text:
Nintendo's E3 All About The Gaming Experience, Or How Survive With No New Hardware
This year's E3 has been a bit...shall we say "unconventional" for the folks over at Nintendo. Unlike their competitors at Sony and Microsoft, who are essentially using this year's show as a platform to premiere all that their new systems have to offer, Nintendo is a year ahead of the curve, as it was at last year's convention that the company unveiled their 8th Generation console, the Wii U. But while being ahead of the game certainly has its perks, it doesn't necessarily ensure victory.
While the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 duke it out for the unofficial "best in show" title of this year's E3, and perhaps more importantly for momentum going into this year's Holiday season, the Wii U has been largely overshadowed. In short, the console is promising, albeit old news. In an effort to combat this stigma on the system, president of Nintendo America, Reggie Fils-Aime, directed gamers away from this year's emphasis on newer, better hardware with a simple three letter mantra: "Play the game."
That's a nifty little saying, Mr. Fils-Aime, but what are we supposed to make of this credo?
In short, what Nintendo is trying to say to its consumer base, to the world at large, is that the proof of the Wii U's capabilities is in the proverbial pudding. Though the company may not have any new gadgets to compete with the excitement over Sony and Microsoft's respective new products, its current 8th Gen console has already slowly been accumulating games that show off its prowess.
Fils-Aime even took a jab at the ongoing controversy over the issue of game-sharing and downloadable content on the new generation of systems that characterized his competitor's press releases. "What type of magic box is going to play my game? Can I get it through hard copy or download? When can I get it? These questions are secondary," said Fils-Aime declared. "What matters is how you feel when you play a game." A rather common sense, but nonetheless rousing sentiment, to say the least.
Immediately following this quasi-call to arms, Nintendo developers took the stage revealed plans for some upcoming entries in the Wii U catalog like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Super Smash Bros Wii U, and Pikmin 3. Along with this promising stable of titles, Nintendo also reminded the audience of the major third-party releases coming to the Wii U, such as Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Batman: Arkham Origins. Though the U has received some criticism for its lack of titles so far into its lifecycle, this combination of Nintendo exclusive and multi-platform titles will almost assuredly relieve some of the pressure on the system.
So, despite its lack of new hardware, Nintendo will make it through this year's E3.
The question now, however, is at what cost? True, the Wii U's set list of "coming-soon" titles is formidable; but will the excitement generated from these games be enough to entice a gaming world that's already glued to the melodramatic power struggle going on between the Xbox One and the PS4?
Fils-Aime made a good business move yesterday during his speech: when you don't have anything up your sleeves, lean on what you have going for you, which, in this case, is Nintendo's unique gaming experience. What Nintendo doesn't have going for it, however, is momentum. As promising as it is, the Wii U has seemingly underperformed thus far, and that is something that neither Nintendo, nor we, the gaming world, can ignore. With that in mind, "Play the game" functions both as an energizing battle cry for gamers to rally around the system, as well as an enervated plea for them to stick with the U.
Obviously I can't say which way the Wii U will go during this gaming cycle. Like its predecessor, it very well could be the most financially successful of this generation's consoles. Or, on the other hand, it could be the biggest flop since the Dreamcast. Only time will tell, of course, but until this drama plays itself out, at least we have the promise of some great new games on our hands!
Big Chief 1September 26, 2013, 12:31 pmFeatured CorrespondentHmm... Interesting. Thanks for posting!


text:
Colonial Regional Police say a Lower Nazareth woman -- and Nazareth Area Intermediate School teacher -- stole from a township department store Saturday, and then left her 11-year-old daughter behind.
Stacee Banko, 32, of the 300 block of Township Line Road, is charged with retail theft and receiving stolen property.
Banko is a 5th grade teacher in the Nazareth Area School District, where she has taught for 10 years, according to teacherweb.com.
According to court records, Banko was at the Kohl's store in the Northampton Crossings shopping center when store security spotted her taking a shopping bag and loading it up with clothing.
Although Banko paid for one item, she left the store without paying for $184.94 in merchandise, according to police.
Police say Banko's daughter was with her at the time, unaware that her mother was stealing, or that she had left.
Banko was arraigned before on-duty District Judge Gay Elwell in Easton, and was free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
Banko's teacherweb.com profile says she is currently working toward her principal certification.
An e-mail sent Wednesday to Superintendent Dennis Riker was not immediately returned, though it is Yom Kippur and not a standard school day.

domain: news


text:
The new rendering for the planned six-story mixed-use development at 996 Manhattan Ave. was revealed today, NY YIMBY reports, and the inevitable design evokes the future discerning Amazon exec seeking quick access to the Pulaski Bridge for their morning electric scooter commute. The building is currently under construction with 10,565 square feet of residential area and 797 square feet of commercial space planned.
INC Architecture and Design are the designers, the same team behind the Williamsburg Equinox gym on Bedford Ave., along with a portfolio of recent Manhattan and DUMBO developments.
The current three-story building with off-white vinyl siding will not exactly be missed for its architectural splendor, but its replacement is another sign of the times.
Jungle Cafe, the popular vegan cafe that first opened at 996 Manhattan Ave. has since relocated to 131 Greenpoint Ave.


text:
AKRON-Goodyear expects to break the $3 billion mark in quarterly sales for the first time in its 97-year history and to record double-digit gains in net income over the 1994 period. The company is projecting sales will exceed $3.1 billion for the first quarter, up about 7 percent from last year.
First-quarter net income is expected to reach between $130 million and $133 million, a 12- to 14.7-percent increase.
Stanley C. Gault, Goodyear chairman and CEO, cited the firm's global diversity and substantial growth in international markets as major contributing factors in the gains. He said the company has minimized the negative impact of rising labor costs and ``unprecedented'' raw material price hikes by:
Substituting lower-cost materials with equal performance characteristics wherever possible;
Improving capacity utilization; and
Raising the prices of its products.
Goodyear plans to release its first-quarter results April 25.


text:
PUBG Mobile seems to be getting an all new update. The Beta version is live in China. The global launch and plan is not revealed, but as an when it happens the millions of fans will get a number of new, exciting features.
The PUBG Mobile Lightspeed Beta v0.11 with the MK47 weapon, Tukshai vehicle, rain and a separate snow-covered area in Erangel is reported to be on in China. A report by digit.in states that PUBL Mobile in all likelihood is in for an all new update.
The PUBG Mobile Lightspeed Beta already operational in China has a new weapon, a new vehicle, new weather in Erangel and Miramar, death cam reply, new animations and snow.
The website, attributing the information to a Reddit post of a Beta vo.11 user, u/AtomR, has reported that the MK47 has been added to the Chinese Lightspeed Beta of the game, along with the Tukshai vehicle. These features though already exist on the PC and Xbox versions.
The MK47 is expected to be available on all maps, but the Tukshai might be kept exclusive to the Sanhok map.
Erangel and Miramar, it is reported, will finally get weather effects, including rain, and snow. Erangel will get a separate area that is covered in snow. The developers are also expected to add a snow map to the game. Even as the final name of the map is not revealed yet, it might reportedly be called Dihor Otok.
The following video by a user shows the features in the PUBG Mobile Lightspeed Beta Update.
The release date for the new updates and the exact features for the global update are not yet confirmed.


text:
Welcome, Sign In
Storms Rip the Midwest, and More
Description:Storms and tornadoes ripped through the Midwest Sunday killing at least five; U.S. relations with Israel are strained in ways not seen in decades; and shopping will likely be rough for retailers this holiday season. Photo: AP.
The Wall Street Journal


text:
ELIGIBLE Tameside businesses are encouraged to apply for funding if they have been impacted by the pandemic.
The Government recently announced a new COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) and £3.7m of this is available in the borough.
The fund is available through Tameside Council to support businesses that have been affected by COVID-19 but are ineligible for existing business rates support.
Since CARF was launched, Tameside Council has been proactively encouraging businesses to apply through a variety of channels
CARF is a relief applied to a business rates account. The fund is not automatically awarded and businesses must apply online.
Businesses will not be eligible for this relief if they are:
- Receiving the Extended Retail Discount, Nursery Discount or Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme (AGOSS)
- Not in occupation of the business property (unless they have been forced to close due to the Government’s advice on COVID-19)
- Not registered for business rates
- Already In receipt of full rates relief e.g. if their bill has been reduced to nil as small business rates relief has been applied.
Cllr Oliver Ryan, Tameside Council executive member for Finance and Economic Growth, said: “So many of our businesses have been severely impacted by the pandemic and we want to ensure eligible businesses have access to funding or relief as soon as it becomes available. I encourage all eligible businesses to get in touch with us as soon as possible as the COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund is only available for a limited time.”
For more information, and to apply for the COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund, please visit https://www.tameside.gov.uk/coronavirus/businessratesrecovery, applications are open until March 18.


