won’t disappear overnight, that this Dealer isn’t alone. Police spokesperson Peter Leon says buying at the street level comes with too much uncertainty. “The cannabis that is being offered for sale through the Ontario Cannabis Store is regulated; that cannabis is free from any other issues or concerns that the average user may have a problem with.”
Leon points out there are cases in Barrie alone where drugs have been tampered with. “I think you need to ask yourself the question “do I really know what I’m buying at the street level, what I’m getting?” Because we have seen in this community, and many others, where individuals have taken narcotics and have unfortunately found themselves in a state where they had to be brought back from near-death situations. People need to ask themselves if they know what drug they are using.”


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The electric-car company’s stock pulled back after crossing $1,000 for the first time earlier this week.
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell today, even as the overall market rose nicely. The stock declined as much as 6.2% but finished the day down 3.9%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 1.3%.
The growth stock’s pullback came as two analysts downgraded their ratings for the stock, citing valuation concerns.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas downgraded the stocks rating from “equal weight” to “underweight,” indicating he believes shares will underperform the broader market. Along with his rating change, he lowered the stock’s 12-month price target from $680 to $650, noting that expectations have become too high with the stock recently trading near $1,000.
Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney boosted his 12-month price target for the stock from $925 to $950 but lowered the stock’s rating from buy to neutral to reflect Tesla shares’ sharp appreciation to levels near $1,000 recently. He too believes investors may now be expecting too much from the company.
It’s true that shares have had a nice run recently. The stock is up 47% over the past three months and more than 120% year to date. While the automaker has demonstrated profitability recently, the electric-car maker may have trouble reporting a profit during Q2 because of temporary factory shutdowns. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, investors will expect Tesla to return to rapid growth, particularly as it rolls out its new Model Y crossover and ramps up production at its new factory in China.
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The bourse regulators in Cambodia and Thailand this week announced plans to work together to boost their capital markets through cross-border listings and depositary receipts.
During a meeting on Monday in Phnom Penh, Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, secretary-general at the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in Thailand, and Sou Socheat, general director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC), agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation next month.
The MoU will cover equity offerings and depositary receipts and will allow entities to make an offer or list stock outside their countries.
The agreement is seen as an effort to boost the development of the Cambodian bourse, which launched in 2012 but has thus far attracted just five companies to the main board.
During the meeting on Monday, the regulators exchanged views on cooperation and assistance, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
“Building on a MoU on cooperation signed in 2014, SECC and SEC Thailand have agreed to sing an additional MoU on cross-border equity offering and the issuance of DR which will allow issuers from both Cambodia and Thailand to make an offer or to list their equity securities outside the issuer’s home jurisdiction,” it said.
“Cross-border equity offering will help expand the issuers’ businesses, increase their liquidity derived from trading in more than one exchange and give them access to a larger pool of potential investors,” it said.
The MoU will establish a working group composed of SECC and SEC Thailand officials.
Kim Sophanita, director of the market operations department at the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), said the cooperation will be an important milestone for CSX.
“CSX welcomes this cooperation. We believe that it will provide mutual benefits because it will allow listed companies and investors in both countries to access more funding and a wider offer of investments,” she said.
“There are many examples of this type of cooperation in other markets. CSX aims to enhance its offer with products from Cambodia as well as Thailand, China, Korea and more.”
She said both capital markets will benefit from the cooperation. “The Thai stock market is no doubt more attractive but Cambodia is a big market for Thai products.”
Prom Visoth, president and CEO of brokerage firm Acleda Securities, said the agreement will improve the local capital market by bringing more products online, increasing trading activity and attracting new companies.
“CSX will soon have more securities-related products available. More products mean more choice for investors. Moreover, the agreement will encourage more local companies to launch IPOs,” he said.
Besides the five companies listed on CSX’s main board, two local companies (Hattha Kaksekar Limited and LOLC) have issued bonds. ABA Bank will likely follow suit in upcoming weeks, after recently obtaining SECC’s approval to issue bonds.
During the seven years that the bourse has been active, listed companies have raised a combined $120 million, according to SECC.


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A fundamental shift in security spending
Firms are shifting their cyber security spend away from traditional Prevent & Protect approaches towards Detect & Respond operations, according to Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC). The new research found the shift in spending is due to a realization that cyber attacks are inevitable.
The study questioned 200 people from companies with more than 1,000 employees in the UK, France and Germany, which together account for 60% of the Western European cyber security market.
Key findings include:
- Firms spend 77% of their security budgets on a traditional Prevent & Protect approach using end-point solutions and firewalls
- Spend is moving towards the post-breach Detect & Respond capability: which accounts for 23% of spending today but will grow to 39% in two years, the survey found. This shift is in response to growing cyber security threats. 67% of firms experienced a breach in the last year, and 100% have been breached at some time in the past
- Firms struggle to identify cyber breaches, and 69% take between one and six months to discover an attack. The costs of a breach are increasing with an average of €75,000 of direct spend being incurred, as well as loss of business and reputation. Most firms also need between one and six man months to recover from a breach.
As the cost of cyber breaches continues to rise, firms are looking to external provision of Incident Response in order to reduce costs and access the required expertise quickly.
“Firms are coming to terms with the inevitability of a cyber breach,” said Duncan Brown, Research Director at PAC and lead author of the study. “Rather than spending a majority of security budget on prevention, firms will apply a more balanced approach to budgeting for cyber attacks.”
Firms also need to address their readiness for cyber breaches. “We saw that 86% of firms think they are prepared for a cyber breach,” added Brown. “But 39% don’t have a cyber readiness plan, suggesting that some firms are in denial, or ill-informed, as to the true status of their readiness.”
“Cyber attacks have become increasingly personalised resulting in many more organisations being compromised with a much greater business impact,” commented Greg Day, EMEA VP & CTO, FireEye. “This shows that companies can no longer afford to focus solely on defence – they need to also balance it with incident response. But are businesses actually prepared? The study shows there is a misalignment today between businesses confidence to respond to a breach and their actual capabilities. The predominant gap is people skills which typically is not a quick fix. The proposed requirements being discussed in EU legislation for notification will be a significant challenge for many to achieve.”
“Keep in mind as defenders, we have to be right all the time and attackers just have to be lucky once,” said Arthur Wong, senior vice president of Enterprise Security Services at HP. “In today’s threat environment, it is no longer a question of ‘if’ you will be attacked, but ‘when’ and how you respond to the inevitable breach can have lasting consequences on your business and your brand’s reputation.”
Outsourcing of incident response is the norm
In contrast to most firms’ resourcing of cyber security, Incident Response provision by third-parties is the norm, according to the study. “69% of firms use external resources to respond to a cyber incident,” said Brown. “This use of third-party Incident Response services is a long-term strategy, as firms plan to bring in specialists when the need arises.”
Most CISOs worry about outsourcing security because they perceive a loss of visibility and control. “With Incident Response it’s better to have an external resource standing by, possibly on retainer, than divert internal staff from their core responsibilities when an attack occurs,” Brown continued. “A cyber breach may be inevitable but the nature and timing of an attack is unpredictable.”


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What's open and closed on Memorial Day? What to know about mail delivery, store hours
Memorial Day is Monday.
The holiday that honors soldiers who died during service to the United States is observed on May 30 this year. Though its roots date back to the Civil War, it was declared a national holiday in 1971.
While many people across the country will have the day off work or school on Memorial Day, you might be wondering whether your bank will be open, if you’ll get mail and more.
How can you check if stores in your area will be open on the national holiday? Will you be able to go to the grocery store for a last minute barbecue ingredient?
Here’s what you need to know about what’s open and closed on Memorial Day.
Why do we observe Memorial Day? Here's the true history of the holiday
Memorial Day sales 2022:Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe's, Home Depot open, Costco closed
Post offices will be closed on Monday, and the U.S. Postal Service will not deliver mail or packages.
FedEx offices will have modified hours on Monday, and some office locations will be closed. Customers should contact their local FedEx office for Memorial Day hours, according to the company. Most of its shipping services will also be closed, including its home delivery.
UPS store locations will be closed on Monday, and it will not be offering pickup or delivery services.
But critical services, including FedEx Custom Critical and UPS Express Critical will continue operating on Monday, according to the companies.
Most banks will be closed on Memorial Day, but ATMs and bank mobile apps may be available for some services. Federal Reserve Banks will also be closed on Monday.
Many public and private schools are closed on Memorial Day, but if you’re wondering about your child’s school, check their individual school or school district calendars.
American financial markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, will be closed on Monday. Exchanges operated by Nasdaq Inc. will also be closed on Memorial Day.
You should check with your local store before shopping on Memorial Day.
Stores such as CVS, Walgreens and others will be open, though hours may vary. You can check out other stores that will be open on Memorial Day here.
Most grocery stores in the U.S. are open on Memorial Day.
But their business hours may be adjusted on the holiday, so check with your local store before planning a grocery trip by calling or searching their website for their hours of operations. Grocery delivery services such as Instacart or Shipt may also be available.
Costco’s U.S. warehouses are closed on Memorial Day.
Contributing: Camille Fine, Madison Durham


