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the future of big brand marketing
Today is the first day of December the month where (allegedly) we will see the Coinbase NFT marketplace rolled out.
It’s an exciting time for us, especially considering that December is peak “consumer season” too. People are racking up credit card debt, so what’s another few ETH to buy an NFT on this cool new marketplace all the kids are talking about, huh boomer?
“I heard about NFTs from my nephew who made a lot of money trading them! I’ll give it a try!” - Your Cool, But Always Drunk Uncle as he buys a bunch of worthless NFTs probably
NBA Top Shot helped us walk (right out the door), OpenSea helped us run (into a brick wall) but the hopes are that Coinbase NFT will clear us for takeoff (Paul Pierce picture of the rocket emoji).
However, if the NFT world has shown me anything so far, it’s to expect the opposite.
Sure, we may have a whole mess of newbies entering the space, but that doesn’t mean that NFT you love and have done your own research on will be going up in value anytime soon. As we know, new money is often times dumb money. There will be no rhyme or reason to what spikes for a while; NFTs are chaos energy remember. Some will buy an NFT, get burned and never buy again. They’ll churn right out of the ecosystem.
It’s important to expect the best, but prepare for the worst. Use the knowledge you’ve gathered over the last few months. Review your mistakes as the newbies are likely to make the same ones you did. Recognize patterns and above all, take profits!
After buying land in the Sandbox last week, Adidas committed even further to the Metaverse over the weekend by announcing a mysterious partnership with 3 NFT brands - BAYC, Pixel Vault and the tastemaker GMoney.
Details are still unknown outside of the cryptic tweets, but they do appear on 3D mock-ups implying some kind of real world AND metaverse application.
In all likelihood, it’s probably just IRL merch plus an Adidas “skin” for your avatar, but either way it’s an exciting taste of what could come for owners of “blue-chip” NFTs. Soon after the news broke, everyone asked the next logical question: “wen Nike?”
That’s because in order for sportswear and streetwear brands to remain “cool”, they will continue to need partnerships such as these. NFT brands are what’s “in” right now with the important demographics. And let’s not forget that some of the biggest releases from brands over the past few years have been collabs. Whether it’s Travis Scott’s Nikes, J Balvin’s McDonald’s meal, or Post Malone’s Crocs, these companies need stolen clout more than ever to continue building the brand.
The next logical progression is collabs with NFTs.
Also, the hype surrounding those aforementioned releases lead to frothy secondary markets. Now, because of the blockchain, big brands can get a cut of the royalties that they would normally loss out on - another big indicator that this could be the future of marketing.
My guy DanielGotHits put it much better than I can on what this future might look like for blue-chip NFT communities here:
Counter to Adidas we have Budweiser :/
They were seemingly ahead of the curve a few months ago (when they bought beer.eth back in August for 30 ETH). It came days after Visa bought a CryptoPunk and since those purchases the NFT world has been wondering what their play into the space would be.
Well, on Monday Budweiser struck first as we saw them become the first major brand to put a .eth ENS domain as their Twitter name. Yay! Unfortunately? They decided to have a horrific launch of their own NFT - Budverse Cans.
Run on Shopify and using something called a “fixed fee gas” price, they sold out quickly despite a crashed site. As with many brands and influencers before them, Budweiser found out that entering the NFT community is easier said than done when all the degens flood your site with traffic.
The secondary market on the Budverse Cans is holding well enough, so it remains to be seen how this will play out in the long-term. A lot comes down to what Bud does to add utility and build community. Will owning a Budverse cans give any real-world benefits for beer lovers like me? It’s promised in the description of the NFT that there will be something at some point. Buying beer.eth was so savvy that I’m inclined to believe there will be follow-through from their team and they do actually care about Web3.
However, it’s hard to totally trust big brands like this when their marketing teams seem to always be chasing trends. If NFTs fall out of favor, will we be left holding an overpriced collector’s item? It’s becoming apparent to me that big brands should enter the community like Adidas. Instead of trying to do it on your own, why not latch onto a community who knows what they’re doing first and evolve as we do?
I have to shoutout my Cool Cats who last week launched their Beta for Cool Pets. If you see “Beetah” and a hedgehog with chainsaw around Twitter, this what the community is lovingly referring to. Pets will be part of a future P2E game and will introduce new members to the Cool Cats ecosystem through 4 elemental pets - water, fire, grass and air. Go check out their updated website. It’s amazing.
@jack (aka Jack Dorsey) left Twitter both as a boardmember and as CEO on Monday, leaving a lot to speculate on the platform’s future - in particular if Twitter will move away from Jack’s Bitcoin maxi stance and into the world of Ethereum. So far, so good. On Tuesday (the day after Jack’s departure), Twitter began testing ETH tipping. There’s a whole mess of issues to still deal with for new CEO Parag Agrawal, but the crypto community does seem to be a focus of the new regime, so we will see how it all plays out now. But wen PFP verification?


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Black Friday is the time for door-buster electronics sales, deeply discounted fashion and, oh yeah, purchasing holiday gifts for loved ones. And it's also becoming a big shopping day for medical marijuana.
WeedLife News Network
Bruce Kennedy ~ WeedWorthy ~
Businesses linked to the legal marijuana industry are seeing strong consumer interest during the year-end holiday shopping season.
Not to be outdone by much larger national retailers, Denver’s cannabis merchants are rolling out Black Friday deals of their own.
The landmark outlet is looking to give back to its patients and the local community with food, festivities and significant discounts on a wide variety of selected cannabis strains.

domain: news


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Mass transit usage rates across the U.S. have been stuck at around 5% for decades, but as cities grow, increasing that percentage is imperative to controlling congestion. One part of the solution will be making buses and trains easier to ride.
Austin-based RideScout is working to do that by putting transit schedules and ticketing on mobile phones. RideScout’s core product is an app that provides a detailed comparison of how, and how fast, you can get from point A to point B by various methods. The app draws not just on published schedules, but on real-time data about exactly where buses and trains are—a neat trick that comes courtesy of the GTSS transit data standard championed, among others, by Google.
That granular data makes mass transit feel a bit more like Uber and Lyft. Data from a similar program in Chicago has shown that this both makes existing riders happier, and significantly increases ridership.
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RideScout’s transit information may sound similar to what Google (GOOG) already provides through Maps. But RideScout also integrates ride-hailing options (Uber and Lyft), car-sharing services like Car2Go, and bikeshare stations. Having mass transit and ride-hailing services under the same digital roof helps riders solve the “last mile” problem—how to get from a train station to your front door—that is widely believed to hold down mass transit ridership. RideScout also provides more detailed data than Google, including not just travel times, but cost estimates for driving, and a productively guilt-inducing tally of the calories you’d burn by walking or biking.
RideScout’s usefulness still varies by location. Many Austinites swear by it, but RideScout didn’t seem to know about the bikeshare system near me in Tampa Bay, and I couldn’t get any ride-hailing options to show up. User reviews have included complaints about similar omissions in other second-tier cities.
I also found their cost estimates for driving to be a little wonky. The app told me that it would cost me twelve bucks to drive my own car about 30 miles. That’s way more than the cost of gas, because RideScout uses a driving cost calculation that includes things like your car’s depreciation. That might be a useful long-term reality check on the cost of car ownership, but is arguably less useful for weighing travel methods if you already own a car.
WATCH: For more on mobile payments, watch this Fortune video:
RideScout will become even more useful soon: In June of 2015, the company acquired Portland-based GlobeSherpa, which builds mobile transit ticketing apps—what spokesperson Mac Brown describes as “a ticket machine in your pocket.” Patti Niewolny, a spokesperson for RideScout, says the long-term plan is to integrate GlobeSherpa’s payments service into RideScout, letting riders pay with a tap and avoid the hassle of carrying cash or dealing with ticket machines.
GlobeSherpa’s products have already proven wildly popular—according to Brown, 60% of transit riders in Portland use a ticketing app built by GlobeSherpa, accounting for 22% of all fares.
RideScout itself was acquired back in September of 2014 by an unlikely suitor—Daimler AG, via its subsidiary Moovel. The Wall Street Journal cited sources putting the pricetag at under $100 million. Moovel’s other services in mobility include Austin’s Car2Go, which is featured on RideScout.
MORE: The (Other) Transportation Tech to Watch in 2016
“They see how things are trending in terms of automobile ownership,” says Niewolny of Daimler’s vote of confidence.
Though it sits attractively at the nexus of urbanization and mobile data, RideScout is still working out some details—Niewolny says they’re “looking into a couple of different business models as we move forward.” Brown says GlobeSherpa has a number of revenue streams, including transaction fees and service contracts with transit agencies, so the wedding of the two services seems to promise both a boon for riders and a clear revenue route for the company.


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Railways, India Post join hands to offer parcel service in Coimbatore;
- Indian Railways and India Post have come together to offer ‘Joint Parcel Product’, an initiative to collect parcels at the doorstep of customers.
- The service would be rolled out in Coimbatore soon.
- The programme was announced in the Union budget and it was first launched between Surat and Varanasi on March 8, 2022.
- Under the initiative, India Post will provide the first-mile and last-mile connectivity and station-to-station connectivity will be provided by Railways.
- The service will benefit MSMEs and various industries like spare parts manufacturers. Apart from Coimbatore, it will also benefit the textile industry in Tiruppur, Erode and Salem.


