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OTT Providers Get Higher Marks Than Pay TV for Customer Service
Traditional pay TV providers are going to have to drastically improve their customer service if they expect to compete with over-the-top (OTT) video services. That's the lesson from a survey of 3,000 customers in the U.K., U.S., and Philippines conducted by London-based pay TV monetization company Paywizard.
The survey looked at 10 customer service touchpoints (such as joining a service, contacting customer service, and dealing with a billing issue) to learn how positively or negatively customers viewed their past experiences. Overall, OTT providers had better ratings in 8 of the 10 areas. U.K. customers gave pay TV providers the highest marks, rating them more favorably in 4 areas.
The most negative areas for customers (of both pay TV and OTT companies) are dealing with a billing issue, cancelling a subscription, and contacting customer service.
Even though they rated better there's a lesson for OTT services here, as customers said they find it too difficult to contact customer service and upgrade or downgrade their service with OTT providers.
As Paywizrd CEO Bhavesh Vaghela explains, the report is useful to both types of providers: Pay TV companies need to invest a lot more in customer service, and OTT companies can't take it for granted that they're providing acceptable service at every touchpoint.
Look for the U.K. to be the biggest spender on OTT services, while Norway will have the highest proportion of subscriptions per household.
Content will get customers to take a look, cautions a Paywizard survey, but a good customer experience will keep them around.


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Tungle.me service allows schedules to be synchronized across calendar platforms including Google, Outlook, Apple iCal, and Lotus Notes, and also plugs into social networks.
RIM's new CEO has been showing off a sneak-peak of PlayBook 2.0 and hinting at what's to come in BlackBerry 10. It's all about 'Flow'!
It's a little better than TimeBridge. But it may not be better enough.
Hulu Plus comes to the Xbox Live, Best Buy gives away free phones, and Natali signs off as your host of Loaded.
Another tool to tame the meeting-setup process.
Google Calendar users who want a non-third-party solution for finding the best times to reschedule a meeting now have an official option by Google.
Marketers are everywhere at the annual digital-culture fest. It sort of makes your face start to melt a little bit.
After this week's DemoFall, longtime organizer Chris Shipley is handing over the reins. Here's a look at some of the best and worst companies that have presented there over the past 13 years.
New features nag laggards to show up for the meetings they've agreed to attend.
Desktop tools at Under the Radar Office 2.0.

domain: news


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Posted by : Harish K V Saturday, 27 April 2013
Square Enix has announced a return to the first person stealth based gameplay of days gone by with Thief 4. It is set to continue the series' tradition of first person stealth and actively discouraging combat, just like the previous games. Thief 4 will also add a major new mechanic called Focus. It works like Detective Mode did in the Batman: Arkham games, and highlights scalable walls, extinguishable lights and fingerprints that can be analysed. It also works as a sort of Bullet Time, as you can use it to slow down time while pickpocketing.
The enemy AI can make or break a stealth game, and first few Thief games' AI were revolutionary for their time. Apparently, this game is set to continue the tradition. "Garett's enemies understand the topography of the level and which ares could be useful for hiding. Different NPCs will look for Garrett in different ways," noted AI programmer Eric Martel. Overall, the game sounds very similar to Dishonored, which is unsurprising as the Thief games are cited as some of the biggest inspirations for Dishonored.
Thief 4 is set to be released for the PC, the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, and possibly the next-gen consoles in 2014.
ALSO SEE: ATTANO.COM


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Kolkata : City-based fast moving consumer goods manufacturer Emami Ltd, which holds 27.5 percent stake in Zandu Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd, is in talks with the pharma company’s promoters for a management sharing arrangement, a top official said here Monday.
Zandu’s promoters, the Parikh family, had earlier approached the Bombay High Court against Emami after the latter purchased 24 percent stake in the company from the Vaidya family, co-promoters of Zandu.
“We have been talking to the Parikhs about sharing management control, though the talks are not yet fruitful,” Emami director Harsh Agarwal told reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the company.
“About eight to nine percent stake of Zandu bought by us were not dematerialised, which are yet to get transferred to Emami,” Agarwal added.
Emami picked up 3.5 percent of Zandu shares from the market before buying the 24 percent stake of the Vaidya family in a deal announced May 30. But the Parikhs refused to sell it out.
Earlier this month, the Zandu-Emami case was transferred to the Company Law Board (CLB) by the Bombay High Court.
Emami is expecting an order of the CLB on the case any time now.
“We expect an order of the Company Law Board on the Zandu case any time,” Agarwal said.
Emami reported a net profit of Rs.110 million ($2.56 million) for the first quarter of the current fiscal, an increase of 12 percent over the same period last year.
Profit before tax grew by 14 percent at Rs.130 million.


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The turnover of foreign trade between Russia and the United States between January and April reached $6.976 billion, amounting to an increase of 29 percent year-over-year, the Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) said on Thursday.
A Rostec director said that the corporation has offered China to work together on a new engine for long-range planes based on the next-gen PD-14 turbofan engine.
The World Bank said that economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will gradually strengthen to reach 2.6 percent by 2019.
The modest rise in US interest rates announced by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday is part of a slow pattern of increases, in light of steady economic growth, economics expert Joseph Gagnon told Radio Sputnik.
The European Commission has launched antitrust investigations into US giants Nike and Universal Studios over whether they are illegally restricting traders from selling licensed merchandise cross-border and online within the EU Single Market.
The crypto-currency Bitcoin has some potential as an investment instrument, but gold should still be the first port of call for investors who want security, analysts told Sputnik.
It is premature to talk about joint economic activity with Japan on Russia's Kuril Islands, Vladimir Putin said.
Rosoboronexport expects foreign customers’ interest toward aviation and air defense equipment at the upcoming Paris Air Show.
The US Federal Reserve raised rates by 0.25 percent, from 1.00 to 1.25 percent on Wednesday, ignoring the underperforming inflation and weakening retail sales as broader economic reform in the US requires a speedier normalization of monetary conditions against the backdrop of the looming Donald Trump-proposed fiscal stimulus.
Gazprom Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee Alexander Medvedev said that all funds came on the accounts of Nord Stream 2 company as planned.
Ensuring the stability of the ruble is a priority, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
According to Gazprom Deputy Chairman, company plans to deliver gas to India.
Moscow has attained the target of a 4 percent-inflation this year, President Putin said.
Moscow will lift sanctions when the West does so, President Putin said. Russia will support its agricultural sector after the removal of the restrictions.
Russia has lost $50 billion-$52 billion due to sanctions and those states which introduced them have lost $100 billion, Vladimir Putin said.
Russia and China are planning to discuss cooperation in many areas, including exports of grain, meat and dairy.
Hundreds of mobile phones and hundreds of thousands of SIM cards were seized on Tuesday in a residential neighborhood in Thailand after immigration police arrested three Chinese men operating a click farm on the site.
The European Union has launched an antitrust investigation against Nike, Universal Studios and Sanrio on suspicion of illegal restriction of goods distributors in cross-border sales and online sales within the single EU market.
According to an unreleased Pentagon report, a federal agency is considering limiting Chinese financial investment in the US, even as Beijing continuously finds new ways to gain access to sensitive cutting edge US technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Chinese automakers say the target of producing high-speed automated vehicles can be achieved by 2025. By then, mass production of such vehicles may be a reality, they believe. That vision was included in the government’s medium- and long-term development plan for automobiles, which aims to transform China into an innovative automotive nation.
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Christmas is a time for dreams. Just like Top Marques Monaco.
With just 13 shopping days left until Christmas, some of you might be scratching around for the ideal gift.
Top Marques Monaco has the perfect solution: a TICKET to the world’s only LIVE supercar show to be held in Monaco from April 16 to 19th 2015.
- Unprecedented number of tickets already sold including brand new PREMIUM tickets offering unlimited access
- Six supercar premieres confirmed from all corners of the globe including USA, the UK, Finland, Turkey and Eastern Europe
- Exciting partnership with supercar social media legend Shmee150 who reaches more than 25 million viewers on a monthly basis
- Exclusive watchmaker Franck Muller returning to headline Watch Pavilion for 6th year
- Bespoke jewelers include HD Rare and Unique, Sabbadini and Mevisto, designer of unique ‘gemstones of life’
- Dozens of other luxury products also to be showcased including Remmus, a self-rotating lounger which follows the sun
- Parisian artist Julie Jaler to present her works of art along with ingenious engineer turned designer Olivier Fremy
Billed as the ‘most exclusive car show in the world’ by the New York Times, Top Marques Monaco has become a ‘must-attend’ event for supercar and lovers of all things luxury.
More than 36,000 visitors attended Top Marques 2014, with videos of the show’s live test drives on the F1 track being downloaded by more than a million more.
Equally as awe-inspiring are the very latest and most exclusive luxury products displayed in the show’s Watch Pavilion and Luxury Lane, a taste of which you can find below.
More than 180 exhibitors are set to exhibit at Top Marques Monaco, with every product from a €2 million supercar to €40,000 sunlounger being For Sale.
So, if you haven’t got time to go out and buy something extra special for this year’s Christmas stockings, do the next best thing and BUY a ticket to the show so you will be ahead of the game next year.
The 12th edition of Top Marques Monaco will be launched at the Grimaldi Forum on April 16th, with live test drives for VIP visitors and potential clients taking place on a privatized section of the F1 Grand Prix circuit until April 19th.
With The Edmond de Rothschild Group returning as title partner for the third year running and a brand new partnership with Burgess, the world’s number 1 superyacht company, the event promises to be even bigger and more luxurious than ever before.
Another new initiative for 2015 is a partnership with supercar social media legend Shmee150, who reaches more than 25 million viewers on a monthly basis, and has a followers' base of more than 2 million people. Through this exciting venture Top Marques hopes to reach millions more supercar fans.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.topmarquesmonaco.com or directly from the Grimaldi Forum www.grimaldiforum.com
UNTIL DECEMBER 25th, take advantage of the Top Marques Festive Promotion : buy 2 Premium Day Passes and get the second ticket at HALF PRICE - that's a €80 saving!
For just €240 you can treat 2 PEOPLE to a day at the world’s most exclusive supercar show with access to the VIP Bar for unlimited champagne and a gourmet three course lunch in the Top Marques supercar restaurant.


