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Nikon announces price increase from next month due to supply issues
After other manufacturers, Nikon has also announced a price increase starting next month. It’s only limited to Northern Europe for now, but it’s possible that it will expand globally as the world continues to crumble.
It sounds like an early April Fool’s joke, but all Nikon gear will get more expensive starting precisely on this day. The reason is, according to the company, “severe disruption in global supply chains.”
Folks at Nikon Rumors have obtained a screenshot of an email Nikon sent out to its customers. It reads that the company will increase the prices of cameras and lenses across Northern Europe. This excludes sports optics and accessories, but also the Nikon Z9, which will keep its current price, at least for now.
“Following a period of severe disruption in global supply chains, we have experienced continued cost increases to component parts and logistic charges,” Nikon writes. “Whilst we have explored all options to absorb these costs, to maintain the production in these lines moving forward, we are regrettably having to increase prices.”
The company doesn’t note what caused the supply chains disruption, but I guess we can all assume. First, it was the pandemic, and now there is the political and economic situation in Europe and the war in Ukraine that affect entire Europe in different ways.
To remind you, a few other camera manufacturers have also increased prices in 2021 and this year. Leica announced it on 1 April last year, and then increased prices again, but quietly, in October. Zeiss also did it in October, making an announcement a month earlier. Canon did it twice: in September 2021 and again last month, but did it quietly both times. According to Photo Rumors, Chinese lens manufacturer TTArtisan is increasing the prices of its two popular lenses, too.
So, on 1 April, Europeans are about to get the worst April Fool’s prank ever. Therefore, if you’ve been planning to get some new Nikon gear, perhaps now is the best (and the only) time to get it on the old prices. We’ll follow the situation closely and let you know if the price increase spills over to the rest of the world.
[via Nikon Rumors]
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.


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Uranium explorer Ur-Energy Inc (TSE:URE) “handily beat expectations” with its first quarter results, according to Eight Capital.
Earnings per share of four cents topped the Street's consensus forecast of one cent and Eight Capital's own forecast of flat earnings.
“ A strategy of buying cheap uranium at spot and selling into high priced contracts is working very well,” Eight Capital said, as it reiterated its 'buy' recommendation and a price target of C$1.75 based on a discounted cash flow model.
“We don’t believe the market has caught on to Ur-Energy's simple buy low, sell high business plan. We see excellent decisions being made by management that include: maximizing margins (leading to positive earnings in H1/17), decreasing production without having to waste resources at low prices while mitigating operating costs, and deferring capital spending by running existing well-fields longer,” the broker said.
Head grades are expected to fall and cash costs rise, but the broker thinks this will have less effect than the development of new well-fields.
“This strategy has differentiated URE from its peers. It has reduced operations as much as possible and selling only into higher priced contracts. URE can likely do this for several years yet. If cash is required, it has the ability to tap the spot market given a large finished uranium inventory,” the broker said.
Expect continuing revenue growth at Shopify Inc (TSE:SHOP, NYSE:SHOP), the cloud-based e-commerce platform, says Mackie Research.
The broker has lifted its target price from US$95 a share to US$101, some C$12 above the current share price in New York.
Mackie has plugged revenue growth of around 36% in 2018 into its model. Its peers are clocking up growth of 20-30%, but Mackie still thinks its forecast for Shopify might be conservative, as the company continue to provide new solutions that “reduce e-commerce friction”.
The new price target is US$120, which is quite a leap from the old target of US$78, and reflects the casting off by Wedbush of some misgivings about the “lumpiness” of Autodesk's revenues.
“Several recent developments make us more positive that the transition can settle into a more consistent, predictable pattern and that the company can hit its long-term targets. Specifically, we're encouraged by ADSK's accelerated pace of share buybacks, initial maintenance price increases, and 1Q checks pointing to an upturn in Collections sales and strong customer interest in an upcoming M2S program to boost new model subs,” the broker said.
Like most software companies, Autodesk is addressing its lumpy revenue stream problem by switching to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
“Qualitatively, we're seeing signs that larger channel partners are embracing subscriptions as a better business model. End-market conditions have stabilized over the last twelve months, and any progress on US infrastructure legislation could be a catalyst,” the broker said.
Jefferies has long argued that Coach is the right buyer for Kate Spade, partly because of Coach's track record in integrating previous acquisitions.
“Since their acquisition of Stuart Weitzman, COH has done a solid job in leveraging the team's technical expertise and effecting a seamless transition of Stuart Weitzman under new ownership. COH plans to follow a similar play-book with KATE, by running the brand independently with no change to creative direction, but leveraging common infrastructure and corporate functions,” Jefferies notes.
The acquisition brings a much younger demographic to Coach's customer base and there are plenty of revenue synergies to be grabbed.
Jefferies rates Coach a buy and has a price target of US$53, some US$10 above the current trading level.

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Medikal’s Rolex Watch Is Fake?
Rapper AMG Medikal is trending on social media but this time around over wrong reasons.
Medikal is well known when it comes to flaunting riches but he seems to have touched the wrong spot when he flaunted his newly acquired Rolex watch a few days ago.
There are claims that the watch that was flaunted by the rapper is not an original of the Rolex brand. The brand of watch he flaunted is a Rolex Datejust and a watch buster just caught him pants down after a detailed check of his watch compared to the original.
According to the observations and analysis made by a top German watch blog on Instagram known as Munich Wrist Busters, the Rolex watch Medikal has is a fake one.
The reason they gave was that wristwatch is far too high for an original Datejust and added that the bezel on MDK’s watch is too wide and the notches are too pronounced. Again, they said the crown of the watch is not in any way similar to that of an original one.
They wrote: “@amgmedikal With a fake Rolex Datejust. His watch is far too high for an original Datejust. Also, the bezel is too wide and the notches are far too pronounced. The crown of the watch is not in any way similar to that of an original one”
By Naymart | myactiveonline.com Follow us on Twitter: @activetvgh


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Missile maker Raytheon's sales fall 1.4 percent, shares drop
27 January 2017
Raytheon Co (RTN.N) reported a 1.4 percent fall in quarterly revenue, hurt by slower sales in its units that make missile systems and the tracking and navigation sensors used in aircraft and missiles.
The maker of Patriot missiles forecast 2017 sales of $24.8 billion-$25.3 billion, below analysts' average estimate of $25.55 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Shares of the Waltham, Mass.-based company were down 3 percent to $142.50 following the results announcement.
The company said sales in its missile systems unit, which makes Paveway smart bombs and medium-range air-to-air missiles, rose 1 percent to $1.90 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, the slowest rise in six quarters.
The missile systems unit, which is Raytheon's biggest business, accounted for 29.4 percent of its 2016 revenue.During a call with analysts, Chief Executive Tom Kennedy said the Trump administration's pursuit of ISIS could boost future precision missile sales.
Sales in Raytheon's space and airborne systems business, its second-biggest unit by revenue, recorded the slowest growth in four quarters, with a 2 percent rise. The unit contributed 25.6 percent to its full-year sales.The company's total sales fell to $6.24 billion from $6.33 billion a year earlier.
Raytheon said there were four fewer work days in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, reducing its sales by about $100 million per day.
Income from continuing operations attributable to Raytheon shareholders fell 2.5 percent to $544 million, or $1.84 per share, in the fourth quarter from $558 million, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier.
Raytheon said its tax-related earnings were reduced by 4 cents per share as it made a $500 million pretax discretionary pension plan contribution in the quarter.
The company, which adopted a new revenue recognition standard from Jan. 1, said it expected earnings from continuing operations of $7.20-$7.35 per share for 2017.
Raytheon said the impact of adopting the new accounting standard on the company's 2015 and 2016 net sales and operating income was not material.
Bookings fell 3.6 percent to $7.58 billion in the fourth quarter, but were up 10.3 percent to a record $27.84 billion for the full year. Bookings is a forward-looking metric that measures the value of firm orders won by Raytheon.
Raytheon's shares had risen 23.9 percent in the past 12 months up to Wednesday's close of $146.87, compared with a 29.7 percent increase in the Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense index .DJUSAE.


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Sugar rush is very real and very, very concerning. A new study reveals that young children are eating enough added sugar to exceed the maximum recommended consumption levels for adults.
In a colossal public revelation, historical documents disclose how in the 1960s, the sugar industry paid scientists to hide the link between sugar, heart disease and obesity in America, and instead, blame it on saturated fats.
A cup of coffee in the morning, a few sweets to start your day with, fruit juice for a healthy living, tea breaks during work -- they seem quite normal to our routine. Unfortunately, these are times when we are consuming sugar, which has recently been identified as a drug.


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Accounting Manager at Taqteer
Customer Centricity Executive ...
IT Administrator at Oryx Hotel...
Yousif Al Abd
Two of the country’s largest e-scooter companies have been accused of gross negligence and a series of assaults stemming from hit-and-run incidents involving pedestrians, according to a class-action...
SoftBank, one of the world’s biggest tech companies and startup investors, believes that we’ll have a trillion connected devices by 2025. And these devices, connected in the Internet of Things (wh...
Much of Australia's New South Wales has been lit up by huge thunder and lightning storms, which killed at least one person.
A Fortnite tweet has fans wondering what's to come
But claim it fast.


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"It's going to be a lot harder to implement than you think. It's going to take a lot longer to do it. And it's going to cost more than you think."
You may have read about it, you may have heard it on the news, or seen it on Facebook. But believe me, nothing prepares you for Grandma cookies baked in "cannabutter," the pot smokers' smoking bus to...
VANCOUVER - Todd Spaits believes his home state of Washington could one day be the Amsterdam of the United States, with everyone from die-hard pot heads to the curious but uninitiated visiting for the...
There is indeed change in America's winds, and it smells like the chronic. Recreational weed will not just be legal in Colorado and Washington, but will be be produced, packaged, and sold in retail stores. Personally, I've never partaken in smoking weed myself because it's illegal in Canada and I am an upstanding, law abiding citizen.