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Intel's 7th Generation Core Processor Kaby Lake Performs Great In 4K Video
Intel has launched on Tuesday, August 30, its 7th Core generation processor Kaby Lake that promises some amazing video optimizations and a bump in performance.
Kaby Lake, A 7th Core Generation Processor
Intel's 7th generation Kaby Lake is aimed at laptops and 2-in-1s, according to The Verge. These chips will come in a larger 15-watt package, as well as a far more compact package typically used in convertibles and 2-in-1 tablets.
According to Intel, the Kaby Lake processor will bring performance improvements and efficiency. But, according to PC World, this microprocessor was never meant to be. Intel was supposed to move on from Broadwell, then Skylake, to the 10-nm Cannon Lake microprocessor.
Instead to move to the next on the company's roadmap, Intel has been forced to develop the Kaby Lake processor officially launched Tuesday, due to struggles with 10-nm development. The "7th Gen" designation has become now part of the company's official branding.
Kaby Lake's Performance Boost
The benefits brought by Kaby Lake are somewhat milder than in past Intel processor generations. The increase in integer performance is a mere 12- to 19-percent, mainly helped by a more responsive "turbo boost" capability. However, an advanced, dedicated video engine promises a significant 2.6 times increase in overall battery life when using specific codecs for playing back 4K video.
At its recent Intel Developer Forum, Intel has announced that the shipments of Kaby Lake have already begun. The first ultrathin laptops and 2-in-1 PCs powered by the Intel Kaby Lake processors will appear this fall, according to a recent briefing of company executives.
Intel has made public for now a small selection of Kaby Lake chips. These include the more powerful 15-watt U-series chip and the 4.5-watt Y-series chip for the lowest-power devices. All Kaby Lake CPUs offer four threads and include two processor cores.
According to Intel executives, the 7th-gen Kaby Lake CPU is built on "14-nm+" architecture and includes the same instructions-per-clock pipeline as the Skylake generation. But the improvements in the manufacturing process such as a wider gate pitch and taller "fins" in Intel's FinFET process allow clock speeds at about 400MHz overall and a boost in performance of 12 percent at the transistor level.
Intel's Apollo Lake And Kaby Lake Chip Details Leaked By HP
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Apple MacBook Pro 2016 To Feature Kaby Lake Processor And 4G LTE?
According to the latest rumors Apple will introduce 4G LTE and Kaby Lake processors in the upcoming MacBook Pro 2016.
Spec Details Of Intel's 7th-Generation Core Kaby Lake i7-7700K CPU Leaked
Leaked spec details and benchmark results of Intel's seventh-generation Core Kaby Lake i7-7700K CPU appeared on the web.
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Tech Leaders and Health Authorities Join Forces, Launch New Initiative to Help Fight Pandemic and Future Epidemics
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The anime RPG Fairy Tail from Koei Tecmo has just released a season pass that will release additional characters and content into the game, just a week after it was launched.


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Yes, you read that headline right. Apple has applied for a patent for a bicycle concept.
Skype is worried about whether the iPhone and other Apple products will undermine its VoIP services and is also insecure about whether it can achieve service levels good enough to lure business customers, according to the company's filing with the U....
Apple's new iPad casts a "halo" over the older iPhone, with owners of the tablet about twice as likely to want the company's smartphone as consumers who own neither, a Nielsen analyst said today.
If there was any hope left that The Beatles' music would appear on iTunes in this lifetime, Yoko Ono just killed it.
Low-cost Android tablets resembling Apple's iconic iPad are on sale through retail sites like eBay for US$50 to $125, though observers say they could be a pain to own since they lack hardware and software support.
Apple has rolled out some tweaks to fine tune the App Store shopping experience. The effort is commendable, but is woefully inadequate. Try Before You Buy and a Genius feature are both great ideas, but what both Apple's App Store and Google's Android...
The Apple executive in charge of iPhone engineering and responsible for the innovative--yet problem prone--antenna design on the iPhone 4 has left the company. Based on Apple's response to "antennagate", and Steve Jobs press conference to address iss...
There's no denying that Google's Android operating system is a striking success. Consumer and business users are buying more than 200,000 Android-based mobile phones and other devices daily, according to Google CEO Eric Schmid.
Mark Papermaster, Apple's senior vice president of engineering for the iPhone and iPod, is leaving the firm, according to reports by The New York Times.
Is Apple granting touch treatment to the lowliest of iPods, the iPod Shuffle? Maybe, if the rumors are to be believed; and, unlikely as it may seem, a touchscreen iPod Shuffle is actually a good idea.
Russian password-cracking company Elcomsoft has released new software that can in some instances figure out the password used to encrypt backed-up iPhone data.
Adobe today said it would issue an emergency patch the week of Aug. 16 to fix a critical flaw in its Reader and Acrobat software.
We're probably as sick of writing about the iPhone as you are of reading about it. But news about the folks at Tap Tap Tap -- the developer behind the Camera+ iPhone app — submitting a cool update to Apple was too good not to share!
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) released a new iPhone app yesterday that it says will revolutionise the property market in Australia and change how home buyers will search for a property.
Hackers on Wednesday released code that lets iPhone 4 owners – if they have modified their Apple smartphones to load unauthorised apps -- to now use the devices on new wireless carriers.
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Toyota pulled back the covers today at its Hybrid World Tour event in Michigan, giving a small glimpse of advanced fuel-saving technologies currently in development. Continue Reading...
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Our spies caught the new Audi Q5 out for winter testing without the usual camo clothing you might expect from such spy photos. We’ve got to laugh a little at the German automaker for deciding to intentionally offer less-than-optimal fuel efficiency in the Q5s headed to North America. Their 2.0-liter TDI is actually more efficient than… Continue Reading...
Efficiency is important these days. The government is cracking down on gas guzzlers and imposing strict regulations that force automakers into saving more fuel than ever before. That’s why it might come as a surprise that Audi of America is opting not to offer their most efficient diesel engine in the upcoming 2013 Q5. That’s… Continue Reading...
Pump up your tires and pump up your tank, there’s a new kind of fuel in town thanks to the Dearman Engine Company. Well, that’s not totally true. The fuel is actually air in liquid form, so it isn’t actually new, but the London-based company that formed just under a year ago has managed to… Continue Reading...
Mitsubishi has achieved decent amounts of success with the i-MiEV electric car in its home land, and also in Europe, where this model is also sold badged as a Peugeot iOn. Next month, the i-MiEV will be going on sale in America (called simply the “i” in our market), which will no doubt increase sales… Continue Reading...
Mazda is working hard at its new SkyActiv platform, which includes new engines, gearboxes and chassis designs for its cars for the next decade. Mazda spoke about new gasoline engines during a recent presentation, and also touched on the possibility of offering a clever new diesel engine to our market, but they didn’t mention anything… Continue Reading...
Earlier this year, Land Rover introduced three hybrid-electric concept vehicles at the Geneva Motor Show, and now Land Rover is looking to put them to the test. The RAC Future Car Challenge is an annual event that showcases technology that we might see in production cars in years to come. Think of it as a… Continue Reading...
Suzuki cars might not be the strongest selling product in North America, but that might just change if and when they introduce the Swift PHEV. This Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) is planned to go into production in 2013 for the Japanese market, and rumors suggest it will be on sale in North America also,… Continue Reading...
After a press conference the day before where every new, exciting and award winning GM vehicle was paraded before the media, the General’s second North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) press conference featured a sparse stage populated only by the upcoming Checy Volt and GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. Wagoner announced that the battery… Continue Reading...


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The Wall Street Journal published an article five days ago named Hoping to Overtake Its Rivals, Yahoo Stocks Up on Academics (free article available at Yahoo Research). The article describes how Yahoo is trying to compete with competitors by hiring up all the smartest people out there. About a year ago Danny wrote about The Google Battle For Hiring Tech Talent and if you are a SEW subscriber you can see all of Yahoo's recent hires here. So for now, Yahoo's plan is to hire very bright "Economists and Search Gurus" to get any edge they can against Google and MSN.
Meet Your Favorite Search Engine Watch Contributors
Many of SEW's leading expert contributors will be at ClickZ Live, the new online and digital marketing event kicking off in New York (March 31-April 3). Hear from the likes of: Thom Craver, Josh Braaten, Lisa Barone, Simon Heseltine, Josh McCoy, Lisa Raehsler, Greg Jarboe, Dan Cristo, Joseph Kerschbaum, John Gagnon, Eric Enge and more!


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Looks like Delsin’s real superpower is making Sony s***loads of cash.
The company today announced that the PlayStation 4–exclusive inFAMOUS: Second Son set a new record for the franchise, selling a fairly impressive 1 million copies in the nine days following its launch. That number takes into account both digital downloads and physical copies sold through to customers.
To put that figure in perspective, Sony announced last month that the PlayStation 4 had sold 6 million units worldwide. That means that somewhere between one in six and one in seven people who own a PS4 picked up Second Son at or shortly after release. Not too shabby, especially when you consider that estimates put sales of the first two games in the series at around 4.5 million combined. Sales figures like this could put inFAMOUS with Uncharted and The Last of Us among the top tier of Sony’s first-party franchises this generation.
For more on inFAMOUS: Second Son and why those million-plus gamers probably aren’t disappointed in thier purchase, check out Marc’s review.


