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If you were to guess who brought in a load of artisanal charcoal earlier this year from Cuba—the first commercial Cuban import to the U.S. in more than 50 years—you probably wouldn’t have picked Scott Gilbert. A D.C.-based lawyer who mostly works on insurance, mass tort and bankruptcy cases, Gilbert doesn’t have a deep personal history with Cuba, or experience importing products into the U.S. And until a few years ago, he certainly didn’t know much about charcoal.
But Gilbert did represent Alan Gross, the contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, when Gross was imprisoned in Havana, and during that time built some personal relationships with important American and Cuban officials. When Gross was released in 2014 as part of Obama’s historic opening to Havana, Gilbert saw an opportunity to help crack open Cuba’s state-controlled economy. “Since that day,” he said, “I’ve been working and my colleagues have been working to try to promote engagement between our countries and economically empower the Cuban people.”
About three years later, on January 24 of this year, two containers of artisanal charcoal arrived aboard a ship to the Port Everglades in Florida. It was just a test run; the charcoal was valued at just $17,000 and would be sold online. But most of that money would flow back to Cuban cooperatives, not to the government. Symbolically, it meant a lot. “Nobody has done what we’ve done, which is to say: You want to economically empower people, why don’t we import from private co-ops into the U.S.?” Gilbert said. “They need to export. They need to grow their private businesses to have a basis to become independent and viable.”
Gilbert’s charcoal was the first direct import of Cuban goods since Obama normalized relations, and its small scale and quirky back story make it a clear example of just how challenging the “opening” of the U.S.-Cuba relationship has been. While Washington has largely focused on the large increases in tourism and the success of tourism-focused companies like Airbnb and Hilton, which are now legally allowed to operate there, the Obama administration also made numerous small regulatory changes that focused on chipping away at Cuba’s monopolistic state, and promoting independent Cuban businesses.
What’s unclear is if they’ll survive Donald Trump’s new Cuba policy, scheduled to be officially unveiled later Friday. The Trump administration intends to cut off transactions between Americans and companies controlled or run by the Cuban government, according to White House officials, while continuing to allow commerce with independent Cuban businesses. In theory, this would continue to allow Americans to make small deals like the charcoal purchase, helping build up a grass-roots Cuban economy without feeding money to the Castro regime. But in practice, those deals are much more complicated. And as Trump takes a harder line, experts worry that Cuba will slam the door as well—and it could be many more years before the next Cuban export arrives on U.S. shores.
The door technically opened in January 2015, when the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued regulations that would allow increased travel to Cuba and commerce between the countries. The changes—spelled out in 12 pages of technical, bureaucratic language in the Federal Register—significantly expanded the acceptable reasons for Americans to travel to the island and modified rules on everything from international athletic events in Cuba to bringing back rum and cigars in luggage. Buried on page 11, OFAC added a new rule for commerce with Cuba that allowed the “import of certain goods and services produced by independent Cuban entrepreneurs.”
About a month later, the State Department released the list specifying what those goods and services were. Most of Cuba’s main export products—sugar, tobacco, petroleum, liquor and nickel—were disallowed. In fact, all agricultural and animal products were blocked, along with liquors, tobacco and textiles. To Gilbert, it was a disappointing list but it didn’t discourage him. He just had to find the right product.
Marabu is an invasive weed that exists all around Cuba and is cultivated by Cuban agricultural cooperatives. It’s so tough that it can’t be cut with a machete and has taken over broad swaths of farmland. But when burned, it produces one of the best artisanal charcoals in the world, often used in pizza and bread ovens. Best of all, it was authorized for import based on the State Department’s list, so Gilbert could import it into the United States.
But learning about marabu and actually importing it were two different things. Gilbert had to find a retailer to sell it in the United States and work with the shipping company to get it to Port Everglades. Importantly, he also had to get the sign off from CubaExport, the state-run company that controls Cuban exports. Technically, the cooperatives would sell the marabu to a local packager which sells to CubaExport. CubaExport would then export the charcoal and sell it to a subsidiary of Gilbert’s law firm. He wasn’t allowed to import goods from the Cuban government, but the U.S. considered CubaExport a middleman in this case, so the deal was legal.
The process was slow and frustrating; it’s a truism for anyone doing business in Cuba that it always requires patience. After decades without selling anything to the U.S., Cubans remain distrustful of U.S. businesses. “They’re a little bit nervous, a little bit suspicious and want to take it slow and be careful,” said Sarah Stephens, a principal at the Cuba Strategy Group who has worked with U.S. business trying to get a foothold in Cuba. “And on top of that, it’s a very bureaucratic system.”
Eventually, Gilbert received approval from all entities involved and the shipment of 40 tons of marabu charcoal arrived in the U.S. in January. For the importation of most goods, that timeline—literally years for a pile of wood—would be laughable. But for this particular pile of wood, it was a triumph. “We’re talking about two to three years in the context of a relationship that has been quite abysmal for 60,” he said.
Technically speaking, marabu wasn’t the first Cuban-made product to reach U.S. shores. Last year, Nestle imported 18 tons of green Cuban coffee beans to the United States. The company took out a full page ad in The New York Times and advertised the coffee as “Hecho en Cuba”—“Made in Cuba.” But the company hadn’t brought them directly over; the beans went through a London affiliate and then were shipped to the U.S. (Coffee beans weren’t on the State Department’s original list of authorized imports, but were added in April, 2016, along with textiles.) Gilbert said he has also sought to import refined coffee—different than just the beans—and is seeking confirmation from the government that this is allowed under the current regulations; he’s been awaiting a response from OFAC for over a year.
The regulatory changes have offered other opportunities as well. In a follow-up regulation issued by OFAC last October, the agency allowed Americans to help build Cuban infrastructure, like roads or water management facilities, and allowed U.S. businesses to export agricultural machinery to the island. Both are critical for Cuba’s private sector—especially the agricultural industry—to grow. So far, the uptake on both has been slow but hopes remain high.
The new regulation also allowed joint medical research projects with Cuba, which has a strong biotech sector. Already, a Buffalo-based cancer center received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical trials on a lung cancer vaccine and doctors are hoping that a treatment for diabetes could receive approval as well.
For all those changes, though, the embargo still has a stranglehold on the relationship. Under a little-known exemption, U.S. companies have long been allowed to sell food and medical supplies to Cuba. But exports have barely budged in the past two years, and remain well below their 2007 high when the U.S. sent $710 million of products to Cuba. Last year, it was just $232 million.
To many farmers, that’s been a disappointment. Patrick Wallesen, president of WestStar Food, a Texas agricultural company, said he was previously selling about $3 million a year of beans to Cuba but hasn’t sold any in the past four years. “I thought we would see more business and they would start to try and normalize things a little more,” he said. The problem is that modern exports rely on credit—and under the embargo, farmers still can’t offer credit to Cuba, putting American farmers at a competitive disadvantage to farmers elsewhere who can. The Obama administration tweaked that rule but had little flexibility under the law to do much else. As long as the law on credit remains, experts said, agricultural sales will be weak.
“There’s horror stories about people having frozen chicken stuck on a ship that’s ready to leave for Cuba and there’s a problem with the wire transfer because it’s a holiday in Europe or something like that,” said Collin Laverty, president of Cuba Educational Travel. “The embargo is very real.”
Unlike Obama, Trump doesn’t want to end the embargo; in fact, he wants to strengthen it. On Friday, he intends to announce a rollback of Obama’s policies on travel to Cuba. He also would prohibit American consumers and businesses from transacting with any company controlled or run by Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A., or GAESA, the business arm of the Cuban military. That will effectively blacklist large swaths of the Cuban economy. For big hotel chains or the airlines, that guarantees a loss of business, if not outright revocation of licenses granted by the Obama administration.
For Gilbert’s desire to import charcoal from Cuba, the implications are less clear. The White House says Americans will still be allowed to spend money at independent private-sector shops, and Sen. Marco Rubio, who worked with the Trump administration to develop the policies, told POLITICO’s Marc Caputo, “It puts these private businesses at an advantage, because Americans can only spend money with them, not the military monopoly.” But U.S. importers technically transact with CubaExport, the state-run company, even though the product is sourced from Cuban co-ops. Whether such transactions would be allowed under the new policy is unclear.
It’s also unclear whether Trump’s harsh rhetoric and policy changes could chill any developing trust between the two countries. Even under Obama, the process was slow and bureaucratic, a result of decades of mistrust. With a renewed hostility from Washington toward Havana and a possible reduction in business travel to the island, any burgeoning relationships may collapse.
Gilbert hopes that isn’t the case. He wants approval from the U.S. government to import different products, from honey to avocados, and hopefully lay a path for major U.S. businesses to follow. It’s only through such commerce, he believes, that the Cuban people can build a stronger economy and more free society.
“Assuming it is still permissible to import charcoal, I’m confident you will see a long-term contract executed in the next month and see the charcoal appearing on certain grocery store shelves,” he said. “My hope is it’s just the beginning of much more."