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Hedgie Eddie Lampert may be preparing to cut his losses on Sears Holdings just prior to a huge debt payment due next week.
The long-troubled iconic retailer has been working with M-III Partners to prepare what may appear to be a prepackaged bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this week, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
M-III Partners has been working the past couple of weeks at Sears Holdings’ headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill., people familiar with the situation told the Journal.
Sears has a $134 million debt payment due this coming Monday and it doesn’t look like they will be able to pay the debt.
Lampert — Sears’ and Kmart’s chairman, chief executive, largest shareholder and biggest creditor — is reportedly looking for a larger restructuring than just anteing up more cash to bail out the cash-strapped retailers.
The hedge-fund billionaire is looking to cut more than $1 billion from Sears’ $5.5 billion debt, unload another $1.5 billion worth of real estate and sell $1.75 billion in assets, including the Kenmore appliance brand, according to the Journal report.
On Tuesday, Sears brought in corporate-restructuring pro Alan Carr as a director.
He currently runs a restructuring-advisory firm and previously worked as a restructuring lawyer at Skadden, Arps, according to the report.
Sears and Kmart have lost more than $11 billion since 2011, and their annual sales have dropped nearly 60 percent in that period to $16.7 billion, according to the report.
Sears, once the world’s largest retailer, has struggled in the face of declining foot traffic in its stores.


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Halfords has drafted in former Dixons Carphone executive Keith Jones as part of a restructure of its senior leadership team, Retail Week has learned.
Jones, who is also a former boss of JJB Sports, has joined the cycling and automotive specialist as chief operating officer.
He will be responsible for Halfords’ retail operations and has also been tasked with driving the transformation of its services offer, including its business-to-business proposition and financial services.
His appointment comes as part of a leadership team reshuffle by boss Graham Stapleton – himself a former Dixons Carphone exec.
Stapleton has scrapped the roles of group commercial director and retail director – formerly held by Steve Knights and Ian Carter respectively.
Sources close to the situation said the move was designed to better “align the commercial and customer functions”, speed up decision-making and create a more customer-centric team.
Following the departures of Knights and Carter, Karen Bellairs has become customer and commercial director. Bellairs will take responsibility for the commercial team, while continuing to lead Halfords’ customer, marketing and digital functions.
The changes, which were confirmed by Halfords, come as Stapleton presses ahead with his strategy for the business.
At a Capital Markets Day last September, Stapleton told investors and analysts that Halfords would focus on the mantra: “To inspire and support a lifetime of motoring and cycling.”
As part of that drive, Stapleton said he wanted Halfords to become “a truly differentiated, service-led super-specialist” that would “inspire” customers through a differentiated shopping experience, and support them through “an integrated, unique and more convenient” services proposition.
Stapleton has ramped up capital expenditure from £40m to £60m per year “in the medium term” as Halfords ploughs “significant investment” into stores, garages and digital platforms.


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On Monday, Sophie Theallet was named the U.S. regional winner of the International Woolmark Prize for the exceptional beauty and creativity with which she incorporated merino wool into her design. Theallet will continue on to compete in the international final in London against other regional winners for a monetary prize and the chance to have her designs sold to a major retail partner – Bergdorf Goodman in the U.S. The International Woolmark Prize, which launched the successful careers of designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, will be awarded in February.
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Etam Group, has agreed to sell its Chinese ready-to-wear (“RTW”) operations to a Hong Kong-based investor introduced by the founder and CEO of Jaoboo Fashion Group International, Mr. Jinguo Zhou. As a result of the transaction, Mr. Zhou, a leading retail expert in China, will take charge of Etam’s RTW activities in China with immediate effect. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Shanghai, Etam’s China RTW operation owns and operates four well-recognized womenswear brands and boasts a well-established, nationwide, omnichannel distribution network with 1,600 points of sales across 300 cities, and a presence on the leading Chinese e-commerce platforms.
Laurent Milchior, CEO of Etam Group, commented: “As we enter a new stage of development, we believe Mr. Zhou is ideally positioned to take Etam’s RTW business in China to the next level. With Mr. Zhou’s experience, Etam’s RTW brands can continue to grow and reach more customers across China.”
Jinguo Zhou, Founder and CEO of Jaoboo, added: “The Etam RTW brands are well known to consumers across China and I am excited to have reached an agreement with Etam Group to take the brands and business forward. With Etam’s strong customer base, its brand heritage and our expertise in China, I am confident we have a bright future ahead of us.”
Founded in 1916, the Etam Group is a leading global apparel company, headquartered in Paris, with 3,000 stores in 64 countries. The Group designs and distributes lingerie, beauty, women’s ready-to-wear and accessories. The Group is the leader in France and amongst the international leaders in lingerie with three brands; Etam, Undiz and Livy, as well as a RTW player with the Etam and 1.2.3 brands.


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By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Bob Parsons is affable and playful when he talks about his Scottsdale Airpark-based company Parsons Xtreme Golf, otherwise known as PXG.
“Sometimes it’s a real blast,” he says with a laugh. “Other times, not so much.”
The billionaire and GoDaddy mastermind founded PXG to prove he could get more out of his golf equipment. He says with revolutionary patented technology, the world’s finest materials and zero cost or time restraints, PXG products would be golf clubs without compromise.
“PXG is probably the most unique golf equipment company in the industry,” he says. “First of all, we are an experiential brand. Playing with our equipment, getting fit for our equipment and coming to the stores is very different than dealing with anybody else.”
Parsons and his staff are concerned about one thing: having the top research and development engineers. When other golf companies release something new, they talk about how much better it is, and that’s suspect, he says. Parsons says his equipment is noticeably better or it’s not released.
“We’re not a public company,” he says. “We’re not known to generate cash. Our one purpose is to engineer the very finest golf equipment in the industry, and we continue to do that.
“We spend far more to develop and make our equipment than other companies, I believe. When golfers get a chance to play PXG and hit it for the first time, they are stunned. It makes such a difference.”
PXG does not market through big-box stores. Instead, PXG offers mobile fitting and select certified retailers, as well as an aggressive call center, he says.
“We do probably the best job of making sure our clubs fit our customers,” he adds.
Nobody stands tall next to his clubs, he adds.
The list of golfers who use PXG clubs is impressive — brand ambassador Darius Rucker, former President Barack Obama and a slew of PGA and LPGA stars. There are others, Parsons says, whom he is not at liberty to reveal.
Former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley can attest to the clubs’ performance and the company’s vibe. Bradley says he considers PXG his family.
“My experience has been amazing,” says Bradley, who recently sold his Scottsdale home and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
“A lot of companies talk about being a family. Since I’ve been a part of PXG, I felt like a family member. I get random gifts like hats, shirts — just swag. They’re obviously very gracious with fitting me with numerous sets of the clubs.”
Bradley’s bond with PXG was tightened in February 2019, after his golf bag containing clubs worth $5,925, a $3,000 Louis Vuitton wallet, Bradley’s driver’s license and credit cards were stolen from the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course’s 16th hole at the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Although his clubs were returned, Bradley says PXG gifted him with a set.
“Immediately, even before it went public, they sent me a brand-new bag,” Bradley says via telephone from his home in Oklahoma.
He doesn’t claim to be a great golfer. Bradley has even a better reason for using the clubs.
“They’re just cool,” he says with a laugh. “The performance is going to speak for themselves. I mean, look at the pros who are using their clubs. There’s just a coolness and edge and design that stands out and separates them from others.”
That’s exactly why Parsons founded PXG. He’s an avid golfer who bought the latest and greatest clubs when they hit the market. About eight years ago, Parsons acquired Scottsdale National Golf Club, an exclusive members-only course in North Scottsdale. Less than a year after that, Parsons was approached about “talented engineers” who were looking for a new challenge.
“I reached out and hired a couple engineers from Ping,” Parsons says. “We set out to make the very best golf clubs ever made. We didn’t know if we could do it, but we had unlimited time and an unlimited budget to invest in the equipment.”
Once the engineers’ no-compete clause expired, Parsons and his team of engineers “nailed it.” Now, PXG has the “most expensive golf clubs that are made. We found a way to take our technology and engineer it in clubs that are outstanding. The result of all that together is the company has grown like a weed.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced PXG to swing in a new direction. The stores changed their policies and asked customers to mask up. Salespersons and those who assemble the clubs practice social distancing and wear masks, too.
Despite the pandemic, the average company, Parsons says, grew 20% in 2020. PXG increased its sales by 100%. He sees PXG continuing to grow.
“We’re already profitable,” he says. “In a very difficult business, we sell direct. Even though our prices are high, if we sold through big box, they would be a lot higher or we would have to compromise the quality, which we won’t do.”
Parsons is preparing to release a new lineup of golf clubs that he calls “simply amazing.” The PXG Gen 4 collection has “pinpoint accuracy, explosive sound and pure sex appeal.” The price is worth every cent,” he says.
“Nobody makes golf clubs like us,” Parsons adds.
Bradley appreciates Parsons and PXG going out of their way to spoil him and to make sure he’s fitted with gloves and swag. He will most assuredly return to PXG when he lands in the Valley to participate in the Waste Management Phoenix Open’s Pro-Am Tournament.
“I’ll be using my PXGs, baby,” he says with a laugh.
PXG Scottsdale: Headquarters
15690 N. 83rd Way, Scottsdale
6751 N. Sunset Boulevard, Suite E012,
in Westgate, Glendale
1-844-PLAY-PXG, pxg.com, firstname.lastname@example.org


