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President, Vice President of the United States Visit Techmer PM, Announce Manufacturing Innovation Hub
Company Highlighted for Transformative 3-D Printing Partnership with Oak Ridge National Lab
CLINTON, Tenn., January 9, 2015 – Today U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited the Clinton, Tenn.-based Techmer PM, LLC, manufacturing site. After touring a portion of the facility, the President made a major announcement about the creation of a $250 million manufacturing innovation hub aimed at strengthening U.S. leadership in next-generation composite materials.
The Knoxville, Tenn.-based Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) is a consortium of the Department of Energy and 122 company partners and members, including Techmer ES, a wholly owned subsidiary of Techmer PM, LLC.
The Institute, which is part of a larger plan to boost manufacturing, foster innovation, and create jobs for the middle class, will focus on cutting-edge research on advanced composites, such as carbon fiber compounds, which Techmer ES developed. The composite was recently used to bring to life a 3-D printing project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
“We are very excited to help introduce the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation to Tennessee,” said John Manuck, chairman and CEO of Techmer PM, LLC. “It will add significantly to our regional manufacturing activity, paving the way for further innovations, manufacturing job opportunities, and products in the marketplace. Our successful work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the genesis for the President’s visit and a prime example of composite materials advances achieved through a transformative technical partnership.”
Techmer ES recently partnered with ORNL, contributing its high-performance materials expertise to help the U.S. Department of Energy laboratory develop a large-scale additive manufacturing system, also known as 3-D printing. Techmer ES created a unique carbon fiber-based formula to help meet ORNL’s goal of building a 3-D printing system that is 200 to 500 times faster and can print components ten times larger than what was previously possible.
An early success of this partnership is the first full-size 3-D printed electric car, the body of which was printed with materials formulated by Techmer ES. The fully functioning Shelby Cobra was unveiled during the tour. The President and Vice President also toured the
company’s production facility, receiving a behind-the-scenes look at the well-established manufacturer.
Techmer PM, LLC, was founded by Mr. Manuck in 1981. It is a privately held, family-owned business that employs over 600 people in seven U.S. manufacturing facilities. Many of Mr. Manuck’s family members participate with him in leading the company, including Ryan Howley, president. The company’s suite of additives and colorants provides manufacturers with custom color, special effects, flame retardance, UV stabilization, and other desired properties for a variety of consumer and industrial product applications.
The Techmer ES subsidiary was launched in 2004 to address the rapidly growing engineered plastics industry, producing products designed to operate at extreme environments of temperature and stress.
“From a new carbon fiber technology to the exciting frontier of large-part additive manufacturing—3-D printing—our working relationship with the National Lab has been a model of cooperation and innovation,” said Tom Drye, managing director of Techmer ES.
About Techmer PM, LLC
Techmer PM, LLC, is a major producer of value-added masterbatch and engineered compounds for the plastics and fiber industries. The company manufactures and sells masterbatch under its Techmer PM brand and engineered thermoplastic compounds through its Techmer ES subsidiary. The company has worldwide manufacturing capabilities focusing on high-performance applications where quality, technical support, and problem solving are critical. Techmer PM was recognized by Plastics News on its “Best Places to Work 2014” list. Learn more by visiting techmerpm.com and techmeres.com.
Contact InformationEmail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Company: Techmer PM


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Starting in 2021, UnitedHealthcare Motion® members with Apple Watch® will be eligible to sign up for Apple Fitness+ and get at least six months* subscription at no additional cost.
UnitedHealthcare has introduced enhancements to one of its national well-being programs, providing certain members access for at least six months – at no additional cost – to Apple Fitness+ for studio-style workout classes, powered by Apple Watch. Apple Fitness+ brings studio-style workouts to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, intelligently incorporating workout metrics from Apple Watch for a personalized and immersive experience users can complete wherever and whenever it is convenient for them.
UnitedHealthcare Motion, a wearable device well-being program available for purchase to employers across the country with self-funded and fully insured health plans, introduced several enhancements to eligible participants, which begin Jan. 1, including:
Since inception, UnitedHealthcare Motion participants have collectively walked over 511 billion steps and earned more than $60 million in rewards. The program provides eligible participants access to smartwatches and activity trackers at no additional cost and as buy-up options, including state-of-the-art devices such as Apple Watch.
In addition to the Participation target, UnitedHealthcare Motion provides eligible participants access to wearables that may help them earn over $1,000 per year by meeting certain daily FIT activity goals***, including:
“The UnitedHealthcare Motion enhancements and access to Apple Fitness+ are part of our broader effort to provide people with digital resources and financial incentives that may help them take charge of their health and better manage chronic conditions,” said Rebecca Madsen, chief consumer officer, UnitedHealthcare. “With many Americans turning to new forms of exercise options to help maintain or improve their fitness, providing access to Apple Fitness+ for UnitedHealthcare Motion enrollees may provide an important resource to help people get or stay active.”
The program’s FIT targets are set in the UnitedHealthcare Motion app, which integrates with Apple Watch to track daily goals.
Each year, UnitedHealthcare invests more than $3 billion in data, technology and innovation, integrating human support, advanced data analytics and new collaborations to help improve the quality and affordability of health care. Millions of UnitedHealthcare members have access to various digital resources and therapeutics, including technology-enabled initiatives such as Level2™.
*Existing Apple Watch owners will get six months at no additional cost; new Apple Watch purchases will get eight months at no additional cost. UnitedHealthcare Motion members must activate the offer between Jan. 1 and June 30.
**The use of a compatible device may be required to earn alternative activity incentives.
***Financial incentives may be less due to limits under applicable laws.
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

domain: news


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Black Friday is a matter or weeks away with many retailers dropping huge deals already.
Whether you are looking to add to your wardrobe, upgrade your skincare routine or purchase a new TV, Black Friday and Cyber Monday can offer huge savings. However, the sale events also often put consumers at risk of scams, with Action Fraud Crime urging shoppers to stay alert.
It comes as the organisation's annual ‘Oh Behave’ report analysed how online scams are impacting consumers over time. Last year, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) found that between November 2021 and January 2022, consumers lost an average of £1,000 per head, with £15.3m being reported lost overall between November 2021 and January 2022, according to the data.
Last November alone, the average scam cost rose by almost 48 per cent to £1478, meaning that that the figure of loss per head leapt to around £3,600, costing more than seventeen thousand individuals a total of £63.8 million.
The report has also sparked a warning to young people browsing online this Black Friday as it was found that those aged between 20 and 29 were most affected by the scams. A total of 24.3 per cent of scams impacted people in that age bracket, followed by 23.7 per cent of victims being aged between 30 and 39-years-old
The final quarter of the year, branded "peak season" in the retail calendar, is the busiest period for shops and shoppers alike. The experts are urging people to stay vigilant as they browse through the mega deals, with scammers taking the sale season as an easier way to catch people out.
“The holiday period is not just a time for bargain hunters, it’s also a time for criminals to hunt for financial information, sensitive data and new victims. People need to be armed with the knowledge and insight to spot these threats before they cause them harm. A key part of this comes down to security behaviours and implementing good cyber hygiene techniques to keep consumers, their friends and their families secure,” said Oz Alashe MBE, CEO of CybSafe.
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How to stay safe from scams this Black Friday
According to the NCSC, there are various steps anyone can do to keep themselves secure online, such as:
- Use 2-step verification and three random word passwords to protect accounts.
- Research retailers, especially new ones, to ensure they're legitimate before buying. Check trusted feedback sites.
- Pay securely with a credit card or payment platform like PayPal. Look for the padlock icon in the web address bar when paying to ensure a secure connection.
Oz Alashe MBE continued, saying, “We must continue to make sure people are aware of the risks when shopping online and feel like they can ask for help when needed. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. That’s the mantra cyber security professionals often turn to when asked for a blanket statement on staying safe online. The same is sadly true when it comes to Black Friday weekend.”
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After rumours going around for a while, The LEGO Group has officially announced that LEGODimensions will be discontinued, meaning that the recently released ninth wave is the last. Here's the full statement below:
This is a description taken from LEGO Dimensions Twitter. Please do not modify it. (visit this item's product page)
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games and The LEGO Group would like to thank fans for their ongoing support of LEGO Dimensions. After careful consideration, we will not be producing new expansion packs for the game beyond what is now available. We will continue to provide ongoing server and customer support for all LEGO Dimensions packs. Existing packs will continue to work interchangeably and will remain available for purchase.
70922 The Joker Manor has been revealed by LEGO. The 3444-piece set goes on sale in November for US $269.99/£249.99, and features Wayne Manor after it was transformed by The Joker towards the end of The LEGO Batman Movie, along with 10 minifigures. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
It's September 1 in some parts of the world, which means we can finally legally post images of all the Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedisets. You'll find minifigure images, prices, piece counts and the official LEGO Shop description on each set's page. Without further ado, here's the lineup for the first wave of Episode VIII:
75192 Millennium Falcon will be the largest set ever
The LEGO Group has been teasing 75192 Millennium Falcon for what feels like years. In their latest tweet, they've stated that the new set will be 1,619 pieces larger than 10189 Taj Mahal, bringing the piececount up to 7541 parts. Stay tuned, judging by the rate we've been getting this information, we should be getting a full press release sometime before September 2032.
A lot of preliminary images from a catalogue have been leaked. Although we're not allowed to post the images, here's a list of sets that we previously didn't know existed or didn't know the names of. The Star Wars sets, and some sets from Friends aren't listed because we already had some info on them previously.
According to trusted source Sir von Lego on Eurobricks, the Harry Pottertheme will be making a full comeback next year. There have been a few Dimensions sets from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them lately, but these will be the first full Harry Potter sets in six years.
LEGO has officially revealed the next set in their annual Winter Village line: 10259 Winter Village Station! The 902-piece set will cost US $79.99/UK £74.99/DE 69.99€. It will be available to VIP members on September 14, though it will become widely available on October 1. Browse other images of the set below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
The recent spree of official reveals from LEGO continue, this time with the CreatorExpertset10258 London Bus. And, there's even better news if you're in the London area- it will be on sale at the five nearby LEGO Stores tomorrow (July 1). For everyone else, the 1686 piece set will be available from August 1, or July 17 if you're a VIP Member.