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Post-launch situation of Stadia
Stadia was a cloud-based gaming platform that was released on November 19, 2019, and was discontinued on January 18, 2023. It was met with mixed-to-negative reception from both critics and gamers. The platform launched disastrously, with heavily delayed controls, no major exclusive titles, old games that date back from 2016, and severe end-user technical limitations.
This page will show off the problems that Stadia has suffered before and since its launch in 2019 and the problems and situation surrounding the platform to this day.
Even before the November 19 launch, there were some problems that were surrounding Stadia, already giving it a somewhat bad name.
Price model announcement
During the Game's Developer Conference (GDC) 2019 event, the Stadia team revealed the pricing and business model of Google Stadia. Most people assumed that Google will offer a Netflix-like subscription (pay a monthly fee and gain access to a large number of games). However, the model revealed was that Stadia members would have to pay full price for game access. Stadia Pro (the subscription service offered) is only for 4K and surround sound, with one free game being thrown in monthly. This entire business model was one of Stadia's Achilles's heels.
Delayed inputs during the game demo
Also happening during GDC 2019, Google displayed a tech demo to show off how Google Stadia worked. One of the members played Assassin's Creed: Odyssey on multiple devices to show off the screen-switching capabilities of the platform. However, it was caught that the inputs were being heavily delayed, with the character moving and doing actions seconds after the member inputted the actions on the controller. While they did do a somewhat alright job of hiding the delays (by moving from device to device relatively quickly) it was still noticed and called out. This showed that Stadia was not ready to launch even then.
Stagnated deliveries and emails
On November 19, 2019, it was reported that many Founder's Edition orders were not coming in on time as promised while other people were reporting that they did get their Founder's Edition in the mail. What was even worse was that the Stadia Launch Codes (a code that is needed in order to fully access Stadia) were not emailed in unison, with some people getting their access codes while others don't.
End user device limitations
In their advertising campaigns, Stadia claimed that any device with a screen would be able to play and stream Stadia games. However, crawling up on Launch Day, Google released a list of devices that would be able to support Stadia, and it was not a large list:
- On computers, Stadia could only be streamed on Google Chrome and it was capped at 1080p, regardless of whenever the user had Stadia Pro or not.
- On phones, only Pixel devices could stream Stadia. Being that Pixel is only one of many phone brands out there, and not everyone owns a Pixel device, a lot of people couldn't play Stadia on day 1.
- On television, the only way to play Stadia was with the Chromecast Ultra that came with the Founder’s Edition or Premiere Edition. This contradicted the marketing claim of not needing a console or box under the TV, since a small device was still required.
- The Stadia controller had to be connected with a wire to other devices except on TV.
Although Google expanded the list of supported devices after launch, it was not enough to make up for the initial disappointment.
Lack of exclusives and games
During its showcase, it was announced that Stadia would launch with 12 games and only one exclusive. After backlash, Google managed to add 10 more games to its library, bringing the total to 22 games at launch. Considering that this platform was going against industry giants like PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo (all of whom have hundreds of games in their libraries and dozens of exclusive titles), this was abysmal. It also didn't help that most of the games were old titles, some of which were dated back from 2016.
Reports of overheating Chromecasts
A few days after Stadia's launch, reports started to come in that players' Chromecast Ultras were overheating and shutting down all on their own when playing on Stadia. The same thing was also happening to people's modems, with this problem being worse to those who were streaming in 4K. It was inferred that this was happening as the Chromecast Ultras were not tailor-made for long-term streaming with Stadia, rather it was jury-rigged to run Stadia and shipped out with no other alterations. When people reported this problem to Google on Reddit, a Google spokesperson flat-out denied the problem existed, saying that testing from their end showed that the Chromecasts were not overheating, so therefore, the problem did not exist.
Google's attempts to turn reviews around
While negative reviews of Stadia were coming left and right, Google tried a few ways to garner more positive attention and turn the reviews around:
- They first created burner accounts and wrote positive reviews about the platform. However they were quickly caught and they soon stopped.
- Then they tried to play the political correctness card, claiming that their controller was "gender-neutral" and was made for everyone. This was a horrible attempt in painting Stadia in a good light, as other platforms had dozens of controller variants available for sale (especially with Xbox and their Design Lab, allowing players to make a controller as they see fit). Not to mention third party controller skins existed in various game themes.
- Google then decided to start signing timed exclusive deals with third party publishers in an attempt to artificially expand their "exclusive" library (similar to the Epic Games Store), starting with Gylt and Get Packed. This resulted in universal backlash against them.
- They then released Stadia Base early, gave out a second buddy pass for Founder's Edition owners, and started giving away Stadia Pro subscriptions with other subscriptions.
These attempts were seen as weak-minded and gave off the impression that Google was getting desperate with the platform.
The Stadia platform had suffered from slow updates on new features and new games. At one point, over 40 days went by without any major news or updates to the community. In fact, the last major update that was reported was on July 1, 2020.
Lack of indie games
On March 2020, several indie studios reported that there was no real incentive on porting and publishing their games on the Stadia platform. This is because Google was offering no real financial incentive for them to port their games to the platform, as well as not seeing Stadia last for the long term (coming from Google's long history of killing off projects that don't take off right away). While AAA studios could take the time, money and chances on publishing their games on Stadia (due to the millions they generally make), indie studios don't have those resources on hand and have to make their decisions wisely. It also doesn't help that Stadia's core OS is Linux-based, making porting to it much more complicated and that Google had refused to give indie studios the resources and assistance to help port indie games on their platform.
Lack of official Stadia support in the new Chromecast Ultras
On September 28, 2020, several stores started to sell the new Chromecast Ultra (a few days before Google was set to announce it) and it was baffling when it was found out that Stadia was not officially supported on the new Chromecasts, with Google announcing that support would be released during the first half of 2021. Many stated that Google had shot themselves in the foot here, as the new Chromecast had Bluetooth capabilities, meaning that an Xbox or PlayStation controller could be connected to it; this in turn could give people a chance to try out Stadia, as now they didn't have to purchase any additional hardware (like the Stadia controller) to play games on the TV.
The lack of support in the new Chromecast Ultra was a big red flag to many that Google had started to wind down Stadia.
Shutdown of Stadia Games & Entertainment
On February 1, 2021, the head of Google Stadia, Phil Harrison, released an blogpost about the winding and shutting down Stadia Games & Entertainment (their first party studio), saying that they were restructuring the platform to be more focused on third party. This means that the Stadia platform will never have an in-house first party studio, but sends up the biggest red flag that Google is planning on sending Stadia to the graveyard. The developers at SG&E were not given any advanced notice on the shutdown; Harrison instead sent out an email praising the staff for the work they were doing, giving them hope for their future only for them to find out that they were going to be laid off on the same day as everyone else.
Google screws over Re-Logic Studio and refuses to give them support
On February 9, 2021, Andrew Spinks, CEO of Re-Logic Studio (the team behind Terraria) abruptly announced that the Stadia version of Terraria was canceled after revealing that their Google account was disabled out of nowhere for no reason and Google refused to offer any kind of support or give any kind of response. Andrew revealed that this happened three weeks ago and stated that working with Google is a liability because of their lack of cooperation and support to their problems.
Heavily mismanaged finances for games on Stadia
On February 26, 2021, an investigative report from Jason Schreier revealed just how badly Google mismanaged Stadia financially: according to the article, Google was paying AAA publishers like Ubisoft and Take-Two Interactive $10-20 million per port of their most popular franchises (Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2, respectively).
Schreier later expanded on his thoughts about this on his twitter, making it clear that Google wasted tons of money on these old games and that the money would have been better off if it was given out to indie developers.
On September 29, 2022, Google announced that it would shut down Stadia, citing its lack of traction with users (the issues mentioned above also contributed to that). The service shut down on January 18, 2023, and Google refunded all purchases for hardware and games made through the Google and Stadia stores. All storefront features were disabled with the announcement.
On January 18, 2023, the Stadia service went offline permanently.

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Even as overall inflation may have eased moderately in January, prices of a few key food items are still keeping the cost of the vegetarian thali high.
The average price of a vegetarian thali prepared at home increased by 5 percent in January to Rs 28 compared to Rs 26.6 last year, based on an analysis by Crisil. The same thali, however, cost Rs 29.7 in December, indicating a decline of 6 percent on a monthly basis. Prices of tomato and onion continued to stay high, hitting the cost of a vegetarian thali. In a year, the price of onion jumped 35 percent while that of tomatoes rose by 20 percent.
In addition to that, the price of rice also increased 14 percent and pulses 21 percent year-on-year in January. Rice contributes 12 percent to the cost of a vegetarian thali while pulses 9 percent.
The average cost of preparing a thali at home is calculated based on input prices prevailing in north, south, east, and west India. The monthly change reflects the impact on the common man’s expenditure. The data also reveals the ingredients (cereals, pulses, broilers, vegetables, spices, edible oil, cooking gas) driving changes in the cost of a thali.
However, the non-vegetarian thali got cheaper in the first month of 2024 as prices of broiler chicken continued to slide. A non-vegetarian home cooked thali cost Rs 52 in January, 8 percent lower than previous month. In a year, its cost fell 13 percent from Rs 59.9. The decrease was due to a decline of 26 percent year-on-year in broiler prices amid higher production. Also read: How India Eats: Non-veg thali prices fall in Dec due to cheaper poultry
“The cost of the non-veg thali declined faster due to a decline of 8-10 percent month-on-month in prices of broilers, which account for 50 percent of the cost,” says Crisil.
Overall, the easing on cost of both the thalis on an annual basis was due to a decrease of 26 percent and 16 percent month-on-month in the prices of onion and tomato, respectively, with higher domestic supply of onion amid export curbs and fresh tomato arrivals from the northern and eastern states.
Food inflation in India averaged above 6 percent year-on-year between January 2022 and December 2023. Drivers of the elevated prices have alternated between non-perishable food, which were mostly cereals and spices in 2022 and pulses in second half of 2023, while those were perishable items like vegetables in the second half of 2023, says Rahul Bajoria, MD & head of EM Asia (ex-China) Economics, Barclays.
Throughout this period, multiple factors, including high input costs, severe weather, and increased demand have combined to keep food inflation elevated. Government intervention, in the form of price and/or quantity controls, have tempered the momentum, but intermittent flareups in food prices persist.
(Forbes India's monthly series 'How India Eats' takes a look at how the average price of a food plate in India changes every month, indicating the impact on the common man's expenditure, by analysing the Indian thali.)