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The cost of living is rising – and so are house prices. But, in real terms, residential property prices have declined substantially over the past seven years and are set to drop even further.
According to the FNB House Price Index released on Monday, house prices in September were 20.3% lower than December 2007 – “the month in which last decade’s boom-time peak in real house prices was reached”. This figure is arrived at after adjustments for inflation. In nominal terms, house prices in October 2014 were 21.4% higher than December 2007.
The toxic mix of high inflation, high unemployment and low growth means South Africa is experiencing stagflation.
The South African Reserve Bank has attempted to combat stagflation by raising interest rates at a time when consumers are under severe strain.
“Rising interest rates raise the popularity of rentals and decrease the popularity of buying,” said John Loos, household and property strategist at FNB Home Loans. “In an interest rate hike cycle, people may downscale but choose to move into the rental market instead of buying again.”
He said that although rental inflation has been increasing gradually, it is yet to catch up with headline inflation: “It’s not shooting the lights out yet, I would expect it will gradually accelerate further,” Loos said.
The Reserve Bank’s recently released financial stability review noted that Statistics South Africa had reported a marginal annual increase in rentals of 5.2%, up from 5% between January and July 2014.
It is possible that residential property prices could in fact drop further. “If one looks at the Absa House Price Index, which goes back to the 1960s, we are still at historically high, real price levels,” said Loos. “It’s realistic that we may have more rand weakness and more inflationary pressure, and higher interest rates. So it’s likely house prices in real terms will decline to levels below consumer price inflation.”
The Reserve Bank’s financial stability review said an increase in the cost of home ownership and the repayment burden that accompanies such asset purchases can be ascribed to the increase in interest rates in recent months, “which could place additional stress on already highly leveraged investors in buy-to-rent properties”.
The FNB Estate Agent’s survey for the third quarter of the year found that, after having edged up gradually in previous quarters, the small rising trend in “buy-to-let” buying had stalled.
“As a percentage of total buying, buy-to-let purchases are estimated by survey respondents to have edged down slightly from 10% in the previous quarter to 9% in the third quarter,” the survey said.
“The on-going mediocrity in buy-to-let buying is probably explained by the rental market’s strengthening to date having remained modest, interest rates having started to rise, and tenants having limited means in the currently tough economic environment.”
Loos said: “At the moment the market is strong but I would not say it’s an ideal buy-to-let opportunity.”
The FNB report said that a moderately higher buy-to-let percentage, relative to previous years, coupled with relatively slow sales of rental properties should still contribute to a growing supply of rental stock.
“However, we believe that the current economic and interest rate environment should also support rental demand growth somewhat,” it said.
“Our expectation of further rises in interest rates in 2015, possibly causing some aspirant first-time buyers to postpone their home purchase and rent for longer, as well as for a greater rental demand from a moderately increased number of financially constrained households, could see to it that rental inflation continues to move gradually higher in the near term.”
According to the FNB House Price Index, the average house price for October 2014 was 5.9% higher than the previous year. This is slower than the previous month’s 6.0%, and represents the tenth consecutive month of gradually slowing price inflation since the 8.5% rate recorded in December 2013.
The average price of homes sold in October was R961?760, FNB said.


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Mobile Technology is the New Focus
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) plans to become an increasing player in mobile technology. It currently has a role in this market. Yahoo provides weather and stock content for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and services like Flickr to smart phone users. That said, there is a lot of room to expand its role within the mobile software market. Mayer has publicly stated that she sees this as the future of the market with a number of mobile devices up 3x over the past five years. Tablets are expected to outsell laptop in 2013 for the first time. The key is to develop apps for this market but also monetize them. The acquisitions of Summly, Jybe, Stamped, OntheAir, Snip.it and Alike put Yahoo on the right path.
Yahoo! seems like it has finally found a new path to go down to pursue growth. It is third in search, but results there are improving due to its partnership with Microsoft’s Bing. In addition, its new focus on developing innovative technology in the mobile market makes sense. Additional acquisitions are likely and, while hard to product, should change the face of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) over the coming years. The company and its shares are worth watching and possibly buying.
Mike Thiessen has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Baidu and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Baidu and Google.


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A Ninth Circuit Appeals court has overturned a lower-court decision that said that bloggers weren't entitled to the same free speech protection as journalists. The case involved a 2011 blog post by Crystal Cox in which she alleged that a firm had engaged in tax fraud; the company she wrote about said that the allegation was false, and that Cox should be found guilty of libel because she wasn't a "journalist." The higher court found that, journalist or not, Cox's guilt turned not on the truth of her statement, but whether she was negligent, and could have discovered the truth.
The ruling on Friday is particularly important in the era of online content, Volokh said.
"In this day and age, with so much important stuff produced by people who are not professionals, it's harder than ever to decide who is a member of the institutional press," Volokh said.
Cox's blogging activities have attracted their share of controversy. According to the court's opinion, Cox has a history of making allegations of fraud and other illegal activities "and seeking payoffs in exchange for retraction."
Blogger gets same speech protections as traditional press: U.S. court [Dan Levine/Reuters]
(Image: "FREE SPEECH*", a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from newtown_grafitti's photostream)
Senate Republicans have introduced a bill to ensure that the FCC won’t be able to prevent your ISP from spying on your internet usage and selling your private information. What does that mean in practice?
American penitentiaries, in idealized Quaker imaginings, were to be a place for reflective penitence followed by forgiveness. That’s not how it worked out, especially for the poor. And the problem goes far beyond prison reform:
A ruling about a DC university held that posting course videos to the open web without subtitling them violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (while keeping them private to students did not) (I know: weird), and this prompted UC Berkeley to announce the impending removal of 20,000 open courseware videos from Youtube.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has done outstanding work packing a fully capable desktop computer into a package the size of a deck cards—especially one that only costs $35. But if you already have a working laptop, why should you care? Oh, how much you have to learn. Besides operating well as a compact digital media hub, […]
Custom coffee vessels are the perfect piece of office flair, but it’s just a matter of time before your VOTE FOR PEDRO mug will start to lose its relevant wit. Why not have a new one every day, with whatever silly nonsense you want sticking off the sides? You can save big on your novelty […]
The Lightning port has thus far resisted the cruel fate that befell the headphone jack, and despite rumors that it may be disappearing come iPhone 8, for the present and foreseeable future, Lightning cables are a hot commodity for iPhone users. As such, we must make do in this strange time in which long, glorified […]


text: National Semiconductor Corp. announced that it will reduce its worldwide work force by about 500 over the next several weeks. The reduction, which will affect all levels of employees at the Santa Clara, Calif. firm, is the result of staff reorganizations to meet National Semiconductor's business plan following the purchase of Fairchild Semiconductor on Oct. 8. This is the final transition reduction as business groups and operations worldwide are consolidated. The combined company has about 38,000 employees. National Semiconductor is a leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductor and systems products.


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Android 14 has made its debut today, coinciding with the launch of a new Pixel phone. The operating system is currently being distributed to compatible Pixel devices, including the Pixel 4a (5G) and all versions of the Pixel 5, 6, and 7, as well as the Fold and Tablet.
This year’s standout feature is a somewhat customizable home screen. Users can select from various lock screen clock styles and personalize the two bottom app shortcuts. This update appears to be in response to iOS 16’s lock screen widgets, although it is not as customizable. Android 14 is one of the smallest Android releases in recent memory, making it challenging to pinpoint a standout feature beyond the home screen customization.
Google’s blog post mentions a new wallpaper picker as the first feature. On the Pixel 8, Android now includes a built-in AI-based wallpaper creator for text-to-image conversion, possibly in line with Google’s emphasis on AI technology. Additionally, a new monochrome theme is available for users seeking a change from the vibrant “Material You” colors.
Other updates include a redesigned battery charging indicator in the status bar, enhancements to Android’s runtime, the ability to activate the screen and camera LED flash for notifications, Ultra HDR image support, a “Health Connect” data repository for fitness apps, and the launch of the phone-as-PC-webcam feature.
Android 14 is currently rolling out to Pixel devices, and Google anticipates that many of its partners will be ready to implement the update before 2024. However, there is no rush for users to adopt this update, as it represents one of the more modest Android releases in recent history.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Sandiego Currents journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.


