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The hard drive industry is suffering from floods in Thailand, where 40% of the global hard drive supply is manufactured. Unit prices skyrocket, system builders from Dell (NAS: DELL) to Hewlett-Packard (NYS: HPQ) face parts shortages just as we're heading into the crucial holiday shopping season, and the stage is set for the budding solid-state drive technology to save the day. SSD sales should be going through the roof under these circumstances, right?
In theory, they should. Reality is a bit more complicated. System builders must put SSD drives through the paces before slapping them in as hard-drive replacements. Then corporations must qualify the reconfigured system to their own standards before placing orders. High performance and readily available parts may not mean much in the face of high prices per gigabyte and uncertain long-term reliability.
Remember, we're not just talking about a new product line here but a wholesale technology revolution.
That's why SSD specialist STEC (NAS: STEC) is facing "one of the most challenging quarters that we have experienced in the past few years" in the fourth quarter. The company is rolling out a whole new generation of drives, often restarting the clock on that cumbersome qualification process.
Meanwhile, STEC has to deal with hard drive makers offering either "very low aggressive pricing to displace us" or even lower-cost but also lower-performance solutions in order to stay competitive to enterprise customers. "We view these practices by certain competitors as unsustainable over the long term," says CEO Manouch Moshayedi, but that doesn't help much in the short term.
The traditional hard drive market is boiling down to Western Digital (NYS: WDC) and Seagate International (NAS: STX) thanks to a string of acquisitions, so it's pretty clear that Manouch is talking about these two.
The new products bring "exponentially higher performance, enhanced reliability, and endurance," while also relying on less expensive memory technologies. But like I said, it'll take a while to move these seemingly slam-dunk wins into mass production and serious revenues.
So the just-reported third quarter beat analyst targets with $0.14 of non-GAAP earnings per share on $72.5 million in sales. But the outlook on the next quarter and the start of 2012 was gloomy enough to send shares down by as much as 20.5%.
We have a double-dip buying opportunity in front of us here, after two consecutive quarters of reticent short-term guidance but an intact long-term growth story. I'm taking advantage of this mismatch between long-term business and myopic pricing by putting a thumbs-up rating on STEC in my all-star CAPS portfolio.
Follow along by clicking here. At the very least, you should use our watchlist service to keep a close eye on this mispriced stock. That's another simple one-click action, and you don't even have to take a bullish or bearish stand here.
Read up on my list of screaming tech buys:
At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Anders Bylund has started a synthetic long position in OmniVision but holds no other position in any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Western Digital. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Dell. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinion, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Check out Anders' holdings and bio, or follow him on Twitter and Google+. We have a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2011 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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New Recalls And More Than 80 Lawsuits: The Future of General Motors
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
General Motors CEO Mary Barra meets with shareholders today. It’s her first public appearance since GM’s internal review made public last week detailed the company’s 11-year failure to recall cars with defective ignition switches. In recent months GM has been changing course: so far this year there have been 34 recalls involving 2.6 million cars. Mary Barra has promised the company will ‘do the right thing’ for families of those killed or injured as a result of the defective switches. But some say she faces an uphill battle in efforts to build trust in the company and its products.
president emeritas, Public Citizen.
Washington bureau chief, The Detroit News.
attorney, Arent Fox, specializing in the automotive industry
attorney, Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis,specializing in consumer class action suits

domain: news


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IHG Hotels and Resorts has announced plans to debut its Vignette Collection in China and Germany.
Shanghai Snow World Hotel, Vignette Collection will form part of a dual-branded development which will also house a Crowne Plaza property.
The two hotels will be situated within the forthcoming Shanghai Yaoxue Snow World Complex, described as “a highly anticipated integrated sports-entertainment-tourism resort with the world’s biggest alpine-themed indoor ski park”.
Both properties are scheduled to open in the first half of 2024, with the Crowne Plaza hotel offering around 375 rooms and the Vignette property around 275.
Meanwhile in Germany IHG will open Alte Post Vignette Collection in Reit im Winkl (pictured above), a village on the German/Austrian border in southeastern Bavaria, popular for outdoor activities including skiing, mountain trekking and hiking.
The hotel is scheduled to open in 2026, and will offer 150 rooms, two restaurants, a wellness area including saunas and a swimming pool.
IHG launched the luxury lifestyle Vignette brand in 2021, with Hotel X in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley the first to join the brand, followed by properties in Portugal, Austria and Thailand.
Commenting on the brand’s debut in Germany, Willemijn Geels, vice president of development for Europe, at IHG Hotels and Resorts, said:
“We are thrilled to introduce Vignette Collection to the German market. The global success of the brand in its first year, with 14 hotels signed or opened, speaks volumes to its emphasis on delivering one-of-a-kind stays and memorable moments alongside a commitment to more responsible travel.
“Our growth in Germany has been especially strong in recent years and adding Vignette Collection to the pipeline is an exciting development in our luxury growth strategy.”


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Over 6.3 million VR headsets were shipped in 2016
The VR technology’s was the latest trend in 2016, according to research firm Super Data and support of this are clear – last year was sold 6.3 million headsets of virtual reality.
At 2016 we saw some very important premieres of VR helmets and mobile VR accessories, claim the report called Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: 2016 Mobile and VR Games Year in Review.
The breakdown shows that was sold 4.5 million Gear VR headset, while the second is PlayStation VR, whose sales approaching one million units. In turn, this leaves about one million sales that are divided between Oculus, Google and HTC.
According to the report HTC Vive is ahead Rift, selling over 400,000 copies despite the price of $800. The conclusion is that Oculus is the preferred VR device with social gaming and applications, while developers and professionals prefer HTC Vive.
Reports from Super Data are very important, because the only company to announce actual sales, is Samsung. For everyone else we should look estimates values based on market analysis. Post from: GizBrainhttp://szlifestyle.com/sz/2017/02/06/6-3-million-vr-headsets-shipped-2016/https://i1.wp.com/szlifestyle.com/sz/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/vr.jpg?fit=900%2C506https://i1.wp.com/szlifestyle.com/sz/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/vr.jpg?resize=180%2C150TECH NEWShtc,htc Vive VR,Oculus Rift,Virtual Reality,VRThe VR technology's was the latest trend in 2016, according to research firm Super Data and support of this are clear - last year was sold 6.3 million headsets of virtual reality. At 2016 we saw some very important premieres of VR helmets and mobile VR accessories, claim the report called Can’t...Richard D.Richard Deendeen@szlifestyle.comContributorRichard Deen is a writer at szlifestyle. What can I say I love gadgets!szlifestyle.com Tech News, Life Style, Reviews, Videos!


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With the upcoming festive season, Nexus Malls have launched a campaign, Happyness Wali Diwali with Ayushmann Khuranna, who was recently announced to be their Happyness Ambassador.
Festivities have already begun in India and Nexus Malls is all set to make Diwali celebrations even more special this year. Propagating its ‘Happyness Wali Diwali’ campaign this year, is none other than Bollywood star Ayushmann Khurrana, the mall’s ‘Happyness Ambassador’.
Visit #NexusMalls with your loved ones for a #HappynessWaliDiwali. Gift them something they'll remember forever! #NexusMalls pic.twitter.com/MfCBaw4Je1
— Ayushmann Khurrana (@ayushmannk) October 1, 2019
Also Read: Dulux unveils new TV campaign with Boman Irani
Happiness is enhanced manifold when Diwali is celebrated with your near and dear ones and to communicate the same, all nine malls under the portfolio of Nexus Malls have launched a digital Ad campaign featuring Ayushmann. Conceptualized and created by Ogilvy and What Works production house, this is the first time ever a mall company has launched an Ad campaign featuring a Bollywood actor.
The Ad campaign will be relevant for all the nine assets under the portfolio of Nexus Malls and will be promoted across print, outdoor, radio and digital mediums. The film’s story revolves around a man who is upset about being away from his family on Diwali. When noticed by Ayushmann’s character, he arranges for the man’s parents to visit him, adding happiness to his Diwali.


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Sky Media has reintroduced its AdSmart business support scheme which incentivises Irish advertisers with €20,000 worth of airtime on Sky channels. The initiative is open to businesses that have been operating for at least a year and have not used TV advertising before. Businesses can nominate themselves or may be put forward by a media agency.
At least 10 winners may be selected by an internal panel at Sky, headed up by director of sales Malcolm Murray (pictured). AdSmart is designed to appeal to advertising by providing reach beyond the traditional base. It allows advertisers target specific audiences by Eirco, household composition or lifestyle attributes. AdSmart was first launched in 2017.
The platform was extended to Virgin Media services last year. In 2020, Sky Media launched a €250,000 AdSmart SME support scheme. The fund provided 25 businesses with a free €10,000 TV campaign on Sky’s AdSmart to support them during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Entries for the new scheme are now being accepted until Tuesday, August 3rd.