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Fans of financial technology (fintech) have been all abuzz about how new tech-driven financial services will threaten, and ultimately end, the dominance of banks. While it’s true that fintech is gradually disrupting the financial services industry, to argue that fintech will be the end of banks, is simply false.
Big banks strike early
In fact, the “disruption” we’re seeing now isn’t happening the way disruptive innovation was initially conceptualized. New and less-resourced entrants aren’t dominating larger and established competitors through cheaper and better services. Instead, we’re even seeing the old guard fuel these potential disruptors often by buying out or funding these startups.
Bank of America invested $1.5 million in a Charlotte fintech hub. Wells Fargo already has an innovation lab which they launched in 2014. Banks in Europe are also doing the same. Santander and BBVA both have put up their own funds to support fintech initiatives. The Vanguard Group and Charles Schwab also launched their own robo-advisor platforms to compete against investment fintech startups like Betterment and Wealthfront.
What these big banks are doing is essentially preemptive self-disruption. Instead of finding themselves playing catch-up to these smaller and more agile fintech companies, banks simply acquire the competition so that they can keep their market advantage.
Small banks have to cope
If there are institutions that are at risk, these would be the small banks. Small banks typically do not have the assets buy out the competition. They also don’t have the resources or internal competence to create their own tech products. However, they are feeling the pressure of changing consumer attitudes.
43 percent of mobile phone users with a bank account used mobile baking in 2015. This shows that mobile is becoming the preferred avenue for banking transactions. Consumers also now demand intuitive user experiences in their financial transactions. Providing such an experience is the expertise held by fintech companies.
What these banks can do instead is to collaborate with fintech companies. UK-based fintech company Ezbob is finding success in their collaborations with traditional lenders. Ezbob provides an automated lending platform for use by financial institutions. The platform provides borrowers a quick and easy interface to complete their application and the lenders powerful features such as know-your-customer (KYC), anti-fraud, analytics, reports and collections.
Recently, Ezbob partnered with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to enhance the bank’s direct lending capabilities. Instead of attempting to develop such as system themselves, small banks can also opt to emulate such business moves and partner with fintech companies to offer new tech-driven products and services.
Collaboration over competition
I recently talked to Tomer Guriel, CEO of Ezbob on the state of small banks and how a collaboration with fintech companies could help these banks level the playing field against bigger competition.
Are the banks going to disappear in the future?
No, I don’t think so. Banking as we know it will change. We at Ezbob are part of this change. We are working with banks to get them more automated, more customer friendly, be faster and, most importantly, capable of delivering an enjoyable customer journey.
What are banks doing to modernize their technology?
Historically, banking has been resistant to change but banks such as Citi, JPMorgan, RBS, Santander and many more have opened innovation labs around the world where they look to learn from Fintech companies.
What is fintech to you?
In the lending ecosystem, most people associate the word fintech with alternative lending companies such as Lending Club, Ondeck, Kabbage, SoFi, Funding Circle, Marcus by Godman Sachs and more. Fintech is much broader and is defined as anything that is technology and finance related. Banks are super interested in fintech solutions.
Why do banks need to change?
Do you like going to your bank branch to apply for a loan? How long does it take to apply? Where do you find the documents that the banker asked for? How long does it take to get an answer? Would you agree that banking as we know it needs to modernize itself?
What is Ezbob?
Ezbob is a technology company that provides lending solutions to banks. Ezbob offers banks a platform that allows any business large or small to apply for a loan and receive funding by simply filling in a 10-minute online application. By using our platform, banks can fund loans within 1 hour of the customer applying.
How long does it take to implement the system in a bank?
16 weeks. Any bank that implements our solution can compete with the big boys. Our technology levels the playing field. A small bank can compete for the same customers of a big bank.
Can you explain how you developed this technology?
We have a great management team which is growing. Our team includes bank-tech professionals from Fundtech, which was sold to D+H for over $1 billion, one of the founders of Waze, veterans of Amdocs, Comverse, JP Morgan, Barclay’s and more.
Today we have offices in London, Israel and in Bulgaria.
Who are Ezbob’s customers?
I’m proud to say that one of the biggest banks in the UK, The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of our clients. They have approximately 26% of the UK market. We will be announcing additional customers in the near future.
What are Ezbob’s future goals?
We hope to have a big impact on businesses worldwide by providing our solution to many banks in multiple countries. Banks using Ezbob’s solution will offer businesses in their countries a simple, fast, and enjoyable experience when applying and receiving funding.
Fintech to save small banks?
Small banks in the US continue to provide a valuable service to smaller and more remote communities, offering loans to small businesses and farms. However, small banks are seeing their share of assets decline since the recession. Collectively, small banks only hold 22 percent of domestic deposits and only 18 percent of US banking assets as of 2014.
These banks are threatened by the changes being brought about by technology. However, they must be able to recognize this as an opportunity to offer new tech-driven products and services to their customers. Fintech companies already acknowledge that banks aren’t going away and are keen on collaborating. Banks must seek out these new partnerships and use these new platforms to better serve their customers.


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San Francisco Walgreens bicycle thief Jean Lugo Romero has been sentenced to prison
A bike thief who went viral last year when video footage of him stealing from a Walgreens in San Francisco and then driving out of the retail store with a large bag of stolen goods circulated on social media, turned 16 months on Monday sentenced to prison.
Jean Lugo Romero pleaded guilty to felony crime and petty theft and received a year’s probation in addition to prison, San Francisco prosecutors said.
He was also ordered to stay away from two Walgreens employees, two Walgreens stores, and a CVS store.
“Whether the work of organized retail robbery rings or individual suspects, the burglaries affecting our local businesses will not be tolerated,” San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said in a statement.
Footage of the incident shows someone on a bicycle throwing items into a black bag and riding past a security guard, and another person films him in an aisle. Investigators have linked Romero to other retail store thefts, including one at a CVS in which he allegedly cleared nearly $1,000 worth of cosmetics off the shelves and placed the items in a duffel bag.
The Walgreens incident occurred as retail crime began to rise in several cities. However, San Francisco saw some of the most brazen thefts.
Also announced Monday were guilty verdicts against Ahmad Shabazz for a series of petty thefts at three different Walgreens stores. A jury found him guilty of multiple counts.
He is due to be sentenced on April 15. The shoplifting prompted Walgreens to close several San Francisco stores.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/san-francisco-walgreens-thief-on-bike-jean-lugo-romero-sentenced-to-prison/ San Francisco Walgreens bicycle thief Jean Lugo Romero has been sentenced to prison


