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Hospira Inc. HSP, +0.07% has recalled one lot of pre-filled cartridges containing the pain drug hydromorphone because the glass cartridges could contain too much medicine.
The company, which has been pressured by some product-quality issues, said there have been two reported complaints of a single "Carpuject" cartridge containing more than the amount of drug on the product's label.
There have been no reports of adverse events related to this issue for this product lot, Hospira said, but overdoses on opioid pain drugs such as hydromorphone can pose life-threatening consequences.
"Hospira has initiated an investigation to determine the root cause and preventive actions," the company said in a press release, which was dated Saturday and posted on the Food and Drug Administration's web site. "Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking or using this product."
A Hospira representative was not available for immediate comment regarding the size of the affected lot or potential recall costs. The company said in the release that the affected lot was initially distributed late last year to wholesalers and a limited number of hospitals in 28 states and Washington, D.C.
Shares of the Lake Forest, Ill., company, which makes a variety of generic drugs and hospital products, were recently down 1.1% to $32.96 and have tumbled more than 40% in the last 12 months despite gains made early this year. Hospira has been dealing with heavy costs to resolve regulatory concerns over manufacturing at some of its plants.


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1) Cisco pulls plug on Dell blade partnership Compatible switches due to launch in coming months are canned as networking giant steps away from joint development deal 2) Scoring correction caused...
UK launch comes after the managed services were rolled out in the US and three European countries last year
Vendor claims it will invest £3bn in the UK over the next five years
EMEA VP says the vendor is looking to recruit partners of troubled Huawei
It may lag behind in public cloud popularity, but Oracle claims to be seeing success moving its core offerings to the cloud

domain: news


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Santa Monica’s Main Street is giving a Party Extravaganza to celebrate the holidays, on Saturday, December 3.
Each of over 45 businesses on Main will give its own party, with holiday beverages, snacks, sweets and door prizes and more.
Most of the parties will be held 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. but some will start earlier and some will continue beyond 9. (Check www.mainstreetsm.com for specifics.)
The traditional Main Street tree lighting ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday on the lawn of the California Heritage Museum, 2612 Main, at Ocean Park Boulevard. The Samohi Choir, the Off Their Jingle Bell Rockers and the Caroling Company will perform and Santa — the real one — will appear in a custom-made suit from Gigi Block Designs at Uroborus.
After the tree lighting, the Choir, Rockers, Caroling Company and Santa will stroll down Main, performing as they go.
People will have a chance to win prizes by participating as judges in the third annual Main Street window decorations contest, as the judging ballot doubles as a raffle entry.
Last year the public gave first prize to Fito, and second prize to B.NY. Fito also took top honors in 2003.
Ballots are available on the Main Street website and at some stores, and will be available at the Tree Lighting ceremony.
Judging began last Friday and ends at 10 p.m. on December 3.
On Sunday, December 4, the Victorian will serving Channukah latkes at its booth at the Main Street Farmer’s Market between 9:30 a.m. and 1p.m.
Among the businesses having parties on Saturday are Amelia’s, Angel City Books, Artist’s Web, Arts & Letters, Ashland & Hill, Aura Shop, The Bey’s Garden, Bike Attack, Black + Blue, Blonde, Blue Door, Casa Allegra, Center for Living Meditation, Chocolat, CP Shades, Edgemar, Edgemar Center for the Arts, Eyes On Main, Fedora Primo, Fito, The Galley, Geoff Thomas Designs, Gioia, Highlights, Infinity Wireless, Jams World, L.A. Urban Fitness, LF Stores, Monkie, Moonlight Rugs, Natures Grooming, Natural High, Next Salon, Ocean Park Merchants Mart, Oz, Pebbles, Piero, Precious Metal Arts, Relish, Salon Blu, Sewjeannie Design, Soul Sonic, Splash, Tails of Santa Monica, Tao Healing Arts Center, Uroborus, Vamp, What To Get, Wildflour, Zen Biotic, ZJ Boarding House and more.
Holy Guacamole, Joe’s Diner, Library Alehouse, and Panini will be cater some of the parties.Several dozen Main Street businesses are contributing prizes to the window decorations contest judges’ raffle.


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18 news items tagged LPDDR4
China DRAM industry development on track, says Winbond chairmanTuesday 18 June 2019
The development of China's homegrown DRAM industry is on track despite the escalating US-China trade war resulting in a slowdown in demand for end-market applications including handsets,...
China memory maker CXMT to roll out 8Gb LPDDR4 DRAM by end-2019Tuesday 11 June 2019
China-based DRAM maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is stepping up DRAM production deployments as it will kick off commercial runs of its production lines by the end of 2019...
Samsung chip to power Audi IVI systemMonday 7 January 2019
Samsung has introduced its first auto-branded Exynos processor, which is being adopted by Audi for its next-generation in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system slated to make its debut...
China unlikely to give up on homegrown memory firms despite Korea DRAM dominanceWednesday 5 December 2018
South Korea's dominance in the manufacture of DRAM memory seems solid, given that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together control three quarters of the global DRAM market, but China,...
CHPT optimistic about probe card demand for AI, 5GTuesday 11 September 2018
Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT) has expressed optimism about semiconductor probe card demand for AI and 5G applications.
CHPT to enjoy strong 2H18Tuesday 4 September 2018
Wafer test solution provider Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT) is expected to see its third-quarter revenues hit the second-highest quarterly level in the company's history, according...
CHPT to enter DRAM probe card fieldThursday 9 August 2018
Wafer test solution provider Chunghwa Precision Test Tech (CHPT) is looking to tap into the DRAM probe card field to compete with FormFactor and Micronics Japan Company (MJC).
DRAM supply remains tightTuesday 3 April 2018
The average and highest contract prices of mainstream DDR4 4GB modules remained at US$33 and US$34, respectively, in March, according to DRAMeXchange. Contract prices for PC DRAM...
Mobile DRAM prices to rise 10-15% in 4Q17, says DRAMeXchangeFriday 13 October 2017
Average prices for mobile (LPDDR) DRAM products are expected to rise 10-15% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to DRAMeXchange. Major suppliers have intentionally...
China market: MediaTek to roll out new Helio P series for mid-range smartphonesThursday 17 August 2017
MediaTek has sent out invitations for a product event to be held in Beijing on August 29, when the company will introduce its new Helio P23 and P30 series designed for mid-range smartphones,...
Global 1Q17 mobile DRAM revenues drop slightly, says DRAMeXchangeFriday 2 June 2017
Global sales of mobile DRAM dropped by a slight 1.7% sequentially to US$5.41 billion in the first quarter of 2017, according to DRAMeXchange. Despite a seasonal slowdown in demand...
DRAM market to remain oligopoly over next 3 years, says Nanya presidentThursday 1 June 2017
The global DRAM market will remain an oligopoly of three large firms over the next three years, according to Pei-Ing Lee, president for Taiwan-based Nanya Technology.
Samsung rolls out 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM packageMonday 24 October 2016
Samsung Electronics has introduced an 8GB LPDDR4 mobile DRAM package designed for Ultra HD, large-screen devices. The 8GB mobile DRAM package utilizes four of 16Gb LPDDR4 memory chips...
Global 3Q15 mobile DRAM sales rise 18%, says DRAMeXchangeMonday 16 November 2015
Mobile DRAM revenues amounted to about US$4.55 billion in the third quarter of 2015, up 18% from US$3.85 billion in the prior quarter, according to DRAMeXchange.
Samsung launches 12Gb LPDDR4 DRAMWednesday 16 September 2015
Samsung Electronics has announced that it is mass producing 12-gigabit (Gb) LPDDR4 (low power, double data rate 4) mobile DRAM chips based on its 20nm process technology.
Global mobile DRAM revenues rise 7.7% in 2Q15, says DRAMeXchangeMonday 17 August 2015
Global sales of mobile DRAM increased 7.7% sequentially to US$3.85 billion in the second quarter of 2015, according to DRAMeXchange.
SK Hynix says its 8Gb LPDDR4 being adopted in new flagship smartphoneMonday 9 February 2015
SK Hynix has announced that its 8-gigabit (8Gb) low-power DDR4 (LPDDR4) memory has been adopted in a brand-new smartphone model. Built using 20nm process technology, the memory works...
Samsung, SK Hynix develop 8Gb LPDDR4 mobile memoryThursday 2 January 2014
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have both announced the development of 8Gb low-power DDR4 (LPDDR4) chips built using 20nm-class process technology.


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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
VIDiGREET Launches New E-Card Line
Hollywood-based VIDiGREET.com, a publisher of online video greeting cards, has launched a new line of video cards, the firm said Monday, based on the content of comedian Liam Sullivan. VIDiGREET said that Sullivan's character Kelly will be features in a line of video greeting cards, targeted--in the company's words--the "YouTube, MySpace, Facebook generation." The "Kelly" character has been featured on YouTube and Sullivan's site, LiamShow.com. The greeting cards will include Christmas, Valentine's Day, Birthday, and other greetings, and will also include the ability to insert characters from Pasadena-based 3D avatar firm Big Stage Entertainment. VIDiGREET.com sells its video greetings cards on a subscription basis.


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Chula Vista Police Foundation holiday auction and meal giveaway
CHULA VISTA (KUSI) – Chula Vista Police Foundation Holiday Auction supports many amazing programs and is happening now until December 15th.
Some of the programs that benefit from the Shop for the holidays are the Chula Vista Police Foundation’s drone program, K-9, Our homeless outreach program, and Explorer/ Cadet program.
The auction will also support an upcoming holiday meal giveaway on Monday, December 21st at Walmart on Broadway in Chula Vista.
Chief Roxana Kennedy joined Good Morning San Diego to discuss the holiday programs.