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Microsoft has toughened its criteria for classifying programs as adware and gave developers three months to conform with the new principles or risk having their programs blocked by the company's security products.
Tesla Motors accounts are protected only by simple passwords, making it easy for hackers to potentially track and unlock cars, according to a security researcher.
A new commercial tool designed to allow cybercriminals to easily transform legitimate Android applications into malicious software has hit the underground market, paving the way for cheap and easy development of sophisticated Android malware.
Tumblr now allows users to encrypt their connections with the microblogging service, but the feature is only offered as an option for now.
Over the past several months security researchers have found serious vulnerabilities in many mobile advertising libraries that could be exploited to abuse the permissions of Android apps or to execute unauthorized code on users' devices. The risks re...
A team of malware developers is preparing to sell a new ransomware program that encrypts files on infected computers and asks victims for money to recover them, according to a volunteer group of security researchers who tracked the development of the...
A third-party advertising framework integrated in hundreds of Android apps contains a vulnerability that could allow hackers to steal sensitive information from users' phones, according to security researchers from antivirus firm Bitdefender.
Yahoo will start encrypting the webmail sessions of its users in early 2014 by making HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) standard for all Yahoo Mail connections.
Although the number of malicious browser extensions has significantly increased in the past year many security products fail to offer adequate protection against them, while others are simply not designed to do so, according to a security researcher.
Android malware is following in the footsteps of Windows malware with attackers adopting some of the same distribution and monetization techniques despite the major differences between the platforms.
Mobile ad networks can provide a loophole to serve malware to Android devices, according to researchers from security firm Palo Alto Networks who have found new Android threats being distributed in this manner.
A feature that allows Android users to authenticate themselves on Google websites without having to enter their account password can be abused by rogue apps to give attackers access to Google accounts, a security researcher has revealed.
Bitdefender has released a Windows application designed to help users secure sensitive Web-browsing sessions, especially when they shop or bank online. The application is called Safepay and a free version is available to home users.
LinkedIn's domain name was temporarily redirected to a third-party server Thursday, which resulted in a service outage and potentially put user accounts at risk of compromise.
British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) reportedly intercepted the electronic communications of foreign politicians during G20 meetings that took place in London in 2009.
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“JLR seeks to protect itself and its United States operations from companies that have injected infringing products into the U.S. market that incorporate, without any license from JLR, technology developed by JLR and protected by its patent,” Jaguar’s lawyer, Matthew Moore, said in the filing.
Representatives of Volkswagen didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the complaint.
Jaguar wants to block imports of Porsche’s Cayenne; Lamborghini’s Urus; Audi’s Q8, Q7, Q5, A6 Allroad and e-tron vehicles; and VW’s Tiguan vehicles. It said there are plenty of other luxury midsize SUV and compact crossover vehicles to meet consumer demand if the SUVs are banned from the U.S.
Still, the premium Porsche and Audi lines provide much of the profit VW is using to fund its investments in technology for electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and further innovations.
In addition to the four brands, Volkswagen Group owns other upscale nameplates, including Bentley and Bugatti.
The International Trade Commission is an independent, quasi-judicial agency that investigates complaints of unfair trade practices, like patent infringement. It can’t award damages but does have the power to block products from entering the U.S. Owners of patents and trade secrets like it because it can work faster than the federal district courts — the typical investigation is completed in 15 to 18 months.
But Jaguar also filed patent lawsuits against the companies in federal courts in Delaware and New Jersey, seeking cash compensation for the use of the technology. Those cases are likely to be put on hold once the trade commission launches its investigation.
The case is In the Matter of Certain Vehicle Control Systems, 337-3508, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).


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Cards Against Humanity Purchase Land Along The Mexican Border To Stop Trump Building A Wall
This is all part of the company's six-part promotion to 'help save America.'
Cards Against Humanity have come forward with a six-part promotion to help save America from "injustice, lies, and racism" and the first step on their agenda is to stop Donald Trump from building his wall.
The company have taken an imaginative stance against the President's plan to design a construction along the Mexican border, and have gone to the lengths of purchasing land in the area to throw his policy into legal chaos.
Let's all get checking out Munroe Bergforf opening up a discussion about racism:
On their website, the firm said: “Donald Trump is a preposterous golem who is afraid of Mexicans. He is so afraid that he wants to build a twenty-billion dollar wall that everyone knows will accomplish nothing.
"So we’ve purchased a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built."
The sold-out promotion required customers to send in $15 and be blessed with six gifts throughout December. The first present is an illustrated map of the land in question, a certificate of the company's promise to fight the construction of the wall, and a bunch of unspecified surprises.
This isn't the first time Cards Against Humanity have launched an incredible holiday prank. Back in 2016, the company marked Black Friday by spending $100,000 on digging a massive, useless hole. The year before, the firm sold 'nothing' for $5 and raked in a casual $70,000.
As for why the company have abandoned their promise to leave their hilarious promotions in the past, the site offers the concise explanation: "We’re liars, just like the president."


