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CNET's Marguerite Reardon explains how three key phenomena could reshape the wireless industry in the next few years and pave the way for more-affordable mobile services.
Smartphones and cars can focus on what each one does best with the arrival of this new dashboard connection technology.
Before you get too excited, it's only a proof-of-concept display. The unveiling is part of a broader announcement to showcase the company's plans for the future, which center on OLED tech.
In the Dolby Cinema presentation of Disney's "Tomorrowland," fiber-optic-fed laser light engines, 4K resolution, HDR contrast and Atmos sound combine to create a breathtaking cinema experience. Tomorrow's theater experience can't come home soon enough.
Sales for the iPhone may shoot as high as 51.1 million units this quarter, says UBS analyst Steven Milunovich, higher than Wall Street is predicting.
Soon you'll don a high-tech headset as easily as you reach for your controller. Watch for blockbuster launches in the year ahead that pave the way to the brave new virtual world. Facebook and Valve lead the charge.
Brian Cooley explains how new 48-volt electrical systems are coming to cars to power better tech.
Commentary: A Google AI expert says computers capable of having relationships aren't far off, but the idea of machines with common sense has CNET's Eric Mack feeling disposable.
If you're looking for a higher-end sound bar with excellent movie sound, advanced streaming features and full control of dialogue intelligibility, then the Polk Omni SB1 fits the bill well.
CNET's Dan Graziano tested the step and distance accuracy of the Apple Watch. See how it stacks up against the competition.


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Braintree, Chicago’s own leader in online payments, is acquiring New York City-based mobile payments company Venmo for $26 million. This news comes less than three weeks after Braintree announced it would more than triple the size of its Chicago office. Both companies are backed by Accel Partners.
Earlier this month, Braintree CEO Bill Ready told us mobile commerce was one of two macrotrends on the minds of anyone in the online payments space. Already, mobile comprises one quarter of the $4 billion in credit card transactions Braintree processes per year. With his company’s acquisition of Venmo, it seems Ready and his team are pushing to take the mobile shopping challenge head-on.
And how will they do it? By pairing their processing power with Venmo’s digital wallet. While Braintree facilitates credit card payments for everyone from Disqus to Belly, Venmo makes it easy to swap funds with friends using a smartphone, and it’s the marriage of these separate but compatible services that looks to be a winning combination.
“By combining forces, Braintree and Venmo can continue to make the mobile shopping experience better for both merchants and consumers,” Ready says. For example, existing Venmo users will soon be able to use their digital wallets to place payments with any of the thousands of online merchants who utilize Braintree to process transactions. Ready sees this acquisition as an opportunity to bolster his company’s mobile offerings, by keeping up with the growing practice of mobile shopping and giving developers and consumers “a different set of tools to thrive in a mobile world.”
Over a decade ago, Ready says, PayPal led the first wave of ecommerce by creating a set of tools that shook up the way people shopped online. Now, customers will be able to use Braintree’s payment platform for the first time. The second wave, he says, is now. “We believe that the combination of Braintree and Venmo will provide the tools and experiences that will power the next decade of ecommerce for both merchants and consumers.”
Venmo’s 23-person team will remain in its New York City headquarters, while Braintree’s office expansion plans are on track. In fact, according to Ready, “The acquisition will help us grow the business even faster, which means we're likely to add those jobs even faster than before in our Chicago headquarters.”
Visit Braintree's website, check out their BIC company profile and follow them on Twitter at @braintree. Visit Venmo's website and follow them on Twitter at @venmo.

domain: news


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The ticker-tape parade celebrating Monster’s comeback will have to wait.
According to parent company Randstad Holding’s latest financial results, the job board‘s revenue continued to drop in Q3, down 15 percent versus 16 percent in the second quarter. So, the pace at which the company is losing is improving, so there’s that.
Silver linings, right?
Additional positives Randstad highlighted was increased usage of Monster internally at the company, which is pretty low hanging fruit, as well as initiatives around new products and features, and, maybe most important, a financial house that is finally in order.
Readers will recognize Monster Studios, the scrapping of banner ads on the site, and new commercials as signs that the company is making strides toward a better future. Unfortunately, for them, the numbers don’t yet tell a story of profitability.
The company, however, remains optimistic.
“As Monster continues to evolve as a business, the company remains focused on innovating — by making improvements to its products, services, and the core job and talent search experiences — to better serve our customers and our candidates,” said Scott Gutz, CEO at Monster since July 2018. “These are critical foundations for our continued growth and we are focused on our vision, purpose, strategy, and prioritized activities for 2019 and beyond.
“We expect to see KPIs and outcomes for customers and candidates that will correlate to global sales and revenue growth. We are committed to accelerating our progress towards sustainable, profitable growth across Monster and look forward to continuing to introduce new solutions and services — like Monster Studios and Monster Talent Consulting — that meet the unique challenges that face customers and candidates alike in this new world of recruiting.”
It’s frankly tough to envision a future where Monster claws its way back to prominence. From the tippy-top, it’s dealing with companies like Google and Microsoft, which have seeming endless resources. A level below them, companies like ZipRecruiter and Indeed continue to set the pace in online employment.
While Monster hopes to create “Instagram for jobs” with Studios, LinkedIn is providing candidate insights on 550 million member profiles and an ATS. Ultimately, Monster may just be bringing a knife to the gun fight.
Fortunately for its parent company, though, times are pretty good. Randstad announced revenue of $7 billion in Q3. EBITDA rose 4 percent to $341 million. Specifically, revenue in North America increased by 3 percent compared to 2 percent for the same period in 2017.


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US: Losses deepen for Castle Brands in H1
Castle Brands has slipped deeper into the red in its first half, with net sales hampered by tax rises in Ireland.
Net loss loss for the six months ended 30 Septmber worsened to $10.4m, compared to $7.7m for the same period last year, Castle Brands said on Friday (14 November).
Net sales for the group, which owns Boru vodka and Limoncello, slid by $1.2m to $13.3m, it said. A one-off charge of $1.9m related to higher import and value added taxes in Ireland was to blame, it added.
US case sales fell by 5%, while international case sales dropped by 27% in the second quarter.
Castle president and CEO Richard Lampen said that the US-based company has progressed this year, despite the negative figures.
The group last month completed a cash infusion of US$15m, designed to improve stability by cutting debt. "These developments put our company on firmer footing and enable us to pursue our original vision of building our own premium brands," said Lampen.
Chief operating officer John Glover said that the group's brands were performing well in the US. He added: "We continue to aggressively cut and control costs and promote efficiency in our efforts to achieve profitability."
To say that Ketil Eriksen had to hit the ground running when he became CEO of Absolut six months ago would be an understatement. Overseeing a massive reorganisation and dealing with the effects of the...
The global drinks consumer is heading for "safety" when it comes to drinks brands, according to a recent report....
A UK minister has warned the alcoholic drinks industry that it must work closer with authorities to highlight the pitfalls of raising excise duties....
Passenger numbers at major airports in the UK fell by nearly 10% in the first four months of 2009, highlighting the pressure on the travel retail drinks category....
Davide Campari-Milano has posted what it has described as an "overall satisfactory" set of results for its first quarter, as destocking dragged on its performance....
Drinks Americas Holdings' newly acquired Olifant Vodka is to sponsor of US music tour....
Estonian spirits company AS Liviko has reported market share growth and an increase in full-year sales, boosted by a rise in exports....
Central European Distribution Corporation has posted a dip in sales for the first quarter of this year, with net profit turning into a loss for the period....
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- Campari to bag EUR19m with "non-core" assets sale
- Pernod agrees Caribe Cooler sale to Grupo Bepensa
- Pernod wins consent for Glenlivet upgrade
- Thailand pulls back from New Year alcohol ban


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Search For "praveen khandelwal"
Updated : 3 months, 1 week ago IST
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday said that traders have taken a firm pledge to support CAIT's national movement to boycott Chinese products and promote Indian goods.
New Delhi [India], June 14 (ANI): The trade leaders of national capital decided to keep Delhi markets open for time being, in the wake of the direct intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various steps initiated by Home Minister Amit Shah, said Praveen Khandelwal, National General
Updated : 4 months, 2 weeks ago IST
New Delhi [India], May 12 (ANI): Indian industry bodies -- CII, FICCI, CAIT -- on Tuesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Rs 20 lakh crore special economic package, which they said will go a long way in making India a self-reliant and bringing the economy back on the track in view o
Updated : 5 months ago IST
Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 25 (ANI): After the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) exempted all shops under the Shops and Establishment Act from revised consolidated lockdown restrictions, Praveen Khandelwal, National General Secretary of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sat
Updated : 5 months, 1 week ago IST
Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 19 (ANI): The Centre allowing e-commerce companies to deliver non-essential goods from April 20, while the lockdown is still in force, is unjust and will discourage the more than 40 lakh traders dealing in essential commodities in the country who catered
Updated : 6 months ago IST
New Delhi [India], Mar 26 (ANI): The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said that the trading community of the country comprising of seven crore traders and 40 crore of their employees stands in solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union and State Governments for obser
Updated : 1 year, 9 months ago IST
New Delhi, [India] Dec 28 (ANI): The recent move of the government to tighten the noose of major e-commerce players will culminate into a fair market competition and will provide equal even level playing field for one and all to adopt e-commerce as another business model, said Secretary Gene
Updated : 2 years, 9 months ago IST
New Delhi [India], Dec 16 (ANI): The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Saturday opined that instead of the intra-state e-way bill sanctioned by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council earlier in the day, a quick response code (QR) should be developed, as the former would complica


