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The knock on social is it’s nice for engagement, awful at generating sales. Many leaped on reports that Facebook and Twitter generated pretty close to zero sales for retailers on Black Friday.
But it doesn’t have to be that way for brands. Take Kimberly-Clark, for example. The consumer goods company wanted use social to drive sales. Imagine! That’s why it didn’t turn to a newfangled tactic like a Facebook app or “viral” video, but instead put a twist on the lowly (and effective) coupon.
Huggies distributed its coupon on its own site, to its 800,000 Facebook followers and on a campaign site. The difference from a regular coupon is people could increase their savings by sharing it. Don’t share it, the coupon was worth $1.50 off of their next purchase. Sharing the deal via either Facebook or Twitter, or provide three friends’ emails, bumps the deal to $3 off. The introduction of a little self-interest spurred more sharing than the brand expected.
“Every metric — referral open rates, click-through rates, coupon print rates, and redemption rates — were higher than anything we see in [our other] digital marketing programs,” said Dan Kersten, head of consumer promotion marketing at Kimberly-Clark.
The initiative, done with social marketing vendor SocialTwist, drove 630,000 visitors to Huggies’ microsite and an estimated increased awareness of 3.5 million relevant consumers. The ads received a 56 percent click-through rate and the email blasts saw a 55 percent open rate. Sixty-seven percent of all the people that engaged with the program ended up taking the offer. Kimberly-Clark said that the program generated more than $2.5 million in revenue for Huggies.
“We intend to bring [social referral marketing] to the extended Kimberly Clark brand portfolio,” Kersten said.
As purpose-driven ads face challenges this holiday, could podcasting provide a lift?
Purpose-driven marketing may face growing challenges this year as consumers wrestle with inflation and the ad market gets more competitive.
Amid record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend e-commerce growth, there was an uninvited guest – bot traffic
A record 196.7 million Americans shopped online and offline from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday — a lift of 17 million from 2021 — per NRF.
A look at Coke’s World Cup marketing strategy with senior marketing exec Javier Meza
Many of the world's most influential brands are competing to win over consumers while Qatar hosts the World Cup. One such brand is Coca-Cola.
SponsoredPublishers are adapting advertising strategies for a privacy-first world
Tina Iannacchino, senior publisher director, Seedtag So much of the attention around the death of third-party cookies and its impact on the digital advertising industry is focused on the implications for brands and consumers, which is far from the complete picture. The digital publishing industry in the U.S. is massive and set to be shaken […]
Member ExclusiveFuture of TV Briefing: TikTok’s other creator monetization program
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at the role TikTok's Branded Missions program plays in keeping creators on the platform as YouTube readies its short-form video revenue-sharing program.
How Philadelphia Cream Cheese is finding its place on Reddit
Hoping to tap into honest, authentic conversations, Philadelphia Cream Cheese is investing in Reddit ads for the first time.


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Noviks said that the goods intended for the Ukrainian people were initially transported to central crisis centres in Poland. But it turned out there was a surplus of items, so they are now sent to the borders. Coordination with Ukraine is taking place to identify the most pressing needs.
“We give them anything they might need to survive – medical goods, food, hygiene,” Noviks said.
In the first days of the war, 10-15 cars per day traveled from Latvia, currently it is an average of 20-25 cars. The largest number was 60 cars a day, said Noviks.
On the way back, the cars carry refugees from Ukraine. So far the association has brought 350 people.

domain: news


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Virgin Media and Sky have signed a new agreement which will see Sky channels and content continue to be available across Virgin Media’s TV platforms, with UHD/4K programming included for the first time alongside an expanded collection of boxsets.
As part of the extended deal, Sky’s line up of entertainment, cinema and sports channels will continue to be available on Virgin Media’s TV platform, with Virgin customers set to enjoy new Ultra HD linear and additional video-on-demand content from Sky next year.
The new content is set to include Sky Cinema Original films and live sports in UHD, along with Sky original drama on demand, including shows like Jamestown and the forthcoming comedy Brassic, starring Michelle Keegan. The news follows Sky’s recent commitment to more than double its investment in original programming along with the creation of Sky Studios, its new in-house production company.
It also comes as Virgin Media continues to invest to bring its UHD V6 box to millions of its TV customers, while also expanding its broadband network to deliver ultrafast, reliable connectivity to support the streaming of on-demand programming in the highest picture quality. NBCUniversal’s suite of channels, including Universal, E! and SyFy, are included as part of the partnership, with Virgin Media customers also able to watch Sky Cinema through the Virgin TV Go app for the first time.
Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media said:
“This expanded partnership with Sky really shows that, despite vigorous competition between us, we can join together to put viewers first. Our customers can keep enjoying a vast collection of TV shows, films and live sport but now with greater flexibility and enhanced viewing quality. With our unrivalled ultrafast broadband paired with unlimited mobile connectivity and a line-up of fantastic programming, we give our customers everything they need to experience incredible entertainment in a way that suits them.”
Added Stephen van Rooyen, Sky CEO UK & Ireland:
“Thanks to this extended partnership, millions more people will now have access to hundreds of Sky boxsets and our incredible UHD content, as well as all the great Sky content they had before, from top Premier League fixtures to BAFTA-winning Sky originals. This partnership shows what can be achieved when you put the customer first and is a great example of industry collaboration.”
The key features of the agreement are as follows:
- Sky Sports and Sky Cinema in HD so customers can continue to enjoy the latest movies and best live sport action
- Plans to bring Ultra HD programming to Virgin Media from next year
- Sky’s Entertainment channels including Sky One, Sky Witness and more, in HD as well as NBCU channels with E! to launch in HD
- An expanded catalogue of boxsets from Sky’s hit TV shows such as Jamestown, The Reluctant Landlord and the forthcoming comedy Brassic.
- Increased on demand rights meaning that customers can dive deeper into Sky’s collection of films, shows and sports events
- Improved viewing experience through Virgin TV Go with the inclusion of higher resolution streams of Sky’s channels and Sky Cinema availability on Virgin TV Go
- Access to all Sky Box Office events


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Grant Union’s school store is getting an upgrade, and students are leading the way.
The school store homes several school-based businesses that teach vocational and life skills, such as the coffee shop, according to Grant Union special education teacher Andrea Combs.
The room was historically a home economics room, so when they transitioned the room into a jobs skills room, many of the same cabinetry, plumbing and layout stayed the same.
“Through our vocational skills programs, we generated enough money to renovate this space to make it more versatile,” Combs said. “The coffee shop is relatively new to our program, and now we can create space to help develop the program.”
The donation of a coffee machine from the Corner Cup also gave momentum to carry out the remodeling to fully utilize the espresso machine.
Combs said the idea was pitched to create a class where senior students made up the design team.
Seniors Abby Lusco, Kenna Combs and Madison Spencer developed the designs for the project and made the design boards to present to staff and administrators for approval at the end of the last quarter.
“I really liked creating the design for it and getting to go on Pinterest to look for ideas,” Kenna Combs said. “We all had our own little section of the design and worked on different aspects when we worked on putting the presentation together.”
Spencer said she enjoyed the opportunity to be creative with the project’s design and getting to see the different layers of paint with various colors, showcasing changes to the wall over multiple years.
“I’m excited to see what we accomplish, and it was fun to put together a bunch of do-it-yourself projects,” Lusco said. “I’m glad, being a senior, I can make an impact on my school. I’m hoping, in the years to come, students will appreciate it and get a lot of use out of it.”
The team received help from Shanna Northway, who guided the design team last quarter.
Grant Union Principal Ryan Gerry said during a school board meeting on Jan. 20 that the project is a collaboration between the special education department and the CTE department.
“When we were tasking out design with what do we want out of this, we wanted some DIY projects that students could build or fabricate here,” Andrea Combs said. “We worked with Mr. Suchorski, our shop teacher, and students from his class are also working for him on this project. We’re trying to have the kid the central focus of it.”
Students are also working on site by completing the demolition and preparations with Kelsy Wright, the head custodian, overlooking and working with them on the project.
Senior Mason Kidd said it has been great to work on something that will stay at the school even after he leaves.
“This has been really cool, and it’s going to be something that’s always here every year,” Kidd said. “I also learned a lot about construction and how to build things the proper way.”
Along with the store and the coffee shop, the room will also provide space to teach essential life skills by providing a laundry center, a crafting center and a standard kitchen area to carry out baking and cooking.
“It’s really our vocational center for our special education center, so we’re trying to make sure that our kids get as wide of vocational experiences as they possibly can,” Andrea Combs said.


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April 26, 2010 BY Aaron Hope
With a scant few other pairs releasing this year, these new Nike Tennis Classic lowtops are sure to stand out from the pack. Then again, with their Air Max 95-inspired styling, these would be unique even compared to the entire history of the Tennis Classic. We showed you the Neon pair earlier in the month and are pleased to find another AM95-like pair that resembles the ‘Grape’ 95s we previewed last week. Both pairs just hit select European retailers, while the Neons are available here in the states at FinishLine.


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Subaru Outback gets tweaks for 2021
Say hello to the new and improved Subaru Outback. Featuring a raft of enhancements, it’s set to arrive in the UK later this month.
Here’s what you need to know about this rugged-looking off roader.
Subaru Outback exterior
On the outside, it’s not entirely clear that it’s a new car to the untrained eye. However, the wheel arches are larger, giving it a more rugged look than ever before.
Coupled to a set of new 18in alloy wheels and standard LED headlights, it certainly looks like a capable four-wheel drive vehicle that’s a bit different to your run-of-the-mill crossovers.
Subaru Outback interior and tech
The new Outback is more spacious than before, thanks to the windscreen and windows that are further forward than before. This increase in size means there’s more leg room in the back and a larger 522-litre boot.
A new infotainment system features too, which is now operated via a large 12in portrait touchscreen. It’s a clever system, and even gets a facial recognition system that can identify the driver and change settings accordingly.
Subaru has also ensured the revised car gets a top safety score. There’s a host of standard safety tech including collision avoidance systems, emergency lane keep assist, speed sign recognition with limiter, and departure warning and pre-collision braking.
Subaru Outback engine
The Outback retains its 2.5-litre petrol turbo engine, although Subaru says around 90% of it has actually been redesigned. The result is a better power delivery, improved economy and less emissions.
It can live up to its looks too, thanks to a new all-terrain ‘X’ mode that includes hill descent. Being an all-terrain vehicle means you even get a little jet washer to clear your reversing camera too. Nice touch.
Subaru Outback pricing and release date
There’ll be three trims to choose from in the new Outback range; entry-level Limited models are priced from £33,995, mid-range Field costs from £37,995 while range-topping Touring models cost £39,495.
UK specs are to be confirmed, but with order books set to open this month, we won’t have to wait long for confirmation. We’ll bring you more info when we hear more.