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Following the trail from Johannesburg to Mumbai, Shantanu Guha Ray finds that India is an important destination for Zimba stones
IT’S A crowded street market in Johannesburg. Boisterous youth and elderly women have set up stalls to sell polished ostrich eggshells, wrought iron flamingos and colourful bead strings. But in this Jo’burg bustle, there is often another hustle: the simple street markets also play host to the kind of sellers who come in big flashy cars and sell an item that’s quite, quite small in size — though not quite small when it comes to price.
The scenes are reminiscent of the 2006 Leonardo DiCaprio Hollywood movie Blood Diamond, and these people are dealers, many of them former mineworkers who have been driven out by the military from the Marange mines.
Diamond merchants such as these operate freely on the streets of Jo’burg. Those who cannot strike a deal here can head to Mozambique’s Vila de Mancia, a town close to the Machipanda frontier often referred to as diamond country.
These areas have dealers from everywhere, Somalia, Mozambique, Congo and Sierra Leone. They usually offer diamonds in tea-bag size sachets, a little like packets of washing powder or shampoo. “It is easy operating in South Africa and Mozambique if your passport is in order,” says a dealer.
The brisk trading happens openly in the Jo’burg street markets, under umbrellas shading the open-air coffee tables, where waiters serve Huntley Palmer biscuits as free accompaniment to guests who complete their transactions within seconds. They then discuss, among other things, the 2010 football World Cup, national politics and cricket.
But this open trade is, as Surat diamond trader Vipul Jain explains, just the first step towards credibility for diamonds mined from South Africa’s wartorn and troubled neighbours — Angola, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. “Direct import is impossible. The traders use this route to get the Zimba stones a taint-free stature,” Shah told TEHELKA.
Once sold, the diamonds first go to Dubai and then to Asia, usually India. But now, they have an air of certification about them — call it the Johannesburg effect. This means that importers can be sure the diamonds and gems have a stamp of legitimacy, regardless of which country they come from.
Although many operators in Johannesburg say it is getting harder to smuggle Zimbabwe’s diamonds, the sale continues unabated. The Zimbabwean authorities have awarded contracts for the Marange mines to two companies: Mbada Mining, a little-known local firm, and Canadile Miners, a company that has South African investors. Desperate for cash, Zimbabwean Mines Minister Obert Mpofu has gone ahead with mining what he believes can bring the cash-strapped nation a whopping £360,000 a day.
Since the Zimbabwean government took over the mines in October 2008 (after the Mugabe regime reached a power-sharing formula with challenger Morgan Tsvangirai), there have been reports of rampant abuse by the military forces: forced labour, child labour, beatings and killings.
For the importers, there are several advantages. For one, this trade ensures a steady supply. For another, they are substantially cheaper. For firms in places such as Surat, home of the Indian diamond cutting and polishing industry, already reeling from a global recession in cutting and polishing in 2008, these stones from conflict zones in Africa — estimated at nearly 20 percent of India’s annual diamond imports — are often 40 percent cheaper than the rest.
Most of the time, that is. Sometimes they are not. Last week, a Mumbai firm that had imported uncut diamonds worth several crore rupees from an African nation delayed taking delivery of the packet from the customs. The packet, which had come from Congo, was filled with plastic granules and brass powder. Ekta Enterprises, which has offices in Mumbai and Vadodara, had imported diamonds worth Rs 17 crore. “We were amazed to find plastic granules and brass powder,” says Naresh Mehta, a Mumbaibased diamond merchant and a valuer.
Customs authorities say under or overvaluing diamond shipments is routine, but plastic granules in a packet was indeed surprising. “We are tracking the case,” Deputy Commissioner (Customs) Dr Somesh Chandra, told TEHELKA. Still, the completely fake consignment was probably an aberration. When diamonds are imported from conflict areas, consignments normally have a Kimberley Process (KP) certificate that 74 nations dealing in diamonds recognise.
In this case, even the certificate was faked. Gujarat Jewellery Export Promotion Council (JEPC) Chairman Vasantbhai Mehta is certain it’s a case of cheating. “Either the parcel has been swapped or it is a hawala transaction,” says Mehta. “For more than four to five years, many such diamonds have hit the Indian shores and we have realised these are Zimba stones (blood diamonds) much after they were cut, polished and exported,” he adds.
Trade in conflict diamonds has certainly been going on for some years, augmented by – experts claim – the efforts of some of the world’s top diamond miners to slowly increase output.
Meanwhile, demographic changes have tended to sap demand in traditional markets in the West and threatened a long-term crisis for the industry. With demand ebbing from the US and Europe, Surat traders are now seeking newer markets: 70 per cent of polished diamonds are now exported to Hong Kong, China, UAE, Israel and Australia.
FIGURES AVAILABLE from the Gems and Jewellery Exports Promotion Council show that export of polished diamonds from India to the US — the world’s biggest market (at 60 percent in better days) — fell by 30 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year ($1,791 million, compared to $2,527 million in the corresponding period in 2008). But then, exports to Hong Kong and China grew nearly nine percent. For the record, polished diamond exports to Hong Kong in the first half of 2009 were $3,126 million, compared to $2,853 million in the same period last year. Prices for rough, uncut rocks have risen more than 40 percent since February, impacting retail sales that nosedived to $65 billion this year from $74 billion in 2008.
And it is here that the low-priced Zimba and other ‘blood’ stones make a huge impact. They come cheaper, are routinely smuggled across the South African border and then end up in countries like India and Israel. “And these stones are not just coming from South Africa, they are coming from a number of African nations that receive such gemstones,” says Pravin Nanavati, a Surat diamond trader who has tracked such supplies.
Global experts told TEHELKA that an international effort to curb such illegal shipments could catch countries like Botswana and Namibia in the crossfire. The Kimberley Process could suspend Zimbabwe from the world diamond market because of human rights violations and other irregularities at the notorious Chiadzwa diamond fields.
In fact, the KP report on the state of diamond trade calls for a temporary ban of six months or more to allow Zimbabwe time to comply with Kimberley Process standards. “If such smuggling continues, southern Africa’s main diamond producers, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, may find their excellent reputation undermined if they continue to be a destination for diamonds from conflict zones,” adds Nanavati. The report by the KP review mission has already suggested that other KP participants in the region, particularly Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, should act against smuggling.
But will that happen? Diamond merchants in Surat and Mumbai say smuggling has been fuelled – at least in the last six to eight months – by an increased demand that has had the tiny Gujarat town gasping because of a drop in the supply of rough diamonds caused by reduced production at downturn-affected companies. “Everyone wants to pick up whatever supplies and it is here that the smugglers are slowly pushing in such diamonds,” says Auguar Sanghvi, another Surat diamond trader.
The blood diamonds first go to Dubai and then to India, where they turn ‘clean’
With steady supplies available now, and demand having picked up, very few importers bother to check the origins of their diamonds. On paper, the consignments come from a legitimate nation, right? And for a cutting and polishing industry that is showing signs of revival after almost a year of depression, would anyone genuinely care to bother too much about the antecedents of the product? The answer is a simple no. “The problem is that no one actually knows the origin. Or, very few would actually know and care about not getting these stones because the KP certificates are there. But we must be cautious,” says Rohit Mehta of the Surat Diamond Association.
BHP Billiton, among the largest mining companies in the world, has already hiked rough diamond prices by five to 10 percent. Diamond Trading Corporation, a leading distributor and part of the De Beers group, is about to follow suit. The increase in prices has been triggered by huge demand. Owners of large units are flush with orders for supplying polished diamonds before Christmas. “It’s a demand and supply principle and everyone is awaiting supplies,” adds Mehta.
Dealers sell diamonds in tea-bag size sachets, a little like packets of washing powder
Still, the fact that blood diamonds are among those being imported continues to cause concern. Tim Dabson, executive director of De Beers, recently told an international conference in Antwerp, Belgium, that ethical consumerism is of utmost importance if someone has to checkmate the outflow of conflict gemstones. “The risks include the tendency of consumers in India and China to favour less expensive gems than what sell elsewhere,” Dabson told The Wall Street Journal.
Last June, the Human Rights Watch exposed the horrors of Marange and shot a film to highlight the situation there. A task team from the KP Certification Scheme confirmed HRW’s findings and recommended that Zimbabwe be suspended from trading in diamonds. But the horrors have continued. “Gems from Marange travelling to India, China and Israel are blood diamonds, extracted through the persecution and oppression of those living in the area,” Georgette Gagnon, HRW’s Africa director told TEHELKA, adding that importers need to make sure of the stones’ origin.
But it’s not easy. In fact, diamond merchants in Surat and Mumbai say it’s almost impossible. “When we are following the KP certificates, we are playing it safe. The onus to check and cross check whether such diamonds are coming from Congo, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone lies on those who keep getting supplies from such troubled zones,” says Nanavati.
He says there’s enough of a divide within the Kimberley Process itself on whether there should be a suspension of such supplies or whether there should be some strict monitoring of such mining. Many have argued against the scheme because Zimbabwe has been defended most strongly by South Africa, Namibia, Congo and Russia.
Ian Smillie, one of the KP architects who resigned earlier this year in protest against its working, toldBloomberg that he found the functioning of KP farcical, irresponsible and a disgrace. “Here we have a government that has lied repeatedly to the KP and has a tenuous grip on its diamond industry — that courtesy of gross human rights violations. The regulatory body that is supposed to assure consumers that the diamonds it certifies are clean ignores its responsibility and sets up an open-ended tea party. It will turn the KP into a laughing stock and give Zimbabwe more or less carte blanche for business.”
HE SHOULD know. Global Witness, a London-based campaign gro – up, said the recent KP decision to allow Zimbabwe to sort out its troubled mining business would ruin the credibility of the watchdog body.
There are other problems as well. Diamond mining in eastern Zimbabwe is being carried out by companies in which South Africa’s Old Mutual has a share. The companies are now setting up a diamond- cutting operation at Harare airport: that will allow them to export diamonds without the KP certification.
Once, conflict stones made up about 15 percent of the world market. Though they are believed to account for less than 1 percent of stones bought and sold today, it’s also a fact that millions of carats produced annually remain untraceable. “They must track all supplies from Africa,” Smillie told Reuters.
His report highlighted the case of Congo — a big source of diamonds for India and the world’s second largest producer of diamonds by volume. Congo is a KP member but, despite recommendations to improve traceability, lack of internal controls has created the world’s most perfect system for laundering dirty diamonds to Asia, the report said. In 2008, Congo produced more than 33 million carats, accounting for around 20 percent of the world diamond market. However, the study found that nearly half of the country’s exported stones were untraceable.
Importers don’t check the origin of such diamonds, when sent by a legitimate exporter
But there are those trying to stop illegal diamond trafficking. Israel has agreed to lead a group working to stop rebels from using the $6 billion trade in conflict diamonds to fund fighting.
Congo produced over 33 million carats for exports but half of it was untraceable
The Israel Diamond Institute said Boaz Hirsch, the country’s minister of industry, was elected as KP chairman after a UN panel of experts said Israel, whose diamond trade is worth more than $10 billion, might be involved in the illegal export and sale of blood diamonds from the Ivory Coast. At least, the process of trying to plug the loopholes in the illegal diamond trade has begun. Where it will end might just depend on how discerning buyers across Asian markets become about the origin of their.


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Non-Muslim countries in Asia like China, Thailand and Singapore are set to reap the benefits of Muslim travel over the next few years, as the region becomes increasingly popular for halal tourism.
That’s according to the results of the Global Economic Impact of Muslim Tourism and Future Growth Projection: 2017-2020 report, which predicts that the GDP impact of Muslim travel in Asia will hit US$33 billion by 2020, up 27% from 2017.
Globally, that will represent 22% of Muslim travel expenditure.
The countries that will see the lion’s share of that spending? China, Thailand and Singapore.
The report was written by Salam Standard, a hospitality tool dedicated to Muslim travellers.
“Asia is one of the top regions driving the growth of the global Muslim travel market, fueled by a young and aspirational population and an increasingly-affluent middle class who are hungry to travel the world in a faith-compatible way, whether for business or leisure,” said Faeez Fadhlillah, CEO of Salam Standard and Muslim hotel booking site, Tripfez in a statement.
“The robust growth in inbound and outbound Muslim tourism expenditure forecast for Asia presents exciting opportunities for Muslim and non-Muslim destinations, which will benefit national and regional economies by boosting GDP and job creation.”
The findings also predict that Indonesia, China and Malaysia will contribute 17% of total Muslim outbound spending by 2020 — more than Europe, which is poised to reach 15%.
In other words, spending by Asia’s Muslim tourists is forecast to grow to US$29.6 billion by 2020.
The rise in Muslim tourism presents a huge opportunity for destinations which are advised to develop halal-friendly tourism in order to capitalise on the growing market, analysts point out.
South Korea and Thailand have long been offering Muslim-friendly guides that include lists of halal restaurants, mosques and prayer rooms.
“With the Muslim population growth at 70% compared to the global average of 32%, the Muslim travel market presents many untapped opportunities for countries and organisations that successfully address its needs — and an enormous threat for those who ignore it,” Fadhlillah added.