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Diesel fuel is expensive, so it’s no surprise trucking companies want to change how we power our vehicles. The best fuel alternative currently on the market is electric. Diesel is roughly $3.00 a gallon across the nation. Electricity, on the other hand, is $1.15 an “electric gallon”.
Needless to say, the transition from diesel to electric is coming. The only question is when.
Estimated Completion Date
Most predictions are basically “sooner rather than later”. Every major trucking company should be able to change their entire fleets by 2040. This estimate is based on analyzing the existing battery technology, the need for charging stations, as well as key milestones, such as Tesla Electric Semi’s being on the road next year.
An overnight charge for a car is typically sufficient for running errands all day. Or at least under 150 miles. Semi trucks will need much more fuel than this, especially for long-haul. And having to wait 8-hours to make that last 50 mile stretch is not worth the down time.
That said, manufacturers are working hard to shorten the gap. They are working on making a super-duty battery capable of going more than 300 miles on a single charge. This battery will hopefully be ready by 2025.
Once these batteries are in circulation, you can expect a quick acceleration in the transition from diesel to electric.
Refueling Stations and Mega Chargers
In the meantime, Tesla has started developing workarounds for the short battery lifespan. A statement was issued stating“mega-chargers” would be available for truckers across the nation. These solar-powered locations are projected to speed up recharging time to about a half-hour.
These mega-charging stations, though, would only be able to serve 6 large vehicles at any given time. And the price to build such a structure is likely to exceed $250,000, which may not be financially feasible in areas with little traffic.
Truckers unable to wait or make it to a mega-charger would have to seek out one of the regular 1,100 charging stations instead.
What You Need to Know
The change to electric is coming. With a fuel-saving financial incentive for business and better air quality and reduced carbon, electric vehicles will be a win-win.
Many states are already swapping public transportation vehicles to electric. It is likely semi-truck mandates will be issued too.
The good news for truck drivers is that electric vehicles are not the same as automation. That is a separate issue, and the technology for completely automating trucking simply isn’t ready. So if you can drive an existing tractor trailer, you won’t need to learn anything new except how to plug in an electric one.
When the time does arrive, truckers will find themselves pulling up to a mega charger station similar to how things are done today. And we’ll see that a lot more in the next 5-10 years.


text: There’s an interesting new peer reviewed journal premiering this year called PeerJ. PeerJ aims to lower publishing costs for authors by charging a membership fee but not charging per page/figure/table/supplemental material, which is how most journals currently operate. Basically, you could pay $259 once and be able to publish an unlimited number of papers in the journal. Apparently publishing a manuscript in a PLoS journal, which is also open access, costs between $1350 and $2900. This new model may lead to interesting changes in the scientific publishing business.


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Apple hired a new head of retail, had a few bouts in foreign courts, and potentially had the secret behind its next tiny iPod leaked out. More on those stories (and then some) in this week's Apple Talk Weekly.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court rejects ACLU's request for portions of rulings relating to wiretapping, saying there's no "right of access."
Although Google didn't actually take the pictures, the court said that Google was a distributor and, therefore, should take them down.
Judge Lucy Koh invalidates one Samsung patent and finds that Samsung infringes on one of Apple's patents, as the two sides prepare for another courtroom battle.
Less than a week before Aereo faces the Supreme Court bench, the company that streams over-the-air broadcast TV launches a site with support for its own arguments.
The Bitcoin exchange has already filed for bankruptcy on its home turf of Japan. Meanwhile, hackers deface the blog of Mt. Gox's CEO, alleging fraud.
The fight over a Twitter ban in the country intensifies, as the government reportedly blocks a workaround, the White House weighs in, and Google refuses to yank YouTube videos critical of the prime minister.
A previous version of this story reported that Samsung's efforts to keep the iPhone 4S from being sold in Italy were temporarily denied. No rulings were made in today's hearing.


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Georgia’s freshman Senator David Perdue is a big advocate of the Fair Tax – a proposal long linked to the Peach State that calls for replacing federal income taxes with a national sales tax on all goods and services.
Perdue talked up the plan in the GOP primary and general election, and included it in his first speech from the Senate floor last month. The former Fortune 500 CEO said the Fair Tax would boost the national economy.
"Our archaic tax system is choking growth, holding back innovation, and discouraging investment," Perdue said, in calling for a transition to the Fair Tax to "level the playing field with the rest of the world."
PolitiFact Georgia wondered if evidence exists that the plan would boost investment and innovation, thereby improving the economy, and decided to check it out.
So what is the Fair Tax? Broadly, it is a plan to abolish all federal personal and corporate income taxes (including the inheritance and gift taxes) and set up a federal retail sales tax.
Not surprisingly, the wholesale upheaval of the current tax system has been controversial. Advocates claim that since taxes apply only to what you buy, individuals or businesses will have more money on hand to invest. Critics, including many sympathetic to the idea of tax reform, claim the plan places too much of the overall burden on the middle class.
The two sides can’t even settle on just what the sales tax rate would be.
Perdue is among 74 co-sponsors of the current proposal, which specifies "the tax rate of 23 percent of the gross payments for the taxable property or services."
That means the plan calls for a 23 percent tax-inclusive rate. But when translated to a sales tax, which is typically expressed in tax-exclusive terms, the rate is 30 percent.
So the current plan assumes $30 in taxes on every $100 spent, with no tax cheats on sales for everything from mortgages to groceries to doctor visits.
(More on that calculation is available from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and an essay by Bruce Bartlett, a supply-side economics expert who served under former presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush.)
A bipartisan panel convened by former President George W. Bush reported that the plan would require a sales tax of at least 34 percent, a rate that would grow if exemptions were added back for popular items such as mortgages.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated the sales tax would need to be 45 percent to be revenue neutral, as the proposal pledges, and also account for tax cheats.
The rate matters when deciding if the proposal will do as Perdue suggests and boost economic activity.
Americans for Fair Taxation, the non-profit arm of Fair Tax advocates, reported to the House Ways and Means Committee that investment would be 75 percent higher the first year of the new system and 76 percent higher over a decade.
That’s because without corporate taxes, businesses will be more inclined to use foreign and domestic profits to grow operations. That jump in investment will naturally lead to greater innovation, the report concludes.
Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economist hired by Fair Tax advocates, said that conclusion builds on a long line of research that shows the path to increased investment is more saving.
A standard life cycle model shows that the people who are most likely to spend, not save, are older people, he said. That puts the tax burden on younger people.
The Fair Tax reverses that, shifting the burden from "young savers to old and rich spenders," Kotlikoff said.
"You redistribute from the old to the young, and the bread and butter models say you have less consumption," he said. "Less consumption means more savings and more saving means more investment."
But the tax shift is what critics point out make the plan most unworkable. The Fair Tax is a regressive sales tax, because it applies to all expenses (after a prebate), and spending on essentials such as food and shelter tends to make up more of a lower-income person’s budget.
Put another way, regressive taxes come more from the poor and middle class than the rich.
Allen Buckley, an Atlanta attorney and CPA who has run for statewide office as a Libertarian, said the fastest way to summarize that shift is to say the Fair Tax shifts the tax burden from the upper-middle class and rich to the middle class and elderly.
Moreover, Buckley said, a history of major innovations do not show any relation at all to the tax system. For instance, the highest marginal tax rate in the U.S. peaked at 94 percent in 1944 and remained as high as 70 percent through the 1970s.
Yet in that same period, public-private partnerships and businesses invented and developed commercial computers, heart-lung machines and various vaccines that saved millions of lives.
"The only positive I see, if it’s truly revenue neutral, is there will be some increase in economic activity," Buckley said. "But that will be because the rich have more money to invest in the stock market, while a lot of retirees and ordinary Joes will see their savings and investments in real estate reduced in the shift."
Some economic models back up the idea that businesses will invest that money in research and development as part of their growth, said Bruce Seaman, a professor of economics at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University.
But those models can be overstated, considering some don’t control for very human factors such as greed and simple bad decisions, Seaman said.
For instance, businesses have been reporting record profits during the economic recovery – yet that has not translated into raises for workers or enough new jobs to significantly cut the unemployment rate.
Instead, economists find that investment is lagging because consumption is lagging. Businesses need customers for profit, so encouraging consumption actually puts less money in the economy, Seaman said.
"Economists do have a concern about the corporate income tax as a double taxation, but even if you are broadly sympathetic to the idea here, the Fair Tax is a grotesque exaggeration," he said.
"If a business person took it seriously, and didn’t want you to buy anything, imagine what would happen to his business if suddenly no one wanted to spend money," he added.
David Perdue claimed the Fair Tax will boost the economy by increasing investment and innovation, making American companies more competitive on a world stage.
There are some models that reinforce the idea that the way to encourage investment is to free up more money in private sector – something the Fair Tax pledges to do.
But the claim ignores contrary economic models that show the additional money stays as profit for companies – or investments for the wealthy – while lower-income taxpayers spend most of their income.
What exactly would happen can’t be known unless the change is fully implemented. But the Fair Tax also ignores political realities, such as tax evasion and potential uproar at increasing taxes on the powerful voting bloc of the elderly.
There is some truth that broad consumption tax will help the economy, but the specific Fair Tax has too many questions to be a certainty.
We rate Perdue’s claim Half True.
David Perdue, Republican Senator from Georgia, floor speech, April 27, 2015
Text of Fair Tax Act of 2015
Americans for Fair Taxation, The Impact of the Fair Tax on the Economy, September 2012
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "The Effects of Replacing Most Federal Taxes with a National Sales Tax, A State-by-State Distributional Analysis," September 2004
The Wall Street Journal, "FairTax, Flawed Tax," Aug. 25, 2007
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "Who Pays?", January 2013
President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Final report, Chapter Nine, Nov. 1, 2005
Tax Policy Center, Tax Policy Briefing, National Retail Sales Tax, accessed May 12, 2015
Laurence Kotlikoff, Testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, Feb. 25, 2015
Americans for Fair Taxation, research brief, accessed May 15, 2015
Interview with Mark Bednar, spokesman for U.S. Senator David Perdue, April 30, 2015
Interview with Gerald Huang, legislative assistant for U.S. Senator David Perdue, April 30, 2015
Interview with Bruce Seaman, professor of economics at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University, May 8, 2015
Interview with Allen Buckley, Atlanta attorney and certified public accountant, May 12, 2015
Interview with Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University, May 13, 2015
Interview with Karen Walby, economist and research consultant, Americans for Fair Taxation, May 14, 2015
Read About Our Process
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.