text:
Commen-Terry: Help plan the future of our fitness facilities
The Comox Valley has outgrown its indoor recreation facilities.
Anyone who uses the two fitness facilities - and, in particular, the CVRD Aquatic Centre - will attest to this.
The swimming facility at the top of Ryan Road is past its due date, and it’s time something is done.
Need proof? Go there on a weekend. Friday nights, the pool is heaving. It’s common to see 25-30 people in the “12-person maximum” hot tub on any given Friday night.
Most Sundays it’s even worse. We counted 39 people in the hot tub on a Sunday in November. When asked what the attendance for the day was, the front desk staff could only say “lots.”
Part of the reason for the weekend overload is the fact that there’s a white elephant on Vanier Road - the CVRD Sports Centre; a publicly-funded fitness facility with a swimming pool that isn’t open on weekends. It closes Friday at 3 p.m. That’s a first, in any area of Canada in which I’ve lived.
Exactly where are the user fees going? Certainly not towards fitness equipment in either of the gyms in the two buildings.
The CVRD has a total of four treadmills to service its 65,000 residents - and that’s if they are all functional. When one breaks down, it can take up to a month to get it repaired, as was the case at the aquatic centre last year.
“Parts are on order,” was the reasoning for the delay.
The aquatic centre fitness room is like an afterthought. The cardio equipment comprises two treadmills, one elliptical, a rowing machine, a rickety stair climber and three stationary bikes.
The weight training area is worse, with one multi-functional weight training apparatus, which can service four people at a time.
And if all the equipment were to be used at the same time, free weights notwithstanding, that would account for 12 people in the room, which has the square footage hardly any more substantial than the aforementioned hot tub.
A youth fitness class was held there one evening in November; half a dozen teens and an instructor. They never returned.
The sports centre on Vanier Road is marginally better - substantially better for weight training, but the same amount of cardio equipment. And the hours there aren’t great either. The fitness centre at that building is only open for a total of 12 hours on weekends.
Of course, the CVRD will tell us that the fitness rooms are adequate for the amount of people who use them.
The argument opposing that is people have stopped going, because of the lack of space and equipment. It’s a vicious circle.
To steal a line from Field of Dreams, I say, “Build it and they will come.”
And then there's the swimming issue. There was a time when the CVRD guaranteed at least one "drop-in" swimming lane would be available at all times, at the aquatic centre. Not so, anymore. There are a couple of days a week where the swimming pool is completely booked up with lessons.
On the positive side, it's great to see that there is so much interest in swimming that the facility is over its capacity. It's a good thing that parents are registering their children in physical activities, as opposed to allowing the PlayStation to occupy all their free time.
The good news is, there’s something we can do about it. The CVRD is asking for public input as to the state of the indoor recreation facilities - the aquatic centre, the sports centre, and the curling rink - as part of an Indoor Recreation Facilities Master Plan.
There are various ways to participate in the input process.
Focus groups with users will take place next Monday and Tuesday at the aquatic centre and sports centre. Go to http://bit.ly/2jjiyu2 for times of the focus group for the specific area of concern.
There is also an online survey (same link), which allows participants to voice concerns regarding any of the current facilities.
Following these initial consultations, there will be community workshops in February, and open houses in March, to share the findings and present a draft master plan.
This is our chance, as residents, to help set the future for fitness facilities in the community.
Should the swim team move to the Vanier pool? Should there be a two-tiered payment system; one price for poolside only, and one price for full facility (i.e. pool and fitness rooms)? Should there be a few free lockers available, for those who have their own locks? Is it time to expand the aquatic centre?
We need better fitness facilities in the Comox Valley. Speak your mind.
Be a part of the solution.
Terry Farrell is the editor at the Comox Valley Record


text:
Diamond distributor Lazare Kaplan International Inc. said Tuesday it sued PhotoScribe Technologies Inc., alleging patent infringement relating to laser inscription of diamonds and gemstones.
Manhattan-based Lazare is seeking an injunction and an unspecified amount in damages in the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The company said it may pursue other suits against gem-grading laboratories and "other parties that may be infringing the LKI patent portfolio." Lazare is also considering asking U.S. Customs to seize imported gemstones allegedly infringing on Lazare patents.
A spokeswoman for Manhattan-based Photoscribe could not be immediately reached for comment.
Shares of Lazare rose 8.5% to $8.79, in intraday trading. The company's shares have traded in a range of $7.40 and $11.65 over the past year.


text:
Camera poised, Tomoaki Kasuga peers eagerly forward as Coco takes her first swimming lesson. When she successfully catches a tennis ball and swims toward him, Kasuga’s nervous face melts into a broad smile.
Coco, a 6-month-old golden retriever, is among a surging number of dogs in Japan enjoying a lifestyle many humans could only envy — weekend spa visits, pasta lunches at open-air cafes, designer clothing.
The boom, experts note, comes as the nation’s birthrate keeps plunging and the number of Japanese kids continues to drop. According to pet industry figures, Japanese families now have over 19 million pet dogs or cats, exceeding the number of Japanese children under 15, which just hit a new low of 17.8 million.
Kasuga, 48, a high-tech venture president who lives with his wife and mother, had brought his pet to Dog Petit Resort “Joker,” which offers hot tubs, therapy pools and a beauty salon for dogs. “Coco-chan is our princess,” he said. “Since she came to our house, our life has been revolving around her.”
More than 1.5 million dogs purchased
Enthused by hit TV commercials for a loan company featuring a doe-eyed Chihuahua, Japanese last year bought more than 1.5 million dogs by industry count — mostly Chihuahuas, miniature dachshunds and other dogs small enough to into fit Japan’s cramped homes.
Catering to the 11.1 million canines is a huge industry, estimated at more than $9 billion.
The fashion-conscious can walk their dogs with a Louis Vuitton leather leash and a neck cuff for a combined $540, or use a $1,730 carrying case. For those leaving their pets behind during business trips, dog hotels and dog-sitters are readily available.
For gourmet dogs, Internet shopping sites offer heat-and-serve creamy pasta with parmesan cheese, corn, green peas and pork, or orange-flavored herb chicken fillet. For dessert, dog bakeries prepare muffins and cookies, or a birthday cake topped with strawberries and cream.
Analysts say the boom reflects a changing attitude toward pets in the world’s fastest-aging society where the birthrate is at its lowest-ever — 1.29 per woman.
Lifestyle changes accommodate pets
In a country where people take off their shoes at the entrance and live in tatami-mat rooms, it was long unthinkable for dogs to be kept inside. But that has changed as traditional Japanese homes have been replaced by Westernized townhouses with wooden floors.
Families have split into smaller units, with aging parents often living alone, and many Japanese have turned to dogs to fill their thinning family bonds, said Katsuo Mochizuki, with the Pet Food Manufacturers Association of Japan.
“As we’ve gone through more than a decade of economic slump, facing social uncertainty and stressful city life, many Japanese have found dogs an answer to relieve stress and feel warmth at home,” he said. “Couples with grown-up children have also found dogs as a substitute.”
Recent surveys suggest dogs are most often owned by people over 45.
More apartment blocks tolerate pets, some providing a wall-mounted panel for cats to flex their claws. More city parks have dog runs, and more open-air restaurants and cafes will serve a dog a bowl of water under its owner’s table.
380,000 abandoned animals last year
But although Japanese have proven good at cleaning up after their dogs in public, most restaurants and public facilities still admit only seeing-eye and other aide dogs.
“We don’t allow pet dogs inside our office buildings because we can never be sure how well trained they are,” said Kensuke Kimura, a Tokyo Metropolitan Government official in charge of pets. “Even if a keeper considers a pet dog a family member, the general public’s tolerance level hasn’t gone that high.”
The dark side of the pet craze is the nearly 380,000 abandoned dogs and cats destroyed last year, according to Environment Ministry statistics.
“The current pet boom is very dangerous,” said Chizuko Yamaguchi, a veterinary inspector at Japan Animal Welfare Society. “To many people, their dogs are the same as their designer-brand bags. Dogs are treated as objects, a fashion, rather than living creatures.”


text:
With a record 1.7 million visitors, to more than 40 distillery visitor centres in 2016, Scotch whisky distilleries are playing an increasingly important and valuable role in the Scottish tourism sector and are on a par with other large tourist attractions like Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum of Scotland.
|The Scotch Whisky Association predicts a great year for whisky tourism|
Figures released recently by the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions, highlighted a boost to whisky tourism in 2017, including Blair Athol Distillery Visitor Centre (+18%), Caol Ila Distillery Visitor Centre (+32%), Glen Ord Distillery Visitor Centre (+28%) Kingsbarns Distillery (+30%) and The Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh (16%).
The increase has not only been driven by growing interest in Scotch whisky, which last year announced its highest ever export figures, but also due to investment in new visitor centres and increased innovation.
Commenting on the news, Karen Betts, Chief Executive at the Scotch Whisky Association, said: "It's fabulous to see Scottish distilleries attracting more and more visitors from the UK and all over the world. There has been a 25% increase in visits to Scotch Whisky distilleries since 2010 and we fully expect this trend to continue in the year ahead.”
She went onto say: "Scotch Whisky producers have invested in distillery visitor centres, their staff and shops to ensure their guests get the best possible experience. As well as benefitting our industry, the increasing number of visitors is great news for the wider Scottish economy, particularly in rural areas, with visitors to Scotch Whisky distilleries staying in local hotels, eating high quality meals in pubs and restaurants, and shopping for local products."
Recent new attractions for visitors to Scotland include the The Isle of Raasay Distillery and the Clydeside Distillery. Adding to the ever-growing list, the new Macallan distillery and visitor centre is due to open in June 2018.
Posted by Steve Rush


text:
Desire for cruises will bounce back to pre-coronavirus concentrations within just as small as a 12 months, in accordance to the boss of Tui Cruises.
Wybcke Meier instructed The Telegraph that irrespective of staying pressured to terminate dozens of cruises, she was constructive that the business would rebound immediately.
“We are persuaded that in the extensive-time period the demand from customers for high quality and luxurious cruises will not adjust,” she claimed. “We will see the demand from customers for cruises return to pre-crisis stage within just twelve to eighteen months.”
Tui, the world’s most significant journey agent, has invested greatly in cruises in latest many years, functioning companies in a joint venture with Miami-dependent Royal Caribbean.
Ms Meier claimed that about 50 percent of all those company whose outings have been cancelled have presently rebooked.
Her remarks echo all those of Euan Sutherland, the boss of London-outlined business Saga. The insurance and journey corporation boasts “a fairly stoic and determined team of customers”, he claimed earlier this month. “There is a massive urge for food from our consumers to get back out there.”
The optimism in the cruise sector contrasts with that mood amid airlines and airports.