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This Nov 6, 2013 photo shows Jack Ma (left), founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, with Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, at the launch ceremony of the Internet Financial Industry Forum at Fudan University in Shanghai. (PHOTO / IC)
Technology duo Alibaba and Tencent continued their investment momentum in the new year as the deep-pocketed pair continue to seek new opportunities beyond their home turf.
E-commerce behemoth Alibaba said on Tuesday it has boosted its stake in China International Capital Corp Ltd, the nation's leading investment bank, a move analysts said could help it with financial transactions around the world.
Through the purchase of 11.7 percent of CICC's Hong Kong listed shares, Alibaba now holds 4.84 percent of the bank's issued shares, which can help the pair cooperate on finance, technology and data.
According to the latest statistics released by Tencent, it has invested in around 700 companies in the past 11 years, including 63 companies that have been listed and 122 unicorns with a market value worth more than US$1 billion
An Alibaba statement reads the deal builds on years of cooperation and will "provide more innovative and more comprehensive products and services to customers".
Richard Cao, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities Co, told Bloomberg News that CICC complemented Alibaba's strategies on making deals and can provide extensive advisory services.
The increased stake has also put Alibaba almost on par with archrival Tencent Holdings Ltd, which became a strategic investor in CICC in September 2017 with the purchase of a 4.95 percent stake.
What's more impressive is that Alibaba and Tencent's investment portfolios each generated around one-third of their pre-tax income in the quarter that ended in September. Tencent declared other net gains of 8.8 billion yuan (US$1.27 billion) while Alibaba noted 6.6 billion yuan of net interest and investment income.
According to the latest statistics released by Tencent on Wednesday, it has invested in around 700 companies in the past 11 years, including 63 companies that have been listed and 122 unicorns with a market value worth more than US$1 billion.
Last year even witnessed record achievements in terms of investment, when a total of 16 companies in which Tencent had invested succeeded in floating their shares, according to the text of a speech made by Tencent President Martin Lau at an investors' conference in late January which was made public on Wednesday.
Lau said Tencent would maintain such momentum this year, and dispelled concerns that Tencent-backed investments are primarily financial-driven and lack strategic considerations.
"The core to our investment strategy is to do the most important thing and the things that we are good at …In the past few years, investment has opened up a lot of new areas and opportunities for us," he said.
Chinese digital companies are active in driving global merger and acquisition activities. From 2016 to 2017, China's internet trinity of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, known as BAT, made 35 overseas deals, compared with 20 by the top three US internet companies, according to a McKinsey report released a year ago.
Tencent and Alibaba have been embroiled in investment rivalry by spending billions of dollars backing tech startups, notably in Southeast Asia, where a growing population and burgeoning mobile internet are fueling opportunities from e-commerce and payment to gaming and social media.
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HONG KONG NEWS


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World-famous investor Warren Buffett drinks Coke for breakfast. His morning meal might also include Utz potato sticks or a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream.
The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, which owns $US16 billion (£10.3 billion) in Coca-Cola stock, discussed his soda addiction in an interview with Fortune’s Patricia Sellers.
“If I eat 2700 calories a day, a quarter of that is Coca-Cola,” the 84-year-old said. “I drink at least five 12-ounce servings. I do it everyday.”
Buffett, who is currently worth $US72.8 billion, said he drinks three during the day and caps off the night with two more cans. Sometimes he drinks regular. Sometimes he drinks cherry flavour.
“I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a six-year-old,” Buffett explained of his high-sugar diet.
One 12-oz can of regular Coke contains 140 calories and 39 grams of sugar. It’s far from an ideal breakfast, but hey, whatever works.
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MOSCOW, July 23. /ITAR-TASS/. The trend for protectionism is intensifying worldwide, and it affects Russian companies and goods, so it is necessary to adapt to the new environment, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting with Russian trade representatives.
The global economy was recovering from the crisis, and all countries, including Russian partners, "are seeking any opportunities to restore their economies and expand presence on the international market", he added. Russia will protect its economic interests in the world using all legal means, Medvedev stressed. “I would like to touch upon the issue of protection of Russian companies. Any cases of discrimination should be carefully monitored and it is necessary to forecast such actions wherever possible, to defend our legal interests, explain the sense of response measures we take and the reasons for their introduction,” the prime minister said.
Medvedev has confirmed that Russia may introduce measures for the protection of its economy in connection with European association of Ukraine and Moldova - countries that simultaneously fall within the zone of free trade with Russia. “We objectively assess negative consequences of such decisions for our economy. We consider these risks as rather serious, especially regarding technical regulation, standards, sanitary and phyto-sanitary control,” he said. “Therefore, we are holding consultations with the EU, partners in the Customs Union and CIS, and we will have to introduce protection measures in a certain situation,” Medvedev stressed.
Latin American and African states are primary sales markets for Russian products alongside Asia-Pacific countries, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Russia “wants to work actively at different markets, and together with everyone who is ready to cooperate with us on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Medvedev said.
“For objective reasons, Latin American and African countries are becoming the most promising for investment cooperation alongside the Asia-Pacific region,” he added. “A target audience is being formed there to expand supplies of Russian equipment, aircraft and other industrial goods.
There are clear signals US, European companies plan to continue cooperation with Russia, the prime minister noted. Russia values its reputation as a reliable supplier to Europe, he added. Russia still seeks to maintain mutually beneficial relations with the European Union which remains and will remain Russia’s main trade partner for a long time, he said. “The Ukrainian crisis has had a negative effect on our relations with the EU,” he said. “Sometimes these events are called a watershed between the past and the future of Europe. But this is not so for our country,” the prime minister said.
Cooperation with the Asia Pacific is Russia's key priority, Medvedev said. "We literally need a breakthrough in this sphere to help us overcome many economic and technological obstacles on the way of sustainable growth," he said.


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Preparations being made to float e-cigarette business
High-profile businessman Sandy Chadha is preparing to float his battery and e-cigarette business on the stock market – according to reports.
Mr Chadha runs the Manchester based Supreme Imports – which imports batteries and vaping products.
The business has tapped into the growing demand in recent years for tobacco substitutes.
According to reports in the media the business will be valued at £150m and will be floated on the AIM market within a matter of weeks.
Stock brokers Berenberg has been appointed to work on the flotation.
Mr Chadha is looking to raise about £10m to cut down its debts and fund the expansion of a manufacturing plant that makes liquids for use in e-cigarettes and vaping products.
He hit the headlines last year after he lost a bet and handed over the keys to his £130,000 Bentley.
Corporate turnaround specialist Iain Johnston claimed a decade ago that the struggling Supreme Imports would make a profit of £1m a year once it had recovered.
When the prediction came true Mr Chadha tracked down the financier and handed over the keys to his personal Bentley.
Supreme Imports was originally set up to import novelty goods in the UK from Asia and it is now one of the biggest sellers of batteries in the UK.


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infinite aura is over One of the top 100 sites on Twitch The day after the launch season 2: A decidedly indifferent shooter score developed by 343 Industries.
Although Halo Infinite is back in the top ten of the most played games on Xbox by hair, it seems that the free-to-play multiplayer segment hasn’t got users excited again, at least not at all. Twitch.
Forbes reporter Paul Tassi wrote, “Halo Infinite out of 10 on Twitch the day after Season 2 launches?” “I realized it wouldn’t be as successful as It is an electronic game or braveBut that’s too much.”
As we’ve already had the chance to write, the launch of Halo Infinite Season 2 isn’t a simple test of the game, bent on reclaiming Earth after a very impressive debut.
What was missing were the contents and, in general, a file Post launch support Which is usually expected of a live service, and especially of this importance: neglect of such a central aspect can be fatal to the future of the project.


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Since recreational cannabis was legalized last fall, many Canadians have struggled to buy product in-person, given the scant number of storefronts.
Colorado shows just how far Canada has to go. The state legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, and today it has more than 560 recreational outlets serving a population of some 5.7 million. Put another way, Colorado has roughly 10 stores for every 100,000 residents.
So, to match Colorado’s store density, how many stores would each province need to add? AltaCorp Capital tackled this question in a recent research note.
The short answer: significantly more.
Over all, Canada has just over 360 actual or planned retail locations – or 10 per cent of the 3,640 locations that AltaCorp says are needed to match Colorado’s density.
The shortage is less severe in some parts of the country, but glaring in others. For instance, in Ontario, the first licensed cannabis stores didn’t open until April, and only 25 store licenses have been issued to date. Though not every store has opened, the planned 25 amounts to 0.2 stores for every 100,000 residents. To close the gap with Colorado, Ontario would need to add nearly 1,400 stores, AltaCorp found.
“Canada needs more brick-and-mortar retail stores,” AltaCorp said. Cannabis sales growth has been “weak,” the firm added, and it attributes a big part of that to the “lack of physical retailers across the country.”
To be sure, Canadian consumers have not been entirely shut out: e-commerce channels have been open across the country since Day One. However, the early months of cannabis legalization have been marked by supply shortages – one factor that’s contributed to the sluggish retail rollout.
Moreover, AltaCorp said the in-person retail experience can be crucial.
“The legal recreational cannabis market in Canada is in its infancy, and as such, a significant number of consumers will likely be first-time users without much knowledge of the different products and their effects,” the firm said.
“A well-developed retail platform allows customers to interact with knowledgeable staff and provide them with a holistic customer experience, which is essential to attracting first-time and existing users to the legal recreational channels.”
On the issue of first-time buyers, Statistics Canada delivered news Thursday that many industry watchers will find encouraging. As part of its quarterly survey on consumption, Statscan found 646,000 people reported trying cannabis for the first time during the opening three months of 2019, or nearly double the amount of first-time users from a year earlier, when recreational cannabis was still illegal. Half of new users were aged 45 and older.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story had an outdated figure for the number of planned cannabis outlets in Quebec. This story has been updated to reflect the new figure.