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The Committee of European Sugar Users is shocked to see calls for blocking imports of sugar from Ukraine. Such calls are unjustified on so many levels – but here we just focus on European economic interest. In addition to helping the Ukrainian economy, the freeing up of sugar imports from Ukraine has been vital for the European food industry.
As you can see in the attached slide deck, the EU has a structural sugar deficit – since several years now. This is due to a combination of insufficient planting of sugar beet in the EU and excessive restrictions on imports that make it impossible to fill the gap in an economically viable manner. Shortages have undermined the growth of the EU’s high value add agri-food exports, and thus the European economy. Even with the dramatic increase of imports of sugar from Ukraine since the EU lifted restrictions, there is still a shortage of supply in the EU of this vital raw material for strong export industries such as confectionery and fine bakery wares.
We need more sugar from Ukraine (and Europe and other sustainable sources) – not less! The food industry needs certainty that Ukraine will remain open as a source of supply long term, as alternative sources are so limited. This will help to reduce the EU sugar deficit and to provide the EU food industry with capacity and confidence to increase high value add exports, thus contributing to EU economic growth in addition to providing vital economic help to a country that deserves all the support Europe can provide.
Our statement is available here
You will find a CIUS presentation on The EU’s structural sugar deficit here


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Online prescription glasses retailer Glasses Direct has appointed its first head of IT.
The firm has appointed Derek Colvin, formerly of Microsoft and the Newspaper Licensing Agency (NLA), as its IT head.
Glasses Direct recently won £2.9m of venture capital to help it expand its business.
Colvin spent four years at Microsoft's MSN and Xbox divisions, and was later the NLA's chief technology officer. Colvin will have a similar role at Glasses Direct, where he will be responsible for running the firm's back-end and web IT infrastructure.


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Comcast Hires Verizon Marketer
Comcast Corp. is turning to a telephone-company veteran to direct its marketing strategy, naming former Verizon Wireless executive Marvin O. Davis senior vice president of marketing.
Davis -- who oversaw Verizon’s well-known “Can you hear me now?” campaign and other marketing pitches -- will be responsible for developing and implementing integrated marketing, sales and branding strategies for Comcast’s video, high-speed-data and voice products.
“Marvin’s leadership and expertise will help to take us to the next level and strengthen our position as the provider of choice as we bring multiple video, online and voice products to our customers,” Comcast executive VP of operations Dave Watson said in a prepared statement.
Davis will report to Watson.
Davis’ hiring follows the resignation in January of Comcast senior VP of marketing and new products Andy Addis.
Comcast also recently promoted Kevin Hill to VP of national video marketing.
The smarter way to stay on top of the multichannel video marketplace. Sign up below.


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Founded by Moroccan Hind Godard, the international platform of haute couture and oriental fashion, the “Oriental Fashion Show”(OFS), presented its Spring 2023 collection on Tuesday at Palazzo Turati, marking the opening of Milan Fashion Week.
In a press release, The Oriental Fashion Show stated that two Moroccan fashion houses entered the Italian catwalk, featuring three brand new collections inspired by the Moroccan and oriental cultural heritage.
It is related first to the “House of Calamine“, which specializes in high-end fashion, handmade by experienced craftsmen, who cooperate with their expertise with the biggest Western haute couture brands.
Crafted by more than 20 artisans, the brand “House of Calamine ” launched its first ready-to-wear collection in 2020, which succeeded in a creative vision to capture the richness of Moroccan heritage.
In addition to “Nun World” ’’ or La Maison Le monde de Nun, the Moorish flavor emanated from the creative spirit of the designer Nadia Kassir, who chose to pay homage to a perfectly imperfect ancestral know-how and to the artisans who work with passion and traditions, by bringing the authenticity and uniqueness of textile work from Tangiers to Milan catwalk.
The designer decided to present her creations for the first time in Italy, after the huge success she had during Morocco Fashion Week in Marrakech 2022.
It is noteworthy that the “Silk Road and Andalusia association, founded by Hind Godard in 2004, has been organizing the “Oriental Fashion Show“(OFS) since 2018, as the first international fashion event dedicated to couture and oriental artistic creations.


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Xenics sees a strong alignment in its products and the growing needs of the Chinese market, particularly in machine vision applications. Vision China will be the first instance that Xenics participates directly in a trade event based in China. Having an already established presence in China through its distributors, a direct participation in this event seeks to further strengthen the commitment Xenics has in the Chinese imaging market. Xenics will showcase its portfolio of ready-to-use infrared cameras, with emphasis placed on the short-wave infrared, where the company produces its own sensors. The booth will be joined by sInfraRed, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xenics in Singapore. “The industrial machine vision and automation market continue to show a positive outlook around the world, especially so for China. We have innovative products coming this year that will be very relevant for these industries, and we want to start discussions with the right stakeholders.” says Dr Raf Vandersmissen, Product Manager at Xenics. Raf also holds the position of director at sInfraRed.
The recently launched Manx linear camera series will be available on the booth for the entire duration of the trade event. This short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera provides high quality line-scan imaging at unprecedented speeds of up to 390 kHz line rate. These speeds are currently the highest out of all commercially available SWIR linear cameras. Achieving new grounds in SWIR imaging speeds enhances inspection processes, increasing daily production capabilities for such applications. Silicon wafer inspections, TFT screen inspections, food and agricultural produce sorting are some industrial applications that would benefit from this new line of ultra-fast linear InGaAs cameras. The Manx is offered in 3 different resolutions of 512, 1024 or 2048 pixels. A 2048-pixel resolution Manx camera will be demonstrated on the booth for the event.
Xenics introduces an addition to the Gobi longwave infrared (LWIR) series: the Gobi+ (plus) series. This new series of Gobi cameras provide high resolution imaging at full 640 x 480 pixels. In order to fulfill ever higher requirements of demanding applications, the Gobi+ camera series comes with increased performance capabilities. The Gobi+ brings enhanced image quality thanks to improved pixel operability as well as low detector noise of less than 50 mK NETD. High speed imaging is also provided with frame rates up to 60 Hz that can be further increased in windowing mode.


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Pair arrested over chase, store robbery
A 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy have been arrested over a high-speed car chase in Adelaide.
They were allegedly seen driving a stolen black Commodore along South Road at Richmond at about 4:00am.
There was a short chase through the back streets of Thebarton.
Police alleged that sports clothing found in the back of the car was from a shop at Findon which had been robbed earlier in the night.


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Lenovo completed acquisition of Motorola Mobility
Chinese PC maker Lenovo completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google on 30 October 2014.
Chinese PC maker Lenovo completed the acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google on 30 October 2014. The deal, valued at 2.91 billion US dollars, was announced in February 2014.
Google had acquired Motorola Mobility a couple of years ago.
Following the acquisition, the Motorola will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Lenovo but will remain headquartered in Chicago's Merchandise Mart.
The completion of acquisition by Lenovo will bring global scale, a diverse product portfolio and a track record of seizing strategic opportunities for the Motorola.
Further the acquisition will bring new boundaries of choice and value and new experiences to the consumers as both the companies have an impressive portfolio of smartphones, wearables and PCs.


