text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Applause hires ReadWrite's Dan Rowinski to lead online content strategy
(Page 2 of 2)
The latest moves are part of Applause's move to enter the enterprise market. Earlier this month, the company announced a partnership with IBM that will have the two companies co-developing mobile app quality products.
In addition to acting as a crowdsourced app testing service, Applause provides tools to analyze how an app is doing in the Apple App Store and in the Google Play store. The company also provides a feedback tool so app users can give feedback that is sent back to the app's creator.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most viewed
- Most Emailed
- Streetwear e-commerce firm Karmaloop positions to sell company
- These Boston museums have banned the selfie stick
- Former NFL cheerleader, chemical engineer launches toothpaste startup
- Why you shouldn’t read too much into the latest Vertex trial results
- Biogen shortens name as it prepares to focus on Alzheimer's drug
- Biogen data reignites debate over Alzheimer's as investors back off (Video)
Mass High Tech Twitter
Email Newsletter Signup
Choose newsletter(s) you would like to receive.
- Software maker eyeQ raises $1.2M seed financing
- 'If we were in Silicon Valley, we'd be a unicorn:' Why this tech startup's hanging tough in Charlotte, NC
- HomeAdvisor provides instant connection to contractors
- Weighing the impact of the Kleiner vs. Pao sexism trial
- For women engineers, it’s about fixing the workplace, not self-confidence
- Oren Etzioni takes up Paul Allen’s challenge to make machines learn


text:
As a major retailer announces the requirement for brewers to have a recall plan in place, the Independent Brewers Association has created a Beer Recall Information Pack and Recall Plan to help brewers comply with Australian beer recall requirements.
Join us during Good Beer Week at the Cryer Malt Trade Hub on Wednesday, May 15 as we host a discussion on product and packaging recalls.
Pete and Matt are back from their road trip and get stuck into the beer news of the week including: Why smaller is better as craft beer booms and experts advise brewers on product recall liability.
The dangers of product packaging and quality control were highlighted again this week when a bar manager ended up in hospital for treatment following an incident with an exploding can.
A recent spate of beer product recalls has prompted experts to highlight the need for breweries to be prepared for when things go wrong.
Melbourne’s Moon Dog Craft Brewery issued a product recall notice last Friday for its Son of a Plum 330ml bottles with best before dates 15/08/2019, 16/08/2019 and 06/09/2019.
Newstead Brewing Co today announced it will withdraw all current Johnno Apple Cider 375ml cans from national, independent & regional stores.

domain: news


text:
Technology Briefing | Hardware: Seagate Forecasts Revenue Above Estimates
Published: September 8, 2004
Seagate Technology, the nation's top maker of hard drives used to store data in computers, forecast quarterly revenue yesterday that was above Wall Street estimates on strong demand for storage for larger business computers. The company, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., whose shares jumped as much as 11 percent in early trading, said sales of enterprise storage products appeared stronger than expected in the quarter ending Oct. 1, more than offsetting disappointing demand for desktop computer products. Assuming typical demand patterns for the month of September, it forecast a profit of 6 cents to 8 cents a share for the quarter, before restructuring charges but including an $18 million one-time gain from discontinuing a retirement and medical plan it had been subsidizing. Seagate forecast revenue of $1.48 billion to $1.52 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of $1.47 billion as compiled by Reuters. Seagate lowered its forecast for the overall market for desktop computing storage products to 47 million to 48 million units, down from its July forecast of 50 million. Seagate shares rose 45 cents, to $12.32.
Graph tracks the daily closing price of Seagate Technology shares for the week.


text:
|Page (1) of 1 - 02/23/12||email article||print page|
To close tax loopholes, Obama would open new ones to benefit manufacturers over other firms
WASHINGTON (AP) ' Cutting corporate tax rates and deleting loopholes is just what most economists prescribe for the tangled U.S. tax code.
So why isn't everyone cheering the plan President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday to slash the top corporate tax rate and end breaks that let some companies pay little or nothing in taxes?
Economists note that Obama's plan would upturn the very playing field the administration says it wants to level. It would give manufacturers preferential treatment: Tax breaks would effectively cap their rate at 25 percent. Other companies would pay up to 28 percent.
The current top corporate tax rate is 35 percent.
Some say such varying rates can distort the economy by diverting investment into some industries and away from others that might pack a bigger economic punch.
"The administration is not making sense," says Martin Sullivan, contributing editor at publisher Tax Analysts. "The whole idea of corporate tax reform is to get rid of loopholes, and this plan is adding loopholes back in."
Other economists oppose a separate plank of the Obama plan: a minimum tax on foreign earnings of U.S. multinational companies. No other country imposes such a tax on its companies, they note. U.S. businesses would face a competitive disadvantage.
Facing resistance from Republicans and many businesses, Obama's plan is in any case a longshot proposal so close to Election Day.
"For anything that Obama recommends during an election year and with a divided Congress, the best one can say is, 'Good luck,'" says Henry Aaron, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. "Those who stand to lose are really upset and will work hard to defeat it."
Just about everybody agrees something has to change. When Japan enacts a corporate tax cut in April, the United States will be left with the highest tax rate in the developed world.
That puts the U.S. companies that actually pay the official corporate tax rate at a disadvantage against their foreign competitors. (Many U.S. companies effectively pay lower rates because of tax breaks.)
The loophole-riddled U.S. tax code now benefits numerous industries over others. One tax break, for example, lets oil companies write off drilling costs immediately instead of over time, as most businesses must.
In the end, different industries can pay far different effective rates. The Treasury Department says U.S. utility companies pay an average effective tax rate of 14 percent. By contrast, retailers pay an average 31 percent.
The administration says the point of its tax plan is to make the system fairer and more efficient ' not to squeeze more overall tax revenue from corporations. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner calls the current tax code "fundamentally unfair." But the administration also needs to end some loopholes to help pay for a lower corporate tax rate.
The White House argues that tax breaks for manufacturers could ultimately pay off for the economy. When factories expand, for example, the benefits tend to spill into other businesses: Shipping companies and warehouses must add jobs, too, to transport and store the goods that manufacturers are producing.
Economists also note that manufacturers account for a disproportionate amount of the research and development that create innovative products and new ways of doing business. The National Science Foundation has found that manufacturing companies are nearly three times likelier to introduce a new or significantly improved product than other companies are.
"Does manufacturing deserve special treatment? This is a hot debate," says Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the Industrial Performance Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "A case can be made that there's a reason to encourage more manufacturing in the United States because of its links to innovation."
Other economists say that argument is overstated. Among the skeptics is Obama's own former economic adviser, Christina Romer, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In a column this month in The New York Times, Romer argued that there was no economic justification for the government to favor manufacturers over service-oriented companies.
"Our earnings from exporting architectural plans for a building in Shanghai are as real as those from exporting cars to Canada," Romer wrote.
Analysts are also divided over Obama's plans to impose a minimum tax on companies' foreign earnings.
Sullivan of Tax Analysts says the current system allows some companies ' especially technology and pharmaceutical firms ' to avoid U.S. taxes by shifting their earnings to tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Other multinationals can indefinitely avoid paying U.S. taxes by keeping their earnings overseas.
Lacking such tax breaks, companies that do all their business in the United States suffer a competitive disadvantage.
The minimum tax proposal, Sullivan says, "would level the playing field."
But big U.S. companies complain that they already pay taxes to foreign governments on the income they earn in those countries. A U.S. tax on that income, they argue, would amount to double taxation.
That would raise costs for U.S. companies operating overseas, making them less competitive. Instead, the United States should move toward a "territorial" tax system, business groups argue. Tax would apply only to income earned within the United States.
"No other developed country imposes such a 'minimum tax' on the foreign earnings of their corporations," said the Business Roundtable, a trade group of chief executives of large U.S. companies.
Some economists agree.
The minimum tax proposal for international earnings "is totally misguided both from a competitive standpoint and a jobs standpoint," said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "Obama's plan, if enacted, will shrink the U.S. footprint in world markets and lose jobs."


text:
PlatinumGames was developing the upcoming PS4 game Granblue Fantasy Relink for Cygames but the company announced that it finished its contract on the work.
First, here’s a message from PlatinumGames:
While we, PlatinumGames, have been working with Cygames in co-development of the upcoming console game Granblue Fantasy: Relink, we officially announce our contract on the project has come to an end. Development will still continue, but be handled solely by Cygames’ internal development team.
We would like to express our thanks to everyone who has shown interest in the project, and ask that the same support should continue for Granblue Fantasy: Relink as its production continues forward.
Here’s a message from Cygames regarding the development change of Granblue Fantasy: Relink:
Tokyo-based video game publisher and developer Cygames, Inc. (HQ: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President: Koichi Watanabe, hereinafter referred as “Cygames”) has recently been engaged in the co-development of the upcoming console game Granblue Fantasy: Relink together with esteemed developer PlatinumGames Inc.
Going forward, Cygames will handle 100% of development internally.
Cygames would like to assure everyone looking forward to the title that we remain committed to delivering a game that meets the expectation of our fan-base and gamers everywhere.
Granblue Fantasy Relink is in development for PlayStation 4. You can check out its latest trailer, screenshots, and details in our previous report, more from its director Tetsuya Fukuhara about multiplayer, playable characters, and a possible PC release here.