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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 30: Warba Bank, a leading Islamic bank in Kuwait, has partnered with Diebold Nixdorf, the world leader in driving connected commerce, to elevate the consumer experience at the ATM with secure, convenient and reliable solutions. Through this new partnership the bank will replace its current ATM fleet with the latest technology from Diebold Nixdorf which includes, cash dispensing, as well as cash deposit ATMs. The updated fleet of ATMs, which will be rolled out across Warba Bank branches and pubic locations in Kuwait, enable consumers to complete cash deposit transactions as well as cash withdrawals at any time of the day, at the ATM. Diebold Nixdorf’s latest ATM solutions play an integral part of the Bank’s strategy to enhance its digital infrastructure by providing the most innovative solutions in the market to customers.
Over the three months, the bank will replace its existing ATM fleet with Diebold Nixdorf’s latest ATM solutions, to provide an elevated consumer experience. Commenting on the new partnership, Shaheen Hamad Al Ghanem, CEO at Warba Bank said “We are delighted to be partnering with Diebold Nixdorf to provide the latest ATM technology and security to our customers. This is a long-term strategic partnership that will support our ATM growth strategy in the years ahead.”
The new ATMs are designed to the highest international standards of security and functionality. They are equipped with Diebold Nixdorf’s terminal software suite, to ensure reliable, efficient and uninterrupted experiences for consumers. Furthermore, all ATMs have installed anti-fraud and anti-card skimming programs to ensure the highest level of security for Warba Bank customers.
The bank is confident that these new machines will play a key role in providing high quality services to their expanding customer base.
“We’re delighted to work with Warba Bank to help further elevate the consumer experience in-branch and at the self-service channel,” said Habib Hanna, managing director, Middle East, Diebold Nixdorf. “As banks continue to migrate more transactions to digital channels, our market-proven systems, software and services will deliver improved operational efficiencies for financial institutions and enhanced experiences for consumers.”
The new machines provide leading interactive services and are tailored to assist customers with special needs in completing cash deposits and withdrawals. Diebold Nixdorf’s local partner in Kuwait, Axis Solutions, will be providing maintenance services to ensure the solutions are operating at maximum availability and deliver a vastly improved level of customer service.
Warba Bank is continuously developing its offerings for customers by investing in the latest global technology developments aimed at enhancing the customer experience and providing a wide array of services to meet ever-evolving customer needs.


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All eyes are on Victoria and the impact that additional restrictions will have on the State’s economic performance – notably jobs. On that front, ABS payroll data released today is starting to tell the story.
Since COVID-19 took off in Australia (i.e. since the 100th case), 6.7% of all Victorian jobs have been lost. That’s the largest loss across any state or territory, and well above the national average of 4.5%. The gap kept building in July, with Victorian jobs down by 1.5% or about 50,000 over the 4 weeks to 25 July, compared with net jobs growth across the rest of the country (excluding Victoria) of 0.4%.
Chart: Change in the number of jobs since COVID-19
Source: ABS 6160.0.55.001 Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia, Week ending 25 July 2020
Of course, the numbers for Victoria will continue to get much worse, with Stage 4 restrictions for Melbourne only commencing on the 2nd of August, so the next reading from this survey will show a larger divergence from the rest of the nation.
The data available for the 4 weeks to 25 July tells us that recent Victorian job losses were heaviest in agriculture (-5.7%), arts and recreation (-3.7%), and accommodation and food services (-3.4%). There were also substantial losses from the education sector (-3.2%) and from other services (-3.3%) which includes car mechanics, hairdressers and nail salons, religious services and laundry/dry-cleaning services.
Beyond those already affected, construction, manufacturing and much broader parts of wholesale and retail are likely to climb further up the list of hardest hit Victorian industries, having to cut back operations to defined shares of total capacity during Melbourne’s Stage 4 lockdown.
The are some small bright spots for jobs in Victoria though, with jobs being created in the state’s public sector (5.3%), the health and social services industry (3.8%) and the transport, postal and warehousing industry (3.5%). Many of these job gains are linked to the pandemic with the Victorian Government taking on additional staff to help tackle the outbreak, the health sector taking on more nurses and other staff to care for COVID-19 patients, and delivery services needing still more staff to help manage the mass increases in online shopping.
Across the rest of the nation, there has been something of a jobs rebound in accommodation and food services (7.1%), arts and recreations (2.2%) and retail trade (1.3%). Parts of these sectors (which had been essentially shut down) are now able to open up and take on more staff (aside from in Victoria) as COVID-19 is brought under control in most of the nation.
The divergent Victorian job losses have come at the same time as the JobKeeper review. Initially scheduled to end in September, Jobkeeper has now been extended into March 2021. Further amendments were also made to the program just last week in the wake of Melbourne’s Stage 4 lockdown, which is estimated to affect up to an additional 400,000 workers. Now the ‘decline in turnover test’ that businesses must satisfy can relate to just the current September quarter rather than both the September and June quarters – see Deloitte’s note on these changes here. The change will mean that a greater share of the up to 400,000 Victorian workers stood down will keep their employment under JobKeeper, rather than end up as next month’s statistic, amid new job losses.
Beyond JobKeeper, targeted stimulus will likely be needed to support various parts of the Victorian and national economies – particularly for the industries most negatively affected by lockdown restrictions and those that may still not have access to JobKeeper by virtue of their size or due to having a largely casual workforce.
David is a macro economist with extensive experience in applied economic and quantitative analysis of the Australian economy, along with considerable experience in labor market analysis. David is a regular commentator on macroeconomic trends, and prepares a weekly economic briefing newsletter.
Emma is a Manager with an econometric background, working in Deloitte Access Economics’ Macroeconomic Policy & Forecasting team. Since joining Deloitte Access Economics in early 2016, Emma has applied macroeconomic analysis and econometric techniques to a range of subject matter including social policy, labour markets, the construction sector, international trade and tax policy. She has developed multiple forecast models and currently runs Deloitte’s national macroeconomic forecast modelling. Emma also frequently conducts distributional modelling and inequality analyses.


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Interested in really freaking yourself out? Check out the news on recalls and safety alerts for foods and products, at your local government website. “Imitation meat products recalled due to undeclared egg.” We're not sure what that means, and we're pretty sure we don't want to – safe to say, imitation meat is now off the grocery list. Product recalls are part of business. When quantity, consumption and profits take hold so do oversights, short-sightedness, slapdash manufacturing and all around gigantic mistakes.
The biggest toy company in the world, Mattel, has had to recall nearly 19 million of their toys to date because of lead-based paint from Chinese-made products. Last year, millions of products were yanked off shelves, from just under a million Cryofreeze ice/hot packs, to 4,000,000 Bumbo baby seats. But the really shocking numbers come from the auto industry; according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US auto market is set to break the record for recalls this year. Last year a jaw-dropping 22 million cars were recalled and the largest chunk, at five million vehicle recalls, was issued by Toyota. Their host of issues included software glitches and potentially faulty airbags. Now, less than halfway through 2014, the number of recalls in total in the national industry is already about half that, at 11 million. Recently GM recalled 2.7 million of their cars for brake light, headlamp and power brake issues.
It’s a scary world out there where we place our trust in brand names. If history is anything to go by then we'll be hearing of many more traumatizing alerts and recalls in 2014, but here we're taking a look back over the years at some of the biggest product recalls to date.
10 China’s Milk - 700 Tons Recalled
In 2008 the largest provider of powdered milk in China recalled several hundred tons of baby formula after kidney problems and even death resulted from infant consumption. Turns out that Melamine was the culprit: it's a chemical used in the making of plastic and had been added to the formula as a cheap way to increase protein values.
9 Simplicity Cribs - 2 Million Recalls
Almost half a million drop-side cribs were recalled in 2009 when an infant in Houston, TX, horrifically died by suffocation. The beds design flaw made it possible for children to fall and be trapped between the mattress and the detachable side. This was the second recall for cribs, as a year earlier the company recalled 600,000 and a million in 2007. Despite the recalls this company did a very poor job of learning from their mistakes and though hardware was upgraded, the same problem continued to recur.
8 Dell Laptops – 4 Million Recalls
Dell laptops posed a fire threat from excessive overheating in 2006 after a lithium-ion battery from Sony proved too hot to handle. Four million computers were recalled with a combined estimated expense of $400 million to the companies. In "cooperation" with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Dell provided customers affected with free replacements.
7 7.Brigade/Firestone tires - 6.5 Million Recalls
While the world didn't end in the year 2000, it might as well have for Bridgestone/Firestone Inc, when they were forced to recall 6.5 million tires in one of the most dangerous product mistakes in auto history. The tendency for these tires' failure caused 175 deaths and several hundred injuries. Certain tire models had treads that would literally peel off and cause a blowout.
6 Ford - 14 Million Vehicles Recalled
After recalling 1.5 million Pintos in the '70s (when it was found a rear-end collision could cause the car to burst into flames) Ford was back on the recall map again in 2009 and bigger than ever. They were behind the largest single recall in auto history, when a faulty cruise-control switch gave way to fire hazards. The switches tended to overheat, at which point they'd begin to smoke or worse, catch fire. And this could happen hours after a vehicle had been left in park. It wasn't the only issue - in some Ford models, the cruise-control had a chance of melting down and seeping into the anti-lock brake system.
5 Tylenol – 31 Million Items Recalled
Probably one of the most famous recalls on the list was the Tylenol recall of 1982, after bottles of Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol were found to have been laced with potassium cyanide and killed several people in the Chicago area. The company recalled over 30 million bottles, spending an average of $100 million to ensure another death did not occur, and eventually relaunched the product. It was determined that the cyanide was not introduced during manufacturing, but by a criminal tampering with products on store shelves. The case remains unsolved.
4 Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company - 37 Million Pounds Recalled
2008 was not a good year for the Department of Agriculture, which had to recall 143 million pounds of beef after it was brought to light that California slaughterhouse Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company had been improperly butchering cattle. They were eventually investigated for animal abuse, and went bankrupt from the costs of recalls and the litigations. It was the largest meat recall in history and ranged from meat sold between 2006-2008. At the point of recall, 37 million pounds had been shipped out for the National School Lunch Program. Rather miraculously, no injuries or illnesses were ever reported.
3 Premier Foods – $145 Million Worth of Recalls
When you're hot, you're hot, and when you're not, you're not. In 2003, U.K.'s Food Standards Agency recalled over 500 separate products that included Worcestershire sauce and Caesar salad dressing, due to contamination from a carcinogenic dye in the chili powder called Sudan 1. The dye has proven to cause cancer in rats, and the UK government faced criticism after the fact, for taking so long to order all products off the shelves. The cost of the recall was around $145 million.
2 Peanut Corp of America – 1 Billion Items Recalled
Another massive food recall in US history comes from Peanut Corp of America in 2009. Roughly 3,913 products from over 350 different companies were affected by shipments of tainted peanut butter and salmonella fears. The company folded shortly after, while the recall cost American peanut producers about $1 billion in lost production and sales.
1 Merck’s Vioxx - 2.5 Billion Items Recalled
This pharmaceutical giant recalled its global stock of the arthritis drug Vioxx, in 2004. The drug, which had brought in $2.5 billion in sales the previous year, had apparently heightened the risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients during a study of its side effects. Merck stated the recall was a precautionary measure, but not precautionary enough - it cost the company $4.85 billion to settle 27,000 lawsuits resulting in subsequent injuries and death by users.