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Burgeoning transportation alternatives eventually could claw into traditional vehicle ownership, according to the latest installment of the Cox Automotive Evolution of Mobility Study.
Other studies indicate Americans appear loath to give up their personal vehicles, but the Cox study says retail auto sales in the U.S. could drop nearly 30% as alternatives to traditional ownership become more accessible and affordable.
Many consumers – especially young ones – “are ripe for disruption, suggesting they’re willing to walk away from personal vehicle ownership,” Isabelle Helms, Cox Automotive’s vice president-research and market insights, says at a company event held in conjunction with the 2019 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Nearly half of consumers Cox surveyed say car ownership is too expensive.
Thirty-six percent of respondents expressed an interest in reducing the number of vehicles they own in the next five years.
“Bottom line: the smart, new alternatives to car ownership will have an impact on retail car sales in the future,” Helms says.
She adds, “As new solutions are introduced, consumers, particularly the Millennials and Gen Z, may move away from the traditional avenue of personal vehicle ownership.”
In the study, current cost of ownership was estimated at 50 cents per mile driven. In a scenario where alternatives are widely available and at a cost of 60 cents per mile, the relative similarity of costs between the two (coupled with other factors) could cut into personal vehicle sales.
But the study says that at the same time, fleet sales may likely increase, offsetting the drop.
With more questions around the affordability of personal vehicle ownership, younger generations are least likely to prefer traveling in a personally owned vehicle if all mobility alternatives – including ride-sharing and ride-hailing services – were accessible to them.
Share of miles traveled via a personally owned vehicle was 64% for Gen Z and 65% for Millennials, compared with 71% for Gen X and 82% for Boomers.
Millennials and Gen Z currently are spending the most money on their transportation with an average cost per mile of 71 cents and 79 cents, respectively, the study says.
This is significantly higher than Generation X (56 cents) and Baby Boomers (50 cents). Cost per mile for ownership is generally higher for Gen Z and Millennials because of their likelihood to use various modes of transportation beyond their own vehicle as a result of the shorter distances they need to travel because many of them live in urban areas, the study says.
On the other hand, Wes Lutz, a Michigan dealer and 2018 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Assn., cites a recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study that says the cost of relying on ride-hailing services as primary transportation in 20 of the biggest U.S. metro areas is more than twice as much as owning a car. (Isabelle Helms, left)
“I know how my customers define transportation freedom,” Lutz says during a recent speech in Detroit. “They define it by having the ability at any moment to go where they want, when they want.”
When all alternative ownership models are made fully accessible, car subscriptions see the most potential growth in share of miles traveled, from less than 1% today to 10% in the future, according to the study.
Potential future price decreases for ride-hailing and car-sharing will largely depend on the integration of autonomous-vehicle technology.
Dealers could play a key role in the vehicle-swapping that is part of most subscription services, Helms says.
“Dealers are attuned to the (mobility-as-a-service trends),” she says. “They are thinking about how they might offer services at dealerships, but they’ve never done it before. They do recognize change is coming.”


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From the you've got to be kidding file:
In addressing privacy concerns raised by those folks who don't necessarily want their word processing software sifting their communications and reporting to a server, Microsoft product manager Melissa Stern said the recently announced freebie Works 9 SE won't scan content for advertising keywords.
Stern tells PCMag.com:
"We're serving relevant ads about what we know about Works users. We're not looking at content at all."
... what we know about Works users. Like what? That they bought a cheap PC with Works pre-installed on it?
Certainly, I can understand where Microsoft is coming from here -- after theflack it's gotten over programs like WGA, it wants to steer clear of any intimation that it's installing software on people's machines that is reporting personal information back to Redmond.
But online adverting is all about context, and that means scanning content for keywords. When you get a message at Gmail, rest assured that Google has thoroughly scanned that message to drive ad placement. Of course, the whole message is stored on Google's servers, so I suppose a little additional scanning isn't going to compromise the trust consumers seem to have in the search giant to fulfill its credo to "do no evil."
I imagine that future iterations of Google Apps will more completely embrace AdWords, as well. Otherwise, Google won't make money off it. The new Works 9 SE -- which Microsoft is offering as an alternative to OEMs and not directly to consumers -- is slightly different. In fact, it's a hard install and not a Web-based app.
But then again, most observers agree that running offline is a key factor for uptake for Google Apps as well. I'll be interested in seeing how vigorously this privacy concern over scanning memos and presentation docs plays out when the bad guy isn't Microsoft.


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The Chinese tech news website ITHome was the first to spot the post which claimed that the Surface Phone was on its way and that it would work much better with Cortana, the Microsoft digital assistant, than Android phones do.
The post was made on the Chinese social site Zhihu. It said that the Institute "look forward to the perfect performance of the Surface Phone”.
As an explanation, it added that some Cortana features on Android were limited because of restrictions in Google's mobile operating system.
After Windows Phone fans reacted enthusiastically over the post, the Microsoft employee, in what appeared to be damage control, edited it to add, "we don’t know a Surface Phone will exist”.
Another tech news site, Windows Latest, published a rough translation of the post which ran thus:
“First of all, Siri and Bixby, two intelligent assistants installed in the smartphones, and Cortana is a third-party application, permissions support may be embarrassing.
"Windows Phone users may know that Cortana in Windows Phone was better than the Cortana app, Windows Phone Cortana was a lot easier to use. Microsoft Cortana (Xiao Na) is a cross-platform smart assistant, available across all devices including PCs and smartphone, trying to do more like WeChat Noda.
"For the smart assistant, permissions is a good thing, looking forward to the perfect performance of the Surface Phone (although Hana do not know will not be a surface phone).
"Of course, as a smart assistant, the pace of development is still relatively slow, but Cortana team will be working hard to make the assistant better.
"Last year in 3rd-anniversary celebration, Cortana saw all new features and support, three years is not a long time, but the move on this road Hana never forget, Microsoft Cortana team must live up to expectations.“


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Nigeria’s international online shop, Shoptomydoor.com and payment processor, MasterCard have entered into partnership to reward international shoppers through a free ocean shipping service. The promo will see MasterCard holders from all Nigerian banks enjoying an exclusive 12.5 per cent discount from Shoptomydoor.com for all purchases shipped through their platform from March till June 30th, 2015.
Tagged ‘Promo 0.10.20’ Shoptomydoor said the promo is a special Easter offer that will start on Thursday, 26th of March and end on the 14th of April, 2015. According to Shoptomydoor, “Promo 0.10.20 is basically a $0 or free ocean shipping on all items from all USA stores, $10 flat rate air shipping on all fashion items of any quantity from select stores and $20 flat rate shipping on cell phones, tablets and laptops of any quantity via air from select stores.
This affords MasterCard users the ability to shop top brands on huge discounts sale during the Easter promo from the USA with guaranteed delivery to Nigeria.” Speaking on the promo, President/CEO of shoptomydoor.com, Nduka Udeh, said:
“This exclusive promo for all MasterCard customers from any Nigerian bank, old and new, avails Nigerians the opportunity to shop directly from top brand online stores in the USA without paying a processing fee as seen with other platforms. Direct shopping of apparels, laptops, cell phones, tablets and more items from selected stores in the USA is now a norm as these stores now accept Nigerian issued cards directly.”


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The wait is finally over. Apple has unveiled the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus which feature a 6.1 inches and 6.7 inches display. It debuted with almost the same exterior design as the 13 series. The new device features a powerful camera system, an A15 Bionic chip with a 5-core GPU, an amazing battery life, and super fast 5G network connectivity. We will be reviewing the full specifications and price of Apple iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus in Nigeria.
Table of Contents
The design and battery life
Apple brought back the Plus model after dropping it when they unveiled the 8 series. The new iPhone14 Plus comes with a bigger 6.7-inch display while the normal 14 comes with a 6.1-inches display. Five beautiful aerospace-grade aluminum finishes are available for the two series. Both models have an updated internal design for better thermal performance, gorgeous Super Retina XDR displays with OLED technology that supports 1200 nits of peak HDR brightness, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, and Dolby Vision. Both devices boast good and long-lasting battery life.
To reduce screen crack, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus feature the durable Ceramic Shield front cover. This new protection is exclusive to iPhones only and its aids in preventing accidents with water and dust.
Apple is carrying over its 12MP main camera for the new devices. Both devices feature a larger sensor and larger pixels, a new front TrueDepth camera, an Ultra Wide camera to capture more scenes, and Photonic Engine for a giant leap in low-light performance.
Upgrades in the camera:
- A new Main camera with a larger ƒ/1.5 aperture and 1.9 µm pixels, enabling photo and video improvements in all lighting scenarios for better detail and motion freezing, less noise, faster exposure times, and sensor-shift optical image stabilization.
- A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture that enables better low-light performance for photos and video. Using autofocus for the first time, it can focus even faster in low light and capture group shots from farther away.
- A new Action mode for an incredibly smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes, motion, and vibrations, even when a video is being captured in the middle of the action.
- The Ultra Wide camera, offers a unique perspective for wider shots and improvements to low-light photos with Photonic Engine.
- An improved True Tone flash that is 10 percent brighter and has better uniformity for more consistent lighting.
- Cinematic mode is now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps.
- End-to-end Dolby Vision HDR, available only on iPhone.
The A15 Bionic
Standard across the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus is the powerful A15 Bionic. The 5-core GPU enables even smoother graphics for video apps and high-performance gaming, and powers amazing camera features like Photonic Engine and Cinematic mode, while still increasing the battery life.
The 6-core CPU handles demanding tasks smoothly and efficiently, and the 16-core Neural Engine is capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second, enabling even faster machine learning computations for features in iOS 16 and third-party app experiences.
Network and connectivity
Both devices feature super fast 5G network connectivity. For the iPhone series, the company has now expanded support to over 250 carrier partners in over 70 markets around the globe.
Also available is the eSIM which allows users to connect to the internet without any physical SIM card in the device. This goes a long way to tell you that in the nearest future, plastic SIM cards will be phased out. iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus remove the SIM tray for US models, enabling users to more quickly and easily set up their devices.
Apple fitness will be available for all iPhone users to subscribe to and enjoy in the 21 countries it is offered in. This will help iPhone users to keep fit. It’s cool.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus operating system
Both devices feature the iOS 16 which gives users a refined Lock Screen along with new communication, sharing, and intelligence features that make the 14 series stand out from other models. The notch and the new design are real awesome, I must confess.
The new lock screen is more beautiful and helpful than ever with its multi-layered effect that artfully sets subjects of photos in front of the time, and newly designed widgets that offer information at a glance.
Available colors of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus will be available in midnight, blue, starlight, purple, and (PRODUCT)RED.
Storage options of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.
Release date of the iPhone 14 series
Customers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, the UAE, the UK, the US, and more than 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, September 9, with iPhone 14 availability beginning Friday, September 16, and iPhone 14 Plus beginning Friday, October 7.
iPhone 14 will be available in Malaysia, Turkey, and 20 other countries and regions beginning Friday, September 23.
Price of iPhone 14 in Nigeria
|Price of iPhone 14 128GB in Nigeria||560,000 – 580,000 Naira|
|iPhone 14 256GB price in Nigeria||580,000 – 600,000 Naira|
|Price of iPhone 14 512GB in Nigeria||600,000 – 620,000 Naira|
Price of iPhone 14 Plus in Nigeria
|Price of iPhone 14 Plus 128GB in Nigeria||630,000 – 650,000 Naira|
|Price of iPhone 14 Plus 256GB in Nigeria||650,000 – 670,000 Naira|
|Price of iPhone 14 Plus 512GB in Nigeria||670,000 – 700,000 Naira|
Quick specifications of iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus
|iPhone 14||iPhone 14 Plus|
|Processor||A15 Bionic||A15 Bionic|
|Operating System||iOS 16||iOS 16|