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IT departments are concerned about the privacy of their personal information if mobile device management (MDM) software were installed on smartphones or tablets they brought from home to use at work, according to the results of a survey of 335 IT professionals sponsored by MokaFive and conducted through an independent survey firm. The findings highlight the growing concern over bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives
Survey results also indicated businesses are unprepared for dealing with the growing BYOD trend. Despite the fact that most survey respondents were IT personnel, about one third reported having no BYOD policies in place, and 10 percent admitted to not knowing whether their companies even had BYOD policies. However, nearly nine in 10 (88 percent) of respondents said their companies had some form of BYOD, whether sanctioned or not.
Furthermore, IT professionals said current platforms to secure personal mobile devices, such as mobile device management (MDM) technologies, are too intrusive. Implementation of MDM software brought about a widely negative response from those surveyed, with 77 percent saying MDM software was unacceptable, unpalatable or left them feeling violated.
Just 17.8 percent reported having full-disk encryption of personal devices, while 28.3 percent reported implementing two-factor authentication policies. The vast majority (63 percent) reported using a virtual private network (VPN) to secure personal mobile devices in the workplace. Nearly a third (31.8 percent) said they didn't have a policy concerning data ownership on personal devices, though 57.1 percent said they did have a policy in place, while 11.1 percent didn't know
This article was originally published on 07-24-2012


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Businesses buying second-hand jewelry or electronics will now need to hold onto their merchandise for 10 days before reselling.
Members of the Town Board approved a second-hand dealers law they hope will provide police investigators with a tool to track stolen goods fenced in Rotterdam. The law was unanimously passed after a brief discussion Wednesday and goes into effect immediately.
Among other things, the local legislation requires all second-hand dealers to hold on to purchased items for 10 days and send police a report of the inventory they take in each day. The legislation also requires second-hand dealers to secure a license through the town, require all sellers to present valid identification before selling their wares and allow police to inspect their records during regular business hours.
Board member Robert Godlewski was the only board member to raise issues with the law. He questioned whether the broad-ranging description of the legislation would apply to all second-hand merchandise, such as model trains sold and resold at a business on Hamburg Street.
Deputy Chief William Manikas assured him the law only pertains to merchandise that is typically stolen. He said the police will specifically apply the law to jewelry, precious metals and electronics, rather than for items typically sold by hobby shops.
“We have no intention of enforcing it that way,” he said.
Rotterdam Police have identified 14 businesses that will be subjected to the law and will dispatch officers to each in order to walk owners through the steps they need to take to come into compliance. He anticipates enforcing the law sometime within the next 30 days.
The law drew stern rebuke from several area jewelry stores, largely due to the increased reporting component and the extended waiting period. Some said the 10-day waiting period would put them at a competitive disadvantage when buying gold and make them vulnerable to market whims.
In response, town officials compiled a list of Capital Region municipalities with second-hand dealer laws that include a 10-day waiting period or more, including Colonie, Cohoes, and Amsterdam. The city of Buffalo has a 21-day waiting period, according to material compiled by the town.
“I truly believe 10 days is fair,” Manikas said.
But this hasn’t alleviated the concerns of some local second-hand dealers. Michael Hug of Jewels in Rotterdam Square mall said the 10-day waiting period will likely crush everything that he has worked to build since starting his business 16 years ago.
“It took 16 years to build this business up and now they’re going to knock it down,” he said. “It’s going to cripple us.”
Hug said he regularly pays out upward of $7,000 in a day to buy gold and makes about a 5 percent profit by selling it to smelters. He estimates he’ll run out of cash to purchase more gold within five days.
Even worse, Hug said he’ll have to guess the price he’ll get for gold when he finally can sell the jewelry he takes in. With the price of gold fluctuating on a daily basis, he said the purchases could become a major loss when he’s finally able to sell them.
“I could lose thousands of dollars,” he said.


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YapStone, a provider of web and mobile payment solutions and processing, hired Mary Hentges as its new chief executive officer.
Hentges comes armed with experience at PayPal, where she served as CFO for seven years. “Mary will be more than our senior-most finance executive – she has the ability and experience to help YapStone disrupt and innovate payment markets around the world. She’s one of very few who have done it before,” said Tom Villante, chairman and co-founder of YapStone.
YapStone, based in Walnut Creek, said in a statement that its revenue is up 50 percent during the past year and recently landed a $50 million round of financing led by Accel Partners.
The firm's CEO, Matthew Golis, told the Business Times last year that he expected the firm to bring in revenue of $100 million in 2011 and process about $3.5 billion in payments.
One of Hentges’ roles at YapStone will be to help the company expand internationally.
“I have been fortunate to work with some of the leading interactive media and payment companies,” she said in a statement. “With YapStone’s lead in targeted market payment solutions, I look forward to working with the team to enable their global expansion.”


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Saturday, 27 August 2016
VW cries ‘wolf’ over short-time working
Sabre-rattling by Volkswagen over possible interruptions to production of Golf and Passat passenger cars due to component shortage proved to be empty words.
The expected short-time work at five plants proved to be “not required” as “internal flexibilization measures” took charge of the situation and cushioned any damage to workers’ take-home pay or production output.
The German carmaker claims that following the agreement reached with two suppliers, it could significantly reduce the effects of interruptions in production and for the most part compensate for downtimes by means of internal flexibilization measures.
The company had initially made precautionary arrangements for flexibilization measures at six plants and had not ruled out short-time work.
VW adds that thanks to the “swift return to normal production”, short-time work at the five plants in Wolfsburg, Zwickau, Kassel, Salzgitter and Braunschweig were not required.
VW further claims that affected sections at the Kassel and Salzgitter plants resumed normal production “immediately”. This was made possible by flexibilization measures similar to those also deployed at the affected section of the Braunschweig plant.
The vehicle production plants in Wolfsburg, Zwickau and Emden also began intensive preparations to return to full production as soon as possible immediately following the agreement.
Consequently, permission for short-time work was sought only for the Emden plant, while internal measures were used to bridge interruptions in Wolfsburg and Zwickau.
So that’s alright then! No cause for concern.


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A Breakdown Of How Much Money Was Spent On Booze At The Top Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Venues And Hotels Within Dallas Proper In February 2019.
Welcome to Bar Raised, our recurring column that proves that Texans like to spend copious amounts of their income participating in the Great American Pastime. We know this because, as Reddit user BadLemur once pointed out, the Texas Comptroller keeps tabs on that sort of thing and makes all that info public record. Any establishment in the state that holds a Mixed Beverage license must report all sales revenue generated from the sale of liquor, beer and wine at their establishments on a monthly basis. The comptroller, in turn, puts all that info into a conveniently navigable database. And then we break down Dallas’ numbers for you here.
Folks in Dallas spent more than $70 million on booze in Dallas bars and restaurants in February. That’s a lot!
But before we reveal this month’s biggest seller’s, let’s take a quick swim through the month’s biggest, booziest stories.
Like this first one, which actually contains zero booze. Last year, a guy in England found an old apothecary book, which led him to start distilling his own non-alcoholic spirits and launching a company called Seedlip to hawk his wares. Now, his three spirits are being served up at the Pegasus Bar at the Omni Hotel, and can be bought by the bottle at Pogo’s Wine & Spirits.
They’d make a good alternative to alcohol for folks like affluenza fuck Ethan Couch, whose long list of misdeeds includes killing some folks in an underage drunk driving incident and fleeing the country while out on bail. Anyway, that guy is out of jail now, and was allowed recently by a judge to remove his ankle monitor. What the actual fuck?!
His release comes just in time to take advantage of Instacart’s booze delivery service. That platform, by the way, called Dallas its eighth booziest city.
Last up, the parents of a 29-year-old who died at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas are suing the facility for allegedly violating the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. Their suit alleges the Four Seasons overserved their daughter, providing her with somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 drinks and allowing her BAC to reach 0.5 — five times the legal limit.
That’s a tragic situation no matter how you look at it, and should maybe serve to remind all of us to exercise a little more caution while consuming alcoholic beverages.
Dallas Establishments With Top Gross Alcohol Sales For February 2019.
1. LEVY RESTAURANTS: $1,333,843
2. SALC, INC.: $1,180,492
3. OMNI DALLAS CONVENTION CENTER: $1,152,013
4. BOTTLED BLONDE- THE BACK YARD: $941,483
5. HAPPIEST HOUR, LLC: $655,890
6. DALLAS REGENCY CORPORATION: $654,440
7. HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL INC.: $571,276
8. EPIC ABS LLC.: $557,250
9. NICK & SAM’S STEAK & FISH HOUSE: $505,556
10. GILLEY’S DALLAS: $496,394
11. MOXIE’S GRILL & BAR: $456,356
12. COOL RIVER CAFE: $424,408
13. ESCAPADE 2001 DALLAS: $408,068
14. BABY DOLLS TOPLESS SALOON: $407,462
15. HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS RESTAURANT CORP: $396,546
16. FAIRMONT DALLAS HOTEL: $392,598
17. COWBOY’S RED RIVER: $391,820
18. ROUNDUP SALOON: $375,763
19. DFB CAPITAL LLC: $374,319
20. JOULE BEVERAGE LLC: $372,040
Total alcohol sales in Dallas in February 2019: $70,763,073.
Last month’s total: $68,287,668.