text:
LIHU‘E — The rains came and went and the winds were blowing Thursday at Kukui Grove Center, where Sienna Agpaoa of Claire’s was finalizing the placement of Valentine’s Day decorations in the store’s window.
“Do you remember when the act of giving a card meant something?” Melany Theis asked. “That’s what Melissa McFerrin-Warrack wanted to bring back. It’s the thought and love that is behind Valentine’s Day, not how much something costs.”
Theis is the owner of
NegiKauai, one of the vendors setting up for the “Gift from the Heart” pop-up that opens today and continues all weekend at the center’s former Zales Jewelry store.
Highlighting the vendor lineup is a series of make-and-take activities, with a highlight activity each of the three days the love-thoughts marketplace will be at the center.
“It’s about personalization,” Theis said. “Every vendor has something to personalize what is purchased. It’s about the thought behind what is going to be given.”
Today’s highlight craft involves designing a bag tag, spearheaded by NegiKauai, a vendor offering T-shirts, stationary and other small gift items. There will also be a succulent potting station offered by Sweet.Aloha.Succulents.
“There is a wide range of pricing,” Theis said. “We want to appeal to everyone’s budget, keiki to adult.”
Saturday’s activities center around micro terrarium charms created with crystals and sea glass, led by Obessed with Crystals 808. This is a limited-supply event, and is at no charge.
Sunday’s activities center around love potions — room sprays and air freshener, starting at 11 a.m., led by Oil Love Kaua‘i. Additionally, there is a chocolate sugar scrub, mini bouquet, and card that will start at 2 p.m., led by Jen Ortal of Bouquets, Leis, Etc.
The pop-up will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
“The offerings are being added to as we speak,” Theis said. “We’ve already having someone do other activities to what is put on Friday’s schedule. There is something for almost everyone.”
Participating vendors, and this is subject to change as well as vendors being available on all three days, include CnH Jewelry; Bouquets, Leis, Etc.; NegiKauai; Usborne Books; Maddy &Addy’s Animals; Allora Bazaar; The Kokoleka Collective; Oil Love Kaua‘i; Lularo Grace Kim; CocoLove; The ‘Iwa Company; Sweet.Aloha.Succulents; and Obsessed with Crystals 808.
McFerrin-Warrack said the pop-up for Valentine’s Day coincides with the opening of the Third annual Kaua‘i Ocean Fest that gets underway with opening ceremonies today at 5 p.m.
Source: The Garden Island
Be First to Comment


text:
Called "Airplane," the ad is running as part of Facebook's first-ever television campaign across U.S. network and cable programming, according to Katie Hull, a spokesperson for Wieden+Kennedy Portland, the advertising agency behind the ad. "Airplane" shows a businessman who is able to inject a little excitement into an otherwise uneventful plane ride by connecting with friends through Facebook Home. Check out the entire 60-second spot, above.
Facebook's campaign launched Saturday in an online post, as well as during the NCAA March Madness's Final Four games on CBS.
The social network unveiled its first ad for Home on Thursday. More ads are slated for release "in the coming weeks," Hull said.
What do you think of "Airplane"? Tell us in the comments, below.
Screenshot image courtesy of Facebook


text:
In the video, posted to TikTok by user TheTrashWalker, several damaged Coach bags allegedly obtained by dumpster diving are displayed. The user alleges that the bags have been deliberately “slashed” by store employees as a company “policy.”
Coach responded to the video in a statement posted to Instagram, stressing its commitment to sustainability.
“We have now ceased destroying in-store returns of damaged and unsalable goods and are dedicated to maximizing such product reuse in our Coach (Re)Loved and other circularity programs,” the brand said.
View this post on Instagram
The company said that it donated products “valued at over $55 million USD” and pledged to continue to implement sustainable solutions to disposing of and repurposing its goods.
In a statement to Business of Fashion, the company added that most of its damaged products that are destroyed represent only about 1% of its units globally.
Coach is not the only luxury brand found to destroy unsellable merchandise. In 2018, Burberry was reported to have destroyed unsold clothing, accessories and perfume that totaled up to $38 million USD.


text:
“Eatertainment” was supposed to be the runaway restaurant trend of 2020, with people flocking to adult arcades and participatory sports venues, such as Topgolf, where they could congregate in large groups and roam freely in unconfined spaces.
So much for that.
Under gathering restrictions intended to contain the coronavirus, the only kind of eatertainment most Americans these days are experiencing is Netflix and takeout. But new data suggests most of them aren’t in any hurry to return to the previous model, which doesn’t conform to their current notions of safe social distance.
According to surveys conducted by food research firm Datassential, food courts and food halls are also poised to take a hit as diners seek out places where they’ll have limited contact with strangers.
Georgia, the only state thus far to establish a reopening date for dine-in restaurants, hasn’t issued guidelines for full-service operations, but California Gov. Gavin Newsom has suggested mandated practices in his state could include disposable menus, reduced seating capacity and temperature checks at the door.
Of those measures, reduced seating capacity is by far the most popular with prospective diners, Datassential found. More than 80 percent of people surveyed said they would accept rules keeping guests at least 6 feet apart, requiring guests to sanitize their hands upon entering the restaurant and preventing patrons from standing at the bar.
By contrast, only 65 percent of respondents said they would be understanding if a restaurant offered a mobile or chalkboard menu exclusively. And just over half of the diners said they’d be sympathetic if a restaurant demanded its guests wear masks while not eating or drinking.
“What we don’t have our heads wrapped around yet is requiring guests to wear masks,” Brandau said. “That’s a bit of a tougher ask right now.”
Still, diners generally like the idea of masked servers, which Brandau characterized as surprising “given how much more we distrust other people.” Datassential found 46 percent of diners do not trust fellow diners at all.
“But it’s all incredibly nuanced, right?” he said.
For instance, Nation’s Restaurant News senior editor Ron Ruggless said, a restaurant in Shanghai has shifted to tableside sanitation, making a show of dipping cutlery before giving it to a guest. While the theatrics don’t necessarily make the utensils cleaner, guests might find the optics reassuring.
Yet the question remains if people will return to restaurants to witness such safety displays. Datassential found 8 percent to 10 percent of eaters plan to stick with curbside pickup once restaurants reopen. About the same percentage of people surveyed said they may never dine at a restaurant again.
Still, 67 percent of people indicated they “will dine in cautiously.”
As to when they’ll start doing so, 17 percent of people say only when there have been “no new cases in the U.S. for a while.” Another 16 percent are waiting on a proven vaccine.
Brandau speculated few of them are likely to make a beeline for buffets, “which will have a pretty long road to recovery.” They’re also not especially keen to watch the game at a sports bar or “splurge on a fine dining meal,” despite only 14 percent of people citing finances as what would keep them from dining out after May 1.
What could draw people back into the restaurant sphere is coffee. One of the signs of normalcy that people miss, Brandau said, is the habit of grabbing a cup on the way to work in the morning.


text:
When big publicly held companies snapped up local heating, cooling and plumbing companies in the late 1990s, Tom Godby thought he needed to get on board.
"I didn't want to miss that tidal wave of change," he said.
Godby was the sole owner of Godby Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning LLC, which had been in the Indianapolis market for three decades when Godby sold it to American Residential Services in 1997.
But instead of being the industry's new face, the national conglomerates struggled to integrate the businesses they bought and service suffered. All three that entered the Indianapolis market went private after stock prices faltered.
That industry churn left a void with both customers and suppliers looking for a local firm they knew and trusted. And that worked out well for Godby.
After the 1997 sale, Godby, 63, tried retirement, but he didn't like it. So in October 2004—well after his three-year non-compete agreement expired—he lined up partners and got back into the heating and cooling business. "I kept hearing stories about needs and wants from customers," Godby recalled. "I said, 'Maybe there's a tremendous opportunity here.'"
He and three co-owners resurrected the company, calling it Godby Heating and Air Conditioning LLC, with some rented warehouse space, no tools, no inventory of systems to install and no trucks. They quickly ramped up, buying 28 trucks in the first year.
From there it has grown to an expected $17 million in sales this year and more than 100 employees. That's easily twice the size of the company Godby sold.
Even as the owners were hanging out the new company's shingle, former employees starting pulling up in their technician trucks, asking if Godby was hiring.
"Indianapolis is a pretty small town and it didn't take long for word to get out," Godby said. The company grew to $5.8 million in revenue by 2005 and more than doubled that by 2007.
"We were dead-on about the pent-up demand in the market," said company President Craig Todd, who also is a co-owner.
Customers, from individual homeowners to home builders, asked Godby about getting into other service lines. In June 2005, the company hired one plumber. In January 2006, it added an electrician. Now, with 12 electricians and 18 plumbers on staff, those sidelines contribute more than $5 million of the company's revenue.
These days, the company is only a parttime gig for Godby, who also owns stakes in several other companies, including Godby Group, a development and construction firm, and Godby Redevelopment Co., which focuses on charter schools and student housing. He leaves day-to-day management of the core business to others.
The other local home-services companies that were snapped up in the industry consolidation still operate as divisions of the national giants, making Godby's reentry stand out here.
But it's fairly common for entrepreneurs to sell a business and then reconsider, experts said.
"They are successful in building up a company and often they can't find something to do that's as satisfying as that," said Andrew McNeil, a partner at locally based Bose McKinney & Evans LLP law firm who specializes in labor and employment. "You can't keep that entrepreneurial spirit tied down playing golf."
Often it's that threat that makes buyers include non-compete clauses in purchase contracts; Godby, for example, agreed to stay out of the heating and cooling business for three years.
If a person's name recognition survives that gap, re-entry is possible, but experts said companies have to be prepared to tackle any questions the original sale left in customers' minds.
"You build up a relationship with the customer that you've basically given to somebody else," said Michael Goldsby, an entrepreneurship professor at Ball State University. "People may wonder what the long-term sustainability of the new company may be."
If there's a clear plan to let consumers know the new business' ownership structure and that it will survive the retirement of any one owner, those risks can be mitigated.
Although Godby doesn't keep regular hours at the heating and cooling business, he thinks customers see him enough to know the company has his attention as well as his name. He said his team hires good people then "gets out of the way."
"I think I have re-defined retirement by doing what I want to do when I want to do it," Godby said.
By returning to an area of expertise, the entrepreneur also can capitalize on spinoff businesses because he knows niche areas of demand, McNeil said.
Indeed, that's what is driving Godby's next moves. The company has launched window-replacement, roofing and siding divisions in the hopes of becoming the energy-efficiency contractor of choice for homeowners.
Now when workers install a high-efficiency furnace, for example, the company recommends other measures to keep heating bills low. It's a growing part of the market as consumers look to shave monthly budget costs and go green.
Take Mike Alerding, managing director of local accounting firm Alerding Co. LLC. In 2004, Godby installed new furnaces and air conditioning units in Alerding's Indianapolis home, lowering his heating bill by 40 percent and his electric bill 20 percent. Alerding saw even more savings when Godby replaced his windows in 2007.
"It's the best money I've ever spent," he said.
Godby also wants to get into the commercial building market, offering replacement heating and cooling systems for office and warehouse space. With the new divisions, Godby hopes to keep on growing and to hit $30 million in revenue in five years.