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- Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen startup, CloudKitchens, has tripled its valuation to $15 billion.
- The company also hired Amazon veteran John Curran as chief financial officer in November.
- Kalanick took over in 2018 and reportedly raised $400 million from Saudi Arabia in 2019.
Travis Kalanick's ghost kitchen startup ended 2021 with significant fresh funding and a new chief financial officer.
Los Angeles-based CloudKitchens raised about $850 million in a November funding round valuing the startup at $15 billion, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The deal is a significant step up from the startup's last publicly reported valuation of $5 billion in 2019 and marks the latest milestone in Kalanick's comeback, after being ousted from Uber in June 2017 amid reports of a toxic corporate culture. Insider was not able to learn the identities of the investors in the new round backing CloudKitchens, which maintains a deliberately secretive profile. Representatives for CloudKitchens did not respond to requests for comment.
CloudKitchens also tapped John Curran as CFO. He started in November after more than 12 years with Amazon, where he was most recently the CFO for the company's international consumer business, per his LinkedIn profile.
Curran oversees a department that experienced high turnover under finance head Jake Galey, an Uber alumnus. Three controllers exited his team in less than three years, and the head of capital markets left last spring.
A CloudKitchens spokesman declined to comment.
Booming business and employee discontent
Kalanick joined CloudKitchens as chief executive officer in 2018, after his exit from Uber. He bought existing investors out and later brought in $400 million from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund in 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
Current and former employees could not sell back their equity, referred to by the company as "profit units," in the 2021 funding round.
Business at City Storage Systems – CloudKitchens' parent company – has boomed during the pandemic, as diners around the world ordered food for home delivery in record numbers. The company owns more than 50 active locations in the US and dozens more internationally, providing kitchen space that established restaurants and food startups alike can rent and prepare delivery-ready meals from. Customers include major brands like Chik-fil-A and Applebee's.
Competitors like SoftBank-backed Reef are also rapidly building networks of ghost kitchens — sometimes in slipshod fashion — in a race to gain market share in the fast-growing business.
CloudKitchens' software product, Otter, aggregates online orders for both CloudKitchens customers and regular restaurants. One former employee estimated that Otter could be the fastest-growing US software company, though the company keeps specifics on revenue and other metrics close. Kalanick lured top engineers from Apple, Uber, and other companies to work on Otter and other tech efforts.
Despite the company's fast expansion, Kalanick has tried to keep CloudKitchens' plans under wraps, to avoid tipping off competitors, recruiters, and the media. Employees can't add the company to their LinkedIn pages — indeed, Curran's LinkedIn profile says that he's the CFO at a stealth "hyper-growth" startup — and departments often operate in isolation.
The company struggled last year with discontent among some employees about culture and HR policies and with tumultuous relationships with some neighbors, including in Chicago – a battle that's calmed in recent months. The late spring brought some executive changeups: the head of external recruiting resigned in May after an internal investigation into poor conduct, and the head of Americas exited in June for another tech company, Insider previously reported. Most of the company's US recruiting team also left last year.


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30 September 2022
Higher creativity boosts attention for banner ads
Creativity & effectiveness Online display Biometric research
Higher levels of creativity increases attention to banner ads whether consumers are deeply or more lightly engaged with online content, a study in the Journal of Advertising Research has found.
29 September 2022


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AUSVEG Advocacy Update – 14 February 2023
Pricing and Inputs
Farm inputs have remained elevated for the start of 2023 compared to pre-Covid levels. While they are still far above pre-Covid levels, some input prices have moderated from their peak last year.
Over the December 2022 Quarter there were significant price rises for many food and grocery products, largely due to of strong demand over Christmas and elevated input costs.
Fruits and vegetables had their most significant quarterly fall since 2012, although prices are still elevated compared to 12 months ago. This fall can be attributed to the high prices of fruits and vegetables in the September 2022 Quarter following intense flooding events along the East Coast during the year.
Due to the relentless flooding and severe weather events, summer plantings have been reduced, putting pressure on vegetable prices for the start of 2023.
Figure 1. Grocery products, Australia, quarterly and annual movement (% change in price) (ABS).
With regard to consumer buying habits of vegetables, Figure 2 highlights the amount spent on vegetables per year has increased while the average volume has declined.
Pre-packed vegetables are also contributing over 60 per cent to total vegetable sales.
Figure 2. Australian Household purchasing habits, 52 weeks to 01/01/2023 vs years prior.
- Diesel prices have started to fall but are still at a decade high, they are now sitting at an average of A$1.90/l (wholesale).
- Diesel prices are 9 per cent higher than petrol, earlier in 2022 this was around 30 per cent.
- Fertiliser pricing levels are falling globally.
- Cost of energy is the main driver, especially natural gas costs. The price of natural gas has skyrocketed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Urea from the Middle East has dropped to an average of AUD$645/mt for the month of January. This time last year Urea was AUD$1090/mt.
- Australian farms are continuing to import fertiliser despite high global prices. For vegetable growers, this is significantly impacting profit margins.
Figure 3. Import price index, Australia (DAFF).
Key labour statistics from ABARES on all of horticulture:
- Labour costs make up 35 per cent of the total operating expenditure.
- 40 per cent of farms are using advanced machinery to reduce demand for labour.
- 35 per cent of workers worked longer hours compared to previous years.
- 13 per cent of farms provided on-farm accommodation.
- 4 per cent of farms used on-farm accommodation during peak labour use periods.
Figure 5. Estimated aggregate farm cash costs, Australia, 2021-22 (DAFF).
Across all farms, labour costs are the second biggest expense, fuels fourth, and chemical and fertiliser 7th and 8th. Whilst this graph includes all farm types, we know that horticulture has some of the highest labour costs of all farm types.
Major Supermarket Pricing for Vegetables
(All graph timelines are from November 2020 to December 2022).
As indicated in the first graph below, (Australia – All Vegetables), there is a noticeable decrease in the total volume of vegetables from 2021 to 2022. This is highlighted more clearly in the second figure, which shows the average drop in volume of all vegetables, largely due to the extreme weather, labor shortages, and inputs pricing.
Hort Innovation Australia have calculated this information based in part on data reported by NielsenIQ through its Homescan Service for the Papaya industry with data to 27th March 2022, for the Total Australia market, according to the NielsenIQ standard product hierarchy. Copyright © 2022, Nielsen Consumer LLC.
AUSVEG Food and Grocery Code of Conduct (FGCC) – Dispute Resolution Submission
Treasury recently conducted a review of the FGCC, the review focused specifically on Part 5: Dispute Resolution.
AUSVEG made a submission highlighting the dispute resolution process was effectively unusable for vegetable growers due to the perishable nature of vegetables. Because of the lack of contracts, quick turnover, and unique way the industry negotiates with retailers (on a weekly basis), vegetable suppliers cannot utilise the code’s processes.
The Annual Report by the Independent Reviewer highlighted that some of the core reasons the process wasn’t used were included fear of retribution and fear of damaging commercial relationships. This is highly relevant to the vegetable industry.
AUSVEG will seek comprehensive input from vegetables growers to include in the next review of the code in October 2023, which will cover the code in its entirety.
Select Committee Hearing on the Cost of Living
AUSVEG highlighted the significant challenges that growers have faced in dealing with the rising costs of production, the power imbalance between growers and retailers, and worker shortages at the Senate Select Committee Hearing on Cost of Living in Melbourne on Tuesday 2 February 2023.
AUSVEG Chair Bill Bulmer and CEO Michael Coote addressed the Committee to detail the hardships faced by growers all over the country over the last 12 months, which include increases to critical farm inputs, labour shortages, retailer price challenges, and significant weather events that have impacted production and the availability of fresh produce.
AUSVEG understands the challenges that Australian families are facing with the increases in the costs of living, but it is important to remember that the price that consumers pay for their fresh produce is vastly different to the price that the grower receives.
In 2022 the price of vegetables remained relatively stable in the retail sector despite skyrocketing cost increases of over 200 per cent in some key inputs. The stable price was due to growers who were forced to absorb rising costs to keep prices down for consumers, whilst struggling to keep economically viable.
AUSVEG advised the Committee that part of the long-term solution to this issue is changing the current perception and building awareness of the fresh produce sector in the public eye to educate the public about the food system and the real cost of fresh produce. If we don’t, we risk the future production of fresh produce if horticultural businesses to become financially unviable.
Consumers have shown tremendous support to the sector in buying fresh produce when they can, but there is no denying that this has been the most challenging period for our industry in recent memory.
Another clear message that AUSVEG conveyed was that it is critical to support growers to be able to supply healthy fresh produce to consumers. However, there needs to be a national, coordinated approach to help increase the consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Low vegetable consumption is a multi-billion-dollar problem that is impacting the economic, health, social and environmental wellbeing of Australians which has significant flow on effects to the health care system. Increasing consumption could create greater economies of scale and increase the capacity and viability of rural and regional businesses, and ultimately build stronger communities and more jobs.
Workforce was also a key topic of discussion; the vegetable industry is currently short approximately 10,000 workers. During COVID-19 pandemic we saw a mass exodus of foreign workers, many of whom were working in agriculture. Many growers are unable to pick their produce, forcing them to destroy or abandon perfectly good produce, or be overly cautious and only plant a conservative volume. We know that the current workforce situation is hampering business growth and confidence throughout the industry.
AUSVEG also spoke about sustainability and climate change and highlighted the decades of on-farm improvements growers have undertaken to become more sustainable, such as increasing efficiencies in irrigation management.