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Clock is ticking for companies that depend on China imports
Published: 01:19 PM, 4 February 2020 Updated: 01:26 PM, 4 February 2020
A woman runs past a Apple logo colored red in Beijing, China. Apple is temporarily closing its 42 stores in mainland China, one of its largest markets, as a new virus spreads rapidly and the death toll there rose to 259 on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. The iPhone maker said in a statement it was closing stores, corporate offices and contact centers in China until Feb. 9 “out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts."
For companies bracing for losses from China's viral outbreak, the damage has so far been delayed, thanks to a stroke of timing: The outbreak hit just when Chinese factories and many businesses were closed anyway to let workers travel home for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.
But the respite won't last.
If much of industrial China remains on lockdown for the next few weeks — a very real possibility — Western retailers, auto companies and manufacturers that depend on Chinese imports will start to run out of the goods they depend on.’
In order to meet deadlines for summer goods, retail experts say that Chinese factories would need to start ramping up production by March 15. If Chinese factories were instead to remain idle through May 1, it would likely cripple retailers' crucial back-to-school and fall seasons.
"There's complete uncertainty,'' said Steve Pasierb, CEO of the Toy Industry Association. "This could be huge if it goes on for months.''’
Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak hit hardest, is a center of automotive production. It's been closed off, along with neighboring cities, isolating more than 50 million people and bringing factories to a standstill.
So far, U.S. automakers haven't had to curb production for want of Chinese parts. But David Closs, professor emeritus at Michigan State University's Department of Supply Chain Management, said the clock is ticking.
"I would say it's weeks at the most,'' Closs said. "One to two to three weeks.''
The partial shutdown of Wuhan has already harmed the production of TV display panels and raised prices, according to a report by research group IHS Markit. The city has five factories making liquid crystal displays, known as LCDs, and organic light-emitting diodes, known as OLEDs, both of which are used for television and laptop monitors. China accounts for more than half of the global production of these display panels.
David Hsieh, an analyst at IHS Markit, said in a report that "these factories are facing shortages of both labor and key components as a result of mandates designed to limit the contagion's spread," leading suppliers to raise panel prices more aggressively.
Phone-maker Motorola, which has a facility in Wuhan, said that so far, it expects little impact because it has a flexible global supply chain and multiple factories around the world. Its priority has been the welfare of local employees, Motorola, which is owned by the Chinese electronics giant Lenovo, said in a statement.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts last week that the company's contractors in China had been forced to delay reopening factories that closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Cook said the company is seeking ways to minimize supply disruptions. Some of its suppliers are in Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak. Most of Apple's iPhones and other devices are made in China.
In the meantime, economists are sharply downgrading the outlook for China's economy, the world's second-biggest. Tommy Wu and Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics have slashed their forecast for Chinese economic growth this year from 6% to 5.4%. They expect most of the damage to be inflicted in the first three months of 2020.
"But a more serious and long-lasting impact cannot be ruled out,'' they wrote Monday.
Forecasters are contending with unknowns. No one knows how long the outbreak will last, how much damage it will cause or how policymakers will respond to the threat.
"We're grasping for precedents,'' said Phil Levy, chief economist at the freight company Flexport who was an economic adviser in the administration of President George W. Bush.
Some look back to the SARS outbreak, which paralyzed the Chinese economy for the first few months of 2003. But the damage from SARS faded quickly: China was booming again by year's end. And the world economy emerged mostly unscathed.
But times have changed in ways that are not favorable to containing economic damage. Back then, China was the world's workshop for cheap goods — toys and sneakers, for instance. Now, China has moved up to sophisticated machine parts and electronics like LCDs. And it accounts for about 16% of global economic output, up significantly from just 4% in 2003.
Levy said he was struck by how U.S. airlines reacted to the coronavirus: They suspended flights between the United States and mainland China for weeks — American airlines through March 27, United through March 28 and Delta until April 30.
The move doesn't just affect tourists, students and business travelers. Passenger planes also carry a lot of freight.
"When you see them loading that big 747s, that's not just your luggage,'' Levy said. "That can be pallets full of electronics and other things.''
The health crisis coincides with an especially difficult time for China's factories. A 19-month trade war with the United States — in which the Trump administration imposed tariffs on $360 billion of Chinese imports — has already led U.S.-based multinational corporations to look for alternatives to Chinese suppliers. Many are moving to Vietnam or other low-wage countries to dodge President Donald Trump's taxes on Chinese-made goods.
The coronavirus, along with fears that U.S.-China tensions over trade and geopolitics will persist, gives them one more reason to reduce their reliance on China. Among multinational firms, there is "increasing unease that China is starting to become quite risky,'' said Johan Gott, an independent consultant who specializes in political risks for businesses.
But it isn't easy to completely abandon China, where specialized suppliers cluster in manufacturing centers and make it convenient for factories to obtain parts when they need them.
Basic Fun, a toy company based in Boca Raton, Florida, has sought suppliers in Vietnam and India with no luck yet. Its CEO, Jay Foreman, said he is hoping that the factories in China will resume production by early April, which he considers the best-case scenario. But he fears that any more delays could mean that the factories don't start to ramp up production until after May 1.
The stakes are high. Basic Fun gets about 90% of its toys from China. And Foreman has been contending with the trade war and disruptive protests in Hong Kong.
The coronavirus, he said, is "just a continuation of sitting on the knife's edge ... sleeping on the bed of nails from tariffs to the riots in Hong Kong and the virus. We just can't get a break."
- 52 areas of Capital locked down
- Spain records 743 more coronavirus deaths today
- Emergency telehealth service to launch for BU students
- Coronavirus infection tops 1.4 mn; death toll surging to 80,000
- 6 families in Ctg put in quarantine
- Narayanganj lockdown
- Why today’s Supermoon `pink`
- 170 families on voluntary lockdown in Dinajpur
- Coronavirus death toll tops 78,000
- Japan declares state of emergency amid coronavirus
- Lockdown to be extended in India
- Jagdal UP in Magura announced lockdown
- ‘Majed’s death sentence after completing formalities’
- Narsingdi coronavirus infected youth in isolation
- Wages to be paid by April 16: Commerce Minister
- RAB fined 50 for reasonless roaming in capital
- Edu institutions to remain closed till Eid holidays
- 3 houses under lockdown in Lakshmipur
- Trains to turn into hospitals in India
- 3 held with 17-kg weed in Brahmanbaria
- Farmer electrocuted to death in Mymensingh
- Youth killed in Dinajpur road crash
- IPL can hold in October-November!
- MP of Narsingdi distributes food items among 1,500 families
- 2 youths provide 7 days’ food to 150
- Ferdous living with kids separately from wife
- District council stands by 5000 families in Gazipur
- 16 samples collected from Kurigram
- FIFA U20 Women`s World Cup postponed
- UP member held with govt reliefs in Natore
- All News »
- Fishermen killed dolphin in Cox’s Bazar
- Coronavirus death toll passes 50,000
- Corona death toll crosses 40,000; infected over .8 million
- Sylhet records 1st coronavirus case
- Army to go tough from today
- Padma Bridge’s last pillar work completed
- BTV bringing back Humayun Ahmed’s ‘Bohubrihi’ ‘Kothao Keu Nei’
- Italy coronavirus death toll surpass 12,000
- Death toll passes 42,000 worldwide
- PM declares action plan to combat COVID-19 today
- 2 more coronavirus cases detected, raising total to 51
- 5 more test positive for coronavirus, raising total to 61
- Fire at Karwan Bazar
- Salman Khan`s nephew Abdullah dies at 38
- 11 in Mirpur, 9 in Bashabo contract from coronavirus
- Indian-origin South African HIV researcher dies from coronavirus
- Coronavirus: New symptom heart attack
- Bangabandhu’s killer Abdul Majed held
- Huawei records $123 billion revenue growth in 2019
- Soldiers get urgent medical equips from Army Aviation
- Wimbledon cancelled for first time since World War II
- US experienced highest death record in a day
- Case filed for ‘Genda Phool’!
- Ban on public transport extended till April 11
- 13-year-old dies of coronavirus in London
- Coronavirus test in Rangpur Medical begins
- 2 more coronavirus cases detected, raising total to 56
- Prince Charles recovers from coronavirus
- 9 more diagnosed with coronavirus, raising total to 70
- Philippines ambassador to Lebanon dies of coronavirus


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Deals In Depth: September 2017
Halozyme will use its Enhanze technology to improve the delivery of BMS's immuno-oncology drugs in a new $1.9 billion deal; for $725 million up front and $375 million in earn-outs, Teleflex expanded its urology device portfolio with the NeoTract buy. Device financing surged due to CooperSurgical's $1.1 billion bridge loan, which is helping to support the acquisition of Teva's Paragard IUD.
You may also be interested in...
Allergan signed an $800m deal to investigate Exicure's Spherical Nucleic Acid (SNA) gene regulation and immune modulation technology for the treatment of hair loss. Novartis invested in cardiology through the $9.7bn acquisition of The Medicines Co. Biopharma financing greatly increased due to the $30bn notes offering done by AbbVie to fund part of the Allergan deal.
Device financing increased substantially in Q3, thanks to debt raises led by Insulet. Acquisition dollar volume dropped, though, but Siemens' buy of Corindus for $1.1bn was a stand-out. Diagnostics/research tools financing dropped by 28% from Q2, while acquisition value greatly increased due to Exact Sciences' $2.8bn purchase of Genomic Health.
BeiGene gained rights to three Amgen drugs in China in a deal worth $1.25bn, while Amgen took a $2.7bn stake in BeiGene. Nestle Skin Health was spun out as Galderma and sold to private equity for $10bn. Biopharma financing maintained the levels seen in previous months, but device funding was down.


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In an effort to compete with Amazon and its other rivals and not fall behind in the ecommerce game, Toys ‘R’ Us is working on launching a new ecommerce website.
USA Today reported that Toys ‘R’ Us is making an effort to bring its customers back and will debut the new site to a small number of users before a full rollout in early July.
The site relaunch is part of a $100 million investment by Toys ‘R’ Us over the past three years targeted at jumpstarting its ecommerce experience.
“The website really represents the front door of our brand,’’ Lance Wills, Toys R Us’ first global chief technology officer told USA Today. He also noted that more than 60% of the company’s customers visit its website before deciding to go to an actual store. “In a year to two years, we have to catch up on 10 years of innovation and that’s no small feat,’’ Wills said.
The new site will make it easier for customers to navigate and find what they want. Instead of clicking through an array of choices, they will be able to tap once on a category and be led to a fine-tuned list. The checkout process will be made easier as well, shrinking from five clicks to just two for basic purchases. Another new wrinkle is visitors to the baby registry will receive alerts to a sale or product recalls.