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Businesses realise that investment in good quality content and copy for their website is crucial to the success of their brand.
York, UK (PRWEB UK) 21 February 2014
In 2013 big brand names such as Comet, JJB Sports, Habitat, Jane Norman and Faith Shoes were the latest victims to lose their fight for survival in these harsh financial times. The number of companies entering administration in recent years has been high and has included some huge household names.
Heavy increases in rents for prime city centre shops, large out-of-town shopping parks and a reduction of consumer spending has left many businesses struggling. Many businesses had been able to rely on having a strong brand reputation to maintain their revenue, but this is no longer enough to guarantee customer retention. The shopping habits of today’s society are very different than they were 10 years ago. The British Retail Consortium revealed earlier this month that there were record internet sales in December 2013. A staggering 19.2% increase on internet (non-food) purchases in December 2013 against figures for December 2012, the fastest increase in four years.
Consumers are now more likely to browse on the internet to find the best price for the goods they are interested in to find the best deal. With many shops now offering some kind of ‘price match deal’, the consumer has much more power in both where, and how, they spend their money. Businesses must re-evaluate the way they engage with their customers to ensure they stay one step ahead of the trends. With increasing online sales the most effective way of achieving this is to build and maintain a strong online presence.
Many companies retain in-house marketing teams consisting of copy writers, web designers, SEO consultants and website developers. However, for small to medium size businesses this is too large a staff team to retain. These businesses look to ways of ‘out sourcing’ these marketing requirements. The most cost effective way to do this is by commissioning a freelance to take responsibility for each of these roles.
Using the services of a freelance copywriter means that for a relatively low cost you can benefit from professional standard writing without the long term burden of increasing employee numbers. Most businesses also use social media and networking as a way of frequently and cost effectively updating the information on their website. Copywriters can be invaluable to a business ensuring their social network and media profile is current, professional, fresh and engaging. The importance of professionalism on social media and networking should not be underestimated by businesses, just a look at the Twitter incident involving Justine Sacco to illustrate that point.
Sophie Watts, Chief Copy Writer at Creative Copy Writers, Copywriter York, had this to say about why she thinks, in these times of uncertainty, her company has gone from strength to strength; “Businesses realise that investment in good quality content and copy for their website is crucial to the success of their brand. The initial cost to our clients is soon recouped with the increase in revenue gained through the subsequent increase in website visitor and conversion rates.”


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"Employee #4" at Google’s AdWords Ad Operations team is marking the 10-year anniversary of launching her Indianapolis-based marketing agency. During an interview on a special edition of Inside INdiana Business focusing on entrepreneurial women, Found Search + Marketing Managing Partner Julie Warnecke says her company has created a culture where it is "as easy as possible" for women to enter, stay and grow in the work force. Warnecke says working at Google in the company’s early years helped show her how to organize and scale a business, and gave her problem-solving and hiring lessons she takes into the field today. Warnecke was on Google’s AdWords team from its inception and says FoundSM’s core expertise is still in the paid search world.
Over the years, the company has grown to include a full portfolio of marketing services, including pay-per-click, search engine optimization, email marketing and web development. FoundSM is a certified Google Partner and manages a total annual AdWords and Paid Social spend of $50-60 million.
In addition to Warnecke, the company’s chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer are all women. "I think definitely at Google, whether you were a man or a woman, it was really an inclusive environment and at Found, we really wanted to build that," Warnecke said. "At Found, we want everyone to feel like they are included and their contributions are important."
Its Indiana-based and global clients are in industries such as education, health care and home services. The company offers benefits including paid maternity leave in an effort to attract women to and keep women in the tech-driven work force.
You can connect to more about FoundSM by clicking here.
Editor’s Note: A previous version incorrectly identified Warnecke as "Google Employee #4."


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Inside a small cafe in Al Quoz, Thuraya Baalbaki receives another delivery of coffee beans.
The roastery is filled with burlap sacks of raw beans and cupboards of roasted beans. Baalbaki opens one drawer after another with pride, filling the air with a heady, rich fragrance.
"This is the Turkish," she tells The National. "This is the Turkish dark roast. This is the Zayed Roast."
She points to a set of bags. “We just got this from Gesha Village, Ethiopia, and our customers were in such a hurry, they didn’t even wait, they wanted it after only two days of roasting.”
The cafe is empty but business is good.
Fairouz Coffee & Roastery is training coffee lovers who have taken to brewing their own cups at home since the Covid-19 lockdown.
The change comes as restaurants and cafes find new ways to adapt and thrive during the pandemic.
“This is a new market for us, the households that are preparing their own coffee,” Baalbaki, the roastery’s coffee consultant, says.
"At this time, it is about adaptation. The quicker you adapt to new market trends, to new rules, the better chance that you will be able to survive, you will be able to continue, you will be able to show your product."
Although Dubai's cafes and restaurants have reopened for business, fewer people are venturing out.
Many coffee aficionados ordered machines during lockdown, so courses show would-be baristas how to select the right beans, grind, blend and brew the perfect cup.
“After all, even if you have the best coffee bean, if you prepare it wrong, you will not be able to get the best cup of coffee,” says Baalbaki.
Before the pandemic, the roastery took orders for offices, hotels, restaurants and cafes.
But even as tourism slowed and offices shut, there was never a question that the city would lose its love of java.
"Coffee culture is really well-established in the Emirates," she points out. "It started with Arabic coffee, then Turkish coffee and nowadays it's taken the young generation, who are more into the Italian coffee."
So now Fairouz delivers Turkish, Arabic and espresso blends to homes in Dubai, Hatta, Al Ain and even to the desert towns west of Abu Dhabi, hundreds of kilometres away.
“The knowledge of coffee among the young generation is tremendously high,” Nasser Lootah, the cafe’s owner, notes. “They don’t accept just anything, it should be top.”
The coronavirus pandemic hit a year after he opened the business, which he started because his majlis was renowned for its brew.
His home blend of Arabic coffee is a point of pride, and developed into a love of specialty, single-origin coffee from small farms.
“Frankly speaking, it started as a hobby,” says Lootah, who also runs a landscaping company. “When we served coffee in our house, people would say the coffee is excellent, how do you do it? The idea came from that.”
This led him to Baalbaki, who grew up with her family’s roastery business on Hamra Street in Beirut, Lebanon.
“In Lebanon, we are coffee drinkers," says Baalbaki. "We developed our coffee in a Turkish way, it’s very finely ground.
“The coffee business in Lebanon is very advanced and its coffee is exported to the whole world. If you want Turkish coffee, they will get you a pack from Lebanon.”
Trade secrets from Beirut’s Hamra Street and a Dubai majlis will been taken to Nepal
The barista course will be taught by Ram Dhungel, a Nepalese barista who knew Lootah as a regular customer from another cafe years before Fairouz opened.
Dhungel works alongside his wife Nur Aryal, but the coronavirus outbreak has caused the baristas to reconsider their life plans.
Aryal will return shortly to Nepal to join their 9-year-old son, who was living in a boarding school before the pandemic. She plans to open her own cafe and roastery in Kathmandu, serving locally farmed coffee.
“There is very good coffee in Nepal because of the altitude,” says Aryal.
“My plan is to work from plant to cup. I want to pick my red [coffee] cherries, I want to roast it and I want to give it to my customer.”
Aryal joined her husband in the UAE in 2014 after encouragement from her daughter. “She said to me, ‘society should know you’ and she sent me.”
At Fairouz, she has learnt trade secrets from Beirut’s Hamra Street and a Dubai majlis that she will carry to Nepal, with the hope that one day she will greet Dubai customers in Kathmandu.
“Coffee makes the world small,” Aryal says.


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TOKYO (REUTERS) - Shares of Mitsubishi Materials Corp fell as much as 11 per cent on Friday (Nov 24), the lowest since August, after the firm said its subsidiaries had falsified product data, the latest in a series of quality assurance scandals involving Japanese manufacturers.
Mitsubishi Materials said that inspection data was falsified on parts used in aircraft, automobiles and industrial machinery, with more than 250 customers potentially affected.
Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko called the misconduct "a betrayal of trust in Japanese manufacturing, "pointing to the amount of time the company took to reveal the wrongdoing.
Mitsubishi Materials said on Thursday that data falsification at one subsidiary, Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd, was discovered in February.
The unit distorted data on around 20 per cent of its rubber sealing products, used in aircraft and cars, for two-and-a-half years from April 2015.
Another subsidiary, Mitsubishi Shindoh, manipulated data for metal products, used in cars and electronics, going back to October 2016.
Mitsubishi Materials said it stopped shipping affected materials from the two units in October.
In both cases the company said it had not found any safety or legal problems and has informed 54 of the 258 customers potentially affected.
The Nikkei business daily reported a third subsidiary, Mitsubishi Aluminum Co Ltd, also had shipped products out of specification. A company spokesman for both parent and subsidiary declined to confirm this.
With affected Mitsubishi Materials products used in defence equipment including aircraft engines, Japan's defence ministry is working to establish the impact of the wrongdoing but does not currently plan to stop using any equipment, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Friday.
Mitsubishi Materials is not a direct supplier of Airbus SE , which has not yet identified any suppliers receiving products from the company, an Airbus spokesman said.
Boeing Co is currently looking into the issue, a company spokesman said.
The news comes after Kobe Steel Ltd, Japan's third-biggest steelmaker, admitted in October that workers had tampered with product specifications, forcing companies around the world to check the safety of their products.
Mitsubishi Materials plans to hold a press conference at 0630 GMT.