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Oversupply has reduced the price of a legal pound of pot in California by more than 80 per cent for some growers.
Excerpt only …
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Source : Oversupply, high taxes forces some legal growers in California to let their bud turn bad: Report
reposted by Cannabis News World


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Encourages Consumers to Return Products to the Store of Purchase
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Maryland Department of Agriculture is supporting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recall of pet foods manufactured by Menu Foods, Inc. by issuing a Stop Sale Order on these products. The Stop Sale Order directs retailers to remove all identified pet food products from public sale and prohibits the shipment or movement of the products other than as part of the recall plan. A complete list of the brands, lot numbers and types of products being recalled is available on line at http://www.fda.gov .
"We are reinforcing the recall to make sure that this pet food is removed from the marketplace," said Agriculture Secretary Roger L. Richardson. "Anyone who bought the products should return them to the store from which they were purchased."
MDA has notified distributors of the statewide Stop Sale Order and have begun monitoring the recall by sending inspectors to retail outlets to make sure that products are pulled from the shelves. In addition, MDA will begin testing samples of the recalled pet food if any is found in stores.
The Department of Agriculture's Animal Health staff advises that pet owners stop feeding these products to their animals immediately. If a pet has recently eaten any of the recalled products and shows signs of kidney problems, such as loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting, owners should consult with their private veterinarian.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture's State Chemist Section regulates the sale and distribution of feeds and pet foods among other agricultural products in order to protect consumers and the environment from unsafe or ineffective products and to provide the regulated industry with a competitive marketplace.


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Shopify Beats Q2 Estimates, Revenue Soars 75 Per Cent
Shopify’s earnings are up a staggering 75 per cent year over year with a total revenue of $151.7 million in their second quarter.
The e-commerce company topped analysts’ estimates of $144 million and posted a smaller than expected loss of 1 cent per share for an adjusted net loss of $1.1 million (all figures in US). Shopify’s shares were also up 11 per cent in early trading.
CFO Russ Jones attributed the company’s strong Q2 results to the “fundamental shift” in retail towards both multi-channel platforms and mobile, adoption by larger brands, and building out the platform.
“As we have been able to predict and capitalize on these shifts, and continue to innovate so entrepreneurs of all sizes can take advantage of them, we feel we are exceptionally well-positioned for the next several years,” said Jones in a press release.
Shopify also hit a new milestone on Tuesday. The Ottawa-based company now powers more than 500,000 merchants in 175 countries. Since 2012, the platform’s community has grown on average 74 per cent each year. To date, Shopify-powered businesses have made $40 billion in sales.
In the past month, Shopify has made some notable changes. The e-commerce platform launched personally branded domains for merchants, partnered with eBay to allow Shopify merchants to sell their products on the auction site, and created Exchange, a marketplace to sell an online store.
Shopify also announced that their Chip & Swipe Reader—a pocket-sized card reader for wireless payments—is now available to all US Shopify merchants. Moving away from online-only stores, the reader allows merchants to sell their products in person.
Today’s quarterly earnings results are the ninth consecutive time Shopify has beat analysts’ forecasts—something they’ve consistently done since going public in May 2015.
Before Tuesday’s open, Shopify’s New York-listed shares were up to $97.70 per share, nearly triple its price on the same day last year. Shopify said they now expect to pull in revenues between $642 million and $648 million for 2017.


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Wells Fargo initiated coverage of Coinbase Global (COIN) with an underweight price target of $57 per share in 2023, citing such profit headwinds as regulation and increased competition amid a "crypto winter."
"We expect the weakness in crypto/crypto trading volumes to persist through the back half of the year given weakening macro/consumer and lack of any significant stimulus," Wells Fargo equity analysts said in their first COIN note.
The analysts valued the company on a enterprise value-to-sales basis applied a 2.5x multiple to their 2023 revenue estimate to calculate their price target, which they called a "fair value, in our view, for a high-quality company, but one that operates in an industry characterized by pricing pressure, competition, and increasing regulation, with an unclear path to sustainable profitability in the [medium term/long term]."
COIN shares dropped 9.4% to $60.98 apiece in Thursday morning trading after they rallied 7% over the last five days. Over the past three months, Coinbase stock has regained 27% of its value from $48. Year to date, the stock has dropped more than 76% from $253.
In its second-quarter earnings results, Coinbase posted a $1.1 billion net loss with as much as 41% coming from the decline in value of the crypto assets on its balance sheet during the market's lowest point in the quarter.
Yet, with more than $6 billion in cash, the firm should be fit to weather the downturn as long as its costs stay down even if crypto assets persist in a bear market through the end of 2023, Lisa Ellis, partner with MoffettNathanson, told Yahoo Finance
Wells Fargo anticipates a 56% year-over-year decline in Coinbase's revenue from retail transactions to $451 million, putting their estimates below the Street's consensus for the stock in 2023.
Last week, JPMorgan lowered its end of year price target for COIN from $78 to $60. The bank pointed to falling interest in cryptocurrencies as the main issue.
Going forward, Wells Fargo analysts see retail trading volume as the largest U.S. exchange's most significant revenue driver. The analyst is pricing in the continued decline in COIN's retail customers in light of macro conditions and increased pressure from competitors offering lower trading fees.
"Though we believe in the value of COIN's platform, we see its early-mover advantages gradually being eroded away as the competition increasingly mimics the COIN ecosystem," the analysts said in the note.
Wells Fargo analysts said the "retail take rate" — or how much revenue per retail transaction the exchange earns — as well as monthly transacting users (MTUs) as critical for gauging the firm's health.
"Binance now offers $0 fees for BTC and ETH. From a wider lens, historically we've watched brokerage firms follow a similar path of pricing compression over time—essentially, pricing is a 'race to $0,'" the analysts said.
Expectations of crypto regulation in the U.S. as well as Coinbase's institutional trading business also play a role in how the analysts estimate the exchange's performance.
For positive catalysts, Wells Fargo's analysts pointed to more institutional partnerships — such as that inked with BlackRock earlier this quarter — and progress in Coinbase's subscription services, which accounted for 18% of its revenue in the previous quarter.
David Hollerith is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance covering the cryptocurrency and stock markets. Follow him on Twitter at @DsHollers


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On April 2, 2018, FDA issued a mandatory recall order for all products containing powdered kratom manufactured, processed, packed, or held by Triangle Pharmanaturals LLC, after several tested positive for salmonella.
Refusal of the company to work with FDA prompted order While companies typically comply with government requests and voluntarily recall tainted products, Triangle Pharmanaturals refused to cooperate with the FDA.
The Food and Drug Administration calls it a unsafe opioid, but kratom advocates call their pill of choice a life-saving supplement. All salmonella bacteria can cause the foodborne illness salmonellosis, although the strains found related to this recall are not now linked to the outbreak.
Mitragyna speciosa, known as kratom, is a plant that grows in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Research suggests the drug taps into some of the same brain receptors as opioids, spurring the FDA to classify it as one in February.
FDA has advised consumers to discard all kratom products they may have in their possession.
At least 87 people in 35 states have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak linked to Kratom. Most people infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.
Four people in Oklahoma have gotten salmonella after taking kratom, an herbal supplement some people take as an opioid substitute. Supporters, such as the American Kratom Association, continue to fight to keep the substance legal and available. That has led to a growing concern among several regulatory agencies including the FDA and the CDC.
So, for the first time ever, the agency issued a formal order that Triangle recall its kratom today.
History Shows Peril and Promise of Trump-Kim Summit
It marked the second time a South Korean team of taekwondo artists performed in Pyongyang, and the first since 2002. The deployment of such powerful weaponry during past drills has frequently drawn an angry response from the North.
The FDA said the Salmonella strains found in Triangle's kratom products don't match the outbreak trains, but it added that all Salmonella can cause foodborne illness.
In the United States, kratom is sold as a dietary supplement in the form of pills, powders, capsules and tea.
Triangle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act gave the FDA powers to force recalls for the first time, but the agency has been reluctant to move too aggressively, preferring to persuade companies to recall troublesome products voluntarily. It was then that the FDA issued its mandatory recall.
"Our first approach is to encourage voluntary compliance, but when we have a company like this one, which refuses to cooperate, is violating the law and is endangering consumers, we will pursue all avenues of enforcement under our authority", FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote in the release.
Kratom is banned in Australia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and several USA states (Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, and Wisconsin). The agency also has received concerning reports about the safety of kratom, including deaths associated with its use.
Kratom is made from the eponymous plant, a native species to Southeast Asia where it has historically been used as a stimulant - not unlike chewing tobacco - in low doses, or to treat pain by inducing eurphoria a higher doses. The agency says that kratom has no approved medical use and chemically resembles an opioid, the class of addictive drugs behind the current nationwide epidemic of drug abuse.


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A drug with the potential to cause cancer in humans might have entered the food chain through horse meat slaughtered in UK abattoirs, Labour has claimed.
Shadow environment secretary and Wakefield MP Mary Creagh told the Commons she had evidence that "several" horses slaughtered in the UK last year tested positive for the carcinogen phenylbutazone.
It's after a Dalepak factory in North Yorkshire was implicated in the horse meat in beefburgers scandal last week. Bosses at the ABP foods plant in Leeming bar insisted only a trace amount was found in their products.
Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers produced at a factory in Northallerton. Traces of horse meat were discovered during testing by The Republic of Ireland's Food Safety Authority.
The burgers were produced at the Dalepak Hambleton plant, and two other factories in Ireland.
Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores say they are removing the products from their shelves immediately.
The Irish Food Safety Authority says the meat poses no health risk but raises concerns about food traceability.