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SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Savannah City Council approved a pilot program calling for the use of aluminum to-go cups.
The ordinance would allow businesses to sell aluminum to-go cups along with paper and plastic ones. City leaders said the change would help the environment, but Businesses will not be required to make them available.
“It’s important to note, no business, no business, no business is required to participate in this at all,” Mayor Van Johnson said. “If a business participates it’s because they want to and their relationship is with the plant directly and they can purchase it from the plant directly.”
Johnson said they’ve already heard from local businesses that are interested in purchasing the cups.


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Sri Lanka tourism and travel industry showcased at World Travel Market in London
All images by srilankahc.uk
The Sri Lanka High Commission in London facilitated the participation of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) and 57 partners of the travel trade at the World Travel Market (WTM) which was held at the ExCeL London from 7- 9 November, 2022.
The Sri Lanka pavilion was declared open by Minister of Tourism Harin Fernando, on 7 November in the presence of High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the United Kingdom Saroja Sirisena; Chairman of SLTPB Chalaka Gajabahu; Chairman of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau Thisum Jayasuriya; Chairman, Advisory Committee of Ministry of Tourism Panduka Keerithinanda; Country Manager of SriLankan Airlines Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Officials of Sri Lanka Tourism and Sri Lanka High Commission, and invitees from the UK travel trade.
Throughout the three-day period, representatives of the Sri Lankan travel industry interacted and networked with travel and tourism industry partners from the UK and around the world. WTM provided them the opportunity to disseminate latest travel related information about Sri Lanka and to stay abreast with the latest developments in the travel sector.
The traditional Sri Lankan dance showcased at the pavilion helped visitors to get a glimpse of the culturally rich traditions of Sri Lanka. The Ceylon tea counter featuring freshly brewed 07 regional Ceylon tea was a highlight at the pavilion.
On the sidelines of WTM, Minister of Tourism and the Chairman of SLTPB conducted a series of B2B meetings with leading UK travel companies, associations and travel media. A press conference for the UK mainstream and travel media organised by Sri Lanka Tourism was also held at the exhibition venue.
WTM, which is the leading global event dedicated to travel and tourism, attracts more than 30,000 visitors, 5,000 trade partners and over 3000 journalists each year from around the world.


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Online fashion retailer Myntra on Friday issued an apology for erroneously mailing product dispatch and delivery notifications to customers who had not placed any order, and said all systems and processes will be reviewed.
"Yesterday, we unintentionally inundated many of your phones with notifications. We messed up and owe you an explanation of what happened and what we are doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again," Myntra’s chief technology officer Shamik Sharma wrote in a blog post on the company's website.
In the blog post titled “Sorry, we messed up,” Sharma explained what went wrong when the notifications team updated their fleet of notification servers with a code change.
On Thursday, users of Myntra app had taken to Twitter to complain about notifications being sent for orders they had not placed with the retailer.
ET had reported how several worried users called up Myntra’s customer care, where an automated voice acknowledged it was a technical problem. Myntra later put out a Tweet accepting the problem.
"The last several hours have been a humbling period for us and we deeply regret the terrible customer experience this incident has caused. I am reaching out to the affected customers and apologising for this error. We will strive to make it up to you by committing ourselves towards building a Myntra shopping experience that is truly wonderful. Also, immediately, we will be reviewing all our systems and processes - and looking at our architecture as well as our deployment systems in great depth to check for any other such shortcomings," said Sharma.
"Following the transaction, majority Indian ownership will create the regulatory space to even convert the operations into a B2C entity. It will provide a better shopping and pricing experience. But it's a call that has to be taken," said a source familiar with the transaction.


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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.Continental Tire the Americas' General Tire brand has secured exclusive tire supplier and official racing tire status with NASCAR's K&N Pro Series, Pinty's Series and PEAK Mexico Series for the next few years.
AKRON—After nearly a decade of "status quo" among the world's largest tire makers, the pecking order at the top could be in for a shuffle in the coming year or two, depending on how well Michelin's pending acquisition of OTR/industrial tire and wheel producer Camso pans out.
HANOVER, Germany—Continental is planning to reorganize by 2020 into a holding company with three business sectors—rubber, automotive and powertrain—with the powertrain business being set up as an independent, publicly held company.
AKRON—The share of the U.S. original equipment and replacement tire markets held by high-performance tires has risen for eight straight years, according to U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association data, but growth for two classifications seems to be stalled.
The tire of the future will be round, probably black and more than likely pneumatic. To gain insight into how the tire industry perceives the tire of tomorrow, Rubber & Plastics News surveyed a handful of major tire makers, asking about a number of game-changing aspects of tire design.
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif.—Nexen Tire America is ramping up the scope of its entry into the mud terrain tire sector, adding 33-, 35- and 37-inch flotation versions of the Roadian MTX Mud Terrain Xtreme that debuted at last year's Specialty Equipment Market Association Show.


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16 August 2017
16 August 2017
BOSTON, Mass., August 16, 2017—RapidMiner™, the company that delivers real data science, fast and simple, today announced another quarter of record revenue and new customer acquisition. Within the quarter, RapidMiner signed or expanded relationships with over 10% of the companies currently on the 2017 Fortune 100 Global List, and nearly 40% of Fortune 500 are active users of RapidMiner.
“High value business use cases need data science and machine learning. Organizations looking for customer analytics, operational analytics, and risk analytics are coming to RapidMiner in record numbers,” said Peter Lee, chief executive officer at RapidMiner. “As a result, we are seeing accelerated momentum in every part of our business.”
New customers signed by RapidMiner in its Q2 2017 are using RapidMiner for a variety of data science and machine learning initiatives, including predictive maintenance, customer segmentation, fraud detection, process engineering, demand forecasting, and text analytics. Among the new customers:
ezCater, the only nationwide marketplace for corporate catering, selected RapidMiner in Q2 for a predictive analytics project to better understand user behavior. “ezCater feeds business in 22 thousand cities across the U.S.,” said Jeff Dwyer, software engineering manager at ezCater. “We are always looking for better ways to understand our users so that we can serve them better. RapidMiner lets me deliver sophisticated predictive analytics using data science and machine learning that is far more advanced than I’d expected we’d be able to achieve. At the same the visual workflow designer gives me a clear, simple solution that I can easily share with the team and other analysts.”
In addition to strong new customer acquisition, RapidMiner saw a number of existing customers increase adoption during the quarter, including a global restaurant leader who expanded their usage of RapidMiner to deploy predictive offer optimization models to thousands of its franchises.
RapidMiner 7.5 was released in Q2 with the following new capabilities:
RapidMiner released a number of new extensions into the RapidMiner community.
RapidMiner announced the Industrial Data Science Conference being held at the TU Dortmund University on September 5th, 2017. The Industrial Data Science Conference gathers experts from various industries to discuss use cases and best practices on data science and machine learning. Confirmed speakers include TU Dortmund University, Lufthansa Industry Solutions, Achenbach Buschhütten, BMW, Miele, Daimler, Volkswagen, ABB, Arcelor Mittal, and Deutsche Edelstahlwerke.
Other company news includes:
RapidMiner builds software for real data science, fast and simple. We make data science teams more productive through a lightning fast platform that unifies data prep, machine learning, and predictive model deployment. More than 250,000 users in over 150 countries use RapidMiner products to drive revenue, reduce costs, and avoid risks.
For more information, visit rapidminer.com.
Tom Wentworth, RapidMiner
+1 (617) 401-7708


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This post was written by a guest contributor. Chelsea Lamb has spent the last eight years honing her tech skills and is the resident tech specialist at Business Pop. Her goal is to demystify some of the technical aspects of business ownership.
Improve Your Manufacturing Digital Strategy and Strengthen Customer Loyalty
Staying competitive through the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded that B2B manufacturers undergo a rapid digital transformation. This accelerated shift to eCommerce represented a shock to the system in an industry built on sales reps and in-person trust-building. However, as the pandemic wears on and businesses grow accustomed to new ways of working, business owners are realizing the value of a robust digital presence.