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After the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2019, the Chairman of Rasna Pvt Ltd Piruz Khambatta analysing the Budget elaborated on the pros and cons of it.
Speaking of the impact of fuel hike, he stated that industries like the FMCG were not targetted in the Budget.
The Chairman Rasna Pvt Ltd said, "There are two problems which she's not addressing one is FMCG and many industries are going through a total slowdown and I don't know how this budget is going to help them in the very slowdown in a very short time, I don't see that."
"Second there is an intention of the government that we want to become a $5 trillion dollar economy, it won't come without private sector investment which is dried up, people are not investing, Indian companies are not investing, foreigners are not investing, they're probably buying off cheap assets. But there is no real greenfield investment by Indian or foreign companies," he added.
Further criticising the Budget, he added that there has been nothing 'concrete' announced in the budget. He listed the reasons why the private sector cannot get into agriculture.
He said, "I don't see anything which has been announced in this budget except for batteries, TVs and solar, I don't know anything concrete which has been announced in this Budget, which will get this slowdown out and get more private sector investment. Just a few days back the Prime Minister announced that he wants more corporate players in agriculture, he went on record and said you come in agriculture, but how do we come because the sector is closed for us. How do we come when the taxes are so high. So I think we were expecting a lot other things which would be announced so that more and more private sectors some into agriculture to give an example, that is lacking."
"Similarly, exports, why can't we export things we are already making. So how exports can be enhanced with income tax benefits, income tax allowances by getting more technology, depreciation. If they can say GST on solar vehicles can go down to 5%, why not on food processing? There are so many food processing products on aam aadmi, for example, biscuits, sherbet, idli mix are on 18%," he added.
Khambatta moreover listed the pros of the Budget announced, however, stated that giving farmers Rs. 6000 as proposed under the PM-KISAN scheme is not a way to 'make them rich'
He said, "The budget is quite good in terms of the digital economy moves, the simplification of returns, the simplification of forms. I think the budget is good."
"When I talk about concrete steps to revive the economy, I don't see those. I always say this, you give a farmer 6000 rs that will not make him rich, that is like saying I will give a poor man lunch every day. We need to create an ecosystem where he becomes big," he added.


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Here’s How the Petty, Vindictive Obama Administration Can Pay for the Next Four Years of White House Tours @ $1 Mil Per Year …
… and have tens of millions left over — Cancel this contract:
Just two days before the automatic federal spending cuts took effect, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it had awarded a $50 million one-year contract for new uniforms for airport screeners, clothes that will manufactured partially in Mexico.
That works out to $1,000 per TSA agent. It shouldn’t take more than $300 (that’s probably too generous), or $15 million in total, to appropriately outfit each one with enough clothing to get through a normal week of harassing airline passengers.


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Just how popular though has been made clear by new research which reveals the importance to Spain of the powerful ‘pink pound’. While tourism has been booming in the country in general with a 12% growth in 2015, gay tourism has seen even more spectacular growth with an estimated 28% increase last year.
The findings came from research carried out by Cromosomax, a popular Spanish gay website, which spoke to promoters, owners of bars, hotels and guesthouses that focus on LGBT travellers, and other specialised travel agencies.
According to their figures, the average LGBT tourist spends in and around €130 each day after getting to Spain (excluding holidays and airfares) and that is 30% higher than the general spend of the average tourist.
They calculated that LGBT tourism is worth more than €9 billion every year for the Spanish economy, which is close to one in five of every euro spent by travellers. They worked out an 18% contribution to tourism from the LGBT community, which they said is variously estimated to make up 6 to 8% of the world’s population.
According to the website, spending was higher among gay travellers because of higher disposable income and a preference for exclusive products and services. They said the largest number of LGBT tourists came from the UK, Germany and the United States.
Among the most popular locations in Spain for LBGT travellers are Sitges, a beach resort around twenty miles south of Barcelona (itself also very popular). Sitges is renowned internationally as one of the most gay-friendly places in the world, alongside cities like San Francisco, Berlin, and Toronto.
Of Europe’s ‘Big Four’ destinations for LGBT tourists, three of them – Gran Canaria, Ibiza, and Sitges – are in Spain with the fourth in Mykonos, Greece.


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HTC smartphone electronics company has unveiled “the 1st local blockchain cell smartphone”, HTC Exodus, which going to release by backing for multiple blockchains, involving Bitcoin (BTC) & Ethereum (ETH) networks, PCMag announced probably 15.
HTC Vive innovator Phil Chen declared the forthcoming project at the Consensus conference in NY town this day.
Chen highlighted which the upcoming cell smartphone going to backing “multiple blockchain protocols,” like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Lightning Network (LN), & Dfinity network.
then,HTC smartphone isn’t the 1st to develop a blockchain-based cell cell smartphone cell smartphone.
In April, the blockchain-oriented operating system developer & supplier Sirin Labs found a industrialist for its blockchain smartphone.
HTC smartphone formally declares Exodus, the World’s 1st Blockchain-Powered Smartphone
Smartphone industrialist HTC smartphone declared its plans to get in the cryptocurrency ecosystem & blockchain industry with emerging a fresh Droid smartphone which powered with blockchain tech.
The cell smartphone Information Systems named HTC Exodus & it Information Systems described with the Corporation as the “world’s 1st local blockchain cell smartphone”.
HTC smartphone Exodus going to too backing underlying protocols like Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, & other great networks.
As a result in,
however it isn’t the 1st attempt of smartphone makers to get in the crypto world.
As it formerly announced with CoinSpeaker, in December. Sirin Labs lifted further than $hundred in less than 24 hours for the development of their blockchain smartphone called Finney.
HTC smartphone to release Blockchain-Powered Smartphone
HTC Information Systems this day making preparations to release a fresh blockchain-powered smartphone.
According to The following Web, the cell smartphone. Which has been named Exodus, going to feature a global wallet & built-in safe hardware.
To backing cryptocurrencies & decentralized apps.
then,HTC announced recruited Phil Chen. The innovator of the smartphone brand’s virtual fact headset Vive, to head up the project.
in addition to,
When sharing some specifics about the smartphone, Chen stated:“out of Exodus, we are excited to be backing underlying protocols like Bitcoin, Lightning Networks, Ethereum, Dfinity, & further.
We would like to backing the entire blockchain ecosystem. And in the following few months we’ll be announcing many further exciting partnerships together.
”The break news about HTC ’s upcoming blockchain-powered smartphone. It comes only a tiny over a 30 days after smartphone industrialist Foxconn declared. Which 1 of its subsidiaries Information Systems this day determine to build what Information Systems believed to be the 1st blockchain smartphone for Sirin Labs.


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Record butter prices are putting increasing pressure on Ireland's restaurateurs.
The price has soared following a global increase in the demand for dairy fats.
Irish restaurants are aso feeling the pinch, according to the CEO of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, Adrian Cummins.
"Businesses have been complaining about the increase. Butter isn't going to break the bank but businesses have to be conscious of their overheads," he said.
"This is an additional cost and another obstacle to face. And an increase in the price of a product inevitably means an increase in price for consumers."