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With Salesforce and Warren Buffet yesterday investing about $500 million in cloud-storage superstar Snowflake, bear in mind that 7 months ago Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman said the cloud represents the biggest and most-dynamic market the computer industry has ever seen.
Bolstered by the infusion from Salesforce–#3 on the Cloud Wars Top 10 and arguably the hottest enterprise-software company among a field of red-hot competitors—Slootman expects to be able to scale fast-growing Snowflake to meet the near-insatiable demand from the marketplace.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Slootman from that Feb. 10 interview with CNBC’s Jon Fortt:
On the widespread surge to the cloud among businesses from every industry and every part of the world:
It’s a massive transition—it’s not just a generational thing, it’s the biggest thing ever in the world of computing, where literally all workloads that have been built up over a 30-40-year period are now moving to the cloud. And it’s going very, very fast, so it’s almost hard for an organization like ours to fully [take advantage of] the opportunity that’s unfolding in front of us. And that’s why everyone’s investing like crazy.
In response to a question from Fortt about whether the cloud market will be even bigger than the mobile phenomenon:
Much bigger—this is the entire computing infrastructure that has built up since the 1950’s and 1960’s. Everything from the last century is now transitioning to the cloud and there’s less and less reasons to resist the cloud. For the last 10 years, we’ve had the conversations about privacy and security and so on—and that’s going away. Because after a while people are staring at each other and going, ‘What are we talking about? We have to go! Time is not our friend.’
For Salesforce, the $250 million investment is not only a great financial move that could well double in value after Snowflake’s forthcoming IPO, but also an additional asset that Salesforce can deploy as it blows past $20 billion in annual revenue and begins its assault on Marc Benioff’s target of $35 billion by 2024.
As the cloud becomes fully mainstream and even begins to become the primary environment for corporate computing, Salesforce’s own sales organization can offer customers an informed introduction to Snowflake’s ultra-modern cloud storage. In the minds and perceptions of customers, this adds incremental value to the Salesforce brand by making it easier for customers to tie together diverse solutions.
And in today’s frenzied business environment, customers are eager to gain every advantage of speed and simplicity that they can find.
Subscribe to the Cloud Wars Newsletter for in-depth analysis of the major cloud vendors from the perspective of business customers. It’s free, it’s exclusive and it’s great!


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By Barbara Marshall
In the David’s Bridal shop in West Palm Beach, Vicki Reynolds and her daughter, Brittnee, were turning the mother-daughter wedding dress shopping tradition on its head.
Vicki, 48 and 10 years divorced, is the bride; Brittnee, 22, is the bridesmaid.
Nor was Vicki looking for the sedate wedding suit good taste once dictated that older brides wear.
When the Delray Beach dental hygienist marries for the second time in November, she’ll be wearing a $1,000 ivory halter-style wedding gown with a full veil. She’ll celebrate with a $25,000 black tie reception for 50 people on board a 142-foot yacht.
“I’m a little surprised that I want this. But I’m so happy with this man that I want it to be like it’s my first marriage, as if it’s my one and only wedding,” said Reynolds, whose new blended family will join the newlyweds on their honeymoon cruise. “I want to feel like a bride.”
Once, “mature” brides, as the wedding industry calls them, were encouraged not to call attention to their later-in-life nuptials.
Enter the rule-breaking baby boomers embarking on second (or third or fourth) marriages, with disposable incomes and a determination to party.
“It’s a huge trend where older brides find the love of their life, the one they wish they married the first time,” said Dianne Myers, manager of David’s Bridal in West Palm Beach.
The country’s largest bridal chain has seen its older bride business more than double in the past two years while growth in the younger bride market has been more modest, according to Brian Beitler, David’s Bridal’s chief marketing officer.
While the mature market accounts for only two to three percent of overall sales, the company expects the number to continue growing.
Older brides spend more on dresses, too. David’s says they average $700 to $800 on gowns compared to the $500 to $600 that younger brides spend.
And a good portion of those are long white or off-white gowns.
“There aren’t any rules anymore,” said Trina Chaney-Hoo, owner of The Planning Company, a Palm Beach event planning firm.
She arranged a wedding for a 62-year-old first-time bride earlier this year who wore a full-length wedding gown and had an elaborate reception.
“They are absolutely in love,” said Chaney-Hoo. “The bride said, ‘Why shouldn’t I have everything I want?’.”
Only a few years ago, the majority of her brides were 25 to 35, said Chaney-Woo. “Today most of them are 35 to 60-something,” she said.
At the Four Seasons Hotel in Palm Beach, catering manager Stacie Hallinan has also noticed an uptick in middle-aged brides. Weekend wedding parties that include a welcome party, rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception and farewell brunch are common among brides more interested in family and fun than traditional rituals.
“Emily Post may be rolling her eyes, but these brides are creating family reunions during their wedding weekends,” Hallinan said. “They’re renting Jet Skis, hanging out on the beach and getting facials at the spa.”
Their weddings tend to be smaller but with more attention to detail. While younger brides might spend $200 a head for a wedding reception, older brides’ budgets will allow for $250 to $300.
“They might spend $40,000 for 50 people compared to younger brides spending that for 100 or 150,” Hallinan said.
Couples 55 and older made up 8 percent of last year’s $53 billion wedding industry, according to The Wedding Report, which analyzes trends. That’s double the number of older couples who tied in the knot in 2002.
Nationally, these empty nesters with savings and substantial 401ks are spending 10 to 15 percent more than the $26,000 cost of the average wedding.
Chaney-Woo’s Palm Beach brides are pulling out even more stops.
Vera Wang gowns are the norm for her clients, who are mostly local professional women, she said. Many order several-thousand dollar cakes flown in from New York baker Sylvia Weinstock Cakes, known as the “da Vinci” of wedding cakes.
If there’s any blushing among these brides, it’s likely from the cost.
Chaney-Hoo says her middle-aged brides might spend $150,000 to $200,000 on a small high-end wedding. The average for a larger wedding is $400,000 to $600,000, not including the dress or the ring.
Myers, the David’s Bridal manager, hasn’t seen many Bridezilla rages among this demographic, but she’s prepared. nonetheless.
“What sometimes happens these days is that moms and daughters are getting married at the same time,” she said, with a shudder.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.


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A safer way to release software and the 0 to 1 story behind LaunchDarkly with Edith Harbaugh, Co founder of LaunchDarkly
July 07, 2023
Edith Harbaugh, Co founder and Executive Chair at LaunchDarkly, joins the show to talk about
- The process LaunchDarkly went through to validate PM fit and create the category for feature management.
- LaunchDarkly's target customer profile when finding PM fit and how their target customer profile has evolved as their category and company has scaled.
- At what stage in a company's growth should a founder invest in Dev Ops.
- The evolution of DevOps landscape over the next 3-5 years.


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Subaru Recall Lawsuit
Subaru Recalls 634,000 Vehicles Citing Potential Fire Hazard
On January 3, 2013, Japanese car maker Subaru announced recall of 634,000 vehicles, including sedans, crossovers, and wagons, sold in the United States, citing potential fire hazard caused by an electrical problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has confirmed to have received at least 10 reports of smoke and melting caused by short-circuit in the wiring and connectors of the puddle lamp located under doors of Subaru vehicles when exposed to electrolytic moisture. The Subaru car fire hazard recall covers all 2010 and 2011 Legacy and Outback models, some Tribeca SUVs made from 2006 to 2012, and selected Forester crossovers manufactured between 2009 and 2012.