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Movement of trucks along automobile section of Crimean Bridge will not open prior to December
MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The movement of freight transportation along the automobile section of the Crimean Bridge will not resume sooner than December 1 this year, the Russian Transport Ministry said in a statement.
There are currently three route options available for trucks to move through the Kerch Strait, those being specifically along an alternative land roadway, through the Kerch ferry crossing, and by reloading to railway transportation.
The Transport Ministry notes that the authorities have determined lists of priority freight accepted on a first-priority basis for transport by ferries owing to the significant waiting time for loading onto ferries along the Port of the Caucasus-Port of Kerch route.
"Among the freight are perishable goods, socially significant foodstuffs and non-food cargo, and pharmaceutical products. Other types of cargo can be delivered between the territory of Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory along the alternative roadway from Taganrog, Rostov Region, to Dzhankoi, Crimea, as well as via transshipment to railway transportation," the ministry said in a press release.


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The Importance of Interoperable Payment Technologies and Regulatory Frameworks in the Metaverse
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has recently released a report emphasizing the need for interoperable payment technologies and a robust regulatory framework to prevent fragmentation and private interests dominance in the metaverse. The report highlights the importance of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as a key component in developing the financial infrastructure of the metaverse. These recommendations aim to promote competition, protect users, and ensure the integrity of digital transactions in sectors such as gaming, e-commerce, and education.
Building a Competitive and Inclusive Metaverse
The BIS report calls for the establishment of a regulatory framework to prevent the metaverse from becoming fragmented and dominated by powerful private interests. Interoperable payment technologies are seen as crucial in maintaining a competitive and inclusive platform. By promoting innovation, protecting users, and ensuring the integrity of digital transactions, the BIS aims to safeguard the future of the digital ecosystem.
The Role of Central Bank Digital Currencies
The report highlights the potential of CBDCs in providing secure, efficient, and interoperable payment solutions within the metaverse. CBDCs have the power to significantly impact the economic and regulatory landscape of virtual environments. The BIS envisions a digital economy that supports competition, interoperability, consumer protection, and data privacy principles, with CBDCs playing a central role in achieving this vision.
Addressing Challenges and Opportunities
The BIS acknowledges the challenges and opportunities within the metaverse, including the risks of fragmentation and the dominance of private firms. To tackle these issues, the report calls for collaboration among global regulators, central banks, and policymakers. The goal is to create regulations that foster a more equitable and accessible digital economy for all participants.
The Significance of Interoperable Payment Systems
The report emphasizes the importance of efficient and interoperable payment systems that can meet user demands. Central banks and financial regulators are seen as key players in shaping the choice of payment instruments within the metaverse. By promoting interoperability among payment systems, the BIS aims to prevent the dominance of a few large entities that could stifle innovation and restrict access to the digital space.
A Call to Action
In summary, the BIS report serves as a crucial call to action for policymakers to future-proof digital economies against fragmentation and corporate dominance in the metaverse. By advocating for strong public policy frameworks, interoperable payment technologies, and the pivotal role of CBDCs, the BIS aims to ensure that the metaverse remains an open, competitive, and inclusive platform for all users.


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Destiny Romance is the newly announced digital-first romance imprint by Penguin Australia.
It seems Australian publishers are finally taking note, with Penguin announcing its newest imprint, Destiny Romance. The imprint has launched with four titles by Jennifer St George, Elise K. Ackers, Peta Crake and Kelly Hunter, with plans to publish two new titles each month.
The Hunter title seems to have been previously self-published, and the Ackers and Crake titles are new. Update: I had a quick look at the buy links—Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and Kobo. Looks like Penguin will be enforcing DRM. Not sure yet if they’re making the books available internationally or just within Australia.
I’ll add links and cover images a little later, as the site seems to have collapsed—hopefully from reader enthusiasm! In the meantime, you can read more about the imprint at Bookseller+Publisher:
Penguin said the imprint, which has launched with four titles, will publish ‘romance ebooks of all kinds, from novellas to full-length stories’ and will focus on the romance genres of contemporary, historical, suspense, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and erotica. The publisher said the Destiny Romance imprint ‘will have a strong emphasis on discovering new Australian voices’…
The imprint will be headed up by editor Carol George and commissioning editor Sarah Fairhall…
Destiny Romance ebooks are available from a range of retailers including Kobo, ReadCloud, Google, Amazon and Apple, and will soon be available for purchase from the Destiny Romance website.
…priced between $3.99 and $5.99.
This announcement doesn’t surprise me. I suspected that Penguin had something up its sleeves when I learned that they signed on Helene Young, who was previously with Hachette, and after noticing their presence at the ARRA Awards and their silver sponsor status at the Romance Writers of Australia conference.
It’s going to be an exciting time for romance readers.
(I have another major romance-related news item coming soon. Watch this space!)


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A new report by IRI, details how the consumer packaged good industry is poised to grow as the Boomers generation gets older. The study evaluated three different Boomer groups shopping habits, the groups were broken up into: Truman (53-62), Kennedy (44-52), and LBJ (34-43).
Some of the findings include:
- 66% of Trumans purchased store brands
- 83% of Trumans gave store brands “excellent” quality ratings
- 70% of Kennedy Boomers gave store brands “excellent” quality ratings
- 73% of LBJ Boomers gave store brands “excellent” quality ratings
- Top private label products for Trumans are nuts/seeds/corn nuts, ice cream and chocolate candy
IRI believes that the Boomer group represents a $50 billion growth opportunity for consumer packaged goods companies in the future.
For more on this report, go to: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3id7516b3f87ca901dfd066b2394569a67


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Big Pokemon Go news coming soon?
Fans are coming to the conclusion that some big Pokemon Go news could be released very soon.
While not as big the Gen 3 release last month, some Trainers believe we could see some major tinkering being done to Raids.
First of all, there’s new speculation that both Celebi and Mew could be added to the game in 2018.
Both have been found in the game’s code, and both are currently without capture rates.
It seems likely that these two special Pocket Monsters will be part of an upcoming Raid event, although nothing has been confirmed by Niantic, as of yet.
There’s also the chance that they are both primed to be new EX Raid Pokemon, available for when Mewtwo rotates out.
At the moment, EX Raids appears to still be in testing, with no official date on when they might be fully released.
Niantic have already hinted that they have a lot of new ideas for the game, some of which could land in 2018.
We know that Niantic are trying to work out a way to incorporate a trading system, as well as add new PvP options to Pokemon Go.
When we recently spoke to members of the team, we were interested to find out just what other things could be coming, following the release of the new Weather Effects.
Niantic developer Matt Slemon told us that they’ve been getting ideas from their team, as well as from fan feedback and the Pokemon Company.
“We do have a long list of features that we do want to get too eventually,” he explained.
“Many are community asks, and a lot of them are team ideas, or suggestions from the Pokemon Company.”
“Building AR games is at the core of what are company is trying to do, especially with Pokemon Go,” Slemon adds.
“As we move forward, I can can continue to expect us to choose features that both provide a good tie-in with Augmented Reality, as well as being strong on Pokemon features.”
There was no talk of what the next big feature will be, although we can expect that any big updates launched in early 2018 will likely come with a few Gen 3 Pokemon as well.
It follows news that Nintendo have seen a big bump following the announcement that Pokemon Go will be launching in China.
Without providing a release date, John Hanke, the CEO of developer Niantic, revealed the news during an interview with the Financial Times.
“We absolutely intend to bring our existing games into China,” Hanke revealed.
“Beyond that, there are opportunities to build games in China, both for China and for the world.”
Niantic will be working with NetEase to launch Pokemon Go in the region, with the Chinese games company having already worked with other big companies, such as Activision Blizzard, to launch titles like World of Warcraft and Overwatch in China.
Nintendo own a slice of Pokemon Go, with Nintendo Co. rising as much as 5 percent when it was confirmed the game would be arriving in the world’s largest gaming market.
According to researcher Newzoo, China’s gaming market was given an estimated worth in 2017 of $32.5 billion.


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New Year, New Opportunities for U.S. Businesses
Ken Hyatt is
the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.
The New Year is often a symbol of transition for people.
Many plan out lifestyle changes or new opportunities.
For American businesses, there are also changes. There are
also new opportunities. Year after year, more and more small businesses have
found opportunities in new markets. These opportunities have led to increased
profits and more jobs.
For 20 years now, the North American Free Trade Agreement
has helped open up opportunities for businesses with two of our largest trading
partners, Canada and Mexico. Our exports to NAFTA partners have more than
tripled since the agreement was signed, and those exports support millions of
I know more and more businesses will find opportunities to
export to our neighbors this year. Some others will learn about aviation
opportunities in Brazil on our upcoming trade
mission. The Discover
Forum in San Antonio will help companies learn how to do business in the
Middle East and Africa. We also have a Travel and Tourism Mission to Asia in March followed by April's Automotive Trade Mission to the growing market of India.
Our team will help businesses take on new markets, to make
their products and services available to even more consumers, just like we
Carolina-based ERD Limited quintuple
its number of export markets in less than three years.
Yes, the New Year is a time of transition. But for American
businesses, that transition is part of a trend. It’s the trend of export growth
that is supporting our economy, creating American jobs, and enabling
innovation. It's the trend under which we set another monthly export record in November 2013.
It’s a change in the DNA
of our economy – making trade an even larger part of American success.
I hope that businesses looking to expand in 2014 will take
advantage of assistance from the International Trade Administration and our
partner agencies in the U.S. government.
I hope that all of you are starting off 2014 well, and this
this year is one for the ages for all of us.
Happy New Year!
It's no accident that guests travel from countries around the world to seek out top brands, fashion, and dining in the United States.