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Fido, Virgin Mobile: $65 Canada-Wide Plan Gets Double Data, Now 2GB [u]
Fido has launched a promo to double the data on its $65 per month unlimited Canada-wide plan to 2GB, a change made on the weekend. Their website notes it’s a “limited time offer” which we suspect should last throughout the holiday season.
Similarly, Virgin Mobile has launched the exact same promo with 2GB of data:
Earlier today, Koodo launched a similar promo, but priced at $60 per month, $5 cheaper than Fido and Virgin.
In a nutshell, if you are subscribed to these plans, make sure you call in to get your bonus data!
Update: Fido also has a $60 Standard Plan with 2GB of data as well which makes it the same price as Koodo. Go to Standard Plans, then scroll all the way to the right. (Thanks Whiskey!)


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Sustainability is now a key part of our business strategy, and that of many of our customers and clients. We are committed to helping our clients to transition to sustainable business models and operations, and to pursue new clean growth opportunities.
Architecture and Design Magazine for the 21st Century. Organizer of the Annual Skyscraper Architectural Competition.
One of Australia’s largest producers of sweet corn and beans has reduced plastic packaging on its produce by 80 per cent, removing single-use trays bound for the bin.
Saving the ocean and climate through innovative marine protected area finance mechanisms
Ocean threats: acidification, deoxygenation, warming, heatwaves. Do we have anything useful to bend, change, or reverse the results? This brochure, conceived to advocate and educate at the UNFCCC COP27 meetings, summarises these threats and how various solutions (explained within) can actually help protect the ocean as Nature-based Solutions, if correctly constructed, and the existing and emerging financial mechanisms and institutions that can build and fortify these solutions.
The circular economy has become, for many governments, institutions, companies, and environmental organizations, one of the main components of a plan to lower carbon emissions.In the circular……
The news last week that the Christmas advert from Iceland — a UK supermarket chain specializing in frozen food — has been banned is a bad decision. Iceland’s advert — a repackaging of a short, animated film by Greenpeace released earlier this year with a powerful, consumer-friendly sustainability message — shows a brand that is trying to do good work by improving its impact on the world.


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San Francisco — Smart-TV app developer Flingo said Thursday that TiVo has integrated Flingo’s LaunchPad video platform into TiVo Premiere set-top boxes, bringing more than 70 instant streaming on-demand video applications to TiVo viewers’ TVs.
In addition to the streaming video channels previously available, TiVo Premiere owners now have access to Flingo’s complete portfolio of apps, including video content from TMZ, A&E, History, Showtime, TV Guide and more than 50 other content partners.
Viewers will also receive exclusive access to new content developed specifically for TiVo subscribers through the “LaunchPad for Tivo.”
“People are demanding access to online streaming content from the comfort of their own living room, and TiVo’s offerings has evolved to support that demand,” stated Tara Maitra, TiVo content and media sales senior VP and general manager. “Flingo’s platform and wide range of apps makes it possible for TiVo to offer even more choices to our viewers, and we’re excited to work with Flingo.”
“TiVo changed the way we watch television forever,” said Ashwin Navin, Flingo CEO and co-founder. “Working with TiVo allows us to drive further innovation into the world of TV by offering the consumer substantially more content diversity and unparalleled social features in the living room.”


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The ‘Lahore’ fame singer Guru Randhawa is all set to fly down to Italy to attend the Milan Fashion Week 2020 for the first time. The Summer/Spring20 fashion show is going to happen on September 22. And the singer has got the invitation from athleisure brand FILA.
According to HT reports, Guru said, “This is a big opportunity for me since I have always heard everyone talk about how they want to go to the Milan Fashion Week. I have heard a lot about the fashion capital of the world, and I’m looking forward to meeting new people from the fashion world. It is a first for me.”
He also said, “I want to see the latest fashion trends first-hand, and most definitely try new food. I’m feeling blessed. I hope that next year, more singers from India can go there and represent different international brands. It is surely a great feeling to be doing this.”
However, as we all know that Punjabi artists including Guru are pro when it comes to fashion trends. And now we cannot wait to see Guru Randhawa at the Milan Fashion Week.
Meanwhile, on the work front, the singer has recently turned into a producer for the upcoming Punjabi film ‘Tara Mira’. The film stars Ranjit Bawa and Nazia Hussain in the lead and it is slated to release on October 11.
Image Source:- instagram/gururandhawa
They say the best things in life are free! India’s favourite music channels 9XM, 9X Jalwa, 9X Jhakaas, 9X Tashan, 9XO are available Free-To-Air. Make a request for these channels from your Cable, DTH or HITS operator.


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Anheuser-Busch, the company that brews Budweiser among a bevy of other beers, has agreed to buy Blue Point Brewing Company.
Anheuser-Busch made the announcement Wednesday that it is slated to purchase the top craft brewery. The company says the move will bring additional resources to Blue Point that will allow it to meet growing consumer demand.
Blue Point Brewing Company will remain in Patchogue, where Mark Burford and Peter Cotter founded it 15 years ago. It is the 34th largest craft brewery in the U.S.
“We are deeply grateful to our family of loyal employees and customers,” Cotter says. “Our success was made possible by the hard work of good people and good beer in Patchogue.”
“Together, our talented brewing team and Anheuser-Busch will have the resources to create new and exciting beers and share our portfolio with even more beer lovers,” Burford adds.
The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.
According to Anheuser-Busch, Blue Point sold approximately 60,000 barrels in 2013, half of that volume coming from Toasted Lager, its flagship beer. The company has more than 40 beers, including the popular Hoptical Illusion and Blueberry Ale.
“As we welcome Blue Point into the Anheuser-Busch family of brands, we look forward to working with Mark and Peter to accelerate the growth of the Blue Point portfolio and expand to new markets, while preserving the heritage and innovation of the brands,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Luiz Edmond says. “With Anheuser-Busch’s strong beer credentials, we share a commitment to offering high-quality beers that excite consumers. Blue Point brands have a strong following and even more potential.”


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(Reuters) – At Home Group Inc, a U.S. Domestic décor retail chain is exploring options that include a sale of itself, as the bad overall performance of its inventory has turned it into an acquisition goal; people acquainted with the matter said on Thursday.
The deliberations come because the Plano, Texas-primarily based company is attempting to reinvent its services in the face of growing opposition from different brick-and-mortar outlets and e-trade firms. At Home Group is running with Bank of America Corp to interact with ability buyers, the resources said, cautioning that no deal is positive and asking not to be identified because the matter is private.
The enterprise did now not reply to requests for remark. Bank of America declined to comment. The retailer’s stocks jumped 13 percent on the information and have been up 8 percent at $20.Fifty-three Thursday morning in New York, giving the employer a marketplace capitalization of $1.Three billion. The stock had lost forty percent of its cost inside the final 12 months. At Home Group operates 188 shops in 38 states, promoting the entirety from furnishings, mirrors, rugs, art, and housewares to tabletop, patio, and seasonal décor.
Private fairness firms AEA Investors LP and Starr Investment Holdings LLC floated the corporation in the stock marketplace in 2016. They owned sixteen—6 percent and 9.9 percent of At Home Group, respectively, as of the quit of December. At Home Group said the remaining week that its net income improved by using 23 percentage to $1,17 billion in the three hundred and sixty-five days to Jan. 26, driven via the outlet of 31 new shops.


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PHILADELPHIA >> Leaders in Pennsylvania are hailing the inclusion of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on a list of finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters released Thursday.
Gov. Tom Wolf said he wasn’t surprised, given Pennsylvania’s location in the heart of the East Coast along with its nationally ranked educational institutions and a workforce “equipped to support future growth.”
“Both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have a real shot and we will continue to support these locations by making the case to Amazon that Pennsylvania is a unique and tremendous place to build a business, make a home, and pursue your happiness,” Wolf said.
Mayor Jim Kenney calls the decision to include Philadelphia “an exciting milestone” for the city.
“We are thrilled at today’s announcement, and look forward to working with Amazon’s team on the next steps of this process to further highlight all that Philadelphia has to offer,” he said.
Delaware’s governor and other officials said they were disappointed that the list of finalists didn’t include their state but vowed to support Philadelphia’s application “to help bring Amazon to our region.”
Officials in Allegheny County, including County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, said they were excited and proud.
“The Pittsburgh region’s proposal was developed to showcase the incredible value the region offers through its world-class talent pool, high quality of life at a low cost, stable business environment and significant capacity to grow with a commitment to ensuring prosperity for all,” their statement said.
Amazon released a list Thursday of 20 finalists narrowed from 238 proposals received.
Cities across North America have been fiercely competing for the online retailer’s second headquarters and its promise of 50,000 new jobs and construction spending topping $5 billion.
This story has been corrected to show that the governor’s last name is Wolf, not Wolff.