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RepairPal Blog:Industry News
Important info from government agencies and the automotive industry
The LA Auto Show is one of the big car events of the season, it starts this Friday the 21st and continues through the 30th. The LA Auto Show seems to be the venue of choice for learning about the latest hybrid technology -- it has turned into the place to show off new green, alternative automobiles.
With the LA Auto Show about to start, the big manufacturers are reaching out with exciting news about their alternative vehicles about to appear in the months ahead. Today, Ford announced that it plans to beat Toyota when it comes to hybrids.
Last night, President-Elect Barack Obama shared more of his thoughts about the suffering US auto industry on CBS 60 Minutes. He talks about, "creating a bridge loan to somewhere as opposed to a bridge loan to nowhere" so that the money does not keep GM, Ford and Chrysler in business just for another 6 months. Obama also reasserted that he is still focused on energy independence. See the interview below:
The Green Car Journal recently named five finalists for their 2009 Green Car of the Year Award. The Award was created to reward environmental responsibility among automakers.
The five finalists are:
California Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed increasing state sales tax 1.5% from 7.25% to 8.75% for 3 years to make up for the $11.2 billion budget shortfall. Included in the governor's proposal is levying sales taxes on auto repair services, which currently are not taxed. Up until this point, only auto parts have been taxed.
Such efforts to tax auto repair services in Florida have met strong opposition and have failed. Schwarzenegger is now going to face a similar backlash. The governor says the increases are needed to stabilize the state budget.
David Leggett mentions today in his blog at just-auto.com that in the midst of the horrible economic turmoil and uncertainty facing General Motors, the company has opened an auto manufacturing facility outside of St. Petersburg in Russia.
The plant opening ceremony was last week, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended, so it was obviously a pretty big deal. Mr. Leggett makes the important point that despite the recent nasty rhetoric being flung between Russia and the United States, an American company has made a big investment in Russia, and Russia likes it.
Today President-Elect Barack Obama hosted his first press conference since being elected. He made the following comments about his plans for the US auto industry:
"The news coming out of the auto industry this week reminds us of the hardship it faces -- hardship that goes far beyond individual auto companies to the countless suppliers, small businesses and communities throughout our nation who depend on a vibrant American auto industry. The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing and a critical part of our attempt to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
It's all over the Internet this morning: General Motors had another astoundingly bad quarter and continues to hemorrhage cash.
You can read about it in Autoblog or in the New York Times.
While some automakers seem to be getting ready for a firesale, Nissan is busy shrinking engines and price tags. Nissan is coming out with a Versa just 10 bucks shy of $10,000 ($10,685 including shipping). You can get the cheapest car in America starting November 19th.
The Versa features a 1.6 liter, 107hp engine, manual transmission, manual windows, and 4x60 climate control (all windows down at 60mph). With sales off nearly 40% from this time last year, Nissan is offering 0% financing for 36 months to try to help move cars.
According to The New York Times, selling gas just isn’t what it used to be. With profit margins disappearing due to factors such as state environmental requirements requiring costly upgrades to equipment, it simply no longer makes sense to sell gas. While some gas stations have diversified to highly profitable offerings (repairs, emissions testing, and selling candy), many have stopped selling gas altogether. They’re simply shutting off the pumps.
I read this morning (on Autoblog) that while overall new car and truck sales have taken an absolute bruising in recent months, the share of those sales going to new SUVs and trucks has actually increased. The article notes that this gain coincides with a slide in gas prices over the same time period: "Truck sales fell below 10% of overall vehicle sales back in May and June, but the price of gas falling from an average of $4.11 per gallon to $2.78 has helped the share of trucks rise to 14.1% of the overall market for September." This would also mean that trucks and SUVs should be making big gains right now, with oil prices plummeting.
The huge incentives that auto makers have lobbed at these slow-sellers also probably plays a part. In fact, a friend of RepairPal recently brought in an ad from a Vegas newspaper that showed a still-hard-to-believe offer: buy a Dodge Ram, and they'll throw in a Dodge Caliber for a penny.


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With a consignment of groundnuts being exported to Nepal from West Bengal, India’s eastern region is now eyeing new opportunities for the export of the crop.
Traditionally, Gujarat and Rajasthan have had a major share in India’s groundnut exports. The groundnut exports from West Bengal would boost the export potential of the crop from the eastern region.
The consignment of 24 metric tonnes (MT) was sourced from farmers of West Midnapore district of West Bengal. It was exported by APEDA registered Laduram Promoters Pvt Ltd, Kolkata, said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
According to official data, India exported 6.38 lakh tonnes of groundnuts worth Rs 5,381 crore during 2020-21. Most of the groundnut exports are to countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Nepal.
Through initiatives such as peanut.NET, APEDA has streamlined the exports of groundnuts through a series of measures.
Outlining the measures, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said these include buyer registration, batch processing by APEDA registered peanut units, application for certificate of export and stuffing certificate by exporter, Aflatoxin analysis and issue of stuffing certificate by laboratories, issuance of certificate of exports by APEDA.
According to the third advance estimates of oilseeds production releases by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, the groundnut production in 2020-21 is estimated at 101.19 lakh tonne.This is higher than the 99.52 lakh tonne of estimated production in 2019-20.
Gujarat is the largest producer of groundnuts in the country. It is followed by Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
The crop is grown in both Kharif and Rabi seasons. The Kharif season has a share of more than 75% of the total production.
Source : India News Network


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|Google Demonstrates Google Wallet, Mobile Payment App|
Google Demonstrates Google Wallet, Mobile Payment App [googleblog.blogspot.com]
|Today in our New York City office, along with Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint, we gave a demo of Google Wallet, an app that will make your phone your wallet. You’ll be able to tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC). We’re field testing Google Wallet now and plan to release it soon. |
Google Wallet is a key part of our ongoing effort to improve shopping for both businesses and consumers.
"I really like it, now Google can tell me what to buy, who to buy it from, and they just take the money out of my bank account automatically! It's a real +1!", exclaimed Google Wallet user Ben Dover.
No, Thanks. Google already knows too much about me. Google is controlling almost everything and that is scary ... very scary.
The major and most obvious flaw: your Google account can be suspended over, say over a youtube comment, or a 'spam' glitch and there goes your weekend or week, assuming it ever gets restored. Google customer service is legendary
no thanks goog you can stay the heck out of my wallet!
Um... no thanks!
PayPal lawsuit alleges Google stole trade secrets
|PayPal filed a lawsuit against Google today, alleging the Web giant misappropriated trade secrets from its mobile-payment business when it hired away a key executive [Osama Bedier] in PayPal's mobile payments effort. |
The lawsuit, which was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California, alleges that Osama Bedier, a former senior PayPal executive working on the company's mobile-payments platform, misappropriated PayPal's trade secrets when he went to work for Google earlier this year.
Read More at: [news.cnet.com...]
...looks like "Wallet" may have been pick-pocketed.


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How to make contactless card payment
Government advice is that payment for goods and services should now be made by “contactless” cards or via a smartphone App.
This avoids any personal contact, and is in line with health advice.
Not everyone feels comfortable about giving their credit card details over the phone.
News in today says that the contactless card limit is being raised to £45. There may still be a £100 a day maximum spend on some cards.
National advice is that payment should be made via smartphone Apps such as “Apple Pay” for higher amounts.
Paypal is another option at some stores and for some takeaway deliveries..
Obviously a bank transfer can be made but this implies payment in advance.
The missing link in all this, is a list of stores and delivery options which allow the use of this technology.
The Council, supported by trade organisations and the media, in York should get on publish and maintain such an “on line” list.