text:
A new The Smurfs video game is in the works from publisher Microids and developer OSome Studio. According to the publishing agreement announcement from Microids between itself and IMPS, the folks that own the rights, it will be a 3D action-adventure game with a brand-new story inspired by the comics of Peyo, the cartoonist that created them. This isn't the first comics property that OSome Studio has handled, as it previously developed games based on the classic Asterix & Obelix comics.
The Smurfs was created by cartoonist Peyo in the 1950s. IMPS (International Merchandising, Promotion & Services) is the company that essentially manages Peyo's legacy, including, but not limited to, The Smurfs. Véronique Culliford, Peyo's daughter, founded the company in 1984 and serves as CEO. The new video game absolutely is not the first for the license, but it does mark the first in many years that isn't somehow tied directly to some other sort of adaptation like the movies.
"We are delighted for concluding this new partnership with IMPS! Thanks to this trans-generational license and the talent of OSome Studio, a long time Microids partner studio which worked on several family games, we are confident in bringing together all gamers in the wonderful world of the Smurfs," Elliot Grassiano, Vice-president of Microids, said as part of the announcement. "The worldwide success met by the Smurfs will also allow us to increase our brand awareness overseas and position Microids as a major player internationally."
"I am very happy about this beautiful partnership, video games have always been my passion, because they combine playfulness and often learning," Culliford said as part of the same announcement.
Beyond the facts mentioned above about how this will be a 3D action-adventure game developed by OSome Studio, nothing is known about whatever this game will be, look like, release on, or when. You can check out the rest of our gaming coverage right here.
What do you think about The Smurfs getting a new video game? Are you excited to see what comes of this? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!


text:
Redflow Limited, a publicly-listed Australian company (ASX: RFX), produces small 10kWh zinc-bromine flow batteries that tolerate daily hard work in harsh conditions. Redflow batteries are designed for high cycle-rate, long time-base stationary energy storage applications in the telecommunications, commercial & industrial and high-end residential sectors, and are scalable from a single battery installation through to grid-scale deployments. Redflow batteries are sold, installed and maintained by an international network of energy system integrators. Redflow’s smart, self-protecting batteries offer unique advantages including secure remote management, 100 per cent daily depth of discharge, tolerance of high ambient temperatures, a simple recycling path, no propensity for thermal runaway and sustained energy delivery throughout their operating life.
Australian battery company Redflow Limited has today announced it has established a company in Thailand to manage production of its zinc-bromine flow batteries in South East Asia.
In May, the ASX-listed company (ASX:RFX) announced its decision to move its battery manufacturing from North America to South East Asia, to be closer to its most lucrative markets, in Australia, Oceania and southern Africa, and to reduce production costs.
In a statement to the ASX this morning, Redflow reported that it has established Redflow (Thailand) Limited, which is negotiating a lease on premises in a Thai free trade zone. It is also seeking Thai licensing and regulatory approvals.
As well as its location, close to Redflow’s supply chain and marketplaces, Thailand offers good manufacturing expertise, competitive logistics, an attractive labour cost and effective tax treatment for international manufacturers within its free trade zone structure.
Redflow CEO Simon Hackett said the final North American production batch of ZBM2 batteries was now in transit to Australia. “I’m pleased to report that our stack manufacturing equipment from North America has arrived in Thailand ahead of schedule,” he said.
Australian battery company Redflow Limited today unveiled an investment package that will raise $14.5 million to target sustainable delivery of its zinc-bromine flow batteries to high demand areas such as telecommunications.
Redflow’s capital-raising follows its May announcement of decisions from a strategic review including:
Redflow has provided an Investor Presentation containing details of the outcome of its Strategic Review and consequent activities undertaken or planned by the company, plus its new manufacturing partner, Malaysian-based MPTS, a long-term supplier of a core component of Redflow’s battery stack.
Australian battery company Redflow Limited (ASX:RFX) has praised proposed new regulations that prioritise fire safety for the deployment of lithium-based batteries inside homes.
Standards Australia has released final draft recommendations that require lithium-ion batteries - which are classified as “fire hazard class 1” - must not be installed inside a domestic dwelling, within a metre of any access or egress area or under any part of a domestic dwelling. There are no current Standards Australia regulations for in-home battery installations.
This draft standard follows Clean Energy Council industry rules issued last year, which state: “Some lithium-based batteries can fail due to internal overheating, in a process known as ‘thermal runaway’. The normal chemical reactions within the battery during charging are exothermic (heat-generating).
“If this heat is not able to dissipate, or the battery is overcharged for a long duration, the rate of chemical reaction can then speed up, which in turn increases the battery temperature further, in an increasing cycle until the battery is physically damaged ... Once this happens, there is a risk of fire and/or rupture of the battery, with emission of toxic material.”
Redflow CEO Simon Hackett said the safety-first principle should be a priority for the rapidly growing energy storage industry. “While manufacturers say modern lithium-based batteries are designed not to overheat, it only takes one poorly designed or deployed battery to catch fire at night to cost lives,” he said.


text:
A couple of months ago, we saw the unveil of a 700 hp (522 kW) track-only supercar by Brabham Automotive – a company founded by former Formula 1 racer David Brabham. This car, called the BT62 is so extreme that you essentially have to be taught how to drive it. And now, as hinted before, Brabham says that you can get a road-legal spec.
It was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where the British automaker announced that buyers will be able to convert their Brabham BT62 track weapons into road-legal supercars. Sounds like there’s a catch? Well there is; to stay road legal the car has to be shipped back to the UK every year. A possible silver lining to this is that it will also have to keep its UK number plates, which could be ‘cool’ for some.
Once Brabham has tamed the car to road-legal spec, the car has to go through some road-legal assessments prior to getting its licence plates. After twelve months, it will have to be sent back to Brabham in the UK for service and then redo the Independent Vehicle Assessment; this process will be repeated every twelve months.
Those who are prepared to go through the process will sure standout as only 70 examples of the Brabham BT62 will be made. But as expected, there will be drawbacks – the car, designed to attack race tracks and stopwatches, can’t be expected to be exceptionally comfortable. Taking that into consideration, as well as the fact that it has a 5.4-litre V8 that fires 700 hp (522 kW) to push a curb weight of just 971 kilograms, we can’t imagine it will be the most enjoyable car on the road.
Whether or not buyers will opt for this conversion, there is no doubt that they will enjoy the many perks of owning Brabham BT62. And with a price tag of £1 million, there’s no doubt that the car was intended for those who play at the top league of the fiscal food chain.
We saw this car live at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and it is an immense creation in terms of styling and it just listen to it…


text:
Fewer prepaid alerts after iPhone 1.0.2 update?
Now that the iPhone 1.0.2 update is out and growing its installed base, do any of you prepaid users notice a difference in the number of "You Last Transaction Cost $0.00" messages? Maybe it's just me but I'm getting the sense they've been cut back significantly. If you have a prepaid account, let me know whether this latest update has affected your useless message count.
Update: Looks like this is a server-side fix according to several readers.
Subscribe to Newsletter
Software Updatesmore updates
- Spotify update adds equalizer, refreshed Artist page and more
- Fantastical 2.1 for iOS adds new snooze, search and notification features
- ExpanDrive 4, more services and faster sync
- Apple adds iTunes Extras to Apple TV
- Spotify updates with new iPhone controls in time for summer BBQs
- iTunes U update will bring course creation and student discussion to iPad app


text:
Carver Junk Company has reopened in a larger Chaska storefront with extended hours
Carver Junk Company was founded in 2012 out of a quaint, 300-square-foot space in Chaska as a clearinghouse for owners Chad and Brandy Dressen to sell their repurposed, upcyled vintage finds. The shop quickly became known for its fresh approach to vintage, enlisting refinishings and artisans to reimagine old furniture and décor to appeal to the modern shopper.
“We wanted to create a store that appealed to people like us that was open one weekend a month, to fill our ‘spare’ time with a hobby we could work on together,” recalls Brandy in a blog post on the store’s website. “We lasted four months in that space before we outgrew it.”
They moved into a bigger space two blocks away, the original 1800s-era Carver fire station, where they remained for the past five years. But recently, the shop moved yet again, relocating into an even larger storefront within the old Carver County State Building. Beginning next weekend, the new Chaska store will be open every weekend from Thursday to Sunday, instead of once a month.
The new location is almost double the square footage of the previous space, and hosts a collective of over 80 local artists and vendors selling a mix of handcrafted and refinished furniture, vintage and handmade décor, gifts, and apparel. It also features a dedicated workshop space for DIY classes with how-tos on making everything from macramé tapestry to farmhouse-style clocks. The retailer also carries the environmentally-friendly Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint line and durable pre-mixed General Finishes Chalk Style Paint line for DIYers to refinish their own furniture.
Beginning August 17, the new Carver store hours will be Thursday to Saturday from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 206 N. Chestnut Street in Chaska. Those who don’t want to make the trek out to Carver can shop at Carver Junk’s Minneapolis location at 4748 Chicago Ave. S., open seven days a week.


text:
Who Was the Best-Selling Artist at Auction Worldwide in May? There’s a Clear Winner—by a Long Shot
Perhaps even more surprising than the identity of the artist is the total amount of sales it took to come out on top.
The past few months have been anything but business as usual in the art market. You know what they say, though: nothing is certain except death, taxes, and the auction success of Andy Warhol.
That’s right: the American Pop icon was the best-selling artist at auction in May 2020, according to the Artnet Price Database. This is all the more notable considering that the marquee New York evening sales, which usually include at least one eight-figure Warhol work, were postponed until mid-summer.
Look a little closer, though, and the numbers reveal that the market for Warhol, like the rest of the art trade, has experienced an extreme drop amid the ongoing shutdown. Last month, Warhol—the best-selling artist at auction—saw a grand total of… $2.9 million in sales.
Allow us to repeat that: the best-selling artist in the world last month sold a grand total of $2.9 million worth of art at auction. To put it in perspective, that sum is 97.5 percent less than Warhol’s work made in May 2019, when it generated $115.5 million.
Now, you might say to yourself, “Well, with no major auctions, of course total sales of every artist would be down—there just aren’t enough works hitting the block.” But in fact, that assumption is incorrect. In May 2020, a total of 117 works by the fair-haired artist sold, ranging from a dainty 1957 lithograph of a hand holding flowers for $8,400 at Artnet Auctions to a hot-pink serigraph of Marilyn Monroe from 1967, which sold for $82,290 at Gonnelli Casa D’Aste.
It’s true that 40 percent fewer Warhol works came to market last month than in May 2019. But far more dramatic than the drop in quantity is the drop in value. Last May, the average Warhol sold at auction fetched $583,313. Last month, that number dropped to $24,941.
This shift is due in large part to the fact that auction houses are still largely confined to online sales, where sellers have historically been wary to offer works over $1 million (although that is changing fast). Meanwhile, last May saw two major Warhols offered at Christie’s New York evening sale: Liz [Early Colored Liz] (1963), which sold for $19.3 million, and Double Elvis [Ferus Type] (1963), which sold for $53 million.Even with the limitations placed on auction houses in the shutdown era, however, it makes sense that Warhol would come out on top. There’s a reason he has been described as a Dow Jones of the art market—a bellwether for how the whole ecosystem is faring. That’s because in addition to the pricey silkscreens from the ‘60s that fetch eight-figure prices, Warhol’s work comes at nearly every price point, from prints in editions of over 1,000 to photographs and lithographs. Plus, there’s a lot of it—a Warhol genre for all seasons.
In this case, his less expensive works were popular consignments in a variety of online sales, likely because sellers felt confident that the Warhol brand would continue to resonate with buyers even if they couldn’t see the work in person or felt nervous about paying up for less established names. Similar dynamics likely drove sales of the second best-seller at auction last month: Pablo Picasso, who brought in $2.4 million. (The $1.9 million total of the third-place finisher, George Condo, was driven largely by one pricey Cubist-style portrait that sold in a Sotheby’s online sale for $1.5 million.)
Notably, Warhol was also the best-selling artist at auction in April 2020—total sales, $1.5 million—and the third-best in March, behind Georgia O’Keeffe and Wayne Thiebaud, who managed to eke out hefty sales before the world went on lockdown.
So, if we are considering Warhol’s market as a microcosm for the art market as a whole, one thing is clear: people are transacting right now—but, barring extraordinary circumstances, they aren’t willing to buy or sell at auction anywhere close to pre-shutdown levels.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.