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The UK’s ad market reached a new milestone during the third quarter of 2017 as almost one in four pounds spent on advertising went to mobile, which posted year-on-year growth of 30.7% to £1.3bn, according to new research.
The data, from Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report data found that total ad market growth was recorded at 3.5% year-on-year, with £5.4bn spent during Q3 – the 17th consecutive quarter of market expansion.
The report found that total spend on mobile (including display, search, and other formats such as SMS/MMS) was higher than TV spend for the first time. Yet TV remains the leading display channel.
“The latest data indicate that total mobile ad investment during the quarter was higher than that for TV for the first time – though the two channels serve different roles for advertisers,” said WARC’s Data Editor, James McDonald.
“While TV remains the largest display medium by some distance, mobile investment is being driven by advertisers looking to reach consumers via search results and social feeds.”
New data show that the vast majority of mobile display spend is being directed towards advertising on social media, which rose 44.7% year-on-year. This, coupled with rising spend on paid search, is driving sector growth, as early estimates for the full-year 2017 put total mobile adspend above £5bn.
The latest verified data resulted in an upgrade to 2017 full-year estimates, with total ad market growth now believed to have been +3.4%, 0.3 percentage points higher than the last AA/WARC projections in October 2017. Advertising expenditure is expected to grow by a further 2.8% this year.
Though total TV saw a slight decline (-0.8%) year-on-year during the third quarter, within this, video on demand spend posted healthy growth of 13.3%. TV spend across traditional and digital formats is thought to have returned to growth in the final quarter of last year, culminating in a preliminary estimate of -2.0% for 2017 as a whole, the first annual dip since 2009. However, total TV spending is expected to turn positive this year (+1.5%).
Among the other media channels covered by the report, national newsbrands’ digital revenues rose strongly in Q3, up 21.5% year-on-year. While this was not enough to offset print losses during the quarter, the total market contraction of 5.1% was the best performance in three years, suggesting a slight easing of the intense business pressures newsbrands are facing.
Elsewhere, direct mail recorded its strongest quarter in six and a half years, as spend rose 5.9% to reverse a prolonged downturn. Radio (+5.1% year-on-year) also had a strong quarter, though annual dips were seen in out of home (-0.8%), cinema (-8.4%) and magazine (-11.9%) spend.
Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association, noted the continued role of advertising in delivering growth to UK business. “UK advertising spend enjoyed a record high in the third quarter of 2017, with figures up again year-on-year. It is encouraging to see further predicted growth of 2.8% for 2018”, he said. “UK advertising is vital for the economy, generating £6 for every £1 spent”.
Going forward, Woodford emphasised the continued importance of accurate advertising data in the current context. “As we work through Brexit, we need to help Government make the best decisions to support our industry and, by extension, the wider UK economy as we target growth across the nations and regions and in an increasingly global marketplace.”
Andrew Morsy, UK MD of ad platform Sizmek, said: “Warc’s latest figures show mobile accounting for a large part of the increased ad spend in the UK and, for the first time, this has outgrown TV expenditure. This is encouraging for both advertisers and brands, who are continuing to see mobile as not just a profitable investment, but as a safe and secure way to deliver their message.
“Now there is massive opportunity for mobile advertising. Given the oceans of data available for advertisers, including consumer location, ads can be more creative, relevant and meaningful. We’ll continue to see a push into mobile advertising particularly when it comes to video this year, with shorter creative and a snappier approach to the way people like to consume content.
“With the right combination of media placement and creative, I’ve no doubt that mobile will continue to push the boundaries of smart and relevant advertising, giving consumers content they actually want to see and engage with.”
Josh Krichefski, CEO, MediaComCEO said that although mobile ad spend continues to rise, advertisers will find that a lack of personalised and relevant content will render the engagement entirely useless.
“Audiences across all demographics now want to view what they want, when they want and mobile is rapidly becoming the platform that allows them to do just that,” Krichefsk said. “In the UK alone, well over three quarters (85%) of 16-75 year olds own a smartphone. That is clearly a huge opportunity for brands to connect to a powerful audience – brands who use data well and execute smart campaigns based on that are able to engage an audience with tailored content that builds a personal relationship and ultimately leads to them buying from, or at least being more aware of, that company or product.
“Yet, harnessing mobile for the sake of mobile is not, and never will be, the right approach; for any ad campaign to succeed it must be made with thought, care and the right target audience in mind. The key lies in remembering that consumers love mobile content because it’s easy to access and view. Mobile ads can take advantage of that, but they cannot allow it to be a reason to spam consumers – the audience will expect and demand an unforgettable experience, but if they see an ad ‘blocking’ the content they want to view, all that ad spend will be completely wasted.”


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Research from DAT Solutions has suggested that the number of active carriers in the US commercial motor vehicle sector has grown at a faster rate following the implementation of the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate.
Four months before the implementation of the ELD requirements, which came into effect on December 18, 2017, DAT surveyed its users to learn how they planned to deal with the new regulation. The majority of respondents were owner-operators and small carriers and, according to DAT, 30 percent of them said they would leave the industry rather than use an ELD.
While some may have followed through on the threat, DAT said that the number of active carriers has actually grown.
DAT attributes this to favourable market conditions in late December 2017 and early January 2018. “The combination of a strong economy, holiday-related e-commerce freight, rebuilding efforts following hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and uncertainty around ELDs pushed rates to the highest level DAT ever recorded,” explained the analyst.
With the high rates, DAT added that many company drivers and owner-operators decided to go independent and start their own carrier businesses.
However, the implementation of the ELD requirements did have an impact on the productivity of the workforce. According to DAT, what were once one-day trips started to spill into a second day, as electronic logs provided less flexibility when recording hours of service.
Still, the higher rates in peak seasons were able to compensate for the loss of miles. Higher rates continued throughout the year and, in May 2018, the national average rate for flatbed trucks stood at USD2.71 per mile, up on the USD2.10 per mile in May 2017 and the USD1.92 per mile in May 2016, as HLPFI reported here.
Now, one year on from the ELD mandate, DAT’s research suggests that carriers seem to have adjusted and demand-capacity measures are returning to more normal levels. If prices follow suit, it is likely that the pace of new carriers entering the marketplace will slow, explained DAT.
“Some of those who originally threatened to quit may decide to leave the industry later than they originally thought.”


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Boy Scouts Of America Issues Neckerchief Slide Recall Due To Lead
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – If you’ve got a Boy Scout in your life, you’d better check his neckerchief slide.
The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday issued a voluntary recall of certain units of the Wolf, Bear, Lion and Webelos neckerchief slides sold between February and August of 2018, due to lead content. The slides were shipped to retail locations nationwide and were sold online.
The affected slides include the PO numbers 200233281, 200236630, 200228276 and 200231755. The PO numbers can be found on the tag attached to the back of the slide.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, “Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled neckerchief slides, take them away from children and return them to any Boy Scouts of America retail store or distributor for a free replacement neckerchief slide, including shipping.”
No injuries have been reported.
The neckerchiefs, which were manufactured in China, contain “levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban,” according to the CPSC. “Lead is toxic if ingested by young children and can cause adverse health issues.”
The BSA will accept slides that no longer have the tag attached.
“The safety of our products is our number one priority,” according to a customer service FAQ released by the Boy Scouts of America. “Our quality control procedures include factory inspections, finished goods testing, and testing of raw materials. We are dedicated to maintaining product quality and safety. Once again, we are not aware of any injury resulting from the use of these products.”
To contact the Boy Scouts of America for additional information about the neckerchief slide recall, call 800-323-0736 from 6 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mountain Time, email firstname.lastname@example.org, or go to scoutshop.org/product-recall.
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Marketers struggle to track audiences after Facebook and Google scale back data for GDPR
Google’s and Facebook’s preparations for the General Data Protection Regulation have caused a headache for marketers that relied on the platforms for ad targeting.
Marketers said they now struggle to comprehensively measure their targeting across the platforms within their own data management platforms, forcing some to turn to third-party measurement partners and others to be complacent with piecing together the data they do have strictly within Google and Facebook. Say a marketer ran a campaign across Google and Facebook. Now, they can no longer see if an ad reached the same person on Google as well as on Facebook.
Google’s changes to its data sharing came ahead of the GDPR enforcement deadline on May 25. The Google DoubleClick IDs once let buyers transfer files of DoubleClick impressions from across Google’s ad products from Google’s DoubleClick Campaign Manager to their own DMPs. At the end of April, Google disallowed ad buyers from using the Google DoubleClick ID to export data.
Facebook made a similar move, citing the need to protect people’s privacy. As a result, their view tags are no longer usable by other platforms such as Google’s DoubleClick. Already, some marketers’ say that within their DMPs, they cannot measure views across their Facebook buys, only clicks.
Not only can marketers and agencies no longer track whether an ad reached someone on Google, but not on Facebook, and vice versa, the changes also complicate the ability to see if their ads are being seen by new audiences or people who have already seen the ads on another platform.
“This evolution is creating issues for marketers and agencies alike,” said one agency executive, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution by the platforms. “In some ways, it’s not surprising. Walled gardens want to make their walls taller because it benefits them and protects them against GDPR, but it makes achieving what all brands wants to achieve — one view of the customer, one view of the journey, a comprehensive understanding of how effective their marketing is — more challenging.”
Brandon Solis, strategy director at R/GA, said that being able to use the DoubleClick ID and Facebook view tags within their DMPs created efficiencies for marketers. “We knew we could guarantee an impression some way,” said Solis. “That was the benefit of audience sharing: If we don’t capture you somewhere, we can see that we’ve captured them somewhere else. Now, there’s not that guarantee.”
To cope, marketers are adopting more third-party measurement companies. One marketer at an international company, speaking anonymously, said it was now working with Amazon and Nielsen to target its ad buys across all platforms since it can no longer do so through its DMP.
Agency executives said GDPR has only strengthened walled gardens and had the effect of pitting one tech giant against the other. Now, to measure accurately, marketers will have to tailor their campaigns to each individual platform or just go all-in on one, Solis said.
“This just shows how competitive the data and the measurement is and how the platforms are all staking their claim to that,” said another agency executive, who asked for anonymity. “It’s a battle between Facebook and Google.”
Download our complete guide to GDPR.
More in Marketing
“We are not diminishing the importance of AR,” he said. “In fact, we are strategically reallocating resources to strengthen our endeavors in AR advertising and to elevate the fundamental AR experiences provided to Snapchat users.”
Why Activision Blizzard Media is using an Attention Measurement Scorecard to raise marketers’ confidence in gaming
In Q4 of this year, Activision Blizzard Media is launching in beta a new measurement tool dubbed the Attention Measurement Scorecard. The goal: to raise brands’ and marketers’ confidence in in-game advertising.
The concert film will likely help build on cinema advertising’s momentum after Barbenheimer.