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Aliyun, Alibaba Group’s cloud-computing subsidiary, announced today it is opening a cloud data center in Silicon Valley, planting a flag in the U.S. and marking the company’s first expansion overseas.
Already the largest public cloud services company in China with more than 1.4 million customers, Aliyun is little known outside of the mainland. Aliyun officials say they hope to change that with the opening of the Silicon Valley facility, through which the company on March4 will begin selling cloud services to U.S. companies.
China’s cloud-computing market “is certainly growing,” said Sicheng Yu, Aliyun vice president and head of its international business, “but if look at the overall cloud market, China represents 5 percent of the (global) public budget. So there is lots of room for us to grow outside of China, we just need to grow in a careful way.”
Aliyun, the technology arm of Alibaba Group, operates a network that supports Alibaba Group’s vast Chinese e-commerce operations with data centers in Beijing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The company in 2009 began offering commercial cloud services such as data storage and on-demand network bandwidth to businesses, government agencies and especially merchants on Alibaba’s giant Tmall.com and Taobao Marketplace online-shopping websites.
In China, Aliyun already competes with U.S. companies such as AWS (Amazon Web Services) that offer cloud services on the mainland. Yu emphasized that by entering the U.S., his company doesn’t plan to blitz American companies on their home turf.
“For the time being, we are just testing the water,” Yu said. The company is stilladapting its products for internationalmarketsand in the short term is learning how to meet the needs and expectations of overseas businesses. “We know well what Chinese clients need, and now it’s time for us to learn what U.S. clients need,” he said.
“The market is quite crowded in the U.S. but we offer some unique value and there’s room for us,” Yu said, noting that Aliyun operates one of the biggest data-management platforms in the world. During Alibaba’s 11.11 Shopping Festival last year, Aliyun handled a record amount of traffic with peak volumes of 80,000orders per second, he noted. Aliyun ensured that networks and systems scaled to meet demand, especially during unpredictable traffic spikes, without incident.
Aliyun’s Silicon Valley data center is offering several core services at launch. A “virtual server,” elastic-computing service—astandardcloud offering—allows businesses to rent server capacity on an as-needed basis. “Basically you can rent a piece of machine to run anything you would like to run in the cloud,” Yu said.
Also on offer are a load-balancing service commonly used by website operators tomanage their traffic-carrying capacity, and a cloud-based relational database service providing data processing and storage in the cloud. Yu said Aliyun plans to offer a service called OSS that offers storage capacity for large amounts of data such as videos. “Once we have these four core services, we will have enough to support a big amount of customers,” Yu said.
While Aliyun products will be cost competitive, Yu said the company’s fundamental edge is that Aliyun is one of the few companies selling cloud services in both the U.S. and the fast-growing China market, which could be attractive to American companies with operations in the world’s two largest economies. “That will be our advantage,” Yu said.
The company also provides a high level of data security. An Aliyun anti-hacker technology called YunDun last year successfully fended off an attack on a Chinese gaming-app company that is believed to be the largest DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack ever recorded on the mainland. Occuring on Dec. 20, this incident lasted 14 hours and peak attacking traffic reached 453.8 gigabytes per second. Suchincursions “are a major reason most of our customers choose to stay within our cloud instead of setting up their own servers,” Yu said. YunDun is deployed in the U.S. he said.
The U.S. launch is just the start of Aliyun’s international strategy, Yu added. By the end of the year, the company is planning to expand to Southeast Asia and Europe. “We’re going to do this step-by-step, in a phased way,” Yu said. “The U.S. is already there.”


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NFT game Guild of Guardians raises $5.3M
Guild of Guardians, an upcoming NFT-based mobile role-playing game, has sold out two tranches of its native token (GEMS) for a total of $5.3 million.
The token auction, which took place on Coinlist on Nov. 30, was 82 times oversubscribed, with over 808,000 people enrolling. More than 10,700 new GEM holders from over 100 countries bought tokens valued at up to $500 each. However, because of rising regulatory worries, users from Australia, the United States, Canada, and China were barred from acquiring tokens.
GOG set aside 6% of the entire 1 billion tokens for the CoinList sale, with the other 63 percent given through community-driven events, activities, and core gameplay.
The soft launch of the play-to-earn game is scheduled for Q1 2022, with 400,000 people having pre-registered.
The game was created by Ukrainian developer Stepico Games in collaboration with Immutable X, an Australian-based NFT layer 2 scaling solution. On Ethereum, Immutable X is the first layer 2 scaling solution for NFTs.
GOG is releasing on mobile, according to Immutable’s Head of Marketing Nicholas Kelland, so that it is available to the majority of people.
“Not everyone has the most powerful gaming rigs, PCs, and so on. As a result, becoming mobile was a no-brainer for us.
The success of GOG’s original DEX offering (IDO) comes at a time when play-to-earn gaming is growing more popular. Every in-game asset owned by GOG customers is a transferable and exchangeable NFT.
“I believe the notion of in-game asset ownership is inevitable. “It goes back to the notion of the content creator economy and people, people basically owning this material that they ought to own,” Kelland said, adding that “it’s a matter of when not if.”
This follows the inaugural Founder NFT sale, which garnered $3 million in less than 24 hours in June. The second wave brought in $5 million, while the third and final wave brought in more than $4 million.


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NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Saturday directing all New Jersey residents to stay at home and all non-essential businesses to close as the number of coronavirus cases grew to at least 1,327 patients and 16 deaths.
All gatherings, including weddings, are canceled until further notice and all non-essential businesses closed at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Residents are allowed to go outside for individual exercise as well as to seek essential services such as groceries and medical attention. Anyone who leaves their home is ordered to practice social distancing, keeping at least six feet away from people.
Here's what businesses and services remain open:
- Doctor and medical offices
- Grocery stores and food banks
- Medical marijuana dispensaries
- Medical supply stores
- Gas stations
- Auto repair shops
- Convenience stores
- Banks and financial institutions
- Hardware and home improvement shops
- Laundromats and dry cleaners
- Printing and office supply shops
- Pet stores
- Stores that sell supplies for young children
- Mail and delivery stores
- Bar, restaurants and liquor stores providing take-out or delivery services
All essential state, county and local public health, safety and social services will also remain accessible.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a similar directive for state residents and businesses that goes into effect at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Call New Jersey's coronavirus hotline at 1-800-222-1222. You can also click here for additional information.


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South Africans will never be the same again after the Covid-19 phenomenon and subsequent lockdown, with the need to work from home and the sharp focus on hygiene and social distancing changing the way people work and play.
There has been a high demand for information communication technology as companies and other organisations move their operations online to limit human contact as much as possible.
Companies specialising in information communication technology have also upped their marketing to take advantage of the Covid-19 epidemic, offering a variety of technology to enable remote operation for free.
Telkom and the Competition Commission have entered into an agreement that will result in the narrowing of the digital divide in the country by offering zero-rated access to essential online government services.
As safety and well-being issues dominate global news headlines in the wake of the spread of Covid-19, SAP, an international enterprise application software provider, has opened up free access to two of its leading applications to assist businesses grappling with the effects of the coronavirus.
Alicia Tillman, who is the global chief marketing officer at SAP Africa, said all businesses were facing unprecedented challenges as the impact on the global economy continues.
“Business travel is restricted; events are cancelled and supply chains have been weakened. It is not business as usual. SAP is uniquely positioned to leverage its technology to support businesses at a time where supply chain and business travel disruption is a concern,” she said.
The company has also made available two interactive checklist templates for managing the risks of Covid-19 available to households and businesses at no charge through its Ruum app.
According to Stefan Ritter, head of product at Ruum by SAP, whether you own a small business, run a nonprofit, are head of your household or are just looking to keep yourself healthy; these templates should help you run your day-to-day operations and provide an interactive checklist for managing the risks of Covid-19.
“The custom templates were built as a solution for teams and individuals who want to have a plan in place, but don’t necessarily have the time or resources to build one from scratch,” he said.
Managed business solutions provider Itec, in partnership with StarLeaf, is making remote working free via the StarLeaf application to help South African businesses work remotely in the face of Covid-19.
Itec’s head of product strategy, Renaldo Muregess, said it was clear that technology could help keep companies, their employees and customers connected in the face of the Covid-19.
“There’s been a huge scramble from local businesses this week for solutions to help them stay connected as concerns over the coronavirus spread. We’ve seen the use of online collaboration tools going through the roof as growing numbers of businesses send their people home to work remotely,” he said.
Telkom’s offer includes free public access to the Government Communication and Information System-managed website, the gateway to government information and services.
Telkom is also offering free access to educational institutions, including primary websites of more than six universities and further education and training institutions, as well as knowledge-enhancing sites.


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Cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm, with a plethora of industries adopting them and jumping onto the crypto craze. The advantages of using crypto in your business is massive, with the added factor of attracting new clients of the digital age who use crypto as their go-to currency.
The online casino world has adopted crypto as an alternative option for its bettors to traditional payments. This attracted a large new crowd to online betting, allowing bettors to start finding a bitcoin sportsbook a much easier and quicker process.
Having blockchain technology in online casinos allowed a new level of fairness and transparency that bettors highly appreciated. This was also a big factor that played into the big preference from physical casinos to online casinos. This new technology helped these casinos upgrade into sophisticated platforms with a plethora of benefits and games for bettors.
Nowadays, having a social media presence is a normality, and that’s why it was inevitable that this industry would too be infiltrated by the crypto craze. Certain social platforms began to adopt crypto currency monetization, along with giving people the option to use crypto on the site itself as a form of payment and for other uses.
With new platforms arising such as the Metaverse, it is only a matter of time before this industry fully immerses itself into the crypto world, joining the path to the future of the digital age.
During the pandemic, a number of businesses within the hospitality sector issued a public statement saying that they would begin to accept cryptocurrencies. This was due to wanting to keep business running but also wanting to remain safe by removing as much contact with clients as possible, including the transfer of fiat money.
The businesses that decided to take this route benefited, along with having their clients benefit, therefore it soon stuck even after the pandemic was over. It is a matter of time until the entire hospitality sector hops onto the crypto train, due to the increasing popularity of crypto throughout the rest of the world.
It has been found that 70.4% of crypto-consumers prefer to make their purchases through digital currency, from a study by CryptoRefills Lab. A lot of consumers prefer the advantages this brings, the anonymity, and the overall efficiency.
Having a crypto system in place allows consumers to have enough benefits to gain enough confidence to prefer this method over traditional methods.
Most might think that the real estate industry would not be affected by the crypto world, however they are also becoming infiltrated by the crypto craze. The extensive paperwork that comes with buying or renting a house is long and tiresome, which is why tokenization will solve a lot of these problems.
This will allow all parties to benefit, with smart contracts being put into place to be able to both save time, and also make the entire process efficient and easier.
Banking is known to be all about traditional payment methods recognized globally, but crypto flipped this on its head. A lot of banks around the globe have started to accept crypto such as Bitcoin and other altcoins, allowing people to have risk-free banking activity and a more efficient process.
The ledger of the crypto technology ensures that the transaction is safe and secure. They also entail cheaper banking costs which make it more attractive for customers with speedier transactions. This has become a higher demand, which is why the banking industry will move into the crypto world fully in the near future.
The digital advertising industry moving into the crypto world means cashless payments, enhanced data security, and a higher level of confidence with their prospective customers. Blockchain technology allows the middle man between the ad and the consumer to be relieved of its duty, improving transaction efficiency and reducing risk of fraud.
As the distribution of content is usually handled by data analytics, which allows ads to be on time, relevant, and have a good investment return. Digital advertising with crypto makes the whole marketing more effective, and allows more control, with a higher level of transparency for all parties.
The healthcare of individuals can be seriously impacted by blockchain technology by improving the quality, and the efficiency of medical transactions. Similar to real estate, crypto can make an efficient, paperless transaction process for all parties, helping the healthcare industry store important documents and data that have been piling up over the years.
The education industry is vast and a very significant part of society. A few educational institutes have already started to efficiently adopt cryptocurrency methods as a means of transaction for tuition, making it easier for some families to pay without a problem.
Those studying online also have opportunities to receive crypto benefits such as tokens as prizes when they achieve a particular level of education or when they complete specific assignments. Blockchain technology is also being introduced in higher education, such as record keeping of extensive data and important documents, similar to the healthcare system.
Back in 2013 stock brokers publicly supported blockchain, making crypto easier to infiltrate this industry along with many other industries. Nowadays, certain exchanges deal solely with cryptocurrencies. This has allowed people to be more attracted to making use of the stock broker industry with trust and confidence.
Advantages of these industries using crypto
Now that we have discussed the implementation of these industries using blockchain technology, we can also begin to discuss the advantages they will acquire once adopting crypto.
The first big advantage is gaining trust from the consumer, and also between businesses and industries themselves. Facts have shown that crypto uses a system that allows transparency to be available to both the industry and the consumers.
It also decentralizes the structure, improves security and privacy, reduces extra costs, adds speed to the process, adds visibility and traceability, immutability, individual control of data, tokenization, and innovation.