text:
The world’s best smoke detector just got even better. At a special event yesterday, Google-owned Nest announced the next version of the Nest Protect. So what’s new? Well for one, the new Nest Protect has gotten rid of some of its most annoying bugs, namely non-responsiveness when beeping (the first generation Nest Protect wouldn’t accurately recognize waving to turn it off). Now, you’ll be able to simply turn off the Nest Protect by going into the Nest companion app on your smartphone.
That’s not all, though. The new Nest Protect is actually able to utilize its new split spectrum sensor in order to know the difference between slow and fast-moving fires. There’s also a new smoke chamber sporting a “stainless steel screen with tiny hexagonal holes” which helps the Protect stay clean of debris and ultimately prevents false positives. Nest has decided to price its new Protect at the same $ 99 price point as the previous model. Get yours today directly from Nest’s website and make sure that your smoke detector is life-saving and not life-ruining.


text:
Gypsy Mobile Boutique brings retail revolution to Sacramento
S Street between 7th and 8th looked deserted a day before the Second Saturday bustle, until a curious 1987 Chevy step van disguised as the “little black truck” with social media icons painted in white pulled into the Howard Skinner Art Gallery parking lot.
The driver straightened up with the help of her husband, pulling the vehicle into a shaded corner.
Clad in cute heels and a floral mini dress, Bridgette Maldonado jumped out of her Gypsy Mobile Boutique, ready to set up outside for the gallery’s Pop Up Shop preview night.
Gypsy is the first of its kind in Sacramento, but the concept isn’t new. Mobile restaurants, aka food trucks, have been parking along local streets for some time in Sacramento. But none of them looks like the inside of a Midtown girl’s closet, which is the shop owner’s inspiration.
In that department, Maldonado has the local market cornered, for now.
Following the food truck phenomenon, entrepreneurs and businesses across the country are putting their creative spins on mobile retail, a reaction borne from a shaky economy. Maldonado says she has seen everything from floral arrangements to men’s haircuts sold out of trailers and school buses in Los Angeles.
“I think Sacramento is ready for something like this,” she says with a wide smile while placing colorful, thin belts on a makeshift shelf below a line of spring dresses. “L.A. can’t have all the fun.”
The Sacramento native, jewelry designer, retail visual designer and mother of two little boys (and former flight attendant and NBA pro dancer) always wanted to add “boutique owner” to her list of accomplishments, but couldn’t quite grasp the right moment or the right corner space to make it happen.
Maldonado makes her own jewelry, working in leather and clay, so she started with an Etsy shop and hoped to expand to fashion through her site. But as Etsy became inundated with similar shops, a real world presence seemed a better option.
“I would get messages from customers for something tangible–‘how does it feel, how heavy is it’–and owning a store has always been a dream of mine. But then with this economy, and the overhead, well, this was just perfect,” she says with a sigh of relief, standing in the middle of her own shop.
There are drawbacks, as with any business. Maldonado has to deal with the elements and a lack of fitting rooms and restrooms, but these mid-May days in Midtown, as well as her stops in Roseville and along office-heavy downtown streets, are advantageous and out of the way of other boutiques.
“I’ve gone to Rancho Cordova, and I park where it’s all bought-up office buildings,” she says. “Women who are working and come out on their coffee break or lunch can spend some time shopping, since there is nothing else like it nearby.”
Looking at the success of big-name designers in cities like San Francisco, Maldonado says she thinks mobile retail in Sacramento is inevitable.
“Even in this economy, people still have the entrepreneurial spirit, and I’d welcome anyone who wants to go into this,” she says as more clothes magically appear out of hidden compartments inside the truck, lining the baby blue-painted interior. A small chandelier hangs from the truck ceiling, and the entire boutique scene comes together like a perfect date ensemble.
“It’s like food trucks. We wouldn’t have SactoMoFo [the Sacramento Mobile Food organization] if there was only one.”
Guests at the Howard Skinner Gallery, a little older than Maldonado’s target audience, stop by to ooh and ahh at the sight of maxis, minis, pastels and chunky jewelry hanging from the truck’s walls.
Pamela Skinner, along with four other organizers and designers, had invited Gypsy Mobile Boutique and food trucks to be part of the gallery’s first-ever Pop Up Shop, a similar idea to a mobile business, but leaning toward spontaneous art buying.
“The idea is ‘here today, gone tomorrow,’” Skinner says, noting the concept has popped up, like food trucks, in cities across the country and allows for artists who can’t afford a space, or don’t want to be tied down to one, to sell their work for a very limited time.
“Food trucks are very trendy right now, but pop up shops you only do a few times a year, so it’s the only time you can get what you see,” Skinner says. “People asked if we’re going to restock, and I thought it was funny. We’re not Macy’s or Walmart.”
For Maldonado, the concept is similar. She stocks what she can fit in her truck, usually one or two in each size. Once it’s gone, she looks for new items, trends and unique pieces as a way to keep things fresh for customers.
“I tell them they don’t need to wear the same thing as five other girls,” she says. “Plus, Midtown has its own unique style and I want to show that.”
Maldonado has connected with other fashion trucks in the industry, and reached out to the West Coast Mobile Retail Association (WCMRA) that started last spring to unite shopkeepers through events, educate city officials and maintain a code of ethics to respect communities and brick and mortar stores.
“We heard from several brick-and-mortar businesses that they like the idea of a mobile business and have thought about starting a mobile business in conjunction to their brick and mortar business,” says Jeanine Romo, charter member of WCMRA and owner of Le Fashion Truck in L.A. This has been the case for local restaurants like Willie’s Burgers and Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen, an arm of the Republic sports bar and lounge.
“I believe that more entrepreneurs will be launching a mobile business opposed to a traditional brick-and-mortar,” Romo adds. “There are currently around 40 mobile retailers in the United States and [WCMRA] believes that number will keep growing. There will still, of course, be plenty of new brick-and-mortar businesses; however, with the popularity and low cost of being mobile, this seems to be a more attainable approach for someone going into business for themselves.”
According to WCMRA, up to $30,000 in capital is needed to start a mobile retail business, which includes the vehicle and the inventory. For the Maldonados, the cost was still more feasible than the risk of failing in a bad, permanent location.
“We considered everything from trailer to camper to a Winnebago to a school bus,” husband Marvin Maldonado says, stopping to answer his wife’s question of which dress should adorn the mannequin. “And then I get asked fashion questions too.”
It took them a few tries, but they found their truck in Pacifica, Calif. Marvin’s architecture and design company inForm designed the Gypsy caravan, gutting and renovating the vehicle to make it Bridgette-friendly and the best possible utilization of little space.
“It operates and functions just like a brick-and-mortar store but our money goes to gas and insurance instead of rent and utilities,” he says. “Plus, I can’t always be out at every event because I have my company and we have two kids, so everything has to be lightweight and dual function for her. Everything has to be thought out.”
Future upgrades still include air conditioning and, Marvin jokes, possibly chairs to put outside for husbands and boyfriends to lounge in while their significant others shop.
“I enjoy it… It’s her thing,” Marvin smiles. “I think we’re launching at the right time, and that was her goal. It’s one thing to get a truck, but it’s another to be on trend and know fashion.”
And his wife is still thinking big. Maldonado says she plans to buy another truck and sell men’s clothes, but that’s after she expands the accessory department of Gypsy. She still sells her own jewelry, as well as items like head wraps called Urban Turbans made by her sister.
It’s only been a month since Gypsy hit the streets, but Maldonado has met success at Second Saturdays, downtown Tuesday nights in Roseville and private shopping parties she hosts for customers. She’ll also be joining other designers, business owners and food trucks next month for GOOD: Street Food + Design, an open-air market to be held every first Sunday through November to increase traffic to the Del Paso Boulevard business corridor.