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TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The Kalinga Treasures Fair, an annual part of the celebration of the 29th Founding Anniversary and 5th Bodong Festival, has officially opened on February 5, 2024, in front of St. Tonis College.
The launching was marked by a ribbon-cutting participated by Regional Director Juliet P. Lucas of the Cordillera office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), DTI Kalinga Provincial Director Renie M. Ramos, Governor James S. Edduba, Lone District Rep. Allen Jesse Mangaoang’s representative Mr. Regie Wacas, and Provincial Agriculturist Engr. Domingo A. Bakilan.
At least 135 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the province joined as exhibitors to showcase their locally-made products, services, and innovations to potential customers, partners, and investors.
Gov. Edduba acknowledged their dedication and contributions, recognizing their pivotal role in advancing the province’s economic growth. “Daytuy nga araramiden yu ket dakkel talaga nga contribution iti kasanu tayu nga agprogreso, isu nga adda kami ditoy nga kinanayun, sisusuporta kanya yu tapnu karkaru kayu kuma ma-encourage ken umad-adu.”
The public is encouraged to visit and support the fair which is one way to help preserve cultural identity and promote appreciation for local craftsmanship and artisans.
Several MSMEs in the wearable sector will be sponsoring the outfits of the models for the Laga fashion show on February 14, 2024, at the Kalinga Sports Center.
During the launching ceremony, DTI-CAR Regional Director Juliet P. Lucas, in her message, emphasized the importance of having more markets to have higher sales in the business, encouraging entrepreneurs to use online marketing platforms.
Lucas said that the previous year, the entrepreneurs in the province generated around PhP17 million in total sales, which is higher than other towns in the Cordillera region, a good sign that the local products of Kalinga are salable.
To gain more income, entrepreneurs must improve their marketing strategies, such as the promotion of their products through the internet using various social media sites and marketplaces that are accessible anytime and anywhere, she further said.
According to her, many of the customers are now accessing the internet to place orders, and the local products of Kalinga must be searchable and readily available to gain more sales. By Rio Bassong & Ian Addatu


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What next for Danone's water business?
Danone has reportedly entered "early stage" talks over the potential sale of its water business. Read analyst opinion and just-drinks comment on the story here.
Just as Danone's bottled water division has begun its climb to recovery, speculation has surfaced that the Evian producer might dispose of the business. Here, just-drinks speaks to analysts and assesses the firm's strategy.
Danone has remained tight-lipped on a report that it has entered talks to sell its water business, but analysts believe a deal could make sense for the group.
Danone Waters has posted an increase in third-quarter sales and confirmed its full-year targets for growth.
Danone has identified Latin America as a strong emerging market for bottled water and is seeking to gain a greater foothold in Brazil.
French beverage firm Danone Waters said it will leverage its position in emerging markets in 2010 as volume growth in 2009 was entirely driven by those countries.
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Wednesday, August 26th, 2015
In this report, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) called for an Airline Code to champion the rights of Canadian air passengers and an Air Passenger Complaints Commissioner. The report examined current consumer protections and recourse options available to airline passengers in Canada and proposed new models which will strengthen consumer protection in the airline industry moving forward.
Tuesday, October 16th, 2001
PIAC report: High Hopes and Low Standards! – The Life and Times of Airline Travel in Canada


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MADRID—Caixabank SA said Friday that third-quarter net profit rose sharply from a year earlier as Spain’s third-largest bank by market value set aside fewer provisions to cover soured loans.
Caixabank reported net profit of €161 million ($203.6 million) in the third quarter of this year, up from €50 million a year earlier when the bank set aside most of its income to cover a pool of bad debts.
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Citi is to create a new 'Global Enterprise Payments' unit that will combine its transaction banking and cards businesses to provides services in the corporate-to-consumer market.
Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citi, says Global Enterprise Payments represent a significant growth opportunity for the bank.
"With our unmatched global footprint and services infrastructure, no one other than Citi can capitalise on the opportunities in the services area," he says. "Enterprise Payments is a natural intersection between our consumer and institutional businesses that will engineer innovative solutions for our clients."
The unit will be led by Paul Galant, who will serve as CEO, working in partnership with Francesco Vanni d'Archirafi, CEO of GTS and Jud Linville, CEO of Citi Cards.
Galant, a former CEO of both GTS and Citi Cards, says the new unit will develop services that help banks, corporates and government departments to interact more efficiently with their customers. The objective is to provide a single source alternative to the clutter of third party providers that currently compete in this space.
"As digitisation continues to take hold, there is a migration from physical currency to digital currency," notes Galant. "The information flows, the loyalty and the opportunity to target gets lost through all of these different hub points of connectivity between the ultimate service provider and the consumer. This is where Citi can really add value."
Citi has not disclosed details of the level of manpower or monetary investment released to back the enterprise.


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Facebook and Under Armour Soar Enough to Pull Competitors Higher
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
While a number of economic reports were released today, it's a strong gross domestic product number from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that has major indexes moving higher today. As of 1 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 157 points, or 1%, the S&P 500 is higher by 1.33% and the Nasdaq is up 2.03%.
The latest GDP figure for the third quarter shows a 4.1% increase from the prior quarter. This was the second time the figure has been reported -- we will receive one more in February -- but the first report only indicated the economy grew by 3.2%. Other data released today included the weekly initial jobless claims figure, which at 348,000 was up 19,000 from the previous week, and National Association of Realtors data showing that pending home sales in December fell 8.7% when compared to November and dropped 8.8% when compared to December of 2012.
But that news could not keep the major indexes lower or slow down a few highfliers today. Shares of the athletic apparel companies Under Armour and Nike are up 21.9% and 3%, respectively, at this time. The moves come after Under Armour reported quarterly earnings that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The company posted revenue of $682.7 million and earnings per share of $0.59, beating analyst estimates of $619.9 million and $0.53. Furthermore, the company sees revenue increasing by 22%-23% in 2014 and also increased its operating income forecast.
Many investors are taking Under Armour's good news and connecting it to Nike, as they both essentially sell the same goods. While that move may work out well for some investors, the fact of the matter is the two companies are direct competitors and are selling to the same group of people. The only real question then is, how much pie is there to go around?
Two other stocks jumping higher today are Facebook and Twitter , which are up 15.7% and 8.3%, respectively. These moves follow Facebook's earnings report. Facebook not only posted strong earnings and revenue beats, but an amazing amount of growth when it comes to advertising sales figures. But, most importantly, Facebook now derives more than 50% of its revenue from mobile adds, a revenue stream which just two years ago didn't exist and a year ago only accounted for around 20% of revenue.
That one stat is likely the reason for the stuck jump by Twitter, an essentially mobile-only social media platform. The revenue being generated by Facebook on mobile should be something Twitter can rather easily duplicate in time. Today, investors are certainly showing their confidence that the company will do just that.
There is no denying it, technological innovation is the future
There are few things that Bill Gates fears. Cloud computing is one of them. It's a radical shift in technology that has early investors getting filthy rich, and we want you to join them. That's why we are highlighting three companies that could make investors like you rich. You've likely only heard of one of them, so be sure to click here to watch this shocking video presentation!
The article Facebook and Under Armour Soar Enough to Pull Competitors Higher originally appeared on Fool.com.Matt Thalman owns shares of Facebook. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook, Nike, Twitter, and Under Armour. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook, Nike, and Under Armour. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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The special editions will include a Vantage and a DBS Superleggera.
A V12-powered celebration of speed.
The company also confirmed its final power figure.
The new DBS Superleggera Volante will hit a top speed of 211 mph.
And yes, it comes with a watch.
19 pairs of cars will be produced. Yes, you have to buy them in pairs.


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Founder of EliteExpressShop.com, James Mclnerney is pleased to announce the launch of his new website venture; the website features a broad assortment of sports and fitness equipment, especially team sports gear, home fitness supplies, adventure sports products, and sports fan gear. For more information, visit the website’s blog at ExpressShopBlog.com.
Kansas City, MO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 10/04/2016 --James Mclnerney is proud to announce the creation and launch of his new website venture, http://www.EliteExpressShop.com. The website offers a wide variety of sports and fitness equipment with a particular focus on team sports gear, home fitness supplies, adventure sports products, and sports fan gear. Mclnerney was inspired by the way that sports and fitness products play an important role in many people's lives, from bringing people together to show their team pride to helping them have the endurance to get through each fast-paced day with grace. After learning about the possibilities of an online store, Mclnerney wanted to help others get the products that they would need to ensure they can get lifetime fulfillment from their favorite activities.
There are many excellent sports and fitness products featured within the merchandise of EliteExpressShop.com. The website carries items including adventure sports equipment such as inflatable kayaks and stand up paddle boards; team sports equipment including specialized softball gear and football protective equipment; fitness supplies including tennis apparel and yoga and Pilates products, and more. In the future, Mclnerney plans to further expand the product lines offered on the website. By periodically updating the merchandise, he hopes to encourage customers to keep coming back to the online store to check out what new items have been added.
Customer service is of the utmost importance to Mclnerney regarding each and every transaction made on EliteExpressShop.com. He wants to ensure that customers have positive experiences on his website by providing them with a rich selection of products that covers many aspects of everyday sports and fitness needs. The website features an easy-to-navigate layout, so customers can quickly find everything from a stylish tennis top to climbing carabiners.
To complement the main website, Mclnerney is also launching a blog located at http://www.ExpressShopBlog.com.
The blog will feature topics related to sports and fitness supplies in general such as finding quality football receiver gloves, enjoying hours on the water with a stand up paddle board, and using home fitness equipment to get a good workout in after work. Mclnerney hopes to give valuable tips and information on staying healthy and enjoying an active lifestyle with quality sports gear.
EliteExpressShop.com is owned and operated by Web entrepreneur James Mclnerney.