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The best new phones of 2017 and 2018 that are yet to go on sale. Before you upgrade your current smartphone, read the latest news and rumours on the best new phones launching in the coming year.
The best new phones of 2017 and 2018 will offer faster performance and longer battery life. Some will use the new Snapdragon 835 chip for which headline performance figures include 25 percent faster graphics rendering and half the power consumption compared to the Snapdragon 801.
You can expect this processor to be paired with at least 4- but potentially as much as 8GB of RAM, a minimum amount of 32GB of storage, extra-large Quad-HD screens and class-leading cameras.
We’ve already seen some great smartphones announced earlier this year, including the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, LG G6, HTC U11, Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Xiaomi Mi6 and OnePlus 5. These are all now on sale, so we have removed them from this article. However, here are some more great phones coming in the next 12 months.
The best new phones coming in 2018:
- Apple iPhone 8 – September launch
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8 – 23 August launch
- Samsung Galaxy S8 mini – launch TBC
- Samsung Galaxy S9 – 25 February launch
- Sony Xperia XZ2 – 31 August launch
- Google Pixel 2 – September/October launch
- Motorola Moto Z2 Force – 25 July launch
- Nokia 8 – 16 August launch
- Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 – launch TBC


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Research In Motion (RIM) has set its sight on Kenya’s capital Nairobi for its developer conference named Blackberry 10 Mini Jam.
The meeting will train Kenyan developers on the new Blackberry platform and how to engineer mobile apps on it.
BlackBerry 10 will be the latest platform for the mobile handset. The Mini Jam is expected to diffuse the major influence of the Android and Symbian platforms in creating apps.
“The full-day event will provide insights about the BlackBerry 10 experience, architecture and tools to enable Kenyan developers to be among the growing list of partners around the world creating apps for the new platform,” the company said.
“The BlackBerry platform already provides significant opportunities for the developer community in Kenya. There is high demand for more tools and knowledge to create local services and apps, but also a strong desire to reach a global audience of millions of BlackBerry customers.” Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for East, West and Central Africa at RIM added.
RIM has been pushing for the release of Blackberry 10 into the market before the end of this year although some news sites put the release date as January 2013.
KnowYourMobile blog reports that the original release date for the BlackBerry10 was in the third quarter of this year.
A number of issues have however slowed down the progress, including “chipset delays and BES integration issues, to the political, with boardroom reshuffles and the exit of its two founding executives, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.”
In a study by Vision Mobile this year, Android seemed to be the favored operating system in Africa for mobile app deployment. In terms of average revenue, the report says that BlackBerry apps bring in more sales than any other platform.
Registration for the event is still open for developers, and the organizers say that there are little seats available. The event is scheduled for August 17 starting at 10am.


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By Zulfiqar Ali Sajwani
X Factor, a popular American reality show aired on Fox, is reported to lose sponsorship of several leading brands, significantly Pepsi and General Motors.
The back out is considered to be an outcome of the musical contest’s decline in live-plus-same-day ratings as informed by Nielsen
A dip from 23.1 million viewers to mere 8.28 million viewers in the transition between the first and the second season clearly indicated Pepsi that the show could not live up to its expectations.
When Pepsi first caught the opportunity of the X Factor’s flagship in March 2011, it poured in some $60 million. However, the last two seasons did not attract the Pepsi-makers enough to continue its support.
However, X Factor featured in the list of last season’s top-20 programs and hence, Honda and Procter & Gamble(P&G) are all set to cash on this opportunity.
P&G believes that X Factor serves as a natural fit for their collection of beauty brands while Honda plans to use this chance to kick off their 2014 Odyssey minivan.
“As a part of our season-long sponsorship, the redesigned 2014 Odyssey will be an integral part of the contestant experience, and our engagement with The X Factor community will extend beyond the show through a robust social media and online presence”, Michael Accavitti, Senior Vice President of auto operations at American Honda, said in lieu with the declaration of the deal.
With NBC’s game show The Million Dollar Quiz lined up neck to neck with X Factor’s first audition episode; only time will tell which brands played the ‘wise’ card.


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DRI Press is proud to announce the newest publication.
Star Wars and Conflict Resolution: There Are Alternatives to Fighting
edited by Noam Ebner and Jen Reynolds
Available now on Amazon.com
This publication was recently featured in The Harvard Gazette, as well as a webinar and book launch sponsored by The National Center for Technology & Dispute Resolution.
Darth Vader had some skills.
Negotiation? Not so much.
You can find the article here
The Droids You’re Looking For
You can find the webinar here


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Last week’s Pokemon Generations episode was all about Team Magma’s mission to take control of Groudon and rid the world of oceans. Now, it’s Team Aqua’s turn to attempt a worldwide flood with Kyogre.
The episode stars Team Aqua leader Archie as he’s gone mad with power, not even listening to his trusted companion, Shelly. She says that going ahead with the plan will kill everyone and thing in the world, but Archie responds by basically saying, “Nah.” You can watch the episode in the embed below.
The episode, titled “The Cavern,” marks the eighth episode released of Pokemon Generations so far. The series focuses on the classic moments, characters, and locations in Pokemon video games and giving them a new perspective. So far, we’ve seen episodes that revolve around the police chasing down Team Rocket, your rival’s battle with the Elite Four, and a dragon master’s infiltration of a Team Rocket base.
You can expect 10 more episodes of the animated series to release through December 23.
2016 marks 20 years since Pokemon started, and to celebrate the occasion, there have been a bunch of games and videos released this year. Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow were made available on the 3DS eShop earlier this year, while Pokemon Go launched in July, surpassing 500 million downloads and topping the sales charts.
In addition to that, a pretty awesome ad aired during the Super Bowl, and a fan recently created their own commercial. It captures childhood memories of Pokemon perfectly, and it might even make you cry.
Players can look forward to Pokemon Sun / Moon, which releases on November 18. A demo of the upcoming game is available on the 3DS eShop right now.
We recently got the opportunity to talk to Pokemon developers Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori about legendaries, Pokemon Go, and whether or not they should reset the number of Pokemon.


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While it was pretty much expected to happen, the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) “Double or Nothing” event sold out in less than 25 minutes.
That’s not a typo, fans.
There were nearly 14,000 tickets sold in less than 25 minutes during the pre-sale a couple of days ago.
Of course, many “scalpers” likely got some of those tickets and will try to re-sell them for double or triple their face value but the show is basically a sellout. And although some fans may have been “screwed” out of tickets (due to scalpers unless they want to pay double/triple face value), the promotion itself is still making money with any and all tickets being sold.
Scalpers suck, y’all!
It should be noted that some additional tickets will be released during the General Public on-sale starting Wednesday at noon EST but you better get them quickly before it completely sells out. All Elite Wrestling is set to revolutionize wrestling for the greater good.


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Garriques will leave Dell at the end of January after nearly four years on the job. Prior to Dell, Garriques had been the mobile device chief at Motorola until early 2007.
via Dell’s Device Plan Reboots, Exec is Out – TheStreet.
Here is how Ed Zander (the former CEO of Motorola) described Garriques soon after he left the company.
…Zander didn’t have a lot of good to say about the former team running Motorola’s cell-phone business. “The management in mobile devices made calls that were dead wrong,” he said, referring not so much to massive price slashing on the popular Razr as to the slow-footed move into so-called 3G (for third-generation) multimedia phones. That particular slam was directed at a young guy named Ron Garriques, who headed that division, which is most of Motorola’s business today, before high-tailing it out of Motorola just before the you-know-what hit the fan. Garriques today is part of the crack team turning around Dell.
His move to Dell caused quite a lot of speculation that Dell was going to be a serious contender in the mobile device space (despite their previous failures).
Apparently the launch of the Android-powered Streak was not enough to cement his future at Dell.