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7 October 2021
Homebuilders are not being left out of the race to build electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft!
Japanese company Tetra Aviation gave its eVTOL, the Mk-5, its public debut at the EAA Airventure Oshkosh in July and now it is offering the aircraft as a kitplane in the US.
Tetra has released this video of the Mk-5 during recent flight tests in California:
Tasuku Nakai, CEO of Tetra Aviation told FLYER, “We are continuing the development of the manned aircraft and start delivering it to customers who have already made reservations around the end of 2022.
“Our goal for the Mk-5 is to sell it to private customers as a home build kit plane in the US, which is our initial market. In the U.S., there is a market for experimental aircraft, the category we have just announced.
“With the Mk-5, we are offering a new means of transportation for people who have private pilot licenses and who travel independently in their own aircraft.
“The Mk-5 will of course be available for sale to any other countries customers.”


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- CoinSpot said it wants to simplify the process for buying or selling NFTs and is planning to launch an NFT marketplace atop its platform
- The marketplace will feature Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs as well as BossLogic artworks
One of Australia’s largest exchanges by total users said Friday it is launching an NFT marketplace within its existing platform this week in a bid to simplify the buying and selling process.
The (non-fungible token) marketplace will initially list a curated group of well known NFT projects including Bored Ape Yacht Club and Australian Creator BossLogic’s Gauntlet series.
The exchange, which is approved by the country’s transaction watchdog AUSTRAC, is the first of its kind in the country to begin offering users the ability to make purchases within its platform, CoinSpot said.
CoinSpot is expecting to add more NFTs “over the coming months” as it attempts to ease what it sees as a burden when purchasing digital assets through external marketplaces.
“No other platform currently allows users to purchase NFTs with any crypto of choice,” a company spokesperson told Blockworks. The platform said users will be able to make purchases using most well-known crypto.
Current processes for buying NFTs from marketplaces such as OpenSea involve establishing a crypto wallet, connecting said wallet to a marketplace and ensuring the right crypto is loaded to place a bid.
Most well-known projects are denominated or sold for ether. Still, CoinSpot argues the problem lay in a newcomer’s lack of education around the technology and is seeking to reduce “technical barriers.”
“If we look back at the emergence of the early internet, it’s clear that building the most accessible, easy-to-use and secure technology is the key to mass,” said CoinSpot Chief Product Officer Gary Howells. “Everyday Australians shouldn’t have to jump through hoops or miss out on accessing projects just because the current process of buying NFTs is complicated and confusing.”
He said that people should have the same access to the market despite whether they were a layperson or a high-profile individual.
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


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MANILA, 19 June 2017: Swiss-Belhotel International has returned to the Philippines with the launch of Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel.
The four-star Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel offers 271 rooms ranging from 36 sqm premier twin rooms to 123 sqm three bedroom balcony suites rooms.
The property features a range of supporting facilities including a gym and spa, restaurants and coffee shops, a rooftop swimming pool and a choice of well-equipped function rooms.
Swiss-Belhotel International, chairman and president Gavin Faull said: “The Philippines represents an important step in our multi-brand growth strategy for Southeast Asia.”
Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel is located in Salcedo Village, a 30-minute drive from Ninoy Aquino International Airport and 15 minutes to Bonifacio Global City.
Following the launch its first property in the Philippines, Swiss-Belhotel International has new openings scheduled for Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming one of the most important and successful regions in our portfolio, and we will continue to invest in promising destinations throughout the region,” Faull added.
Valero Grand Suites by Swiss-Belhotel is offering an introductory rate of Php 3888 net per night, including AirAsia BIG points valid through to 31 August.


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From Black Swan to Sustainable Fashion Renaissance?
Originally published here.
This blog brings together my two passions – fashion and sustainability – in a quest to put some glam into green.
"After a pandemic-induced hiatus, the fashion month is back underway in New York, London, Milan and Paris, in a new ‘phygital’ format and with sustainability higher on the agenda than ever before. Has covid-19, this black swan event with profound implications for our economies and societies, changed the fashion industry for good? Could the pandemic usher a new era of sustainable fashion renaissance?"
ways, the crisis has accelerated the changes that had been simmering for quite
some time and led to paradigm shifts that will endure post-pandemic.
Undoubtedly, the greatest social impact has been on the garment workers.
The crisis hit independent fashion designers
hard, too. Industry pundits have not been mincing their words, calling the
The latest pandemic also offers us a chance to
rethink our societies and economies as we ‘build back better’ post-COVID. Here
are five areas that could have a transformational effect on the industry’s
sustainability going forward:
the midst of the pandemic, Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani
has been a critical missing link in the fashion industry’s transition to
sustainability, something I explored back in 2016 in . Ending modern
slavery in fashion should be the first and foremost issue to be tackled through
greater regulation, but it could do so much more.
The climate alarm bells have been ringing for some
time, not least thanks to passionate campaigners. The fashion industry—which
accounts for more carbon emissions than the air and maritime travel
combined—has a key role addressing the climate crisis. But there is another
planetary emergency that is much less talked about: the biodiversity crisis.
Natural ecosystems that sustain our very life on this planet are under extreme
pressure—and their health is critical for staving off the worst effects of
climate change. More efforts must be made to come up with credible and simple
ways of measuring the value of services these ecosystems provide—from flood
protection to pollination—and as a source of materials for the fashion industry
itself, and how to account for this natural capital.
hope for a post-crisis fashion industry will be its greater diversity—another
issue that has been ignored for far too long. When luxury fashion lined up
social media posts to show solidarity with last year’s Black Lives Matters
protests, some brands were exposed for their hypocrisy and bias. A truly
diverse fashion industry is a must—and it goes beyond issues of race or sex
identity. Fashion as an industry needs to cater for all shapes and sizes, and
pay more than just lip service to the principle of inclusivity. This may also
mean eventually redrawing the global map of fashion capitals beyond the big
four mentioned above.
many lament the demise of brick-and-mortar retail, which accounted for 80% of
transactions in the fashion industry pre-pandemic, there is no doubt that the
crisis also accelerated the use of digital. Retailers who had not previously
prioritized e-commerce rushed to seize the online opportunity. For some
e-commerce platforms, the pandemic fuelled massive growth, for instance the
resale market got a boost through digital innovation since the onset of