text:
Retail sales rose 9.2% in a month in the United Kingdom in April, thanks to the lifting of health restrictions and the reopening of non-essential stores, with a particularly strong uptick in clothing. The increase reached 42.4% compared to April 2020, the first month of strict control in the country at the onset of the coronovirus crisis. At this rate, sales volume is nearly 11% higher than its February 2020 level, before the epidemic hit its peak.
Increasing sales in non-food stores
Sales at non-food outlets, which many had to close their doors during the stricter containment that occurred in the country between late December and April 12, boosted growth, with 69% growth in the country in particular. Clothing, an area which was particularly afflicted by the epidemic and which is thus registering a fascinating effect. Conversely, when consumers opened the store again, online sales declined in all regions, reaching 30% of total retail sales. Fuel sales also saw a strong increase of 10.6% from April 12, with permission to roam around the country. Food stocks, which were able to remain open during the entire epidemic and benefited greatly from the health crisis, showed a small drop in their performance in April.
A strong recovery in perspective
Economists generally expect some of the cash accumulated by the British during the months of imprisonment, when all possibilities of shopping, travel, or recreation are greatly reduced, spent in the present and coming weeks and thus a stronger Promotes recovery. New restrictions were lifted on Monday, with the right to travel outside the country, to reopen pubs, restaurants, hotels, sports courses and more.
Organizer. Zombie aficionado. Wannabe reader. Passionate writer. Twitter lover. Music scholar. Web expert.


text:
The new special edition is lighter and cooler than ever.
The Lotus Elise 250 which is a special edition car by automaker was revealed recently. The car is specially released in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of automaker. The car will be available from 47,900 pounds.
Don't Miss: Find a NES Classic in stock online
This special edition car is based on Lotus Elise 250 Cup model but is a little different from it. It is a lighter model which will only weigh around 899kg.
Its weight is reduced due to the fact that a lot of carbon fiber is used in the car especially in the front splitter and rear wing. The boot front access panel of the car is like that of standard and only 50 of them will be made.
The technology used in Lotus Elise 250 is like that of Elise 250 Cup so mechanically we can say that both of these cars are identical in nature. It has a supercharged 234bhp 1.8liter engine. This car has the ability to top 0-60 in mere 3.9 sec. it is 20 kg lighter than that of Lotus Elise 250 Cup.
It will be available in four colors which are red, yellow, blue and white. The car will be offered in optional carbon fiber roof panel which will be a hardtop as well.
The car will also have the option of having leather seats with contrast stitching on leather according to the car’s color. Other than these silver and black alloys will be available too.
Starting from 47,900 pounds, it is the most expensive Elise offered by Lotus, according to AutoCar. The Lotus Elise 250 Cup’s price is 45,600 pounds. The limited edition will be sold to potential owners in first come first serve basis. So fans will have to hurry up in order to buy one.


text:
The Pokémon Company has just unveiled an adorable line of new official Pokémon plushies. The latest stuffed collectibles include Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Espeon, Umbreon, and Slowking, all from the second generation of Pokémon games. They’ll be available in Pokémon Centers in Japan starting on Friday, December 23rd. All of them cost ¥1,500 (around $13) except for Slowking, which costs ¥2,000 (around $17). So far there’s no word on a Western release, but we’ll keep an eye out for any updates. You can check out some images by clicking below!
Source: The Pokémon Company


text:
New American music industry figures have just been released that show record companies sold a staggering $7 billion worth of tunes in 2015 — a 0.9 per cent increase on the previous year.
And for the first time ever, streaming music services such as Spotify and YouTube accounted for the biggest chunk of that — $2.4 billion (34.3 per cent).
The figures were released by America's RIAA — the recorded music labels’ trade association — which has also complained that free, ad-supported streaming services are not generating enough revenue for multi-millionaire artists such as Beyonce or the record labels themselves.
An RIAA statement said: "In 2015, fans listened to hundreds of billions of audio and video music streams through on-demand ad-supported digital services like YouTube, but revenues from such services have been meagre — far less than other kinds of music services. And the problem is getting worse."
One graphic published by the RIAA shows that vinyl sales generate more income than YouTube.
The RIAA statement added: “In 2015, the industry had the most balanced revenue mix in recent history, with just about one third of revenues coming from each of the major platform categories: streaming, permanent downloads, and physical sales.”


text:
A WOMAN has been fined $500 after pleading guilty of stealing more than $600 worth of groceries from a Coles supermarket.
Kathryn Boulding pleaded guilty to one count of stealing at Fremantle Magistrates Court today .
On June 2 Ms Boulding went to Coles in Bicton and loaded a trolley with $659.38 worth of groceries and then attempted to leave the store without paying for it.
The items included meat, toiletries and general groceries.
Magistrate Steven Malley said that she would have needed a trailer to take out the groceries.
Ms Boulding said she was sorry for stealing and was under immense pressure looking after other family members.


text:
Here is what you need to know.
China is sending a senior official to the US to try to defuse the trade war. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will fly to Washington with the hopes of meeting senior officials before the expected informal talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Trump is once again moving closer to imposing auto tariffs. Trump on Tuesday will meet with his trade team to discuss a Commerce Department report on auto tariffs, according to Bloomberg. He previously threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all autos and auto parts coming into the US as part of his negotiations with trading partners including the European Union and Canada.
Morningstar's $207 billion CIO breaks down why investors have 'significantly overpaid' for the biggest tech stocks — and what they should be doing with their money. In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Morningstar's chief investment officer, Daniel Needham, explains why he thinks investors should be looking at defensive stocks.
General Electric hits a post-financial-crisis low. Shares touched $7.72 apiece — their lowest since March 2009 — after CEO Larry Culp told CNBC that he felt a sense of "urgency" to cut the company's leverage.
Creditors urge Sears to shut down all of its stores. Unsecured creditors, in a filing, slammed the retailer's plan to stay in business as "nothing more than wishful thinking" and "an unjustified and foolhardy gamble with other people's money."
AT&T is ending contracts with a group of dealers who sell DirecTV products. AT&T has notified many longtime residential dealers, who sell DirecTV products and services including satellite, broadband, and phone services, that their contracts will expire December 1.
The world's biggest maker of bitcoin-mining hardware wants to go public, but there are questions over its profits. Bitmain, the world's largest manufacturer of chips in the machines used to mine bitcoin, in its filing to go public in Hong Kong, reported 2017 profits of $701.4 million, but the Financial Times reports previous funding rounds showed profits that were significantly higher.
Wall Streeters are probably going to get bigger bonuses this year. Workers up and down Wall Street are in line for bigger bonuses this year, with equity traders set to see their extra pay up by as much as 20%, according to the compensation consultant Johnson Associates.
Stock markets around the world are mixed. Japan's Nikkei (-2.06%) was hit hard in Asia, and Germany's DAX (+0.64%) leads the gains in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open up 0.55% near 2,741.
Earnings reports keep coming. Cronos, Home Depot, and Tyson Foods report ahead of the opening bell, while Tilray releases its quarter results after markets close.


text:
Brainlabs has expanded rapidly in recent years, bringing eight companies with various capabilities under its banner since 2020.
Now, the agency has changed its strategy from acquiring skill-sets to acquiring geographical footprint.
Speaking to Campaign, Daniel Gilbert, global chief executive of Brainlabs, said: “The past was about capability. The future is about geography.”
Brainlabs bought Distilled and Hanapin in 2020; Manchester’s User Conversion, Canada’s Medianet, US-based Consumer Acquisition and Amazon specialist Molzi in 2021; and this year, influencer marketing agency Fanbytes and Bengaluru, India-based data services expert Nabler were brought under the wing of Brainlabs as well.
The latter two will soon lose their individual brand names and be absorbed into Brainlabs, following in the footsteps of the previous six.
It is a dizzying amount of acquisitions, but Gilbert said the digital agency is looking to do a further five or six deals in the next year – all focused on expanding Brainlabs’ reach worldwide – and added that the acquisitions have been funded through a mixture of debt, equity and cash.
The target territories are numerous: Latin America, Australia, France, Germany, China and Japan. In April 2021, Brainlabs had hired iProspect's Mark Fagan to lead its APAC push.
According to Gilbert, any future acquisitions, including in new territories, will also be rebranded. “Our strategy is being entirely one company fully integrated,” he added.
Fanbytes brought Brainlabs’ employee count to more than 400, with staff numbers set to increase further as the agency plots more growth.
Gilbert noted that the acquisitions of Fanbytes and Nabler completed the agency’s digital offering, adding: “We now have a complete digital media proposition. And it's probably the best in the world.”
This plan for global expansion has been a year or so in the making. Gilbert said: “There are no viable alternatives to the global holding companies, and very few independents of any scale.”
Their clients, he added, are constantly asking whether Brainlabs can work abroad for them.
Gilbert described the agency, which was founded in 2012, as a blank slate. He said: “We are spending 90% of our time innovating, rather than 90% of our time fixing legacy structures.
“We've got a real opportunity to build our own business around our clients and focus on driving them forward, not spend most of our time with internal mergers.”
He added that this wasn’t intended to discredit long-standing and global agencies or holding groups. “To me, there's genuinely no-one who’s any better or worse than the others. An agile, uncomplicated, fast business is completely different to any of those businesses. I don't think any one is better or worse than any of the others.”