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Last updated on July 2nd, 2019 at 10:01 am
Milwaukee-based Ascedia LLC recently launched a new company dedicated to the growing trend of mobile marketing, messaging and development. Staff at Roll Mobile, specialize in mobile website and smart phone application development, and mobile advertising and marketing strategies.
“One of the things we had been focusing on at Ascedia was our mobile development unit. As things grew it became clear that the mobile market was something that we needed to focus on and so we decided to break off and form a whole new company strictly dedicated to mobile marketing and its products,” said Sara Santiago, president of Roll Mobile, and former director of mobile development at Ascedia.
According to Santiago, the company is able to assist a company in entering the mobile realm at any level.
“I’ve been traveling around talking to different trade groups and shows in the Midwest area, and the desire to learn more about mobile marketing is definitely there,” she said.
Roll Mobile specializes in developing and expanding traditional marketing and advertising pieces into the mobile realm, development of smart phone applications, mobile marketing strategy and mobile website development.
“Its just a better way to focus on what we can do,” Santiago said.
They hired two additional employees, and the rest were pulled from Ascedia’s mobile marketing department. The company has the capability of developing applications for iPhone, blackberry, palm pre and android platforms.
“We have clients nationwide right now and just recently signed an international client,” Santiago said. “It’s an exciting market to be involved in right now everything is changing so fast and more and more companies are building mobile channels into their marketing budgets.”


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CoinGecko to hold conference on NFTs
Analyst service CoinGecko will hold online conference "NFTs Gone Wild", dedicated to non-exchangeable tokens (NFTs). This was told representatives of the project.
The event will take place on 17-18 November. Presentations, workshops and panel discussions will focus on different areas of NFT applications, including art, music, games, sports, collecting and more.
The conference will feature over 150 speakers, including Axie Infinity co-founder Alexander Larsen, Rarible co-founder Alexey Falin, and POAP founder Patricio Worthhalter.
The event will include a Virtual After Party and a drawing for $50,000 in prizes.
If you purchase your ticket before August 17, users can get a 90% discount.
More information about the conference can be found on the website.
As a reminder, in April CoinGecko launched the NFT Spotlight platform for interaction of non-interchangeable token creators with the cryptocurrency community.


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Apparently Microsoft Has A Press Conference Today At MWC
After much noise alleging that Microsoft had all but abandoned MWC, it seems the anti-Microsoft trollosphere have been simply adding to global warming. We can expect a press event from Microsoft today, Sunday 23rd February.
What can we expect from Microsoft? In my previous post I made the point that this was a huge opportunity for Microsoft to unveil their take on wearables; hopefully a Surface Watch or perhaps a competitor for Google Glass? Could we meet Windows Frames today, Microsoft’s Augmented Reality spectacles?
Many of the tech blogs are postulating that we will see no new Windows Phone handsets launched at MWC but instead Nokia will launch its Android phone. To keep things in context Microsoft is hosting its annual in-house event BUILD in April so why release things now and have to compete with the multitude of other launches? As for a Nokia Android phone, no big deal. Nokia has Symbian, Asha and their incredible Windows Phone Lumia line, so why not add Android to the mix? Especially when Microsoft makes so much money from Android royalties.
What could we expect then?
- Confirmation of the feature list behind Windows Phone (update) 8.1. Expectation is this is a huge update.
- Microsoft Wearables hereto designed and built by Redmond’s top secret Skunkworks (if you don’t have this, speak to me Microsoft).
- Cortana. This is Microsoft’s answer to Siri and other mobile AI. Cortana is expected to be part of Windows Phone 8.1 with some help from Foursquare update but is such a major addition that it demands its own mention.
The Warptest POV
If Microsoft are planning on launching Cortana at MWC then my hope is that Cortana herself will give the Press Conference. What better way to demonstrate the Windows Phone AI than allow her to introduce herself.
Regarding the rumors of no new Windows Phone devices or a Microsoft exhibitor presence; it appears that the naysayers and trolls were wrong about at least one of those:
Whatever the announcements, breaking news or confirmations. I’ll be taking a good look at it all and you can read my take on it all here at Warptest.com
What do you think we’ll hear from Microsoft?


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PEORIA, Ariz. -- (WGCL) -- An expletive-laced conversation between the manager of a Valley Del Taco and a pair of drive-thru customers who did what many do in this age of social media -- hit the record button -- has not only gone viral online, it got the manager fired.
Vimeo user Kobe D posted the video, titled "Confrontation between Del Taco drive thru and customers who didn't get their sauce," on April 27. In those two days the nearly 3-minute clip racked up more than 90,000 views and became a "staff pick."
Kobe D does not have a user profile on Vimeo and only joined the service the day before posting the clip. He or she has not posted any other videos and did not write anything about the "Confrontation" clip so there is no context for what happened.


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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the economy added 236,000 jobs last month, beating analyst expectations. The unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent, its lowest point in four years. While construction, healthcare, tourism and retail were all pockets of strength, government hiring lagged behind.
Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joined Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson to break down the report and discuss the sequestration.
And, while more consumers want to buy food from small, local farms, those types of growers are having a hard time getting start-up money.


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(Mobile, Consumer, Tech)
Chloe, Senior Contributor & Kung-Fu Level Custom
WUDN Customer Service, and a massive Apple geek
‘Secret button’ on the back of your iPhone goes viral on TikTok
The Back Tap feature on the iPhone allows users to simply tap the back of their phone near where the Apple logo is, and their phone will do whatever action they’ve programmed through the settings menu.
A TikTok user showed 1 million viewers how to use the feature that’s been around since 2020. After a viral TikTok, iPhone users are discovering their device has one more button than they thought — and it can make their lives easier. “You’re using your iPhone wrong,” TikTok creator @ellyawesometech says, if you aren’t utilizing the “secret button” on the back of your phone. The video, which reached 1 million views after one day, reveals an accessibility feature one user said “changed (their) life forever.”Watch the VideoApple Backtap Instructions


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Apple Watch Rumor Roundup: Pairing With Multiple Apple Devices Coming, MicroLED Display Delayed
We saw a pair of new Apple Watch-related rumors today. A new rumor from @analyst941 on Twitter says Apple is working on software updates to allow the Apple Watch to pair with additional Apple devices. Also in the Twittersphere, display industry analyst Ross Young confirmed that Apple is still working on a microLED display for its Apple Watch Ultra, but the device has been further delayed.
Apple Watch can sync across more than one Apple device too, finally. I don’t know how this will be implemented. All I know, again, **ALL** I know, is that Apple Watch will sync across multiple iOS/iPadOS/Mac devices, and will no longer be tied to one single iPhone.
— 941 (@analyst941) April 27, 2023
Three Weird (But Legit) iPhone Games That Let You Earn Legit Cash
Do you have an iPhone? Very likely since you’re reading this. But did you know that you can use your iPhone to make extra cash whenever you’re just waiting in line … get these gaming apps and start earning money ASAP!
At this time, the Apple Watch can only be paired with a single iPhone. However, it is possible to pair more than one Apple Watch with a lone iPhone.
iPad and Mac users can benefit from a few features that work with their Mac or iPad once the wearable is paired with their iPhone and using their iCloud account. For example, an Apple Watch can be used with a Mac to unlock the computer, authenticate apps and passwords, and authorize Apple Pay purchases. The Apple Watch can also be used with an iPad logged into the same Apple ID to follow the user’s Apple Fitness+ workout routines on the iPad.
However, the @analyst941 Tweet indicates that Apple is working to allow the Apple Watch to pair up with multiple devices.
While the leaker did not offer any additional information on how the multi-device process would work, it’s possible it may be handled via iCloud, much like AirPods use an iCloud account to pair with all of your Apple devices.
The leaker says it’s not certain if the change will take place later this year alongside the release of watchOS 10, iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14 or if it will be delayed until 2024.
@analyst941 doesn’t have an extended track record when it comes to news about upcoming Apple products. However, the leaker was correct about the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island.
Apple Watch Ultra microLED Display
Display analyst Ross Young today tweeted that while Apple is currently developing an improved version of its Apple Watch Ultra model that will sport an improved microLED display, the new wearable has now been delayed until the second half of 2025.
Young had earlier this year mentioned a possible 2025 release for the microLED Apple Watch Ultra, but his current comments do narrow the timeframe a bit.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also mentioned a microLED Apple Watch in January, suggesting at the time that the device could be released around the end of 2024. However, we have seen several instances of timeframes shifting during the development of new or updated Apple devices thanks to design delays, issues with component shortages, manufacturing issues, and other delays.
The Apple Watch Ultra will likely be the first Apple device to use a microLED display. Apple will likely also eventually use this display technology for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineup.
As usual, rumors like this are to be taken with a grain of your favorite salt-free seasoning. We’ll likely have a better handle on what’s up with the Apple Watch when we see what Apple has to show us at WWDC 2023 in June.