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- Tokyo-based SkyDrive successfully tests flying car
- Startup claims its prototype is the smallest flying car
- The vehicle may be commercially available in 2023
A Toyota-backed Japanese startup has said it successfully tested a manned flying car prototype, crossing a major milestone in the race to a trillion dollar futuristic industry that could transform urban transport. SkyDrive expects to market its flying car in Japan in 2023.
The company said its prototype is the smallest electric flying car. About 6.5 feet tall and 13 feet wide, the SD-03 prototype is a little bigger than a standard sedan. It can carry up to 500 kilograms and travel up to 60 kilometers/hour.
It hovered in an enclosed field in Japan before landing safely, the company said. It runs on electric motors that charge four pairs of rotors, lights and other parts.
SkyDrive chief technology officer Nobuo Kishi said the vehicle will


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Alibaba Pictures, the entertainment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has issued a profit warning, saying it expects losses for the financial year ended March 31, 2020 to range from RMB 1.1B-1.2B ($156M-$170M). That would be an increase of over 330% as compared to the previous year. The company cited “complicated difficulties in pursuing profitable operation faced by the entertainment industry in mainland China since 2019” and a “significant decrease” in the group’s fourth quarter revenue as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late last week, Alibaba Pictures noted there is “additional uncertainty in the overall operating environment of the industry.” With movie theaters closed since late January due to COVID-19 — kiboshing the lucrative Lunar New Year period — and production halted, entertainment companies have been exposed to mounting pressure. That’s coming off a 2019 that hit a new box office record but nevertheless saw slowed growth with just 5.4% versus 9% in 2018 on a local currency basis, and an admissions hike of just .5%.
The year was complicated by date changes, pile-ons and the pulling of certain films. After cracking down on tax fraud at the end of 2018, and with the shift of oversight of the film industry from SAPPRFT to the Propaganda Department, there had been fear about investing — and even pre-coronavirus there was concern about a dearth of new product this year and into 2021.
Alibaba noted that many of its partners “are facing operating difficulties and risks of disrupted capital chain.” Given the circumstances, the group’s receivables and investment projects “are subject to recovery risk.” However, it said there is an “adequate inventory of films and TV dramas and sufficient cash reserves” and that it “remains optimistic” on operations in each segment for the financial year ending March 31, 2021. Looking ahead, “in addition to maintaining its focus on building infrastructure for the entire film and TV industry chain, and on enhancing industry-wide digital capabilities,” Alibaba will “make greater efforts in the creation and composition of its comprehensive entertainment contents.”
Alibaba Pictures had significant hits in China during 2019 including Green Book (via its investment in Amblin Partners), which made over $70M locally.
Further details of Alibaba’s 2019/2020 final results will be provided in late May of this year.
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Iron-ion Battery will be the option of Li-ion Battery soon
The Indian Institute of Technology are autonomous public institutes of higher education and these IITs have given lots of new technology which makes our life better. Their contribution is always inclined to make our planet greener.Now, IIT Madras is in the news because the research team has invented a new battery type.
So, question would be – what type of batteries are in used now a day?
So, in all the modern electric car ‘Li-ion’ batteries are used. But there is some drawback of using this Li-ion battery, like-1. Lithium is very reactive in open environment that is the reason it is not found in free state in nature.2. Li-ion battery requires very high protection from overcharging and prevention from short-circuit.3. The use of Li-ion battery will impact on green environment if proper battery disposal norms are not in place.4. The cost of Lithium is raising up due to high demand of Li-ion battery.
But in most of the electric cars and electronic devices only Li-ion batteries are used because of higher energy density.
5. Fabrication of battery only possible in a controlled atmosphere.
So, What is alternative:
Now through the recent innovation of Iron-ion battery, all the disadvantages of Li-ion battery will be overcome in near future. As we all know that the compared to all other metals, iron is cheaper and according to the research team – Iron has a smaller ionic radius and favorable redox potential. Since these benefits are overlooked, the potential use of iron in rechargeable metal ion battery has not been realized yet. The research team has overcome this challenge by inventing a suitable electrolyte for the operation of the battery.The research team of Iron-ion battery : IIT Madras Through this research team has mentioned some import points which are listed below-– Even Iron-ion battery manufactured in ambient condition gives 75% of performance of the battery fabricated in a controlled environment.– Ether based electrolytes are better for the good performance of the Iron-ion batteries.– Iron-ion battery has 55-60% of the lithium ion battery performance.– The developed battery can be further probed to reach the performance of the Li-ion battery and can be a better replacement for the same. Battery retained 54% of its capacity after the end of 50th cycles.
Anode: Iron (Mild steel grade) Cathode: Vanadium pentoxide – Vanadium pentoxide has a layered structure with very large spacing between the layers. The large inter-layers in vanadium pentoxide allows iron ions to easily move in and bind to the interlayers of the cathode and also easily get detached and move back to the anode.
Fe2+ ions are the charge carriers in newly fabricated Iron-ion rechargeable battery.Dr. Ramaprabhu Sundra (Team members : Ms Ajay Priya V.S. and Ms. Sai Smruti Samantaray) has demonstrated the Iron-ion battery up to 150 charging and discharging cycles So, this is going to change the market scenario in future. As per current scenario where China and some European countries are dominating in the market for the lithium material so we as a rapidly growing country must have an alternate for that. Thanks!


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Juul has agreed to pay nearly $440 million to settle an investigation by dozens of states into the company’s marketing of its e-cigarette products, which have been blamed for an increase in vaping among teenagers across the U.S.
As reported by the Associated Press, Juul has agreed to pay $438.5 million in a settlement following a two-year investigation led by Connecticut, Texas, and Oregon. The company is required to pay out the amount over a period of six to 10 years.
In a statement announcing the result on Tuesday, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong accused Juul’s “cynically calculated advertising campaigns” of fueling a “new generation of nicotine addicts.”
“They [Juul] relentlessly marketed vaping products to underage youth, manipulated their chemical composition to be palatable to inexperienced users, employed an inadequate age verification process, and misled consumers about the nicotine content and addictiveness of its products,” the AG wrote. “The full public health ramifications of this misconduct are yet unknown. Through this settlement, we have secured hundreds of millions of dollars to help reduce nicotine use and forced JUUL to accept a series of strict injunctive terms to end youth marketing and crack down on underage sales.”
Besides Connecticut, Texas, and Oregon, the other states involved in the settlement include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Juul issued a statement following the news, saying the company plans to continue its “mission” of pivoting smokers away from cigarettes.
“We remain focused on our future as we fulfill our mission to transition adult smokers away from cigarettes—the number one cause of preventable death—while combating underage use,” the company stated.
The news comes nearly three months after the Food and Drug Administration made moves to ban Juul products from being sold in the U.S. Back in June, the FDA “issued marketing denial orders” to Juul, ruling that stores are no longer permitted to sell Juul’s device or pods, and must remove stocked items.
In July, the FDA suspended its ban of Juul e-cigarettes as the company appealed the decision, while accusing the former of making the ruling based on political pressure.
“We remain confident in the quality and substance of our applications and believe that ultimately we will be able to demonstrate that our products do in fact meet the statutory standard of being appropriate for the protection of the public health,” Juul’s chief regulatory officer Joe Murillo said in a statement provided to the Wall Street Journal.


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Xu Hong's handmade leather handbag. Provided to China Daily
Stay different, stay cool
Xu Hong sews a doctor's bag at home. Provided to China Daily
Five months later, Xu's shop started to become extremely popular among handmade bag lovers.
"To avoid using the same bag as others, the handmade product is a good option," said 30-year-old Dong Bo, a sales manager in a multinational cosmetics company who loves to buy handmade leather goods on the Internet. "After all, the big brands are too expensive to buy to be able to distinguish yourself from others."
"I used to buy stuff from Etsy.com, an overseas e-commerce website focusing on handmade products," she said. "Then I discovered the trend is happening in China as well."
Xu said: "My small business all began with a doctor's bag," a reference to bags modeled on Victorian-era doctors' bags.
Two years on, the doctor's bag is still a big seller.
The design, inspired by a Japanese handmade bag textbook, has earned Xu a good reputation in a short time.
Her newly completed bags now sell as soon as they are posted online. Due to the limited number of bags, buyers who hesitate might find themselves only looking at pictures of the bags, stamped with the words: "already sold".
The most expensive bag in her shop sold for 3,300 yuan.
While Xu turned her hobby into a profitable business, some people chose to sell their handcrafts online just for fun.
Yao Fangjie, 29, an event planner at a private company in Ningbo in Zhejiang province, started to sell handmade rubber seals on her online store on Taobao in October, and has so far earned about 1,000 yuan.
Yao started to carve rubber seals in September because she saw many of her peers posting their handmade seals on micro blogs.
"I have knowledge and skills in painting," she said. "To carve a seal is not difficult for me."
Because Yao has a full-time job, she can only carve the seals in her spare time.
"It is good for me to have this hobby, even better to earn money," she said.
The most expensive seal sold at Yao's store cost at 400 yuan. "It was a tailor-made seal for the Christmas season," she said.
"You only need to buy knives, brushes, a mat and tweezers," she said. "Very simple". And the tools cost less than 100 yuan.
To carve a seal, one must first pick a pattern online, adjust its size then print it out, preferably in black and white. Then, cover the pattern with translucent drawing paper and trace it, before putting the paper over the rubber to carve.
"The entire procedure sounds complicated but it is actually quite simple when you practice," Yao said.
"I love the feeling when I finish a seal, it is the perfect moment to put a seal into the inkpad," she said.
Yao has no plans to extend her business. "It is a sideline project only," she said.
Like Yao, many fans of comics and movies make handmade products inspired by their interests.
Shen Yanni, 27, who works in a medical company in Guangzhou
province, loves making fabric bags inspired by the characters in The Avengers, a popular Hollywood superhero movie.
The fabric bag is much cheaper than the leather goods, and has more fun and creative elements.
Shen uses designs from the movie in her bags, such as Iron Man's helmet, Superman's big S and Captain America's shield.
"I have lots of fun making these bags," she said. "It is better to share than to sell."
The average price of fabric bags in her online store is around 50 to 100 yuan, and most are made based on requirements.