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eBay – Pokemon card frenzy making collectors, start-ups rich
By Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg
Mark Shininger is a like a lot of millennials who played with Pokemon cards during grade school. He traded the collectibles with his friends and competed with his brothers for the shiniest, most powerful characters — until eventually he tired of the hobby, stowed the cards neatly in boxes and grew up.
Then last year as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, Shininger began hearing about vintage Pokemon card sales, sometimes reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. So the 24-year-old mechanical engineer from Random Lake, Wisconsin, dug up his old collection of Pikachus and Charmanders. He logged the creatures into a spreadsheet and turned his childhood passion into a US$4,500 side hustle.
“I kept them because I thought one day these might be worth something,” he said. “I was right.”
A lot of 20 and 30-somethings are coming to a similar realization. Fueled by nostalgia, new ways to sell online and a surplus of free time during the pandemic, the value of certain Pokemon cards has skyrocketed in the past few months. Last year, overall trading card sales climbed a record 142 percent on eBay.com, and Pokemon led the pack, averaging five card sales a minute — more than even baseball cards. That momentum has continued into this year. EBay listings of Pokemon cards were up 1,046 percent in the first quarter.
The new Pokemon gold rush has fueled a mini-explosion of entrepreneurial activity. Individual collectors like Shininger have been able to make a small killing selling cards online — even as Target Corp suspended sales of packs after a rash of parking lot thefts.
There has been an influx of business to new platforms that help collectors unload their wares. Authentication services have received too many requests to keep up. One of them, the Certified Collectibles Group, last week sold a majority stake to Blackstone Group Inc at a US$500 million valuation.
Analog Pokemon cards are an unlikely sensation for the Internet era. The whimsical franchise, first introduced in 1996 as a pair of video games for Nintendo Co’s Game Boy, has demonstrated remarkable staying power, bringing in tens of billions of dollars over the decades.
Now managed by the Pokemon Co, partly owned by Nintendo, the franchise has been helped along by Pokemon Go, the breakout augmented-reality game that has generated more than US$5 billion, including US$1 billion in the past year alone, according to estimates by research firm SensorTower.
The craze also fits neatly into the larger cultural trends of millennials gravitating toward brands they remember from childhood and an Internet-fueled surge in collectibles like non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
Night Ventures general partner Ben Mathews believes the “nerdcore collectibles” industry is having a moment.
It has piqued the interest of his firm, the venture capital arm of parent company Night Media, which is seeking to invest in new ventures that tap into the Pokemon influencer zeitgeist.
“Give it VC [venture capital] funding and it’s off to the races,” he said.
Venture capitals have already jumped into Pokemon-related deals. Earlier this week, start-up Collectbase Inc raised a funding round led by billionaire Peter Thiel.
The company makes software that allows collectors to scan, price, organize and track the value of their card collection, similar to a stock portfolio, and then sell on eBay.
The company’s mobile app, Cardbase, started in sports cards and expanded to Pokemon this spring, following months of intensifying requests, said Anas Salem, one of the site’s two German founders.
“Pokemon cards are getting crazy in the US,” he said, adding that he thinks that a similar mania could soon take hold in Europe, where “the market just needs more tools and education.”
In the US, live auction start-up Whatnot Inc has raised a total of US$75.4 million, and in May was worth more than US$500 million, according to data from research firm PitchBook.
Whatnot auctions feature personalities specializing in Pokemon, fashion, food and other categories. The result is what one investor, Andreessen Horowitz general partner Connie Chan, calls “shoptainment.”
It is popular in Asia, she said, and poised to grow in the US.
Whatnot increased its gross sales 10-fold to more than US$100 million during the past year, thanks in large part to homebound Pokemon fans with extra cash.
Whatnot chief executive officer Grant LaFontaine said the overwhelming majority of his site’s users are millennial men with disposable incomes, many of whom used their COVID-19 stimulus checks to buy Pokemon cards.
Gross sales on Whatnot spiked 50 to 100 percent on the day COVID-19 stimulus checks arrived, LaFontaine said.
Another big boost came when YouTuber Logan Paul started purchasing vintage sealed box sets of Pokemon packs for upward of US$300,000. He then opened them live and auctioned off individual packets for as much as US$1 million a pop, creating a ripple effect throughout the Poke-economy.
“Overnight the prices doubled or tripled,” LaFontaine said. “Influencers move markets.”
However, what goes up must come down, and some fear that the surge in demand for Pokemon could eventually turn into a glut in supply. Right now, the number of professionally authenticated cards is artificially low. That is because the major companies evaluating Pokemon cards were overwhelmed with submissions from homebound customers during the pandemic.
Once the authenticators come back online with expanded capacity, the new supply would hit the Pokemon card resale market and could potentially upend it.
“Going from a population of 50 to 300 can really crater the value” for individual owners of those cards, LaFontaine said.
For some collectors, though, it is not all about the money. Shininger put the proceeds of the cards he has already sold toward a down payment on a condo.
However, he is still holding onto about 100 vintage, high-value cards in a special binder and has no immediate plans to sell them.
“It’s a lot of sentimental nostalgia,” he said. “It reminds me of my childhood.”
Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.
eBay – Pokemon card frenzy making collectors, start-ups rich
Tags: eBay – Pokemon card frenzy making collectors, start-ups rich


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Gone are the dated ideas that shopping remains a woman’s domain.A recent report by Daymon Worldwide found that over 50% of US grocery shoppers are now men.¹ This could...
23rd Nov 15
Male grooming is booming globally. Fuel manages the PR for various premium male skincare brands, all of which are seeing meteoric growth as discerning retailers notice them, list them...
20th Nov 15
Fuel PR @FuelPR P3 Pharmacy : Boris Johnson pays a visit to local pharmacy https://t.co/hrP9iL8DfZ https://t.co/3YYzxQffar
Fuel PR @FuelPR Boris Johnson pays a visit to local pharmacy via @PharmacyMagUK https://t.co/eOy6RWuyvN https://t.co/qWA2sj7WWL