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Samsung is prepping up to bring the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A53 shortly. Moreover, the device appears on various platforms multiple times in past few weeks. Thus, the frequent online appearances hints at the imminent launch of the device. However, there is no official confirmation on the launch dates yet. Now, in the recent development, there is live images of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A53 5G surfacing online. The report from 91Mobiles shows the live image revealing the rear camera design alongwith frame of the upcoming smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G live image details
Samsung is working to announce the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A53 5G very soon. The device’s live images are surfacing online revealing the rear panel design and frame of the device. Moreover, the device will arrive with a Quad rear camera setup. According to fresh leak, the upcoming Galaxy A53 5G will have slight protruded camera module above the rear panel. In addition, the device will arrive with a 64MP primary camera sensor with either 8MP or 12MP Ultrawide lens. And, there could be 5MP macro camera with a 2MP depth sensor. However, the image doesn’t reveal the front panel design. But as per earlier design leaks, the device will get flat 6.4-inch display with thin bezels and hole punch cutout at top.
Moreover, the upcoming Galaxy A53 will have AMOLED FHD+ display with 90Hz refresh rate. The device will get power from the Exynos 1200 SoC coupled with 8GB RAM and 12GB internal storage configuration.


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Ukraine War and Skiing Industry
What comes to mind when you think about the year 2022. The beginning of the post Covid era? Everyone thought so, an humble beginning. But the devastating war in Ukraine has been haunting us since then.
You can wonder how war in Ukraine is connected to skiing? Let me break it down for you.
Ukraine as we all know is one of the major exporter of wheat. But the lesser known fact is that Ukraine is also one of the leading exporter of winter sports equipment.
Most of the major ski and board manufacturing companies have their factories in Ukraine. They amount to more than 60% of Winter sports equipment exports. Manufacturers such as Fischer, Rossignol, Technica and Amer sports all have closed their factories in early February when the war had started.
Though some factories opened on late August, they couldn’t meet up with the demand. Also are not functioning at their maximum capacity. Thanks to the ongoing war and reduced personnel.
This has forced manufacturers to have cap on their orders, making most of the inventories sold out. The supply chain which was heavily hit by COVID is once again being devastated by the war in Ukraine.
This has led to bullwhip effect, wherein the manufacturers couldn’t meet up with the retailer’s demand caused by the consumers.
All this has made the prices go up by more than 10% above normal this year. The difficulty and delay in getting the sports equipment might cause the consumers to spend money elsewhere or in a completely different sport.
Ski Resorts in Ukraine :
Ukraine is also home to some amazing ski resorts such as Pylypets, Bukovel and Trostyan mountain. These resorts were closed as soon as the war began in February 2022. Though now some of them are partially opened, skiing industry will have one less gem.
But the impact of the war doesn’t end in here.
Let me explain how the war in Ukraine has affected the currency markets.
The pound has already lost its value against dollar. Now the supply chain issues caused by the war in Ukraine has slowed down UK’s manufacturing sector. All this has made the value of the pound lesser and less.
The conflict in Ukraine has direct impact on the Europe’s economy caused by the reliant on Russian oil and gas. The sanctions from the West have heavily limited the supply of this. The worsening of the war had steadily made the Euro weak.
Before moving further on, let us see what do you need for skiing?
Here we focus on the skiing equipment, the following are the common gears,
You can see the normal cost of these equipments from the images below from Newtoski.
You can either rent some of your skiing equipment or buy them entirely. It depends entirely on your needs. If you just want to experience skiing, not planning to do it every season, then it is advisable that you rent the gears.
If you are a hobbyist, it is wise to invest in your equipment. In the long term the rental cost would exceed your investment. Also, your equipments would fit you perfectly giving you a perfect skiing experience.
So how can you have the best ski experience this season without breaking your bank?
As you have seen the supply chain issues caused by the war has made the currencies weaker and the prices of goods costlier. During this inflationary period it is wise to spend your money on well established startups rather than costlier brands.
Since the startups has already stocked up their inventory earlier this year, their prices are way cheaper ( 30% to 40% ) compared to the branded items.
Here at Snowvision, expertise in Prescription ski goggles, has even went ahead to slash our prices by 10% to help customers during this rough season.


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The online retailer Amazon paid for copies of an Ibram Kendi book, which has been described as a "captivating introductory text into the larger genre of critical race theory," for students at a a Virginia high school.
Arlington Public Schools (APS) previously announced the partnership in February, noting that Amazon was giving $15,000 to Wakefield High School for books and speaking fees related to "anti-racism, cultural awareness and proficiency."
Documents released Monday have shed additional light on negotiations between Amazon and the school district. Activist group Parents Defending Education (PDE) obtained emails in which APS and Amazon discussed the retailer paying for hundreds of copies of "Stamped," by Kendi and co-author Jason Reynolds.
It also shows the district requesting $10,000 for a speaking engagement with Reynolds.
In a March 8 email to Amazon, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer Arron Gregory noted the cost and said: "Guess he is a hot commodity!"
Amazon public relations manager Justin Grayson responded: "[Y]es, I can imagine that in this time, he’d be hard to come by. I’m glad we could support!"
It's unclear exactly how many books Amazon bought, but an April 16 email shows Gregory discussing the virtual tour and noting 600 books donated from the online retailing giant.
"This is for HIGH SCHOOLS ONLY and was sponsored by a gift from Amazon along with 600 copies of the book Stamped," he said. "Due to an overwhelming response, Library Services has also bought over 700+ copies of the book to ensure every high school student that wants a copy may have one to keep."
PDE published purchase orders showing the district spending $8,000 on a speech from Reynolds, $5,516.16 for 507 copies of "Stamped," and another with $3,264 for 300 copies.
APS director of communications Frank Bellavia told Fox News on Wednesday: "Amazon is a a welcome member of our business community and has worked closely with Arlington Public Schools (APS) in finding ways to support our students and families."
Bellavia added: "This project was just one example of their generosity and support to APS. Amazon has also provided mobile hotspots so that our students who needed internet access could connect during the pandemic. Amazon has also provided robotics grants to schools in addition other grants and scholarships."
In an email to Fox News, Amazon said: "Amazon is proud of the programs we’ve implemented to support Black communities and create education opportunities around diversity, equity, and inclusion."
The incident came amid a national uproar over racial content in schools – much of which has been investigated by PDE.
Besides administrators, Kendi has received a substantial portion of the backlash as he's often identified as a thought leader on so-called "anti-racism," a controversial concept that many describe as actual racism.
In his book "How to Be an Anti-Racist," Kendi explicitly calls for reverse discrimination.
"The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity," he writes. "If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist. If discrimination is creating inequity, then it is racist. ... The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination."
His book "Stamped" has also raised questions about the extent to which critical race theory (CRT) is influencing schools. A description by Hatchette Book Group said of "Stamped" that adults "might enjoy this book as a captivating introductory text into the larger genre of critical race theory."


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Our friend Sammy Papert at Pulse Research gave The Relevance Project the OK to share his ranking of business categories that are doing well.
Yes, doing well during a pandemic.
It’s refreshening to see goods and services enterprises racking up the sales.
Sammy’s winners should be on every advertising staff’s prospect list noting businesses that want to keep the sales flowing or those that simply are eager to say thank you via the newspaper to loyal customers.
In the list below, the percentages represent the increase in shopping vs. “normal times,” Sammy says. The percentage, for example, shows how many more households intend to shop for products — wine is a winner — or services — includes health care — during COVID-19 times.
No surprise that anything related to fixing up homes, eating and drinking, and at-home education are pluses.
There’s an odd one that mentions a particular type of newspaper.
Here the Pulse-highlighted categories and increases in business:
- Private tutor — 175%
- Landscaper — 137.7%
- Grocery Store (Neighborhood/Local/Mom & Pop) — 136.2%
- Landscaping Service — 105.4%
- Home Gardening Service — 102.8%
- Courier or Delivery Service — 87.3%
- Specialty Food Market — 83.3%
- Yard Equipment Store — 77.1%
- Bottled Water Delivery Service — 73.9%
- Grocery Store (Co-op) — 73.5%
- Community Service or Non-Profit Organization — 69.6%
- Wine Shop — 60.7%
- Tutoring Center — 55.6%
- Home Health-Care Provider — 54.5%
- House Cleaning Service — 48.9%
- Plant Nursery & Garden Supply Store — 48.5%
- Mortgage Broker — 45.5%
- New Sporting Goods Store — 45%
- Wholesale, Warehouse or Club Store — 41.2%
- Building Supply Store or Lumber Yard — 39.2%
- Mental-Health Provider — 36.8%
- Marijuana Dispensary — 31.9%
- National Daily Newspapers — 31%
- Carpet Cleaning Service — 27.9%
- Psychiatrist — 27.5%
- Barbershop — 25.8%
Thanks again to Sammy for the timely information.


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Shelby Sonic to reopen
After closing for several months, the Sonic restaurant in Shelby is reopening soon, according to director of operations, Todd Bennett.
The restaurant will have a new general manager, Karen Clark, and will roll out new menu items such as special summer slushies.
People lined up at Sonic Thursday in hopes of ordering a meal, but the business was not open yet.
Bennett said they hope to open sometime next week.