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A court on Aug. 26 has denied Sanofi-Avnetis’ request for preliminary injunctive relief against the the FDA's approval of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals’ generic version of enoxaparin sodium injection (Lovenox),
The suit, filed July 27 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, urged the FDA to revoke Sandoz’ approved abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) after Sandoz was not reportedly required to provide additional data on the generic drug's safety and effectiveness.
Lovenox is an injection indicated to prevent deep vein thrombosis and for the prevention of complications linked to unstable angina and MI when administered with aspirin.
In a press release, the Paris-based Sanofi said, “The case poses a number of significant questions regarding the FDA review process for complex pharmaceutical products which are important to pursue.”
Because the court has not yet ruled on the case, the generic form of Lovenox will continued to be sold and administered on the U.S. market.
"We continue to believe that the FDA engaged in a thorough review of the science supporting the Sandoz enoxaparin sodium injection ANDA, and are pleased that the court re-affirmed the validity of the FDA's decision," stated Craig Wheeler, president and CEO of Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a partner of Sandoz. "Sandoz commenced shipping of enoxaparin sodium injection following the FDA's marketing approval of Sandoz' ANDA on July 23."
Sanofi said that the case will continue despite the court’s refusal to grant the preliminary injunctive relief.


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After launching Fanta Jelly Fizz in Vietnam in August 2018, Coca-Cola Vietnam is back with another innovative product and this time with a ready-to-drink coffee – Georgia Coffee Max in November 2018. This coffee is made from 100% Robusta coffee from Vietnam and is positioned as a wake-me up drink.
The Vietnam RTD coffee segment has underperformed the beverage sector. Euromonitor data shows RTD coffee total sales are the lowest amongst all non-alcoholic drinks and this is despite the segment’s long presence in the market, reported Vietnam.net. The London-based market research firm says RTD coffee has registered slow growth in both on-trade and off-trade.
Coca-Cola has strong ambition in coffee in the region to reduce its reliance on the slow-growing carbonated segment. RTD Georgia coffee has been rolled out in China and is now in Vietnam. Previously, the company released a range of Georgia RTD coffee in Vietnam in 2017. The canned coffee was imported directly from South Korea.
In Indonesia and Malaysia, the focus is on the foodservice channel. In Indonesia, Coca-Cola Amatil revealed a new range of café-quality Grinders Coffee capsules and professional Caffitaly capsule machines at the end of 2017.
In Malaysia, Coca-Cola Malaysia signed an agreement with cinema operator MBO Cinemas in March 2018. The beverage concession agreement featured a completely new range of drinks choices to quench the thirst of cinema goers at its 27 cinemas across the country. The agreement included Georgia Coffee.


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- Test category by sumit
Ftcash: No Cash, Please
Ftcash is bringing digital payments to micro merchants by eliminating the use of point-of-sale machines
Photo Credit : Umesh Goswami
Deepak Kothari, Co-founder, ftcash
The idea of kick-starting a new payment system to bring entrepreneurs onto digital payment platforms seemed intriguing, nay challenging, to Deepak Kothari when a routine servicing of his car required him to personally visit the garage and make the payment.
As millions of small businesses deal in cash daily, Kothari saw an opportunity to make payments seamless and digital for micro-merchants. “Everyone is doing business in cash at the micro-level,” says Kothari, co-founder, ftcash. “While newspaper, milk and grocery vendors deliver products faultlessly, payments have to be made in cash. This was an opportunity for us to develop new systems for payments.”
Enter ftcash. A micro-merchant now does not require a point-of-sale machine. The merchant sends a simple message to customers’ mobiles with all invoice details, along with a weblink through which customers can make the payments. Micro-merchants can come on the platform at zero cost, but have to pay a small transaction fee each time they receive payments.
Kothari, a chartered accountant, has pitched the business model as a pay-as-you-go system, where the merchants are charged only when they receive a payment. A small business can send an invoice electronically to customers who then can pay through an app. Ftcash kick-started operations with about Rs 40 lakh in the kitty from the co-founders. Co-founder and CEO Sanjeev Chandok worked on developing the platform, while Kothari saw to it that the features were constantly tweaked and improved.
Soon after launching in 2015, Kothari reckons the first 100 small businesses were extremely difficult to convince to come on board. “But as kinks were resolved, we launched full-scale in Mumbai,” says Kothari. Today, ftcash has over 5,000 small businesses in Mumbai on board, and does a few hundred digital transactions daily.
Over time, ftcash tweaked its platform to make it more convenient for small businesses to use the service. Earlier, micro-merchants needed a smartphone and an app to send invoices to customers. Now, a simple feature phone can send out their invoices. Customers just have to go to the weblink in these messages to pay the outstandings through whatever payment service they use. Ftcash also makes invoices, tracks outstanding dues, and helps businesses keep a tab on the billings. Customers, of course, have the option of downloading the app and saving regular details.
Kothari sees a huge opportunity in online payments, which are expected to exceed cash payments by 2023 in India. Further, digital payments are seen touching $500 billion by 2020, says a Google-BCG report. In the last six months, customer acquisition has risen 12 times, with transaction volumes surging 10 times. Ftcash acquires new business through the feet-on-the-street strategy.
Besides enabling micro payments, ftcash also facilitates loans and working capital credit to micro merchants. Some of them now receive loans from select NBFCs on the basis of their billings on the platform. Ftcash plans to service more than one million businesses in five years.
In the fintech space, a plethora of innovations have been launched: e-wallets, pocket wallets, mobile wallets, and the unified payment interface (UPI). Through its web application, ftcash can work seamlessly with all payment modes, including the UIP. Deepak is unfazed by the speed at which disruption is happening in the tech arena. “Some of the things we are doing today are disrupting the system. But our idea is to disrupt ourselves rather than somebody else disrupting us.” That’s the mantra ftcash may find handy in the years to come.


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Posted by kevinhardesty on May 20, 2012
The Cheesecake Factory is one of about 20 new stores and restaurants that will go into the space formerly occupied by Sears at Fayette Mall. Renovations are underway to create a new mall entrance and 115,000 square feet of new retail space.
Click here to read the article in the Herald-Leader.
Click here to view parcel information for this property.


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What if Star craft would come back thanks to the purchase of Active-Blizzard by Microsoft ? Phil Spencer seems to like the idea, although, of course, he made no promise.
a possible rebirth of the Blizzard franchises
This is not the first time Phil Spencer has expressed enthusiasm for the possibility of reviving Activision Blizzard’s old titles under Microsoft’s umella. In a recent interview with Wired, he once again mentioned his interest in certain RTs like Star craft or Warcraft .
The first thing I would say is that I am not allowed to make decisions about what happens at Blizzard, Activision or King , he explained. So this is all a discussion […]
[…] not just Star craft, but also Warcraft, when you think of the legacy of RTS [NDLR: Real Time Strategy] games we’re talking about here, especially Blizzard. And I don’t have any concrete plans today because I really can’t go there and work with the teams. […] But Star craft was a decisive moment in video games , wasn’t it? In terms of eSports, console or narrative RTs.
He added that he was anxious to be able to work with Activision teams, Blizzard and King to talk about the previous catalog and opportunities. Activision CEO Bobby Kick also expressed the desire to revive classic franchises on Xbox.
an acquisition has not yet validated
Regarding the Series around the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the European Commission recently stated that it wanted to launch a deeper investigation on the effects it could have on the market.
However, Bobby Kick is still confident about validating the acquisition: We work closely with Microsoft to quickly answer questions from regulatory from other countries and provide concrete information to help them in their investigations. […] to Thank each of you for your excellent work and investment in completing this merger, and we hope to be part of Microsoft this fiscal year that ends in June 2023. He said in a communicated employees and investors of Activision Blizzard.


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Nintendo started its E3 2015 digital briefing with the new Star Fox Zero for Wii U, and which will release this holiday season. The console’s gamepad is going to be an important part of gameplay and which can be used to enter the cockpit mode to shoot at enemy aircrafts.
Fire Emblem Fates was announced to hit retail in the US next year for the 3DS. While the game will be sold as two separate releases in Japan, Nintendo did not clarify whether the same would happen with the western release.
A new Metroid Prime Federation Force was announced for a release in 2016, exclusively for the 3DS. The game will bring a cooperative multiplayer with support for up to four players. Additionally, the game will feature plenty of mini-games in the form of 3v3 battle arenas titles Blast Ball.
The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes was announced as a successor to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. The new installment will feature an online mode where up to three players can play together and work to overcome dungeon challenges. It will release later this year for the 3DS.
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer received a new trailer. The game will release for the 3DS on September 25, and is expected to have Amiibo support for characters in trading card form.
Level-5’s Yo-Kai Watch will finally be heading to western shoes this holiday season for the 3DS. The announcement was accompanied by an English trailer.
Yoshi’s Woolly World, unveiled back at E3 2014, has now been confirmed for a launch on October 16 for the Wii U. The game looks cuter than ever.