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DIVIDE AND CONQUER.
The yard at Bulk Handling Systems is packed with Eugene-made recycling equipment that's headed for points near and far.
There's a ramp and sorting screen awaiting delivery to California. A bright green sorter almost ready for shipment to France. A piece of equipment destined for Alabama.
Bulk Handling is a small local business with global reach. In the mid 1990s, it created a screen and platform system that mechanically separates jumbled-up recyclable materials, such as newsprint, plastic, steel, aluminum and cardboard.
Bulk Handling's sorting technology has soared in popularity as a growing number of municipalities worldwide adopt commingled recycling - the collection of recyclable items together in one bin, instead of separately.
Fred and Karole Austin founded Bulk Handling in 1976. Last July, they sold the company to Bruce Farnsworth and a handful of investors.
Farnsworth, Bulk Handling's president, foresees continued growth for the 40-employee company.
"Commingled recycling is still relatively young in the United States, so there's certainly opportunity to grow for at least a few years," he said.
Bulk Handling Systems doesn't disclose annual sales. But Farnsworth said he'd be pleased if the firm's sales increase 10 to 15 percent this year.
The company is well-positioned to benefit from the commingled recycling trend in the United States, which started on the West Coast and is sweeping into other parts of the country.
The cost savings from this type of collection are compelling, haulers say.
Local hauler Sanipac introduced commingled recycling in Eugene-Springfield in May and unrolled its big blue collection carts in late December.
The change has enabled Sanipac to cut back from collecting the materials at curbside every week to collecting them every other week. That means fewer trucks on the road, and less hassle for collectors. Emptying the big roll carts is much easier than the smaller recycling bins previously used for different types of materials.
"The efficiencies of the new system are paying for the new equipment, and now we're eliminating a lot of job injuries in the recycling department," said John Hire, general manager of Sanipac.
What's happening in Eugene is expected to fast become the norm around the country.
"Within five years, the vast majority of municipalities (in the United States) will go to single-stream or commingled recycling," said Alex Cuyler, recycling analyst with the city of Eugene.
In industry jargon, single-stream recycling involves consumers lumping all recyclables, including glass, into a single container. In commingled recycling, consumers put some but not all recyclables into a single container.
Sanipac's Eugene and Springfield customers can toss all recyclables except glass into their carts. Newsprint is the main moneymaker in recycling, and it didn't make sense to pollute paper with shattered glass, Cuyler said.
All the material collected in those blue bins is trucked up to SP Recycling in Portland, where it is sorted by equipment similar to that made by Bulk Handling. When SP bought its equipment about 2 1/2 years ago, it chose a system produced by the Dutch company Bollegraaf - Bulk Handling's main competition.
The Bollegraaf equipment sorts about 20 tons of material an hour, said John Lucini, SP Recycling's vice president of the Pacific region.
Europe leads the world in recycling, thanks to its compact geography and scarcity of landfills.
"Europe is probably a decade ahead of the United States in their notion of recycling," Farnsworth said. "We've been able to use our European customers as a proving ground, which we can take back to the U.S."
Bulk Handling also sells equipment to Australia and countries in South America, and it has a licensing agreement with a manufacturer in Japan, Farnsworth said.
Like many Eugene manufacturing firms, Bulk Handling started out by making equipment for the wood products industry. Founder Fred Austin designed an enclosed conveyor to transport wood pieces for manufacturing particleboard.
When the wood products industry slumped in the 1980s, Austin turned to recycling. In the mid 1990s, he designed a unique sorting screen. The screen consists of a series of triangular shaped discs on shafts. As they rotate, openings appear in the screen, allowing dirt and glass shards to fall through. Meanwhile, the tips of the triangles propel paper forward, and push metal and plastic containers backward. The systems use other devices to cull out steel and aluminum.
The screens typically stand 12 to 15 feet high, with plenty of room for bins or conveyor belts to be placed below to catch the sorted material.
Bulk Handling has relatively few customers - in the hundreds, Farnsworth said. The machines are customized to individual customers, and their price varies widely. A single system can cost as much as a million dollars, he said.
Currently, several companies in Portland sort most of the recycled material in Oregon, said Hire, the Sanipac official.
It's cheaper to truck the materials to Portland than to set up sorting operations in smaller communities.
The equipment is expensive, and it's necessary to run a high volume of material through them to justify the purchase price.
"We looked at doing it in Eugene," Hire said. "This equipment is very specialized. You need to run a tremendous amount of stuff through it."
BULK HANDLING SYSTEMS
Business: Designs, manufactures machines that sort out recyclable materials
Founders: Fred and Karole Austin
Owners: Bruce Farnsworth, other investors
Address: 1040 Arrowsmith St., Eugene
Bruce Farnsworth, president of Bulk Handling Systems, shows a finished recycling screen. The company has customers worldwide.
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|Title Annotation:||Business; Eugene company makes machines that sort recyclables|
|Publication:||The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)|
|Date:||Feb 8, 2004|
|Previous Article:||Pirates put title away early this time.|
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No kidding: California overtime law threatens use of grazing goats to prevent wildfires
And overtime law in California could threaten the use of grazing goats to prevent wildfires. The park supervisor in West Sacramento, Jason Pablo, uses hundreds of goats to munch on long blades of yellow grass in the city. Essentially, mow those down to reduce the fire risk for the upcoming dry season. But new state labor regulations in California are making it more expensive for goat grazing services like Tim Aerosmith's company to operate. We can not fix the current legislation. We will be forced to sell these goats to slaughter and to the option yards. And we'll be forced out of business and probably filed for bankruptcy. Goat herders would be subject to the same labor laws as other farm workers. Hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent on putting out fires, very little has been spent on fire prevention. The changes at goat grazing workers would be entitled to overtime. I'm Ed Donahue.


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PartsCheck has announced it is expanding its online parts sourcing platform to incorporate the truck and trailer industry.
PartsCheck is the tool that is used by many Australian repairers and suppliers to make their businesses more efficient and organised.
Using PartsCheck saves hours each week sourcing parts, entering data and tracking orders.
Truck repairers can now access thessame benefits of this free service and connect to your suppliers and other businesses through our online quoting platform.
Suppliers will now have the opportunity to increase the number of quotes coming through as well as being able to market the business to a wider audience.
PartsCheck have a dedicated team working behind the scenes, integrating the requirements of the truck industry into our already successful application.
Steve Blissett has just joined the team and brings with him 22 years experience in heavy commercial.
"Over the next few years it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of heavy vehicles on the road by at least 15% - and that figure will keep climbing”.
Blissett also went on to comment that with the increase in popularity of supermarket home deliveries and with the introduction of Amazon to Australia, there is predicted to be a huge increase in light trucks and large vans sales, increasing the demand on truck repairers.
There has also been changes to the NSW government legislation, recognising the need to implement a Written Off Heavy Vehicle Registrar (WOHVR) including 3.5 as well as 4.5 tonne trucks.
This will mean smaller delivery trucks will be classed as heavy vehicles. The introduction of a streamlined truck part sourcing platform couldn't have come at a better time. Visit www.partscheck.com.au to see how PartsCheck can help streamline your business.


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Kemin will introduce three feline health supplements under the RESOURCES brand at the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association's annual conference on August 24-27 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
These products, which include Feline Urinary Tract Support, Feline Immune System Support and Protegrity GI, will now be available as highly palatable chews.
"Our team has observed, both in trials and feeding at home, that the pill or capsule delivery form for feline supplements just isn't well accepted by the animal," said Dr. Andrew Yersin, president of the companion animal health division at Kemin. "Our goal in reformulating these products was twofold - provide the same proven actives that promote feline health and to improve acceptability by the pet, which then provides added convenience for the pet parent."
In addition, Kemin will sponsor a breakfast lecture on August 26 at the conference at 7 a.m. The presentation will feature Dr. Basko presenting, "A Complementary Approach to Feline Health and Wellbeing." Dr. Basko will discuss natural herbs and ingredients that can assist in managing common immune system and urinary tract challenges in felines.


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Remember BioWare’s Anthem? Released back in February 2019, the looter shooter that showed so much promise and was poised to be EA’s Destiny failed to not only live up critically, but was also considered a commercial failure as well.
- Related Reading: BioWare Has Internal Builds of Battlefield Anthem & Anthem Battle Royale; Pirates Teased for Reboot
Having said that, just a year after, BioWare confirmed that a “reboot” of sorts was indeed happening, though with no specific time frame just yet. In the past year, BioWare has shared news on the game’s rework progress, which led many to believe that sooner or later, we’ll see the game resurface. Well, it seems that’s a big question mark for now. In a new report by Bloomberg, it mentions that EA execs will decide the fate of Anthem this week!
The report cites three familiar close to the situation which didn’t want to be named, has shared that this week, EA’s higher ups will review the latest build of Anthem (called Anthem Next though not official), and whether the internal BioWare team retooling it will expand, or just abandon the project entirely. Currently, the team behind Anthem’s rework is about 30 people, and people familiar with the project states that they need to at least triple that staff count in order to prepare new content and continue attempting to rework the game.
While BioWare is a large studio with multiple teams handling multiple projects, the studio currently has at least three confirmed games brewing (Mass Effect Legendary Edition due in May, the next Mass Effect, the next Dragon Age), which could mean that the studio might not have a choice but to leave Anthem to die.
As someone who played the game, there is a solid base underneath all the bugs and odd gameplay decisions. Let’s hope EA gives it one more push and releases it as a free-to-play game to not only jumpstart the playerbase, but perhaps interest among gamers too. I don’t think a lot of gamers would want to spend money on a two-year old game when there are literally a slew of awesome titles releasing every month.
Do you think Anthem should be killed or be given another chance to fly again? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.