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When Whole Foods Market Inc. opened a store in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury early this year, many locals and community leaders hoped it would help improve a grungy corner of their famous neighborhood. Nearly a year later, they're still waiting.
Since the upscale market opened in February across from a section of Golden Gate Park known as Alvord Lake, known for attracting drug dealers and homeless people, crime within a 500-foot radius of the store has shot up, according to the San Francisco Police Department. At the same time, Whole Foods hasn't lifted the overall neighborhood's business prospects, sales-tax receipts data from the San Francisco Comptroller's Office show.
While the Whole Foods store has brought new customers to the neighborhood, changing the feel of the area, "the riffraff hasn't gone away," says Joe Goldmark, who co-owns an Amoeba Music store across the street from the store.
For its part, Whole Foods has tried to meet these challenges. It hired security guards and one plainclothes officer who are at the store throughout the day. The store's management also regularly confer with police about crime in the area.
The company has also tried to help improve the local economy in Haight-Ashbury by partnering with local food producers in its efforts to offer healthy food to customers. "We're always concerned about the neighborhoods we're in," said Libba Letton, a Whole Foods spokeswoman, who added that the store's managers are always looking for more ways to help the community.
Whole Foods' experience in Haight-Ashbury so far shows how nearly a half-century after the 1960s "Summer of Love," when thousands of people swarmed the neighborhood as part of the counterculture movement, the area is still grappling with the uneven gentrification unfolding there.
Today, vacationers flock to the area to snap pictures of the famous intersection at Haight and Ashbury streets. The neighborhood has become a destination for tech workers, as well as aging hippies and runaway youths. Amid that mix, property values have risen over the years, but some areas, like the end of Haight Street that Whole Foods inhabits, have improved at a snail's pace.
When Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, opens a new store, surrounding businesses that cater to the same higher-end demographic of customers generally report increased sales, says Karen Short, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. So hopes were high that Whole Foods would also help lift the Haight when it opened this year.
"I was very happy to hear that Whole Foods was coming," says David McLean, president of the board of directors of the Haight-Ashbury Merchant's Association, of which Whole Foods is a member. "Of all the grocery stores that could have come in, they're by far the best suited for the neighborhood."
But local business owners say most of the area's problems remain. Assaults and pickpocketing incidents near the store doubled to 28 in the period since the grocery debuted, compared with the same time a year earlier, even as similar records from an area near the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets roughly a half-dozen blocks away show the same crimes had declined more than 17%, according to the SFPD. However, that rise could be the result of more pedestrian traffic in the area traveling to and from the store, local business owners say.
Meanwhile, sales-tax receipts in the second fiscal quarter of this year from businesses in a six-block stretch of Haight Street up to Whole Foods brought in $181,901.32, or 0.58% of the city's total receipts, according to the Comptroller's Office. That's down from 0.63% the same time last year and 0.72% two years ago.
Jack Cole, whose family owns the Skates On Haight skateboard shop, says people in the area still regularly try to sell him drugs while he's headed into work two doors down from the Whole Foods. He adds that sales at his business haven't budged.
"We may be leaving soon," Mr. Cole says, adding that most of his sales have shifted to online orders in the past few years.
Calvin Welch, a board member of the Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council and a critic of Whole Foods, says he's not surprised the homeless population has remained. "There's a stability in street life that's in many ways the essence of Haight-Ashbury," he says.
Others say the store has been a boon. Amoeba Music's Mr. Goldmark says Whole Foods customers have buoyed his store's sales, while nearby coffee shop Parada 22 also reports increased sales.
The Whole Foods "has become an anchor business in a short time for this section of the city," says Ross Mirkarimi, who represented Haight-Ashbury on San Francisco's board of supervisors before recently being elected the city's sheriff. He adds the district has gotten primarily what it expected: a full-service grocery store.
"The people who want to keep living in the 'Summer of Love' are on their way out," says 47-year-old Tuula Delaney from her home three blocks from the store. "When things start changing, it's a train that doesn't stop."
Write to Ian Sherr at firstname.lastname@example.org


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Lippert's Nicole Sult Named Vice President of Customer Experience
October 14, 2021
Elkhart, Ind. — Lippert Components, Inc. (Lippert™), a supplier of a broad array of highly engineered components for the leading original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) in the recreation and transportation product markets, and the related aftermarkets of those industries, has named Nicole Sult as Vice President of Customer Experience (CX). In this new role, Ms. Sult will spearhead the organization’s global CX initiatives externally, as well as align Lippert’s CX goals and objectives internally throughout the organization. Sult will report to Joe Thompson, Lippert’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Nicole began her career at Lippert in 2014 when she was hired to improve Lippert’s expanding Customer Care Center’s systems and operations. She already had considerable experience having worked ten years for Thor’s Customer Service division. In June of 2020, Lippert Executive Leadership tasked Sult with creating Lippert’s first department dedicated to expanding its customer experience and outreach initiatives. In one short year, Sult has assembled a team of CX professionals, created multiple consumer online communities and has reached millions of RVers, end-users, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Lippert began its customer experience journey with the creation of the “Lippert Scouts,” a closed online community comprised of hand-picked RVers that live the lifestyle every day. The Scouts group was created not only to get important feedback on Lippert products, but to continually enhance the overall RVing experience. Lippert has since created an additional open online forum, “Scouts the Community,” whose purpose is to engage, educate, and respond to any topic or issue that any member may have. Recently, a program similar to the Scouts dubbed the “Lippert Captains” was launched to focus on the Marine Industry. To date, all of Lippert’s consumer groups have over 10,000 engaged RV and boat owners looking to improve their experience. All of these CX efforts are essential to fortifying Lippert’s new brand promise launched earlier this year, “Whenever, wherever, we make your experience better.”
Consumer rallies are at the core of understanding RV end-users. Sult’s team has had presence at over 20 rallies this calendar year, held technical seminars, introduced new products, and listened to consumer feedback. Last month, Lippert hosted and completed its first successful rally, “The Lippert Getaway,” where 350 RV owners, agnostic of brand, gathered in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for technical training, fellowship, and entertainment. The rally was a resounding success, and Lippert is already in the planning phases for next year’s Getaway.
“I have had the pleasure of watching Nicole develop into a key strategic leader for this organization since she joined Lippert over eight years ago,” stated Jamie Schnur, President of Aftermarket & Technology. “She is extremely passionate about our customers, end-users and their journeys with our products. She and the team she has built will be responsible for ensuring that our products and services to our customers, and ultimately their end-users, are getting the very best experience they can for all of Lippert and its brands.”
Joe Thompson, Lippert Chief Marketing Officer, commented, “Understanding the end-user is a cornerstone of having an efficient marketing department within any organization. The fact that Lippert has put such a focus on this initiative only strengthens our marketing efforts, and the results that Nicole and her team have already achieved should get everyone in our organization very excited for the future ahead.”
“It is no secret that the RV Industry can provide great service and outreach to the end-users of our products which is why we decided to really invest in the idea of customer experience last year,” said Jason Lippert, President and CEO of Lippert. “Nicole’s experience, along with her long track record of leadership and passion for the consumers of our products, made her the natural choice to lead this initiative. In just one short year, she has built an amazing team and turbocharged this initiative, proactively reaching out and creating programs and forums so that we can hear from more consumers than we could have ever dreamed of. As a leadership team, we recognize that the customer experience is an essential piece to our long-term success in growing not only Lippert, but the entire RV industry and lifestyle as a whole. We have only just gotten started with our customer experience initiatives, and I can’t wait to see where Nicole can take it next.”
“I am humbled and honored with the opportunity and trust to lead Customer Experience in this new role,” said Nicole Sult, VP of Customer Experience. She continued, “Customer experience has been close to my heart throughout my career, and I am excited for the commitment Lippert has made in advancing the field. I want to extend a special thank you to my mentors and my family, which now includes our Lippert Scouts, Captains, and business partners. This dedication to customer experience and integration of the “voice of the customer” solidifies Lippert’s unwavering commitment to making lives better by using our business as a force for good.”
From over 140 manufacturing and distribution facilities located throughout North America, Africa and Europe, Lippert™ supplies a broad array of highly engineered components for the leading manufacturers of recreational vehicles, automobiles, watercraft and prefab homes. It also operates in adjacent markets, including hospitality, transportation, construction and agriculture. Lippert™ serves a wide range of aftermarket segments, providing high-quality products for the recreational vehicle / caravanning, automotive and marine industries. With over 12,500 team members and a diverse portfolio of best-in-class brands, Lippert™ adopts a team-based business philosophy and has proven that, by putting people first, the possibilities for growth and development are truly endless.
52567 Independence Ct.
Elkhart, IN 46514


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SUPLA, who announced plans for a 10 kT polymerization plant earlier this year, has developed optimized PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) compounds for the consumer electronics industry based on lactides from Corbion Purac. The launching application is the world’s first bioplastic touch screen computer, developed in cooperation with Kuender, an OEM/ODM for many brand customers. The high gloss housing of this computer is made from high heat PLA. Corbion Purac, the global leader in lactic acid and lactides, will showcase this computer at K 2013.
Heat resistance is one of the key challenges for biopolymers today, as this has limited their suitability for consumer electronics in the past. However, lactide monomers from Corbion Purac form the basis for improved performance PLA, and are therefore the preferred choice for SUPLA: “It takes lots of effort to develop a durable grade of PLA, but it can be done with a right choice of raw material“, said by Dr. Robin Wu, Chairman of SUPLA.
In addition to increased heat resistance, the PLA blends used for the monitor screens also bring improved impact resistance, excellent high gloss finish and stable, precise processing. This is of critical importance for the large scale consumer electronics market, which also includes applications such as mobile phones, laptops, games consoles and tablets. Kuender, a leading Taiwanese OEM/ODM of consumer electronics for many brand customers, recognized the opportunity to be among the first to bring such an innovation to market. Kuender has been working closely with SUPLA to ensure that the blends are suitable for commercial production of consumer electronics housings, and are looking forward to bringing the world’s first bioplastic computer to market. Dr. Wen-Jeng Kuo, president of Kuender said, “In addition to the PLA blends, we have developed techniques for the injection process. Therefore we are glad to let our customers know that we are able to provide a total solution for making green products“.
Corbion Purac’s lactide monomers are sourced from GMO free, renewable feedstocks such as sugarcane, and form the basis for high performance Poly Lactic Acid bioplastics (PLA). The resulting homopolymers have already proven to withstand boiling water, and can now boast performance characteristics to rival their oil-based counterparts. As a result, PLA can replace oil-based plastics such as PP, PS and ABS, and alleviate our dependency on fossil fuels.
Jeroen Jonker, Senior Vice President Bioplastics at Corbion Purac, is pleased with the development: “We are looking forward to showing our visitors at K 2013 this fantastic application, which is a great achievement for our partner SUPLA and a credit to Kuender for their recognition of such an innovative opportunity. In our partnership, SUPLA have focused their expertise on the electronics market and the launch of this computer is an excellent result. We anticipate that this development will be well received by our global community of sustainability-conscious consumers.”
The computer will be on display at Corbion Purac’s stand at K2013: hall 5, B22, from 16th – 23rd October in Dusseldorf, Germany. Furthermore, representatives from SUPLA and Kuender will be present at the stand to answer questions and product queries from 14:00 – 15:00 on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th October.