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Since AMD released its Barcelona server chips last month, PC users have been wondering when that native quad-core goodness might arrive in the form of AMD Phenom desktop CPUs. According to a report on VR-Zone, we'll see the first two quad-core Phenom chips next month. The site reports that the 2.2GHz Phenom X4 9500 and the 2.4GHz Phenom X4 9600 will launch sometime in November. These Phenom 9000-series parts will feature 512KB of L2 cache per core, 2MB of shared L3 cache, a 3.6GHz HyperTransport 3.0 bus, and an 89W power rating. A third chip … Read more
The price of LCD panels for notebooks and desktop monitors has been on the rise since April, though the increase has not yet been passed on to consumers. But that could change very soon, according to a new report from iSuppli.
Though LCD television prices have stabilized, monitor prices are far more volatile right now. As an example, the average price for a 15-inch notebook display has inched up from $90 to $108 between April and September, according to iSuppli. But during that time, monitor prices did not go up even as panels did, severely eating into the margins of … Read more
I already reported that the Mac is on a massive ramp, but what about Linux? Well, according to this note on Slashdot, desktop Linux nearly doubled in the past year (to 0.81%). Nothing to write home about, perhaps, but still significant.
Vista may be cruising, but when you have the Mac and Linux growing at torrid paces, there's serious cause for Microsoft alarm. The world doesn't seem to want its online presence, where most of the action is. Microsoft continues to churn out monopoly rents on Office and Windows, but as the world moves online and open … Read more
While Power Downloader was sifting through criminal case files recently, he received an e-mail from Kitty Kilobyte who had gone back to school. After telling him of her latest "impossible" assignments and new "amazing" friends she had made, Kitty had an interesting software request. Kitty wanted some way to make her computer stand out from the rest of her classmates. She figured, if she's the niece of a famous software superhero, it should show--perhaps even if it's just in her computer's interface.… Read more
Apparently round is the new square.
This sort of guarantees itself as a conversation piece. Displaying this in your living room, office, or where-have-you, is sure to inspire furrowed brows, curiosity or both.
This is one of Suissa's takes on the personal computer, which can be completely customized and built on either Intel or AMD chips. Suissa is a Canadian designer that has a demonstrated history of putting a decidedly different spin on the rectangular box-style PC. They're also not the only company going round--earlier this year Sony debuted the Vaio TP1.
This model, called "Enlighten," … Read more
Corel Painter Essentials 4, available for both Windows and Mac, combines the resources of a Photoshop with the carte blanche of a art studio program, but without the attitude of either. The end result is something that's more appropriate for people looking to either paint or artistically tweak their photos and to have fun doing it.
Touting the slim, all-in-one desktop as the first move toward a new strategy focused on industrial design (is there any PC manufacturer that isn't doing that these days?), the once-mighty Gateway described the minimalistic machine as an ideal centerpiece for the digital home.
The announcement was made Thursday morning at a press breakfast at the DigitalLife consumer technology convention in New York.
It's a striking-looking machine: black with a glass front and brushed-aluminum back that evokes none other than Apple, the company that remains the leader in aesthetically inclined PCs. … Read more
Gateway may be a shadow of its one-time self but apparently wants to prove that it still has some life as an independent company before formally being subsumed by Acer. Its "One" desktop--so-named because of its all-in-one form--follows the likes of Apple, Sony, HP and other manufacturers, including some overseas.
But Gateway's version isn't just a cheap copycat, sporting an attractive design of its own as well as specs that include a 2GHz Core 2 Duo chip, a 500GB hard drive, 3GB of memory, DVD burner and a 5-in-1 card reader for $1,800, according to … Read more
Most desktop publishing types making posters, pamphlets, and newsletters will gravitate toward the largest, shiniest apple on the proverbial tree, most notably Adobe InDesign (there's a free trial of the $700 app for the curious).
However, the smaller, more muted Scribus (for Mac and Windows) or Portable Scribus (read review) could be a riper pick for you. Being able to tote a full program on a USB drive is especially beneficial for students, small businesses, and locale-shifters; amateur users will find more than enough features to create good-looking documents.… Read more
In an attempt to reduce its dependence on foreign software, Russia is planning to install its own version of Linux on school children's desktops across the country, according to CNews. Fantastic, right? Well, all that glitters is not gold.
Leonid Reiman, RF acting Minister of Communication states Russian OS and application program package development is of vital importance,...[with] [t]he main aim of the given work [being] to reduce dependence on foreign commercial software and provide education institutions with the possibility to choose whether to pay for commercial items or to use the software, provided by the government....… Read more


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Batman will have back-up in the upcoming Injustice 2 story trailer.
The first gameplay trailer for Middle-earth: Shadow of War shows off the improved Nemesis System.
Ubisoft has shared a list of changes made to Ghost Recon: Wildlands since the open beta.
The release date of PlayStation 4's next major system software update has been confirmed.
Overwatch players hoping to have Orisa on the live servers soon are going to be disappointed.
13 games from Sega's back catalog have been added to PlayStation Now's subscription service.


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Israeli cosmetics company considers move
Israeli cosmetics company Ahava has confirmed rumours that it is considering moving its manufacturing plant from Israel's West Bank. The news has been welcomed by campaign group Stolen Beauty.
The announcement comes shortly after the European Union made moves to force companies to label any products made in West Bank settlements, and after many years of protest and boycott aimed at the Israeli firm. A spokesperson from Ahava stated: "Due to expanding production needs and changes in regulations for manufacturing cosmetic products in certain Western countries, Ahava is examining the option of setting up another factory."
Last week, the brand cancelled a 'Twitter party' it had planned to hold online after protesters planned to hijack the event. The Ahava spokesperson said that one of the new locations Ahava is considering is in the Tamar Regional Council – inside the Green Line. However, they added: "Other alternatives are being investigated. No decision has yet been taken to open the additional plant.”
Stolen Beauty has been targeting Ahava since 2009, because of "the illegality of its practices," Nancy Kricorian, Campaign Manager at Stolen Beauty, told Cosmetics Business: "We welcome the news that they are considering moving their manufacturing facility out of an illegal West Bank settlement. This is a clear indication of the growing power of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) movement, which is scoring new victories every day."
Ahava stopped selling its products in the UK late last year and has recently closed two of its seven Israeli stores.
However, Stolen Beauty was not ready to drop its boycott of Ahava products. Kricorian added: "While moving out of Mitzpe Shalem will address one of Ahava's violations of international law, there would still remain the issues of the pillage of occupied natural resources and the subsidies to the two illegal settlements that are co-owners of the enterprise." Yet, the group's reaction to the news was still overwhelmingly positive. Kricorian added: "That said, when Ahava's plant and visitor centre in the occupied West Bank are definitively shuttered, I'm going to throw a party."


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Once mainly the domain of upstart Internet retailers, Cyber Monday is now synonymous with something a little more traditional: deals, deals and more deals to keep consumers spending at established stores.
The term Cyber Monday, coined last year by a retail trade group, was originally intended to describe the surge in online shopping that now takes place the Monday after Thanksgiving.
In the past, that was the day people sat in front of their computer screens at work and shopped at Internet retailing sites, like Amazon.com and Overstock.com, when they got tired of tromping through the mall.
But on Monday, traditional retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney used Cyber Monday as a major adjunct to their weekend promotional period, extending an already aggressive price-cutting atmosphere into the first week of the holiday shopping season.
At first glance, it appears that shoppers responded--in droves.
An estimated 61 million consumers shopped online Monday, on par with the crowds of shoppers that visited stores on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that ranks among the busiest shopping days of the year.
The big numbers will likely have implications for other retailers going forward, as traditional stores continue to search for ways to grab market share on the Web.
By noon Monday, visits to online retail sites had already surpassed the 2005 Cyber Monday peak of 3.1 million visitors per minute, according to Akamai Technologies Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based firm that tracks e-commerce traffic.
Traffic got so heavy that by late Monday morning, a new Web site called CyberMonday.com stalled, as four times as many visitors as anticipated lined up to log onto the site. An extra computer server was added by the afternoon to manage the traffic.
"Retailers are using promotions to get people to log on and get shopping," said Helen Malani, chief shopping expert at Shopzilla, a Los Angeles-based online comparison shopping service. "It's almost like there's an extended Thanksgiving shopping weekend."
Indeed, so-called bricks and mortar retailers have generally gotten more Web savvy. They dominated the top 10 online sites for Thanksgiving Day as consumers looked to get a jump on Black Friday doorbuster deals, some of which were only offered online, according to Hitwise, a New York-based online competitive intelligence firm. Wal-Mart topped the list with an 18 percent share, followed by Best Buy at 8.8 percent and Amazon at 8.4 percent. Circuit City, Target, Sears, Toys "R" Us, Overstock.com, Kmart and J.C. Penney rounded out the top 10.
In addition, keeping track of the online deals got easier this year as Web sites devoted to Black Friday sales expanded to include Cyber Monday deals, such as GottaDeal.com and BFads.net. The National Retail Federation, the Washington D.C.-based group that came up with the term Cyber Monday, also runs the CyberMonday.com Web site, touting links to special discounts from 400 retailers, including 30 bargains good only for Monday.
ComScore forecasts Cyber Monday sales will rise 24 percent to $599 million, up from $484 million in 2005, on par with the 24 percent increase predicted for the entire online holiday shopping season to about $24 billion.
The firm predicts the busiest online shopping day will be either Monday Dec. 11 or Tuesday Dec. 12. Last year, the busiest day was Monday Dec. 12.
Linda Lomax planned to tap into Cyber Monday deals as soon as she got home from her job as director of marketing at One Step Ahead, a Lake Bluff-based educational toy company. She expects to do most of her shopping online this year to avoid the crowds at the mall.
"I've got two little kids and taking them shopping doesn't work," said Lomax. "I avoid stores like the plague [at the holidays.] You can get everything done online and a nice brown box arrives at your door."
Wal-Mart, CompUSA, Staples, Sports Authority, J.C. Penney, Best Buy, Danskin and JoAnn Fabrics were just a few of the traditional retailers offering Cyber Monday deals. The one-day offers ranged from free shipping with a $100 purchase at Macy's to $50-off coupons for home audio and GPS navigational systems at Circuit City.
Traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers are expected to account for 50 percent of online holiday sales this year, up from 40 percent last year, according to ComScore.
"It's bricks-and-mortar retailers [that] have really figured out the Internet and its importance to them," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of ComScore Networks, a Chicago-based market research firm. "It's not just the pure-play Internet retailers that are promoting aggressively."


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The New York lottery is selling almost $2 million in tickets an hour ahead of Tuesday night's record-breaking $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot - and the pot could still rise before the 11 p.m. drawing.
Between 11 a.m. and noon, retailers sold $1.8 million in tickets, the state commission told News 4. That was a sharp increase from what they sold in the 10 a.m. hour, and the figure could rise again later in the day, officials said.
Connecticut officials didn't put a dollar figure on their sales, but did say 3,400 wagers were being placed every minute.
The jackpot has been growing since July, when a group of California office workers won $543 million.
It costs $2 to play the game, but the odds of winning aren't great. The chance of matching all six numbers and taking home the grand prize is one in 302.5 million.
The full prize is only for those who choose the 29-year annuity option. The lump-sum cash option currently stands at $904 million.