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Montana Governor Seeks to Make Net Neutrality Compulsory
Jan 22, 2018, 4:09 PM by Eric M. Zeman
Montana Governor Steve Bullock today signed an executive order that would force internet service providers to comply with several basic tenets of net neutrality. Specifically, Bullock said any ISP that has a contract with the state government cannot block web sites or create for-pay fast lanes that would impact its other customers. "If you want to do business with Montana, there are standards on net neutrality you will have to follow," said Gov. Bullock. Mega ISPs including AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter, and Verizon all have contracts with the Montana state government, according to the New York Times. The executive order, which will apply to new and renewed contracts, goes into effect July 1, 2018. The move, meant to circumvent the FCC, could face legal hurdles. Bullock's decision is likely to face pushback from internet providers that do business in Montana. The FCC's order itself is facing plenty of opposition. In December, the FCC voted to do away with net neutrality protections. Recently, the attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the vote. Multiple civil rights organizations and other groups have filed similar lawsuits against the FCC, all seeking to keep net neutrality in place. The FCC maintains that net neutrality rules have slowed investment in new technology, while proponents believe a free and open internet is vital for protecting communication and access to information.
Sep 22, 2022
Samsung will bring its newest rugged phone for enterprise customers — the Galaxy XCover6 Pro — to the US next month. The XCover6 Pro replaces the original XCover Pro, which launched with AT&T in late 2020.
Aug 18, 2022
Motorola has taken the wraps off its new Edge phone for 2022. This is the little sibling to the Edge+, the company's flagship phone.
Apr 21, 2022
Motorola has announced two new mid-range phones with 5G. Both are essentially 5G upgrades of existing 4G models already announced for 2022.
Mar 17, 2022
Samsung today fleshed out more of its 2022 lineup of affordable Galaxy A-series phones. The new Galaxy A73, A53, and A33 are nearly identical in design and features, differing only in a few display and camera specs.
Jun 7, 2021
Apple today announced a major expansion of its Wallet app to support many new kinds of keys and cards, getting closer to the goal of fully replacing all of your physical wallet and keys. In addition to the previously-announced digital car key feature, Wallet will now support smart home front door locks, government ID cards — include US state driver's licenses — corporate ID cards, hotel keys, and theme park passes.


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LONDON (Reuters) and (BI) - Britain's biggest companies are beset by doubts about the future after last month's vote to leave the European Union and have slashed their investment plans, according to a survey on Monday that bodes poorly for the economy.
Business confidence in the UK right now is even worse than it was in the wake of Lehman Brothers' collapse in 2008, according to the Deloitte survey.
Some 82% of CFOs from FTSE 350 and large private companies expect to cut capital spending in the next year, the biggest proportion on record and up from 34% in the first quarter, accountancy firm Deloitte said.
While there has been a lot of noise about international businesses pulling out of the UK in the wake of the surprise vote to leave the European Union, this is more likely what an economic slowdown in the UK will look like post-Brexit vote — businesses freezing spending they otherwise would have made.
This represents a very real loss to the UK economy. While it may look like companies are ticking away as normal from the outside, they won't be growing because investment is on ice. If they're not growing, the economy won't grow and as a result will either stagnate or fall into recession.
Almost all major banks and forecasting agencies are predicting a recession as a result of the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
The Deloitte survey is one of the first clear signs the vote to leave the EU has battered business confidence and corroborates the Bank of England's view that the economy is set to weaken soon.
While the British central bank unexpectedly left interest rates on hold last week, its chief economist Andy Haldane said a "material easing" of policy would be needed next month to help cushion the expected slowdown.
EY Item Club, the only non-governmental forecasting group to use HM Treasury's model of the UK economy, on Monday also warned of a slowdown. It predicted a "short sharp shock" and "anaemic GDP growth for the next 3 years."
The Deloitte survey was conducted between June 28 and July 11, after the referendum and just before Theresa May emerged as Britain's new prime minister.
Almost all the CFOs surveyed said the level of uncertainty facing their businesses is above normal. Ian Stewart, Deloitte's chief economist, says: "Perceptions of uncertainty have soared to levels last associated with the euro crisis five years ago."
"The spike in uncertainty has had a toxic effect on business sentiment, with optimism dropping to the lowest level since our survey started in 2007 -- lower, even, than in the wake of the failure of Lehman in late 2008."
More than two-thirds of CFOs in the Deloitte survey said they believed leaving the EU will hurt the British business environment in the long-term.
The BoE's Haldane said last week he detected no sense of "slash and burn" around company boardrooms, but a strong sense of "trim and singe." In the next three years, 58% of CFOs surveyed said they expected capital spending to be "somewhat" or "significantly" lower.
73% of respondents said they were less optimistic about their company's financial prospects, a record high, and 83% expected to slow the pace of hiring.
"CFOs do not seem to be waiting for growth to slow before adjusting direction. There has been a marked shift to more defensive balance sheet strategies in the wake of the referendum," said Stewart.
The Deloitte survey adds to signs of a tumble in business and consumer confidence since the EU vote, after warnings that Brexit-induced uncertainty and a sharp fall in sterling would leave many firms struggling to meet full-year profit targets.
A first concrete gauge of business activity will be published on Friday, when Markit publishes a one-off preview version of its monthly purchasing managers' index (PMI).
A separate survey from the British Retail Consortium showed the number of shoppers heading to high streets and retail centers fell at the fastest pace in more than two years in June, with the weeks around the referendum particularly hard hit.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Catherine Evans)


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SAP to ramp up Iraq operations
Baghdad, February 14, 2013
Leading Germany-based software company, SAP, has announced that it is ramping up its operations in Iraq.
Sam Alkharrat, managing director, SAP Mena, said: “Iraq is an exciting market for SAP. This is a country where IT innovation can be truly transformational and provide the very basis for a more sustainable, connected and empowered future that not only capitalises on natural resources, but also serves as the basis for a diverse, knowledge-based economy.”
Now in its 41st year, and with 232,000 global customers across 25 industries, SAP recently emerged as Germany’s largest company by market capitalisation, and has experienced 12 consecutive quarters of double-digit software revenue growth.
The company’s current global growth strategy includes doubling its addressable market, reaching 1 billion people and generating global revenue of € 20 billion by 2015.
“SAP has a multi-pronged innovation agenda comprising synchronised investments in five interconnected elements - extending a leadership position in applications, broadening its footprint in analytics, expanding its reach through mobile, becoming a profitable leader in the cloud, and growing the fastest in technology and database,” Alkharrat said.
Mena is pivotal to SAP’s strategy, with the company recently announcing a four-year additional spend plan across the region that entails hiring more than 500 additional employees, tripling the company’s existing consulting capabilities, opening several new offices and expanding the partner ecosystem and the SAP University Alliances programme.
The plan also encompasses the region’s first IT-specific training and development center, which will certify more than 2,000 new consultants within the next four years, as well as further accelerate and extend the localisation and Arabisation of SAP solutions.
Iraq figures strongly in SAP’s Mena expansion drive and, in February 2012, the company become one of the first of its kind to commit to an in-country business development presence, the statement said.
“SAP understands the unique needs of small and midsize businesses and entrepreneurs,” Alkharrat said. “We want to see SMEs in Iraq that are more agile and able to operate around the clock.”
“We want to see SMEs with enhanced visibility and decision making that can not only lead to better employee productivity, customer engagements and responsiveness, but also help them keep pace with larger companies and gain a competitive edge in their marketplace.”
Outside of the business arena, SAP aims to boost local knowledge and stoke vocational skill sets through initiatives like the SAP University Alliance (UAP), which provides faculties with the tools and resources needed to teach students how technology can help enable integrated business processes and strategic thinking.
“IT is no longer on the side-line. IT is the business,” added Alkharrat. “By combining vision with technology, astute businesses and organisations of every size can outperform the competition, create opportunities, and be truly successful in a global economy.” – TradeArabia News Service


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When Apple holds its highly-anticipated keynote on Wednesday, millions of people will be watching, curious what the world’s arguably most secretive company has to unveil. But even though much of the attention ahead of the event has been focused on what Apple may present besides the new iPhone models (a giant iPad? a revamped Apple TV?), it’s the iPhone presentation that is most important to Apple’s future.
After the first iPhone was released in 2007, it quickly became Apple’s largest cash cow, accounting for 69 percent of the company’s revenue
in the 2014 holiday quarter. Today’s chart illustrates how huge the iPhone business really is. In the past quarter, Apple generated more revenue selling iPhones than Google, eBay and Facebook did combined.
So whatever Apple’s upcoming keynote has in store, the company’s investors will probably be happy as long as the new iPhones are received positively.