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Every now and then, journalists obtain documents that shed precious light on a controversial or a high-profile situation. Such moments are gold dust. It allows us to report the facts, to cut through all the spin and reveal what is really going on.
Last week was one of those instances when I received a 23-page presentation that House of Fraser had put together for its investors. The file was essentially a begging letter – House of Fraser is on the brink of insolvency and approval is needed from its shareholders and bondholders for a comprehensive restructuring plan designed to save it from the scrap heap.
The document made grim reading. There were the usual excuses from struggling retailers about how shopping habits had changed dramatically. It blamed Brexit, major cost pressures from the National Living Wage and business rates, and the need to step up investment in its stores.
And it laid bare the chain’s precarious finances and poor trading figures in black and white, making it plainly obvious that its prospects are far worse than the company has been letting on publicly. Like-for-like sales down; turnover falling; annual profits half what they were; a non-existent digital strategy; and a company living on regular handouts from its owners.
Management’s solution is the same as every other troubled retailer right now: a company voluntary arrangement, which controversially allows it to ditch struggling stores. CVAs are the high street survival tool du jour. House of Fraser wants to jettison roughly half its estate – a move that will trigger 6,000 job losses and leave scores of towns with yet another big empty property unlikely to be filled.
Yet remarkably, beyond the store closure programme, there doesn’t seem to be much of a plan. Instead, there is an assortment of vague and often embarrassing statements: “Become the antidote to the issues of the high street” and “focus on being a fabulous retailer”. If this is the grand plan for survival then it may as well give up now. The current crop of senior managers are clueless in the face of severe technological disruption.
House of Fraser boss Alex Williamson called it one of the chain’s most important days. If the plan fails, House of Fraser will almost certainly disappear from the high street. A yes vote will secure yet another injection of funds but I doubt it will be more than a stay of execution.
Pitfalls of subprime lending
Now does not seem like the best time to be floating a subprime lender on the stock market. After a crackdown on payday loans, followed by a squeeze on doorstep lending, the FCA has indicated that a broader crackdown on the subprime market could come.
This means Amigo Loans, which provides credit of up to £10,000 to those with bad credit histories provided payments are guaranteed by a friend or family member, is potentially in the firing line.
Yet James Benamor, the brains behind the firm and its major shareholder, is planning to take it public in the coming weeks.
He owns 85pc of the company, which is expected to fetch a value of £500m, crystallising a fortune of more than £400m.
When you’re charging interest rates of nearly 50pc to people who have been frozen out of the high street lending market, a windfall of such proportions is unlikely to pass the taste test.
Apart from an appearance on Channel Four’s The Secret Millionaire a decade ago, 41-year-old Benamor has largely managed to maintain a low profile. Not for much longer I suspect.
Casualty of anti-plastic backlash
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that plastics manufacturing isn’t the best line of work to be in right now. Thanks to the groundbreaking work of BBC series Blue Planet, many of the most toxic and damaging plastics face extinction.
Still, you’ve got to feel sorry for RPC, the FTSE 250 packaging supplier. After an impressive ride, its shares crashed 12pc last week over fears it would fall foul of government and EU pledges to stamp out single-use plastic products.
Analysts have pointed out that RPC does not make any of the items covered by a ban, but that hasn’t calmed investor nerves. Yet City sources say big US rivals are fully aware of the distinction and have already begun circling. RPC has been a huge British success story. Let’s hope it survives an unfortunate blip.


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Mandarins and Tangerines lead the way for a host of reasons.
Mandarins, Tangerines and other easy-peeler varieties continue their triumphant march through California’s great Central Valley, as they fit the bill for a nutritious, convenient fruit in a size suitable for a school child’s lunch box.
“Mandarins continue to hold high popularity amongst families everywhere,” says Monique Bienvenue, director of communications at Bee Sweet Citrus, Fowler, CA. “Their easy-to-peel quality and delicious taste make them the perfect on-the-go snack for work and school.”
Consumption of these convenient varieties has climbed steadily, from 2 pounds per capita to more than 5 pounds in 20 years, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics. And California farmers are not done increasing their production.
“The easy-peeler acreage is still coming up,” says Bob Blakely, vice president of California Citrus Mutual, Exeter, CA. “Navels are still Number One and are not dropping, but the Mandarins are certainly increasing at the expense of the Valencias. It is starting to level off at 60,000 acres of Mandarins; the 2016 survey had 59,000 acres of Mandarins.”
California produces 56 percent of the nation’s citrus crop by dollar value, according to the California Department of Food & Agriculture’s most recent statistical report (2015), and if there is anything new under the sunny skies of the Central Valley, it is the continuing development of varieties that will extend the season for easy peelers and specialty citrus varieties.
No Longer a Specialty
After per capita consumption of Mandarins and Tangerines doubled in just a decade, according to USDA statistics, grower-shippers jumped on the opportunity to make this fruit even more inviting and available over a longer period of time.
“Consumer demand for easy-peelers remains high, and specialty late season easy-peel varieties like Gold Nugget variety Mandarins and Ojai Pixie Tangerines offer consumers a different taste profile while also extending the season of this popular category,” says Joan Wickham, director of communications at Sunkist Growers, Valencia, CA.
As Mandarin sales continue to rise, growers are peeking over the fence as their neighbors work on the next big thing in easy peelers.
“You’re seeing a lot more Mandarins, and I think that trend will continue,” says Chuck Plummer, sales representative at LoBue Citrus, Lindsay, CA. “I hear through the grapevine that people are doing test plots on new Mandarins that will extend the season.”
Growers are also working on new varieties that will lengthen the season of other popular citrus specialties.
“People are looking to make the Blood Orange season extend later,” says Plummer. “It ends in the late spring, and they are trying to extend it. They are also extending the Cara Cara season.”
For some shippers, the development of new varieties has already extended the California easy peeler season.
“Murcott, Tango and other specialty Mandarin varieties have extended the California season into May,” says Bob DiPiazza, president emeritus of Sun Pacific Marketing, Pasadena, CA. “Late-season Washington, Barnfield and Powell variety Navel oranges have extended the California Navel orange crop into June/July.”
DiPiazza sees growing demand for, in addition to the Mandarins, a number of other specialty citrus varieties. “Cara Cara oranges, Clementine, Tango, Murcott and other specialty variety Mandarins like Gold Nuggets continue to grow in popularity,” he says. “And, we see real and growing interest in premium products like our Vintage Sweets Heirloom oranges and some resurgence in the popularity of Sweet Red grapefruit varieties. Lemons and limes have shown steady growth for a number of years with an occasional exception due to supply availability.”
Navels are still king in both acreage and pounds as the rise of easy peelers has come at the expense of Valencias, but this was a uniquely good year for this declining variety.
“This has been one of the best marketing years for Valencias in the past eight to 10 years; demand exceeds supply,” says Adam Flowers, account manager at Booth Ranches, Orange Cove, CA. “We start Navels around Oct. 15. We only ship Navels and Valencias.”
California Valencias benefitted this year from an unusually short Navel season and the later-than-usual arrival of imported citrus.
“We’re having a very good Valencia season,” says Citrus Mutual’s Blakely. “The Navel season was short, and the Valencia season came in before the imports. People tried them, and liked them. We’re seeing really good demand on California Valencias this year.”
The easy-peelers will begin shipping out of California in October and, with the season extenders, continue for eight months.
“Our Satsumas come in October, and the Clementines in November or late October,” says Blakely.
Flowers, too, has witnessed the long-term shift from Valencias to the ever more popular easy-peelers. “The easy-peeler used to be a specialty, but now it’s a commodity,” he says. “You have fewer people looking for large quantities of Navels.”
Imported citrus offers slight competition for the California fruit, which remains the king of fresh market citrus.
“We have virtually no foreign competition with our easy-peelers,” says Blakely. “It used to be the Spanish Mandarins would compete, but not anymore. The imports are from Chile and Peru, and they’re counter-seasonal.”
The imports come largely when this fruit is not available from California.
“There are two distinct import periods for Mandarins,” says DiPiazza.
Those two periods are the summer, when imports arrive from the Southern Hemisphere and the United States is in its off-season, and the late fall to early spring when Spanish and Moroccan imports to the East Coast compete directly with U.S. citrus. “California has been capturing market share since the inception of the crop approximately 14 years ago, and holds about an 89 percent share of the production of U.S. grown Mandarins. California has grabbed predominant market share from Spain and Morocco, and the import volume today is dramatically less than 15 years ago.”
There are times, however, when the Southern Hemisphere season overlaps briefly with the California harvest.
“The imports will impact us into October,” says Roth. “They’ve got Mandarin varieties like we do, and Navels; lemons may be a factor next year. It’s a major factor on the East Coast because it costs as much as $8 to get a 40-pound box sent to the East Coast from California. We had a pretty good run this year because a lot of fruit was late in South Africa and Chile.”
Some shippers do fill in the gaps when California citrus is not available with a robust program of counter-seasonal fruit imported from the Southern Hemisphere.
“There are growers for citrus in all Mediterranean regions and most export,” says Limoneira’s Chamberlain. “Limoneira’s One World of Citrus model links our supply around the world with our global customer base so that we can assure our customers that they will receive supply continually throughout the year. We grow on 11,000 acres in California and Arizona, and have investments and partnerships in Chile, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and New Zealand.”
The trucking industry reports shipments out of California continue to extend over longer periods of time during the year.
“Citrus has certainly been part of our growth in California freight,” says Jimmy De Matteis, president and chief executive of Des Moines Truck Brokers, Norwalk, IA. “As we have expanded our customer base we find ourselves delivering California citrus to different parts of the country than we did 10 years ago. The bulk of citrus we move still loads in the same areas of California — Salinas, Lodi, Coachella, to name a few. The heaviest volume is through the summer but the seasons have extended considerably. Oranges continue to be the highest volume of citrus we deliver. ” he says.