text:
(March 16, 2020, 2020) Anaheim, CA – Nellson, LLC (Nellson), a leading North American manufacturer of branded and private label nutritional bar and functional powder solutions, recently launched a refreshed website www.nellsonllc.com.
Dear Customer/Supply Partners:
These are challenging times as we prepare for, and respond to, the Coronavirus outbreak. Like you, we have watched with concern the rising numbers of those infected by the virus and wish a swift and full recovery for those who are ill.
Nellson, LLC achieved FSSC 22000 Certification of GFSA standard scheme at their Salt Lake City, Utah powder manufacturing facility.
Customer Collaboration Facility Designed to Inspire Innovation and Accelerate Rapid Commercialization of Next-Generation Nutrition Powders
With its newest faciliity in Ontario, CA, Nellson positions itself to take on new customers and supply existing ones' growth in the nutrition bar category.
Read the full article published in Baking and Snack here.


text:
|The De Beers Group has published its Diamond Insight report on 2016 diamond jewelry demand and outlook for 2017, with provisional data showing an increase of 4.4 percent in U.S. diamond jewelry consumption in 2016, reaching an all-time high of US$41 billion.
The report notes that this is the fifth consecutive year of demand growth in the United States, with U.S. consumers now accounting for 47 percent of the global market for diamond jewelry, with the data showing Greater China coming up a very distant second, with a share of 16 percent - similar to that of 2015.
Global demand for diamond jewelry is reported as relatively static at US$80 billion in 2016, compared with US$79 billion the previous year, with continued marginal global growth expected for 2017.
De Beers reports that consumers are spending more per piece on diamond jewelry, with retailers reporting an increase in the US$1,000 to US$4,999 category.
Commenting on the report, De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver says, "American consumers continue to express strong desire for diamonds, but their purchasing habits are changing rapidly. While bridal diamond jewellery remains fundamental, we are seeing both single and married women buying for themselves more frequently and more purchases being made online. Meanwhile, products such as multi-diamond jewellery are becoming more popular.Continues Cleaver: "However, while US demand drove global growth in 2016, it is increasing demand from emerging markets that is behind the last five years being the strongest on record. Despite some markets facing challenging conditions last year, we see this trend continuing, with improvements in demand from China and India, in particular, emerging in 2017."


text:
Nearly 90 percent of Americans fail to consume the recommended amounts of vegetables and nearly 80 percent fail to meet dietary recommendations for fruit.1 While Americans struggle to add more fruits and vegetables to their diets, a recently concluded study reveals one simple solution: frozen.
The Frozen Food Foundation partnered with the University of California-Davis (UC Davis) to evaluate the nutrient content of eight commonly-purchased frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables: blueberries, strawberries, carrots, corn, broccoli, green beans, green peas and spinach.
The study, conducted by lead researcher Dr. Diane Barrett of UC Davis, used methodologies designed to eliminate discrepancies in the harvesting, handling and storage of fruits and vegetables used in the analysis. Like produce found in farmers’ markets, the fruits and vegetables used in the study were locally grown, harvested and stored by the UC Davis research team. Each fruit and vegetable was analyzed under the following conditions: frozen (analyzed within 24 hours of harvest and after 10 and 90 days of storage in a freezer) and fresh-stored (analyzed within 24 hours of harvest and after three and 10 days of storage in a refrigerator).
Study results reveal that the nutritional value of frozen fruits and vegetables are generally equal to — and in some cases better than — their fresh counterparts.
The nutritional value of water-soluble vitamins — namely the amount of riboflavin (vitamin B2) and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) — was generally the same or greater in frozen versus fresh produce.
The study found that freezing has a positive effect on the vitamin E content of the fruits and vegetables as compared with fresh. Additionally, the nutrient value of five minerals (calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper and iron), fiber and total phenolics (health-promoting plant compounds) were, for the most part, well-conserved in frozen fruits and vegetables as compared to fresh.


text:
NEW YORK – Remember the CD -- that audio disc you used to buy, before MP3 players came along? If Netflix has its way, you'll be saying the same thing about the DVD.
Netflix announced Monday that it will offer its first unlimited streaming-only subscription plan in the U.S. for $7.99 a month -- and the DVD-distributing company will raise the prices for its popular unlimited streaming and unlimited DVD plan by a dollar to $9.99 a month.
Netflix shares rose 5 percent in premarket trading following the announcement.
The company said on Monday the plan will will take effect immediately -- "if you’d like to switch to this new plan at any time, simply visit Your Account," wrote Jessie Becker, vice president of marketing in a statement to the company's blog.
"You might also wonder why we haven’t introduced a new plan that includes only DVDs by mail," Becker added. "The fact is that Netflix members are already watching more TV episodes and movies streamed instantly over the Internet than on DVDs, and we expect that trend to continue." If the company has its way, DVDs may soon be a piece of history -- an attitude echoed by chief executive Reed Hastings.
"We are now primarily a streaming video company delivering a wide selection of TV shows and films over the Internet," Hastings said in a statement.
Netflix, which gained success as a DVD rental by mail service, has more than 16 million members in the U.S. and Canada. It debuted its first streaming only service in Canada in September. The company has undergone stellar growth since its 1999 debut. Its shares have gained many-fold since a 2002 IPO.
Reuters contributed to this report.


text:
According to the report, Indians have publicized the uppermost level of user concern for mobile security subjects at 90 percent between the 16 countries, incorporated in a worldwide consumer investigation.
Brazil and Russia have 88 per cent each, Germany 86 per cent and China and Italy, equally at 85 per cent were the other countries with high level of security concerns although respondents in Hong Kong, 70 per cent, Belgium/Netherlands, 74 per cent and the US and Japan, 77 per cent each, were the least concerned by evaluation.
The worldwide . . . → Read More: Rates in Smartphone Security Concerns, Bagged Most by Indians


text:
Due to the Japanese publishing giant’s Direct format, which it has been doing since 2011 – and now has its fair share of imitators – there isn’t the same pressure to make huge reveal after huge reveal in one two-hour segment.
This year’s E3 Nintendo Direct largely showcased titles we already know about, with slightly more details. We had our first proper look at Luigi’s Mansion 3 in a segment that showcased the title’s new elements such as Gooigi, a slimy partner that can squeeze into areas Mario’s brother can’t, but also can’t come into contact with water. There’s also the Scarescraper multiplayer mode, in which gamers must team up to defeat waves of ghosts.
Nintendo gave us the first look at the eagerly anticipated Animal Crossing title for Nintendo Switch too. Given that my social media feed erupted with frenzied enthusiasm during this segment, I’m going to go ahead and assume that what the fans saw met their expectations. The game does now have a title – New Horizons – but has also been delayed from its 2019 release window to March 20, 2020. Nintendo giveth, but Nintendo taketh away.
In what has become a Nintendo E3 staple, the Japanese platform holder announced several new characters coming to its flagship brawler, Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The show kicked off with heroes from Dragon Quest XI: Echos of an Elusive age coming to the beat-em-up, before the news that beloved Rare characters Banjo and Kazooie would be joining the line-up in a hilarious fake-out moment.
Speaking of Dragon Quest XI, a Definitive Edition of that RPG is launching on September 27, 2019. This was one of the many Japanese RPG titles we saw during this Direct stream, alongside Square Enix‘s Trials of Mana, set to launch in 2020, with the original three games in the Mana series available to play right now. Classic Contra titles are also available today, an announcement made alongside the fact that a new Contra title – Rogue Corps – would be launching on September 24.
One surprise that Nintendo did have up its sleeve was No More Heroes III, which will likely keep fans happy following the less-than-stellar spin-off Travis Strikes Again. That’s set to launch in 2020.
“First-party titles, some neat exclusives and a treasure trove of smaller indie games will keep the platform thriving for years to come.”
There was also the reveal of CD Projekt Red‘s The Witcher III coming to Nintendo Switch after many rumours and fans desperate to play as their favourite monster hunter on the go. A Complete Edition – including the critically acclaimed DLC – will be launching at some point this year.
That’s not the only beloved title making its way to Switch. Nintendo revealed that both Resident Evil 5 and 6 would be coming to the platform. Oh, and we finally know what Romero Games and Paradox Interactive have been up to. Their brand-new title – Empire of Sin – is launching spring 2020.
As expected, Nintendo showed off its remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, too. This update of the secret best Zelda game is set to launch in September of this year. But that wasn’t the only Zelda goodness in the E3 Direct. The Japanese publishing giant went and pulled the ol’ ‘Oh, and one more thing…’ with a teaser trailer for a sequel to Nintendo Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This looks distinctly creepier than its predecessor and we wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an emphasis on co-op play, as the teaser put a heavy emphasis on both Link and Zelda. That’s just speculation, though.
Though the cadence of first-party – or even big – games has certainly slowed down for Nintendo Switch, this E3 Direct was a reminder that there’s a lot still to look forward to on the firm’s console – a great deal of first-party titles, some neat exclusives and a treasure trove of smaller indie games that will keep the platform thriving for years to come.