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Blog: Recession blues affecting kids, says Asda
Dean Best | 14 July 2009
Kids want less nowadays. That's the surprising conclusion of a survey from UK retail giant Asda, which says "pester power" is on the wane due to the downturn.
Some 1,000 parents and 600 children were interviewed by Asda and the company said the results showed that kids were becoming worried about the effect the recession was having on their parents.
Fourty-four per cent of kids say they are not asking for stuff "they don't really need", while more than half claim to be concerned about the downturn's impact on mum and dad.
Just 18% of parents thought little Janet and John were worried about the credit crunch.
Now, if UK kids really are taking more of an interest in the state of the economy, that concern, combined with financial lessons for kids in school, then, in the years to come, the country may not be so laden with debt.
However, children want stuff. It's in their DNA. And the parents among you will no doubt be preparing for a summer of: "Mum, can I have that?" "Ask your father." "Dad...."
One of my younger brothers turns 11 next week. And I can imagine the look on his face if I turn up with just a card and no pressie....
Hain Celestial, under the scrutiny of the investment community in recent months and facing some challenges in its domestic market, has announced another shuffling of its management pack....
FrieslandCampina, which today served up higher profits but lower sales for 2016, is ready to offload the last non-dairy business owned by the Dutch cooperative giant....
To follow on from our earlier notice and after some hard work from our technical team, just-food is back live after today's power outage....
Much of the UK has felt the impact of Storm Doris today - and just-food's head office has been no exception....
- General Mills sales woes continue - analysis
- Why personalisation will take-off in US food
- Comment: Meal kits in US - don't believe the hype
- US food next wave on display at Winter Fancy Food
- Column: Kraft Heinz, Unilever and sustainability
- Unilever 'lining up spreads sale'
- UK own-label firm Park Cakes sold in MBO
- Immigration crackdown "risk" for US dairy industry
- BRF plant suspended amid bribery allegations
- Fonterra cuts earnings forecast


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Check out this silicon iPhone case for the sight-impaired, via Core77:
Portugal-based designer Bruno Fosi has developed a prototype iPhone case that would enable the sight-impaired to use the device. The silicone case has debossed, tactile logos, icons and characters, yet is still thin enough for the screen to register touches. Used in conjunction with text-to-speech features, it opens up a world of possibilities for those without sight. Not to mention the blind could eke out some extra battery life by turning down the backlight.
Join Make: Community Today


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SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo lit up the World Cup in his own inimitable style on Friday, curling in a late free kick to complete a remarkable hat-trick and earn his team a 3-3 draw in an enthralling clash with neighbors Spain. In by far the best game of the tournament...
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Tesco may sell all Fresh & Easy stores
British supermarket giant Tesco may soon be bidding bon voyage to its American problem child.
Five years after the company landed in California and opened 200 stores across the West, Tesco said it is preparing to sell its struggling Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain and retreat from the U.S. market altogether.
“It’s likely, but not certain, that our presence in America will come to an end,” Tesco Chief Executive Philip Clarke during a Wednesday conference call from Los Angeles.
Tesco, which owns more than 6,000 stores worldwide, said it has already received inquiries from several companies interested in buying part or all the Fresh & Easy chain, or partnering with other firms to develop the business.
The announcement brought to a close a long struggle by the British retailer to establish itself in the highly competitive California grocery market. Experts said it was an ignominious end to Tesco’s once grand ambitions for its American venture, which launched in 2007 with headquarters in El Segundo.
Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason, a 30-year Tesco veteran, has left the company, Tesco said. “It is now clear that Fresh & Easy will not deliver acceptable shareholder returns on an appropriate time frame in its current form,” Tesco said Wednesday.
Tesco trumpeted its goal of building hundreds of smaller-format stores on the West Coast that wooed shoppers with convenience, fresh produce and tasty, prepared foods.
But in making good on those goals, the chain was plagued by problems that it never solved, analysts said. The stores have carried a limited assortment of merchandise, imported British favorites instead of adapting to American tastes, invested millions in a distribution network and commissary to make its own prepared foods.
In moving into Southern California, the chain sought to include underserved locations. Word of the company’s possible departure did not please Toyokazu Tokugawa, 51, shopping on Adams Boulevard in South Los Angeles. He says he’s a frequent shopper at Fresh & Easy because the selection and quality is better than at other local options.
“There’s no Whole Foods here, so this is good especially for the neighborhood,” said the Little Tokyo financial investor.
Analysts said a drugstore company such as Walgreen Co. or Rite Aid Corp. may scoop up the 200-store chain for the real estate. Other possible buyers include discount grocers such as German company Aldi.
Fresh & Easy never turned a profit, losing money year after year. In the first half of 2012, the supermarket chain lost about $115 million. In October, Tesco said it would cut back on investing in the chain after closing 12 locations this year. California still has 165 stores, while Nevada and Arizona have the remaining 35 locations.
On Wednesday, analysts cataloged the chain’s mishaps. Every store carries the same assortment of products no matter its location, and that assortment was wrong more often than it was right, said Jim Hertel, a managing partner at food retail consulting firm Willard Bishop.
Popular items were not swiftly restocked. The chain’s private-label products were often more expensive than their name-brand counterparts. And its pricing and promotional strategies were “head scratchers to say the least,” Hertel said.
“They were very public about how aggressive they were going to be, and it raised a set of expectations,” Hertel said. “Then the stores turned out to be less than what the hype was.”
Shoppers were also befuddled by cultural norms imported from Britain that U.S. shoppers sometimes found mystifying, said Jim Prevor, an industry analyst who edits the food retailing website PerishablePundit.
One quarter of the salad selection used to be watercress-based, which is popular in England but far less so in the U.S. The stores had no deli sections where food can be made to order, he said. Prepackaged sandwiches, commonplace to the British, often reminded U.S. shoppers of “something you get out of vending machines,” Prevor said.
Prevor said small store sizes combined with the emphasis on private-label products meant Fresh & Easy simply didn’t carry some popular labels and products.
“A typical suburban mom with two kids in the car seat isn’t coming to a 10,000-square-foot store that doesn’t sell the assortment that the kids want,” he said. “They created a concept that was neither fresh nor easy.”
It was a kind of overconfident attitude that also colored the chain’s dealings with local vendors, analysts said. When the company first landed on the West Coast, they brought a passel of British executives who adopted a “Don’t call us, we’ll call you” strategy when finding American suppliers.
“Eighteen months after they opened, people were predicting they were not going to be as successful as their aspirations,” Hertel said.
If Fresh & Easy is put on the auction block, its smaller-format stores, which average 10,000 square feet, would not tempt a traditional grocery store to bid, analysts said. But a drugstore company or a bargain supermarket chain may be interested.
Prevor doubts that Tesco will be able to find a serious buyer for a money-losing chain. “The most likely thing is they just put a lock on the door,” he said.
Not all customers were surprised by the news or disappointed.
Even though his parents live just down the block from a Fresh & Easy, Rudy Garcia, 22, said his mother does the bulk of her shopping at Food 4 Less for the better prices. A recent college graduate, Garcia said he stops by only when he needs a quick snack or a meal on the go.
“I like Fresh & Easy,” he said, “but if it went away I wouldn’t really care.”


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In an unprecedented move, India on Monday (June 29) banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok, UC Browser and Cam Scanner among others. A statement from the government said that the apps are ‘engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order’.
While it is believed that the Centre decided to ban these apps due to the ongoing tensions between India and China at the Line of Actual Control, experts maintained that even if the relationship with China does not deteriorate, these apps should not have been allowed to operate in India.
According to an estimate, these Chinese apps earn around 30-40% of their income from India. Popular Chinese app Tik Tok wanted to earn as much as Rs 100 from India till September. But the Centre’s decision to ban Tik Tok and other 58 Chinese apps would be big blow to Beijing’s plan to earn crores of rupees from India. These apps were making the mind of Indian an ideological colony of China. That’s why India has made an unprecedented ‘digital airstrike’ on China’s soft power. Just like in 2019, India responded strongly to Pakistan by air strike on Balakot and surgical strike in PoK in 2016. The true tribute to 20 Indian soldiers who were martyred in Galwan Valley on June 15 is that we now start saying Hindi Chinese bye bye in every sphere of life.
China wants to expand its business across the world through the Belt and Road Initiative. The countries involved in this project are upset today as China is pressurizing them to pay back their debt. China also wanted to make India a part of this new silk route, but India flatly refused to be a part of this project and now India has also conducted an air strike on China’s digital silk route.
China was intruding not only on Indian border but also on your life and your mind and heart with the help of internet. You were not only using mobile applications manufactured in China, but were also inadvertently handing over all your personal information to the Chinese companies and the government. For example, most of China’s mobile phone apps ask 45 percent more permissions from consumers than other apps.
These include apps such as Tiktok, UC Browser, Helo and Shareit. In many cases, these apps also ask for permission to use your smartphone’s camera and microphone. With the help of these applications, your personal conversations can be heard and photos and videos around you can also be recorded and all this is possible without your permission.
According to Chinese law, all companies have to share data with the Chinese government. That means your private data can also be handed over to the Chinese government by the companies controlling these mobile apps. It has been often said that ‘data will become oil’ in the future and any country with maximum data will become the strongest nation.
This digital expansionary policy of China is not a threat to countries like India only from the security point of view, rather it was also harming local traders and entrepreneurs.
The intrusion of Chinese apps into mobile app market had increased a lot in the last few years. In the case of mobile app downloads, there were only 18 Chinese apps in the top 100 apps in 2017, but in 2018 the number of Chinese apps in the top 100 list increased to 44.
Among the most popular Chinese apps in India is TikTok, which has more than 200 million active users in India. This app has been developed by a Chinese company named ByteDance. The number of Indians playing PUBG-like games on mobile phones is more than 50 million. PUBG is also controlled by a Chinese company named Tencent. However, there is no information to ban it yet.
China’s UC Browser has become India’s No. 2 internet browser after Google Chrome with 22 percent market share. UC Browser belongs to the Chinese company Alibaba. This too has now been banned.
Similarly, Helo is a social networking app with more than 4 million users in India. This is also an app operated by the ByteDance company. This app has also been banned in India.
Mnay Indians may have also used Shareit, which is a file sharing app, in their smartphone, Apart from this, you must also be using an app named Vigo video. This too has now been banned.
Another Chinese app named CamScanner is also very popular in India. The app is used to scan documents and pictures and it has about 100 million users. It has also been banned.
According to an estimate, China accounts for about 45 percent of the total Android applications downloaded in India.
Many countries have already banned these Chinese apps due to privacy and security issues. In March 2018, Australia had banned the use of WeChat by its troops. In January 2018, the US Council on Foreign Relations claimed that China’s Communist government runs propaganda through Chinese apps like Baidu.
In December 2017, India government had also declared 42 mobile phone apps of China including Shareit as dangerous due to security and privacy issues. The government had also warned the military forces to avoid using these apps
In August 2017, China had admitted that apps like Weibo, WeChat and Baidu violate cyber security regulations.
According to reports, China also conducts illegal acts of spying through Made In China mobile phones. China’s mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi is accused of sending its users’ data secretly to China.
Source: Zee News