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News By Tag
News By Location
AdamMaleBlog.com Announces "Freddie Mercury On A Flying Tiger" Art Give-Away
This morning, AdamMaleBlog posted an interview with Red Stylo Editor-In-Chief Enrica Jang about the upcoming tribute.
AdamMaleBlog writer Lee G. explains the concept of Killer Queen: A Comic Anthology as “a collection of original comic art, inspired by the discography of the greatest band in Rock-n-Royalty, QUEEN! With story titles like ‘Som Bot-D To Love,’ ‘Captain Thunder and The Champions,’ and ‘Fahrenheit Falling,’ we cannot wait to read what is in store. The comics are not a simple retelling of the storylines in the individual songs, but rather seeing a brand new companion creation that, according to their press materials, "takes us someplace completely cool and new."
Entries are being accepted between now and the afternoon of Aug. 13th.
We will announce and notify the winner via email on the evening of August 13th.
Enter the drawing via the blog article: http://www.adammaleblog.com/
More info on artist Bridgit Connell: http://www.bridgitalldigital.blogspot.com/
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In certain Japanese stores, Pepper the robot greets customers with a giggle, a polite bow, and a short song. When Pepper debuts in the United States, sometime in the next year, it is more likely to offer a fist bump and a sarcastic comeback.
“In Japan, because they have a very cute-centric culture, Pepper is much more silly and cute,” says Alia Pyros, international communications manager at Aldebaran Robotics, a French company that developed the robot in collaboration with the Japanese corporation Softbank before Softbank acquired it outright. “In the U.S., we have this kind of C3-PO idea, where he’s kind of snarky and kind of smart.”
When I saw Pepper at Aldebaran’s offices in Boston, where the company is exploring ways to introduce the robot to the U.S. public, some of this stateside attitude was on display. After being introduced in the lobby, Pepper offered several times to high-five me. And when asked if it was a Terminator, Pepper said curtly: “Do I really have to answer that?”
Pepper is one of several robots hitting the market that are designed to entertain and assist people in store showrooms, in offices, and even at home. The falling cost of sensors, actuators, and computers has made it possible to build something capable of basic navigation, simple voice and image recognition, and even a little conversation. But all these robots are still quite rudimentary (see “Personal Robots: Artificial Friends with Limited Benefits”).
Pepper is more sophisticated than most of its competitors, some of which are immobile and limbless. The white plastic robot is a little over a meter tall, and it moves around on wheels embedded in a stable base. Its eyes change color as it listens and speaks, and it waves its humanoid arms in a surprisingly expressive way as it talks, which can make Pepper feel strangely engaging. Like other robots, Pepper is prone to mishearing or misinterpreting words and phrases, which can be confusing and frustrating. But it’s less error-prone than other bots I’ve seen.
At least for now, it’s not meant to take on very complex tasks: its hands and arms are incapable of useful manipulation. When asked if it can do the dishes, Pepper told me, “I suppose I could try, but I don’t think it would be a good idea; I’d rather just be a friend.” But at some point its capabilities could increase: Softbank has released an application programming interface for Pepper so that software developers can create custom capabilities. Aldebaran’s U.S. team has collaborated with researchers from IBM to give Pepper the ability to devise recipes, using the Watson platform (see “New Answers from IBM’s Watson”).
Pepper costs around $2,000 in Japan and requires a monthly subscription fee for updates and maintenance.
Brian Scassellati, a professor at Yale University who studies how people and robots can interact, says significant progress has been made in the area in the last 10 years. “Human-robot interaction has really started to home in on the kinds of behaviors that give you that feeling of presence,” he says. “A lot of these are small, subtle things.” For example, Pepper can crudely read your emotions by using software that analyzes facial expressions. I found the robot to be pretty good at telling whether I was smiling or frowning.
However, Scassellati does not believe robots are ready to become constant companions or even effective salespeople. The robots that succeed “are going to be for very limited use,” he suggests. “They’re going to be for targeted use, and probably not with the general population.”
My short time with Pepper makes me think that targeting limited applications is a sensible move. The robot could prove a draw in stores (as a novelty if nothing else), and it could conceivably help a customer look up information about different products. But real robot companions are clearly still a ways off. As if to emphasize the point, when it came time to leave and I bid the robot farewell, Pepper apparently forgot its new Americanized routine and stared blankly into empty space ahead.
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The Safer Roads Partnership in Warwickshire and West Mercia is reminding motorists to take extra care on the roads during the current cold spell, as freezing temperatures have caused icy and slippery roads in many areas across the region.
With temperatures plummeting overnight, road conditions in the mornings are becoming hazardous in some areas, with reports of black ice and slippery roads. Driving in these conditions can be particularly challenging for drivers as vehicle handling changes and stopping times and distances increase.
Anna Higgins, Communications Manager for the Safer Roads Partnership said “There have already been numerous reports of hazardous driving conditions in the mornings and motorists need to take extra care when weather and driving conditions deteriorate. Vehicle handling can change considerably and it takes much longer to slow down on wet and icy roads. Keep well back from the vehicle in front and allow plenty of time to slow down.
“Steering may become unresponsive and if this happens, ease off the accelerator and slow down gradually. Braking sharply on an icy or wet road will only make the situation worse and could cause the brakes to lock and the car to skid.”
The partnership is also reminding drivers about the importance of carrying an emergency kit in their cars during the winter months in case of a breakdown or delay. This should include items such as an ice-scraper, torch, warm clothes and a blanket, a pair of boots, a first aid kit, battery jump leads, a shovel for snow, food and drink and sunglasses to help see in low winter sun. Motorists are also advised to make sure their mobile phone is fully charged before heading off on a long journey.
Anna Higgins added: “It really is worth spending a couple of minutes to put a few extra items in the boot of your car that could be essential if you breakdown or experience a delay due to bad weather. You may not need to use them but you’ll be glad you packed them if you do.”


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Coca-Cola and Pepsi recently vowed to clean up their water use practices in China. Thing is, the vows weren’t exactly voluntary. Only after a Beijing economic council released a scathing report on the firms’ water practices did the soft drink firms swear to change. Moving forward, Beijing will monitor the firms, and 25 other companies, for environmental infractions, Environmental Leader reports. (Coke and Pepsi pledged complete cooperation with the plan.) Meanwhile, other sources indicate that Coke and Pepsi do not deserve environmental blacklisting. What does all of this mean for sustainable business?
The List all began with a report, published in April by the Beijing Development and Reform Commission, entitled Catalog of Products of High Water Consuming Technology Restricted and Prohibited in Industry in Beijing. (The report could help the government reach its goal of reducing its energy consumption by 20 percent between 2005 and 2010.) The report, which highlights (among other things) the high level of water pollution and overuse by the beverage making industry, put Coke and Pepsi on Beijing’s top-12 list of water polluters. Following the report, the Commission listed several companies it will keep an eye on, including a Benz-Daimler Chrysler plant, the Capital Iron and Steel Corporation, and the chemical company Praxair, in addition to Coke and Pepsi. Not exactly a positive development, given the already-strained environmental relations between the U.S. and China and the importance of those relations for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December.
Interestingly, though, Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s inclusion on the List runs counter to many of their recent positive environmental measures and press. According to another Environmental Leader report, Coke and Pepsi were ranked number 1 and 2 (respectively) in the food and beverage sector for their sustainable initiatives. Coke’s “Commitment 2020” states that it seeks to reduce its carbon footprint by 15 percent by 2020. Meanwhile, Pepsi is ranked second among Fortune 500 companies for purchasing renewable energy. Is it really necessary for China to light a candle under these companies’ feet? And what could explain the discrepancies between these figures and China’s?
It could be that Coke and Pepsi’s China-based plants do not operate sustainably. Alternatively, it could be that China’s figures, reporting, or motives were incorrect or unclear. There could be a power play involved, or some unknown profit at stake, or both, or neither…. But in my opinion, the bottom line, from a bigger-picture-for-sustainable-business perspective, relates to transparency, effort, and an “at least” mentality. At least Coke and Pepsi allowed China’s investigation into their operations, at least they complied with the reprimand, and at least China is attempting to reduce its environmental impact. If bumps in the road do not distract the green movement’s eye from the goal, sustainable business could shape up pretty well in years to come.
What do you think?


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Ontario gray market sportsbooks have attracted many Ontario sports bettors over the past few decades. But now that Ontario is legalizing private sportsbooks, Ontario bettors will have competitive legal options to use. Due to Ontario’s internet gaming standards and competition between companies, Ontario-based sports media company, theScore, is expecting improved sportsbooks for customers in the private market.
“A lot of the issues with offshore books with how you’re getting money in, how you’re getting money out, customer service, a whole bunch of things that should hopefully get better with the regulated market,” Aubrey Levy, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Content for theScore said. “It certainly will with our offering.”
In the gray market, sportsbook customers depend on their offshore book’s goodwill to resolve customer service issues. If there are issues with payouts, player accounts, or placing bets, there’s nothing Ontario or Canada can do to back bettors up.
But with a licensing regime in place, Ontario sports bettors will be guaranteed sportsbooks that follow consistent rules about payouts, bet cancellations, and other sensitive customer service issues.
BetRivers is Official: RSI Gains License to Operate in Ontario | Dan Holmes
Ontario Gray Market Sportsbooks’ License Benefits
Historically, Canadian regulations didn’t explicitly outlaw offshore gambling. But the tolerance for Ontario gray market sportsbooks will end on April 4.
“When April 4 comes around, Ontario will go from a gray market to a black market,” Amanda Brewer, Country Manager at Kindred Group said. “If you [sportsbook operators] do not have a license, you will be illegally operating.”
So, offshore operators will carry the stigma of being illegal if they don’t have Ontario licenses — or even license applications. The damage won’t be limited to Ontario, either. Other regulators could frown upon an operator that spurns a major market’s licensing process. Brewer offers the example of the Netherlands, Norway, and other European markets that are cracking down on illegal sportsbook operators.
“They’re kicking out operators who’ve been beaming in with licenses in other jurisdictions,” Brewer said. “So you can end up having your brand tarred and feathered publicly as well if a regulator decides to make a really big issue out of [licensing].”
So an Ontario sports betting license can not only grant an offshore sportsbook access to Ontario’s private sports betting market. It can also protect an offshore book’s access to existing and future markets.
Obstacles To Switching From Soon-To-Be Illegal Offshore Books
Switching from gray market sportsbooks to legal sportsbooks will be critical when Ontario’s private sports betting and igaming industry goes live on April 4. But gray market sportsbooks have two advantages going into Ontario’s new sports betting and igaming market. First, gray market sportsbooks already enjoy a hefty market share.
“If you have been working in this industry long enough or if you go and buy some of the research reports on Ontario, bet365 by far and away has the largest market share,” Brewer said.
However, a large market share means more than brand loyalty. It also means bet365 and other gray market sportsbooks hold large amounts of bettor money.
“Whether [it’s] brand loyalty to [gray market sportsbooks] or just the sheer fact that people have balances on-site with them, that is a competitive hurdle to overcome without question,” Levy said.
Ontario’s marketing restrictions will make consumer protection and “brand” critical to drawing gray market bettors to the new legal market. Ontario sportsbooks won’t be able to plaster billboards or Twitter feeds with large welcome bonuses. Instead, legal sportsbooks will have to rely on their products and brands for long-term heavy lifting.
Bettors can still opt into promotional offers from major sportsbook brands. In the short term, books could use customer acquisition through bonusing to attract bettors actively seeking welcome bonuses.
College sports betting: Understanding Ontario’s Regulations on Collegiate Events | Chris Gerlacher
Looking Ahead In Ontario
Private sportsbook companies are already preparing to compete with gray market operators. That includes gray market operators who choose to get licensed in Ontario and those who don’t. Competing with gray market operators who become illegal will be straightforward. Drawing bettors away from existing offshore accounts with money in them may take time. But consumer protection and up-front branding will eventually draw Ontario bettors to legal books.
Competing with gray market operators who secure licensing will be trickier. They’ll be entering the market with loyal customer bases. 888 Holdings recently announced its license approval by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Brewer expects bet365 to apply for and receive a gaming license in Ontario, too.
Ontario’s sports betting and igaming industry will include former gray market operators, major legal sportsbook brands from the United States, Europe, and Australia, and the Ontario lottery-run book, PROLINE+. Despite the strengths that gray market operators that become legal bring to the market, private operators remain confident in their abilities to compete effectively.
“Our belief is that people don’t just bet as an isolated transaction,” Levy said. “They bet as a component of their overall fan experience. So when they’re used to sportsbooks that might be a little clunky, a little difficult to manage in the gray market, hopefully coming into an ecosystem like ours where we try to make their lives as simple and as easy as possible…it’s going to make their product lives a hell of a lot better and easier than it is currently.”