text:
The head of major supermarket Tesco has warned that the people in the UK are “for the first time in a generation facing true food poverty”.
A warning of “real food poverty” is a warning that the former chief economist of the Bank of England, with many in countries struggling with rising food and fuel costs due to inflation, will continue to see such inflationary conditions tormenting everyday people. It came as a warning that it could happen. age.
According to report by The TimesJohn Allan, president of supermarket giant Tesco, said many who visit his stores are now seriously struggling to make a living.
“I was at a store on a Friday and for the first time in years I heard a customer say to the cashier, ‘Stop when you hit £40, I don’t want to spend a penny on it'” The Grocery Tsar reports:
“I think a lot of people are struggling to keep their homes warm and feed their families,” he said. “And I think we are witnessing true food poverty for the first time in a generation.”
Allen continued to hope that the government would intervene to reduce the burden on those at risk, suggesting that the government could cancel planned payroll tax increases, allowing citizens to spend more.
Inflation crisis: Minister denounces ‘backup’ calls to get citizens to buy cheaper foodhttps://t.co/qWjf7Oa6m8
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 5, 2022
It seems unlikely that the government will withdraw the planned tax hikes at this stage, but if the Bank of England warns that inflation could reach 10%, it can definitely do it if it has more cash in its current accounts. this year.
To make matters worse, however, a think tank head who had previously served as chief economist for the Bank of England said: warning The harmful inflation the UK is facing could last for years.
“I am a little afraid. [this inflation] You can stay for a while.” According to a report by Andy Haldane tutelar.
“It’s not going to come and go in a few months,” he continued. “I think it could be years, not months.”
Meanwhile, another economic strategist, Mike Harris, founder of Cribstone Strategic Macro, said: warning Comparing the current situation to the situation the US Federal Reserve faced just before the 2008 crash, CNBC said the UK economy is in an extremely fragile position as a result of massive inflation.
Harris justified his comparison by arguing that the Bank of England is not only failing to solve the problem in the long run, but is also taking steps that will aggressively damage the country’s mortgage market.
“…we are working with the Bank of England [former governor] Mark Carney didn’t do what he was supposed to,” the strategist told the US cable channel recently.
“It’s a little bit like [Federal Reserve] In 2007 and before, people were allowed to get mortgage loans when they knew they couldn’t repay when house prices went down because they had to refinance. So there’s an inherent unsustainability,” he explained, explaining the problem inflation poses to UK lending. market. “The UK is currently one of the most vulnerable countries in the world.”
Follow Peter Caddle on Twitter. @Peter_Caddle
Follow Breitbart London on Facebook: brightbart london


text:
Pentagram and Julia Hoffmann have designed the new identity for The Metropolitan Opera, the venerable New York institution. The rebranding is an initiative of the Met’s new general manager, Peter Gelb. The identity is set in Baskerville and Avenir and the new campaign features performance photography of Anthony Minghella’s production of “Madame Butterfly."
The print ad campaign launched August 20, 2006, and according to Thomas Michel, the Met’s marketing director, resulted in the largest sales day in the history of the organization. The street campaign—the first for the Met in 30 years—coincided with the new identity launch.


text:
ATF Replacing "Outdated" BlackBerry Smartphones with iPhones
February 29, 2012 10:50 AM
comment(s) - last by
Special agents in the field to be the first to get new iPhones
RIM’s line of BlackBerry smartphones has long been
losing favor among consumers and businesses
alike in the United States. Consumers who were once inseparable from their “CrackBerries” are now
turning in increasing numbers
to Apple’s iPhone or any number of smartphones using Google’s Android operating system.
RIM is now taking flak from the U.S. government, which it has long relied on for much of its business. The latest government agency to move away from BlackBerry smartphones is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The ATF is set to ditch about 3,800 BlackBerry smartphones in a move that should be complete within roughly a year.
The BlackBerries devices will mostly be replaced by Apple iPhones. ATF chief information officer Rick Holgate simply stated, "We’re going to delete the BlackBerry from the mix." He also noted that more than 60 percent of the replacement devices are initially planned to be the iPhone.
This is the second federal agency to ditch the BlackBerry in favor of the Apple smartphone. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is also set to phase out about 3,000 BlackBerry smartphones.
The ATF plans to start the transition in March by replacing roughly 2,400 BlackBerries in use by special agents in the field. The ATF also intends to eliminate about 1,400 BlackBerry devices that other employees use with a mix of other unspecified smart devices. Some of those will likely be replaced with the iPad; a test involving about 200 of those tablets is wrapping up at the ATF now.
Holgate added, "The government has been very comfortable with the BlackBerry model for 10 years. Now we're looking to move beyond that."
Politico reports that right now ATF is prepping its mobile device infrastructure to support the iPhone purchase.
According to Holgate, the BlackBerry infrastructure is too expensive to maintain and that while cost was a reason for moving away from the BlackBerry devices, functionality was the main reason for the move.
“Video streaming, GPS capability, capabilities, the camera … a variety of things,” Holgate said. “Yes, these things exist on BlackBerrys, but in terms of ease of use and adaptability of the devices, the iPhones are the more functional and compelling use case.”
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
2/29/2012 11:30:55 AM
lets not quibble here... the government always screws stuff up. So they are going from a phone that is designed for work to a phone designed for the technologically impaired. BRILLIANT! Now our ATF agents will be playing angry birds instead of stopping those guns from going to mexico... which Im sure Eric Holder had NO idea about.
RE: yaaay government!
2/29/2012 12:03:44 PM
"So they are going from a phone that is designed for work "
They are going from a phone designed for work over a decade ago. You left off a very important part. Outdated tech is always left in the past. If you ask me, I am amazed it lasted this long.
"This is about the Internet. Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis
Co-CEOs Balsillie and Lazaridis Kicked Off Sinking RIM Ship, COO to Step In
January 22, 2012, 9:40 PM
A Cupertino Comeback: Apple and Android are Almost Tied in U.S. Sales
January 18, 2012, 1:07 PM
Report: Windows Phone, Windows RT May be Offered Free to OEMs
December 12, 2013, 2:31 PM
New Policies for Cell Phone Unlocking to Arrive "Soon"
December 12, 2013, 12:43 PM
Facebook to Add Auto-Play Video to NewsFeed for All Mobile Users
December 12, 2013, 9:35 AM
AT&T CEO Says Carriers Can No Longer Foot the Bill for High-End, Subsidized Smartphones
December 11, 2013, 10:55 AM
IPotty and iPad Tot Seat Ignite Controversy: Brilliant or "Destructive"?
December 10, 2013, 6:22 PM
Quick Note: Sleek White Second-Gen Nexus 7 Goes on Sale for $269
December 10, 2013, 4:55 PM
Most Popular Articles
Experts: Masturbation Prevents Cancer, Diabetes, Insomnia, and Depression
December 6, 2013, 2:01 PM
Hackers Nab 2 Million Login Credentials from Facebook, Gmail, Twitter
December 5, 2013, 1:00 PM
Thieves Steal Truck with Cobalt-60 Onboard in Mexico, Will Die "Without a Doubt" from Exposure
December 5, 2013, 12:04 PM
Report: Windows 8.2 Revives Start Menu, Runs Metro Apps in Desktop Mode
December 10, 2013, 2:56 PM
U.S. Navy Fires "XFC" Drone from Underwater Submarine
December 6, 2013, 2:35 PM
Latest Blog Posts
Justice Leaks Details of Next HTC One Two Flagship Phone
Dec 5, 2013, 4:04 PM
Global Cyber Espionage Concerns Reveal Growing Cyber Armies
Nov 29, 2013, 11:04 AM
Is The Period Becoming an Expression of Anger?
Nov 26, 2013, 2:02 PM
NSA and Congress -- You Will Never Kill the Constitution, It's an Idea
Nov 10, 2013, 2:00 PM
AT&T Explores $100B+ USD Deal to Acquire Vodafone's European Operations
Nov 4, 2013, 7:34 AM
More Blog Posts
Copyright 2013 DailyTech LLC. -
Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information


text:
Sustainability and traceability – this year, food industry professionals have spoken about little else. But according to research from TÜV SÜD, only 64 percent of food manufacturers say they can trace every component of their products all the way through the supply chain. So if you are unsure about what exactly is in that frozen pizza you just bought, chances are, so is the company that made it.
Manufacturers know there is nothing hip about this state of affairs, and are moving fast to make some pretty bold promises about their food. For instance, Unilever, owner of some of the world’s biggest food brands, claims that it will source 100 percent of its agricultural materials sustainably by 2020.
But for many professionals, change is simply not happening fast enough. Britain’s Food Standards Agency has reported a sharp increase in product recalls. Allergen labeling issues are wreaking havoc in both the EU and the United States, and few countries appear safe from the rapidly escalating pesticide-contaminated egg epidemic.
Big food companies cannot afford to micromanage their suppliers, they simply have too many of them. That means it often takes months to track down the source of a contamination. But in 2017, industries just do not have that sort of time – it takes mere minutes for a food-related Twitter tempest to reach critical mass. And this is precisely where, optimists claim, blockchain is about to step in to save the day.
Quest for a workable platform
With its immutable blocks of data and time stamps, blockchain technology could potentially provide food industry professionals with the ability to do quite a lot of things.
If blockchain platforms were the norm, decentralized ledgers would mean neither suppliers nor manufacturers could hide data about their materials or products. It is still early days, but it is possible to envisage blockchain platforms that allow all parties to peruse production, harvesting and best-before dates, as well as factory data and logistics information. In an ideal world, this data could then be made available to government regulatory bodies – or even the general public.
Supermarkets are falling over one another in the race to find a workable blockchain platform. Wal-mart’s high-profile pilot scheme, conducted in conjunction with IBM and China’s Tsinghua University, has “shown promise for food safety.”
The American retail giant has used its platform to monitor the pork products sold in Chinese outlets and mangoes sold in the United States. Its decentralized ledger contains a compendium of a digital data comprising breakdowns of farm and factory information, batch numbers, use-by dates, storage temperatures and shipping information.
China, already tearing up trees in the East Asia bitcoin stakes, is forging ahead full-steam with food-industry blockchain pilots. Fake products have long blighted the country’s food industry, with fraud detectives claiming that the problem is “pervasive, across food groups and in anything you can possibly imagine.”
e-Commerce is particularly at risk. Alibaba, online retailer giant, has launched its own fake-busting blockchain test-platform in Australia and New Zealand which are major sources of Alibaba’s China-market food products.
And it would be wrong to assume fakes are only a blight in the Middle Kingdom. Last year, Interpol seized some 10 million kg and 1 million liters of “hazardous fake food and drink” from 57 countries, including Italy, South Korea and Australia.
Companies in Northern Europe are thus working on similar anti-fake initiatives. PwC Netherlands has partnered with supply chain authentication specialist Arc-net for a cloud-based blockchain platform. The platform aims to provide manufacturers and retailers with the data they need to assure customers of the authenticity of their products.
Farm to fork
Who can forget the company that put tuna onto the blockchain?
Provenance’s headline-grabbing six-month sustainable tuna trial made use of “mobile, blockchain and smart [RFID] tagging technology,” providing an open system where traceability was prioritized. Should projects like these prove successful and financially viable, they have the potential to transform not only the tuna fishing industry, but also the worlds of catering and retail.
The United States’ Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative last month released a blockchain mission statement, claiming the technology will allow meat producers to “prove exactly who raised the animal and how it was raised, how many animals were raised in its batch and how they lived, and who the butcher was.”
In fact, companies are so keen on incorporating blockchain platforms that they have piloted just about any food item you care to name. British bank Barclays last year tested a blockchain system, created in conjunction with an Israeli tech startup, to trade cheese and butter worth US$100,000 – from an Irish food co-operative to a company based in the Seychelles, off the coast of East Africa.
Leap of faith
As promising as all these pilots are, they still represent a hoped-for, rather than an expected vision of the future. Using a blockchain-powered platform requires manufacturers and producers to make a very big leap of faith. It requires them to trust in a decentralized management system. And for many food manufacturers, saying goodbye to traditional centralized ledgers feels like letting go of the steering wheel while the car is in top gear.
Blockchain tests are increasingly commonplace, but wide-scale implementation is still fairly distant. Some critics even say there is “too much hype” surrounding blockchain’s use in the food industry’s supply chain.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that many manufacturers and suppliers simply have to improve their supply chain traceability if they want to stay reputable – and profitable – in the long-term.
In the internet age, the risk of product recall is now higher than ever, and most companies just do not have the financial clout to weather a food scare scandal.
Governments everywhere are getting more stringent about sustainability, traceability and labeling criteria – and it looks like this will only intensify in the years to come. Discerning customers are starting to demand that their food is fully traceable, and will even pay a premium for sustainable, fully traceable products.
All these reasons and more make it almost inevitable that producers will simply continue to invest in blockchain pilots until they develop successful models. Some may still have reservations about the technology, but many industry professionals privately believe that when it comes to food production, blockchain simply cannot afford to fail.