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Show time in the Hawkesbury!
Now in its 134th year, the Show, which will run from 23-25 April, celebrates agricultural excellence, with animal and produce competitions and trade exhibitions in a festival setting.
Senator Payne said the show brings the country to the city doorstep.
“With the recent flooding in the Hawkesbury, it has been another challenging time for the local community,” Senator Payne said.
“I was very pleased to deliver $70,000 in government funding to help restart the Show in 2021, but now we also want people to purchase a ticket and spend some time in this fabulous part of Western Sydney.
“Visiting the show is a great day out, and it's also providing an economic boost to the region as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Formed in 1879 and a member of the Agricultural Show Societies Council of NSW, the Show is managed by the not-for-profit Hawkesbury District Agricultural Association (HDAA).
President of the HDAA, Mr Ross Matheson, said the Show would highlight the very best of what the Hawkesbury had to offer.
"Since our last Show in 2019, we have battled with the drought, dreadful bushfires, the pandemic and record-breaking floods, but now we're back and determined to make this the best Show yet," Mr Matheson said.
"From wood chopping to sheep dog demonstrations, visitors will be able to enjoy an array of classic agricultural activities.
"Of course, the Show will also include a great range of amusement rides, alongside local business stands, and the always popular showbags.
"When you visit, you're supporting our community and local jobs, so we really encourage everyone to make a day of it."
The Show will include an Anzac Day ceremony on the 25th.
Around 5850 local families in the electorate of Macquarie will reap th...
Following severe flooding across large parts of NSW, Local Land Services...
Local Land Services is calling on passionate, innovative and highly experienced...
More local roads in the Hawkesbury will be fixed, with the Morrison Government...
The effects of climate change have become more apparent in recent years,...
L-OTSA L-OTSA Music & Motion programs offer something uplifting & engaging for every age and ability. Call us to find out how!
Cornwallis House Cornwallis provides guests with a level of comfort, space and privacy unmatched in the area. Perfect for a get together!
Luxury Afloat Houseboats Enjoy the river in style with Luxury Afloat. Just one hour from Sydney's CBD. No boat license required.


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After unprecedented user backlash as well as a majority vote on a recent poll on whether Digg should bring back the controversial “Bury” button, new Digg CEO Matthew Williams today confirmed that the social news aggregator would be bringing back many of the beloved Digg Version 3 features in the coming weeks, essentially bringing back the old site with new code. As far as we can tell from his post the part about officially bringing back the “Bury” button is new information, but the “Upcoming” section has been back for about a month, which makes Williams’ “In the past two weeks ..” statement inaccurate.
“Recently, we’ve been reinstating a number of the features that many of you loved about Digg. In the past two weeks we’ve brought back the “Upcoming” section, started restoring user profiles from the previous version of Digg, and made small but important tweaks to the site including better pagination. In the next few weeks we’ll bring back the bury button, restore all user profiles (including comment and submission history), add filters and navigation for videos and images, provide a tool for users to report comment violations, and update the Top News algorithm and overall site design based upon your feedback. The result will hopefully be a much better web site experience.”
It seems as though post-revolt Digg is now treading carefully with regards to user feedback, to the point of providing users with a full-on survey regarding Digg Version 4 changes. Early reaction from users is mixed with the basic sentiment being “too little too late.”
Says one power user who wished to remain anonymous, “I fear that a couple little small changes now, although they MIGHT be a helpful, don’t do anything to really bring back the people who have left the site… and that’s what the people who use the site care about. Digg has scared away so many people now, that it is very hard to stick with them, especially when sites like Reddit are providing better user experiences and have happier communities.”


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House Passes Senator Greenleaf's Auto Theft Prevention Bill
Today, the House of
Representatives passed Senator Greenleaf's
SB 86, an auto theft prevention measure to assist law enforcement in
cracking down on auto theft in Pennsylvania.
"The crime of auto
theft has become increasingly complex, and auto thieves have become more
organized," said Senator Greenleaf. "Pennsylvania's existing laws need to be
amended to help prosecutors charge someone with auto theft."
are increasingly involved in stealing vehicles, altering their identities and
selling the vehicles to unsuspecting consumers, or shipping the vehicle to other
countries where they are sold on the black market. They also steal vehicles to
chop them up to sell the parts. The profits from these thefts are often used to
supplement other criminal enterprises. Legislative revisions can improve law
enforcement's efforts to investigate more complex cases, as well as improve
their ability to locate and recover stolen vehicles and parts.
SB 86 expands the
Motor Vehicle Chop Shop Act to include “trailers” and “semitrailers” to help law
enforcement charging thieves who steal trailers.
Law enforcement has
found that the current law is vague when attempting to charge someone with the
crimes of profiting from stolen vehicle activity. SB 86 clarifies the offense of
dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity to specifically include stolen or
illicitly obtained property.
Current law fails to
establish any limits on time for inspections of suspected “chop shops”. The
proposal would establish that inspections may occur during a shop's normal
business hours or any other time in which work is being done. Also, the current
law does not properly limit which vehicles may be searched. It allows police to
search any vehicle on the premises, including private vehicles belonging to
employees or customers and fails to provide constitutionally required limits on
police discretion. The bill corrects this issue by limiting searches to those
vehicles and parts that are subject to the record keeping requirements of the
Since 1994, when the
General Assembly created the Auto Theft Prevention Authority, annual auto theft
rates have decreased by 60%. However, SB 86 is needed to help successfully
prosecute and convict many highly organized criminals and complicated cases.
SB 86 now awaits the


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The fallout from the Note 7 debacle, which is expected to take a big chunk out of Samsung’s third-quarter profit, will keep hurting its business into next year, the company said.
If dispersing data among storage nodes can make it more secure and less prone to loss, wouldn’t spreading it across far-flung cloud data centers make it even more so? If so, IBM has the right idea with its Cloud Object Storage service
Two of the main IoT standards groups have merged, probably bringing consumers closer the day when your lights, your refrigerator and the power company can all talk to each other. On Monday, the Open Connectivity Foundation and the AllSeen Alliance announced they would merge.
The long fight over LTE networks sharing frequencies with Wi-Fi may be just the first of many battles as device makers and service providers try to make the most of the limited available spectrum.
Comcast and the biggest U.S. carriers are taking their long-running rivalry to the internet of things. On Wednesday, Comcast said it would launch trials of LoRa low-power network technology.
If you want 5G, there’s a good chance you’ll need a small cell nearby to deliver it. Putting up that cell may be hard because of a host of problems, but Nokia Bell Labs thinks it can solve some of them with drones and tiny solar panels.
A massive DDOS attack and weaknesses in critical systems have put security concerns front and center in the internet of things. IBM thinks blockchain technology could lock down at least one use of IoT.
The biggest U.S. carriers planning to deploy controversial LTE-Unlicensed technology expect to use gear that’s been tested for coexistence with Wi-Fi, their executives said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, two companies moved to help enterprises adapt their IoT data for popular cloud services. OSIsoft introduced its PI Integrator for Microsoft Azure, and Particle announced a custom integration with Google Cloud Platform.
Partnerships that could shape the internet of things for years are being forged just as enterprises fit IoT into their long-term plans. No one vendor can meet the diverse IoT needs of all those users, so they're joining forces and also trying to foster broader ecosystems. General Electric and Germany's Bosch did both on Monday.
Articles by Stephen Lawson


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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to lay off 250 employees in a move officials said would reduce costs and "align skill sets with anticipated future needs."
The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip manufacturer, which employs 12,400 people worldwide, expects to take a charge of up to $8 million in the fourth quarter for severance issues.
The company, which has lost money the past two quarters, does not expect to make it back into the black this quarter either, said spokesman Scott Allen.
"We want to return to profitability as early in 1997 as we can," Allen said. "Currently, AMD is staffed to be a $3 billion-a-year company, and we're going to do roughly two-thirds of that in 1996. We can't be profitable consistently at current head-count and sales levels."
In September, AMD laid off 200 people. The new job cuts will affect workers at the company's headquarters and at a manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.