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Source: Global Times
[Global Times Comprehensive Report] Australia's Lucapa Diamond Company announced on Wednesday that they have unearthed a huge pink diamond (pictured below) in Angola, Africa, which has not been seen in 300 years.
Australian miner Lucapa Diamonds displayed a 170-carat pink diamond (Photo Source Vision China)
According to a report by CNN on the 28th, the pink diamond named "Lulo Rose" weighs 170 carats (34 grams) and was discovered in a diamond mine called Lulo in the Londa Norte region of Angola. of. It is reported that the largest diamond ever mined in Lulo was a diamond named "February 4th", which weighed 404.2 carats and was eventually sold for $16 million. The "Rose of Lulo" will be auctioned by Angola's national diamond sales company, but the relevant agencies have not given an estimate for the pink diamond.
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The latest gaming creator to sign on the dotted line for platform exclusivity is Andre ‘Typical Gamer’ Rebelo, who has pledged his allegiance to YouTube.
The 27-year-old Toronto-born vlogger, who has been on YouTube since 2008 and counts 9 million subscribers, joins other YouTube-exclusive streamers including CouRage, Lachlan, LazarBeam, Muselk, and Valkyrae. All told, YouTube notes that its exclusive streamers count over 36 million collective subscribers. The platform also says that it has 200 million gaming viewers daily, who consume more than 50 billion hours of gaming content.
Rebelo rose to renown on YouTube for his Red Dead Redemption videos, and has since become beloved for his amusing roleplay videos as well as his creative gameplay in Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, and Fortnite.
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Rebelo is celebrating the deal by hosting a live stream tomorrow. And given his extensive charitable bent, he is also set to donate $10,000 to Extra Life in honor of the occasion, which connects gamers with the local chapters of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals — a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals. In addition to the donation, Rebelo will also visit a superfan who benefited from the organization’s services, and is currently in recovery at his home in Manhattan Beach.
“Not only is Typical Gamer one of the most prolific streamers in the world, he’s one of the most compassionate creators and is dedicated to his audience,” Ryan Wyatt, YouTube’s head of gaming, said in a statement. “His contributions to Extra Life highlight his commitment in giving back to a community that has given so much to him.”
You can check out Rebelo’s announcement video below:


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iOS 12.2 Emoji Changelog
Summary: No new emojis, two minor changes, and one almost imperceptible change in Apple's latest iOS release.
iOS 12.2 is out now and here's what's new in the updates to Apple's emoji set.
🦉 Owl now has lighter shading around the eyes and a smaller beak.
🐗 Boar remains mostly the same, but its ears have turned outwards.
🤦🏻♀ Woman Facepalming: Light Skin Tone no longer glows on dark backgrounds.
Note: other skin tone variations of this emoji did not exhibit the same bug previously, and thus did not require a fix.
Why these emojis?
For the 🦉 Owl and 🐗 Boar, these updates continue Apple's recent tradition of sharing a 3D model for both Animoji and the corresponding image used in Apple's emoji font.
The same pattern took place in March 2018 when 🦁 Lion, 💀 Skull, 🐻 Bear and 🐲 Dragon Face were all added as Animoji options, and their equivalent emoji renderings also saw tweaks in the same release.
In total, four new Animoji options were added to iOS 12.2. While there were also new Animoji options added for 🦈 Shark and 🦒 Giraffe, these did not see any changes to their corresponding emojis.
There are no new emojis in this update. The 230 new emojis approved as part of Emoji 12.0 are expected to come to Apple platforms in late 2019. In the past two years, these have arrived in October in iOS 12.1 and iOS 11.1 respectively.
If Apple keeps with its recent cadence, expect to see new emojis arrive in iOS 13.1 in October 2019.
In the meantime, here's a look at which emojis are new:
Note that these are Emojipedia sample images only. Apple will use its own designs when adding new emoji support, as is the case for all major vendors.
iOS 12.2 is out now for supported iPhone and iPad devices. The same emoji updates have been released as part of macOS 10.14.4 and watchOS 5.2.


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This article is part of Flashpoint’s 2021 Intel Wrap-Up series. To read our physical security threat assessment for this upcoming holiday season, click here.
Exploitation of curbside pickup is a trending fraud tactic, highlight a new attack vector for threat actors—and a new mitigation front for retailers this holiday season.
Financially-motivated threat actors will continue to employ tried-and-true TTPs, including social engineering, to receive fraudulent refunds or to collect sensitive customer data and financial information.
Retailers can defend against fraudsters by rolling out security measures that cover the entirety of the evolving threat landscape, from implementing password rules to protect against account takeover (ATO), to employing a customer identity access management (CIAM) solution to maintain user privacy.
Why threat actors target retailers
Cybercriminals tend to increase their targeting of retailers during the holiday season in part due to spikes in consumer spending—both online and in-store. Retailers store loads of personally identifiable information (PII), like customers’ financial data, making them valuable targets for threat actors. Additionally, in-person shopping is likely to increase due to eased COVID restrictions, and that extra foot traffic could possibly lead to an increase in Card Present fraud.
So what does this look like in terms of numbers? Or rather, what does the retail honeypot look like to threat actors?
People love shopping
According to a recent online holiday shopping forecast report by Adobe, online global spending will reach $910B for the holiday season, which the report defines as Nov. 1 – Dec. 31. Furthermore, Deloitte predicts that holiday retail sales (online and in-store) will increase between 7-9% between November 2021 and January 2022.
Shopping Ghosts of Christmas Past
According to Retail Info Systems’ 2021 Holiday Retail Forecasts and Predictionsreport, retail experts noted that they would be preparing for an early start to the holiday shopping season this year. This year, the holiday shopping season started in October in anticipation of supply chain and production-related issues, which can be attributed at least in part to the shortening of demand cycles and worker shortages.
Online holiday shopping in the US grew 32.2% YoY in 2020, totaling about $188.2B in sales; for additional context, monthly e-commerce sales reached $100B for the first time last November. This study also found that in many cases, the option of curbside pickup boosted retailers’ sales during the 2020 holiday shopping season. Consumers spent the most on Cyber Monday (the Monday following Thanksgiving).
The retail fraud picture
During the holiday season, the retail sector is a primary target for financially-motivated threat actors. Retailers often store valuable personally identifiable information (PII) and financial information, including customer data and login credentials. Additionally, threat actors defraud retailers using refund schemes to acquire free or discounted goods.
A January 2021 report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) states that online sales accounted for $102B of returned merchandise in 2020, which represents about a quarter of all returned merchandise ($428B) that year. Of all returned merchandise originally posted online, about 7.5% of them were fraudulent (~$428B).
Within Flashpoint’s collections, the volume of discussion surrounding “refund fraud” has been consistently high throughout the year. Flashpoint analysts have noticed a recent increase in offerings of refunds-as-a-service, where a threat actor will secure a fraudulent refund on behalf of their “buyers.”
Threat actors tend to offer refund fraud in a variety of “packages”—buyer options, so to speak. In some cases, threat actors will advertise just the facilitating the refund itself, wherein they will use their knowhow with specific retailers to successfully return goods and then push those funds or credits back to the buy, minus a cut.
In other cases, a threat actor offering the service first makes the purchase—using stolen financial information, gift cards, or compromised accounts or credentials—and then initiates the fraudulent refund. These threat actors often charge a percentage of the order or return total for their services as well.
Give-and-take: Sharing retail fraud tactics with fellow threat actors
In order to improve their methods of manipulating customer service departments and bypass refund policies, threat actors also share their experiences dealing with specific retailers inside of their illicit communities and forums.
General social engineering techniques, like the “did not arrive” method and “empty box” methods, continue to be successful among threat actors and will likely persist. Within Flashpoint collections, the “fake tracking ID” (FTID) method has consistently been one of the most highly discussed methods, though it is regarded as one of the most difficult to carry out.
Credit card and payment card fraud
Card Not Present fraud allows threat actors to acquire large quantities of stolen cards and credentials, which they can use to fund illegitimate purchases or resell them to other carders. These carders may then leverage the exposed data via card cloning or digital shopping account linking.
Threat actors can obtain this data opportunistically if it has been inadvertently leaked, such as via a misconfigured network device. Threat actors may also target financial records and other PII from poorly secured websites or leverage compromised bank logs to access financial information.
Targeting content management systems
Within Flashpoint collections, analysts have observed a moderate number of advertisements for access to e-commerce content management systems (CMS). It is likely, given the increase in shopping during the holiday season, that threat actors will attempt to exploit this access to harvest customer information stored in CMS panels, including credit card or payment information. These advertisements are most commonly observed on Russian- and English-language forum Exploit. Threat actors have been observed auctioning access to a variety of retailers globally.
Gift card fraud
Gift card fraud is the practice of fraudsters cashing out stolen credit cards by purchasing gift cards. Threat actors generally buy high-value gift cards to use themselves at a later date. Some also advertise gift card services on the deep and dark web and within illicit communities, in which they acquire goods using gift cards purchased with stolen funds and sell them at a discount.
During the holiday shopping season, it’s highly likely that threat actors will send customers phishing emails and text messages masquerading as legitimate advertisements or customer service–related emails from retailers. These social engineering messages aim to pressure consumers into disclosing sensitive information, such as credit card data, by offering fake benefits, like discounts or merchandise.
According to a September 2021 Proofpoint study, smishing attacks—a portmanteau of SMS and phishing—have increased by almost 700% since the beginning of the year (Jan – Sept. 2021).
Smishing attacks are usually used to collect targets’ personal information or financial data via their mobile devices. Smishing attacks enable threat actors to obtain sensitive information from their victims by buying compromised credentials en masse on deep and dark web marketplaces. In more targeted attacks, threat actors can collect specific information from public social media accounts like Facebook or LinkedIn.
It is likely that smishing attacks will be popular social engineering this holiday season.
Card-not-present fraud mitigation
In order to mitigate many of these aforementioned threats, retailers can limit the amount of time they accept holiday shopping returns, thereby shrinking the fraud window and, therefore, the number of fraudulent returns.
The main burden of stopping card-not-present fraud lies with merchants and the financial institutions that issue the cards. Merchants can use a variety of authentication tools to ensure that buyers are the legitimate cardholders.
Retailers can also mitigate the risk of leaking sensitive data by employing customer identity access management solutions (CIAMs). CIAMs share preliminary customer data, like email addresses, only with the pertinent resources in a retailer’s network environment, maintaining the privacy and security of customer data by not allowing it to be accessed by those who do not need it. CIAMs also support the use of single sign-on (SSO), which can provide an easy and secure way for customers to log on to a retailer’s site.
Retailers should implement multi-factor authentication. Meanwhile, they can encourage consumers to enable multi-factor authentication for retailer-specific accounts as well as with their financial institutions that enable their card payments.
Contactless payment is more secure because payments generally require biometric scanning, a passcode, or a one-time password in order to carry out a transaction.
Employee training is also useful for setting a baseline of security best practices, and can also help to detect and mitigate social engineering attacks used in refund fraud schemes.
Retailers and consumers should consistently update and patch the software of all internet-connected devices.
Additionally, they should use proper password hygiene, like employing strong passwords and regularly changing passwords, to protect against credential stuffing, brute-force attacks, and password spraying.
Physical security: Threats to retail sector
With many COVID-19 restrictions lifted, researchers have also found that in-person shopping is also likely to increase over the 2021 holiday shopping season. According to a recent Boston Consulting Group survey, only 14% of consumers said they would not be shopping in stores this holiday season.
A hybrid shopping experience, curbside pickup enables retailers to reduce overall foot traffic while catering to a variety of consumer preferences, some of which continue to be influenced by COVID-19.
Flashpoint analysis have observed threat actors advertising “curbside methods” on illicit communities, targeting large retailers and their curbside pickup services. While threat actors generally do not share the techniques of their methods publicly, the advertised curbside methods are likely not sophisticated and will rely mostly on social engineering techniques and the use of stolen financial data.
Examples of curbside pickup-related chatter, TTPs
On November 15, Flashpoint analysts observed a threat actor advertising their curbside method, wherein they charge 50% of the total cost of the item that will be acquired. This advertised method likely involves the use of stolen payment card information to place a curbside pickup order, based on the services provided, though the threat actor does not explicitly state this in the advertisement.
On November 12, Flashpoint analysts observed a threat actor soliciting advice on placing fraudulent orders. One threat actor suggested employing a private browser window to place one order at a time and then using curbside pickup. This method may suggest the use of stolen retail login credentials to place an order.
Curbside + card-present fraud
Retailers could also possibly expect an increase in card-present fraud, wherein a criminal uses physically stolen credit cards or gift cards to complete fraudulent transactions.
Additionally, threat actors will likely opportunistically take advantage of point-of-sale (POS) systems, which may be overworked during this holiday season or possibly running outdated software. With the increase in contactless payments, researchers warn that threat actors could also take advantage of payment features on lost or stolen smartphones.
See Flashpoint’s Card Fraud Solutions in Action
Flashpoint partners with institutions of all sizes to address credit and payment card fraud threats, including many of the top global banks and retailers. Flashpoint’s Card Fraud solutions equip security teams with the tools, dashboards, alerts, and actionable intelligence they need to proactively identify threats, prevent card fraud, and take action to combat exposure to risk. Sign up for a demo or a free 30-day trial today.