text:
A broadly positive performance by businesses across most sectors in Scotland has been clouded by some stark warnings about the potential challenges that lie ahead.
The quarterly economic indicator produced by the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) and the Fraser of Allander Institute found an improved performance in the construction sector and continued strong results from manufacturers. The tourism sector was said to look “well set for the summer”, while profitability and employment in the financial and business services sector have returned to their best levels for more than two years.
Neil Amner of Anderson Strathern , chair of the SCC's economic advisory group, said all of these positive signs are in line with other recent surveys and data. But challenges remain – particularly in the retail sector – in terms of falling real incomes and rising recruitment problems.
“The retail sector is perhaps most exposed to pressures on household budgets,” Amner said. “It is therefore worrying that almost half of retail respondents are reporting a fall in revenues and profits.
”Supply chain price rise pressures will compound that issue. Consumer demand drives around three-quarters of Scotland's economic growth, so unless the recent falls in real earnings are reversed, there is a risk that the impact could spread to the wider economy.”
The research also found evidence that the low unemployment rate is impacting on businesses' ability to recruit. Staffing difficulties are growing across almost all sectors of the economy.
“Those recruitment pressures underline the need for an early agreement on the rights of existing EU workers to live and work in the UK, and for the UK's future migration policy to be driven by business need,” Amner said.
“We are continuing to hear anecdotal evidence from businesses of a slow but steady drift of EU workers out of the UK. For Scotland, that has to stop if our current recruitment problems are to be reversed.”
Although the survey results are positive overall, Amner added they are not “wildly so”.
“Corporate training investments are being made in the context of tight margins and uncertain times, exposing the punitive nature of the Scottish operation of the Apprenticeship Levy for those paying it,” he said.
“It is time for Governments at all levels to begin planning for the kind of country we want Scotland to be, and investing in assets like world-leading digital connectivity to help businesses grow, rather than placing further cost pressures in the way of growth.”


text:
Retail sales bounced back in May as warmer weather encouraged consumers to spend more both online and on the high street. The Office for National Statistics noted that the quantity of retail sales rose by 0.9% from April and is up 6% on the same time last year.
An online sales growth of 17% year-on-year was recorded in May, the highest increase since June 2015 according to the IMRG Campgemini eRetail Sales Index. Within the ecommerce division, the Index also reported its highest month-on-month growth rate between April and May, the greatest increase for more than ten years. Average basket value rose from £78 in 2015 to £81 in 2016.
In separate figures, the ONS added that the value of online sales gew by 21.5% year-on-year and 6.4% on April.
IMRG further reported that online garden sector sales soared by 55% year-on-year following a 27% year-on-year fall in May 2015. This was in part a result of hotter temperatures, which also aided clothing sales which rose by 24% on last year – the highest annual growth in nearly three years.
Results suggest that the warmer weather brushed aside EU uncertainties and encouraged greater spending.
Spending via smartphones outperformed tablet sales with a growth of 79% and 5% respectively.
“It was great to see the Index recording a solid performance for online retail in May 2016, up by eight per cent on an indifferent April 2016 performance and up 17% on the year. The country experienced record temperatures in May and this was reflected in the performance of the fashion and garden sectors, which both recorded significant growth” said Bhavesh Unadkat, Management Consultant in Retail Customer Engagement Design, Capgemini .
“Uncertainty around the EU referendum doesn‘t appear to have had any impact on the UK e-retail sector, with the latest results from the IMRG Capgemini Index revealing strong growth in online sales during May. It seems the fine weather last month helped boost online clothing sales, with annual growth reaching the highest rate observed in three years, while the garden sector saw a much-needed return to growth after 14 consecutive months of decline, with sales surging 55% compared with May last year” added Tina Spooner, Chief Information Officer at IMRG .
“Year-to-date, online sales have grown 14.5%, well ahead of our 11% growth forecast for 2016, while sales via mobile devices continue to grow at twice the overall market rate.”
Nonetheless, EU uncertainties still remain and could cause retail spending to decline.
“Should the UK vote to leave the EU in next Thursday’s referendum, the strong suspicion is that consumer spending would be severely pressurised for some time as a consequence of increased uncertainty, likely higher unemployment and squeezed purchased power” IHS Global Insight said.


text:
Image from saf.stanford.edu
The service allows any M-Pesa mobile money user to open a virtual account with CBA to start a savings scheme. Users can then borrow money from the bank via their phones.
The product has been embraced fully, with a reported KSh50 million (US$580,000) being borrowed by users in only 21 days of operations.
The ownership of the idea is being disputed in court by Faulu Kenya, a microfinance institution that launched a mobile loan product in partnership with Airtel Money in May this year.
Safaricom has since come out to contest the claims, saying it seeks to “clarify that M-Shwari is a proprietary product of Safaricom Limited which is the successful result of a 2-year product development process.”
Mobile money has been a big success in East Africa, with more banking institutions aiming to see how they can tap into the market and expand their businesses.
Mobile money services have also seen more Kenyans looped into banking and savings plans, with products like MKesho, a product of Equity Bank and Safaricom’s M-Pesa, along with the new product M-Shwari.
M-Pepea, a relatively similar platform to M-Shwari that targets Savings and Credit Co-operative Organization (SACCOs) that are also well endowed in Kenya, was also recently launched. The product does not require a person to start saving in order to qualify for a loan but builds on their current savings schemes in the various savings and credit organisations.


text:
If Wall Street is right, AOL’s acquisition of Netscape, which was formally announced today, bodes well for Microsoft. (Microsoft’s stock is up almost 10 points in two days.) As has been suggested by every pundit out there, the buoyant vision of a Web dominated by AOL doesn’t fit very well with the Justice Department’s insistence that Microsoft has leveraged its operating- system dominance into control of the Internet.
Even if this new deal does make Justice’s case seem somewhat flimsy, though, the allegations against Microsoft of anti-competitive behavior have clearly had a powerful effect on the business press. In yesterday’s New York Times, for example, one article about the AOL-Netscape merger suggested that Microsoft was “likely to react with fury” to the deal, making the company (note to Brill’s Content writers: Microsoft does, in fact, publish Slate, for whatever that’s worth) sound more like a Chinese warlord than a public corporation. Similarly, framing the future of the Web as a contest between AOL and Microsoft only makes sense if you think that Microsoft really is well-established on the Net. The evidence for that is hardly overwhelming.
Finally, and perhaps most amazing, the hunt for possible antitrust violations is apparently now unceasing, even when it comes to companies that are not Microsoft. In the Wall Street Journal today, a writer suggested that AOL plans to keep Internet Explorer as a default browser for its users because adopting Netscape’s Navigator as its browser would raise antitrust concerns.
Can this be serious? Are we now at the point that AOL wouldn’t be able to use its own technology within its own service because that’s somehow depriving consumers of choice? By that logic, AOL should have to offer a series of different graphic designs, and maybe provide a choice of opening screens, as well. No one has to use America Online, and AOL is nothing like a monopoly. I don’t know if AOL wants to use Navigator as its browser, but to suggest that if it does so it’ll be depriving its consumers of some important benefit is the logical, and insane, extreme of everything that’s now being debated in that Washington courtroom.


text:
Just why a lighting retailer would release a report on comfort foods, is not quite clear. But e-conolight pulled it off and earned a media backlink from The Huffington Post.
The results were based on Google Trends search data for 2020, and pulled out facts like “grilled cheese was the most popular comfort food overall and chosen as the top pick in six states”.
Third party data from sources like Google Trends can generate newsworthy facts and figures and e-conolight has done some successful creative thinking. However, it would probably be best to stick to research that is directly relevant to your industry.
Type of Backlinks Story:


text:
WASHINGTON - A Chrysler-Fiat alliance appeared imminent Wednesday as the U.S. automaker neared completion of terms demanded by the Obama administration to continue getting billions of dollars in taxpayer support.
President Barack Obama said he was "very hopeful" that "a viable Chrysler" would emerge from the ongoing government-led restructuring process.
"The details have not yet been finalized so I don't want to jump the gun, but I'm feeling more optimistic than I was about the possibilities of that getting done," he said during Wednesday's news conference.
The developments have eased concerns about Chrysler's near-term survival, analysts said. But Obama cautioned that his administration could still decide to shepherd the company through bankruptcy to prepare it for an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat.
Such court oversight would allow Chrysler to resolve some outstanding issues, such as closing down struggling dealerships and getting many bondholders to take significantly less than they are owed.
Negotiations between the government, Chrysler, Fiat and other stakeholders continued leading up to Thursday's midnight deadline, set by Obama. Chrysler is required to restructure, reduce its long-term debt and find a partner to help the struggling automaker return to profitability.
"Chrysler will survive and avoid liquidation," said a person close to the negotiations, who was not authorized to speak publicly. "Whether that happens in or out of bankruptcy remains uncertain at this point."
The deal would stave off immediate collapse for Chrysler by giving it access to at least $6 billion in government money it needs to survive.
But it's unclear how an alliance with Fiat, which has already tried to sell cars in the U.S. market only to retreat in the mid-1980s, would provide long-term staying.
"They didn't pull out of this market for nothing," Karl Brauer, editor in chief of auto website Edmunds.com, said of Fiat. "When they left, Fiats weren't seen as the greatest cars on the planet by any means."
Not to mention that Americans, when they buy cars at all these days, are putting a lower priority on fuel economy as gas prices remain relatively low.
Under the expected deal, Fiat would get access to Chrysler's dealer network and a 20 percent stake in the company, basically for nothing and with the prospect of billions more in additional government money. Fiat's stake could rise to 35 percent over time.
That prospect may be too juicy for Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne to pass up.
"There's a $6 billon check waiting to be written if these two companies can pretend to make this merger work," Brauer said.
Obama on Wednesday said Chrysler's restructuring plan had made major progress since he rejected it last month, citing "enormous sacrifices" by workers and concessions by some of the major holders of Chrysler's debt. And he reiterated that he wanted Chrysler and General Motors Corporation, which has until June 1 to complete its own restructuring, to be free from government involvement as soon as possible.
"I don't want to run auto companies," he said. "I don't think taxpayers should simply attach an umbilical cord between the U.S. Treasury and the auto companies so that they are constantly getting subsidies. But I do think that helping them restructure at this unique period when ... the market has essentially gone from 14 million down to 9 million (vehicles sold annually in the U.S.), I don't think there's anything inappropriate about that."
Members of the United Auto Workers voted Wednesday on a revised contract that would give the union's retiree healthcare trust a 55 percent stake in Chrysler. The contract was expected to be approved after union leaders recommended its passage.
On Tuesday, Obama's auto task force reached a preliminary deal with four large banks that hold 70 percent of Chrysler's outstanding $6.8 billion in debt. Under the agreement, all of Chrysler's bondholders would exchange their debt for a total of $2 billion in cash with a Fiat alliance closed.
But about 42 other bondholders still must agree to the deal to avoid a bankruptcy filing.
In an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Chrysler Chief Executive Robert Nardelli said he was encouraged by progress in the negotiations to keep the company from failing.
But a deal with Fiat would probably end Nardelli's nearly 2-year tenure as Chrysler CEO. Nardelli told employees this month that the U.S. government and Fiat would appoint a new board of directors for Chrysler, which would appoint a CEO with Fiat's concurrence.
Fiat specializes in small, stylish cars such as the 500, which has been wildly popular in Europe and is seen as a potential competitor to BMW's Mini in the U.S. Standard transmissions and diesel engines are another area of expertise. Unfortunately, analysts said, those strengths don't necessarily translate well to American car buyers.