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Over the last 12 months, tens of hundreds of thousands of American citizens have won 3 stimulus tests from the federal government to lend a hand them throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic. Research have proven the ones bills had a pronounced affect at the financial system, preserving numerous households afloat that would possibly have differently fallen into poverty. With over 25% of america inhabitants totally vaccinated and the financial system coming again to lifestyles, there isn’t just about as a lot of an urge for food for a brand new spherical of stimulus tests, however one document argues that two extra could be best.
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Consistent with a up to date document from the Economic Security Project (by the use of Business Insider), proof accrued over the process the remaining 12 months means that handing over money immediately to people is without doubt one of the most efficient steps that may be taken in a disaster. The $1,400 stimulus tests of the American Rescue Plan by myself will stay 11 million other folks out of poverty, and if the federal government sends a fourth and a 5th take a look at, 12 million extra would steer clear of poverty.
“Money has been a lifeline for American citizens throughout this disaster, and can proceed to be so long as the disaster continues,” the document explains. “However the paintings forward is making sure that probably the most unequal recession in fashionable historical past isn’t adopted by means of probably the most unequal restoration. Going ahead, policymakers should prioritize insurance policies that stretch everybody who wishes lend a hand – particularly the low-income families and families of colour who the information display are nonetheless suffering to get again to baseline. And the comfort and stimulus should proceed till the restoration reaches each and every neighborhood in each and every a part of the rustic. After 12 months of and 3 rounds of direct bills, the analysis displays that money will get probably the most lend a hand to the most of the people who want it, stimulating the financial system and shortening the recession.”
For the reason that coronavirus pandemic started, the federal government has dispensed $850 billion in direct money bills to American citizens, and whilst that would possibly sound like some huge cash, the restoration goes to seem other for everybody. Those that wanted the cash maximum on the peak of the pandemic have spent it, and as eviction moratoriums begin to raise within the coming months, the hire that hundreds of thousands of suffering American citizens had been not able to pay will come due, doubtlessly sparking every other disaster. One conceivable repair for this downside? More money bills.
As not likely as every other spherical of stimulus tests seems to be, there are executive officers combating to ship extra support to American citizens. On March thirtieth, a gaggle of 21 senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to incorporate habitual direct bills in his long-term financial plan. They identified that now not most effective have the direct bills lifted hundreds of thousands out of poverty, however they have got the enhance of a majority of the rustic.
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Raisio, the Finland-based group behind brands including Benecol, Honey Monster cereals and Fox's confectionery, has, in recent years, tried...
Private-equity firm Langholm Capital was this week reported to have put UK crisp group Tyrrells on the market. Langholm has declined to comm...
| 8 Apr 2013
The private-equity owners of Burton's Biscuit Co. are "considering options" for the UK's second-largest biscuit maker, a process that could lead to an eventual sale. Katy Askew takes a look at the players for whom an acquisition of Burton's could hit the sweet spot.
| 23 Dec 2011
2011 was again a year in which just-food discussed the key industry issues with the leading lights in the sector. From the creation of meat-free firm Quorn Foods to Ferrero's ambitions in the UK and from Kraft Foods' plans in the key emerging market of South Africa to sustainability strategies with Ahold and Kellogg, we interviewed some of the top players in the industry this year. Click on the links for more and check out all our featured interviews for 2011 here.
| 28 Feb 2011
There are two ways of looking at the impact of what is often described as the ‘health and wellness' trend in food consumption. It can either be about consumers deciding or being persuaded to take certain things out of their diet or alternatively putting more of other types of food into their diet.
| 11 Feb 2011
The focus returned to rising commodity costs again this week, as Flowers Foods, Kraft Foods and PepsiCo admitting that input pressure had impacted their results - and their financial forecasts for 2011. Meanwhile, Raisio's CEO told just-food about the company focus on developing its 'ecological snacking' business and the UK government revealed a report on the difficulties around green labelling. Here's the best of what was said this week:
| 28 Aug 2013
Cheese spread and dip manufacturer Kavli has been on something of an acquisition spree. Already this year it has purchased Raisio's non-dairy assets and last week announced the purchase of St Helen's Farm.
| 20 Aug 2013
Raisio, the Finland-based group behind Benecol, Fox's confectionery and Sugar puffs cereal, saw branded sales fall in the first half of 2013. However, CEO Matti Rihko tells Dean Best the company is sharpening its portfolio to improve the performance of its branded business - and is eyeing more expansion in the years ahead.
| 5 Nov 2015
Raisio's third-quarter profits have been lifted on the back of the improved performance of its Benecol business.
| 20 Oct 2015
Raisio has launched a swathe of snack products in Finland in order to capitalise on what it has identified as growing demand for healthy snacks in the market.
| 9 Oct 2015
Finnish food group Raisio unveiled plans to restructure its loss-making UK cereal business in order to lower costs.
| 9 Oct 2015
Nestle and R&R Ice Cream confirmed that they are in joint venture talks, a tie up that could reshape the global ice cream sector. Meanwhile the historic Trans-Pacific Partnership was signed - to mixed reactions from the food sector. Here are just-food's quotes of the week.
| 8 Oct 2015
Elovena porridge is now available in McDonald's outlets in Finland as part of the fast-food chain's breakfast offering, brand owner Raisio announced today (8 October).
| 11 Aug 2015
Raisio raised full-year forecasts for sales and EBIT this morning (11 August) after its first-half results were lifted by the recent acquisition of the rights to Benecol in three European markets and an improved performance from UK cereal and snacks.
| 15 Jul 2015
Raisio's UK arm Halo Foods has launched a low-sugar, multi-grain version of its Honey Monster Puffs cereal.
| 12 Jun 2015
This week, Fonterra confirmed it would be axing jobs as part of a review in response to the "volatile" dairy trading environment at present. Campbell acquired Garden Fresh Gourmet as it looks to extend its presence in the packaged fresh category. Elsewhere, Raisio announced it was launching Benecol into China and the US House of Representatives voted to scrap meat labelling laws. We also took an in-depth look at Bel Group's investment in Moroccan dairy Safilait.
| 10 Jun 2015
Finnish food group Raisio is launching a cholesterol-lowering powdered drink in China under its Benecol brand.
| 10 Jun 2015
Finnish food group Raisio has introduced a free-from range to its Fox's confectionery range in the UK.
| 7 May 2015
Finnish food group Raisio today (6 May) booked an increase in first-quarter sales and earnings, in part helped by its acquisition of Benecol in three European markets last November.
| 12 Feb 2015
Finnish confectionery-to-spreads maker Raisio booked a decline in full-year earnings but stressed an improved back half performance offset an "exceptionally" weak first half.
| 5 Feb 2015
Raisio has announced the launch of its Benecol range of products in South Korea.
| 28 Jan 2015
Finnish food group Raisio has developed a Benecol spread that is a blend of canola oil, rapeseed oil and butter.
| 5 Jan 2015
The UK advertising watchdog has banned Raisio's online advert for its Honey Monster cereal, alleging it breached EU rules on health and nutrition claims.
| 3 Dec 2014
Raisio has promoted Antti Elevuori, finance director for UK consumer brands, to the post of chief financial officer.
| 21 Nov 2014
Kellogg this week made a move for Bisco Misr after private-equity firm Abraaj tabled an offer for the Egypt-based snacks group.
| 21 Nov 2014
This week, we published interviews with senior executives from Brazilian food giant BRF as it embarks on international expansion. Elsewhere, staff at United Biscuits' Aintree factory in Liverpool pushed forward with strike action and Finnish group Raisio secured control of Benecol in the UK, Ireland and Belgium.
| 20 Nov 2014
Finnish food firm, Raisio, has announced the departure of its chief financial officer Jyrki Paappa.
| 19 Nov 2014
Finnish food group Raisio has announced the acquisition of the Benecol business in the UK, Ireland and Belgium from Johnson & Johnson in an EUR88.4m deal.
| 17 Nov 2014
Raisio has introduced its Benecol brand to the Brazilian market in partnership with local dairy group Shefa.
| 4 Nov 2014
Raisio has booked a drop in sales and earnings for the first nine months of the year.
| 3 Jun 2015
The development of markets for gluten-free products in the UK and the US has grabbed much of the sector's attention in recent years but what are the opportunities in Europe? just-food has headed to Barcelona this week to find out.
| 17 Oct 2014
Raisio, the Finland-based food group, is to lower the sugar content of UK cereal brand Sugar Puffs - and at the same time remove the ingredient from the product's name.
Phytosterols Market by Type, Application & by Region - Globa
Phytosterols are a group of natural fatty substances found in all plant cell membranes. They resemble cholesterol in their structure and hence when consumed, compete with the cholesterol for absorptio...
Phytonutrients Market by Type, Application, Source, & by Reg
Phytonutrients are certain specific, organic components found in plants and are gaining popularity owing to their health benefits....
Confectionery Market in Europe - Market Research 2015-2019
Confectionery products can be classified into three segments: chocolate, sugar, and gum. These items are popular among all age groups....
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- Interview: How American Halal rides ethical wave
- Pinnacle to buy Boulder Brands in $975m deal
- Genius Foods buys UK gluten-free firm Chapel Foods
- Nestle combats Thai seafood supply forced labour
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Saul Williams, the prolific spoken-word artist and poet, is coming to the Woodward Theater for a one-night-only performance as part of the Contemporary Arts Center’s “Black Box” series. He will present the Ohio premiere of “NGH WHT,” a collaboration with composer Thomas Kessler, while performing with the new-music ensemble Mivos Quartet. The program also will feature new solo and collaborative work by both Williams and Mivos.
8 p.m. Thursday. Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St. CAC members, $15; general admission, $20. www.contemporaryartscenter.org
Light Sabers, Jedis and Rollergirls
The Cincinnati Rollergirls are hosting their second annual "Star Wars Night" on Saturday at the Cincinnati Gardens. Feel free to dress in costume — there will be a contest during halftime of the first game of the Rollergirls' bout against Naptown. The event will include the Midwest R2 Builder Club — and their droids — limited-edition “Star Wars” Night T-shirts, light saber giveaways and more fun. Tailgating is encouraged and beer is $1 during happy hour. And remember: May the Force be with you.
You can’t go anywhere without hearing the buzz about Beyonce’s new visual album “Lemonade.” (Full confession: I am a huge fan.) So I was excited when I saw that there will be a screening at the Art Academy of Cincinnati of the film that accompanied the album’s release. RSVP and relive the glory all over again.
7 p.m. Saturday. Art Academy of Cincinnati, 1212 Jackson St. For details and to RSVP, visit the event’s Facebook page.
See ‘Purple Rain’ for free
If you, like the rest of the world, are still mourning the loss of Prince, here’s a free event that might offer a bit of comfort. For one night only, the Esquire Theatre, Kenwood Theatre and Eastgate Brew & View will offer free screenings of his iconic film “Purple Rain.” You will need tickets, though, and all of the Esquire’s have been claimed, but there are still some available for the Kenwood and Eastgate theaters. Pick up tickets at the respective theaters’ box offices while they last.
All screenings 10 p.m. Friday. Kenwood Theatre: 7815 Kenwood Road; Eastgate Brew & View: 4450 Eastgate Square Drive. For more information visit the event page on Facebook.
A new favorite brunch spot?
Newport is getting a new restaurant. Head to 27 Bar+Kitchen for its grand opening weekend starting at 5 p.m. Friday. The Monmouth Street restaurant has a brunch and dinner menu that boasts Southern-inspired cuisine with a local kick. Menu items include goetta gravy and biscuits, shrimp and grits, and craft cocktails from a fully stocked bar.
Opens 5 p.m. Friday. 27 Bar+Kitchen, 720 Monmouth St., Newport. www.facebook.com/27barkitchen
This is the best kind of homework. The DAAPworks 65th annual fashion show will feature the work of students in the fashion design program at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. There will be a cash bar and plenty of clothing eye candy. It’s a great way to get an early look at the next wave of aspiring future designers and fashionistas.
7:30 p.m. Friday. University of Cincinnati, Campus Recreation Center, 2820 Bearcat Way, Clifton. $50. daap.uc.edu/daapworks/fashionshow
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo early
Popular Mexican restaurant Bakersfield OTR is throwing its annual Cinco de Mayo party, Buck's Badass Bash, on Saturday in the parking lot right next door. The eatery will be selling beer and its delicious tacos and margaritas, and there will be airbrush tattoo artists, circus performers and the Framester photo booth to keep guests entertained. The Eagle will be on hand selling fried chicken sandwiches, too. Scotty Bratcher Band, Shawn Spencer Band and DJs will provide the music.
3-11 p.m. Saturday. Parking lot adjacent to Bakersfield OTR, 1213 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. Free admission. For more details, visit the event's Facebook page.
50 Cent at Jungle Jim's Eastgate
If you missed 50 Cent’s appearance at the Party Source in March, here’s another chance to see the rapper. He’ll be at Jungle Jim’s in Eastgate for another bottle signing of his Effen Vodka. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: 50 will sign bottles of the Dutch brand of vodka, for which he serves as spokesman, and take photographs with fans. Warning though: You have to buy a bottle to get a photo, and he won’t sign other items.
5-7 p.m. Saturday. Jungle Jim’s Eastgate, 4450 Eastgate South Drive. For details, visit the event’s Facebook page.
Cheer Flying Pig Runners while drinking beer
Woodburn Brewery might be months away from officially opening for business, but that’s not preventing its owners from hosting a Flying Pig watch party on Sunday. The brewery, which is conveniently located on Woodburn Avenue (near where the full and half marathon groups split), is offering VIP viewing seating, a roasted pig, commemorative pint glass, T-shirt and, yes, beer. Chef Jason Louda is doing the cooking.
7 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Woodburn Brewery, 2800 Woodburn Ave. $20 for runners. $25 for everyone else. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.
Bonus: Zoo Babies
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s annual Zoo Babies exhibit opens Sunday. Yes, there are the adorable cheetah cubs, but you also can see baby gorillas, alligators, birds, penguins and more cuties throughout the month of May.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, 3400 Vine St., Avondale. Free with regular zoo admission. 513-281-4700; www.cincinnatizoo.org