text:
South Korean retailers saw their sales fall slightly this month, industry data showed Thursday, despite steady improvements in consumer sentiment.
Lotte Department Store, the country's leading top-end retailer, said its sales fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier in the June 1-27 period.
This photo provided by leading retail chain Lotte Department Store on June 28, 2017, shows its store in the southeastern city of Busan.
Its rival Hyundai Department Store also saw its revenue from the same period slip 1.6 percent on-year, the retailer said, citing corporate data.
Industry watchers, meanwhile, said the situation should improve, as the new Moon Jae-in administration started to push forward measures to fuel economic growth. They said the start of the peak summer vacation season can further help sales.
South Korea's overall consumer sentiment hit a more than six-year high with 111.1 this month, according to central bank data. A reading above 100 means that optimists outnumber pessimists. (Yonhap)


text:
The Tide Pod challenge is a trend that burst into the social media world this past December, but the trend and pace at which people are being poisoned is continuing to grow. So far in January alone, poison control centers have received 134 reports of “intentional exposures” to laundry packets, Tide or others. That’s compared with 53 cases the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported for all of 2017, mostly involving teenagers.
To be clear, a Tide Pod is laundry detergent heavily concentrated into a single packet, meant to dissolve in water and clean a single load of laundry. But these days, it’s a dare — an Internet meme, in which teenagers try to eat Tide Pods as a “challenge.”
“That’s not our focus,” he said of any potential design changes for Tide Pods. “Our focus right now is educating consumers about the proper and safe use of household products,” he says. The company’s efforts include outreach to college campuses for “honest conversations” with students and a partnership with social media companies to stop the spread of the videos.
Previously, Tide Pods drew national attention — and criticism of their design — when young children became ill after putting them in their mouths. Every year, poison control centers get more than 10,000 of reports of children accidentally getting their hands on laundry packets.
The biggest difference in that situation is that the kids accidentally or mistakenly consume the pods wheras today, people are willingly eating them.


text:
Inspecs reports “strong” first quarter performance
The company reported revenues of $67 million for the first three months of the year
06 May 2021
Inspecs Group has reported a “strong” trading performance in the first three months of 2021, with revenues of $67m (£48m) in the first quarter.
The company shared the quarter one update ahead of the release of its final results on 18 June.
The company noted that this performance was achieved despite nationwide lockdowns in the UK, Germany and France, as well as during a variety of state lockdowns in the US.
Speaking to OT, a spokesperson for Inspecs described the figures as “encouraging news,” adding that: “Overall the board is pleased with the performance despite lockdowns and continued appreciation by the optical market of the capabilities of the Inspecs Group.”
Providing an indication of how performance in the first quarter this year compared to the same period in 2020, the spokesperson shared that sales are up around 5% despite COVID-19.
Commenting on the first quarter performance, the company spokesperson told OT: “The optical market has remained resilient and Inspecs has continued to work during the last six months to ensure that our sales teams and design teams, despite lockdowns, have fully engaged with both chains and independent opticians to ensure that as the market recovers Inspecs is on radar with all buyers.”
Despite the “positive start to the year,” Inspecs confirmed it remains “cautious on 2021 as COVID-19 remains prevalent across the world.”
As well as providing the trading notice, the company shared that the integration of Eschenbach Holdings is continuing to progress to plan.
Inspecs Group announced the proposed acquisition of Eschenbach in November last year. The German eyewear supplier has a portfolio of more than 15 in house and licensed brands, more than 12 international subsidiaries and also owns the American eyewear company, Tura.
Providing an update on the progress, Inspecs shared in its statement: “The benefits of the enlarged group working together are starting to be realised, with a number of joint projects underway.
“We look forward to driving further synergies and will provide a more detailed update on progress at the group’s final results.”


text: Panasonic has announced the AG-DVX100 - the first Mini-DV camcorder that can record images in the 24p format. The format runs at 24 frames per second, the same speed as conventional motion picture film cameras. The company claims this makes the format available at a much lower price than before - with the camera costing $3,495. UK pricing has yet to be announced. Panasonic says: "The AG-DVX100 substantially reduces the cost-of-entry for digital filmmakers. The AG-DVX100 is a forward-looking tool that will allow the creative community, to express its visions at the highest creative level." The camera connects to computers using a conventional IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interface. Apple has announced that it will support the 24p format in the future in Final Cut Pro, with other NLE manufacturers expected to follow suit. The AG-DVX100 uses a Leica Dicomar lens with manual zoom, focus, iris and wide field of view. It has two-channel XLR inputs and offers a flip-out 3.5-inch LCD screen. Panasonic also cites its low minimum illumantion ratio of 3 Lux and its low weight of 2kg. The AG-DVX100 is expected to ship in September in time for IBC. Discuss this story at Digitmag.co.uk/discuss.


text:
Benny The Butcher is doing his part in helping his Buffalo hometown move forward after a white supremacist gunman murdered 10 people at the local Tops Friendly Market grocery store in May.
Benny and his Black Soprano Family team linked with designers Kat & Nolan Cartwright for a limited edition t-shirt drop with 100% of the proceeds going to the Buffalo Survivors Fund.
The shirts, which honor all 10 victims with their names, are available now, retail for $40, and only 200 of them were made.
To further emphasize the moment, he also released the new single “Welcome To the States,” a political rap record that details racism and even gives a subtle shoutout to Young Thug and Gunna’s ongoing legal drama.
The shooting dampened spirits nationwide … but particularly hit home for the Griselda rapper, who regularly shops there with his family, as it’s only a few minutes from his home.
Because of the incident, his middle-school-aged daughter has yet to return to school since the incident.
The accused suspect, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, has since pleaded not guilty for the murders.


text:
Tastebuds, the London-based startup that matches people based on their musical tastes, has been kicking around for a while now. A graduate of the accelerator Springboard (now TechStars London) back in 2011, the company has ploughed along bootstrapped ever since — garnering a not-too-shabby 100,000 registered users along the way. Now the company looks like it’s finally set to step on the gas. Today it’s announcing a $600,000 seed round from Black Ocean, which will be used to launch mobile apps, grow its developer team, as well as formally launching in the U.S.
In addition, Tastebuds is currently developing features to connect members offline through gigs, festivals and music meetups, thus building on its existing online-to-offline social networking proposition.
Originally positioned as a dating site that focused on music as a way of matching prospective dates, Tastebuds appeared to have hit onto something, gaining a reputation for its ability to reach users who wouldn’t normally consider doing the online dating thing. Accordingly, it says that almost half of its users haven’t used a dating website before. However, that appears to have only taken it so far. Online dating is one of the most competitive spaces with very high user acquisition costs and high user churn. So, perhaps smartly, the startup has since broadened out slightly and can now be thought of as a competitor to services like Badoo, along with the usual online dating suspects.
“We first launched as a dating service but we’ve grown way beyond the dating use case,” says co-founder Alex Parish. “The site is designed to make it as easy as possible for people to meet others who share their tastes, in whatever capacity. It’s obviously working in a dating respect as we’ve had numerous weddings off the site.”
To build your profile on Tastebuds, you search for and select your favourite bands/artists. Alternatively, you can import data from your Last.fm account or import your Facebook music-related “Likes”. In addition, you add the usual demographic information required for social networking, along with, crucially, your location — the end goal is to meet people offline, after all. You also get to state if you’re looking for a date or just want to meet like-minded people. Tastebuds then begins displaying potential matches, including which artists you have in common, so that you can start conversing.
You can also “Like” users so that their Tastebuds status updates show up in your news feed, such as what they’ve recently listened to. You can also see any gigs they are planning to attend if they’ve linked their SongKick account.
Finally, last May Tastebuds launched a Spotify app, which essentially embeds the service inside of the streaming music site. As one of the first apps on the platform, around half of its users have come via Spotify, although this has petered out somewhat. “When we launched we were registering thousands of users per day from the app,” says Parish. “This has dropped since the number of apps [on Spotify] has ballooned but the app is still significant for us, making up around a quarter of daily registrations.”
Tastebuds is free to join, although the company has experimented with a number of premium micro-features, such as “Incognito mode”, which hides your online status and enables you to browse profiles anonymously. However, it isn’t ruling out a more standard recurring subscription model in the future. “We’re also going to investigate the possibility afforded by offline events and live music,” says Parish. “The focus until now has mostly been on growth and achieving the right product-market fit.”
As for what’s immediately around the corner for Tastebuds now that it has money in the bank, Parish says that, along with much-needed mobile apps and growing the team, the company is busy “building technology to help people meet offline at live music events which we’re really excited about.”