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Discover more from Sree's Sunday Note
Why You Should Care About the WGA Strike
The economics of entertainment have changed dramatically.
This illustration was generated using the Jasper.ai prompt, “Cartoon about Writers Guild strike.” Read Sree’s three essays on AI: 1, 2, 3. This newsletter is produced with Zach Peterson (@zachprague), with the Digimentors Tech Tip from Robert S. Anthony (@newyorkbob). Thanks to our sponsor, Armory Square Ventures.
🗞 @Sree’s Sunday #NYTReadalong: Our guest last week was my father, Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan! You’ll find three years’ worth of Readalong archives at this link (we’ve been reading print newspapers out loud on social for 7 years now!). The #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email firstname.lastname@example.org and email@example.com.
🎯 NEW BROCHURE! Our company, Digimentors, works to increase the digital footprint and impact of companies and nonprofits around the world. We do this via digital and social consulting, as well as virtual and hybrid events production. See our updated brochure (would love your feedback). Get in touch (no project too big or too small): firstname.lastname@example.org and email@example.com. If you’d rather just chat, here’s my Calendly.
YOUR FAVORITE AMERICAN TV SHOW just stopped production on its new season. The Writers Guild of America is on strike.
Michael Schur, creator of Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place (what a trio of shows!), was on The Distraction a few weeks ago to talk sports, but he ended up providing probably the best and most concise analysis of the situation that I’ve heard. He’s a member of the WGA negotiating committee, and it’s good to hear it from the source. Essentially, the Wall Street-ization of the entertainment industry has led to levels of profit-chasing that the industry has never really seen before.
Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie) has a great explainer at Vox that has a lot of the nuts and bolts, and the numbers are jarring.
Meanwhile, according to the WGA’s calculations, industry profits have ballooned from $5 billion in 2000 to $28-$30 billion from 2017-2021. Spending on original streaming content grew from $5 billion in 2019 to $19 billion in 2023 — the lion’s share of it by Netflix, which reported $6 billion in operating profits in 2021 and $5.6 billion in 2022.
This is a lot of money that is staying largely out of the hands of the talent creating it—and now it is getting harder for artists to get paid for previous successes. Residuals are a huge part of success in the arts, and streaming has obliterated that system almost entirely.
From Eric Thurm at GQ:
Residuals refer to money paid to people who worked on a piece of media when it gets repackaged, resold, or re-aired. That’s why syndication used to be such a big deal: getting to the point where your show was being aired on TBS or Comedy Central meant that you were sharing in the profits and success of the show, and getting guaranteed, repeated checks for years. The system set in place that ensured creatives this level of sharing in the profits from their work was decades in the making.
But that level of financial security has largely evaporated. Streaming services pay single, fixed residuals that aren’t tied to viewer numbers, and there’s no additional payment that comes when shows shuffle between different streaming services. (As an example, writer Valentina Garza recently shared residual checks for writing two episodes of Jane The Virgin… for literally one and two cents.)
It’s crazy to think that a show that has been out of production for 5 years could get sold from Netflix to Amazon Prime and it would have little-to-no effect on the creators of that show. Just 10 years ago, if TBS bought the syndication rights to a show from CBS, the people who worked on that show would be popping champagne bottles.
It’s easy to see the eye-popping numbers that are being invested in original content and see that as a genuinely good thing for people working in film and television. $19 billion dollars being poured into the industry offers an unprecedented opportunity for the arts, and, as consumers, we’ve been rewarded with far too many shows that are truly can’t-miss-level shows. It’s overwhelming for sure, but it’s also incredibly impressive.
For those doing the writing and production work, it’s a tenuous situation. Episode numbers are down from 20-26 to maybe 8, or 10 if we’re lucky. There’s little predictability that there will be another season, let alone five or six more. According to the WGA, the majority of its members are working for the minimum allowed under the previous deal. This report by Katie Kilkenny (@katiekilkenny7) at The Hollywood Reporter has a very detailed breakdown of the economics at play for the people working on even the most prestigious of prestige shows.
You should care about this strike, because it almost certainly affects you. Here are some numbers that show just how much we Americans love our streaming entertainment:
86% of Americans subscribe to more than one streaming service.
The average person subscribes to 2.8 streaming services.
We spend an average of 3.1 hours a day streaming media.
This affects you because good entertainment is in high demand, and the people capable of creating those occasionally masterful works of art deserve to be compensated for it. On the consumer side, we are doing our part, but the corporate-investment layer is blocking significant sums of money from ending up in the pockets of the very people responsible for the successes of the streaming era.
The other way this affects us is a bit more existential. As I wrote in The Liberal Arts have Never Been More Important, the human touch is becoming a very precious thing, and the creativity, intelligence, and raw work that goes into creating a smashingly successful piece of art is the perfect embodiment of that. Sure, ChatGPT can give you some great ideas for your next marketing presentation, but it still lacks true, human creativity.
The arts play a fundamental and important role in our shared humanity, and it’s time to embrace it. That starts with supporting the people putting their creativity and humanity on full display, for all of us to see.
I am prepping my first public workshop on generative AI (ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, etc). If you’d like to attend, please LMK! I’ve also been writing a lot about AI recently (1, 2, 3), and plan to continue to do so. Thank you so much for your thoughtful notes and comments on this crucially-important topic. If you have any stories to share about how AI is affecting your life, send me an email firstname.lastname@example.org.
DIGIMENTORS TECH TIP: HIFIMAN SVANAR Wireless Earbuds: Look Audiophiles! No Wires
By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Bob Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him @newyorkbob.
Sometimes the road to audio perfection requires some give and take. That seems to be the case at HIFIMAN, makers of high-end audio products, as it introduced new Bluetooth wireless earbuds it promised would satisfy even the most demanding audiophiles.
While wireless earbuds are nothing new, units that claim to match the audio clarity and purity of high-end “reference-class” wired headphones are rare, but that’s exactly what HIFIMAN promises with its $499 SVANAR Wireless earbuds.
Dr. Fang Bian, founder and CEO of HIFIMAN, met with the media in New York recently to show off new products and talk about the research that went into them. He noted that by eliminating one key component, the designers of the SVANAR Wireless gained the room and the extra power to improve on others.
He explained that conventional wireless earbuds use tiny, but power-hungry electronic switches between their controller circuitry and their simple, one-bit digital-to-analog converters (DAC) which create the actual sounds we hear.
“What we did is we got rid of the switches,” he said.
By building unique components that eliminated the need for switches and adding HIFIMAN’s sophisticated Hymalaya-brand, multi-bit “ladder DAC” and a matched amplifier, the designers were able to create earbuds that could generate audiophile-quality highs and lows while consuming little power, he said.
The result, he added, is a wireless product which performs almost as well as HIFIMAN’s $1,999 SVANAR in-ear monitor when connected to its $529 EF400 desktop amplifier/DAC, a much more expensive solution.
The SVANAR Wireless offers active noise cancellation (ANC) for incoming audio as well as artificial-intelligence-based voice-enhancement technology to clarify outgoing audio for those on the other end of a phone call.
The unit, which features 10mm dynamic drivers, can run for up to four hours per charge when ANC is on and seven hours when “transparency mode,” which allows sounds around the user to filter in, is enabled. The battery in the charging case provides up to three extra charges, according to the company.
No, $499 earbuds aren’t for everyone, but the innovative technologies that go into high-end audio products often offer hints as to what budget-conscious consumers might see in cheaper devices in a year or so. The HIFIMAN SVANAR Wireless earbuds will be available in June.


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Volkswagen’s popular ID.3 electric small hatch – which is not available in Australia, nor likely to be anytime soon – has been awarded the ‘Best Small Hatch’ award at the UK Car of the Year Awards 2021, the model’s tenth award in the UK in the last 30 months.
Two electric vehicles were awarded titles in the UK Car of the Year Awards, with the Honda E receiving the award for ‘Best City Car’ and Volkswagen’s ID.3 receiving the title for ‘Best Small Hatch’.
The judging panel for the UK Car of the Year Awards, which comprised 29 motoring journalists from across the UK, highlighted the ID.3’s design, space, and practicality, and praised how it makes electric vehicles more accessible to the public.
“A brilliant family hatch in its own right, with a smart interior and plenty of space for a family,” said Alex Robbins, a freelance car journalist and one of the Awards’ judging panel. “Yet it’s also an accessible, easy to use electric car that will surely bring electric motoring to the masses.”
Fellow motoring journalist and panellist Guy Bird, said, “It’s always nice – but all too rare – when a concept car makes production with original design intent intact. The ID.3 is such a vehicle, with high-roofed hatchback silhouette present and correct – proportionally offset by large wheels – and with product design-influences galore.”
This is the tenth award the ID.3 has won in the UK since it first won the ‘Most Wanted’ award in the Octobet 2019 carwow awards. Since then, it has gone on to win awards from Top Gear, What Car?, GQ Car Awards, and more.
Volkswagen’s ID.3 has also won numerous other international Car of the Year awards, including the German Car of the Year Awards title for Best Car in the ‘Premium’ category for cars below €50,000, which was awarded in October 2020.
The ID.3’s win in the UK is not surprising, given not only it’s past award successes but also news in October which dropped pricing for the car to just under £30,000 ($AU55,000).
The timing of the new pricing came only four weeks after the first British customers began driving away their limited-production ID.3 1st Editions. At the same time, orders for the seven new pre-configured series ID.3 models and their new pricing opened in the UK, with deliveries expected by month’s end.
According to numbers published in early November, the ID.3 was five times more popular in Norway than the next best-selling EV, MG’s ZS EV, with 2,475 ID.3 hatches in Norway in October, compared to the MG ZS EV’s 586 units.
A month later, the ID.3 again topped Norway’s sales list – the world’s most advanced EV market – with just under a thousand models sold.
Volkswagen are also continuing to look at evolutions of the EV.3, as just this week it was reported that the company was exploring the possibility of releasing a convert


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From his seat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is pushing the reauthorization of a trade law between the U.S. and more than 20 Caribbean nations.
Last week, Rubio, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Mary., and U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., brought out the “Extension of the Caribbean Economic Recovery Act.” The proposal would extend the current agreement–which has been in place for almost two decades until 2030. According to Rubio’s office, the agreement concerns “duty-free access for certain textile goods from 23 Caribbean countries that are made with U.S. yarns, fabrics and threads” and has “stimulated the region’s developing economy while promoting exports of U.S. cotton and input materials abroad.”
“Extending these targeted trade preferences through 2030 will help to boost key American exports in a crucial region for U.S. national security interests and hemispheric stability,” Rubio said. “I’m proud to cosponsor this bill, which will reaffirm our nation’s commitment to developing deeper commercial and economic ties with Haiti and our other allies in the Caribbean.”
“For nearly 20 years, the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act has stimulated jobs and investment,” Isakson said. “Not only does this program aid Georgia and American cotton growers, textile producers and U.S. trade in general, it is beneficial to our regional allies. It is a win-win-win prospect, and I hope we can quickly pass this reauthorization to maintain this alliance and encourage future investment.”
“The countries in the Caribbean Basin are increasingly vital trade partners for American companies—stimulating economic growth here at home and in the region,” Cardin said. “I am proud to introduce this bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act so we can continue to create jobs while we strengthen the relationship between the United States and countries in the Caribbean Basin.”
“The Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act has been crucial to lifting people out of poverty and providing markets for our farmers and textile industry,” Jones said. “Reauthorizing this agreement is critical to our economy and our partnerships with our neighbors and allies in the Caribbean and now more than ever, it’s vital that we work across the aisle to strategically grow new markets for US exports.”
The agreement is set to expire in 2020 unless renewed.
“Since its inception, yarn and fabric exports made from U.S.-grown cotton have doubled. In 2018, these exports accounted for 430,000 bales of U.S. cotton,” Rubio’s office noted.
U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, have introduced companion legislation in the House. U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is a House cosponsor.
Reach Kevin Derby at email@example.com.
- Gus Bilirakis, Rodney Davis Talk Up Election Integrity Bill - August 7, 2022, 9:00 pm
- Natalie Kelly and Stephen Shelley: Florida’s Managing Entities and Farm Share Team Up on Health Issues of Food Insecurity, Mental Health - August 7, 2022, 3:00 pm
- Casey DeSantis Launches New Website to Help Spread Information on Cancer Treatment - August 5, 2022, 10:00 pm


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An Austrian supermarket reopened following a three-day closure to clear the store due to an alleged sighting of a spider with a deadly bite that could also cause an hourslong erection.
The Penny Markt in Krems an der Donau closed Tuesday after the store manager spotted the spider in a banana box and immediately called the fire brigade to investigate.
The manager described the spider as about 4 inches long and colored black and red. The authorities initially suspected it was a banana spider, but previous cases of spiders in bananas from South America have identified the spider specifically as the Brazilian Wandering Spider.
The Brazilian Wandering Spider has one of the deadliest bites in the world that can also cause hypothermia, blurred vision and convulsions.
Most famously, the bite also causes, in some cases, hourslong erections. Researchers have used the venom in studies to treat erectile dysfunction, NY Breaking reported.
The Rewe retail group, which owns the supermarket chain, said that the store carried out "comprehensive cleaning and disinfection" following the incident, which forced it to remain closed for two days, according to Austrian outlet NÖN.
"The branch is safe and clean," Rewe spokesperson Claudia Riebler announced. "It can be ruled out that the animal seen is still in the store."
However, Rewe banned reporters from taking photos inside the store and said any questions for the employees at the supermarket are off-limits.
All fresh food was removed and replaced, and the group noted that during the extensive search "no spiders have been found to date."
"All measures are for safety and are carried out meticulously so that the branch can be reopened," the company said in a statement translated by Google.
Despite these reassurances, some shoppers did not want to return to the store, with one telling a local reporter they assumed the spider was still in the store, saying, "Where would it have gone?" and suggesting she would avoid buying any fruit in the meantime.
Another argued that if the store wasn’t safe, it would not have reopened after a lengthy closure and employees would not go to work there.
"The Penny store here in Krems is very well established," she told NÖN. "People know that the colleagues act very responsibly."