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(co-author, Health Care Intern, Jazmin Winston)
The prices for many products have risen over the past year as Americans have emerged from their COVID-19 pandemic isolation. But when it comes to prescription drugs, rampant inflation has been the norm for decades. And unlike some other products, people generally can’t choose a lower-priced prescription drug. While you can buy the on-sale Jonathan apples instead of the Fuji apples, you can’t choose one blood pressure medication over another — your medical provider does that for you.
Drugmakers fearlessly increase prices on hundreds of medications every year because each of their products has no or few competitors. We can blame how our patent system works for prescription drugs.
For decades, drugmakers have argued that patents are essential to innovation, to recoup their research and development investments. But evidence suggests that drug companies are exploiting loopholes in American patent law to accumulate market share rather than advancing medical technologies.
When drug patents expire, competitors can start selling lower-priced generic and biosimilar drugs. This competition brings down the price of the existing brand name medications. However, in the past decade, we’ve seen brand name pharmaceutical companies abuse existing patent law to keep generic medications out of the market for years beyond the normal life of a patent. Without that competition, brand name prices can remain high.
The makers of brand name drugs have figured out that if they make a minor tweak to a product — changing the dosage, or offering it as a coated tablet instead of a bitter pill — they can get a secondary patent and extend the life of the market monopoly for decades. They also seek and win patents that have little to do with the medication itself. Additional patents include things like manufacturing techniques (even those they don’t use) and “delivery devices” (like how the medicine is stored or administered to a patient). These “patent thickets” prevent generic competition from entering the market.
To get at this problem, U.S. PIRG and other advocates sent a letter to Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) supporting the Restoring America Invents Act (RAIA), which would address some of these tactics that keep generics off pharmacy shelves. The RAIA would make it easier to challenge the validity of a patent in administrative proceedings before the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) ensuring that issued patents are for truly new and innovative products.
The process has three benefits: it is faster, less expensive and allows the public a say in pruning the patent thickets that block lower drug costs. These challenges, known as inter partes review (IPR), are a useful alternative to litigation to sift out questionable patents obtained by drug companies which prevent generics from coming to market. IPR patent challenges are decided within 18 months while litigation can take 2.5 years just to the start of a court trial. IPRs are also a less expensive option for challenging existing patents. The median cost of filing an IPR is about $350,000, while court litigation costs about $4,000,000. IPRs encourage and benefit from public participation, allowing any American to challenge patents. Courts require “standing” which means only drug companies and their competitors can use that venue.
Until we facilitate greater competition in the drug market, brand name companies will keep raising prices. Because of patent thickets, too many lower cost alternatives never see the light of day. Improving the use of IPR will weed out wrongly-granted patents and save Americans from ever-increasing prices for their life-saving medicines.
Photo Credit: Pill Bottles by Haley Lawrence on Unsplash
Senior Director, Health Care Campaigns, PIRG
Patricia directs the health care campaign work for U.S. PIRG and provides support to our state offices for state-based health initiatives. Her prior roles include senior policy advisor at NJ Health Care Quality Institute, associate state director at AARP New Jersey and consumer advocate at NJPIRG. She was appointed to the Ground Ambulance and Patient Billing Advisory Committee in 2022 and works with patient advocates across the U.S. Patricia enjoys walking along the Potomac River and sharing her love of books with friends and family around the world.


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The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued notices to cab aggregators Ola and Uber for alleged violation of consumer rights and unfair trade practices. The two are required to respond to the notices within a fortnight or face punitive action.
In just 13 months, over 3,200 complaints have been raised against Ola and Uber with the National Consumer Helpline. These mostly relate to deficiency in services and other unfair trade practices, such as cancellations by drivers, insistence on cash payments, rude driver behaviour, differential pricing on the same route, and refusal to switch on the AC.
There is opaqueness around the algorithm used to arrive at the fares, said the notice to the cab aggregators. “Undue cancellation charges are borne by users when they are forced to cancel the ride due to unwillingness of the driver to accept the ride or come to the pick-up location,” it added.
In the case of Ola, 54 per cent of the complaints were related to the deficiency in services, while in the case of Uber, the figure was 64 per cent.
Ministry holds meeting
The notices to the two companies were issued days after the Consumer Affairs Ministry called a meeting on May 10 with cab aggregators. At the meeting, the Ministry warned of strict action unless they improved their systems and redressed rising consumer complaints. The meeting was attended by representatives of Ola, Uber, Meru, Rapido, and Jugnu.
“We told them about the rising consumer complaints against their platforms. We gave them the statistics also. We have asked them to improve their system and redress the consumer complaints; otherwise, the competent authority will take strict action,” Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh had said after the meeting.
Drivers up in arms
Meanwhile, the cab drivers have been complaining about rising fuel costs making their trade unviable. Just last month, drivers of both Ola and Uber went on a flash strike against the soaring fuel costs. They pointed out that fares have not been revised for nearly seven years now.
Responding to such complaints, Uber India last week raised its fares to “cushion drivers”.


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Is bigger truly better? Whether or not it is, Samsung has just tested the limits of the tablet industry. On 28 October, South Korean tech-giant Samsung, has one upped Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The company has unveiled its largest tablet to date, the ginormous 18.6-inch (yes, you read that right) Galaxy View tablet. The smartphones we hold in our hands look downright tiny in comparison.
For Samsung, this is being promoted as "the ultimate entertainment and consumption tablet" but it is much more the former than the latter. This tablet is much more TV than tablet. First off, it has no laptop, so therefore it isn't a laptop. It packs a solid punch at 2.65 kgs, meaning it isn't portable by any stretch of imagination.
Will this tablet sell?
Does the struggling tablet market really need such a niche device? One can argue that this tablet will replace TVs and monitors in dorm rooms across colleges. The problem is resolution and price. The resolution is just 1,920 by 1,080, which is quite low for a screen of that size. Heck, the smaller tab S2 has a higher resolution ultra HD display.
The price is supposedly $599, (thanks to a leak) wherein one can get monitors with higher quality resolutions weighing far less for the same price or sometimes even ;ess. One may argue that monitors need a CPU or a streaming device. The fact is that a large chunk, (Most definitely over 90 per cent) of college students, at least in the United States, the only place where this device is currently slated for release, have a laptop and can simply just hook it up to a screen, for media consumption.
People who want to carry this extra large tablet will need a new backpack, as most don't hold laptops larger than 15-inches. Beyond that, if the laptop is portable, it should be able to last long without a charge.
This tablet is capable of only eight hours of continuous video playback. That's less than three movies. The cause of this is the measly 5,700 mAh battery, which the screen takes up most of anyway.
The presence of a 1.6 GHz processor may help video and gaming run along smoother than usual, but the fact that it has 2 GB of RAM holds it back.
It does have a built-in stand, which lets one lay the tablet in an almost flat position, therefore making typing and sketching easier and even stand almost upright, which is ideal for watching videos on. This isn't enough to entice the average user.
Whom does it appeal to?
The only audience that the tablet appeals to is families. The smaller 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro hasn't set the tablet market on fire and it doesn't look like the Galaxy View tablet will do the same. For now, consumers may stick with the smaller, more portable and less expensive tablets out there.


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Jane Fonda is tossing out her Ted Turner baggage.
The 78-year-old Oscar-winning actress is auctioning off the wedding dress she wore to her 1991 nuptials and her engagement ring from the media mogul.
Each of the items, according to Julien’s Auctions, is expected to sell between $2,000 and $4,000 during the auction on Sept. 23.
In 2013, Fonda’s adopted daughter, Mary Williams, released a book that detailed the 10-year marriage between her mom and Turner, who was Fonda’s third husband. “Emotionally, she was shutting down,” Williams wrote. “Her marriage was eating her alive.”
Fonda is also putting up various items of clothing — including two dresses she wore to the Academy Awards — art, jewelry and various personal items from her collection. One of the pieces of art is a one-of-a-kind Warhol lithograph of the actress, which is expected to sell between $25,000 and $30,000.
Jane Fonda’s collection:


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Charter One’s diminishing Central Ohio footprint down to 2 branches
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The Cleveland bank’s big play ultimately has fizzled out following completion of a $10.6 billion acquisition by Citizens Financial Group Inc. and a financial crisis that altered the branching strategies of retail banks around the country.
Charter One, still a distinct unit of Citizens but in the process of being reflagged, is down to two branches in the Central Ohio market after simultaneous closures June 28 at Walmart (NYSE:WMT) locations in Reynoldsburg and Canal Winchester.
The bank has directed local customers to Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) stores on Morse Road and Parsons Avenue in Columbus.
“Given the increasing popularity of mobile and online banking, we have significantly expanded these services,” a spokeswoman said in an email to Business First.
Charter One opened its first branch in Central Ohio in July 2004, just after the announcement of a buyout by Providence, Rhode Island-based Citizens, and at the time a spokesman said the bank was looking to enter the market in a “big way.”
Citizens said this week it will rebrand all Charter One locations under the Citizens flag by mid-year 2015 in order to create a consistent presence across its 11-state retail footprint. It operates more than 200 Charter One branches in Michigan and Ohio.
At the time of the acquisition by Citizens in 2004, it had $41 billion in assets and 616 branches, including 13 in Central Ohio with $130 million in deposits, making it the area’s 23rd-largest bank.
The company now has about $23 million in deposits at its two branches.
Evan Weese covers funding and capital for Columbus Business First.
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Microsoft said it has signed agreements with both Barnes & Noble and Barnesandnoble.com to develop and market the Microsoft Reader eBook store online. The announcement was made at the Computer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas this week.
While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, company executives stressed the alliance is a "very tight relationship," but not an exclusive one.
"We think this will be a historic partnership," Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft, said in a press conference held earlier today. "People will recall this as an important event ... and know that a change is coming."
"The publishers are going to join this revolution. ... They're not going to be able to stop it," said Steven Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble, who also led the press conference.
Microsoft Reader software can be used to read books that have been downloaded to portable computing devices. Reader incorporates Microsoft's ClearType technology, which makes it easier to view small text. Microsoft Reader works on a range of computing devices, including PCs, laptops, handhelds and pocket PC devices, which range in cost from $200 to $400. Executives said they will work on reducing those prices as well as offering eBooks at a cheaper rate than paper books.
Microsoft said it has already partnered with several large publishers in Europe as well as in the United States. Last November, Microsoft announced a deal with publisher R.R Donnelley to convert print titles into an electronic format. Simultaneously, a Barnes & Noble representative said the bookstore has taken a 49 percent share in online publisher iUniverse.com and will step up its promotion of e-books during the holiday season.
Executives said they will announce other deals with U.S. publishers within the next 30 days.
Microsoft has been eyeing retail outlets in a move to put itself before more consumers in new ways. Just last November, the Redmond, Wash.-based giant formed an e-commerce alliance with consumer electronic chain RadioShack to promote high-speed Internet connections and other Web services. Under the 5-year deal, RadioShack gives Microsoft a vast outlet to sell its stripped-down Windows CE software for TV set-top boxes, handheld devices and other consumer products as Internet usage quickly expands beyond desktop computers.
In today's deal, Barnes & Noble will market the new eBook store through various promotional services in all of its retail bookstores, the companies said. The new eBook store will be created on the Barnesandnoble.com Web site by the middle of this year. Executives said that, at launch time, thousands of titles will be available electronically to run on Microsoft Reader.