text:
Four Cores Of Awesomeness- Nexus 3
|Article first published as Nexus 3 To Have A Quad Core Processor on Technorati.|
It is common knowledge that Google is planning to release the next Nexus phone with a brand new Operating System i.e Android Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 2.4) by the end of 2011. But, we still don’t know which CPU will the phone use.
A little bit about the OS– Android Ice Cream Sandwich will mark the fusion of features between two iterations of the Android Operating Systems i.e. Android 3.0 and Android 2.3! Google announced that this OS will run almost everywhere, right from your high-end tablet PC to your smartphone. The OS will feature a holographic UI, richer widgets, or an enhanced application framework. The two features that I’ve been awaiting personally are face-tracking and camera focus shifting on voice recognition. Gmail Motion much? 😀
While most of us would be expecting a dual-core smartphone from Google, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has adumbrated a probable affiliation with Google for manufacturing the next quad-core CPU for Google’s next smartphone. This actually made me fall of my chair.
At Nvidia’s earning call on May 12th, the CEO said- “We’re working very closely with Google on Ice Cream Sandwich, and it’s a very important new generation of operating system based on starting from the Honeycomb base and I’m expecting it to be really terrific. And so we’re working very closely with the Google team, and Tegra will be surely be wonderful for Ice Cream when it comes. We’re really excited about the work that they’re doing on Ice Cream. And I can’t comment too much more other than that, but we’re working very closely with their teams on the Ice Cream Sandwich. And as all of these products — they will come to the market when they’re great, and I’m certainly expecting them to be great on this year.”
This may not seem to be such a big thing for the Average Joe out there but, for the geeks, the new Tegra 3 will be heaven-on-earth. It would be the world’s first mobile quad-core CPU. It will also be featuring the new 12-core Nvidia GPU with support for 3D stereo. And, it goes without saying that Tegra 3 will support a new form of High Definition called Extreme HD which has a resolution of 2560 X 1600 and will be at least 5 times faster than the previous iteration of the Tegra series by Nvidia.
So, if you’re one of those people who were awed by the first generation of smartphones having a 1Ghz processor and had bought those and were then disappointed by the release of dual-core smartphones, y’all have something to look forward to! 🙂


text:
One-stop pet registration a click away in Minhang
Residents in Minhang District are now able to register their pets and make a reservation for pet vaccinations on a mobile app, district police said on Tuesday.
After registering and making an appointment online, people need only to vaccinate their pets at designated clinics where the pets have been registered.
This saves owners the trouble of going to the police station for pet registration.
People can choose from 26 pet clinics in the district which cover all subdistricts and towns. Also, they can have the pet registration and vaccination certificates mailed to them afterward instead of going to the clinics in person to retrieve them.
The online service is held on the "Suishenban" app, but the application is available only in Chinese. People can pay fees directly in the app.
The district introduced a website portal for the service in October last year, but it's not yet popular among residents who find paying online a bit difficult, police said.
Minhang is the first district in Shanghai to provide this service.


text:
New Conan games coming in 2019 from Shinobi 7
September 8, 2018 - 12:00pm
The cult-favorite barbarian, Conan, is going to receive more tabletop-gaming love over the next year or so. Shinobi 7, a publisher who specializes in pop-culture IPs, announced that they required the rights to Conan for two upcoming games. The first of which, a miniatures game, will hit Kickstarter in early 2019 while the second, a competitive card game, will head straight to retail at an unspecified time that same year. As quoted from the press release:
"As a lifetime fan of Conan, I am honored to take part in the ongoing legacy of Robert E. Howard’s phenomenal body of work," says Jason DeAngelis, publisher of Shinobi 7. "Our team of game industry veterans is developing a line of games that’s sure to delight and surprise fans of Conan and Robert E. Howard."It's an interesting time to be a fan of Conan, especially after the well-received Monolith-produced miniatures adventure game and it's expansion. I'm very curious how Shinobi 7 will differentiate their miniatures game from it's already well-known predecessor. I'm also curious if the competitive card game will capture the same sort of pulp adventure that is synonymous with the brand, given that it's described as involving characters within that world fighting for glory. Unfortunately, details beyond that are scarce, so only time will tell. If you are interested in learning more about either Conan-related releases, be sure to keep an eye on Shinobi 7's website as they say that further details, components, and release dates will be on their way.


text:
The Hopper center of CES 'Best of' drama
Most of the news coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show this week was pretty friendly and gadgety. But Thursday managed to provide a little uproar.
It went like this: The tech reviewers at Cnet nominated the Hopper, a TV streaming device, for a Best of CES award. But shortly after, Cnet's corporate boss, CBS, made them pull it. CBS and Dish, maker of the Hopper, you see, are embroiled in a lawsuit.
The CBS brass also told the Cnet reviewers they should not be reviewing any Dish products for the interim.
Yes, high drama.
The tech news website BuzzFeed called this conflict of interest between writers and the corporate bosses "every tech journalist's worst nightmare."
Conceptually, that is accurate. No journalist, in any field, wants to be told not to write about something because it would be bad for business.
But I can tell you, personally, that not being able to praise some giant company for its latest and greatest product has never robbed me of a wink. It's not as if CBS snuffed a story about insider trading or harmful defects. Its lawyers basically said: "Don't high-five our enemy."
The meaningless kerfuffle sheds a little light on the dirty circle of life between reviewers and the companies they cover. Tech companies and their PR arms decide who gets access to early versions of their products. It is not a coincidence that those writing the nicest reviews about Apple products, for instance, tend to be the ones with the earliest and most comprehensive reviews of Apple products.
And that's the bigger point here: Maybe the tech press shouldn't be lavishing awards on the companies they cover at all. A blurry line runs between a "review" and an "award," but why not report your views on a new product - and leave it at that.
E-mail Zuck? $100: On Friday reports bubbled up that Facebook users were being asked to pay to send a message to someone they did not know on the social network.
The idea: If you want to contact someone you are not "friends" with about, say, a business deal, Facebook would charge you a dollar, and make some money off brokering that transaction. But social media news site Mashable reported being asked to pay $100 to contact Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook actually announced it would start testing a pay e-mail feature back in December, but this appears to be one of the first times it has shown up in the product.
"The test is designed to address situations where neither social nor algorithmic signals are sufficient," read a statement from the company. In other words, they're testing on actual users and monitoring their behavior and buying decisions because they can't judge what people will pay just from analyzing user data.
Facebook also said that the experiment is being done to see how it can better manage users' junk mail - "We are testing some extreme price points to see what works to filter spam" - and promised more experiments in the coming months. (Maybe you'll be able to pay to not receive unknown e-mails.)
The company is constantly looking to diversify revenue streams. Today it relies on advertising and taking a cut from apps built atop the platform. Though back-of-the-napkin math indicates paying to e-mail wouldn't add up to a huge cash influx, the social network appears willing to try creative avenues.
There would seem to be a few obvious problems with trying to make someone pay to contact someone else via the Internet. First, if I had a choice between paying $100 (or $1) and Googling around to find someone's e-mail address, I'm taking the latter course.
And even if my employer was picking up the tab (if I'm trying to initiate a deal), few people outside of Silicon Valley are starting business discussions on their Facebook accounts. Maybe fans would be willing to pay to write their favorite celebrity, but unless Facebook shares the revenue, those celebs might balk at the idea of their fans paying to talk to them.
If anything, it would seem fairer if the sender was charged only if the recipient reads or replies to the e-mail. We all get e-mail we never look at.
In Facebook's test, the unsolicited e-mails are very limited in number, to keep the noise down. But if anyone - even for a cost - can write to users' Facebook inboxes, the company will have to be very careful it doesn't numb people to their inbox's usefulness.
Read The Tech Chronicles blog at blog.sfgate.com/techchron.