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This text was initially revealed by 8btc and written by Vincent He.
A devoted workforce from the Individuals’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) Digital Currency Analysis Lab is now creating the system in a closed-door surroundings, away from the PBoC’s downtown Beijing headquarters, in response to a report from September 5, 2019.
China’s central financial institution digital forex (CBDC) has begun a “restricted entry check” to simulate fee eventualities involving “some business and non-governmental organizations.” The check often is the integration of every module developed for the CBDC during which the outflow and influx of digital cash will kind a whole, closed loop.
On September four, 2019, Changchun Mu, deputy director of the Fee and Settlement Division of China’s central financial institution, opened a public course known as “Fi-tech Frontier: Libra and Digital forex Prospect,” which was the primary public lecture given by central financial institution officers.
In the meantime, an academy of China’s central financial institution situated in Shenzhen has begun to recruit a considerable amount of technical expertise within the blockchain space, together with a director of commerce and monetary merchandise, senior economist and enterprise innovation researcher.
By August four, 2019, the Digital Currency Institute of the central financial institution had utilized for 74 patents for digital forex. Based on its patent utility, the upcoming CBDC could perform like a cryptocurrency on a point-to-point buying and selling system, however it’s going to strip away the anonymity and decentralization of most cryptocurrencies.
The work was expedited when Fb unveiled its imaginative and prescient for Libra in June 2019, a worldwide digital forex to facilitate funds. The Libra announcement rattled governments world wide, spurring congressional hearings in america and daring new considering by central bankers equivalent to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
The current public course from Mu revealed extra particulars in regards to the CBDC. The course was divided into eight lectures, specializing in Libra’s traits and impression, the exploration of China’s Central Bank, the rules and traits of blockchain expertise and the angle of economic authorities. Mu identified that Libra doesn’t undertake pure blockchain expertise however makes use of a hybrid structure so it can’t be thought to be a cryptocurrency primarily based on blockchain expertise.
Every time the CBDC launches, the central financial institution could not roll it out nationwide on day one.
The put up China’s Central Bank Digital Currency Undergoes “Restricted Access Take a look at” appeared first on Bitcoin Journal.


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Listen To The Article
There is a lot of anti-government rhetoric pouring forth from a variety of sources these days. But the truth is that people are literally beating a dead horse here. For those who study the question closely, it has become more and more apparent that what passes for “government” in today’s world is really just a front for a command-and-control system that runs things from a much deeper level. Peel back the layers of the onion, and what you discover is that money and power are the exclusive forces that rule this country, with government acting as their willing servants.
It is this model that best explains the Food and Drug Administration’s endless long war against nutritional and dietary supplements – and now this war is about to be taken to a whole new level. The legal drug industry, otherwise known as the pharmaceutical companies, have apparently decided the time is right to eliminate the one threat to their obscene profit margins that still remains. With the hands and strings of their puppet masters clearly in sight, the FDA has issued new regulations that will give it god-like powers to regulate the supplement industry all but out of existence.
The FDA’s Long Gambit
Back in 1994, when the FDA’s war on the nutritional supplement industry was going full force, Congress responded to public pressure by passing the Dietary Supplemental Health and Education Act. This law was designed to get the FDA off of the backs of the nutritional supplement industry, but it did contain a provision that required supplement manufacturers to notify the FDA whenever they added a new ingredient to an existing supplement or created a whole new product out of these new ingredients.
Probably because this provision seemed toothless from the perspective of the FDA, they basically ignored it for 17 years. When Congress passed the Food Safety Bill in 2010, however, this new law mandated the FDA to finally set written standards for NDI (New Dietary Ingredient) notifications. Given its apparent indifference up to this point, one might have expected the FDA to do little. But now, it appears that FDA bureaucrats and their pharmaceutical controllers had actually been playing possum for all of these years. On July 1st, just before the government recessed for the holiday, the FDA issued its new standards for NDI notification – and in doing so, it revealed its true agenda for all to see.
Actually eschewing the concept of simple notification, this front organization for the drug companies is now going to require the sellers and manufacturers of supplements to submit NDI detailed reports on every single ingredient they have added to any of their products since 1994. These reports are supposed to include “proof” of the effectiveness of these ingredients in the form of peer-reviewed articles published in scientific journals and results from clinical test trials. After reviewing this evidence, the FDA will decide whether or not to approve these ingredients for sale to the public. Until that approval comes through, sellers and manufacturers of nutritional and dietary supplements will be required to cease and desist from offering their products for sale to the public.
One of the basic standards of our legal system is that laws cannot be applied retroactively. If a law were suddenly passed making burping in public illegal, for example, the police could not come to your house and arrest you because you were overheard burping after lunch in a local restaurant last month. But these standards obviously do not apply to the FDA. But this is the equivalent of what is going to happen here – supplement makers who have been selling their products to satisfied customers in an entirely legal way are now suddenly going to be prevented from doing so even though there is not the slightest evidence that those products are causing harm to the public. Clearly, this is going to cause immediate hardship to those companies who rely on the sales of nutritional products to survive. Most are not going to be able to afford to wait around for months to see if the FDA will approve their ingredients for sale. And most are not going to be able to provide articles and clinical studies to support their applications for approval, as previous studies of this nature have not been performed because they were not required.
But in reality, none of this is going to matter anyway; the goal of the FDA and the legal drug makers is to put the supplement industry out of business, and you can be sure they have no intention of approving anything that was put into supplements after 1994. This organization operates completely independently of Congress when it comes to its powers to approve or disapprove anything, and they can refuse to approve every single NDI application they receive if they choose to do so.
And they will choose to do so – that is the whole point of these new regulations. The FDA’s 17 years of inaction now appear to have been nothing but a set-up – allow the nutritional supplement industry to develop a certain way of doing business, and then pull the rug out from under them by changing things instantly through a dictatorial edict that will have the force of law behind it, despite the fact that it violates the spirit of our entire legal tradition right down to the core.
What is Really Going On?
Nutritional supplements represent a safe and inexpensive method of preventing, curing, and reversing all kinds of debilitating health conditions. The problem here is that there are two troublesome words present in this description – ‘inexpensive’ and ‘preventing’. Both of these concepts are anathema to the pharmaceutical industry, for whom chronic illness and debilitating disease provide tremendous opportunities to make obscene profits. Pharmaceuticals attack illness by attacking the entire body, while supplements help to stave off illness by helping people improve their health and boost their own immunity. The latter is clearly superior to the former, and any sane health care system would emphasize prevention and cost containment above all else. But that would not be good for the pharmaceutical companies, whose source of money and power would dry up if people got healthy without their “help”. Of course their products kill more than 100,000 Americans every year, but we are not supposed to mention that inconvenient fact.
For those who would argue that the FDA is taking this action simply because it wants to protect the public from unscrupulous operators who want to exploit people’s interest in natural remedies, there are two aspects of this new policy that prove conclusively what the FDA’s agenda really is. First, the requirement that nutritional manufacturers prove the safety of the ingredients they sell actually applies to companies, not ingredients. What does this mean? Simply this – if Company A and Company B both use the same new ingredient in their products, it will not be enough for Company A to submit evidence proving conclusively that this ingredient is safe and effective. Even if Company A gains approval for one of their supplement (fat chance, but for the moment let’s pretend), Company B will still have to apply for an NDI permit for the same ingredient – and they will have to present separate evidence to prove its safety and efficacy! This shows clearly that the point of these regulations is to cause hardship for nutritional companies, not to protect the safety of the public.
For those who need even more decisive evidence, however, here it is – synthetic versions of natural ingredients, produced in the laboratories of pharmaceutical companies who want to steal supplement business by turning natural ingredients into drugs, will be completely exempt from these new testing and reporting regulations. So there it is – if the pharmaceutical companies want to sell fake, drug-like versions of the real thing to get in on a profitable game, they will not be required to prove that their synthetic creations are safe. If there were any doubts left about who is really pulling the strings in this latest FDA power play, this should erase them.