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The White House has threatened to slap tariffs on apparel and footwear, leading retailers to speak out about how this would hurt business.Retailread more
"We are now embarking on a new Long March, and we must start all over again!" Xi Jinping said.Marketsread more
CNBC's Jim Cramer says Morgan Stanley cutting its worst-case forecast on Tesla so drastically from $97 per share appears to be a gimmick.Investingread more
U.S. aviation officials believe a bird strike may have led to the deadly crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max in March, according to a person familiar with the...Aerospace & Defenseread more
Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners said Apple tried to buy Tesla six years ago for a higher price than where the stock now trades.Technologyread more
The escalating trade war between China and the U.S. could increase pressure on the overall economy, according to Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren.The Fedread more
May outlined her new Brexit proposals which are being voted on by politicians next month.Europe Marketsread more
The Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and fast-food workers coalition Fight for $15 said Tuesday that they have filed 23 new complaints against...Restaurantsread more
Sales of existing U.S. homes fell 0.4% in April compared with March to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.19 million units, according to the National Association of...Real Estateread more
Japanese automakers say they generated more than 1.6 million jobs in the U.S. at manufacturing plants, dealerships and suppliers. Of those jobs, more than 94,000 people are...Autosread more
Morgan Stanley analysts said the reduction was driven by concerns around Chinese demand for Tesla products.Autosread more
(Recasts to add details, shares reaction)
MILAN, May 7 (Reuters) - Italian drinks group Campari on Tuesday reported a strong start to the year thanks to double-digit sales growth in the first quarter for aperitif Aperol and French liqueur Grand Marnier.
The Milan-based company said sales increased by a larger-than-expected 9.6 percent to 370 million euros on an organic basis between January and March. In the same period in 2018, sales had risen 2.2 percent.
Analysts were expecting a rate of growth of around 6 percent for organic sales, which strip out currency swings and any acquisitions or sales of assets.
Aperol, once a niche product sold mostly in northern Italy to make the Spritz cocktail, has become the group's largest brand as aperitifs and cocktails have become more fashionable for younger drinkers.
The sales of orange coloured aperitif grew 27 percent in the first quarter driven by a double-digit increase in the brand's main markets, including Italy and Germany, as well as a strong performance in new markets such as the United States.
The company said this was the result of marketing initiatives to "deseasonalise Aperol Spritz", to make the traditionally summer cocktail also popular in winter.
Campari said the campaign included pop-up bars on ski slopes in Europe as well as Aperol branded DJ sets in popular winter holiday venues.
Cognac-based liqueur Grand Marnier also outperformed many of Campari's regional brands, with sales up 10 percent thanks to a good performance in the United States, where the group had recently strengthened its distribution capabilities.
Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) rose to 72.4 million euros ($81.07 million), equal to 19.6 percent margin on sales, this compared with an EBIT margin of 18.2 percent in the same period of last year.
The margin expansion is expected to continue organically, the company said in a statement, adding that currency swings and potential acquisitions or divestitures would have a less adverse effect on results during the year compared with 2018.
Campari's shares extended gains after results to touch a new record high of 9.18 euros, increasing gains since the beginning of the year to more than 20 percent.
($1 = 0.8931 euros) (Reporting by Francesca Landini. Editing by Jane Merriman)


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Searchspring Momentum Builds: Search Traffic Growth, New Customers Won, and Two Awards
SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Searchspring, the global leader in site search, merchandising and personalization, today announced a series of achievements since the first quarter of 2022, including 49 customer wins, two awards and the launch of a new program. Searchspring has expanded its team internationally, focusing on the APAC region, and continued growth is expected for the remainder of the year.
These initiatives have been reflected in Searchspring’s overall growth. In March 2022, the number of search queries supported by Searchspring increased by 116% year-over-year.
The customer wins
In the first quarter, Searchspring gained 49 new customers, including St Frock, an Australia-based online women’s fashion store. Since launching with Searchspring, St Frock has seen a 28% increase in search usage, which has contributed to a 30% increase in conversion rate.
“We love working with Searchspring,” said Matt Page, eCommerce and CRM Manager, St Frock. “During our implementation, the global team has been very professional, structured and thorough to ensure the success of our launch. In 2022, we are focused on expanding our sales globally with the support of Searchspring’s personalization, site personalization and merchandising capability.
International growth and new initiatives
Searchspring is actively developing its teams around the world. New hires in Asia-Pacific bring the total number of employees to 106 worldwide. Searchspring also recently announced a “Start Fresh” program and a sabbatical program as part of its ongoing efforts to make employee mental health an organizational priority.
Another new initiative launched this quarter is the Searchspring e-commerce accelerator, which gives pre-revenue and early-stage e-commerce businesses the opportunity to use Searchspring’s technology.
“We understand how valuable it is to invest in our employees, customers and prospects,” said Peter Messana, CEO of Searchspring. “Retailers face increased competition, supply chain disruptions and continued inflation, so our goal is to support the e-commerce community with technology that drives the ultimate customer experience.”
Searchspring received two accolades in Q1 2022 for its work with key partners as they pursued the common goal of helping brands and retailers drive their businesses forward.
In addition, Searchspring ranked as a “Leader” in the eCommerce Search and Online Merchandising categories, as well as an “Outstanding Performer” in eCommerce Personalization in G2’s Grid® reports for the spring 2022.
To learn more about Searchspring’s innovative search, merchandising, personalization and analytics tools, visit searchspring.com.
Searchspring is on a mission to empower e-commerce teams with superpowers. We give the world’s most creative online brands the easy-to-use research, merchandising, personalization and analytics tools they need to increase conversion and curate unique shopping experiences. Learn more at searchspring.com or visit the websites of some of our most heroic customers like Mizuno USA, Badgley Mischka, Peet’s Coffee, Moen, Volcom, Wildfang and Williams Sonoma.


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It comes as royal family fans eagerly await the annual seasons greeting. Web prince harry and meghan markle wish fans 'peace and health' on 2022 christmas card. Web a video featuring young prince george is said to have been the last straw that saw prince harry and meghan markle step away from the royal family.
Prince Harry & Meghan Markle 2022 Christmas Card Photo
Web the christmas card includes the very first picture prince harry and meghan markle have shared of their family of four.
From our family to yours by sabienna bowman.
Web i’m not saying meghan would be absolutely delighted with this as a christmas present, harry, but if seely does press ahead with his nuclear option, it might be worth considering.Web prince harry and meghan markle released their 2022 holiday card on friday, but it had two very important people missing from the image. Web meghan and harry have shared their christmas card, and we’ve finally got a look at baby lilibet.The couple’s son, archie, 3, and daughter, lilibet, 1,.
2 of 'harry & meghan' dropped on netflix.Santa claus is coming to windsor castle. Prince george, princess charlotte and prince louis sent letters to santa claus on friday.Web meghan markle and prince harry ’s christmas card made its highly anticipated debut on wednesday, much to the delight of royal fans everywhere.
Duke of sussex prince harry has apparently responded to king charles wishes to meet his grandchildren prince archie and princess lilibet.
Web prince harry wants his children to feel at home in the uk but they cannot if it's not possible to keep them safe, the high court has heard.Web prince harry and meghan markle shared the first photo of their daughter lilibet in their 2021 christmas card. The duke and duchess of sussex have released the first picture of their daughter, lilibet, with meghan holding up the laughing child in an image on.Just hours ago, meghan markle and prince harry — the former duke and duchess of sussex — shared their official 2021 christmas card, giving the world its first glance at baby lilibet diana.
Updated on december 23, 2021, 12:51 pm posted on december 23, 2021,.Earlier this week it was revealed that prince harry and meghan markle may be jetting to the uk to spend christmas with the royal family for the first time in. Web duke and duchess of sussex unveil christmas card with first photo of baby lilibet.Web prince harry and meghan markle have shared their 2022 christmas card.
Prince harry and meghan markle shared a sweet holiday greeting.
Happy holidays from meghan, harry and archie's festive backyard!Meghan markle and prince harry share first american christmas card — and archie has red hair! Web the playback api request failed for an unknown reason.Happy holidays from the sussexes!
The duke and duchess of sussex appear on the card.Kennedy human rights ripple of hope gala at new york hilton on december 6, 2022 in new york city. Rebecca lewis reporter los angeles.In the card, the duke and duchess of sussex.
The card features the duke and duchess of sussex alongside their son, archie, and two dogs, pula and guy.
The sussexes shared a message from their family and the archewell.Published on 12/17/2022 at 1:30 pm. Web plans for meghan markle and prince harry's 2019 christmas card are still being finalised, mirror online can reveal.The duke and duchess of sussex's festive note features a black and white image of them holding hands, taken at the.
Web prince harry and meghan markle share their 2021 christmas card with a family photo that includes archie and a first look at their daughter, lilibet.Web the holiday card came one day after vol. Web the theme of the princess of wales' christmas carol service at westminster abbey this year could enrage prince harry and meghan markle as it seeks to showcase the importance of building.Web prince harry & meghan markle 2022 christmas card photo.
Prince harry and meghan markle at the 2022 robert f.
Calling the uk his home, the duke of sussex said it.Web harry and meghan’s 2020 christmas card, taken on their property in california. On friday, the duke and.Web first published on thu 23 dec 2021 10.48 est.
Prince harry and meghan markle opted for a little glitz and a lot of glamour for their 2022 christmas.Prince harry and meghan markle reveal holiday card: Prince harry and meghan say the arrival of their daugher ‘made us a family’ as they wish ‘happy holidays’ to.