text:
- Healthcare providers are using more innovative payment technology to settle patient bills, according to a survey by BillingTree.
In fact, 64 percent of healthcare providers now accept web portal payments and 27 percent accept text-based payments, which equals the use of interactive voice response (IVR) systems for payments.
“This is the first year that text-related payments ranked so prominently, reflecting the overall trend in mobile payment adoption by consumers within the healthcare sector,” BillingTree observed in its report summarizing the survey results.
Respondents included single and multi-location providers and healthcare collection agencies.
A full 73 percent of respondents use point of service and mail for payments, that same percentage use phone via live agent, and 27 percent use IVR systems.
More than half of respondents said they plan to add web portal payments in the next 12 months, while 27 percent play to add text payments, 18 percent plan to add IVR system payments, 9 percent plan to add more staff for onsite payments, and 9 percent plan to add payment plans.
“When it came to technology adoption and the range of automated payment options for their clients, this year’s responses produced mixed results. While traditional payment methods like point-of-service, mail and live phone agents were most common, website payment offerings were not far behind,” the report noted.
“When asked about future plans to adopt new payment technology, this year’s respondents suggested that adoption of web-based patient payment portals would continue, with text-based payments surprisingly outpacing IVR systems for the first year ever,” the report added.
Respondents said that the most important factor in determining payment processing services was HIPAA compliance, followed by price of payment process, integration within patient management system, customer support, and compliance challenges.
Survey respondents said they accepted a variety of payment options: 91 percent accept heath savings accounts/flexible savings accounts, 82 percent accept paper check/money order, 73 percent accept credit or debit cards, the same percent accept electronic check, and 36 percent provide patient financing.
“In 2019, we look forward to seeing a growth trend towards technology solutions as an alternative to traditional staffing, including growing adoption of Web and Mobile as primary payment and communication channels with consumers. For those healthcare organizations that seek to manage compliance, control costs and optimize collections and cash flow, automated and mobile self-service payment solutions continue to present an opportunity for profitability and accelerated growth without sacrificing service levels,” the report concluded.


text:
The Task Force set up by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps ( NSCDC) in Niger to monitor the sale and distribution of petroleum products says it has sealed two filling stations for selling above government approved pump price.
The Commandant of the Corps, Mr Philip Ayuba, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Minna.
Ayuba said ECE filling station was sealed for selling above the approved price, while Beji filling station was sanctioned for diverting the product to black markets and also selling above the approved rate.
He said that the task force would not tolerate any act of sabotage as any filling station found hoarding the product would be deal with decisively.
The Commandant said that the task force had so far visited more than 50 filling stations in and outside the state capital as part of the exercise.
He said the body would continue to monitor the activities of filling stations to ensure availability of the product in the state.
He also appealed to members of the general public to assist with information that would assist the task force to effectively monitor the sale of the product to motorists in the state.


text:
A small technology company in Toronto has won a Texas jury verdict ordering Microsoft Corp. to pay it $200-million (U.S.) for willful patent infringement.
Privately-held i4i Inc. said that several years ago it approached the world's largest software company with a breakthrough product in data processing, only to be spurned and to see its technology show up later in versions of Microsoft Word.
“It's a big win in terms of vindication. The money's nice, but the vindication is more important,” said Bill Cox, a member of i4i's board of directors and former president of the company.
I4i sued Microsoft in March 2007, claiming the Redmond, Wash., company had infringed on a patent awarded in 1998 for manipulating complex data in electronic documents.
Douglas Cawley, a lawyer for i4i, said Wednesday that e-mails presented during the six-day trial showed that Microsoft was aware of the firm's technology and sought to make it obsolete by including it in its own word processing software.
I4i will now seek an injunction preventing Microsoft from selling those products, Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. It will also ask the judge for enhanced damages, Mr. Cawley said.
Because the jury found Microsoft had willfully infringed the technology, the judge is allowed to increase a jury award by up to three times the value.
“We are disappointed by the verdict,” said Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We believe this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported, so we will ask the court to overturn the verdict.”
Two years ago, Microsoft successfully persuaded a district judge to overturn a $1.53-billion jury verdict against it in a case in which Alcatel-Lucent claimed Microsoft's Windows Media Player infringed on two of its patents.
The judge in the i4i case, brought before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, is expected to make a ruling on the jury verdict by mid summer.
I4i's first customer after being awarded the patent was the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office itself, Mr. Cox said. At its peak a few years ago, the firm employed 52 staff, but the poor economy has whittled that number down to 20 today, he said.
“We invented this [technology] and knew it would be a major breakthrough in data processing,” Mr. Cox said. “We told Microsoft about our product and were seeking a relationship with them, and instead of coming to the table with us they decided to make us obsolete. So I think that today's decision is vindication. We did the right thing. We built the right product. We tried to be friends, and when they didn't, we sued them and the jury agreed with us.”
Investors in i4i, include McLean Watson Capital, Northwater Capital Management Inc. and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund.


text:
Macao’s consumer price inflation rate amounted to 0.81 per cent last year, one of the lowest in recent years, according to data released by the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC) this week.
Year-on-year, the 2020 inflation rate was down by 1.94 percentage points.
In 2019, the inflation rate stood at 2.75 per cent, at 3.01 per cent in 2018 and at 1.23 per cent in 2017, according to DSEC data.
A DSEC statement yesterday said that last year’s increment “was driven by rising charges for eating out and outpatient services, higher residential rents and higher prices of fresh pork and jewellery.
Analysts point out that Macao’s economy last has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Macao’s first novel coronavirus cases was confirmed on 22 January 2020. Its tally of Covid-19 cases stands at 47, its death toll remains at zero.
Inflation as measured by the consumer price index reflects the annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services. Data for the inflation rate are averages for the year, not end-of-period data.
Meanwhile, according to the bureau, Macao’s composite consumer price index (CPI) for last month dropped by 0.87 per cent year-on-year.
(The Macau Post Daily/ Macao News)
Photo by Government Information Bureau (GCS)


text:
To satisfy on-going customer demands, changing reading habits and to serve readers on a multitude of platforms, Irish publishers continue to invest in new technologies and innovative delivery methods whilst maintaining investment in quality content. Meanwhile, as with publishers across the world, they are working to develop paid-for offers in the digital environment
At a time when the Internet is too often characterised by free, unauthorised content, it is more important than ever that effective copyright protection and enforcement exists to allow publishers to continue to invest in providing professional news content on all platforms.
NewsBrands Ireland welcomes the adoption of the EU Copyright Directive, which modernises copyright law without stifling innovation. This copyright reform is crucial for the future of press publishing, professional journalism and a healthy, independent press sector.
The EU Copyright Directive should be transposed into Irish law as soon as possible (deadline is June 2021) to provide a legal basis for publishers to negotiate payment for the use of their content by platforms.
Ireland needs to take a lead in Europe to address the imbalance of power between news publishers and platforms and ensurethat the significant investment made by news publishers in public service content is protected.


text:
In the weekly discussion thread on the Halo subreddit, 343 Industries community director Brian Jarrard stopped by to share that plans for a community update are in the works, but not in time for the VGAs.
“Full disclosure we don’t have anything planned for the VGAs but are hoping to offer at least a high-level update within the next few weeks so we can kind of restart this journey together after the holidays,” Jarrard writes.
“Putting together something like a demo or a big beat for the VGAs is an enormous amount of work and would cause challenges with the current milestones of the holidays,” Jarrard added.
Presently, Jarrard says 343 is still “going through the huge cascade of implications and ramifications” that appeared after the studio announced it will delay Halo Infinite to 2021. The new Master Chief adventure was supposed to be a launch title for the Xbox Series X, but the developers felt it required more time to get right.
Of particular note is Jarrard’s use of the word “restart” to describe the official press around Halo Infinite. After a tepid gameplay demo reveal, 343 has taken Halo Infinite back into development and hired Halo series veterans like Joseph Staten to bring the title “back on track.”It’s unclear what the current state of Halo Infinite is, the developers are clearly taking the feedback from the gameplay reveal, which was criticized for its art style and fidelity, during this summer’s Xbox Games showcase seriously. Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.


text:
Soon more food trucks will go mobile
In the beginning, all Deli Planet owners Eric and Rebecca Rutledge wanted was a weekend break.
After working with city leaders and the planning commission, food trucks like the one they have will soon find new places to park.
Tuesday, the Wichita Falls City Council amended a zoning ordinance making it possible for more than one food truck to operate at an approved location.
"We tried a 'weekend takeover' on New Year's Eve," Eric said, describing how four food trucks arrived at the restaurant to cover food service while the indoor restaurant was closed. "It was a chance to give the staff a break and spend more time with family on weekends."
Wichita Falls city planning administrator Karen Montgomery-Gagne says the city had been fielding questions about mobile food vendors since approving land use for a food court in 2015.
"It was a new concept for Wichita Falls. There were concerns from brick and mortar restaurants," Montgomery-Gagne said.
The city's planning commission took time to study how food trucks function in different cities.
"They are an increasing mainstay, not a fad coming and going. It's generating more interest in the areas where they work and sales tax revenue," Montgomery-Gagne explained. "It can offer a greater variety of food, entertainment and activities too."
According to the amended ordinance, food trucks will operate on conditional use, submit an application on a case-by-case basis, pay processing fees and notify property owners within a 300 foot perimeter of a location. Asphalt or concrete parking pads must be provided for the trucks. Food trucks must also meet health code standards for food service.
The Rutledges have owned and operated their own food truck for nearly two years. Under The Hoagie Slingers brand, they have been on the road learning from other mobile eateries. As well as more parking, they plan to expand a covered patio.
"We have brick and mortar to fall back on when the weather gets too cold or hot," Eric said. "Wichita Falls already enjoys outdoor dining."
"This is not just one truck on a corner, There will be a variety of choices customers can make with different vendors," Rebecca said. "I was truly impressed with (Wichita Falls) planning and zoning. It was remarkable to see City Council members recognize that this is a growing city with a younger generation and that they want a new and more innovative things."