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What a crazy year it has been for the beer industry. What follows is a list of stories that either resonated with Beernews.org readers or got coverage in the mainstream media. Because of the site’s foundation as a craft beer site first and a beer site second, the list is heavily slanted toward stories relating to the craft beer category.
So without further ado, let’s get to it…
30. Governor Walker makes changes to Wisconsin three-tier system
Many of the stories you’ll see featured over the next couple days are microcosms of larger trends or movements. Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, and the sly budgetary provision that pissed off New Glarus and other small brewers in the Cheese State is no different. Legal battles involving distributors had their fair share of time in the spotlight with Illinois being a notable example.
In the case of Wisconsin, MillerCoors reportedly had input on the controversial provision that limited craft brewers’ freedoms… though craft brewers didn’t. From ThinkProgess:
Tucked into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) much-discussed budget was a little-noticed provision to overhaul the state’s regulation of the beer industry. In a state long associated with beer, the provision will make it much more difficult for the Wisconsin’s burgeoning craft breweries to operate and expand their business by barring them from selling directly to restaurants and liquor stores, and preventing them from selling their own product onsite.
29. SABMiller agrees to buys Foster’s for $10.2 billion
The purchase will be the biggest ever by London-based SABMiller and give it access to about half of the Australian beer market. SABMiller’s initial attempts to buy the maker of Victoria Bitter were rebuffed by Foster’s management as undervaluing the brewer, one of the world’s most profitable.
28. Google and Dogfish Head collaborate on beer, Urkontinent
What if we do an idea like I showed you before where we have a template, we invite you all in as collaborators to the Google Doc. We literally devise a ‘wikibrew.’ We refine it and get it down to exactly the way that people are looking for with their input. Then we launch it.
Maybe we start out with a small draft version that we first test out here at the Google draft system. Then after a couple permutations, if we really dial it in [...]
URKontinent is brewed in the style of a Belgian Dubbel. It begins with Pilsner, Munich and Chocolate Malts and Belgian Dark Candi syrup. Then we add unique ingredients from around the world.
URKontinent should hit bottles in 2012.
27. Flying Dog Brewery sues Michigan over alleged violation of First Amendment rights.
Citing its First Amendment rights and an appalling attempt at state censorship, Flying Dog Brewery, with the support of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, filed suit in U.S. District Court on Friday to overturn the Michigan Liquor Control Commission’s ban on the sale of the company’s best-selling beer, Raging Bitch. The suit also seeks to recover damages from the loss of Flying Dog sales under the statewide ban, which the Commission issued based on its members’ personal distaste for Raging Bitch’s labeling.
Flying Dog won the battle but, after later claiming victory, vowed to keep fighting Michigan for its alleged violation of First Amendment rights.
Though the Michigan Liquor Control Commission has now approved the sale of Raging Bitch in the state, we have no interest in dropping the First Amendment lawsuit. With the support of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise and the law firm of Gura & Possessky, we originally filed suit in U.S. District Court on March 25 not only to overturn the Commission’s regulation banning Raging Bitch, but also to deem their ability to ban any beer label that they find offensive unconstitutional. Additionally, the suit seeks to recover damages from the loss of sales under the rule.
26. BrewDog creates beer for Royal Family wedding
The wedding of Will and Kate was among the world’s biggest events in 2011. The guys at BrewDog just had to put their own spin on celebrating the occasion, right?
‘Arise Prince Willy’: A beer to stir the loins of newlywed princes, summon the ghosts of long gone princesses and cure the stammer of stuttering kings.
According to the specially commissioned label, the Royal Virility Performance contains Viagra, chocolate, Horny Goat Weed and ‘a healthy dose of sarcasm’. The beer is a 7.5% ABV India Pale Ale and has been brewed at BrewDog’s brewery in Fraserburgh.
With this beer we want to take the wheels off the royal wedding bandwagon being jumped on by dozens of breweries; The Royal Virility Performance is the perfect antidote to all the hype.
BrewDog has removed any mention of the beer from its website.


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You are here
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Price Chopper here will hold a grand opening ceremony Dec. 15 at 10:30 a.m. of its 160,000-square-foot frozen food distribution center, the largest in the capital district, in the Rotterdam Industrial Park. Last January the Northeast regional grocer revealed plans to construct the $16 million facility.
The fully functional DC, which has already begun servicing frozen food distribution for the entire Price Chopper chain, was built to replace satellite freezer warehouses in Colonie and Waterford, N.Y. that were operating at or near capacity.
Along with Price Chopper president and c.e.o. Neil M. Golub, attendees at the grand opening ceremony will include Galesi Group c.o.o. Dave Buicko, Rotterdam town supervisor John Paolino, Schenectady County commissioner of planning and economic development Ray Gillen, and other town and county officials.


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Get ready to see Nissan compete at the 2018 – 2019 seasons of Formula E. After announcing their plans to join the series at this year's Geneva International Motor Show, Nissan has officially kicked off the countdown when they join Season 5 of Formula E this December.
To highlight this momentous event, Nissan showed their upcoming race car in the metal alongside the all-new Leaf in Brooklyn, New York. Draped in signature Nissan and Nismo hues, the all-electric car combines cutting edge racing technology with the company's Intelligent Mobility features.
“Season 5 for Nissan has now officially begun. Our goal is to be as best prepared as we can be and we've been laying the groundwork for quite some time. As part of our preparations for our Season 5 debut, I've been on site at each race this season to take a close look at the championship and our competitors,” said Michael Carcamo, Global Motorsport Director at Nissan.
Exact details about the race car remain under wraps but what we do know is that it uses a new type of battery that allows the car to compete throughout the entire race. This new system does away of having to switch to another car which we've become accustomed to in Formula E.
“We've certainly observed that energy management is the key to success in this championship. For Nissan, the Formula E championship is a high-speed laboratory. We're going to use our road car EV experience on the track, but we'll also take what we learn trackside and use that for the road cars of tomorrow,” added Carcamo.
Nissan will use the Formula E championship to showcase the company's Intelligent Mobility strategy which is their take on how cars should be driven, powered and integrated to everyday life. Nissan is already busy testing the Gen2 Formula E car to learn as much as they can in order to have a fully-developed powertrain for Season 5.
Round 1 of the 2018 – 2019 season of Formula E will kick off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


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Chinese handset makers possess growing capabilities to compete, both in the Chinese domestic market, and in export markets elsewhere in the world, according to results of a study of cellular phones released by Portelligent, Inc. The product design, IC content, and feature sets of recent GSM handsets introduced in China demonstrate that Chinese handset makers -- sometimes working closely with firms in Korea and Taiwan -- are increasingly able to bring to market cellular phones that compare favorably with the offerings of major international competitors.
"Having done detailed 'product teardown' analyses of over 100 cell phones from around the world in the last three years, we were favorably impressed by the design of these Chinese products, and by the capabilities of the handset makers behind them," according to David Carey, president of Portelligent. "While still a step behind the major multinationals, Chinese handset makers are rolling out competent products with very competitive manufacturing costs. The rate of progress demonstrated by the Chinese producers and their potential threat to the current pecking order in worldwide handset market share should not be underestimated, particularly for the lower to upper-middle tiers of the market."
Portelligent's study report, Dragons at the Gates: A Survey and Analysis of GSM Handsets in the Chinese Market (2003), provides analytical detail on 17 handsets marketed in China by 11 domestic Chinese firms: Amoisonic, Ningbo Bird, Capitel, Eastcom, Haier, Kejian, Konka, Legend, Panda, Soutec, and TCL. These companies, which constitute the first tier of some 25 Chinese handset makers that together hold over a 25-percent share in China, compete with a dozen large multinational cell phone manufacturers in the Chinese market.
The Portelligent study recorded such system metrics as IC and electronic component counts, total IC die area, and estimated semiconductor cost for each of the target handsets. ICs were identified as to such parameters as maker, part number, die function, and die and package measurements, permitting analysis of which semiconductor makers and electronic component suppliers are securing the most design wins in China.
Among the findings of the study:
While Chinese handset makers all use ICs and components from North American and European device makers in their phones, they often "mix and match" devices in their designs, rather than using an entire chipset from one supplier.
On most system metrics, the 2G and 2.5G phones currently offered by Chinese handset makers are comparable to those produced by the major multinationals.
Fit and finish of the Chinese handsets are good. Product design is also impressive. In at least one case -- the Haier P5 Pen Phone, which combines a GSM phone and a laser pointer in a stick-like form factor -- a Chinese maker has come forward with a novel design concept.
Market data strongly suggests that the Chinese handset market is entering a "hyper-competitive" phase that will increase pressures on both domestic makers and the multinationals. (Newstream)
to Daily News