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Illicit trade is a serious security threat as it encourages widespread criminality, an official said as the second regional anti-illicit trade conference concluded Friday in Nairobi, Kenya.
Pointing out the impact on security, Magdalene Munyao, Chairperson of the Anti-Illicit Trade Committee of Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), said the crime is conducted by organised criminal groups, and was an opportunity for financing terrorism.
Shedding light on the impact of illicit trade on investments, government revenues and social welfare, Munyao noted that it is a front for money laundering and has the potential to sabotage national economies.
“KAM urges governments, the private sector and the consumers to work together in fighting this common enemy so that we may be able to; enhance the regional and national regulatory frameworks in order to protect EAC investments and consumers,” Munyao said.
Illicit trade, she said, is defined as any practice or conduct prohibited by law and which relates to production, shipment, receipt, possession, distribution, sale or purchase including any practice or conduct intended to facilitate such activity. It comprises trade in illegal goods and services, and trading in legal goods illegally.
She said it was difficult to quantify or access its data since it operates outside the law.
The definition of illicit trade, she said, is broad enough to encompass additional activities including: trading with illegal weights and measures; human trafficking; environmental crime; illegal trade in natural resources; and trade in illegal, harmful or substandard goods that may carry serious health and safety risks.
Its impact to regional companies, Munyao said, is unfair competition and loss of profit by legitimate industries, loss of market share, brand and company reputation, among others.
Munyao said illicit trade also has a negative impact to: consumers and the public, the government, investments and the economy in general. Shedding light on how it poses a risk to health and safety, she noted that according to the International Policy Network, the number of persons in Africa that die from counterfeit medicines each year stands at 100,000.
“In Kenya alone in May 2014, deaths related to the consumption of illicitly produced and traded alcohol surpassed 90 while more than 100 people were hospitalized as a result of consuming illicit alcohol during the same period,” Munyao said, further noting that some domestic and industrial fires are attributable to fake cables and circuit breakers while accidents are attributable to fake spare parts and vehicle service fluids.
Governments also lose billions in taxes every year, depriving the public sector of significant revenues, she said.
In 2009, the value of global illicit trade, was estimated at US$ 1.3 trillion and was said to be increasing at a fast pace, she added.
The Global Financial Integrity Report 2011-2012, put the figure at about $650 billion for goods only and $2 trillion in total.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that EAC governments lose over US$ 500 million in tax revenues annually due to the influx of counterfeit and pirated products alone.
“This has a ripple effect to delivery of public services such as education, health, and infrastructure; and a ripple effect to the economy due to lost jobs and health issues,” Munyao said.
Illegal wildlife trade in Kenya is estimated at $15-20 billion yearly making it the fourth largest form of illegal trade falling behind only trafficking in illegal drugs, people and weapons.
As at 2014 it was estimated that Kenyan Manufacturers lose Kshs 50 billion to illicit trade while the Government loses Kshs 20 billion in revenue annually.
Robert Opirah, the Director General for Trade and Investment at Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), admits that illicit trade is a destructive practice that misrepresents national economies, reduces legitimate business revenues and leads to depreciated socio-economic gains.
“The growth of illicit trade is a real threat to legitimate business transactions. What largely encourages illicit trade, among others, is lack of stringent legal and regulatory oversight mechanisms,” he told Sunday Times yesterday.
“MINICOM is trying to combat this malaise by strengthening the legal and regulatory frameworks governing trade. For example, we have laws on competition, consumer protection, and intellectual property rights. There are legislative reforms in other areas indirectly meant to curb this threat; such as the law on negotiable instruments, and others,” he noted.
Increasing public-private sector dialogue is also an avenue that increasingly isolates chances for illicit trade, Opirah added.
“As illicit trade is not confined to a single institution, we are fortunate to have other government institutions such as the Police committed and engaged in the fight”.
The East African Business Council (EABC) Chief Executive, Lilian Awinja, blames consumer ignorance, as “consumers think they are saving money,” is one of the factors contributing to illicit trade.
According to Grace Freedom Nicholas, acting Director of Consumer Protection and anti-counterfeit at Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission (FCC), authorities there seized 1,151 containers with counterfeit between 2010 and 2016. The value of the goods seized was nearly three billion Tanzanian shillings.Follow https://twitter.com/KarhangaJames


text: On today’s show, we’re looking at Microsoft’s big pre-Gamescom Xbox presentation – specifically the news that Rise of the Tomb Raider is going to be an Xbox exclusive! How will Lara’s departure from Sony affect the franchise’s future? Will multi-platform Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris ease PC and PS4 gamers’ broken hearts? Will Angelina Jolie ever return to finish the film trilogy?! You’ll have to watch to find out! PLUS Jon Lajoie stops by to write Jessica Chobot an original tune and tell us all about the upcoming soundtrack for The League!


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Grand Raffle Prize of 2009 Infiniti FX 35 and Dhs 100,000 Sahara Centre gift vouchers
Sharjah, UAE, 14th January, 2009: Sahara Centre, the leading family shopping and entertainment destination in the UAE and one of Sharjah’s prominent landmarks is all set to host a thrilling Capoeira, Juggling show and Transformer shows during the upcoming Sharjah Spring Promotion 2009. It is scheduled to be held from 15th January until 25th February. The stores in the mall are gearing up to provide attractive in store bargains and offers to shoppers during the promotion period.
Adding fun and excitement among shoppers during this time of the year, an exceptional and invigorating promotion called ‘Make Your Wish’ is in store at Sahara Centre. It includes a grand raffle prize which will give a lucky shopper at Sahara Centre a chance to drive away in a brand new 2009 Infiniti FX 35 and two lucky customers to win Sahara Centre gift vouchers worth Dhs 50,000 each. Customer who spends a minimum of Dhs 200 can enter the draw which will be held on 25th February in the mall.
Jean Pierre Nammour, Managing Director of Sahara Centre, commented, “Over the years, we have experienced that promotion involving family and kids, spreads happiness and creates a heightened shopping experience among shoppers. As a result, during last year’s spring promotion, we registered a remarkable increase in sales and in footfall.”
He further added, “Our objective as an entertainment destination has always been to enhance fun and excitement in the lives of our shoppers while providing higher traffic and sales opportunity to retailers of Sahara Centre. Through this year’s fun-filled spring promotion and attractive in store bargains and customer offers, we aim to offer yet another amazing spring to both our shoppers and retailers.”
In her comments on the ‘Make Your Wish’ promotion, Rima Chammas, Marketing Manager of Sahara Centre, said, “In our on-going initiatives to position Sahara Centre as a mall with a difference, we always design and develop promotions that shoppers often do not anticipate. Our ‘Make Your Wish’ raffle is inspired by consumer desires and wishes while giving every shopper a chance to win while they shop. In addition to the raffle, Sahara Centre will host three unique genres of performances for all the family members as a part of its “Wish you were having more fun?” event, comprising 12 different shows.”
“Wish you were having more fun?” includes events like Capoeira, Juggling show and Transformer performances. These are programmed to kick off on 22nd January until 7th February, between 6pm and 8pm on the 1st Level of the mall.
Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian form of martial arts, music and dance will be performed by 7 Capoeristas from Mexico, while professional artists from Ukraine will perform Transformer shows, Bird shows, Trumpet shows, Curtain shows and Trio Mascots and last but not the least, three professional performers from Ukraine will perform Rolla Rolla, Chicago Juggling and puppets.
Organized annually by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sharjah Spring Promotion 2009 will see the participation of more than 1000 shops and all shopping center’s in Sharjah this year.
View News Headlines


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Elon Musk’s Twitter poll about selling 10% of his Tesla stock has shown that more than 50% of the participants think he should sell the stock.
As of press time, 57.9% of the Twitter poll’s respondents support the idea of him selling 10% of his stock. 42.1% of respondents do not support it.
Elon Musk owns 193.3 million Tesla shares, which is around 20.7% of the total shares of his company. The current market capitalization of Tesla is at $1.22 trillion.
The Tesla CEO has clarified that he does not receive a cash salary or bonus. He said that in order for him to personally pay taxes, he must first sell stock.
Elon Musk’s Twitter Poll
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, posted a poll on his personal Twitter account regarding his Tesla stock.
In the tweet, the Tesla CEO asked, “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you support this?”
57.9% of the respondents of his Twitter poll said that they support the idea of him selling 10% of his Tesla stock. 42.1% have said that they do not.
In another tweet part of the thread, Musk said that he “will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes.”
Read Also: Elon Musk Plans To Sell $21 Billion in Tesla Stock-Depending on Twitter Users’ Votes? Majority Says Yes
Elon Musk’s Tesla Stock
Just how much stock does Elon Musk own in Tesla?
According to a report by Forbes, the Tesla CEO owns 193.3 million Tesla shares. The company’s market capitalization is at $1.22 trillion as of press time.
This means that Elon Musk owns 20.7% of the total shares of the company.
Does Elon Musk Take a Cash Salary?
Given his position as Tesla’s CEO and the number of shares in his company that he owns, does Elon Musk receive a cash salary or bonus?
According to the man himself, the answer to that question is no.
In another subsequent tweet that is part of his Twitter poll thread, Musk clarified that he does not receive a cash salary or bonus.
“I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock,” he said.
The BBC report notes that the Tesla CEO “has made billions of dollars through a compensation package, which gives him power to exercise large amounts of stock options when the company meets performance targets and its shares hit certain prices.”
One such option will actually expire in August 2022 and gives Musk the option to purchase 22.86 million Tesla shares at $6.24 each. For reference, according to the BBC report, the share price at Tesla is $1,222.
Last June, a previous Tech Times report talked about how Elon Musk paid $0 in taxes in 2018.
Related Article: How Much Tax Do Billionaires Pay? Report Says Musk, Bezos, and More ‘Paid Next to Nothing’
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Microsoft and Nokia Push Ahead With Windows Phone 7
The ink is barely dry on the deal that Microsoft and Nokia signed last week, and the mobile handset giant is already trying to recruit its loyal base of third-party developers to rewrite their existing apps -- and create new ones -- using Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system.
On Feb. 11, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and the Finnish phone maker signed an agreement that will make WP7 the operating system that runs all Nokia smartphones.
As part of the initiative to get developers on board Nokia's massive strategic shift, the company has told its community of developers that they soon will receive Windows Phone 7 devices from the company to write and test code on, according to an email sent to Nokia Launchpad members, and published by tech enthusiast site SlashGear on Friday.
"In light of the strategy announcement made by Nokia and Microsoft last week, we are writing to you today to assure you that our commitment to you and your work to develop innovative apps for Nokia devices remains as strong as ever," the email said.
"To assist you with your development activities in the near-term, we will ship one free Nokia E7 device to all program members. Additionally, we will send to you one free Nokia WP7 device, as soon as it becomes available," the email added.
The deal has been controversial already. Some 1,500 Nokia employees walked off the job one day last week to show their opinions regarding the deal and to show support for continuing to use Nokia's two existing smartphone OSes -- the aging Symbian and MeeGo, which it had been co-developing with Motorola.
However, some analysts have said that Nokia, whose star has been falling as the feature phone market has started to disappear, and Microsoft, which has virtually no presence in mobile client markets such as phones and tablets, need each other in order to survive long-term.
A Microsoft spokesperson indicated that the company would have no comment, and a Nokia spokesperson did not respond to an email requesting comment in time for publication.
Meanwhile, Microsoft quietly released its Windows Phone Connector that lets WP7 phone users synch between their handsets and media on a Mac, according to a post on the Next at Microsoft blog Friday. The connector, which the company began talking about in October, also supports up loading photos and videos from the WP7 phone as well.
The connector is available from the Mac App Store and requires Mac OS 10.6.6.