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Hanford City Council voted at its March 19 meeting to legalize pot deliveries and recreational marijuana inside city limits.
Recreational pot is legal in the state, but is not legal within the city of Hanford or many other Central Valley towns.
But that is about to change.
The council voted 4-1 to allow two storefront recreational pot dispensaries in the downtown retail zone and two pot delivery businesses in the industrial park.
Newly elected Council Member Art Brieno was the one dissenting vote.
Hanford City Manager Darrell Pyle said that the zoning change will now be sent to the planning commission, which will most likely vote on the issue during its first meeting in April. Its recommendation will then go back to the city council.
To finalize the legalization of recreational pot within the city limits the council needs to do a second reading of the ordinance, and according to Pyle, that will likely happen at its next regular meeting on April 2.
The city council also voted to discard limits on the number of businesses who can apply to cultivate or sell pot. The city chose instead to select a few of the best qualified businesses from a large pool of applicants.
Tuesday’s vote contradicted past city councils.
In November of 2017 the city council awarded permits to three companies to grow and test medicinal pot, but took great pains to stress that any pot grown in the industrial park would immediately be shipped out of town. They also restricted the cultivation to medicinal pot, all while affirming their opposition to recreational use.
But it’s a new day in Hanford.
Eight to ten residents, mostly business owners, spoke in favor of legalizing recreational pot during the public hearing and they requested that the dispensaries be located in the heart of downtown.
It seems a few business owners took a field trip to Woodlake and realized what their city was missing.
Though Farmersville is hot on their heels, Woodlake has the only legal dispensary in the Central Valley, and to say business is booming is an understatement. The poor rural town has transformed from a dusty outpost to a vibrant shopping destination for pot.
In a picturesque old brick building the dispensary, Valley Pure, shares the sidewalk with a hip, spacious café appropriately called “Munchies” that sells Starbucks-type drinks and oversized brownies
One of the partners of Valley Pure, Wes Hardin, just happens to be a Hanford resident and attended Tuesday night’s meeting. He said during public comment that Hanford is missing out on a lot of sales tax potential.
Hardin reported that Woodlake’s dispensary has 3000 Hanford customers a month and that Valley Pure makes 15 deliveries a day to Hanford.
Licensed marijuana vendors can deliver pot anywhere in the state, even if the destination city has not legalized it.
But Hanford can’t tax a product that comes from Woodlake, even if they have now legalized deliveries. The city will only be able to tax those deliveries that originate in licensed businesses in its own industrial park.
Also, contrary to some meeting attendees’ understanding, Hanford will not be able to tax pot delivered through weedmaps even if it does originate in the city. Weedmaps is the black market happening in plain sight and is beyond the reach of Uncle Sam.
Council Member Francisco Ramirez had formally only been in favor of medicinal marijuana but was swayed during the public hearing.
“If the police department had been against dispensaries I would have not voted in favor. But Parker was supportive,” (referring to Hanford Police Chief Parker Sever.)
Ramirez said that Sever was not in favor of recreational pot but said that it was here to stay and legalizing it in the downtown area would be helpful. He said at least now they know where to monitor it.
Locating the dispensaries downtown will have other benefits, such as its a double sales tax zone and the dispensaries will attract more foot traffic. Ramirez’ goal was to locate a dispensary closer to Tenth Avenue to help revitalize the area around the abandoned theater.
“It’s a win/win situation. It will help our downtown, help our seniors and veterans to get their medicine instead of having to travel far away, and reduce the number of homeless downtown because there will be a higher police presence,” said Ramirez.
Brieno was the only council member unconvinced. “My support stops at medicinal use.”
“In Colorado, where it is already legal, there has been an increase in emergency room visits and accidents.”
Brieno is referring to a study that said marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 32% since Colorado legalized pot. Of all the traffic deaths, almost 20% were marijuana-related. The study also said that marijuana-related emergency department visits increased by 29% and that marijuana-related hospitalizations increased by 38%. Marijuana-related calls to the Rocky Mountain Poison Center increased by 72%.
Brieno also said that legalization leads to younger users. The Colorado study states that there was a significant drop in the age of marijuana users as a result of legalization and a greater number of 12- to 18-year-olds smoking pot.
He brought up the fact that while official dispensaries have to follow the law, the black market is going to flourish as a result.
“Why would you pay $80 an ounce when you could get it for $40 or $50?”
“The only people I come in contact with who smoke pot are shady characters. At homeless sites it’s the first thing I smell.”
Concerning legalizing deliveries, he voted against that also. “If Hanford residents have to go to Woodlake, that’s better.”
“This was a downfall of the state when Proposition 64 passed. The people who promoted it were mostly from Silicon Valley,’ he said.


text: Nissan – wait, Nissan? Yes, Nissan – says they’ve invented a plastic phone shield that heals itself when scratched. Hmm… color us pretty darn intrigued. The Nissan Scratch Shield uses a polyrotaxane mix that the automaker developed for its cars a few years back, and it promises to protect your precious cellular device with a 22nd century-style regenerative skin. Once scratched, Nissan says the surface waits for you to gather a few friends around, then morphs back into its original shape, leaving your phone scratch-free. Depending on how big the slash is, the healing process takes between an hour and a week, so you’ll have plenty of time to call over those out-of-state buddies. It’s being beta tested in Europe right now, and it should go on sale later this year. Whether it slithers its sci-fi self over to the US remains uncertain, though.