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Nisshin Steel announced on Friday the firm posted consolidated recurring profit at 11.7 billion yen for the first half of fiscal 2010 ended in September, almost as high as 12 billion yen of the forecast and 11.4 billion yen in the second half of fiscal 2009. The firm posted recurring loss at 65.1 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2009. For a full year of fiscal 2010 ending in March 2011, the firm revised down recurring profit forecast to 18 billion yen from previously estimated 20 billion yen and net profit forecast to 13 billion yen from previous 17 billion yen due to unforeseeable market condition in the second half year.The three month recurring profit increased to 10.1 billion yen for July-September from 1.6 billion yen for April-June. The selling price improved along material cost up. In the first half of fiscal 2010, the sales volume decreased by 50,000 tonnes to 18.4 million tonnes compared with the second half of fiscal 2009. Average selling price of steel products surged by 9,000 yen to 119,000 yen per tonne. Export ratio lowered by 1 percentage points to 16% against total sales. Raw material costs upped by total 28.5 billion yen for iron ore, coal, nickel and chrome. The loss was covered by price improvement, inventory evaluation profit, cost down and better operations at subsidiaries. The recurring profit of stainless business was 5 billion yen, as high as originally expected. Nisshin Steel forecasted the second six month recurring profit at 6.3 billion yen. Mr. Yoshikazu Tsuda, managing director, explained the sales volume would decrease to 1.72 million tonnes in the second half year due to backwater of Chinese economy and higher yen rate. The recurring profit is forecasted to lower by 5.4 billion yen from the first half year due to material cost upsurge, inventory evaluation loss and lower profits at subsidiaries. The recurring profit of stainless business is estimated at 2.5 billion yen.
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daria42 writes "PayPal has long been one of the most-used payment options on the Internet; its history serving eBay's millions of users has now expanded into a wider remit across many e-commerce sites. But will the company ever become a valid option for point of sale payments at actual physical retail stores? Yes, according to PayPal's global president Scott Thompson — and PayPal's working on that right now, with one option based on mobile phones on the way and two others in development. It'll be interesting to see how far the company gets with its plans; personally I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be using such a system."
Attend or create a Slashdot 20th anniversary party! DEAL: For $25 - Add A Second Phone Number To Your Smartphone for life! Use promo code SLASHDOT25. Check out the new SourceForge HTML5 Internet speed test. ×


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Global connections, industry transformation among key priorities at MTI: Chan Chun Sing
Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing at the EuroCham Europe Day Luncheon (Photo: Tang See Kit)
SINGAPORE: Ensuring that Singapore firms will continue to have access into overseas markets and help to transform their business models are among Mr Chan Chun Sing’s key priorities as he takes over the helm at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
He said this in a group interview on Friday (May 4) after attending the annual Europe Day lunch celebration organised by the European Chamber of Commerce.
negotiation outcomes of the EUSFTA have been presented to the European Council last month. “We look forward to your continued support for its expeditious ratification and hope for its early implementation.”


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The long anticipated iPhone 6s Plus unveiling has happened, and now Apple fans worldwide want one. On September 12, they got their wish. Well, sort of.
The iPhone 6s Plus is currently only available for pre-order through Apple’s website and certain wireless carriers. So when you put in your order, essentially you can say you got one, but you still have to wait until it is actually sent to you. The iPhone 6s Plus devices aren’t expected to ship out until late September.
If you’d rather pre-order an iPhone 6s Plus through the Apple Store iOS app, you can do that, and some fans are saying it is a much easier process.
@verge apple store app was great. Quick and easy. Done.— Jonathan Yedin (@jonyedin) September 12, 2015
@verge Used the App Store app on iPhone. Easy - in and out!— Dennis Brekke (@dbrekke) September 12, 2015
By the way, Apple recommends using the app store as well.
The obvious question now is, “how much is the iPhone 6s Plus”? Surprisingly, or maybe not to some, the pricing of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be the same as last year.
According to The Verge, an iPhone 6s Plus 16GB model will be $749, $849 for the 64GB, and expect to pay $949 for the 128GB model. However, you can spread that out over time if needed.
The major wireless carriers are fighting for their piece of the Apple pie as well. Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all have an option to pre-order the iPhone 6s Plus through their websites as well as in stores. Of course, signing up for wireless service through them opens up a plethora of monthly payment plans for the device which is enough to make your head spin.
You also have another option to pay for your new iPhone 6s Plus in monthly installments if that is your preferred plan. Apple has introduced its own payment program.
The iPhone Upgrade Program allows you to purchase an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus over time. For a 16GB iPhone 6s Plus, expect $36.58 a month while the iPhone 6s 16GB will be about $32.41. So, instead of paying a monthly payment to your carrier for your new device, you can pay Apple directly.
To use the new U.S. iPhone Upgrade Program, an in-store appointment with an Apple rep is required. An online reservation can be made on Apple’s website.
Some retailers like Best Buy and Target have yet to jump on the iPhone 6s Plus pre-order bandwagon. When you try to pre-order through their websites, you get a disappointing “coming soon” page.
If you want an iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, it is best to make your pre-order now. According to Mac Rumors, iPhone 6s Plus supplies sold out quickly last year and there is no indication that won’t happen again this year.
Unless you live under the proverbial rock or didn’t see the previous Inquisitr article, you already know the iPhone 6s Plus was unveiled this past week at an Apple launch event in San Francisco. If by the off chance you missed it, the iPhone 6s Plus is a little different than the previous one.
Want to see what your new iPhone 6s Plus can do? Here is a short breakdown of what to expect as demonstrated at Apple’s September 9 event.
By the way, if buying online and being put on a waiting list isn’t your thing, in-store sales of the iPhone 6s Plus will happen Friday, September 25, the official launch day of the new device.
[Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images]


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July 7, 2005
Opera Adds BitTorrent to Web Browser
Opera Software has released a test version of its flagship Web browser that adds an embedded BitTorrent client for downloading content using the popular file sharing protocol. Although Opera has not officially announced the beta, which is dubbed a “technology preview,” the release is available from the company’s FTP server. The addition makes Opera the first Web browser to natively support BitTorrent downloads, which normally require a separate external client. Alongside the BitTorrent feature, Opera 8.02 will also introduce a number of bug fixes including an update for Web pages using Flash. BitTorrent has found immense popularity as a way to download files due to its distributed architecture.
Source – Beta News


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The word that Starbucks is coming to Wedington Drive in west Fayetteville is now official, and the coffee shop is bringing some dental care, too.
Haag-Brown Development LLC of Jonesboro announced it would build a retail center at the corner of Weddington and Timberland Lane, in front of the Walmart Neighborhood Market. Haag-Brown paid $803,464 for 1.19 acres.
Principals Joshua Brown and Greg Haag said the retail center would include a Starbucks and an Arkansas Braces. The Jonesboro office of IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana, provided a construction loan of $1.65 million, and Haag-Brown said work would begin soon at the site at 3485 Weddington.
Clinton Bennett of CBRE Northwest Arkansas represented Haag-Brown, and Hank Kelley of Flake & Kelley Commercial of Little Rock represented Starbucks.
Click here to read the full article written by Marty Cook with Arkansas Business.


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Porsche made record sales in 2022 and profits despite “difficult” market conditions in 2022.
Porsche recorded “its strongest result in history” with record revenue, profit, and sales in 2022, despite “difficult” market conditions.
During its annual general meeting (AGM) this morning, the German firm said its operating profits hit €6.8bn (AUD$10.94bn) in 2022, a 27.4% rise on 2021; its revenue rose to €37.6 billion (AUD$60.5bn), a growth of 13.6%; and its sales reached 309,884, up from 301,915.
These strong sales figures were led by the Porsche Cayenne SUV, its top seller, which grew 15% to 95,604 sales worldwide, followed by the 911 sports car range (40,410, a 5% rise) and the Panamara (34,142, a 13% rise).
China was again the firm’s most profitable market, with 93,000 sales, followed by North America, with 70,000.
On the results, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said: “In difficult conditions, we achieved the strongest result in the history of Porsche by some distance. We were also able to offer our customers exciting new products yet again in 2022. This is the result of a great team performance.”
During the AGM, Porsche also announced plans for an electric version of the Cayenne, which will be sold alongside facelifted versions of the ICE and plug-in hybrid driveline options available today.
“Our strategy is clear: electromobility is given top priority at Porsche,” deputy chairman Lutz Meschke told journalists.
“We’re resolutely driving up the ramp-up like hardly anyone else can. It’s our aspiration to deliver more than 80% of new cars to customers as all-electric in 2030. Our product strategy has been entirely aimed at achieving this goal.”
This strategy includes, as well as the Cayenne EV, the 2024-bound electric Macan, the electrified 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman and the new range-topping K1.
Added details of Porsche’s new K1 flagship electric SUV were also provided, confirming it will be “positioned above the Cayenne”.
On the electrified 718 sports cars, Meschke confirmed they will be sold initially alongside the current ICE models when they arrive “in the middle of the decade” before being exclusively offered as EVs “in the medium term”.
No announcement was made on the cars’ long term future, which potentially opens the door for an ICE model to later return to the range using synthetic e-fuels, development of which Porsche has been pushing.
This came to a head last year when the firm set up an e-fuels pilot plant with partners in Chile, with production having been running since December.
“With this, we have demonstrated that e-fuels can be produced on an industrial scale,” Blume said.
During the AGM, Porsche also announced new sustainability targets. Included is a net carbon-neutral value chain for its models from 2030 as well as a net carbon-neutral use phase for future EVs based on an assumed total mileage of 124,000 (200,000km) per vehicle.
As part of its Road-to-20 strategy, Porsche also laid out plans to achieve a return on sales of up to 20% later this decade.
Additional reporting by Greg Kable