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I went lobster fishing off West Pubnico with a young buddy last week. At one point, he indicated a boat ahead and said, “See that guy. He’s not making any money. He’s got a 750-horsepower engine.” It turns out that not making any money, and the many things that might prevent you from doing so — like a costly engine, or a couple of lost lobster pots at $100 each – is pretty well the only topic on the lobster grounds these days. This is a big deal for the economy of the Maritimes. Lobster is a billion-dollar-plus export industry, but it’s especially the case for Western Nova Scotia where nearly half the Atlantic catch comes from.
There’s plenty of lobster. That’s not the problem. It’s that since the recession hit and the dollar went up, lobster prices have been under $4 a pound, and even under $3 in some cases, and the question is: How long can the bulk of the industry hold on at those prices?
My friend bought a boat and licence four years ago for $550,000 and he thought he had a great deal. That was half of the typical $1-million price of a few years before, and his business plan said he’d be fine even if lobster prices dropped to a rock-bottom $5 a pound and stayed there. Nobody suspected $3.50. He’s managed to make his loan board payments — saved mainly by the fact that catches have been good — but is keeping very little money for himself and worrying about some big expenses coming up typical of lobster fishing.
But he also considers himself lucky. He thinks he’s in the middle of the pack, with half the fishermen worse off than he is — behind on payments and heading for the shoals unless the tide changes quickly.
The plunge in prices of a year and a half ago triggered a response. There’s been a marketing thrust into the U.S., Canada, China, Europe and beyond. There’s been a big presence at international food shows, seafood chefs sent off to do the TV cooking shows and so on. A big study by the consulting firm Gardner Pinfold, due late this summer, is being done on what to do next. And the players — Ottawa, the provinces and the industry – have come together to create the Lobster Council of Canada to direct the effort. But its director, Jeff Irvine, warns that “the challenge isn’t strictly marketing.”
This is a reference to what everybody in the industry knows, especially in Western Nova Scotia: The industry is a zoo. Fishermen, notoriously independent, have no organization. They blame buyers for manipulating prices, who in turn compete among themselves in a cut-throat game. All is mistrust, rumour and suspicion, resulting in supply and demand being improperly matched, continuing problems with quality control, and an industry that’s too divided to organize itself properly to sell to the world.
On the fishermen’s side, the closest to a spokesman for them is Ashton Spinney, chairman of Lobster Fishing Area 34, which accounts for about a third of Atlantic Canada’s landings. He’s a fisherman himself, and has been going to meetings in Ottawa, the U.S. and elsewhere for years at his own expense. He says he understands the buyers have “their own issues” and “everybody has to make money,” but recites a litany of “fear tactics” and manipulations over the years that led to fishermen’s mistrust and that leads him to believe “there’s not much of an attitude of doing much to help” beyond the fishing grounds. Rather, “it seems like an attitude of taking advantage.”
But “whether prices are $3 or $8, fishermen think local dealers are the problem,” says Denny Morrow, head of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, which represents some of the buyers. Many dealers — there are 400 main buyers in Nova Scotia, plus 600 more temporary or “designated” ones — are small operators who had their credit pinched by the banks during the recession and are themselves in trouble, he says. “As long as the perception is that the dealers are making too much money, we’re not going to solve anything.”
Nevertheless, what the both of them, and pretty well everybody else I talked to agrees on totally is that trust has to be built among the parties, and that the way to do it is to have some clear, objective third-party information on prices and supply. An “online real-time inventory system” so “fishermen don’t feel lied to and ripped off,” especially around that Christmas market, says Morrow.
If that happened, adds Spinney, and prices were established as fair by an independent auditor, “I think fishermen would adjust their landings if they felt their best interests were being looked after.” Both are waiting for that Gardner Pinfold study to outline the next step in that regard too.
One thing for sure, concludes Spinney: “We can’t survive on $4 a pound, unless we catch an astronomical amount.”


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HelloFresh is aiming to take a slice of the Christmas dinner market with the launch of a festive box.
The Christmas box contains ingredients for a full family dinner, including a butter-basted roast turkey with pigs in blankets, rosemary roast potatoes, brussels sprouts with garlic and pancetta, honey & thyme roasted root veg, and spiced red cabbage with apple and gravy.
The box costs £69.99 for a family of four. A premium version, which also has a chocolate orange pot dessert, costs £89.99 for four.
The product is also available for larger parties of six, eight or 10 people.
Unlike standard HelloFresh boxes, the Christmas product is available to non-subscribers as a one-off purchase.
However, it will have the same format as a standard box with pre-measured ingredients and “easy-to-follow” recipe cards.
All the recipes have been “tried and tested” by its culinary team, led by in-house chef Mimi.
HelloFresh said the box aimed to “take the stress out of cooking” a family Christmas dinner.
“We understand that cooking Christmas dinner can be tiring and stressful,” said HelloFresh CEO Claire Davenport. “We want to take the hassle out of Christmas so we’ve developed the basic and premium boxes to help make Christmas simple, manageable and stress-free for both experienced cooks and less confident cooks making Christmas dinner for the first time.”


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Image: Boeing 737 MAX assembly. Source: Boeing
April 2021 — Myth Buster
In this first entry in our series on secrecy, we look at one of the worst cases of corporations hiding the facts: the Boeing 737 MAX. The superb airplane manufacturer makes very high quality products. It also makes a great deal of money, though the trend hasn't been its friend in the past three years. Over $101 billion in 2018, $77 billion in 2019 and $58 billion in an eventful 2020.
Boeing (NYSE: Chart Boeing Co. - $176.50 1.93 (0.01082%) ) has also been the victim of unfair business practices from Airbus (OTC: Chart Airbus SE - ADR - Level I - $28.37 0.21 (0.00717%) ), its main competitor, which made deals with various governments that enabled it to underbid Boeing. Boeing’s best argument over a long stretch was that its quality was higher. Note that Airbus was freely engaging in its own series of shifty practices that made it difficult for Boeing to compete on a level playing field.
The issue with the 737 MAX for treatment here is not the overall quality of the craft, but the issue of secrecy and covering up bad news. Reporting a dangerous problem with software is, at the least, embarrassing. It is also critical in maintaining ethical standards and in saving lives. The path of sitting on bad news and lying about it tempts many organizations, but as we discovered in our series on bad bosses (“Nero Fiddles While Rome Burns” – Part I, Part II and Part III), the bad news generally leaks out. Keeping it secret is always held against the company.
Culture of Concealment
The 737 MAX has been front-page news for some time, and Congress stepped in to do its own public investigation. Legislators concluded that Boeing erred by not sharing details of technical problems with the aircraft. The phrase “culture of concealment” has been slapped on Boeing and the damage continues to ripple. Boeing’s market capitalization stands at roughly $123 billion as of the time of writing this piece. It dropped severely – about $120 billion – in one shot over a year ago. It has been creeping back up since then. Meanwhile, Airbus is barreling along.
The Boeing story is more troubling than Volkswagen (OTC: Chart Volkswagen AG - ADR - $0. 0.30 (0.01567%) ), which bent facts about emissions. Boeing is linked to plane crashes. The intention in this series is not to convict Boeing. The company may present a decent case for why it did not reveal certain emails. The underlying issue is whether an admired and financially successful company will take a problem seriously, admit it publicly and move quickly to fix it.
According to Boeing, the problem was in the software rather than the overall mechanics or construction. There may be more instances of this kind of problem in the years ahead.
The manufacturer – the company whose name goes on the final product – has turned into an assembler of many finished products made elsewhere. This is true across many industries. Ingredients in a jar of Smucker’s (NYSE: Chart J.M. Smucker Co. - $155.68 2.13 (0.01387%) ) strawberry jelly include strawberry juice, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fruit pectin and citric acid. Investors will recall the air bag problem that plagued Toyota (NYSE: Chart Toyota Motor Corporation - ADR - $141.86 0.77 (0.00546%) ) and Honda (NYSE: Chart Honda Motor - ADR - $23.85 0.15 (0.00633%) ). The airbags were made by Takata and led to the recall of six million vehicles. The average automobile has about eighty electronic parts equipped with chips that are made by someone else. Electric cars will soon build up their own problems. Just imagine how many software problems will pop up with self-driving autos.
Suppliers of pieces of finished products are expanding rapidly. Qualcomm (Nasdaq: Chart Qualcomm, Inc. - $118.21 1.57 (0.01311%) ) and PTC (Nasdaq: Chart PTC Inc - $121.64 0.38 (0.00313%) ) are two of the fastest growing high technology companies for this reason. Joining the likes of Intel (Nasdaq: Chart Intel Corp. - $28.33 0.27 (0.00944%) ), Samsung and Nvidia (Nasdaq: Chart NVIDIA Corp - $161.20 1.33 (0.00832%) ), these companies are vital to the finished products they serve. A recent global chip shortage from Continental (OTC: Chart Continental AG - ADR - $0. 0.0251 (0.00435%) ), Bosch and others, exacerbated by the fire at a key Renesas (OTC: Chart Renesas Electronics Corporation - ADR - $4.62 0.024 (0.00517%) ) plant, slowed production at General Motors (NYSE: Chart General Motors Company - $37.96 0.06 (0.00158%) ), Volkswagen, Ford (NYSE: Chart Ford Motor Co. - $13.10 0.18 (0.01355%) ) and Honda.
We are at a kind of crossroad where companies cannot control all aspects of the products they roll out. More and more parts are made somewhere else by someone else. The production circle continues to widen. We can expect more of these unfortunate glitches since it is more and more difficult to ensure that all parts of the product really function as designed.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: Chart Johnson & Johnson - $177.17 1.07 (0.00608%) ) removed Tylenol from the shelves nearly 40 years ago after a small amount of potassium cyanide was found in a small sample of products. The company established itself as a top-tier ethicist when it took swift and complete action in what turned out to be a deliberate act of poison. After the massive loss of product, Johnson and Johnson’s market share actually rose, and the company was forever enshrined as extremely honest and as a model of how public relations should function.
So far, Boeing's secrecy has cost it significant market share. Even more damaging is Airbus seizing the top spot in the industry, now surpassing Boeing in total orders. Note that in this industry orders take a long time to fill. Just a few years ago, this looked impossible. It will be a long road back for Boeing.
The title of this series comes from a longer quotation by Elia Kazan. So far, it appears that secrecy – at least when it is discovered – inflames. The full effect of the 737 MAX problem may not yet be clear, but the company needs to reestablish its commitment to high quality and truthful responses to the public. Volkswagen has done so and is now the world’s largest auto maker, even rivaling Tesla (Nasdaq: Chart Tesla Inc - $174.04 5.78 (0.03214%) ) in electric vehicle sales. Industry giants should not brush off any product discrepancies.
The next entry will look at another problem of corporate and business secrecy and the harm it can do to a company’s reputation as well as its bottom line.
Michael McTague, Ph.D. is Executive Vice President at Able Global Partners in New York, a private equity firm.
Equities Contributor: Michael McTague, PhD
Source: Equities News