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Eco World Development Group Bhd will ink a deal next week with the Penang Development Corp (PDC) to purchase 190.2ha in Batu Kawan and in the process become a major property developer in the state.
Sources said Eco World, which was the only bidder for the land, would pay about RM1bil or RM50 per sq ft for the 190.2ha.
The group will sign the sale and purchase agreement with PDC at a later date, but it is learnt that the award would be handed out next week in a ceremony to be attended by Eco World chairman Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin.
According to sources, Eco World is planning a major township development on the 190.2ha that is estimated to have a gross development value of RM10bil and is expected to last several years.
“Eco World is paying over RM50 per sq ft for the leasehold land that will have a development density of 60 units per acre. Eco World will use 60.7ha for the development of the golf course and the remainder for a mixed-development project comprising 60% residential and 40% commercial properties,” sources said.
Eco World will develop a waterfront city overlooking the island, a shopping mall, hotels and serviced condominiums for the site.
The purchase of the land will be the second parcel in Batu Kawan for Eco World. It already owns 24.28ha in the area on which it plans to launch an RM920mil mixed development called EcoMeadows, comprising 50% residential and 50% commercial components, in the second half of the year.
The initial commercial phase of EcoMeadows is expected to be launched in the third quarter of the year.
Another of Eco World’s projects – EcoTerraces located in Paya Terubong – is a low-density, luxury condominium project conceptualised to showcase a stunning landscape of cascading pools and abundant greenery, priced at RM800 per sq ft.
The residential phase of EcoMeadows comprises 3-storey terraces in a guarded and gated scheme in Batu Kawan, priced at between RM700,000 and RM800,000 per unit.
The residential and commercial projects in Seberang Prai will be boosted by the state government’s plan to expand the development of Batu Kawan.
Since PDC put up the 190.2ha for sale, only Eco World was prepared to participate in the exercise. The developer is known for its township development and has so far been able to price its products at a premium compared to its peers.
PDC has some 8,000 acres that is available for development in Batu Kawan.
investPenang director Datuk Lee Kah Choon had said in an earlier interview that stripping out some 2,000 acres from the gross 8,000 acres for infrastructure development, PDC was still left with a net 6,000 acres for industrial, mixed development, residential and eco-tourism projects.
Henry Butcher Seberang Prai senior manager Fook Tone Huat said that depending on the location, the sub-sale price of commercial property had increased between 50% and 100% since 2011.
The 3-storey shop offices in Bandar Sunway in Seberang Jaya have increased to RM600 per sq ft from RM300 per sq ft in 2011.
Since the announcement of the second bridge in 2006, property prices in Seberang Prai and on the island have surged significantly.
The price of vacant land in the area, especially in south Seberang Prai where Batu Kawan and the second bridge are located, is now hovering between RM40 and RM50 per sq ft, a huge jump from the RM8-RM9 per-sq-ft range in 2006, according to Fook.
Land prices in central and north Seberang Prai are now within the range of RM50-RM100 per sq ft, compared with RM20-RM40 per sq ft then. - By The Star


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Which brand tops your mind when you think of sturdy vehicles made for Indian road conditions? Well the answer is simple: Mahindra! And in the case of electric three-wheelers? Well the answer remains the same – Mahindra again!
Surprised? For over seven decades, the Group has been synonymous with vehicles that have carved a niche for themselves in the Indian automobile market. The Mahindra Treo, India's first electric three-wheeler powered by a lithium-ion battery, is the latest to join the long list of vehicles that have rolled out of Mahindra’s stables.
A quintessential Indian vehicle, designed, developed and manufactured in India (except for the battery cell), the Treo has cumulatively travelled a distance of over 35 million kms on Indian roads – the first by an Indian electric three-wheeler.
Commenting on the significant milestone, Mahesh Babu, MD & CEO, Mahindra Electric said, “Given its low running costs, our Treo customer has been able to save up to Rs. 45,000 per year.”
Hardly surprising then that the Treo has crossed the 5,000 units sales milestone. The Mahindra Treo range is currently being sold in over 400 districts across the country. The electric 3-wheeler, with its unique styling, superior handling and spirited performance, makes for a smart first and last mile mobility solution for both drivers and commuters.
Treo customers clock up to 265 kms in a single day given the ease of charging it anywhere, and with some well-planned charging breaks. One of the most amazing facts about Treo owners is that a sizeable number of them are women! The Drive by Wire Technology on the Treo makes it particularly easy to drive, making it a popular choice for them.


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In an important early look at the pivotal holiday sales season,Sony Corp. said it met its goal of shipping 1 million PlayStation 3consoles to North America in 2006 despite ongoing productionproblems with the still hard-to-find video game system.
The figure is about half of Sony’s stated goal of 2 million PS3sglobally by the end of 2006. The company did not disclose a globaltally in the announcement, made at the Consumer Electronics Show inLas Vegas.
Sony has dominated previous rounds of the console wars with thePlayStation 1 and 2, but it is still undecided who will grab thelead this time around - the PS3, or its two chief rivals: NintendoCo.'s Wii and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp.
The PS3’s launch had been delayed in the United States from thespring to November, yet supply problems were still evident when itwent for sale on Nov. 17.
The company ended up selling 197,000 PS3s on launch day, lessthan half of the 400,000 it had initially forecast. The marketresearch company NPD Group estimated that U.S. consumers bought476,000 Wiis in the two weeks following its Nov. 19 launch.
Sony officials have attributed the limited supply tomanufacturing glitches with blue laser diodes, the technologicalheart of the system’s high-capacity, high-definition Blu-ray diskdrive.
Sony spokesman Dave Karraker said the company has beenairlifting additional PS3s each week and will continue to do sothrough spring, if necessary.
Though updated figures were not available, a Nintendospokeswoman said the company’s earlier prediction to ship 4 millionunits by the end of the year was still on target.
Microsoft said Sunday it had sold 10.4 million Xbox 360s throughthe end of 2006. That narrowly beat the company’s earlier statedgoal of 10 million. The company expects to sell 13-15 million Xbox360s by the end of its fiscal year in June, Microsoft spokesmanDavid Hufford said.
Both Sony and Nintendo are projecting selling 6 million consolesby the end of March. Sony expects to start shipping the PS3 toEurope sometime that month as well.
Selling machines in large numbers is crucial in the gamingbusiness because it encourages software companies to make moregames, which in turn boosts console sales.
Sony controlled the previous generation with 70 percent of theglobal market, including 35 million PlayStation 2 consoles in theUnited States. The original Xbox was second with nearly 15 millionsold, followed by 11 million Nintendo GameCubes.
At this early stage with the next-generation consoles, Sonyisn’t concerned if rivals Microsoft or Nintendo end up selling moreunits because the overall industry is benefiting from very strongdemand, Karraker said.
“Are we worried about strong sales of the Wii or Xbox 360? Notreally,” he said. “It was a great year for the industry overall.With the tide all ships rise.”


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Better Place has recognized that, where technology has failed to improve the world, a different kind of innovation is needed: a business model innovation which uses the same battery technology but fundamentally changes allocation of risks between the company and the customer, a true example of Renaissance Innovation. There were several recent updates on this innovative company which I wanted to discuss. First, the company received Series C financing from GE and UBS which values the company at $2.25 Billion. Second, 100 vehicles were leased through a car rental company in Israel, marking first large-scale deployment of the concept. And third, Better Place experience center opened in Guangzhou, China. While I am quite enthusiastic about first two news, the third one I find less exciting. The reason for some reservations about expansion to China is a recent paper which I co-authored with Karan Girotra and Buket Avci, “Electric Vehicles with a Battery Switching Station: Adoption and Environmental Impact“. But let me discuss the news one-by-one.
The business model proposed by Better Place is remarkably clever and simple (as this video explains): make electric batteries standard so an empty battery can be swapped for a charged one at a battery switching station, and make customers pay for miles driven rather than making them pre-pay for the (very expensive) battery. Not surprisingly, investors believe that Better Place can do what no company had managed to do before: give the world a sustainable transportation solution. Better Place is planning to use new financing “…to expand into Western Europe while it continues to advance the company’s deployment projects in Northern California, Southern China, Japan, Ontario, Canada, and Hawaii.” It looks like governments are buying into the premise that managing infrastructure (battery switching stations, inventory of batteries at the stations and charging spots) has more promise than betting on improvements in technology.
Further, “…Better Place will launch initial commercial service to a select group of customers in Israel and Denmark in the first quarter of 2012, expanding to full commercial operations over the following months. A similar process will follow in Canberra, Australia in the second quarter of 2012.” This is fast: imagine challenges involved in building infrastructure in multiple countries, which greatly relies on economies of scale (how many cars must be purchased to make a single switching station cost-effective?). Of course, the blue-print for the entire world will be Israel, where Better Place has seen over 400 corporations signing letters of intent to begin switching their fleets to Better Place as the cars and the service become available. The first 100 cars leased to the largest car rental company in Israel is an indication of things to come: selling a sustainable experience driving to car rental customers is a very smart move, which allows many people experience the technology first-hand. Kudos!
So why I am less excited about Better Place building electric car infrastructure in China? As we illustrate in our recent research paper, simply replacing gasoline vehicles with Better Place vehicles is not enough: one also needs to worry about where electricity is coming from. In countries like France, where 80% of electricity comes from nuclear power, Better Place would be great for the environment. In countries like China, however, electricity comes predominantly from coal (up to 70%) and as a result, the country is currently the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Thus, replacing gasoline vehicles with electric cars is far less attractive, and may in fact do more damage to the environment (but read our paper for the caveats). The big challenge in China will be building new sustainable electricity generation facilities which will use power of wind, sun, nuclear fusion and water. This will take both time and money, with many other challenges in the tightly regulated economy. But I remain cautiously optimistic…
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