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The intention of the authorities is to counteract the inconvenience for the residents of the traditional “coffeeshops”.
It will no longer be possible to hang out and take drugs in the premises as there are no tables or chairs at the points of sale. The car can only be parked there for 10 minutes.
As the daily “Trouw” reminds, people in Amsterdam complain about the proximity of premises where you can take soft drugs. It is not only about noise and crowds, but also hard drug dealers who often look for customers near coffee shops.
The capital’s mayor, Femka Halsema, wants to go even further and ban the sale of hashish and marijuana to foreign customers to end drug tourism.
According to research agency Breuer & Intraval, three of the 19 million tourists who visited Amsterdam in 2018 bought or consumed drugs in coffee shops.


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Silk Road was shut down and the FBI has arrested the man who runs and created the most sophisticated online drug bazaar to date. Ross William Ulbricht was arrested on Tuesday afternoon charging him with drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking, according to CNN Money on Oct. 2.
In the beginning it was the crime. People would offer to sell something for free bitcoins and not pay. Or offer to sell bitcoins and never deliver. You get this in almost every online marketplace. It erodes the trust in the system and is common. Most internet savvy folks know just how to prevent the worst of it. Since bitcoins is still confined mostly to techies, it has been even less of a difficulty. Sites instantly sprang up that listed trustworthy sites, buyers and sellers as well as those never to do business with. The machine was self policing in a nutshell order.
Yesterday, while a number of banks were closed, bitcoin decided to break another major psychological barrier, and is now trading at above $100 USD per coin. At the moment, bitcoin superstar österreich is trading at $118 USD/BTC. There is very little resistance to further price increases, so expect the price of bitcoin to rise very rapidly over the next few weeks. These are also record highs for the currency. You can watch the price of bitcoin rise and fall here, as well as see what the record books for asks and bids are, which will help you determine how easily it would be to move the price to a certain point.
12/20: Mike Weeks, who made the documentary Drawing Dead, joins us to answer questions about his film regarding online poker. [Visit Website] [Download MP3].
12/8: This week’s show takes a look at a number of stories, from more Reid/Kyl support (or the lack thereof), New Jersey taking another crack at online gaming, and the UK thinking about new ways to tax offshore online providers. [Visit Website] [Download MP3].
There are some scenarios of for failure that could happen to Bitcoins. These include a currency devaluation, a declining user base and a global government crackdown on the software and exchanges.
The next question that may logically follow is, “do I really need a Valcambi CombiBar Gold payment system; will things ever really get that bad?”. Well, the obvious answer to that is “I sure hope not”.
JK: As it evolves and it becomes more real, you’ll see more competition, but I got a lot of support when we had problems last year, I made a lot of great friends like Charlie Shrem from BitInstant. Right now it’s true that some people hate each other, but we all want to see it succeed. When something bad happens it makes the whole place look bad, so it reflects on all of us.


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It’s been a strange several for Fitbit. After determinig the fitness tracking location, the company was a bit long left undone to the smartwatch trend, but was still able to ride regarding wave to a rebound. But while watches have received most of the thrust the now Google-owned business enterprise} has garnered in recent years, groups still comprise a substantial thing about its business.
Today Fitbit announced all of the arrival of the Luxe. The new weird product. There’s significantly a market for it, but it might be hard to say how much for this niche were talking about here. Eurospare called its target tryout, “a unique set of obtainer whose needs weren’t currently being met. ” Specifically, the diet product is a “fashioned-forward” tracker for anyone looking for something a bit greater than a plastic band for wearing out and about.
To be truthful, it’s hard not to determine some reflections of Misfit’s take on the category. Perhaps the Fossil-owned company was ahead of its time. Within $149, the device is priced between the Charge and the Versa, but decidedly closer to the previous. That is to say, it’s pricey involved in the grand scheme of real trackers, but more or smaller amount of in line with other Fitbit options.
It is, indeed, the particular nice-looking tracker, as long away of these things go, sporting a color touchscreen surrounded by a chrome steel case. That’s coupled with a broad range of accessories, ranging from fleece to gold-colored stainless steel.
Here’s Fitbit co-founder and GM (under Google) James Park:
Over the past year, we possess had to think differently about it our health – from is actually an eye out for possible COVID-19 symptoms to managing the continuing stress and anxiety of today’s world. Even though we are starting to verify positive changes, it has hardly ever been more important to manage your amazing holistic health. That’s motive we’ve been resolute present in introducing products to support your in staying mentally basically and physically active. We’ve marketed major technological advancements along with Luxe, creating a smaller, more slim, beautifully designed tracker packed with leading features – some delete word previously only available with our smartwatches – making these tools around to even more people in the world.
Positively physical and mental health have been head of mind over the past especially, even as step counts feature dramatically plummeted. The device specific sport the usual array of Fitbit devices, tracking activity, sleep but stress. It also works with a variety of mindfulness/meditation apps, including the company’s recently announced partnership on Deepak Chopra.
The band is up towards preorder starting today and limit shipping in the spring.


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Publish On 04/10/23, By Adminsahil
Car safety awareness is rising, and 6 airbags are becoming essential. They protect the driver, front passenger, and rear occupants from side impacts.
The Indian government has made 6 airbags mandatory for 8-seater vehicles, and Hyundai is going a step further by offering them as standard across its entire portfolio.
Hyundai's journey to safer cars began in early 2023 with the iONIQ 5, followed by the Grand i10 Nios, Aura, Creta, Alcazar, and Verna.
The new gen Hyundai Verna has been awarded a 5-star safety rating by GNCAP, making it the company's first made-in-India car to receive this honor.
In addition to 6 airbags and ADAS Level 2, the Verna also offers a total of 65 safety features, making it the safest sedan in its segment.
Hyundai's commitment to safety is evident in its use of advanced high-strength steel and ultra-high-strength steel in the Verna's body shell.
Standard safety features on the Verna include 6 airbags, electronic stability control, vehicle stability management, hill assist, impact sensing auto door unlock, emergency stop signal, headlamp escort function, and ISOFIX seat mounts.
Commenting on the landmark announcement, Mr. Unsoo Kim, MD & CEO, said, "At Hyundai 'Safety-for-all' is our utmost priority."
"We are not just a provider of smart mobility solutions, but also safer mobility solutions. HMIL will continue to spearhead efforts in raising vehicular safety standards in India," Kim added.
Hyundai's decision to offer 6 airbags as standard across all models is a welcome step that will make Indian roads safer for everyone.


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The app launched earlier this week, and allows Windows 10 PC and tablet owners to watch live and on-demand programming from a large number of cable TV networks, with packages starting at $20 a month. In response to some reviews of the app in the Windows Store, Sling TV developers confirmed the Windows 10 Mobile version is in the works, and also revealed an upcoming revamp of the Xbox One version, which was launched in March 2015.
While the app is compatible on PC and tablets right now, over the next few months we will come to Mobile and update our current Xbox app to Windows 10/Universal Windows Platform (UWP).
Naturally, we will post up the news when the Sling TV app makes its way to Windows 10 Mobile, along with the Xbox One app update.
Thanks to josiahbk for the tip!
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Seems like Apple Watch is going to have a bunch of new smartwatches to compete against. We are not talking about LG or Samsung watches here. Swatch is planning to sell a smartwatch within the next three months. The device will use NFC technology and does not have to be charged. Wearers will be able to make mobile payments. The device will work with Windows and Android software.
The Apple Watch is going to be hard to stop. But it is nice to see more companies step up to challenge Apple in this space. How successful Swatch’s smartwatch remains to be seen.


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Criminals scam UK finance industry out of £500m
The UK’s finance industry is feeling the effects of £500 million being stolen in fraud and scams by criminals.
In the first half of 2018, it was not a pretty picture. And the UK is an ugly country at the best of times.
According to trade body UK Finance data, purchase scams were revealed as the most common type of authorised push payment (APP) scam, and criminals used social engineering to commit fraud, fuelled by information gained from data breaches.
That said, UK Finance does point out that the finance industry stopped £2 in £3 of attempted unauthorised fraud.
APP scams accounted for almost two thirds of reported APP cases. In these scams the victim pays in advance for a product or service, such as a car, electronics or a holiday rental, which is never received or does not exist. It often takes place online, through auction websites or social media.
There was a total of 3,866 reported cases of impersonation scams in the first six months of 2018. In these scams the criminal purports to be from the police, bank and other organisations and tricks the victim into transferring money, often claiming there has been fraud on the account. The nature of these scams means the victim is often persuaded to transfer a significant sum, with an average loss in a police and bank impersonation scam of £11,402 and in other impersonation scams of £7,504.
Katy Worobec, MD of economic crime at UK Finance, says: “Fraud and scams pose a major threat to our country. The criminals behind it target their victims indiscriminately and the proceeds go on to fund terrorism, people smuggling and drug trafficking, whether or not the individual is refunded. Every part of society must help to stamp out this menace, especially by stopping the data breaches which increasingly are fuelling fraud.”
A total of £145.4 million was lost due to APP scams, split between personal (£92.9 million) and non-personal or business (£52.5 million) accounts.
In total there were 34,128 cases of APP scams, split between personal (31,510 cases) and non-personal (2,618 cases) accounts.
Financial providers were able to return a total of £30.9 million of the losses in the first half of 2018.
Back in February, the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) revealed its plans to bring in new protections for consumers concerning APP scams.
UK Finance explains that it began collating data on APP scams for the first time last year. In the first half of 2017 there were 19,370 cases of APP scams reported, with £101.2 million in losses. However, UK Finance says the data published is not directly comparable with the 2017 figures.
At the start of 2018, new industry guidelines were introduced which have “improved” the identification and reporting of APP scams. Four additional banks also began reporting the data to UK Finance this January.
In context, there was a total of over 4.2 billion bank transfers made in 2017.
It’s not all about APP scams. The unauthorised fraud data on payment cards, remote banking and cheques for January to June 2018 shows combined total losses decreased by 2% year-on-year to £358 million.
Losses due to unauthorised transactions on payment cards fell 2% year-on-year to £281.2 million. The industry helped prevent £493.5 million in attempted unauthorised card fraud.
Losses due to unauthorised remote banking fraud totalled £73.6 million, flat compared to 2017. Banks prevented £137.8 million of attempted unauthorised remote banking fraud.
Cheque fraud losses fell 41% to £3.2 million. This is the lowest half-year total on record. £74.3 million of attempted unauthorised cheque fraud was prevented.
Yep, cheques are still being used in the UK. Wow.
There were 1,036,376 reported cases of unauthorised financial fraud, a rise of 10% compared to the year before.
When will it end?
The finance industry is tackling authorised and unauthorised fraud by means that are not remotely surprising.
These include the “Take Five to Stop Fraud” campaign, in collaboration with the Home Office, to increase consumers’ intelligence; working with consumer groups; and implementing new standards.
In addition, the industry is sponsoring a specialist police unit, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, which tackles the organised criminal groups responsible for financial fraud and scams. In the first half of 2018, the unit prevented £25 million of fraud and carried out 84 arrests and interviews under caution.
Should have given the criminals a good beating. That’ll teach ‘em.