text:
Read more about Automotive News Info here.
US semiconductor manufacturer Vishay Intertechnology opened a new plant in Chihuahua, which can streamline its supply chain. A dialog with MaaS Global’s Chairman of the Executive Board, Sampo Hietanen about his vision on mobility for the longer term , the obstacles and opportunities in said business enterprise and leading a model new sector worldwide. The International Maritime Organisation, which units out regulation for safety at sea, plans to gauge new measures for ships transporting EVs subsequent yr in mild of the growing number of fires on cargo ships, a spokesperson stated.
Which Cars Still Qualify For The $7,500 Ev Tax Credit? Here’s The Total Record
Tesla hasn’t revealed ultimate specs for the wildly styled electric pickup, however it’s targeting sports-car degree acceleration and up to 500 miles of vary. The brand’s first EV, constructed on the same aluminum structure underpinning its different fashions, ought to arrive in late 2023. The Spectre can travel 320 miles on a single charge, based mostly on European take a look at cycles.
All The Most Properly Liked Cars Will Be At Carlistmy Drive Auto Honest, 1-3 September At Setia City Convention Centre!
One of the key reasons that explains why Indonesia’s economy ended the slowdown in 2016 was due to bettering commodity prices (rising commodity prices tend to boost car sales on the resource-rich islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra). Meanwhile, the premium automobile market in Indonesia is actually rather small. Only about 1 % of total automobile gross sales in Indonesia contain premium brands similar to Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
All-female Driver Group Completes Peninsular Malaysia Journey In An Ev For Worldwide Ladies Drivers’ Day
Barra stated on the decision that the automaker has recognized another $1 billion in mounted value cuts through 2024, which will offset the impact of $1 billion in depreciation and amortization to decrease web automotive mounted prices by $2 billion by the tip of 2024. “There’s a pure velocity of market progress right here that many are combating against, and there’s lots of confusion available within the market with too many brands,” mentioned Vitaly Golomb, an funding banker who focuses on EVs. GM’s bigger challenge has been accelerating manufacturing and delivery of its next-generation EVs constructed on GM’s Ultium structure. Of 36,024 EVs GM delivered within the United States in the course of the first half of this year, solely 2,365 have been Ultium EVs. GM has a objective of building a complete of 100,000 EVs in North America during the second half of this year. With some previous concerns, Smith mentioned he found no dealer keen to put his or her name on a challenge, even after calling dozens of shops.
He hailed the collaborative efforts of the industry, which helped the launch of the protection evaluation programme underneath the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways . Gadkari was speaking on the launch of the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme – India’s first crash-testing programme to boost highway and vehicle safety requirements – in Delhi on August 22. The Indian vehicle is on target to outpace the US and China in the close to future and emerge as a Rs 15-lakh-crore industry, Union Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari mentioned.


text:
Samsung is ready to launch its Galaxy Watch 5 series in August and three different variants of the upcoming watch were seen on the FCC website in the US. According to one of the reports on GoAndroid the three Galaxy watches will be 40mm, 44mm, and 46mm in size respectively.
A wireless charger was also seen on the FCC database, with model number EP-OR900 as per the report which came on Monday. The top-end variant will likely have a 390mAh battery while the other two variants might have a 276 mAh battery. The three models might be available in Phantom, Balck Silver, Pink Gold, Sapphire and Balck variants. The 46mm watch is supposed to come in Phantom Balck and Silver colours.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Features, Price and Specifications
Samsung is readying to deliver sapphire glass and titanium build on the Galaxy watch 5 Pro. Something like a titanium build is not common in smartwatches but it would certainly make for a premium build, reports said.
And the benefit of sapphire glass is that it is essentially scratch-proof, given the smartwatches excellent material durability. The company might even bring Galaxy Watch 5 incorporated with a thermometer.


text:
DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express has just opened a new, full service freight handling facility in Kailua-Kona,‘to speed customers’ deliveries throughout the Big Island of Hawaii.
The freight forwarder’s new Kona headquarters contains more than 15,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, almost double its previous capacity on the Island.
“This new facility will enable DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express to provide greater flexibility in our operations and also improve the quality of service to customers on the Big Island,” stated Tim Forkner, Hawaii Regional Manager.
Forkner reported the new warehouse and office facility “is just outside Kona, close to the downtown area as well as conveniently located to serve the industrial parks scattered about the Island.”
The facility, built to DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express specifications, is equipped with seven bays for truck loading and unloading.’ Each bay has two dock spaces so that 14 trucks or containers can be handled at the same time.’ In addition to the bays having standard heights, some have dock levelers for different sized trucks and containers.’ “Our flexible loading heights allow minimal turn-around time,” said Forkner.’ “Our trucks can be on their way quickly for pick-up and delivery of customer cargo,” he continued. “This will allow us to continue our high standards of service which our customers demand.”
The Hawaii Regional Manager stressed the rigid standards of the facility’s security system.’ “Our security system is state of the art,” said Forkner.’ “We follow all C-TPAT security guidelines. DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express also is an ISO-certified company.”
Supplementing the physical operation of the facility is an advanced IT system that is linked to DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express’ corporate headquarters in Rancho Dominguez, CA, in addition to its offices in Oahu (Honolulu) and Maui.’ “We can track and retrieve information almost instantaneously for all of our cargo moving by ocean, air or truck,” stated Forkner.
Forkner emphasized the new Kona facility is wholly owned and operated by DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express.’ “Owning our’ facility rather than leasing it provides a greater level of service to our customers.’ It also allows greater control of our fixed costs in the future—savings which’eventually will be passed on to our customers.”
“The Kona investment is a major commitment by our company to the future of the Hawaiian Islands,” stated Forkner.’ “DHX-Dependable Hawaiian Express is one of the largest freight forwarders and logistics providers on the Islands.’ We have serviced the Islands for more than 28 years.’ Our investment in’the new Kona terminal demonstrates our commitment to the Islands and to our customers. We are here to stay,” he concluded.


text:
Zoomcar, the car-sharing marketplace, has reportedly set up an office in San Francisco ahead of its U.S. listing in 2022. The new US office will further support the company’s push in creating a global car-sharing platform and prepare it for a broader global marketplace.
Geiv Dubash, the recently appointed CFO, is based in San Francisco and will play a key role in helping Zoomcar with capital market transactions in the future, including the potential public market listings.
Zoomcar has already expanded to the Middle East and Southeast Asian markets. In September, the company announced the launch of its operations in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Greg Moran, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Zoomcar stated that the company is focused on becoming a public firm over the next 12 months. He added that the new San Francisco office will help the company in its next growth phase, as it expands the platform as well as the brand globally.
He also said that Zoomcar plans to hire more crucial roles who will bring substantial industry expertise and knowledge to the company at this vital inflection point, as it rapidly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zoomcar unveiled the first personal mobility platform of India in 2013 and it now has over 7,000 cars on the platform with a presence across five nations. In 2020, the company launched Zoomcar Mobility Services, the enterprise mobility solutions based on SaaS that offers to cover white-labeled subscription services and driver behavior monitoring solutions based on IoT.
For the record, Zoomcar is a self-drive car rental firm based in Bengaluru, India. The company, established by Greg Moran and David Back in 2013, allows users to rent cars on a monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly basis. It employs more than 300 people and runs operations in more than 50 cities across the country.


text:
With technology, a good thing is never good enough. New generations, editions, and updates perpetually hit the market, making even year-old technology obsolete. Since it began connecting wireless devices to the internet, Wi-Fi has undergone several improvements to produce faster and faster internet connections. Now, it’s ramping up to reach full speed.
According to CNET News, new two versions of Wi-Fi are under development, streaming content from 1 gigabit per second as fast as 7 Gbps. These versions will introduce Wi-Fi’s fastest foundations 802.11ac and 802.11ac, set to outpace the it’s current standard 802.11n in the upcoming years. This new technology will allow users to use their internet from virtually anywhere at lightning speeds as well as open the market for wireless streaming high definition video for the predicted billion plus Wi-Fi-equipped devices that will enter the market by 2015, according to In-Stat.
In the world of business, faster Wi-Fi automatically suggests more efficiency. Not only will you be connected everywhere with your smartphone and tablet, but you’ll be able to get things done faster as well. Still, questions about how quickly companies will be able to standardize these versions remain up in the air.
Read more from CNET News.


text:
U.S. lawmakers have penned letters to Activision#Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Apple CEO Tim Cook condemning the companies for their recent stances on China and pro-democracy protests currently taking place in Hong Kong
Apple CEO Tim Cook Under Fire From Ted Cruz, AOC, Others Over HKMap Live Removal From App Store #AppleNews
Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling on the senate to pass immigration reform legislation after a bill recently passed the House of Representatives.
Thk u all for coming & making @tim_cook & his wonderful team feel the warmth & love of India.Mr.Cook u r a rockstar!
Thank you to @tim_cook for agreeing to expand operations in the U.S. and thereby creating thousands of jobs!


text:
Fri, 18 Dec 2020 10:51:24 GMT
Since the announcement of the Covid-19 vaccine, the desire to attend live events and experiences in groups of people over 20 has grown by 94%, according to a new study from Momentum Worldwide. The study reveals the shift in mindset and identifies the up-to-date requirements consumers want brands to fulfil.
Back in April, consumers were heavily focused on wanting brands to directly react to Covid-19, with 85% believing brands should donate time, money or materials to help. Now, the focus has shifted and consumers have high personal and emotional demands from the experiences they choose to attend:
Abbie Baehr, SVP, global brand strategy at Momentum Worldwide comments: “Seeing the positive impact the vaccine news has had on consumers is a huge step forward for brands. It’s been an incredibly tough year for the experiential sector, like it has been for many others too, but it’s also been an amazing time for innovation. A new era of blended virtual and physical events will unfold in 2021 and it’s fantastic to know consumers are ready to embrace them.”
The results derived from questioning consumers in late October and then again at the beginning of December as a barometer for consumer attitudes toward attending events and physical experiences.view more - Trends and InsightMomentum Worldwide, Fri, 18 Dec 2020 10:51:24 GMT