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Walmart, the world’s largest private sector employer, directed its workers to remove violent video game displays and signs following two deadly shootings inside of its stores. This comes the same week that Universal pulled ads in its marketing campaign for an upcoming violent thriller “The Hunt,” and after ESPN and ABC pulled the broadcast of the X Games “Apex Legends,” a newly minted esports tournament.
Walmart stores were sent a memo, which circulated on Twitter, calling for “immediate action” to remove signs and displays that “contain violent themes or aggressive behavior.”
“We've taken this action out of respect for the incidents of the past week, and this action does not reflect a long-term change in our video game assortment," said Tara House, of Walmart's Corporate Communications department, in an emailed statement Friday morning.
On Saturday, 22 people were killed and 24 injured at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, days after two Walmart managers were killed by a disgruntled employee at a different Walmart in Southaven, Miss. Walmart said previously it does not plan to stop selling guns. Walmart is one of the nation’s largest sellers of firearms and ammunition, with such items available in about half of its 4,750 U.S.-based stores.
The retail chain has altered its gun policies over the years, halting sales of military-style rifles in 2015. After a mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, Walmart raised the minimum age for gun and ammunition purchases from 18 to 21.
“We are focused on assisting our associates and their families, as well as supporting the community, as we continue a thoughtful and thorough review of our policies," House added.
President Trump blamed, in part, “gruesome and grisly video games,” as well as mental health issues, for mass shootings in America. While often referenced by lawmakers are a cause of mass shootings, there has been little to no evidence that violent video games contribute to such incidents.
“We are a learning organization, and, as you can imagine, we will work to understand the many important issues that arise from El Paso and Southaven, as well as those that have been raised in the broader national discussion around gun violence,” Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said. “We will be thoughtful and deliberate in our responses, and we will act in a way that reflects the best values of our company, with a focus on serving the needs of our customers, associates and communities.”
ESPN still plans to air its broadcast of the Apex Legends tournament, rescheduling it for three dates in October on ESPN2, according to a person with direct knowledge of the network’s plans. Apex Legends pits teams against one another as they use scavenged weaponry to be the last-team standing in a battle royale-style, first-person shooter game.
According to the memo, Walmart stores were told:
- Turn off or unplug any video game consoles that show a demo of violent games, specifically PlayStation and Xbox units;
- Cancel any events promoting combat-style or third-person shooter games that may be scheduled in Electronics;
- Verify that no movies depicting violence are playing in Electronics;
- Turn off any hunting season videos that may be playing in Sporting Goods, and remove any monitors or displays that show the videos;
- Check all signing throughout the store and remove any referencing combat or third-person shooter video games.


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June 18, 2016
Imagine charging your FitBit by simply wearing it while you walk.
While wearable devices are growing in popularity, they still share a common burden: The more complex the device, the shorter its battery life. Until perhaps now. In a paper published on Friday (June 17) in Science Advances, researchers outline a way to harvest energy from body movement using nothing more than salt water and a flexible rubber band.


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Abu Dhabi is fast becoming a travel destination of world repute, offering tourists an eclectic mix of high-end luxury, adventure and cultural diversity. Cultural landmarks such as the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which attracted almost six million visitors last year, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi are must-see destinations in the region. Many of the 200 islands dotted along Abu Dhabi’s coastline offer luxury tailored holiday experiences, a match for anywhere in the world.
If hotels like the Emirates Palace, and its gold-dusted camel burgers, have given Abu Dhabi a reputation for the ostentatious, the Emirate’s newest tourists attractions are catering to tourist in search of adrenaline highs. Yas Island is home to the fastest rollercoaster on the planet, a state of the art Formula 1 circuit and the world’s largest indoor theme park.
Destination Abu Dhabi will reveal the surprising diversity of tourist attractions and experiences available in the Emirate.


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Square Enix has shared a brand new video detailing the process that Final Fantasy XV’s development team went through to put the series’ iconic Moogles into the game.
Originally, Moogles were not planned to appear in Final Fantasy XV. However, due to overwhelming fan requests, it was ultimately decided to go ahead and find some way to implement the adorable creatures. Last month, it was revealed that Moogles will appear as “lucky item” decoys that can be thrown into the fray to distract enemies.
Final Fantasy XV will release worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 29th.


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Value of buy-backs down sharply
20 companies in 78 disposals worth HK$128m against buying by directors worth HK$118m
Buying of their company shares by directors slowed last week but selling remained high, based on filings made to the stock exchange for the last week of November.
A total of 19 companies reported 103 purchases by directors worth HK$118 million; versus 20 companies that reported 78 disposals worth HK$128 million.
The buy figures were down from the previous week's 23 companies and 113 purchases valued at HK$272 million, while on the sell-side the number of companies and trades were consistent with the previous week's 18 companies and 75 disposals, although the sell value was sharply down on the previous week's sales worth HK$478 million.
The volume of buy-back activity among listed firms rose, with 12 companies posting 40 share buy-backs, up from the previous week's nine companies and 32 transactions. The value amounted to just HK$69 million, sharply lower on the previous week's repurchases worth HK$432 million.
Gaming firm MGM China resumed buying back at higher than its previous purchase prices; while retailer Springland International recorded its first buy-backs since listing in 2010. On the directors' side, there were insider buys in pharmaceutical plays Kingworld Medicines and Lijun Pharmaceutical.
MGM China resumed buying with 872,000 shares purchased on November 28 at HK$28.16 each. The group previously acquired 1.49 million shares from March 1 to September 16 at HK$18.90 to HK$24.45 each.
The stock closed at HK$27.60 on Friday.
Department stores and supermarkets operator Springland bought back its own shares for the first time since listing in October 2010, with 450,000 shares purchased on November 27 at HK$3.96 each.
Springland's stock closed at HK$3.99 on Friday.
Executive director Zhou Xuhua acquired shares of Kingworld, with 124,000 shares purchased from November 26 to 27 at an average of HK$1.15.
Kingworld stock closed at HK$1.14 on Friday.
Chief executive Qu Jiguang recorded his first on-market trades in Lijun since 2008, with 5.2 million shares purchased from November 15 to 26 at an average of HK$2.07 each.
Lijun International's shares closed at HK$2.12 on Friday.
Robert Halili is managing director of Asia Insider