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Happy New Year to you all. The Auto News column will resume on Jan. 4. However, do join me on Saturday the second for my Car of the Year and SUV of the Year announcements! Do have a safe and fun filled holiday
Gas prices remain low and are likely to stay there according to Triple A. Today’s national average has ever so slightly edged up to $2.002 a gallon from $1.999 a few days ago. But a year ago, the auto club said the average was $2.273 a gallon. Today, California drivers are shelling out $2.846 a gallon much higher than the $1.929 I have seen here in Maryland.
In a short press release Bridgestone announced it will not present a counter offer to acquire Pep Boys and this morning, Carl Icahn’s company said it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire the auto parts firm. Icahn recently increased his offer to $18.50 a share in cash or $1.50 a share more than Bridgestone’s last offer. That puts the Icahn offer at just over $1 billion for Manny, Moe, and Jack’s 800 outlets around the country. The agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of each company, Icahn Enterprises said.
A total of 48 vehicles have met tougher criteria for 2016 to take home a TOP SAFETY PICK+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. An additional 13 vehicles qualified for the second highest rating. “For the first time, a good rating in the challenging small overlap front crash test is a requirement to win, in addition to an available front crash prevention system,” said Adrian Lund, IIHS president. The insurance industry group cited improvements made to the Nissan Maxima, Volkswagen Passat, and Toyota’s Avalon and RAV4.
Scheduled to be unveiled at the Geneva show next year is a new Audi, the Q2, a compact crossover that will do sales battle in the hottest segment of the U.S. market. Previously, Audi had announced it would build the Q1, so there is some confusion over whether the Q2 might replace it. Audi also announced it will “present the successor” of the Q5 next year and that it plans major investments in alternative drive systems with the “first large-series battery-electric vehicle” to be launched in 2018.
And here comes a special one-off X-Men-inspired Kia Sportage that will debut at the 2016 Australian Open tennis championship. It is part of the brand’s collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox and the X-Men movie franchise. You can see more from January 4, 2016 on when Kia releases an online video of the vehicle with Rafael Nadal at:
You might remember that Hyundai announced it will enter the luxury car market with an expanded Genesis brand. Now it’s really getting serious with the hiring of former Lamborghini executive Manfred Fitzgerald who will be in charge of “brand strategy, marketing, and other business operations” for the Genesis lineup. He was formerly director of brand and design at Lambo.
There is quite a battle going on for control of Manny, Moe & Jack, the Pep Boys, and it involves names you know – Carl Icahn and Bridgestone Tires. Icahn is now offering to take control of the firm for $18.50 a share topping the Bridgestone offer of $17 a share. Pep Boys board has declared Icahn’s offer is the best one on the table, and is moving to end an earlier takeover agreement with Bridgestone.
BMW will show off “AirTouch” at the Consumer Electronics show to “demonstrate what the interior and the user interface of the future might look like.” It is an upgrade of a system now in the 7-series. Entertainment, navigation and communication functions will be controlled by simple gestures made with a flat hand by either the driver or passenger. So it would be like a touchscreen that you don’t have to touch. Basically, sensors would record the hand movements in the area between the central console and the interior mirror and would also allow 3D control. One would assume the occupants would have to learn a series of hand movements to make the whole thing work, and this could get interesting. J
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and now it’s on to 2016! Of course the automakers are already there, in fact, it is time to gear up for the 2017’s, some of which will be on display at the Detroit show early next month and the other big exhibits to follow.
Tradition holds that on New Year’s weekend I reveal my choice for Car of the Year based on vehicles tested in the past calendar year. While I had the chance to drive various makes such as the Hellcat and Corvette for short periods, a full week behind the wheel on all types of roads and in all kinds of traffic conditions gives a more accurate picture of what a car is like to live with. So the COY category will be limited to those cars that spent more time in the road test driveway.
Also this year, I will add a Sport Utility of the Year to the list for no other reason than this is the hottest segment in the industry right now.
In alphabetical order, here are the finalists for Car of the Year:
Audi S3 2.0T Quattro S tronic
The car with the never ending name checked all the boxes: Acceleration, handling, ride, interior luxury touches and a 14-speaker audio system that will convince you that Adele is sharing the seat next to you. Of course, Quattro all-wheel-drive is at your beck and call in time for winter. With all its performance virtues, the Audi was also an excellent commuter vehicle. It was a no brainer when it came to the finalist list even at the $41K asking price.
Hyundai Elantra GT
THE WHAT you may ask? OK, granted this is not a car that made many COY lists but it was a sad moment when they picked up the sleek silver hatchback at the end of its test week. Long term readers will know that I favor cars that offer a nice balance of power, handling and style, matched to a classy interior and value for the money. The little hatchback was all that and more thanks to a responsive 2.0 liter, 173 horsepower four and some suspension tweaks that made rural Maryland roads a lot of fun. Even with two high priced option packages the bottom line came to a reasonable $26,675 for an entertaining, well made, stylish car that will not raise any eyebrows at your insurance company!
Hot on the heels of the Elantra is the Mazda 3. Stirring the pot was a wonderful six speed manual in the test car, that was as delightful as any shift-it-yourself I have driven. It felt light, nimble, balanced and ready to take on any sort of back road. Yet the ride was not sports car stiff. In hatchback form it can carry stuff, produce excellent gas mileage and still champion rural roads and off ramps – All at the reasonable MSRP of the test car, $28,385 for a top-of-the-line Grand Touring model.
Mazda MX-5 Miata
It is a lone wolf. The Triumph TR-4 is long gone. MG is still alive but producing mediocre sedans. Sunbeam (remember the Tiger), is something that now comes down from the skies on a warm day. But to take one of these Mazda two-seaters out for an afternoon drive on a top down kind of day is to rediscover the joy for driving. Therefore, everyone who enjoys that experience should lift a cold frosty one to Mazda for updating its sports car while retaining everything that endears it to the faithful. It might be the North American Car of the Year! We will find out in early January. But will it be mine? Check back Saturday when, as Agatha Christie’s favorite detective might say, “All will become clear.”
Mark Phelan has an interesting story on the Detroit Free Press website on the cars and trucks that will go out of production in the New Year. The Nissan Xterra is one that I will miss having seriously considered one for purchase a few years ago. But when I checked, the off roader was too tall to fit in the parking garage I used at the National Press Club building in downtown D.C. The backup garage was even shorter. The paper’s web site also has a photo feature of the new vehicles that will debut next year, many at the Detroit show in roughly two weeks.
Honda has begun deliveries of its new business jet after receiving certification of the aircraft from the FAA. The factory is located in Greensboro N.C. Honda said the “Over-The-Wing” engine design allows for a quieter and more spacious cabin. It will seat up to five passengers.
As you may have guessed auto news will be on the light side with the holiday weekend just ahead of us. The news column will resume on Monday, Dec. 28. I wish all of you a very happy holiday and may one of your very special dreams come true in 2016!
The Saturday Road Test column will resume on Jan. 2 with my selection for Car of the Year. Don’t miss it!
“Das Auto” is out as an advertising slogan at Volkswagen as the automaker tries to change its image in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal. The new image will be just the familiar VW logo and the Volkswagen name under it, according to Reuters, the news service that broke the story.
Nissan’s Titan XD pickup will carrying a starting price of $40,290 for the S model 4×2 with the top-of-the-line Reserve 4×4 starting at $60,520. The XD is the more heavy duty version of the Titan and is just now hitting showrooms. It will be offered in three cab configurations, two frame sizes, and five trim levels. All models will be equipped with a Cummins 5.0-liter Turbo diesel offering a robust 555 lb-ft of torque, matched with a 6-speed automatic.
Ford is recalling a total of 313,000 Crown Vics and Grand Marquis models because solder joints on a module could crack and cause the headlights to fail. Ford said it was aware of 11 accidents and one minor injury. Involved are 2003-05 models.
TRUCK TREND, an offshoot of Motor Trend, has named the GMC Sierra 1500 Denali has its Pickup Truck of the Year. Editors said they were impressed with the truck’s focus on comfort, safety, and innovation.
BMW has been fined $40 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to issue a timely recall of vehicles that “did not comply with minimum crash protection standards.” This involves 2014 and 2015 Mini Cooper models that NHTSA said failed to meet regulatory minimums for side-impact crash protection. Administrator Mark Rosekind said this is the second time in three years that BMW has been penalized for failing to launch recalls and inform consumers in a timely fashion when a safety defect or noncompliance is discovered. The $40 million penalty includes $10 million in cash, a requirement that the company spend at least $10 million meeting the order’s obligations, and $20 million in deferred penalties that will come due if BMW fails to comply with NHTAS orders or commits other safety violations. The automaker said it is “committed to further improving its recall processes to better serve its customers.”
The morning rumor mill has it that Google and Ford will announce at the Consumer Electronics show an agreement to work together on the development of a self-driving car. Yahoo Autos was first with the report. Elon Musk predicts fully autonomous vehicles could be a reality in two years. But one wonders about the legal issues surrounding them.
Over the river and through the woods has seldom been this inexpensive. AAA reported Monday that U.S. average gas prices dropped below $2 a gallon for the first time since March 25, 2009. The national average price was $1.998 per gallon and the motor club said cheaper gas has saved consumers more than $115 billion so far this year. That works out to more than $550 per licensed driver. As AAA put it, “We’re going to party like its $1.99”
The market share of leased new vehicles could hit a record this year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. The record was set in 1997 when 27.4 percent of new vehicles were leased. The new record could be as high at 27.8 percent.
Mercedes has named Dietmar Exler as president and CEO of its operations here in the states. Steve Cannon is leaving MB but will remain as a consultant through January. And Mazda has announced that the president of its North American Operations, Jim O’Sullivan, will retire after 13 years in his post. He will be succeeded on New Year’s Day by Masahiro Moto who has been serving as a Managing Executive Officer at Mazda. O’Sullivan will be the longest serving senior executive of any car company in the U.S. at the time of his retirement. O’Sullivan is pictured.


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The automobile’s front grill was modified to replicate the larger SLS AMG models, based on the photo, the car appears to have a much better aesthetic in contrast to previous spy photos released. Additionally, the latest SLK is now equipped with the latest LED running lights.
According to some sources, the reason for the much larger grill is not about its effort to resemble the gullwing, but to feed the latest 476 horsepower, twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6. Also, if the SLK would be equipped with that mill, it would be much likely installed by AMG. Critics are very optimistic about this vehicle’s amazing design as it is said to be presented to the public at the upcoming Paris Motor Show.


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While the Godfather game looking interesting to me I had no idea how much EA was depending on it for the holiday season. When news hit the nets that the game was going to be delayed until March of 2006 EA's stock took a nice little 5.5% drop almost immediately. What does that mean for EA? Now that one of their bigger games is going to miss the holiday season they'll see lost sales, and the Xbox 360 is going to lose one of its weapons this Christmas. The 360 needs a killer launch library, and this could potential sting Microsoft pretty badly.
The New York Times is reporting that this may cost EA as much as a hundred million dollars, noting that lost holiday sales are rarely recouped. While EA has been getting a lot of bad press for the pressure it puts on its employees to meet launch dates, with this much money at stake on a game per game basis it's not hard to understand where that pressure comes from.