text:
- Richard Horrell, who has served as interim CEO since June 2022, plans to build on Mozzeria’s trailblazing foundation as a restaurant that offers opportunities for the Deaf community.
- Mozzeria was founded by Melody and Russ Stein in San Francisco, then moved to Washington, D.C., where it has flourished since 2020.
Mozzeria, the renowned Deaf-owned and -operated pizzeria in Washington, D.C., has named Richard Horrell its new CEO after his success as interim CEO since June, the company announced this week. Horrell will succeed Ryan Maliszewski in the role.
According to a press release, Maliszewski’s “impact and accomplishments on the Mozzeria community will be long-lasting and unforgettable.” Horrell plans to “build upon Mozzeria’s trailblazing foundation, overseeing its strategic growth by creating more equitable spaces and more opportunities for positive representation of the Deaf community.”
Horrell is a hard-of-hearing member of the Deaf community with more than 20 years of experience spanning law, business and education. Before accepting the role of Mozzeria CEO, he was a senior program operations manager for CSD Social Venture Fund (CSD SVF), a venture capital firm dedicated to funding Deaf-owned businesses. There, Horrell worked closely with Deaf business owners to ensure stability in their operations and prepare them to expand their businesses.
“As I humbly and gratefully step into this role, I recognize that Mozzeria is not solely about pizza or profit,” Horrell said. “I believe the real work we are doing is about raising up the community. It’s about equity. I believe that Mozzeria, more than anything else, can be a place where Deaf and hard-of-hearing people can look and see their peers modeling excellence.”
Chris Soukup, president of Mozzeria’s board, said Horrell has already had “such a positive impact on Mozzeria” as interim CEO and through his work with CSD SVF. “We are certain that his diverse professional background uniquely positions him to continue to lead the growth of the Mozzeria brand. We are excited for what the future holds.”
Featured in the September 2019 issue of PMQ Pizza Magazine, Mozzeria was founded by Melody and Russ Stein in 2011 in San Francisco, becoming the city’s first-ever Deaf-owned restaurant with an all-Deaf staff, and it has continued making history ever since. The pizzeria quickly received global acclaim for its Neapolitan pies by the International Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Six years later, Mozzeria partnered with CSD SVF in hopes of expanding nationwide.
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mozzeria closed its brick-and-mortar store in San Francisco in November 2020, but the company had already opened its new location in Washington, D.C. in the partnership with CSD SVF. The D.C. location has continued to flourish, despite the challenges of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Mozzeria operates mobile pizzeria units in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In November 2021, Melody Stein cofounded MxT 2510, a California-based sustainable fashion company, with her daughter, Taysia Stein.
CSD SVF is one of the only venture capital firms in the world supporting Deaf entrepreneurs and Deaf-owned and operated businesses. CSD SVF provides equity investments to Deaf-led businesses that exemplify CSD’s values: enhancing Deaf economic power, employing Deaf people, and creating social change.
“As Mozzeria grows,” Horrell said, “we are gifted with more opportunities to create equitable spaces and model Deaf excellence, showing that Deaf people are capable of anything we set our minds to.”


text:
Airwallex Launches Online Card Payment Acceptance Solution in Hong Kongby Fintech News Hong Kong May 20, 2021
Airwallex, a cross border payment company, announced the launch of its online card payment acceptance solution in Hong Kong, allowing local merchants to accept online card payments made around the world using Visa and Mastercard.
As a principal member of Visa and Mastercard, Airwallex’s online card payments solution enables Hong Kong merchants to receive online payments from users everywhere, and allows for them to optimise working capital flow.
The introduction of Airwallex’s online card payments solution in Hong Kong follows the debut of the same service in the UK and Europe in September 2020, and is a step towards building its own global, cloud-based online payments platform.
On top of accepting more than 120 currencies available on Visa and Mastercard’s network, the payments firm enables merchants to directly receive funds in multiple currencies in their Airwallex accounts without additional costs.
Further exchange to other currencies are then possible at the mid-market rate with a small margin, as well as repatriating funds back to home markets at a very low fee.
Airwallex said that the entire end-to-end process for the merchants is made simpler, more cost-effective and quicker, while also ensuring the margins and fees are fully transparent.
Founded in 2015 in Melbourne, and headquartered in Hong Kong, Airwallex has grown to become a global fintech platform that is supported by a team of over 650 employees across 13 global offices.
Earlier in March, Airwallex also announced an extended Series D fundraising round, raising its total amount of equity funds raised to over US$500 million, and nearly tripling its valuation to US$2.6 billion in the past two years.
Kai Wu, Greater China CEO of Airwallex said,
“Our new online card payments solution means merchants in Hong Kong can now accept payments online via Visa and Mastercard, enjoy favorable currency exchange rates and make payouts seamlessly through a single platform.
This makes Airwallex a truly viable solution for businesses and especially the many tech startups and e-commerce merchants that operate in Hong Kong, Asia and around the world.”
Featured image credit: edited from Unsplash


text:
SAN FRANCISCO—Foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) said Friday (Oct. 7) that sales declined in September after being lifted by rush orders in August.
TSMC said its consolidated net sales for September amounted to NT$ 33.41 billion (about $1.1 billion), down 11.3 percent from August and down 11.2 percent from September 2010. Consolidated revenues for January through September totaled NT$322.37 billion (about $10.6 billion), an increase of 4.2 percent compared to the same period in 2010, TSMC (Hsinchu, Taiwan) said.
On an unconsolidated basis, excluding joint ventures, TSMC reported September sales of about NT$32.86 billion (about $1.08 billion), down 11.3 percent from August and down 10.3 percent compared to September 2010. TSMC said its unconsolidated revenue through September was up 5 percent compared to the same period of 2010.
Last month, TSMC reported that its sales in August rose on a sequential and annual basis due to an influx of last-minute rush orders that the company said was unlikely to persist into the fourth quarter.
I have heard that booking of electronics goods is not up to the expectation. It apparently will lead likely the decline of production chips, affecting the sales of both TSMC and UMC. However, the news indicate there is a decline 25 years-over-years. What's then the implication?
The year-over-year Sept sales comparison is certainly worrisome but with so much going on in the world economy, I tend to look at this as not-so-bad news! EU is facing tough choices with Greece (soon Spain & Portugal?) which has thrown uncertainties in many businesses either postponing their orders or outright cancelling.
January 2016 Cartoon Caption ContestBob's punishment for missing his deadline was to be tied to his chair tantalizingly close to a disconnected cable, with one hand superglued to his desk and another to his chin, while the pages from his wall calendar were slowly torn away.122 comments


text:
Neil Young Announces The Launch Of Hi-Fi Music Service PonoMusic
Rocker Neil Young has announced the the quality of digital music is about to get a lot better.
Young has been very vocal about his dislike for the way digital music sounds, and he is now set to bring the best-sounding music to the digital age through new online music service PonoMusic.
"It's about the music, real music," Young said in a statement. "We want to move digital music into the 21st century and PonoMusic does exactly that. We couldn't be more excited about bringing PonoMusic to the market."
PonoMusic will involve an online store, desktop media management program and a physical plaback device called the PonoPlayer. PonoMusic will offer the best quality digital music from major and independent labels.
"Our goal was to offer the highest quality digital music available from all the major labels with the world's greatest sounding, user-friendly portable music player," PonoMusic's CEO John Hamm said. "We've achieved our goal and we are excited to launch our Kickstarter campaign next week to invite music lovers everywhere to join the PonoMusic community and reserve a PonoPlayer for their own enjoyment,"
The PonoPlayer will play "master-quality digital music at the highest audio fidelity possible."
The service isn't quite live yet, and PonoMusic is currently working on getting more record labels on board.
The player, which includes 128GB of memory, will set users back about 400 bucks and be available for pre-order on Kickstarter.com beginning March 15 at a discounted price. No official release date for the player has been announced yet. Other products will be released on PonoMusic.com.


text:
20 Dec 2017 12:20
Google surprised many of us earlier this year by announcing that it will be adding an ad blocker element to its Chrome browser. The search giant that has made its billions thanks to advertisements realized that it can't stop people from using ad blockers.
Obviously Chrome's native ad blocker is not going to work quite like the rest of them. It will block all the advertisements from a single page if it has even one obtrusive ad. So it basically tries to block ads from sites with obtrusive ads, not ads in general. There are no exceptions for Google's own ads.
Now Google has revealed that the new feature will enter the Chrome pipeline in just a couple of months. Previously it has been unclear in what update the ad blocker will be enabled, but now Google says that it will start the rollout in February.
Chrome version 64 will be released in late January and version 65 in early March, so the ad blocker will be deployed somewhere in the middle. The launch will be gradual, and Google probably wants to make sure it doesn't lose too much ad revenue due to the new feature before adding it worldwide.