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MEXICO CITY, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Mexico’s retailers association ANTAD said Thursday that same-store sales rose 4.8 percent in July compared to the same month a year earlier.
The figure reflects sales at stores that have been open for at least a year. Sales were up 8.2 percent in July for all stores from a year ago, ANTAD said. The retail group includes chains such as Wal-Mart de Mexico and Soriana. (Reporting by Sharay Angulo; Editing by Michael O’Boyle)


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The Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond unveiled the governments final budget five months before the countries departure from the European Union.
The chancellors budget saw income tax to be cut, tax on beer, cider and spirts to be frozen and cuts to business rates.
The announcement on the freeze of beer, cider and spirit taxes mean that there will be a saving of 2p on a pint of beer, 1p on a pint of cider and 30p on a bottle of Scotch or gin. Hammond stated that his reasoning behind the freeze was to ‘keep the cost of beer down for the patrons of the great British pub’.
However, the usual Office for Budget Responsibility will continue to increase for wine meaning the price of still wine will rise by 7p, and sparkling wine will rise by 9p. Since 2012, wine overtook beer as the largest contributor to the public purse through duty payments, and no alcoholic drink has paid more to the Treasury since then.
Wine & Spirit Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale hailed the freeze on spirits but criticised the Chancellor’s decision on wine.
He said: “We welcome the Government’s decision to freeze duty on spirits, which will support this great British sector to invest, grow and create jobs – as well as supporting the public finances through increased revenue. However, the decision by the Chancellor to increase wine rates significantly is a hammer blow to this great British industry. It actively undermines a sector that has been hardest hit since the Brexit referendum and will be thoroughly unwelcome for the 33m consumers of the nation’s most popular alcoholic drink.”
Hammond has also announced that for all retailers in England with a rateable value of £51,000 or less, their business rates bill will be cut by one third. This includes for pubs, shops, restaurants and cafes, in a bid to support councils in supporting the high street.
He estimated this would be a saving of up to £8,000 for 90% for all independent premises such as shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes.
The Chancellor also announced £675m of co-funding to create a Future High Streets Fund to support councils to draw up formal plans for the transformation of their high streets, and the £1.5 billion ‘high street rescue plan’.
UKHospiality’s chief executive has said she hopes that the Government continues its positive support during the counties withdrawal from the EU.
She said: “This was a positive Budget for hospitality, recognising and acknowledging our core campaigns. We estimate the measures announced in the Budget, as a result of our campaigns are likely to save the trade £750m.
Hospitality businesses have been devastated by spiralling business rates costs, so steps to address this are welcome. UKH has exhaustively campaigned for support for the sector on business rates, so it is positive to see the Government listening. The Chancellor has taken some positive steps to reassure and support hospitality businesses during uncertain political and economic times.”
Income tax cuts were also announced by Hammond and will cost £2.7bn within the next year. The 20% tax band, which currently starts on earnings above £11,850, will rise to £12,500 next year. The higher rate 40% tax band will begin at £50,000 from April, a jump from £46,350.


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Taiwan Import Surge Squeezes Trade Surplus in January
By Paul Jackson
Taiwan's exports expanded at their fastest pace in four months in January but showed some slowing in the growth of electronics shipments, while a surge in imports squeezed the island's trade surplus.
Exports gained 15.3% from a year earlier to $27.38 billion, finance ministry data showed Wednesday, coming up short of a 19% expected gain from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Imports of oil, electronic components and chemicals grew sharply to push up imports by 23.3%, cutting the trade surplus to US$2.42 billion from US$6.13 billion in December. Analysts expected imports to rise 15%.
The export data showed shipments of integrated circuits rose 11.9%, in line with the overall growth in exports of electronics components. That was slower than last month's gain of more than 20%. Electronics account for about 35% of the island's exports.
Taiwan plays a key role in the global tech supply chain and its exports are closely watched as a gauge of tech cycle strength. The island is home to major Apple Inc. suppliers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Foxconn Technology Co.
The value of shipments to mainland China and Hong Kong, accounting for about 40% of the total, continued to grow, gaining 21.1%. Shipments to Europe expanded 4.3%, while exports to the U.S. rose 11.1%.
Analysts expected exports to hold up well in January, in part because of the favorable effect of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls in February this year. That gave January more working days than a year ago.
The ministry flagged domestic demand for imports ahead of the holidays as having contributed to the gain in imports. Higher oil and commodity prices were additional factors cited by the ministry.
Write to Paul Jackson at firstname.lastname@example.org.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 07, 2018 03:49 ET (08:49 GMT)Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


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MILAN, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Italian luxury outerwear maker Moncler on Thursday forecast more growth in 2019 after a new product strategy based on faster-paced collections helped to produce a 19 percent increase in sales last year and boosted profitability.
Revenue last year rose to 1.42 billion euros ($1.62 billion), just above a Refinitiv SmartEstimate of 1.4 billion euros. Stripping out the impact of currency moves, sales rose 22 percent.
The group last year changed its strategy in favour of monthly product launches to keep up with the luxury fashion industry’s younger and more fickle customers.
Chairman and Chief Executive Remo Ruffini was optimistic even though the economic outlook was uncertain.
“We know that economic and geopolitical uncertainties could make the path steeper in the coming months, but I believe it is precisely in difficult times that one becomes stronger,” he said in a statement.
Moncler, which sells signature puffer jackets for as much as 1,000 euros, proposed a dividend of 0.40 euros per share on 2018 results, up from 0.28 euros the previous year.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 500.2 million euros from 411.6 million euros, above expectations of 478 million euros, with core profit margins rising slightly to 35.2 percent. ($1 = 0.8787 euros)


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As we all might know, Facebook and Twitter are the two biggest social networks in most countries. China, in contrast, has Qzone, Sina, Weibo, & RenRen as the most used social media; because in China Facebook, Twitter, and others social media platforms are banned by the Chinese government.
UN’s Africa Renewal Magazine quote says , “In recent months Facebook – the major social media platform worldwide and currently the most visited website in most of Africa – has seen massive growth on the continent. The number of African Facebook users now stands at over 17 million, up from 10 million in 2009. More than 15 per cent of people online in Africa are currently using the platform, compared to 11 per cent in Asia. Two other social networking websites, Twitter and YouTube, rank among the most visited websites in most African countries.”
The numbers of social media users of underdeveloped countries, (Africa and Asia) are increasing even though not every house has an internet connection. People of those continents can afford to pay for a cheap mobile device and start using mobile internet. According to Tech Wire Asia, Asia has the biggest share of web usage from mobile devices worldwide. As a quoted from Tech Wire Asia explains that, “A relatively cheap mobile phone will then be a much more realistic option, and it therefore becomes the way to reach the Web for many. It’s either that or no web access at all, so it’s a matter of necessity”.
Some statistics published by IBN live article says that India has the world’s youngest internet population, with 75% of all Indian internet being under 35 years old! And here are more interesting statistics founded about India:
One third of India’s total online population is between 15 to 24 years old
95% of all population has an account on social media
Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as the most visited social media sites
The usage of email and instant messaging is declining to 22%
~ Teresa Puch
Source : ‘‘ Social Media in Developing Countries” Mon 27 February 2012 16:00, Vitto Christaldi