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The insanely popular battle royale game has seen it’s success cross to yet another platform, as it has been revealed that Fortnite is already one of the most downloaded games on Nintendo Switch ever.
With Fortnite already a massive worldwide success on PC, consoles and mobile, some people thought that the introduction of the game to Switch would be too late, as players would have already found their preferred device to play on.
However, according to data from Nintendo themselves, Fortnite Battle Royale has been downloaded to “nearly half” of all Switch consoles in just four months.
- Read More: 4 ways to improve the Fortnite Shopping Cart
Considering that the battle royale was only released on the Switch during E3 in June, it’s incredible to see the massive growth of the title on the new platform, and the fact that it is available for free means it’s unlikely to see a decline in downloads any time soon.
The popularity of the console isn’t slowing down either, as Nintendo continue to see steady growth thanks to sales of the Switch, which they describe as the perfect balance of “gaming at home and on-the-go”.
Fortnite has already generated over $300 million from in-app purchases on iOS in just 200 days, and the game is now available on Android phones too, after Epic Games chose to bypass the Google Play Store and release it themselves.
With continued success like this, it’s easy to see why companies and investors are eager to throw money at Epic Games and Fortnite.


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Long partnership ends for Pobjoy Mint
- Published: Jul 22, 2016, 8 AM
The Pobjoy Mint’s longest partnership is ending.
Company officials announced July 19 that the private mint’s relationship with the Isle of Man would be ending in 2017.
The Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland, was one of the first coin-issuing entities to expand the production and sale of noncirculating legal tender coinage minted in its name. It is also the Pobjoy Mint’s first and longest-lasting nation partner.
Connect with Coin World:
“Pobjoy Mint has had a long and fruitful relationship with the Isle of Man that has lasted for over 40 years and we wish them well for the future,” according to a statement released by the Pobjoy Mint.
The most well-known coins resulting from the collaboration between the Pobjoy Mint and the Isle of Man are the annual cat coins in a series that began in 1988, and Angel gold bullion coins, issued since 1985. Additionally, the annual Christmas coin program has become an iconic expected issue.
The relationship will end March 24, 2017, the Pobjoy Mint announced, at which time it “will no longer represent the Isle of Man as the official minter of Isle of Man legal tender products.”
That includes the island’s circulating coins, which the Pobjoy Mint also strikes.
According to the IOM Treasury Department website, “The issue of its own currency is a positive statement of independence and the power of self determination. It is also an important source of investment income which would otherwise accrue to the United Kingdom if that country’s currency was allowed to displace it.”
Officials with the Isle of Man Treasury had not responded to Coin World’s inquiries by press time July 21.
According to the Pobjoy Mint, recently, the Isle of Man has announced a reduction in the number of themes that can be produced in any year.
Ron Currie, director of International Sales and Marketing of Bullion and Numismatic Coins at Pobjoy Mint, told Coin World that he doesn’t know why the Isle of Man is reducing its collectible coins footprint.
“We don’t know why actually, but we do know they are cutting it back,” he said. “They haven’t given us a reason.”
The statement from Pobjoy Mint indicated that this change will mean that many Isle of Man coins will no longer be made, and so some of the coins remaining in the inventory of distributors might be sold as “last of” coins.
The Pobjoy Mint is a private mint. What does that mean?
The Pobjoy Mint is an independent coin-striking business that has as its clients a number of small territories, such as the Isle of Man, that do not have their own government mint like the U.S. Mint or Royal Mint.
The Isle of Man — a dependency of the British Crown since 1765 that is located on the Irish Sea, midway between England, Scotland and Ireland — is the Pobjoy Mint's oldest client, but not its only.
The mint will continue to produce coins for six other issuing authorities: Ascension Island, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.
Here's an explanatory video about the Pobjoy Mint:
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(WWTI) — As the observers across the country are preparing to celebrate a second “COVID-19 Easter,” a recent study determined that the number of celebrations impacted by the ongoing pandemic has dropped compared to 2020.
According to the personal finance website WalletHub’s Coronavirus Easter Survey, 91 million Americans who observe Easter, said coronavirus will affect their Easter spending this year. This is a 47% drop compared to the spending habits last year.
Also, less Americans are planning to stay home to celebrate Easter this year, with 55% in 2021 compared to 68% in 2020.
Specifically, Americans are projected to spend $21.1 Billion in Easter-related spending; equivalent to $180 per persons celebrating. $3 million of this is the projected Easter spending on candy.
WalletHub also asked what Easter-celebrating Americans are skipping out on in 2021. According to the survey 46% are skipping out on a new outfit, 32% are skipping out on candy and 30% on Easter foods.
Additionally findings from the survey are listed below:
- 18% said they will go to church on Easter
- Americans are 23% more likely to donate more than usual to their church this Easter
- 23% more likely to celebrate Easter with friends and family compared to 2020
- 76 million Americans said they would donate part of the upcoming stimulus check to a religious organization
WalletHub also listed the best cities for Easter. Buffalo, New York was listed as the 33rd best city nationwide. The top ten include:
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Omaha, Nebraska
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Kansas City, Missouri
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Lubbock, Texas
- Laredo, Texas
- Portland, Oregon
For full results from the Coronavirus Easter Survey, visit the WalletHub website.


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One of the popular OTT digital platforms Ullu comes back with yet another web show. After released several superhit web series such as Charamsukh, Meri Padosan, Palang Tod, and others. Ullu has released the trailer of the Lovely Massage Parlor web series on their social handle. Viewers are very excited to watch the web show. Lovely Massage Parlour Ullu web series is an Indian language show releasing on 27th April 2021 on the official Ullu app. Here are the full details about the Ullu upcoming web show.
Lovely Massage Parlour Ullu Web Series
Title: Lovely Massage Parlour
Release Date: 27th April 2021
Digital Platform: Ullu
Cast: Yet to be updated
The story of the show revolves around a poor family, consisting of two people, including a mother and a girl. Where a mother’s health is not good and she has to take expensive medicines to recover from the disease. To solve this money problem, the girl joins a massage job were she not able to earn enough money for her mother. Things change when he massages at night for a few extra bucks.
Lovely Massage Parlour Web Series Cast
The star cast name is not revealed yet. But we will soon update it here. Makers have released the trailer with the caption, “Apno ki khushi ke liye karna hoga aisa kaam, Jaha raat din hogi khushiya nilaam. “Lovely Massage Parlour”. You can watch the web show from 27th April 2021 on the official Ullu app. You can watch out for the trailer to get a glimpse of the show.
Download the Ullu app from Google Play Store or Apple Store. Till then keep updated with us for more latest updates and news. Also, do not forget to watch the Ullu app’s new web series.


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Cellese Promotes AnteAge with Well Known Esthetician Melissa Travis Aardema
Cellese Corporation announced "esthetician to the stars" Melissa Travis Aardema of Calabasas, California will immediately begin collaboration in marketing and educating the public about AnteAGE ® , Cellese's newly launched adult human stem cell based anti-aging cosmeceutical. Ms. Aardema will be demonstrating the product in the Cellese booth at the BeWell Expo being held September 29 and 30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
"Ms. Aardema is a highly respected and knowledgeable professional who evaluated our product for over two months before agreeing to join our team", said Dr. John Sanderson, the founder and CEO of Cellese. "She used it herself and on several clients before contacting us to tell us she was extremely impressed and wanted to help educate the public about it."
With her biology training at Cal State Northridge and a love of all things beautiful, Melissa made a decision in 1984 that has taken her to some pretty amazing places, including up close and personal as esthetician to some of the biggest names in movies, television, music, and politics. The Calabasas, California resident respects the privacy of her clients too much to drop names but is quick to point out the list is pretty impressive.
"Academy award winners, action movie heroes, daytime soap and talk show stars, pop divas, rap moguls, directors, producers, even high elected officials - I've introduced dozens to the latest in skin care and esthetic medical procedures."
Ms. Aardema has striven throughout her career to be on the cutting edge of her profession. "Just as facials were beginning to be appreciated by the medical community as beneficial for many types of skin disorders, I was beginning my practice" Aardema says. Because she emphasized "medical facials", she was fortunate to work with some of the top dermatologists and plastic surgeons in Los Angeles, who soon began to refer their celebrity clients to her. Many remain her clients today.