text:
Vaping advocates hope proposed legislation doesn’t send their businesses up in smoke.
Vape shop owners and smoke free advocates say their industry helps saves lives every year by keeping people off cigarettes.
They say vaping is different from tobacco and should not be included with legislation that limits tobacco usage.
A bill making its way through the Illinois State Senate would include e-cigarettes as tobacco products in the Tobacco Products Tax Act.
Vaping businesses say if the bill is passed, their shops will suffer.
“It’s hard to see it as anything other than an attack on your business,” said Jon Sharpe, Operations Manager of Upper Limits Vapes and Glass. “When your products are going be more expensive than retailers doing business outside the state of Illinois, that’s a scary thing.”
Last week, Senate President John Cullerton called on lawmakers to triple the governor’s cigarette tax proposal.
Governor Pritzker says he supports Cullerton’s plan and looks forward to negotiating with lawmakers.


text:
Genius Group (NYSE American: GNS), a leading entrepreneur edtech and education group, today announced that its redeemable discount coupons (“NFTs”) are now available for shareholders of record as of Feb. 28, 2023, to claim on Upstream’s trading app. Upon a successful claim, shareholders may redeem the NFT for iGEMs on Genius Group’s platform, GeniusU equivalent to $10 per share. “By incorporating Upstream’s Web3 digital coupons into our strategy, we aim to provide our shareholders with first-hand experience of our products, which we hope will convert them into proud customers and brand ambassadors, driving additional engagement, revenue and sales to our company,” said Genius Group CEO Roger Hamilton.
To view the full press release, visit https://nnw.fm/w7UsI
About Genius Group
Genius Group is a world-leading entrepreneur edtech and education group, with a mission to disrupt the current education model with a student-centered, life-long learning curriculum that prepares students with the leadership, entrepreneurial and life skills to succeed in today’s market. The group has a user base of 4.3 million in 200 countries, ranging from ages 0 to 100. For more information, visit www.GeniusGroup.net.
NetworkNewsWire (NNW) is an information service that provides (1) access to our news aggregation and syndication servers, (2) NetworkNewsBreaks that summarize corporate news and information, (3) enhanced press release services, (4) social media distribution and optimization services, and (5) a full array of corporate communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and content distribution company with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, NNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. NNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today’s market, NNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NNW is where news, content and information converge.
To receive SMS text alerts from NetworkNewsWire, text “STOCKS” to 77948 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.networknewswire.com
New York, New York
NetworkNewsWire is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.


text:
MLB The Show 13 – San Francisco Giants Player Rankings & Ratings
The eagerly anticipated MLB The Show 13 is set to release in just a few days – but that hasn’t stopped fans of the annual video game franchise from scouring the internet for news on the always popular title – myself included.
Thankfully, ChrisJohnson83 of Operation Sports was happy to appease the news seekers.
The Operation Sports poster was given an early release of the retail version of the game and was kind enough to list every teams ratings across the Major League’s a few days ago and followed it up by releasing screenshots of every player’s ratings.
The Show hasn’t always been the most accurate in terms of giving players or teams accurate ratings – which can be seen by the Giants’ suspect overall team ranking of 17th, but, people still clamor to see what the numbers are.
And yes, Conor Gillaspie is on the roster despite being traded a few days ago – no official roster update has launched obviously, so he’ll be removed upon the first update. Though, let’s be honest – it would be very Giants of you to keep him around, just for the sake of it. Kind of like a sick game of cat and mouse, or as I like to refer to it “Being Brandon Belt-ed”.
The Show comes out Tuesday for those interested in attempting to have the Giants repeat, in a virtual setting.


text:
Posted Tue Nov 29, 2011 at 06:00 AM PST by Tom Landy
All twelve episodes of the brand-new season of Mike Judge's iconic animated series are coming to high-definition in February.
In an early announcement to retailers, Paramount Home Entertainment and MTV have revealed 'Beavis & Butt-Head: Volume 4' will be released on Blu-ray on February 14.
Beavis and Butt-Head, America's favorite culture critics, are back. They now have more than just music videos to make fun of: Reality TV, the Internet, and Ultimate Fighting will all be crossing their TV screen! Brought back by creator Mike Judge, Beavis and Butt-Head are dumber than ever!
Specs and supplements have yet to be revealed, but suggested list price is $26.98.
You can find the latest specs for 'Beavis & Butt-Head: Volume 4' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under February 14.
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.


text:
Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud today announced the members of the search committee for the University’s new chief financial officer (CFO). The new CFO will report directly to the Chancellor and provide strategic leadership for critical finance and administrative functions….
Tyson Beckford Comes to University
On Wednesday, March 2, the Delta Beta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi will present the first installment of the Executive Series: A Night with Tyson Beckford.
Beckford is a fashion icon, model and actor. He will be speaking on his experiences as a minority in the fashion industry as well as his transition into media from a Ralph Lauren model. The event is free for all SU/ESF students, faculty and staff. It will begin at 7:11 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel.


text:
A heat wave washed over Las Vegas just in time for the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon event May 20-23 — and the mood inside the Las Vegas Convention Center was just as elevated.
“I am very bullish on this year’s RECon,” said Andy Graiser, co-president of A&G Realty Partners, Melville, N.Y. “Growth is becoming evident in most all categories, and it’s smart growth.”
The dollar stores are continuing their aggressive expansion, said Graiser, and “we are seeing strategic growth from discounters such as T.J. Maxx, temporary concepts like Spirit Halloween, companies such as Pier 1 Imports, auto supply retailers, c-stores Wawa and Sheetz, and even some of the junior boxes like Bed Bath & Beyond and Target – although not at the rate we’ve seen before.
“Generally, I am bullish on where a lot of the growth is,” he said.
In the shopping-center arena, talk of growth was largely centered around the outlet format. Glimcher Realty Trust unveiled its Outlet Collection > brand at RECon, and announced it would apply the new branding to two of its existing outlet properties — Jersey Gardens, which will become The Outlet Collection — Jersey Gardens, and SuperMall in Auburn, Wash., which will be reformatted into a purely outlet center and renamed The Outlet Collection — Seattle.
Renovations at the New Jersey property (located near Newark, N.J., and New York City) are slated to begin this summer, and Seattle will launch Phase 1 construction this fall. “The Outlet Collection better reflects the upscale tenants at these properties and opens up new options for value-priced retailers looking to grow in the next 12 to 24 months,” said Michael Glimcher, CEO, Columbus, Ohio-based Glimcher.
Redevelopments were also fully on display at RECon 2012, and it wasn’t just the large or glamorous projects that were garnering attention. Levin Management Corp., North Plainfield, N.J., was showcasing its Hamilton (N.J.) Plaza redevelopment, anchored by a newly expanded ShopRite supermarket and featuring a façade renovation, new signage, a revamped circulation pattern to optimize traffic flow, as well as the addition of an endcap and two pad sites. “It’s been a good first half of the year for us in terms of leasing,” said Matt Harding, CEO. Levin is in lease discussions for the new 10,000-sq.-ft. endcap location at Hamilton Plaza.
While the overall mood at RECon 2012 was certainly positive, there is room for improvement.
“I think the amount of booth vacancies was telling,” said Jason Baker, X Team International partner and co-founder/principal of Baker Katz. That temperance applies to his home base of Houston, as well. “I only saw one new site plan [at RECon] of any real scale for the Houston market,” Baker said. “I think that really speaks to the appetite for deals from larger retailers. I do think new development will happen in Houston, but it seems to be moving at a much slower pace than I would have expected.”


text:
You must have an Automotive Newssubscription to view the digital edition
Click here to subscribe
Smart is presenting its vision for future transport with the Vision EQ autonomous EV concept. The concept is based on the ForTwo microcar and will be unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show.
Daimler AG will stop selling gasoline-powered Smart cars in the U.S. and Canada later this year and will convert the microcar brand to an electric vehicle-only endeavor.
Automotive NewsJobs Board
Get 24/7 access to in-depth, authoritative coverage of the auto industry from a global team of reporters and editors covering the news that's vital to your business.
Sign up today to get the best of Automotive News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we'll deliver.
Entire contents © Crain Communications, Inc.
Use of editorial content without permission is strictly prohibited. All Rights Reserved.


text:
China’s grand dream of a maritime Silk Road for the 21st Century is paving the way for Chinese port operators to spread their way of conducting domestic business beyond Chinese borders.
Liebherr to deliver 4 ship to shore cranes and 18 rubber tyre gantry cranes to Transnet Port Terminals in South Africa.
APM Terminals Apapa Named “Best Terminal Operator of the Year” at Nigerian Maritime Excellence Awards
10 Apr 2015
Merchant ship operators have joined with seafarers’ unions urging European Union member states to take immediate action to curb the growing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, which they say is putting crews and schedule reliability at risk.
08 Apr 2015
Part of an ongoing effort to capture more of the emerging African market, CMA CGM Wednesday announced the opening of a new corridor to inland destinations in Gabon on the West African coast.
08 Apr 2015
The first consignment of South African apples ever shipped to China is on the water and will arrive in Shanghai on May 2 following eight years of negotiations between the two countries over access to the giant Chinese market.
07 Apr 2015
The term “One Belt One Road” has invaded reports on China trade over the past few weeks, with Beijing officials rarely missing a chance to extol the virtues of the regional initiative that brings together the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road developments aimed at linking China with Europe and Africa, and the countries in between.
31 Mar 2015
Shippers out of Cameroon's largest port are reporting nearly month-long delays, and at least one container line has said it will begin imposing emergency congestion surcharges.
30 Mar 2015
The Egyptian government expects to meet its goal of completing the $4 billion widening of the Suez Canal within a year, allowing shippers to access a second channel by August.
26 Mar 2015
The Nigerian government has closed its ports, including Lagos, and land borders, and won’t open them until midnight Saturday to allow for “the peaceful conduct of the (presidential) elections.”
18 Mar 2015
Truck drivers employed by Agility in Kenya ended a strike and are back at work, the company said, after a Kenyan court issued an order calling the strike “unlawful, and therefore unprotected.”
17 Mar 2015
Truck drivers employed by Agility Logistics in Kenya are protesting long working hours and lack of union representation, allegedly disrupting traffic on a key trade corridor that connects the Port of Mombasa to inland markets in Uganda and other nations.
26 Feb 2015
Militants loyal to ISIS could bring Somali-style piracy to the Mediterranean, threatening the world’s largest trade lane, European officials warn.