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Case in point: the new China-built Model 3.
It wasn't that long ago when the Tesla Model 3 was experiencing major production issues. CEO Elon Musk described it as "production hell." Although that's all in the past, the Model 3 was and still remains a vital vehicle for the California EV automaker's bottom line. Failure was not an option. And it appears lessons learned from that production hell have been applied locally as well as in China.
Reuters reports Tesla has begun Model 3 production at its new Shanghai factory for the Chinese market less than a year since work got underway at the $2 billion plant. The plant got up and running in only 357 days, supposedly a new record for global automakers in the world's largest car market. Up until now, China imported all of its Teslas. Customer deliveries are now slated to get underway before January 25, the Lunar New Year.
The Chinese market Model 3 is supposedly identical to its overseas counterpart, but it does cost a bit more, beginning at 355,500 yuan, or about $50,000. The least expensive US market Model 3 is a little under $40,000. Another unique aspect of Tesla's new Shanghai factory is that it's the first wholly foreign-owned car plant in China.
But unlike in the US where Tesla does relatively little to no marketing (other than live demonstrations typically featuring Musk), Tesla's Chinese division is taking a different approach. It is offering things such as racing events and showroom parties. While Musk may not favor that type of publicity, he's making an all-out effort to get Chinese citizens to buy his vehicles.
Tesla is currently building service centers and charging stations throughout the country in order to assure buyers they'll be properly taken care of. In fact, Tesla plans to double the number of service centers and fast-charging stations next year. Its after-sales team of 600 members will also increase to 1,500.
While there have been past reports about a lack of service centers and certified technicians in the US and Europe, it's clear that won't be a problem in China. More than likely, the Chinese government is working directly with Tesla to make sure the infrastructure is ready. China's Communist Party has no political competition and can, therefore, take action when it so desires.


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One of downtown Riverhead’s longest running businesses is being split in half to make way for a new sandwich store called Main Street Heros.
Ken Loo, owner of Hy Ting Restaurant, is now planning to open the sandwich shop in the front of the building on 54 West Main Street, keeping the Hy Ting entrance in the back.
Hy Ting has been in the Loo family since 1994, and it’s been on West Main Street even longer under a prior owner, Mr. Loo said. He estimates it’s been there since the 1970s in a building that was once the Riverhead police station. And he’s worked at the restaurant since his family bought it, he says, adding that Main Street Heros is expected to open Jan. 2.
He’s advertising it as “Main Street’s Hero Headquarters.”
Mr. Loo said he got the idea during a trip to Southern California with his girlfriend, Maryanne Fiducia, when they visited a place called Fat Sal’s.
“I saw the sandwiches when I was out there, I tried one, and it was just out of this world,” Mr. Loo said.
While there are a number of successful hero stores in Suffolk County, Mr. Loo feels Riverhead hasn’t really had a hero shop since the Hero Inn on Griffing Avenue closed.
Main Street Heros will offer both sit-down service and takeout.
“We’re going to have soups, salads, Paninis, heroes … and we’re going to do different types of heros,” Mr. Loo said. “We’re going to have things like a roast beef hero, topped off with chicken fingers, avocado, cucumber, french fries, onions, gravy. Different combinations.
Hy Ting will continue to serve Chinese cuisine.
Mr. Loo has served a great diversity of different types of food at its restaurants. He also owns Haiku, a sushi restaurant on East Main Street, and he used to own a Mexican restaurant there too.
“I try to do stuff that I like to eat, myself,” he said.
He frequently goes to places like California and Manhattan to check out restaurants there.
He says his car and his bedroom are filled with cookbooks.
“People ask me, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ I say, ‘More cookbooks,’” he said. “I’m lucky to be doing something I love.”
Mr. Loo never went to a culinary school. He learned to cook from his father, Young Loo, who owned a Chinese restaurant in the Bronx.
“I was born into it. I came to this country from China when I was five years ago,” he said. “My dad picked up my mom, me and (brother) Jimmy at the airport, and before we even went home, he took us to his restaurant.”


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Square Enix has announced a new contest for Final Fantasy XIV that will let players design a new set of melee and ranged physical DPS gear.
“It’s time to put your creativity to the test once more for the third community gear design contest,” Square Enix wrote. “Whether you’re more of a leatherworker, weaver, armorcrafter or goldsmith, we’d like to see what you can come up with for melee and ranged physical DPS gear designs! Will you aim to please, or capture the striking spirit of frontline fighters?”
Designers have until May 21st, 2018 to get their entries in. The official rules of the contest, as well as details of how to enter can be found here.
The winning entry from the previous content will be available in Final Fantasy XIV as a reward in The Swallow’s Compass, the latest dungeon to be added in Patch 4.3.
Final Fantasy XIV‘s next update, Under the Moonlight, is scheduled to go live in late May and will introduce new main scenario quests, a new 24-player raid, a new dungeon, new Beast Tribe quests, a new Deep Dungeon, and more.


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ISIB Joined the Nigeria Mega Clima Exhibition with Info Stand
HVAC-R Exporters Association (ISIB) joined the Nigeria Mega Clima Exhibition, which was held in Lagos, Nigeria on 5-7 July, with Info Stand. On behalf of the ISIB, Board Member Okan Murat Erenoğlu attended this import..
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ISIB announced its targets and actions for 2022
The sector is expected to reach an export size of 7 billion dollars in 2022 with a growth of 15 percent compared to the previous year. The primary target of the Turkish HVAC&R Industry in 2022 has been determined as ..
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Friterm is now too CONFIDENT on its own DX air coolers capacity. After a long run on the way of gaining Eurovent certifications for the DX unit air coolers, Friterm pleased to announced that It gained its certificate ..
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Better management capability of structured and unstructured data along with one of the lowest price per terabyte in the big data space are the key benefits enterprise customers stand to get from SQL Server 2012 Parallel Data Warehouse, according to Microsoft Corp.
It’s the latest version of the company’s massively parallel processing (MPP) data warehouse appliance.
This iteration of PDW, according to Eduard Davidzhan, SQL product marketing manager for Microsoft Canada, integrates PolyBase technology. PolyBase enables the use of T-SQL code to simultaneously query structured data contained in SQL 2012 and the unstructured data contained in Hadoop, the open-source software framework that supports data intensive distributed applications. Microsoft claims that SQL 2012 PDW will provide performance gains of up to 100 times over legacy warehouses.
“Big data is a hot topic these days but IT and business departments see it through different lenses,” said Davidzhan. “IT sees big data as a data warehouse issue, while business guys see it as an issue about managing things like social media and external data.”
Indeed, according to analyst firm IDC Canada, local firms appear to be hesitant in adopting big data technologies.
“Overall, our 2012 survey big data adoption is Canada is relatively low compared to how much organizations are aware of its benefits,” according to David Senf, VP of IDC Canada’s infrastructure solutions group.
For instance, IDC found that 96 per cent of Canadian companies say the ability to act rapidly on data is critical, but only 46 per cent of firms have actually invested in big data technologies. Senf, however said, this is not to say that Canadian firms are technology laggards.
“I think it is just typical of the pattern wherein companies in Canada tend to adopt technologies after they’ve seen results with larger firms south of the border,” he said. For example, today we find that a large number of Canadian organizations want to get started using Hadoop.”
As much as 73 per cent of companies that figured in a 2012 survey of 500 Canadian business by IT research firm IT Market Dynamics, had no big data strategy because they found complexity of vast volumes of structured and unstructured data such as text, video, audio, analog signals and Web documents daunting, according to Davidzhan.
SQL Server 2012 PDW comes with pre-configured with database and data management software and hardware from Dell and HP that simplifies and speeds up the handling of data, he said. The appliance’s MPP architecture distributes computing and supports parallel operations allowing for extremely high speed exchange of results.
“In MPP, you execute your query on every SQL node in parallel, so it works very fast,” said Davidzhan.
In a Microsoft commissioned research carried out by Value Prism Consulting, the third party tester found that SQL 2012 PDW offered the lowest price per terabyte cost among competing products. The test compered SQL 2012 PDW to comparable products from EMC, IBM, Oracle and Teradata.
The costs per TB of user-available compressed storage for the products were:
- EMC: $13,889 for 144 TB
- IBM: $12,492 for 128 TB
- Oracle: $30,178 for 450 TB
- Teradata: $8,000 for 146 TB
- Microsoft: $4,618 for 340 TB