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Ubisoft have announced that they have struck a deal that will see Nintendo publish Wii U exclusive Rayman Legends across Japan in spring 2013.
“We are delighted to have our promising Rayman Legends published by Nintendo in Japan,” commented Geoffroy Sardin, EMEA vice-president sales and marketing at Ubisoft.
“Rayman’s innovative take on the platforming genre has already seduced millions of gamers across the globe with last year’s Rayman Origins. We are very glad that its successor will benefit from Nintendo’s unrivaled experience of the Japanese market.”
It was recently confirmed that Rayman Legends will release across Europe on March 1st, with a demo now available through the Nintendo eShop.
Top 15 Nintendo Switch Games Downloaded In September 2020 (Europe)
Nintendo of Europe has shared the top 15 games that were downloaded on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo…


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New Delhi: As India doubles down on native manufacturing of know-how merchandise, Apple is more likely to transfer 5 per cent of its new iPhone 14 manufacturing to India by finish of this 12 months, and 25 per cent by 2025, in line with a JP Morgan evaluation.
Analysts have earlier predicted that Apple has shortened the manufacturing interval of its new iPhones in India this 12 months, barely six weeks or so from the manufacturing cycle in China.
Subsequent 12 months, Apple iPhone 15 may even see its manufacturing on the Foxconn and Wistron manufacturing amenities in India on the similar time with China.
“India’s iPhone provide chain has traditionally provided solely legacy fashions. Apparently, Apple has requested that EMS distributors manufacture iPhone 14/14 Plus fashions in India in 4Q22, inside two to 3 months of the beginning of manufacturing in Mainland China,” in line with the JP Morgan report.
“The a lot shorter interval implies the rising significance of India manufacturing and sure greater iPhone allocations to India manufacturing sooner or later,” the report famous.
“We imagine Apple solely produces iPhone 14/14 Plus fashions in India now because of the extra advanced digital camera module alignment of the iPhone Professional collection (carried out by EMS distributors) and better native market demand for the iPhone 14 collection (tax financial savings),” it added.
In accordance with the report, Vietnam will contribute 20 per cent of all iPad and Apple Watch productions, 5 per cent of MacBook and 65 per cent of AirPods by 2025.
Buoyed by the ease-of-doing enterprise and pleasant native manufacturing insurance policies, Apple’s ‘Make in India’ iPhones will probably account for near 85 per cent of its complete iPhone manufacturing for the nation this 12 months.
The import of iPhones to India is more likely to come down to fifteen per cent this 12 months (from 50 per cent in 2019), whereas home manufacturing by the Cupertino-based tech big is ready to go up considerably to 85 per cent, in line with market intelligence agency CyberMedia Analysis (CMR).
With the iPhone 14 collection, Apple’s iPhone manufacturing in India is slated to leap from 7 million iPhones in 2021 to the touch a brand new milestone of round 12 million iPhones in 2022, marking a big progress of greater than 71 per cent (year-on-year), mentioned CMR.


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just search: and you’ll find wooshii
Two UK boutique Internet marketing companies have announced they’re hooking up. GetUpdated, parent of Just Search, has just signed a letter of intent to acquire video content company Wooshii.
Wooshii acts as an on-line go-between for video makers to reach their target customers. Just Search provides Search Engine Optimisation services.
Internet Video is big business with Smartphones gaining better browsers, tablet devices appearing and TV companies looking to on-line to push their content. By grabbing the up and coming Wooshii and linking it up with Just Search, Getupdated have positioned themselves well to catch this expanding market.
Wooshii’s Fergus Dyer-Smith sees the move providing
…the marketing leverage needed for a broad commercialization of our unique video expertise and services.
Just looking around
Video search is a new market with not too many players as yet. The established search giants Google and Yahoo have been concentrating on on taking traditional market share from each other rather than moving into this market.
Paul Yates, the CEO of both Getupdated and Just Search seems happy.
Online video content’s still in its infancy, but is becoming paramount within the future of the industry. This product’s a perfect accompaniment to our existing range of products. It’s an exciting step which highlights that where we find an opportunity for acquisitions, where there’s a correct fit for the existing group, we’re in a position to act swiftly.
Getupdated’s initial equity state of 25%, along with the option to buy up to 51% means that the takeover is a done deal, provided Wooshii meets expected financial targets.
To reach critical mass on the Internet, companies need good investment, so let’s hope that Wooshii is positioned well to capitalise on this. Just Search could be just the company to help them do that. But if not they could always get into exotic fast food.
Just Soochii anyone?


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Ark. Tax Doesn't Apply To Drink Flavor Cartridges, Agency Says
By Abraham Gross · August 11, 2020, 1:07 PM EDT
Arkansas does not impose a beverage tax on flavor cartridges for soft drink dispensers because they are neither syrups nor soft drinks subject to the tax, the state Department of Finance...
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Business Beat - As Veterans Become Entrepreneurs, SBA Looks to Lend a Hand
Senior Airman Drew Forster joined the military as a way to pay for college. He returned from active duty in 2014 and says his time in the Air Force taught him skills he still uses today, like resilience, working under pressure — and something a little unexpected.
“I actually got into woodworking (when) I was stationed in Wasawe, Japan,” Forster said.
Forster owns and operates a furniture business. He harvests wood and then makes and sells furniture from it.
“I kind of like being able to do things my own way and not have such a thumb over what I have to do,” Forster said.
Skills Forster learned from the Air Force help him with his business, but Forster says he needs more help with marketing and advertising.
“I’m a very new business,” Forster said. “And I’ve figured out how to make my product. But I’ve had difficulty getting rid of it.”
In September, Forster drove two and a half hours from Milan, Mo., to Columbia for Boots to Business Reboot. It’s an entrepreneurship training program for veterans who have already transitioned off military bases. The training is part of a national initiative from the U.S. Small Business Administration, or SBA, a federal agency that helps small businesses.
Jamie Wood, director of policy engagement for the SBA, says one in 10 businesses in the U.S. are owned by veterans, and they have a substantial impact on the economy.
“These businesses generate about $1.14 trillion in receipts,” Wood said. “And as far as the amount of people that they employ, it’s up to 5 million or more Americans.”
The SBA started Boots to Business Reboot in 2014 to extend entrepreneurship training to veterans who had already returned home.
Alan Rohlfing is an outreach consultant at the Veterans Business Resource Center in St. Louis, and he spoke at the Boots to Business Reboot event in Columbia. He says the program offers classes about topics including opportunity recognition, market research and economics.
“Those are skills that typically aren’t taught in military service,” Rohlfing said. “So connecting with folks in these other resource partner organizations can help folks educate themselves.”
Forster says he always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and he had a smooth transition into civilian life.
“I suppose there’s a number of people who could have a rougher transition that what I had,” Forster said. “I was pretty fortunate. I was still fairly young. And I still had a direction of where I wanted to go.”


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SD Version Of Presenter-to-Go Coming Soon
Margi Systems has announced that it will release a version of its Presenter-to-Go presentation tool that connects to the handheld through the SD slot. It will allow presentations created in PowerPoint or any printable Windows application to be transferred to a handheld and displayed at 1024 by 768. The SD card version of Presenter-to-Go will be available sometime in June for $200.
It comes with an SD Card/cable to connect to the handheld, software for slide creation from PowerPoint or any printable Windows application, and the MARGI Mirror for displaying local handheld content. Also included is a 14-button infrared remote control, an A/C adapter, and a projector adapter cable.
According to Margi Systems, it is compatible with the Palm m125, m130, m500, m505, m515, and i705. It is not yet known if the rumored Treo 90 will be able to use it.
"By offering Margi Systems' Presenter-to-Go SD Card-based solution to Palm handheld users, we are offering our customers the ability to walk into any environment, be it a meeting or classroom, plug their Palm handheld into the projector and immediately begin presenting. The convenience offered by Presenter-to-Go is what our corporate professionals and educational customers have been looking for to easily present on the go," said Ken Wirt, Palm vice president and senior vice president of Marketing, Solutions Group.
Margi Systems already has other versions of Presenter-to-Go, including one for the Visor line and another for the HandEra 330.
On Friday, Portsmith announced it would be releasing a similar presentation tool this summer that works with Palm's Universal Connector.
Thanks to Carl Brooks of PalmLoyal.com for the tip. -Ed
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- I got one -Tuckermaclain
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- RE: Palm brand will return in 2018, with devices built by TCL -dmitrygr
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The agreement with Tiendas Neto further strengthens Western Union’s ability to help millions of consumers in Mexico conveniently send money worldwide. Customers may choose for their funds to be paid out into billions of bank accounts, millions of mobile wallets, or across Western Union’s substantial global network of retail locations.
“Western Union’s goal of enabling millions of connections between family and loved ones to send or receive money globally and locally continues to grow, while evolving our offerings to include expanded digital services and a streamlined retail customer experience,” Pablo Porro is the Head of Western Union Mexico & Central America. “Teaming with Tiendas Neto will help us continue to expand our operations across Mexico, while adding more convenience for our customers by giving them the opportunity to send or receive remittances closer to or from their homes.”
Luis Gerardo Ruíz Ojeda, General Manager of Tiendas Neto, said, “We are extremely excited to add Western Union’s industry-leading global financial services platform to our portfolio, providing a convenient and reliable channel for our customers to send remittances. In doing so, our consumers can now send money to friends and family from any of our locations using one of the most trusted brands in the world.”
Mexico’s economic growth continues to be driven by remittances, which are a vital part of supporting families’ livelihoods in Mexico. Banxico estimates that Mexico received $51,593.9 trillion dollars in 2021, 27.1% higher than in 2020. Likewise, remittances already represent four percent of the country’s GDP, which has served as a lifeline for families that depend on this income.


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Retailers are offering Black Friday deals earlier and earlier, with some even open on Thanksgiving.
Black Friday is becoming so yesterday. That annual crush of shoppers in search of holiday bargains has been moving back in time to Thursday evening, when many stores open their doors to let consumers go straight from filling up with turkey and pumpkin pie to filling up their shopping carts.
Naturally, there are apps to help the die-hard bargain hunters, such as Black Friday Survival Guide for the iPhone. There are price–comparison apps that allow you to see if a deal is really a steal, such as RedLaser, Decide.com, Google Shopper, Price Check by Amazon and Consumer Reports Mobile.
Some stores, such as Macy’s and Sears, offer store-specific apps.
And for those preferring not to interrupt their feasting, football and family time, some retailers offer Black Friday deals online. Oh, and you can also peruse your local circulars online.
Here are the Black Friday hours of some chain stores.
Kmart – 8 p.m.
Sears – 8 p.m.
Toys R Us – 8 p.m.
Walmart – 8 p.m.
Target – 9 p.m.
Best Buy – Midnight
Kohl’s – Midnight
Macy’s – Midnight
JCPenney – 6 a.m.
Sams Club Wholesale – 7.a.m.
Costco Friday – 9 a.m.


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LNG: Qatar’s Russian Strategy – Compete Or Collaborate?
With Qatar facing growing competition in the global LNG market, the 10 February inauguration of Russian rival Gazprom’s representative office in Doha has prompted debate over the strategy behind the move.
Russia already competes with Qatar, the world’s largest exporter, by selling LNG into the Asia-Pacific market and plans to boost output, joining planned Australian and...
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