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Mobile phones increasingly personal for Australian businesspeople
Businesspeople who mostly use their mobile phones for business rather than personal use are a dying breed in Australia, data from Roy Morgan Research shows.
The proportion of Australians who use their mobile phones ‘mainly for business’ has declined over the last five years, while those who use it ‘about equally’ for business and personal use has remained steady.
This suggests an increase in personal use by those who were initially reluctant.
A Roy Morgan Research survey of more than 14,000 Australian mobile phone owners aged 14 and older found that in the year to September 2014, ‘mainly business’ mobile phone users hit a low at 7.4%. Between 2010 and 2011, about one in 10 mobile phone owners fitted this category.
Meanwhile, mobile phone owners who used them ‘about equally’ for business and personal has remained steady until a slight increase last year to 13.3%. Between 2010 and 2011 this figure was at one in eight.
Roy Morgan Research general manager – media, Tim Martin, said:
“The decline in the proportion of users who say their phone is used mainly for business suggests that people who once only needed it for work are now integrating it into their personal lives.”
Differences in usage habits
Mostly business users
- 58 calls per week,
- 36 SMS texts per week, on average, and
- most likely to be Telstra customers.
Mostly personal users
- 21 calls per week,
- 43 SMS texts per week, on average, and
- most likely to be Virgin or Vodafone customers.
Equal business and personal users
- 37 calls per week,
- 47 texts per week, on average,
- most likely to be Optus customers,
- one in four have their employer pay their bills, and
- more likely than ‘mainly personal’ users to play music or videos, listen to radio, enter competitions or vote using SMS.


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FDA Takes Sweeping Enforcement Action to Address “Epidemic” of Youth E-cigarette use, Could Move to Significantly Restrict Flavored Products
On Sept. 12, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) announced a series of significant enforcement actions related to the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes to minors. According to FDA, this was the largest coordinated enforcement effort in the Agency’s history, comprised of over 1,300 warning letters and civil money penalty complaints (i.e., fines) to retailers who illegally sold JUUL and other e-cigarette products to minors during a nationwide, undercover blitz of brick-and-mortar and online stores this summer.
Per FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., the Agency sees “clear signs that youth use of electronic cigarettes has reached an epidemic proportion,” and as a result “must adjust certain aspects of our comprehensive strategy to stem this clear and present danger.”
In addition to announcing the warning letters and fines discussed above, FDA also yesterday made public its letters to the manufacturers of the five top-selling national e-cigarettes brands (i.e., JUUL, Vuse, MarkTen XL, blu e-cigs, and Logic). Significantly, in its letters to JUUL Labs, Reynolds American, Altria, Fontem Ventures, and Japan Tobacco International, USA, the Agency gave each firm 60 days within which to provide a written response to FDA that includes a detailed plan to address and mitigate widespread e-cigarette use by minors. Per the Agency’s letters, such a plan may include:
- Discontinuing sales to retail establishments that have been subject to an FDA civil monetary penalty for sale of tobacco products to minors within the prior 12 months;
- Developing or strengthening any internal program that exists to check on retailers and reporting to the Agency the name and address of retailers that have sold products to minors;
- Eliminating online sales, whether through Internet storefronts controlled by each firm company or other retailers, or providing evidence to demonstrate that the company’s online sales practices do not contribute to youth use of e-cigarette products;
- Revising current marketing practices to help prevent use by minors; and/or
- Removing flavored products from the market until those products can be reviewed by FDA as part of a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA).
Of these plan elements, discontinuing sales to non-compliant retailers, strengthening retailer compliance check programs and revising marketing practices are fairly straightforward and while they will not be easy lifts, are reasonable enough for e-cigarette firms. However, eliminating all online sales, whether or not the company controls the website and removing all flavored products from the market until FDA reviews PMTAs for the same would be highly burdensome on e-cigarette companies. Moreover, this would mean that e-cigarette firms would be removing from market products that are currently on the market legally.
As discussed previously, on Jul. 28, 2017, FDA announced a then-new, comprehensive plan for tobacco and nicotine regulation that would place nicotine and the issue of addiction, at the center of the Agency’s tobacco regulatory efforts. Part of that plan included delaying the deadline for marketing applications for non-combusted products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) or e-cigarettes until Aug. 8, 2022. Under this policy, as long as an e-cigarette was on the market as of Aug. 8, 2016 (i.e., the effective date of FDA’s Deeming Rule), the manufacturer could continue to market such product until a product application for the same is required to be submitted (i.e., Aug. 8, 2022) and while FDA reviews such product application. Accordingly, while FDA is suggesting that leading e-cigarette firms remove flavored products from the market, these companies are legally permitted to continue to market such products, as long as they were on the market as of Aug. 8, 2016 and unless and until FDA moves up its current marketing application deadline.
Per FDA, flavors may play a role in helping some adult cigarette smokers reduce combusted cigarette use and/or switch to potentially less harmful tobacco products (e.g., e-cigarettes). If manufacturers remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market, adult smokers might not transition away from combusted products (i.e., traditional cigarettes) as much as they have been. Recall that under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, all flavored combusted cigarettes are banned, so the only current flavored “cigarette” choice for adult smokers is flavored e-cigarettes. Despite the importance of flavors to adult smokers, Commissioner Gottlieb noted yesterday that “in enabling a path for e-cigarettes to offer a potentially lower risk alternative for adult smokers, we won’t allow the current trends in youth access and use to continue, even if it means putting limits in place that reduce adult uptake of these products.”
While FDA’s letters to leading e-cigarette firms are merely requests, Gottlieb said yesterday that the companies’ failure to respond within 60 days, or failure to “appropriately address the issue” in their responses, could result in the Agency revisiting its policy to allow e-cigarettes to remain on the market without a marketing order. More specifically, FDA could require these brands to remove some or all of their flavored products until they receive premarket authorization.
In the meantime, the Agency is currently investigating whether manufacturers introduced certain e-cigarette products to the market after Aug. 8, 2016 and may be subject to enforcement for marketing those products without premarket authorization. If, for example, a manufacturer introduced a new flavored product to the market on Aug. 9, 2016 or after, such product would not be able to take advantage of the Agency’s extended compliance date of Aug. 8, 2022 (i.e., it could not legally be on the market without approval from FDA).
Given FDA’s recent retailer enforcement sweep and its current focus on e-cigarette manufacturer practices:
- Retailers that sell e-cigarettes would be well advised to ensure strict compliance with tobacco product sales age verification requirements; and
- Manufacturers would be well advised to ensure they are not marketing any products introduced after Aug. 8, 2016 without a marketing order in effect.
If you have questions regarding an issue raised in this post, please contact the author or the attorney at the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.


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Eve & Co's wholly-owned subsidiary, Natural MedCo has entered into an exclusive letter of intent (“LOI”) with ECS BioMed Inc. (“Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics”) effective January 14, 2020. The LOI contemplates the exclusive right and license to manufacture, import and export, warehouse, package, advertise, market, distribute and sell the following products in Canada under the Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics brand, under the Eve & Co brand, or as co-branded products under the Eve & Co and Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics brands: Natural CBD Relief Cream, Natural CBD Relief Stick, Natural CBD Spray, Natural CBD Sleep Cream, Natural CBD Skin Cream, and Natural CBD PMS Cream.
"The LOI contemplates Natural MedCo and Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics entering into a licensing agreement by May 13, 2020," the team with the company explains. "The term of the proposed license agreement is for an initial five years commencing January 14, 2020, with Natural MedCo having the option to extend the term in five year intervals. The Company anticipates manufacturing and distributing CBD-infused topicals to the Canadian market in 2020.
Melinda Rombouts, President and CEO of Eve & Co commented, “We are very excited to be partnering with Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics on the development and distribution of CBD Creams. Dr. Kerklaan and his team have brought their extensive knowledge of the CBD industry and unparalleled enthusiasm to the table, and we are eager to move forward together and capture the potential for both companies in Canada.” Ms. Rombouts continued, “Dr. Kerklaan has developed many high-end CBD topical products which address a number of concerns and are a complementary fit for our brand, Eve.”
“Canada represents an exciting opportunity for Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics. Expanding our international reach to include Canada is an important milestone for the brand, and we’re thrilled to have Eve & Co as a strategic partner to help launch our collection of CBD topicals,” said Dr. Kerklaan, Founder & CEO of Dr. Kerklaan Therapeutics.