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DESPITE the blistering prices being paid for all slaughter cattle across Australia over the past six months, premium market segments looking for special features are, by and large, managing to maintain their traditional margins over the commodity market.
With thousands of beef producers flocking to Brisbane for this week’s Royal Queensland show, it presented a good opportunity for Beef Central to ‘sniff the wind’ on how specialised market segments are performing, price wise.
One of Queensland’s largest Certified Organic beef producers, consigning his first fully-certified organic cattle over the past year, told us yesterday he was currently receiving an unbelievable 710c for Certified Organic steer on a flat rate, with no grid discounts applied on bruising, meat colour fatness or other criteria.
That prices a 300kg carcase weight Organic steer carcase at $2130.
His entire certified organic cattle turnoff for the 12-months to June 30 – including large runs of light cows – averaged well over $2000 a head.
Here’s what we learned around the Brisbane Ekka judging rings yesterday about current pricing on ‘special’ cattle entering domestic and export supply chains in the current market:
710c/kg is available from some supply chain managers, with no grid discounts applied. Prices as high as 750c/kg appear on other grids, but conventional discount penalties apply.
Steers eligible for the Pasturefed Cattle Assurance System this week through the program’s dominant user, Teys Australia, are making 640c/kg. That’s a clear 65c/kg difference over the Teys Beenleigh ‘generic’ grassfed heavy steer price this week, itself at a record 575c/kg.
Apply that premium over a typical 300kg carcase, and the advantage is worth an additional $195 a head to PCAS suppliers – on top of what is already a super-heated grassfed slaughter market.
EU grassfed steer is perhaps the segment that has suffered most in the big price shift seen this year. One large multi-site processor’s EU grassfed grid is currently +10c above conventional grassfed steer – considerably less than the +25c seen at other times through the year. Historically, the EU premium waxes and wanes during the annual production cycle.
Supermarket supply chains are perhaps the stand-outs at present, driven by the need to maintain supply into domestic markets, where export processors can adjust their kills a little more flexibly.
A Woolworths contract holder at the Ekka yesterday told Beef Central his business is currently receiving an unheard-of 635c/kg for forward contract 70-day grainfed steer, 625c for heifers.
That’s against a conventional 70-day grainfed spot market steer rate this week (0-2 teeth, 280kg+) of 585c. Add 5-10c/kg to that for MSA steer at present, depending on the location.
Coles, given its no-HGP policy, is understood to be 10c/kg above the Woolworths price, with one quote offered yesterday around the judging ring at a phenomenal 650c/kg for steer. Spot price for top-up kills this week for Coles northern supply chain is 630c steer, 620c heifer, Beef Central was told yesterday. It should be pointed out that both major supermarkets have specs considerably tighter than the generic grainfed YG steer/heifer price.
Premiums paid for cattle eligible for Angus-based brand programs continue to be about +5 to +10c/kg in most grids, over and above the MSA steer price. JBS’s new Thousand Guineas Shorthorn program has at times in the recent past paid an additional 5-10c/kg over and above the Angus premium – but it applies at this point to only small numbers.
Wagyu backgrounders top 705c/kg liveweight
While this article focusses on slaughter cattle, we could not resist the opportunity to flag to readers a progress report on a line of Wagyu x Angus F1 backgrounder steers being offered on AuctionsPlus this morning. At the time this report was being compiled, the sale was still in progress, but the 198kg steers, 7-9 months, being offered out of Bellbrook, NSW, were the subject of a bid of 708.5c/kg liveweight. It’s the first time in history any cattle on AuctionsPlus have broken through the 700c/kg barrier. They will also have a considerable freight bill attached, of they are ultimately knocked down to the current highest bidder from Victoria.
Full details in this week’s AuctionsPlus weekly report, published tomorrow.
HAVE YOUR SAY


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This article originally appeared in PureHoney Magazine. Check them out here.
Still feeling a little, shall we say, isolated? With spring underway and Covid restriction eased, now is a good time for South Floridians to reconnect with their surroundings.
One path back to the kind of local life that became less accessible in the depths of the pandemic is through the arts. Enter, organizations like the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County and one of its newer regional initiatives: a Month of Shows, Arts, Ideas and Culture, a.k.a. MOSAIC.
The taxpayer- and donor-funded Cultural Council has, since the late ’70s, underwritten the creation and presentation of art, entertainment and culture across the county. The Cultural Council has a hand in everything from local Art Walks to Sunfest, and the nonprofit’s five-year-old MOSAIC campaign feels especially welcome and timely now.
MOSAIC is spending May inviting people to get out and explore the cultural riches in their own backyard. To make these sojourns even more appealing, MOSAIC is touting incentives and discounts on everything from art exhibitions to dolphin tours, with favorite destinations including the Flagler Museum, Mounts Botanical Garden and Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum participating.
Alongside visitor gifts and BOGO or two-for-one passes, there will be special programming and attractions throughout the month. Local hotels are also on board, with breaks during May on room rates available to both tourists and neighbors in need of a staycation.
There’s more at work here than just promoting arts and good vibes. The Cultural Council’s communications manager, Hannah Deadman-Arnst, says that MOSAIC is critical today in helping local cultural organizations recoup an estimated $360 million in economic activity lost to the pandemic. The campaign is part of a larger effort to help local cultural tourism thrive. With inflation and rising gas prices cutting into household budgets, Palm Beachers and others might also appreciate the discounts.
The annual event began in 2018 as a way to draw cultural tourists during the summer “shoulder season,” traditionally a slower time of the year with fewer visitors. (MOSAIC is especially promoted in “drive markets” considered reasonably accessible by car, including Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Atlanta.)
“Now that we are into 2022, we have people excited to get back out there and experience it fully,” Deadman-Arnst says. “There are more exhibition openings and different new seasons from cultural organizations. It’s feeling busier again.”
MOSAIC is in some ways a product of pure brainstorming: Council staff sit down with local businesses and cultural programmers to come up with workable, win-win promotions. Deadman-Arnst says the Council is seeing repeat participants as well as newcomers, and everyone involved understands they’re doing more than just queuing up discounts.
“It really is a celebration of arts and culture in the destination as a whole,” she says.
This year, MOSAIC is also partnering with Palm Beach County-based illustrator, graphic designer and painter Sam Nagel to produce the celebration’s campaign artwork, called “Colors of Home.” Also available for purchase as a poster, “Colors” practically vibrates with local iconography, not least the adorable pink flamingo pool float that is doing extra duty as a standalone logo on the MOSAIC homepage.
It’s an affectionate rendering of “the many things Palm Beach County has to offer, such as murals, lighthouses and outdoor experiences,” says Deadman-Arnst, who adds, “The campaign artwork is an opportunity to feature a local artist and showcase their work to a larger audience. It’s great for us and great for our local artist community.”


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If you are operating a marijuana organization in Los Angeles County with no a license: You are almost certainly going to want to promptly seek legal representation from lawyers with longtime encounter in state and federal marijuana criminal and civil instances. The California Bureau of Cannabis Handle reported it had carried out search warrants on two companies – 1 in Los Angeles County and the other in Sacramento County – for allegedly operating an unlicensed cannabis organization.
January 9th marked the finish of what state regulators referred to as the grace period for unlicensed marijuana companies across the state. This was akin to a warning shot, with the agency noting the quite a few hundred unlicensed marijuana retailers and delivery solutions statewide are “taking their possibilities.” Even if they do close shop, there is no assure authorities wouldn’t take action right after the truth, even though it is far more probable they’ll want to pursue action against these in active operation.
Licensed L.A. marijuana retailers have been complaining for the final year that black industry operators have been undercutting their sales with an unfair benefit. The Sacramento raid stemmed from a complaint filed with the BCC, even though the agency didn’t indicate exactly where the tip originated.
Lots of of the shops slated to be targeted have been formerly collectives and co-ops permitted to operate by means of final year in spite of not getting a license. They had protection from state prosecution as designated health-related collectives, but that expired officially final month. However, though quite a few of these collectives have been lengthy-standing, there are not that quite a few licenses to go about. Some smaller sized marijuana companies may perhaps be priced out of licensing in some regions.
Los Angeles marijuana licensing attorneys know it is been an particularly problematic concern in this region due to the fact the city has been snail-pace slow to concern licenses. That signifies in spite of some of these operations are amongst these that have been operating legally in the state for two decades. Now, these organization owners have to choose no matter whether to totally close up shop due to the fact the city hasn’t expedited their registrations, or do they take “take their chances” and continue to operate on the black industry. Some owners told MjBizDaily.com it wasn’t just themselves they have been concerned about lengthy-time health-related marijuana individuals would be losing their access as well.
No matter if we’re going to see a slew of raids is unclear. It will probably rely on the volume of complaints in any provided area and the out there sources to address it.
Though arrests have been created by California state authorities, as future arrests guarantee also to be, there’s no assure operations promoting marijuana outdoors the statutory structure of the state framework will not danger federal charges, particularly if there is any indication the organization crossed state borders. The Obama administration’s Cole Memo, which the Trump administration has indicated – at least for now – it will abide, vows Division of Justice expenditures for prosecuting federal marijuana trafficking crimes only extends to these companies that are following state law.
The organization in Sacramento was an unlicensed cannabis delivery service, though the organization in in Los Angeles was a retailer. According to regulators’ press release, authorities with bureau’s Division of Investigation seized $250,000 in cannabis and associated goods from the search in Sacramento County and an additional practically $28,000 and two firearms from the unlicensed marijuana retailer in L.A., exactly where six people today have been also arrested.
Finish of an era: Following Jan. 9, California’s unlicensed health-related cannabis collectives/co-ops illegal, Feb. three, 2019, By John Schroyer, MJBizDaily.com
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As most of the world already seems to know, the Blackberry Priv has been confirmed for pre-ordering through the Carphone Warehouse.
Though Blackberry has not yet given official confirmation, the ball does seem to be rolling now on one of the least surprising phone releases in recent news.
With leaks happening from many sources, including John Chen, the CEO of Blackberry, you have to wonder if they had planned to make the details so public from the start!
For those who have not seen the details already, the Blackberry Priv looks to be a promising new addition and will be sitting near the top end of current phones both in price and in specifications.
The phone will initially be available for £579 with no SIM, or offered for £49 on a monthly term.
The device is confirmed to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 CPU and 3GB of RAM. The storage is expandable, coming with a built-in 32GB storage capacity and able to hold a microSD card of up to 2TB. Pretty impressive!
As for the screen, it will have a 5.4-inch AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1440 resolution and a pixel density of 540ppi.
The Blackberry Priv will also be taking a step up in the camera department boasting an 18-megapixel camera on the back. However, the front camera, sitting at 2-megapixels may not be the most exciting news for the selfie enthusiasts out there.
The device will slide open for a full keyboard which is good news for those who follow blackberry specifically for their physical keyboards in a world that has gone crazy over touch screens.
Overall, it looks like blackberry is taking a strong step forward with this new phone. Be sure to check back frequently for more news and updates!