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Florida representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda has introduced HB 455, legislation to conform to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA). The legislation would take effect on January 1, 2012. This is great news for the Streamlined effort, Florida being one of the larger states.
If passed, Florida’s action on Streamlined will help the state recover an estimated $1.5 billion in uncollected sales tax in 2012. More information on that estimate—and the estimated amounts of uncollected sales tax for other states—can be found at the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) website.
So, a summary of all of the activity related to collecting the sales tax due on internet purchases:
States that have introduced new Streamlined legislation this year: Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Missouri, and Florida
States that have introduced affiliate nexus legislation this year: Illinois, California, Connecticut, New Mexico, and Mississippi
Twenty-four states are already members of SSUTA. Six more states have SSUTA legislation under consideration. Five more (I’m not double-counting Connecticut) are considering legislation to take a different approach to collecting tax on internet sales.
Three more states are meeting resistance to their existing efforts to collect taxes using a non-Streamlined approach (New York is in litigation with Amazon and Overstock over its affiliate law; North Carolina lost a judicial decision over receiving detailed purchase information from Amazon; and Colorado was recently prevented from enforcing its notification and reporting laws while a lawsuit by Amazon and Overstock moves forward).
Seems like we have reached a tipping point—enough states are jumping into the fray to make instituting Streamlined the most sensible solution to the problem of uncollected sales tax.


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Trustpilot, which removed more than 2.2m fake reviews from its site last year, says that it has enhanced its automated fraud, enforcement and anomaly detection technologies, which safeguard the platform from misuse.
Trustpilot’s litigation strategy is the next phase in its commitment to protecting and promoting trust online – including tackling fake and misleading reviews.
Carolyn Jameson, chief trust officer at Trustpilot, said: “Consumers rely heavily on reviews to make more informed and confident purchasing decisions each and every day. Protecting and promoting trust is fundamental to Trustpilot’s mission.
“Whilst the vast majority of businesses use reviews constructively to help get them closer to their customers, we’re prepared to do everything within our power to clamp down on the small minority who do not behave as they should, and instead use fake and misleading reviews to take advantage of consumers – often those consumers who are particularly vulnerable.”
The platform has also made strides to increase consumer protection by introducing and placing warning banners on the profiles of businesses which are subject to regulatory attention.
Tim Weller, Chair of the Truspilot’s Board, commented: “Trust underlies everything in today’s world. Without it, nothing works. In its mission to become a Universal Symbol of Trust, Truspilot’s reviews play a vital role in nurturing trust between consumers and businesses.
“Our Board wholeheartedly supports this new enforcement strategy, which has been developed through our Trust and Transparency Committee, including members of the Board. It’s the right thing to do, to protect consumers and the vast majority of businesses who continue to use Trustpilot in the right way.”


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5 startups announced for Naturally Boulder's 17th annual Pitch Slam and Autumn Awards5 startups announced for Naturally Boulder's 17th annual Pitch Slam and Autumn Awards
Out of 20-plus entries, five startups were chosen to participate in the "Shark Tank"-style event.
October 5, 2021
On Thursday, Oct. 21, one young organic or natural products company will receive a life-changing prize package, after beating out more than 20 other companies in Naturally Boulder’s Shark Tank-style 17th Annual Pitch Slam and Autumn Awards. Pitch Slam finalists include the first Latinx nonalcoholic beverage brand in Colorado, a shelf stable ready-to-drink nitro cold brew and a dried pasta brand that focuses on heirloom and ancient wheat.
The five Pitch Slammers will be:
Frescos Beverage Corporation
Fossil Fuel Donuts
Wild Barn Coffee
Core and Rind
Now in its 17th year, Naturally Boulder’s biggest annual event will be held in person at the Boulder Jewish Community Center lawn as well as streamed on YouTube.
The winner of the Pitch Slam receives a complimentary booth at the Natural Products Expo East 2022 trade show and a guaranteed opportunity to pitch at the Expo East Pitch Slam. The first, second and third place winners split a prize pack of a robust suite of business services from Naturally Boulder sponsors, such as free financial and legal advice, packaging design, strategy consulting from leading marketing and public relations agencies and more–a total package worth nearly $75,000.
Following the Pitch Slam presentations, rePlant Capital co-founder Robyn O’Brien will give the keynote speech. Naturally Boulder will then present four Autumn Awards to celebrate exceptional “movers and shakers” in the organic and natural products industry: the Pitch Slam Award (the first, second, and third place receive trophies and a piece of the prize pack; the People’s Choice vote-winner is awarded a trophy); the Breakout Brand 2021 award; the Industry Leader/Community Champ of 2021 Award; and the Climate Catalyst of 2021 Award, which debuted last year to highlight Naturally Boulder’s recent climate commitment.
Source: Naturally Boulder
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The Redmi Go is now official but Xiaomi has not revealed when or where it will launch first and how much it will be priced at.
Xiaomi was speculated to be working on a new Android Go powered smartphone called the Redmi Go and it has now officially announced the device. The news comes via a tweet from the company’s official Twitter account, which reads, “‘GO’ for something new! Today we're introducing the new #RedmiGo. RT if you'll be getting one #GoSmartDoMore.” The company also posted an image with the tweet, officially revealing some of the device’s specifications. The specification sheet of the phone was leaked recently and it suggested some of the same specs that are listed officially by the company.
The Redmi Go smartphone features a 5-inch HD 720p display and is powered by an unnamed quad-core Snapdragon processor that can clock speeds of up to 1.4GHz. As per the previous leak, the phone’s display has 1280x720p resolution and could be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 425 SoC. Xiaomi confirms that the handset is backed by a 3000mAh battery and comes equipped with an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing sensor. The device is speculated to feature 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage, which can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card. The 8MP single-rear camera might be paired with an f/2.0 aperture lens and 1.12µm pixel size. The front 5MP sensor might sport 1.12µm pixel size and an f/2/2 aperture.
While Xiaomi has not confirmed if the phone is running on the Go Edition of Android, it is expected to be launched with Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition). The device might feature a micro-USB charging port and could come with dual-SIM support and in Black and Blue colour variants. Additionally, there is no information on what the device could be priced at or in which country will it debut first. However, the company is expected to first announce the device in the Philippines.
|Release Date:||19 Mar 2019|
|Variant:||8GB , 16GB|


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Bell Canada first to offer black Motorola Q
Auspicious emails containing press releases are our favourites here at BlackBerry Cool - keep ‘em coming. Just days after we talked about Motorola’s “Norman” making an appearance in Europe via Vodpahone, we’ve got another Q on the block. Apparently, today marks the day Canadians will be able to get their hands on the black edition of the Motorola Q from Bell Canada.
“Motorola Canada Ltd. today announced the global launch of the Moto Q in Black, the latest Moto Q colour available exclusively from Bell Canada. The Moto Q in Black is a broadband-enabled smartphone that combines voice, data and multimedia functionality in a design that is less than 1.15 cm thin.”
The matte-finished Q is available exclusively through Bell Canada.
Customers may purchase the Moto Q in Black for $149.95 when activating a voice plan and minimum $60 e-mail and Internet data feature package on a 3-year agreement. Thanks to Annie on Bell’s live support, we were able to condure up a link for you to check it out.


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Entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Daymond John started with nothing but hustle. John didn’t have any fancy angels writing him checks when he was launching his successful urban clothing brand FUBU.
In a recent interview, he remembers working a job in the food industry while building his brand from scratch.
John tells the Huffington Post:
I was a waiter at Red Lobster for about 7 years while I was still doing FUBU, and slowly but surely I learned and FUBU started to take over the business and I started to just have shorter hours at Red Lobster and more at FUBU.
John is hoping to help other entrepreneurs get their start the same way with the Shopify Build a Business Contest. The contest is open to anyone interested in starting an ecommerce business. The rules seem simple enough:
- Entrepreneurs must start a business from scratch without prior sales or a recognizable brand.
- Businesses can be under a wide range of categories including fashion and apparel, electronics and gadgets, food and beverages, jewelry, crafts and more.
- Contestants will get help from nationally known mentors including John; fellow Shark Tank regular Mark Cuban, online marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuck, Huffington Post publisher Arianna Huffington, entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss and others.
Contestants have until March 31, 2014 to register, and until May 31, 2014 to build a store and generate their sales. But the official rules state that contestants must operate their stores a minimum of 60 consecutive days to qualify to win. So don’t wait until the entry deadline to sign up.
The contestant with the highest gross sales in each category by the May 31 deadline (or the one with the highest number of transactions in the event of a tie) is the winner.
Prizes include $50,000, a trip to New York City for a face to face meeting with the mentor in your category and a Shopify point of sales package. The package includes an iPad. And it will allow winning entrepreneurs to begin selling to customers in person according to Shopify and the Huffington Post which is also sponsoring the event.