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Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity ship will add Miami as a stop on its cruises to The Bahamas next month, and the ship will be the first not to comply with the CDC’s COVID-19 safety rules after a federal appeals court decision that they are not enforceable in Florida.
Starting Aug. 9, passengers will be able to board the Crystal Serenity, one of the Miami-based luxury cruise company’s ships, at PortMiami each Monday for seven-night cruises stopping in Nassau and Bimini , The Bahamas, the company announced this week. Passengers will continue to be able to board the ship in Nassau on Saturdays and Bimini on Sundays.
CDC spokesperson Caitlin Shockey said Crystal Serenity will appear in gray on the agency’s color-coded chart a few days before it enters U.S. waters, indicating that it is not voluntarily complying with the CDC’s “conditional sail order.” It is the first ship not to comply.
“This means that CDC cannot confirm that the cruise ship operator’s health and safety protocols align with CDC’s standards for protecting passengers, crew, port personnel, and communities against the public health risks posed by COVID-19,” said Shockey in an email.
The CDC maintains a public list of cruise ships that specifies which ships have reported COVID-19 cases in the last seven days and assigns them a color (green, yellow, orange or red) based on the seriousness of the outbreak.
Crystal Cruises has been operating Bahamas cruises from the two ports since July 3. The added Miami stop will allow passengers to get off the ship in South Florida and visit local attractions like South Beach, Little Havana and the Everglades. The cruises start at $1,999 per passenger, the company said.
“By adding Port of Miami, we are giving travelers another convenient way to join these popular Bahamas cruises that provide vacation escapes both close to home and yet a world away, with amazing outdoor options from snorkeling and diving to eco-tours and deep-sea fishing, to just relaxing on some of the world’s most beautiful beaches,” said Jack Anderson, Crystal’s president, in a statement.
The ship can accommodate 1,070 passengers, but is operating at reduced capacity, the company said.
It will be the first to operate from a U.S. port without voluntarily complying with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “conditional sail order” since a federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that the agency’s COVID-19 regulations for cruise ships are not enforceable in Florida as part of a lawsuit brought against the agency by Gov. Ron DeSantis. All other cruise companies are voluntarily complying with the order, the CDC said.
Crystal spokesperson Susan Robison declined to comment on which aspects of the conditional sail order the company will not be implementing.
“We are complying with the regulations that are in place,” she said in an email. Because of the court’s order, there are no federal COVID-19 cruise regulations in place for Florida cruises.
Robison said the company “intends to meet or exceed the CDC recommendations including 100% vaccinated crew and capacity controlled unvaccinated guests with additional requirements and restrictions.” The company will recommend all passengers be vaccinated and require unvaccinated passengers to wear masks, purchase travel insurance and be restricted to certain areas on the ship. Robison said the company has agreements with a local hospital and transportation company to handle positive passengers who need to be taken off the ship.
The company requires passengers to undergo tests for COVID-19 prior to boarding, Robison said.
The conditional sail order requires ships to attest to the CDC that at least 95% of their passengers and crew are vaccinated, or perform test cruises before restarting with paying passengers. It also requires companies to test all crew members weekly for COVID-19 and report results to the agency and have CDC-approved legal evacuation and isolation agreements in place with U.S. ports and local health authorities, among other things.
Ships that don’t comply are still required to report COVID-19 cases and deaths to the CDC and allow ship inspections, said Shockey, the CDC spokesperson. Passengers on ships that don’t comply will be required to wear masks indoors at all times, in line with the federal mask rule for public transportation, Shockey said.
COVID-19 has persisted on cruise ships even with the CDC regulations in place. One in three ocean cruise ships operating in U.S. waters or planning to come into U.S. waters soon have reported a COVID-19 case on board in the last seven days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nine of the 21 ships that have reported COVID-19 cases have passengers on board.


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Meizu has managed to grow quite a bit last year. The company has sold 20 million smartphones in 2015, which is a lot compared to 4.4 million units they shipped back in 2014. Well, the company still did not announce a single device this year, at least not an Android-powred device (Ubuntu-powered Meizu PRO 5 was introduced during MWC). Well, that will change soon, our source at the company informed us that Meizu plans to introduce new hardware next month, as they will host two press events on China. Well, now we have more details regarding one of those events, read on.
The company has decided to officially tease one of their upcoming events. If you take a look at the provided image, you’ll get to see that Meizu plans to host an event on April 6th, and this image also confirms that the Meizu M3 Note will be introduced in the event, though it might be hard to tell considering it’s in Chinese. Anyhow, this event will be held at the Beijing National Convention Center, and the Meizu M3 Note will be a direct successor to the Meizu M2 Note this company unveiled last year. If the M2 Note is any indication of how well the M3 Note’s sales will go, then this smartphone will be one of the best selling Meizu-branded handsets this year. Meizu’s exec confirmed the arrival of the M3 Note recently, but he hasn’t exactly shared the phone’s specs with us. Well, thankfully, a couple of leaks surfaced touting M3 Note’s specs, so let’s see what can we expect.
According to the leaked info, the Meizu M3 Note will feature a 5.5-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) display, just like its predecessor. This phone will probably be made out of plastic, though it is possible Meizu plans to change things around this year, and actually include some metal in their mid-ranger. The device will almost certainly going to be fueled by MediaTek’s Helio P10 64-bit octa-core processor (mid-range SoC), and you’ll be able to find either 16GB or 32GB of storage on the inside (depending on the model). The 13-megapixel snapper will quite probably going to be located on the back of this phone, and Android Lollipop or Marshmallow will come pre-installed on it with Meizu’s Flyme UI installed on top of it.


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Jobandtalent Announces New Funding Round
After raising a total of $42 million in funding, Jobandtalent has announced its intention to expand its service to more cities. The company is also planning to increase its sales and tech teams, as well as to hire key execs. However, its current focus is on London, where it has been the most successful on jobandtalent 108m 290m 80k lomastechcrunch. To know more visit us.
The latest investment round in the job market software company Covid has raised 108 million US dollars, bringing its total funding to nearly $300 million. Investors include Atomico, Kibo Ventures, DN Capital, and Seek. This funding round comes at a time when the legal policies for digital services have been changing.
Jobandtalent, founded in 2009, is an online platform that connects temporary workers with employers in need of casual workers. The company is expanding into the U.S. and has raised over $290 million in its three years of operation. The company expects the demand for its services to increase as more businesses go digital. Jobandtalent is growing rapidly and has received funding from a number of venture capitalists.
Jobandtalent raises EUR88 million
Jobandtalent, a digital temporary staffing platform, has raised EUR88 million in a new funding round. The funding follows an earlier EUR70 million series C round, which included participation from existing investors. With this additional funding, Jobandtalent will accelerate its expansion in key markets and hire more permanent employees.
Founded in 2009, Jobandtalent has been growing rapidly in nine markets including the U.S. and Europe. Revenue growth is over 130% a year and the company expects to be profitable by 2020. The company’s recent funding round includes investments from Atomico, DN, Kibo, Infavia, and Quadrille.
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Carphone Warehouse has kicked the Sony Ericsson Satio out of its shops, after too many customers reported software problems with the smart phone, Reuters reports.
You can still find the Satio on Carphone's Web site, but no tariffs are available to buy. The Warehouse said, in a statement, that the Satio had "issues" which may "result in a customer experience that is below our usually high standards."
Sony Ericsson admits that some Satios suffer from software problems, and says that it has its teams of phone boffins applying their large brains to finding a quick solution. Carphone is offering to exchange your faulty Satio with another phone, and it says it's working with Sony Ericsson to restock the phone as soon as it's up to snuff.
We didn't experience software instability in our review of the Satio, but we did find the user interface inconsistent and not as user-friendly as its smart-phone competitors, such as the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Hero. The Satio's 12.1-megapixel camera, however, with its xenon flash, was one of the best we've ever seen on a phone.
The Satio's software issues are yet another reason to wait for Sony Ericsson's shift to using Android for its smart phones. The company promises the robot-packin' Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will be on shelves within the next four months.


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Manage episode 294655431 series 2917102
Everybody was waiting for the big event: the CPI Report.
Here's what is happening in the markets today, Thursday, June 10th.
Yesterday, stocks continued to trade within a tight range, with all three major indexes ending the day within 0.5% of Tuesday’s closing levels.
Economists expect the May CPI report to show prices up 4.7% year over year after April’s increase of 4.2%. The core rate of inflation, excluding food and energy, is expected to jump 3.5% on an annual basis, the biggest jump in 28 years.
Nobody expects the Fed to raise interest rates this year or next. But it is likely the Fed starts to hint that they are thinking about tapering their bond purchases, possibly as soon as this fall.
Some Meme stock news:
GameStop (GME) fell 7% in premarket trading even after the company tapped former Amazon executive Matt Furlong to be its next CEO and said that sales rose 25% last quarter. The company also said it may sell up to 5 million additional shares from time to time, in "at-the-market" offerings
And more retail earnings:
Restoration Hardware (RH) surged 8.4% in premarket trading after it reported a quarterly profit of $4.89 per share, above the $4.10 a share consensus estimate. They also reported better-than-expected revenue and raised its full-year outlook.
Tesla (TSLA) plans to launch its new Model S Plaid today. The high-end version of the Model S will cost just under $120,000 and has a projected driving range of 390 miles. The super high-end version, the Model S Plaid Plus was supposed to go from 0-60 in less than 2 seconds with a range of more than 500 miles, but Tesla canceled that model.
One day after falling to a three-week low, Bitcoin rose 5% to more than $35,400 on Wednesday. El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Prices in El Salvador can now be shown in bitcoin and taxes contributions can be paid with the digital currency. El Salvador’s current official currency is the U.S. dollar.
JBS, the world's biggest meat processor, said it paid an $11 million ransom to hackers who forced it to shut down plants last week.
More than 25% of shoppers at Levi’s have a different size today than before the pandemic, according to CEO Chip Bergh. He called the number of people with new sizes “pretty staggering.”
The Amazon (AMZN) Founder Jeff Bezos is launching himself into space. In an Instagram post, Bezos said that he and his brother would be onboard Blue Origin's first passenger-carrying mission, set for liftoff on July 20.
That leaves only one seat open. So if you've been looking to get some Bezos facetime to pitch your startup idea, you can bid for New Shepard's final seat through Saturday.
As of yesterday, the highest bid to sit sandwiched between the Bezos brothers for an 11-minute space flight reaching an altitude of 62 miles: $2.8 million.
This wraps up today's stock market news.
If you enjoyed the "Stock Market Today" video, make sure to subscribe to this podcast.
And for more stock market news, visit https://rockwelltrading.com.
#todaysstockmarket #stockmarkettoday #stockmarket