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The resort is the last of all Disney’s Asia parks to reopen
On Wednesday the Tokyo Disney Resort welcomed guests back for the first time in months after closing in early February.
Both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea were forced to end the magic and fun due to concerns from the coronavirus pandemic.
After four months of planning and preparation, those excited to meet the mouse and explore a magical kingdom were finally able to walk through the parks’ gates.
As guests walked in cast members were there to say okaerinasai, which translates to “welcome back.”
“All of the cast members will work together to operate the parks so that guests are able to enjoy the experience,” Disney said. “There may be instances in which we cause inconvenience to our guests but ask for your kind understanding and cooperation.”
Oriental Land, the company that operates the Tokyo parks announced its own reopening guidelines to ensure safety going forward.
“When reopening both parks, we will give top priority to ensuring the health and safety of our guests and the cast. We would appreciate your cooperation,” the tweet said.
The new safety measures include advance ticket booking, enhanced air circulation, mandatory temperature checks and social distancing while inside the park.
The park also reduced its hours of operation to only being open for 12 hours a day.
“We will also endeavor to promote health and safety by having the information filled in for the primary contact person when guests purchase tickets,” Disney added.
In both parks, attractions, entertainment, shops and restaurants will operate with reduced capacity or be closed.
[READ NEXT: Disney parks around the world reopen. What does that mean for us in Central Florida?]
Guests visiting the park will have to forfeit that dream of getting the perfect picture with Mickey and the gang.
While the fab 5 can be seen riding floats along the parade route or boats inside DisneySea, the group will not physically mingle with guests or pose for photos.
Shanghai Disneyland was the first Disney theme park to reopen. The park welcomed guests back in early May with new health protocols and safety guidelines. One of which was a reduced capacity inside the park.
Typical capacity in the Shanghai park is 80,000 visitors a day, but the government has cut that to about 30%, or 24,000 a day, said CEO Bob Chapek.
Disney had originally planned to have all 12 of its parks reopen by mid-July 2020.
Disneyland Paris is scheduled to begin its phased reopening on July 15.
In the U.S., this plan will not come to fruition as Disney’s original theme park pushes back it’s reopening due to rising COVID-19 cases in California.
Disneyland’s original reopening date was slated for July 17, however, that date has been postponed indefinitely after California officials declined to issue reopening guidelines for theme parks.
“Given the time required for us to bring thousands of cast members back to work and restart our business, we have no choice but to delay the reopening of our theme parks and resort hotels until we receive approval from government officials,” a representative for Disney said in a statement.
[MORE: Walt Disney World introduces new reservation system ahead of theme park’s opening]
Walt Disney World in Orlando is expected to open its doors on July 11. The park has received push back and complaints about concerns for the safety and health of guests and cast members.
Florida has seen cases of coronavirus skyrocket since its phased reopening. Thousands of new cases are reported every day causing businesses and local leaders to step up and alter the reopening process.
The Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom parks will open first on July 11, with Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios reopening July 15.


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Every year, tourists flock in large numbers to Canada’s smallest province—an estimated 1.5 million in 2016 alone—to enjoy a swim at Cavendish Beach, dig into a freshly caught lobster dinner and retrace the fictional footsteps of Canada’s most beloved redhead .
No doubt, these attractions will continue to draw visitors to Prince Edward Island. Less attractive as a tourist lure, however, is the ability to smoke cannabis legally—at least for now.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
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MYM joins forces with expert to boost tourism at cannabis facility
Take 5 from the Marijuana Business Conference
“While it’s yet to be determined how significant the impact may be, it’s safe to say we will greet visitors from around the globe who are curious about the Canadian cannabis experience,” says Ray Gracewood, chief commercial officer with Organigram Holdings Inc. in Moncton. The licensed producer of medical marijuana has signed a memorandum of understanding with the PEI government to distribute cannabis to the adult-use recreational market.
While the future may (hopefully) be bright for cannabis tourism, the opportunities at present are limited on the Island. Currently edibles are not available, smoking cannabis is restricted to private dwellings and there are no designated public areas for visitors or residents.
“Tourists visiting PEI would be subject to the general rules respecting consumption,” says Samantha Hughes, senior communications officer for the provincial Department of Finance .
That said, hotel operators, cottage owners and others who offer accommodation can permit cannabis smoking on their premises at their discretion. “Much like smoking, the operator of the hotel or campground has the ability to permit, restrict or prohibit consumption of cannabis on the premises,” says Hughes.
However, it’s unlikely that many accommodations will offer up cannabis as a rental incentive, suggests Andrew Sprague, a senior communications officer for PEI’s Department of Economic Development and Tourism . “The vast majority of individual rooms do not allow smoking,” says Sprague, although the exact percentage is unknown since no requirement exists for hotels and motels to report these figures.
He also points out that 90 percent of tourists to the Island are from elsewhere in Canada , where most can easily and conveniently access cannabis when they want. “We’re not promoting PEI as some sort of pot destination,” Sprague says.
The government’s position is that under the current legislation, it cannot offer tourists anything more by way of access to cannabis, but private hospitality companies can.
Maritimes, curated cannabis experiences could be a natural fit
While Gracewood is not aware of any cannabis-specific tourism initiatives in the Maritime region, “the added allure of legal cannabis consumption by adults certainly makes it a prime location for cannatourism,” he suggests.
“As in the legalized U.S. states,” Gracewood points out, “we anticipate an increase in tourism to Canada and to the beautiful Maritime region, when tourism providers begin to offer curated cannabis experiences for travelers.”
Although no East Coast numbers on cannatourism are available, a look at other jurisdictions might offer a preview of the possibilities.
Colorado’s Department of Revenue , for example, notes that about 6.5 million, out-of-state visitors had 17.9 million marijuana-use days in 2016. “Based on national survey data, visitors consume one gram of marijuana flower per use day while visiting Colorado. These figures combine for a total visitor demand of 19.0 metric tons of marijuana flower in 2017,” the report states. “Estimates for visitor demand reflect increased tourist visitation, higher state and national prevalence rates and a wider acceptance nationwide for marijuana use over previous years.”
To date, the Canadian government has not released estimates on the anticipated value of cannatourism in the country. But based on numbers out of Colorado, BNN Bloomberg reported prior to legalization that the Canadian figure could eventually reach $2 billion a year.
Time needed to take root and grow
There are a number of factors on which PEI cannatourism will hinge, Gracewood believes. Chief among those are consumption laws and allowable product types. “[These] will inevitably influence what a tourism or hospitality offering might look like,” he notes.
The seeds for cannatourism will take time to sprout, Gracewood suggests. ”As the recreational program matures, tour operators will have greater ability to build out robust tour programming.”
Although not on the Island, programming elsewhere has included tours of cannabis hotspots and dispensaries, cannabis-infused yoga retreats and bachelor parties.
Here at home, Organigram has an in-house department dedicated to delivering an up-close-and-personal experience to those with whom it shares a business interest. “We want to ensure those who have interest in visiting our facility are able, and while our current capacity limits that audience to our associates today, there may come a day that we extend our program to curious travelers as well,” says Gracewood.
Already, he reports, several tour operators have reached out, asking about partnerships to feature the facility as part of Maritime cannatours.
Kush Tours ’ recommendation? “Users on the Island should be discrete and smoke in their homes if possible—public consumption is illegal and frowned upon,” notes information on the company’s website.
Want to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribe to the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.