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Apple Exec Overseeing Siri Departs Role
Bill Stasior, who has been heading up Apple's Siri team since 2012, recently left his role as the leader of the voice assistant group, reports The Information.
Stasior was recruited from Amazon in 2012 to oversee Siri following the departure of Siri co-founders Adam Cheyer and Dag Kittlaus. Cheyer and Kittlaus had joined Apple when the company originally purchased Siri in 2010, but did not stay long.
According to The Information, Stasior has stepped down from his role as leader of Siri but has not left Apple. The change in leadership is part of a restructuring effort by John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, who has taken over the Siri team.
Giannandrea, who has been pushing the Siri team to "focus more on long-term research" rather than incremental improvements, will be looking for a replacement for Stasior.
Giannandrea joined Apple in April 2018 as chief of machine learning and AI strategy, and at the time, it was reported that he would be overseeing both the Core ML and Siri teams. Ginnandrea was later promoted to SVP in December 2018.
Prior to joining Apple, Giannandrea spent eight years at Google, and in the time before that, he founded two companies, Tellme Networks and Metaweb Technologies.
Giannandrea's hiring came amid widespread criticism of Siri, which has shortcomings in comparison to AI offerings from companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Apple made serious strides improving Siri in 2018 under Giannandrea's leadership, building out the capabilities of the AI assistant with features like Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12.
Top Rated Comments
This should never happen when all you want Siri to do is "unpause the music":
Siri still can't even reliably place calls to contacts, instead you get, 'Here's what I found on the web for XXX'. Voice recognition is right up there with Dragon Dictate circa 1993. 'hey siri' invariably turns into 'hold the home button', and on and on.
Siri needs a new pair of ears, and a better brain.
[doublepost=1549063446][/doublepost] Apple could also head up a consortium to develop a new assistant as a global, open source standard for AI in North America and beyond.
But they wouldn't do that.


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You knead to try the festival
Politician Lesley Pendleton rose to the occasion when challenged to bake a loaf of bread.
Councillor Pendleton and her kneading skills took centre stage at Twycross Zoo at the opening event of Leicester and Leicestershire Food Fortnight.
She said: "It is something like 50 years since I baked bread.
"I really enjoyed having a go and thought my efforts were not too bad."
Coun Pendleton, chairwoman of Leicestershire Rural Partnership, said: "There is so much on offer I would urge people to check the website and go along to at least one event."
There were 60 food and drink and craft stalls at the event on Sunday. This year's festival theme is Taste Leicestershire – Best of British.
Sally Kowal, marketing officer for Leicestershire County Council, said: "Lots of people turned up and sampled lots of the lovely food."
Highlights of the fortnight, which runs until October 7, include a gourmet food evening at Hothorpe Hall, near Market Harborough, a food fair at Rockingham Castle and a food festival in Coalville.
For more details, visit:


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When you think of the three luxury automakers from Germany, BMW aligns with driving enjoyment, Mercedes-Benz represents prestige, and Audi reflects those two traits and more. The four chrome rings on an Audi’s grille mean different things to different people, and that diversification of the brand’s image — ranging from the company’s roots in motorsports to the technologically advanced interiors and electrified drivetrains found within the 2021 lineup — serves Audi well.
Quattro all-wheel drive is one of Audi’s many hallmarks, and it fits naturally with modern consumer preferences for SUVs. This year, Audi sells five different sport-utility vehicles, and if you include the Allroad versions of the A4 and A6 wagons, you’ve got seven models from which to choose. The 2021 Audi Q7 is the automaker’s three-row mid-size SUV. The nameplate debuted 15 years ago on the company’s first sport-ute, and Audi has redesigned the Q7 just once since then, for the 2017 model year. Now, after a substantial freshening for 2020 that also saw the introduction of a new performance-tuned SQ7 variant to the lineup, the 2021 Audi Q7 gains added standard safety features, expanded feature availability, and a plusher top trim level.


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Don’t get too comfy with all those Google products you use on a daily basis — the company has announced plans to terminante several of them in the near future. Google will be shuttering Apps for Teams, Google Listen, Google Video for Business and an unspecified number of its more than 150 blogs. “Technology has the power to change people’s lives. But to make a difference, we need to carefully consider what to focus on, and make hard decisions about what we won’t pursue,” Google wrote in a blog post
Visit site –


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As per Food and Agricultural Organization database, in 2017-18, India ranked eighth in the world in terms of honey production (64.9 thousand tonnes) while China stood first with a production level of 551 thousand tonnes. The report mentions that beekeeping cannot be restricted to honey and wax only, products such as pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom are also marketable and can greatly help Indian farmers.
Based on the area under cultivation in India and bee forage crops, India has a potential of about 200 million bee colonies as against 3.4 million bee colonies today. Increasing the number of bee colonies will not only increase the production of bee-related products but will boost overall agricultural and horticultural productivity.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister set up a Beekeeping Development Committee under the Chairmanship of Professor Bibek Debroy. The Beekeeping Development Committee (BDC) has released its report today. BDC was constituted with the objective of identifying ways of advancing beekeeping in India that can help in improving agricultural productivity, enhancing employment generation, augmenting nutritional security and sustaining biodiversity. Further, beekeeping can be an important contributor in achieving the 2022 target of doubling farmer incomes.
India’s recent efforts to improve the state of beekeeping have helped increase the volume of honey exports from 29.6 to 51.5 thousand tonnes between 2014-15 and 2017-18 (as per data from National Bee Board and Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare). However, challenges persist and a lot more can be done to enhance the scope and scale of beekeeping. Some of the recommendations in the report include:
Recognizing honeybees as inputs to agriculture and considering landless Beekeepers as farmers.
Plantation of bee friendly flora at appropriate places and engaging women self-help groups in managing such plantations.
Institutionalizing the National Bee Board and rechristening it as the Honey and Pollinators Board of India under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
Recognition of apiculture as a subject for advanced research under the aegis of Indian Council for Agricultural Research.
Training and development of beekeepers by state governments
Development of national and regional infrastructure for storage, processing and marketing of honey and other bee products
Simplifying procedures and specifying clear standards for ease of exporting honey and other bee products.


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Event360, the annual creative summit delivered by Event magazine and sister title C&IT, took place yesterday (1 June) at etc.venues' County Hall.
In the afternoon, guests were treated to Brand Slams from Ribena and Pernod Ricard, as well as an insight into the industry from business leader and marketer Louise Fowler, who took to the stage as this year's keynote speaker.
Emmeline Purcell, senior brand manager at Ribena, kicked off the afternoon Brand Slams with a talk about the brand's repositioning and its aim to target a new audience which wouldn't be assessed by demographics, but instead by their attitudes. Purcell discussed the brand's Colouring Café, which launched last year, and how it played a role in Ribena's transformation and re-adjustment with its consumers.
Steve Hughes, senior brand manager at Pernod Ricard, hosted the day's final Brand Slam, and talked to the audience about the brand's increasing focus on experiential.
The day culminated with a successful attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most double high fives in one minute, which was confirmed by Guinness World Record representatives who were on hand to certify that the record had been broken.
For all the Event360 action from the morning, check out In pictures: Event360 - Part One
More from Event360: Event360 TV: ITV's Studio House


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The Daily Moot: PS5 BreakdownNews Picks
1. PS5 Breakdown
Sony has released a brand new breakdown video for the PlayStation 5 in which the vice president of PlayStation's mechanical division, Yasuhiro Ootori, literally breaks down the upcoming console and reveals all of its internal components. While we’ve long known the technical specs of the PS5, this new video provides the first true look at the console’s hardware and shows potential buyers exactly what they’ll be getting. One thing is immediately clear: the PS5 is designed to be easy to repair and upgrade. With removable sides and easy-to-access hardware components like the SSD, GPU, and cooling systems, it seems entirely possible for the more ambitious and tech-savvy players to tweak their consoles to become even more powerful than the PS5’s already impressive launch specs (be careful though: Sony warns that attempting to do so will immediately void your warranty). You can check out the PS5 breakdown video below.
2. Hyper Scape Season 2 Hyper Scape Season 2 is officially here. Although the hype for Hyper Scape has certainly died down since the game burst onto the scene in July, Ubisoft remains committed to improving the battle royale in an effort to return it to its former glory. Hyper Scape Season 2 begins that process, introducing the new Neo-Arcadia map to the game as well as a powerful new weapon called Atrax. A new limited-time game mode “Floor is Lava” is also expected to arrive in the coming weeks, with a Halloween event set to follow on October 20. You can check out the launch trailer for Hyper Scape Season 2 below.
3. Valorant Icebox Valorant will soon be getting a new map called Icebox. As you could probably guess from its name, Icebox will be full of frosty, frozen terrain, bringing the tundra to Riot’s ever-expanding tactical shooter. It appears that the upcoming map will also be introducing a new zipline system to the game, although it’s currently unclear precisely how it will work. Despite Riot Games’ previous assertion that no new maps would be added until the game’s next major Episode, Icebox will in fact be arriving sometime during Act 3 of the current Episode, with Act 3 set to launch on October 13. You can check out the map reveal video for Icebox below.
4. Steam Game Festival The Autumn edition of the Steam Game Festival is officially underway. This season looks to be a big one, with free demos of hundreds of different indie games available up for grabs. All of the games included in the festival are expected to launch within the next 6 months, making this the perfect opportunity to try before you buy. Despite the incredibly wide variety of demos available, you’ll have to make your choices wisely; while there’s no limit to the amount of games you can try, the festival will only last until October 13. https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamgamefestival
5. Frostpunk Board Game It looks like Frostpunk will soon be getting a board game adaptation. The strategy survival game began a Kickstarter campaign for a tabletop edition yesterday, and achieved its $234,000 funding goal in just 54 minutes. Now sitting at over $850,000 raised, it seems like only a matter of time until the campaign, which will run until the end of this month, eclipses the million-dollar mark. Although no concrete release date for the game has been announced yet, Frostpunk: The Board Game is expected to arrive in October of next year. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/glasscannonunplugged/frostpunk-the-board-game/