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McDonald's has decided to stop using chlorofluorocarbons in its fast-food packaging as a gesture toward protecting ozone in the upper atmosphere, the company announced yesterday.
The restaurant chain said it had concluded that "there are reasonable alternatives to possibly harmful CFCs available which will not affect our ability to serve our customers products which are hot and fresh."
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are used to produce plastic foam products, such as the lidded containers that McDonald's uses to package its sandwiches. Far more of the chemicals are used as refrigerants and in aerosol products.
Scientists have warned for more than a decade that CFCs are destroying the ozone layer that shields Earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation, which can cause skin cancer. The warnings have become more urgent amid recent evidence that the ozone is thinning measurably over Antarctica.
The McDonald's decision was prompted in part by some gentle nudging from Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.), who urged the company several months ago to consider alternatives to CFCs.
Although foam sandwich trays represent a small fraction of international CFC use, they have become symbolic of what critics consider "frivolous" uses of the chemical at the expense of the atmosphere.
Stafford said yesterday that he was "delighted" at the decision. "From now on, McDonald's gets all of my fast-food business," he said.
McDonald's spokesman Lana Ehrsam said the company will continue to use foam packaging, but the products will be manufactured without the use of CFCs. The transition will take about 18 months, she said.
"When we started hearing more about the whole ozone scenario, we started a complete review of our packaging program," she said. "We found an alternative that we feel will work."


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In this segment from Motley Fool Money, two growth industries collide: e-commerce and healthcare. Host Chris Hill and senior analysts Jason Moser, Matt Argersinger, and Ron Gross consider what Amazon's (AMZN -2.56%) acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack will mean for the pharmacy industry broadly.
Wall Street made its opinion quite clear: The three biggest brick-and-mortar drugstore chains lost a combined $10 billion in market cap the day the deal was announced. And that wasn't even the only major industry Amazon moved to disrupt last week.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on June 29, 2018.
Chris Hill: This week, Amazon moved even further into the healthcare industry when it bought PillPack, an online pharmacy business, for $1 billion. PillPack is licensed to ship prescriptions. Matty, just like that, Amazon has scale in this game.
Matt Argersinger: I know. If there was any doubt that Amazon was going to get into the drug distribution business, quashed that this week. I'll just note that the disruption that this has done, particularly to Walgreens (WBA 3.69%), CVS and Rite Aid, if you look at when the news was announced on Thursday, those three companies lost $10 billion in combined market value. By the way, the market was up on Thursday. Really, that's the story.
This is the big step. I think Amazon made one step a week ago when they announced who the director of this new healthcare company was going to be. Now, they've firmly put their foot into the drug distribution business, where there is this middleman, high-margin distribution business that is ripe for disruption.
Ron Gross: Also interesting news recently, they're trying to really work on that last mile, the actual delivery to the home. Now, you can become your own trucker, franchisor, with an Amazon van. For a $10,000 investment, you, too, can have your own Amazon delivery business. That's going to be really interesting, too, especially as we move to things like one-day, same-day delivery of things like prescriptions.
Hill: That sounds like an adult version of having a paper route. That sounds like the paper route of the 21st century.
Argersinger: I'm glad Ron brought that up, because if you look at FedEx and UPS, another $3 billion in market cap lost on Thursday as well!
Hill: Let's go back to the drugstores for a second. Beyond the loss in market cap -- I don't want to paint them all with the same brush, but the head of Walgreens made some comments that really struck me as whistling past the graveyard, in terms of, "Well, there's a lot more to the pharmacy business than delivering medication." I understand that, and yet it really did seem like they're not taking this threat very seriously.
Argersinger: I question that. It's probably more complex than we think, but ultimately, that's what we're doing here, people are getting drug, whether it's drugstore or delivery. The nice thing about PillPack is, it's delivered, it's on-demand, it comes in pre-sorted packages, so you know what to take on a given day. I just think that's a really compelling value proposition for customers. So, I question whether it has to be any more complex than that.
Hill: By the way, I know we're long-term investors, but Walgreens has been in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for less than a week, and it's already down about 10%.
Hill: Some bad timing there.


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BANGKOK, May 7 (Reuters) - Advanced Info Service Pcl (AIS), Thailand’s largest mobile phone operator, said it aimed to boost subscribers to its data-enabled 3G network to 75 percent of its customer base by the end of this year as part of a drive to boost revenue.
AIS currently has 43 million mobile subscribers, of which 60 percent are on its 3G network. It plans to add more than 3,000 base stations to take the total to 20,000 at the end of this year, Pratthana Leelapanang, executive vice president for marketing, told reporters.
The company is also keen to bid for licences for 4G spectrum in an auction later this year, he said.
On Tuesday, AIS reported a better-than-expected 4.5 percent drop in first-quarter net profit due to fierce competition and weaker revenues after months of political unrest. (Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Miral Fahmy)


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Home prices rose as expected in November according to the latest reading from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Prices rose 0.5% in November, right in-line with expectations for prices to rise 0.5% over the prior month.
This was also in-line with the increase seen in October.
This report was also released alongside the Case-Shiller home price index, which showed prices rose more-than-expected in November.
More to come …
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Man Sets EV Record with 3 Year Trip
A Dutchman has set an EV record. Evidently, he’s set a global standard for clean transportation tech. Wiebe Wakker set off on a 3-year voyage in 2016. It spanned 33 countries and involved over 59,000 miles.
Part of the Plug Me In Project, Wakker used exclusively vehicles powered by lithium-ion batteries.
Surprisingly, he didn’t opt for a Tesla Model X. Moreover, he didn’t even use a luxury EV. Instead, he traveled the globe in an electric station wagon.
Inspiring a Global Standard
Affectionately called the “Blue Bandit”, Wakker’s trip was by no means stress-free. Evidently, he ran into many problems. After all, EV charging stations are few and far between in the Australian countryside.
Consequently, he relied on friendly strangers. He went only where people could offer him a charging station.
Amazingly, he spent no more than $300 on electricity throughout the trip. Granted, much of it was covered by intrigued strangers who followed his travels online.
Most of the trip took place in the Australian outback.
Li-ion Batteries Prove Very Effective
Ultimately, his goal was to spread electric vehicle awareness. He chronicled his adventures on social media and ended up setting a second EV record.
Last year, he traveled 606 miles on a single charge in a Tesla Model 3.
Evidently, the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles are pushed to the limit by trailblazers like Wakker. Moreover, the underlying technology benefits. Soon, Wakker’s journey won’t seem to wacko.
Ultra Lithium Inc. A team of lithium experts with a finger on the pulse of clean energy news, Ultra Lithium is a lithium exploration company with holdings in Argentina, Canada and the US (TSX-V: ULI, OTCQB: ULTXF and Frankfurt: QFB).


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SEOUL, July 31 (Korea Bizwire) – With rapid growth in the character business that features collaborations between the emojis of mobile messengers like KakaoTalk of DaumKakao and Line of Naver, the two largest IT companies in Korea are enjoying the effect of killing two birds with one stone.
As the “Kakao Friends” and “Line Friends” emojis raise brand awareness and gain a favorable image from messenger app users, DaumKakao and Naver are actively employing various business strategies to leverage their popularity.
In the case of Samlip General Food, its top three cash making products were baked goods packaged with collectible stickers of emojis from KakaoTalk. Of particular note, a choco-roll cake featuring the KakaoTalk character ‘Neo’ recorded five billion won in revenue in the first half of the year.
In addition to Samlip, DaumKakao is expanding its emoji franchise business, giving the power of the characters not only to food industry icons including Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, but also to toothpaste and cosmetics brands, banks and card companies.
Limited edition KakaoTalk emojis played an important role in the establishment of DaumKakao’s taxi-hailing app KakaoTaxi.
A market researcher said, “Many have used the taxi-calling app to get the limited edition emojis from KakaoTalk. DaumKakao’s marketing activities using the characters were very fruitful.”
In addition, Line Friends, a subsidy of Naver, is rolling out various products including clothes, stationary, accessories and others featuring Line emojis. The company has seven regular stores in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Temporary stores have opened in other countries, including the United States, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Naver said its efforts to promote Line Friends are focused more on spreading its messenger service rather than generating profits. Regardless, sales from Line’s emoji franchise business came to 221.7 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2014.
By Kevin Lee (email@example.com)