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Texas Scientists Use Mullite Oxide to Clean Diesel Exhaust in Cars
August 20, 2012 5:31 AM
comment(s) - last by
Dr. Kyeongjae Cho, study leader
(Source: UT Dallas)
Mullite replaces platinum, a precious metal that is expensive to mine and limited in supply
University of Texas at Dallas scientists found that a material called mullite, which is from a family of oxides, could replace platinum on diesel exhaust from automotives.
Platinum has been the go-to material for
because diesel exhaust emits more nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxode than gasoline vehicles (however, diesel engines are generally more efficient). To reduce the amount of these pollutants from diesel exhaust, platinum is commonly used.
The problem is that platinum is a precious metal, mainly because it is limited and very expensive to mine. For 10 tons of platinum ore mined, only 1 ounce is usually usable.
Another issue was that diesel engine exhaust was recently added to the
World Health Organization's list of items that are carcinogenic in humans
. Hence, finding an alternative that could clean diesel exhaust up further was pretty important.
Enter Dr. Kyeongjae Cho, study leader and professor of materials science and engineering and physics at UT Dallas. He and a team of researchers set out to find the alternative, and discovered that mullite was exactly what the doctor ordered.
After synthesizing mullite and using computer models to see how it consumes nitric oxide/nitrogen dioxode, it was discovered that an oxygen-based composition of mullite is not only cheaper to produce than platinum, but it also reduces diesel exhaust pollution 45 percent more than platinum.
"Our goal to move completely away from precious metals and replace them with oxides that can be seen commonly in the environment has been achieved," said Cho. "We've found new possibilities to create renewable, clean energy technology by designing new functional materials without being limited by the supply of precious metals."
This new mullite discovery is already being commercialized as Noxicat.
University of Texas at Dallas
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
8/21/2012 7:43:41 AM
I see I'm sitting at -1, but have apparently hijacked the thread with only one post! Keep on suckin' them pigs, for those of you who prefer your coffee and donuts filtered that way!
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It appears that Samsung may be following in Sony's footsteps by actually giving users what they want where bootloaders are concerned. According to this tweet from Android app developer Supercurio, a source at Samsung has stated that bootloaders on future Sammy devices will be unlocked as long as Google doesn't require otherwise. If true, this means really good things for the dev community, who will never have to deal with the trials and tribulations that tech-savvy Motorola owners have had to face.
The Green movement seems to be on the rise with smartphones lately (remember the Motorola Citrus?) - Sprint announced today that it has teamed up with Samsung to do their part in helping out too. The first eco-friendly Android phone to hit its network will be the Samsung Replenish, made of 34.6% recycled plastic, sporting an energy efficient charger, and packaging made from 80% recycled material marked with soy ink.
We all know about the update woes that owners of Samsung handsets have faced over the past several months - owners of the VZW Fascinate are still waiting on their update to Froyo. It looks that wait may be coming to an end as the source code has finally shown up on Samsung's Open Source Release Center. Even if the official OTA doesn't hit phones soon, you can rest assured that XDA devs will be hard at work hacking and compiling this source, so you'll be able to enjoy all of the Froyo goodness that you can handle soon enough.
Let's go back in time for a moment, shall we? Think with me, if you will, back to when we first told you about the Sensation ROM leak. Do you remember? Ah, the nostalgia. It seems like it was only yesterday that we were trying to get the download mirror set up so all the devs could get to work on porting this ROM to other devices and... Oh, yes.
If there's one thing that most rooted users love to do, it's flash their devices. While ROM Manager has always made flashing new ROMs particularly easy, what about new kernels? ROM Manager does support kernel flashing, but it's pretty basic compared to the app's other features. That's all about to change though, because XDA member Shinzul along with TeamWin have been working on a ROM Manager-esque app for kernels, appropriately named Universal Kernel Manager.
Are you sitting down? Assuming you're reading this on your PC, I would imagine that you are. Unless, of course, you have a standing desk, in which case I urge you to sit down. We've seen it pop up on the web but haven't really heard anything about its price. This time, however, it looks like it made an in-store appearance at Walmart and brought a price tag along with it.
I know that everyone loves leaks, so here is a good one for all of the devs out there, especially ones that are looking to port Sense 3.0 to devices that HTC says won't get it (at least not all of it anyway). A test ROM for the HTC Sensation (yes, the one we just told you about on earlier this week, also known as the Pyramid) has publically leaked with all goodies, including Sense 3.0, intact.
You know what I hate? Having to start over from the beginning of Angry Birds every time I flash a new ROM. I won't have to deal with that for much longer, though - according to the official Twitter page of Rovio Mobile, they're working on the greatest thing to happen to Angry Birds since the slingshot. Yes, I'm talking about syncing.
Once it's finished and unleashed to the world, each time you flash a new ROM, get a new device, or even switch platforms altogether (I'm looking at you iOS crossovers), you will be able to take all of your current bird tossing accomplishments with you.
If you have a Honeycomb tablet, there's a good chance that you're starting to leave your laptop behind more and more often. But what happens if you get away from the desk only to realize that there is a file that you need? You turn to PocketCloud from Wyse Technologies, of course.
As you may have guessed, as of today PocketCloud has been updated to include support for Honeycomb tablets.


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Microsoft charged for browser selection breachBy David Farrell on October 25, 2012 12:12 am
The European Union has just charged Microsoft for not giving it's users a choice of browser in Windows 7
The EU has charged Microsoft with a breach in an agreement made with the European Commission three years ago. Microsoft had promised to allow users a choice of browser when installing their Windows 7, but this is a promise made three years ago, and still not fulfilled. The charge concerns any Windows 7 copies sold after February of 2011. Microsoft is claiming this is a technical error; that the browser choice screen did indeed exist, but simply didn't display. They ensure that the issue will be fixed.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, they did not pick up on this technical error before the EU did, and now initial steps have been taken which may lead to a nasty fine for the software corporation. The EU's competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia has stated that Microsoft should expect sanctions, should it be decided that Microsoft is indeed infringing on the agreement.
The battle between Microsoft and the EU has already cost the company an estimated €1.7 billion, and this fine could spell even more trouble for Microsoft as it could allegedly be as high as 10% of the company's earnings; a truly gargantuan amount.
Latest HeadlinesKenny Doan | December 14, 2013
Will you buy the iPhone 5C for $27 with a two-year contract? Probably not, but that’s okay, because there’s also the $127 5S to choose from at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart...
VR-Zone is a leading online technology news publication reporting on bleeding edge trends in PC and mobile gadgets, with in-depth reviews and commentaries.


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id Software has announced that Rage will be released on 13th September 2011 in North America and two days later on 15th September 2011 in Europe.
Prior to the announcement, designer Tim Willits and colleagues from the development team had demonstrated the game on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously - one system on each of the three big screens behind the main QuakeCon stage.
"We are going to have the biggest, coolest, most badass launch possible," Willits told the audience, whipping them into frenzy.
Joking that the studio's mantra of "when it's done" was "usually because we really don't know", he said id was prepared to draw a line in the sand this time, for the first time.
"We are committed to not trying to rush this game out," he said, presumably in reference to the slightly distant date - over a year away. "We're going to hit that date."
Willits said the decision to demo the game on all three formats together was a counterpoint to the usual patter during demonstrations about platform parity. "Today you can see for yourself."
The demo took in a new ruined industrial area, followed by the town of Wellspring and a mission fighting Ghost bandits in the depths of the well beneath the town.
It then moved on to Dam Facility, a level dominated by the Wasted bandits with their quirky cor-blimey-guvnor British accents. The session concluded with a pitched battle against mutants among the toppled skyscrapers of Dead City.
As the players fought regular mutants, a much taller and more aggressive one turned up and attacked with ranged explosives. Once everyone was all dealt with the ground began to shake, loosening dust from surrounding ruins, before a colossal adversary rounded a corner and roared.
While the PC version was noticeably better-looking with sharper textures and resolution, all three systems ran at a chirpy 60 frames per second more or less throughout - the only other differences being that the Xbox 360 and PS3 builds took about 20 and 40 seconds longer to load respectively at the outset.
The Xbox 360 version also crashed at one point. "If it was finished, we'd ship it," Willits quipped.
At the end of the presentation Willits also invited every member of the Rage development team to stand up, and said he was "humbled and honoured" to work with them. It was all very sweet.
Look out for more on Rage soon.


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This Filipino Man Created A Unique Prosthetic Face Mask That Looks Weird
Nobody thought that the one thing that would become the new normal would be face masks in 2020. But, due to the coronavirus pandemic, every government across the globe has requested their people to use face masks when venturing out of their homes or interacting with strangers. These masks serve an important purpose to keep you safe but they do look quite dull. To fix this, many people have begun modifying or customizing their masks to suit their needs while still giving them all the protection they need.
1Masks are now a part of our lives
Since the coronavirus pandemic started every government across the globe issued a stern order for its citizens to wear masks. These masks play an important role in keeping the COVID-19 virus at bay as it covers our mouth and nose which are two easy entry points for the virus to get into our bodies.
2But masks are boring
Even though they are important, masks are boring. It’s just a piece of fabric across your face. Now, since there does not seem to be an end date for this pandemic many people have begun customizing their masks. This does not affect the integrity of the masks but makes it more pleasing to look at.
3Meet Rene Abelardo
While most people try to enhance their face masks by adding a cool design to it Rene Abelardo from the Philippines decided to go one step further. He designed an entire prosthetic face to cover his mask. After his daughter posted his pictures on her social media the man went viral.
4A very unique mask
Rene Abelardo is a prosthetics maker by profession and his work looks like something out of a horror movie. The mask design made headlines in the local news media and gave the creator a chance to sell some of them to eager fans. Yes, his designs are so well made that people are willing and eager to buy them.
5Why did he make it?
Rene Abelardo has been working with prosthetics for a long time for television and movies in his country. Since he has to wear a mask every time he leaves the house he decided to spice it up with a prosthetic face on the mask. According to him, this does grab a lot of attention.


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The Spanish fashion marketplace led by Rafa Blanc and Blanca Miró has completed its second funding round, as it seeks to automate its operations and increase the number of designers in its catalogue from 120 to 1,000.
Italian brands Missoni and Palm Angels, both particularly active in recent months, have fused together their styles to create a collection of 150 pieces for both men and women which will launch on June 30.
Delta Galil is on a roll. Fresh from announcing a major underwear licence deal with Adidas, the Israel-based manufacturer will now tcreate, produce and market new women’s lingerie and swimwear collections for Wolford.
With Birkenstock’s hot product status continuing, a new collaboration should only enhance the German footwear producer’s reputation further. It’s teamed up with luxury label Jil Sander on a men’s and women’s collection.
Milan Fashion Week Men ended on Tuesday with a sense of unfinished business. Nearly all shows were virtual and there was little buzz in the city, though designers conveyed unreserved optimism in their videos.
Isabel Marant has launched an online platform dedicated to reselling its vintage pieces. People who donate pieces to the site will receive a voucher and all proceeds will go towards the designer’s charitable fund.


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Mortal Kombat XL is now available to buy on PC.
Watch Predator slaughter and dismember opponents in the new Mortal Kombat X Predator DLC trailer.
Two pieces of DLC hit the news this week. Both are for long-running and much-loved franchises but both are worlds apart in terms of quality and...
The relationship between violence and videogames is one that has almost always been up for debate, and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.