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Summer loving? Brits have had a whole year of it! 'Fifty Shades effect' means sex got better for three-quarters of us in 2012
Sex got better for three-quarters of us in 2012, according to a new poll, and the 'Fifty Shades' effect was a huge factor in our increased friskiness.
A fifth of those surveyed said the E L James trilogy had improved their sex lives.
Other reasons for more steamy times under the covers included more experimentation (55 per cent), greater frequency (33 per cent), and greater confidence (22 per cent).
Steamy novel Fifty Shades of Grey is credited with improving our sex lives in 2012
Asked if their sex life had improved in 2012, 73 per cent said yes, 16 per cent said it had stayed the same and just 11 per cent said it had got worse.
The poll also revealad that New Year is one of the most romantic times of the year: 22 per cent of us know a couple who have got engaged at Hogmanay, while a confident 63 per cent of those polled expect to have sex at New Year.
There is also a real feeling of optimism about next year, despite it ending in a 13.
Only one in six of us are superstitious about the number 13 and most of us (83 per cent) say that 2013 will be better than 2012.
The most popular New Year Resolution after losing weight (62 per cent of respondents) was to have even more sex (53 per cent).
2012 all wrapped up... in chains: A fifth of those surveyed said the E L James trilogy had improved their sex lives
But at least a third of those surveyed admitted that they only stick to their resolutions for a week, with one in 12 abandoning them on New Year’s Day.
The findings come in a New Year poll of 1,000 people for Lovehoney, Britain’s biggest online seller of sex toys.
Fifty Shades of Grey has sold more than 60 million copies around the world and helped Lovehoney to boost sales by 40 per cent in 2012.
Lovehoney co-founder Neal Slateford said: ‘Fifty Shades of Grey is the best selling book of all time.
‘It’s nice to see that people aren’t just reading the book – they’re re-enacting it into the bedroom
‘With the movie going into production next year, I think 2013 could be even steamier.’
Lovehoney has seen record sales of the Official Fifty Shades of Grey Pleasure Product Range, which it developed with E L James and is the only sex toy and soft bondage range of merchandise authorized by the author.
If you fancy following the trend and spicing up your love life the Lovehoney sale, with items such as lingerie reduced by as much as 80%, is on now and will last until January 6.
IS IT ANY WONDER THAT THE NOVEL HAS BEEN VOTED BOOK OF THE YEAR?
EL James's best-selling steamy sensation Fifty Shades Of Grey has been voted Book of the Year by the reading public.
The novel, the first of a trilogy of saucy tales dubbed "mummy porn", has become a literary phenomenon, selling more than six million copies to become the best-selling book of all time in the UK.
It won more than three quarters of the votes after the public were asked to cast a ballot for their favourite read as part of this year's Specsavers National Book Awards.
Ms James said: 'Thank you so much for this wonderful award. I am truly honoured. I have to thank the readers and the retailers for making Fifty Shades of Grey the success it has become. It's really quite overwhelming.'
The trilogy, about a sado-masochistic relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey, has been a publishing sensation.
Rights to the books have been sold around the world and the trilogy is being published in languages including Albanian, Chinese, Russian, Serbian and Vietnamese.
All three books are due to be filmed as part of a movie deal.
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Apple’s another fake store has been exposed by the people at M.I.C. Gadget in China. It is located in the city of Zhongshan and it is said to be the most attractive as compared to the other fake stores but certainly not like the original Apple Stores. Like the original Apple Stores, they have also [...]
Five new Apple stores are opening around the world today. First is at Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall in Anhorage, Alaska. Second is at Fashion Place in Murray, Utah. Third at Southland in Cheltenham, Victoria, Australia. Fourth at Conestoga in RIM Headquarters Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Last one at I Gigli in Florence, Italy. But the headline [...]
A great news that has been published today is that in September, Apple is releasing its three products which includes the low-end iPhone 4S, the high-end iPhone5 and iPad 3. Macotakara reported that iPhone 4S which is based on iPhone 4 (CDMA) and iPad 3 will be publicized in September 1st week but will be [...]
Google has at last addressed the concerns of Google+ users having iPad and iPod by releasing a Google+ application that supports both of these devices. The upgrade came in the form of an update for the older Google+ application that had been released for the iPhone only. Google+ will now cover all the most commonly [...]
Guess what? We have a secret to reveal. Facebook’s iPad app is already there hidden in the iPhone app. The app is nearly perfect and it has an addicting feeling about it. Evidently, this looks and feels right but there’s no guarantee that this is what Facebook will launch when the iPad app does [...]
Apple has posted its best ever quarter according to an announcement made by the company to its shareholders on Tuesday. The recorded revenue for this quarter is $28.57 with net profit of $7.31 billion, which is the highest for the company.
According to a report by the Korea Times, Apple’s next iPad will have a HD resolution of 2048×1536 pixels. This new improvement will be far more better than the 1920×1080 pixel resolution that is usually considered to be full HD. Apple is said to be doing screen testing with Samsung and LG.
Apple has fixed the vulnerabilities in iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch that had allowed hackers to attack Apple devices after they were JailBroken. The loop hole came into view when JailBreakMe.com released code that allowed Apple customers to JailBreak their devices. The jailbreaking code showed a problem in the iOS code that could be used for hacking Apple devices wirelessly.


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By all accounts, 2007 was a great year for the video game industry, driven largely by the rising popularity of music-based titles. Total video game sales (hardware and software) through October was $10.5 billion, compared with $7 billion for the same period last year, according to data from NPD Group.
Much of the growth can be attributed to a more stable market for the new-generation game consoles: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. But another factor is the “casual game,” a segment that includes significant music-based titles. The rise of casual games — those that virtually anyone can pick up and play without training — fueled the surprising emergence of the Wii as the dominant game platform: It outsold the Xbox 360 and the PS3.
And with big hardcore gamer titles being pushed back until 2008 or running into ratings disputes, music games are set to make a real difference for this holiday season and beyond.
A breakdown of the year’s biggest music-based games:
‘Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’
Xbox 360, PS3, Wii (Activision/Red Octane/Neversoft)
Activision’s first shot at a new “Guitar Hero” title with new developer Neversoft at the helm (MTV bought original developer Harmonix), “Guitar Hero III” is poised to be the best-selling music game of the year. It sold 1.4 million units in the first six days after its October 28 release, and analysts expect strong sales through the holidays. Along with the more than 60 songs that ship with the game, Activision added the ability to buy and download more songs online for 500
Microsoft Points (about $5).
‘Guitar Hero II’
Xbox 360 (Activision/Red Octane)
Activision created this version of “Guitar Hero” for the Xbox 360 shortly after acquiring publisher Red Octane. The game has sold more than 2.8 million copies for the year, with only “Madden NFL 08” and “Halo 3” selling more.
The game also introduced the concept of downloading new tracks, allowing gamers to buy three-pack songs from the previous “Guitar Hero” titles. More than 650,000 packs, or 2 million individual songs, have been purchased, according to Activision.
One downer: In November, the Romantics filed suit against everyone associated with the “Guitar Hero” franchise for using, for one song, a cover band alleged to sound too much like them.
Xbox 360, PS3 (MTV/Harmonix)
“Rock Band” ups the ante from “Guitar Hero” by enabling gamers to play not only the guitar track but also bass, drums and vocals. Each requires a different controller, which bumps the price up to $170, compared with $70 for “Guitar Hero.” The game debuted November 20 and has shipped more than 1.3 million copies. It ships with 58 tracks, and gamers can download new songs weekly, for $5.50 a three-pack or $2 per song, at the game’s online store.
“Rock Band” had a slight stumble early on when its guitar controller proved a bit buggy, but MTV/Harmonix honored all warranty requests.
PS3 (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
The “SingStar” franchise gets an updated interface and offers the ability to buy and download new songs with its evolution to the PS3. The karaoke game ships with wired microphones that gamers use while attempting to sing along to studio tracks from major artists. The game also lets players upload videos of themselves to the “SingStar” online community site, where others can view and rate their performances.
It includes 36 songs on the disc, but also allows gamers to purchase up to 40 additional titles via the SingStore, accessible via the online section of the game menu.
The game hits stores December 6 in Australia and the United Kingdom, but won’t make it to the United States until early 2008.


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Health care giant Johnson & Johnson has retained UM as its media buyer in North America., the client has confirmed.
The company spent just over $1 billion on ads in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media. That was down 14% from the nearly $1.2 billion it spent the prior year, per Kantar.
J&J, which declined to comment on the review yesterday, issued the following statement today concerning the decision: “Johnson & Johnson has completed a review of media planning and buying agencies to support its North America businesses across our Consumer, Medical Device & Diagnostics, and Pharmaceutical sectors and will retain the incumbent agency, J3 (a Universal McCann/IPG company).
"The review began several months ago with the objective of leveraging the company’s scale to identify cost savings and increase value. Johnson & Johnson has partnered with UM since 1973. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership.”
WPP’s MEC and Omnicom’s OMD also participated in the review.
Word of the review in North America follows a separate media review -- for both planning and buying -- that the client wrapped up two weeks ago for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. J&J’s estimated annual spending in that region is said to be approximately $320 million.
There, J&J awarded the business to two shops, with the majority of it going to a new GroupM entity called Primus. UM was awarded a smaller portion. Carat had been the incumbent on the entire piece of business since 2007.