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The coronavirus pandemic caused more poverty in India than China, according to a study released Friday by the US think-tank Pew Research Center.
As the pandemic caused a global recession, it has taken a toll on both countries, which account for more than a third of the world population, and two of the world’s three largest economies.
The virus’ impact, however, was different for China and India. “While India plunged into a deep recession in 2020, China was able to forestall a contraction,” the study said.
Before the pandemic, the World Bank expected close economic growth for the two countries in 2020, forecasting a rate of 5.8% for India and 5.9% for China.
Almost a year into the pandemic, the World Bank revised these growth estimates in January 2021 – a 9.6% contraction for India, but a 2% growth for China.
“[…] the middle class in India is estimated to have shrunk by 32 million in 2020 as a consequence of the downturn, compared with the number it may have reached absent the pandemic. This accounts for 60% of the global retreat in the number of people in the middle-income tier (defined here as people with incomes of $10.01-$20 a day),” the study said.
“The number of people who are poor in India (with incomes of $2 or less a day) is estimated to have increased by 75 million because of the COVID-19 recession. This, too, accounts for nearly 60% of the global increase in poverty,” it added.
The change in living standards in China is more modest than in India, according to the study.
While the largest impact in China is an estimated addition of 30 million people to the low-income tier, the number of people in the middle-income tier decreased around 10 million, and poverty was virtually unchanged, it added.
Copyright 2022 Anadolu Agency. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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On one level, I feel like I can explain why the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for May delivery was.
the full value of what they had stolen (a conclusion based in part on.
millions of dollars with almost no chance of arrest or.
hacking South Korean Bitcoin exchanges—before Bitcoin.
exchanges may have been targeted, and the increase in.
8 Nov 2013.
Another hack has hit Bitcoin. Over a million dollars have been stolen from a service that offered a digital wallet service for owners of Bitcoin,
The news agency said the attacks, which representatives of three cybersecurity firms indicated had originated from Iran,
5 Oct 2019.
Your crypto is stolen.
So you've been hacked, or you're the victim of fraud.
Unfortunately, you might have to cough up some of your remaining.
For a couple of thousand dollars a pop, these companies trace the flow of stolen crypto.
recover millions of dollars worth of Ripple from now-defunct crypto.
Bitcoin Haters 10 mei 2020. Willy Woo, chain analist en bitcoiner, reageert op de belegger. The power of Bitcoin is so strong that even Bitcoin haters are glued to its every. Bitcoin is a distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money. Bitcoins are issued and managed without any central authority whatsoever: there is no government, company, or bank in
Both Microsoft and Google have made updates to their services to enhance user accessibility. At Google, the Maps team has.
22 Jan 2020.
Over $11 billion worth of cryptocurrencies has been stolen in.
the Bitcoin to USD exchange rate was the worst hit, losing $1.05 billion (740,000 BTC).
The May hack was a result of decrypting the Bitcoinica hot wallets which.
14 Jan 2019.
Many of these attacks could have been prevented.
Estimates put the losses at $2.5m-$13m USD in Ethereum and ERC20 tokens being stolen.
Zaif, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, lost approximately $59 million USD of BTC,
Our system itself has never been compromised or hacked, and the.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) is again warning the public about sextortion emails from scammers trying to blackmail recipients.


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Nintendo employs a lot of brilliant people. When it comes to game design they are often leaps and bounds ahead of their competition. But there's one pretty big area in which they often fall behind: The Internet.
Sure, their online games like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 tend to work fine, but when compared to Sony or Microsoft their set of online features is significantly lacking. Even things as simple as friend lists are needlessly convoluted on the Wii U and 3DS.
But hope is on the way. During a financial briefing in Japan this week, Nintendo announced the first plans for its new account system. It will be called, simply enough, Nintendo Account, and it will allow you to connect a single username to your PC, your mobile devices, services like Facebook and Twitter and, of course, your dedicated Nintendo gaming systems, including their upcoming system code-named the NX.
Among the features Nintendo promises are the ability to keep save data across platforms via cloud storage, unified friends lists and membership benefits through another new program called My Nintendo.
The company followed that up by announcing its first program that will be available on smart phones. Sorry, but it's not a Zelda or Mario game, it's an app called Miitomo.
The way Nintendo pitches it, Miitomo sounds like a twist on social media services like Twitter. You create a digital avatar of yourself, answer questions, and then send that avatar off to talk to the avatars of your friends. Nintendo thinks this will be a safe, secure and welcoming way to start conversations.
Both Miitomo and the Nintendo Account service will be available in March of 2016.
OK, that was a lot of Nintendo talk. If you want to relax, might I suggest painting some happy little trees?
In a weird but awesome move, Twitch, the online streaming service primarily used for playing video games live, is streaming more than 400 episodes of The Joy of Painting, the popular painting show from the '80s and '90s featuring Bob Ross. The episodes will run back to back for roughly 200 straight hours.
Why? Well, it was Bob Ross' birthday on October 29, when the stream started, but do you really need a reason to experience the joy of painting? The stream will run through November 6.


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Resort Owner Hails Virgin Australia as Savior of Vanuatu Tourism Industry
By Charles Hakwa
The owner of Eratap Resort has welcomed the return of Virgin Australia to Port Vila from Brisbane, stating that the airline is the savior of Vanuatu’s tourism industry.
Mr. Tony Pittar believes that Air Vanuatu is detrimental to the industry, and that relying on the airline will lead to the demise of tourism in the country. Instead, Pittar thinks that Vanuatu needs to work on bringing in other carriers, such as Qantas and Air New Zealand.
Virgin Australia confirmed that they will be flying into Port Vila five times a week, which Pittar believes will bring in more tourists to his resort and the country as a whole. He says without Virgin Australia, there would be no tourists in the near future as no one wants to fly on Air Vanuatu.
Air Vanuatu responded to Mr. Pittar’s comments by acknowledging the views of their stakeholders and reaching out to industry partners to tackle the current situation and work on a recovery strategy for the industry.
The airline has also reached out to affected guests and business owners and offered flexible commercial policies to help those impacted by the recent incident.
Despite Virgin Australia being a direct competitor, Air Vanuatu stated that they are operating in a global commercial world and are able to compete.


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We are pirates.
Among the leagues of China, Indonesia and Russia, Canada remains on the International Intellectual Property Alliance’s (IIPA) 2011 Priority Watch when it comes to aiding and abetting copyright infringements.
“Overall the piracy picture in Canada is at least as bleak as it was a year ago, and it is cementing its reputation as a haven where technologically sophisticated international piracy organizations can operate with virtual impunity,” the report reads.
And while 99 per cent of Argentineans maybe getting their music illegally, we’re hosting the banks of tunes they are plundering.
Are you feeling a little embarrassed as you download a torrent of The King’s Speech, your laptop propped up on the photocopies you made of your class textbook, instead of forking over $200 for it? (Yes, we’re renowned for that, too.)
While the Canadian government has tinkered with curbing our illegal download desires, the IIPA is not impressed with our copyright legislation, calling the latest attempt, last year’s Bill C-32, “insufficient and deeply flawed.”
So, why are we pariahs in the copyright world?
Our main infringements occur in the online world of “cyberlockers.” Cyberlockers allow users to store and share files by acting as servers where people can store and share pirated movies, music, games and software.
Canada hosts two of the world’s largest cyberlockers: Hotfile.com, which has 17,510 sites linking to mostly from Japan and ISOhunt.com, which has 5,991 sites linking to it, mostly from the U.S. and Australia.
The report also criticizes Canada for inadequate enforcement and penalties in our copyright infringement law. When people are found guilty of copyright infringements for non-commercial purposes they can be fined a maximum of $5,000, no matter how many files they illegally copied or downloaded.
And we don’t crack down on the ISPs hosting pirated materials. Canada is currently home to the majority of the world’s top ten BitTorrent sites
“It seems that a party who “provides digital memory” for use by others “for the purpose of allowing the telecommunication of a work through the Internet or another digital network” can never be liable for infringing activity that it hosts, unless it knows that a court has adjudged the user’s conduct to be infringing,” the report reads.
Canadian students aren’t off the hook, either. The report also points to Canada for our “high-volume photocopying, and unauthorized uploading and downloading (especially of textbooks).”


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These days, everyone is after ways to earn Bitcoin — and everyone is shopping online. So why not link the two? That’s what startup Lolli is doing. The company launched a new platform that allows you to earn free Bitcoin while you shop.
Lolli brings Bitcoin to everyday online shopping
Getting everyone involved in Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the most well-known cryptocurrency, and it’s getting a lot of attention from those in the finance industry. Stock traders are interested in it, but what about everyday people? Bitcoin has opportunities to help everyone to achieve the same benefits, but the currency isn’t as readily available in the mainstream right now. Lolli can change that.
How does Lolli work?
In short, Lolli is a rewards-like platform similar to the many others out there. When you use the app, you earn Bitcoin when you make a purchase through a wide range of retailers. At this time, there are over 500 participating companies involved.
If you are interested, all you have to do is download the browser extension. The process is easy, and it takes only a minute to download from the company’s site. This is also the place to check out the list of retailers participating in the service. (Wal-mart, Seat Geek, VRBO, Barnes & Noble, Sam’s Club, and CVS are some of the heavy hitters.) The company currently offers the service just for Chrome and Safari users. However, Lolli plans to offer more browser support in the future.
Then what happens?
When you activate Lolli and shop, you can earn as much as 30 percent back in Bitcoin rewards. The tool automatically alerts users when they are shopping on one of the approved and partner websites. Once the transaction is complete, you earn your sweet, sweet Bitcoin.
For those who want a Bitcoin version of a cash-back app, Lolli is the way to go.


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The Chinese technology company Xiaomi has just announced a new Action Camera that is poised to challenge GoPro as the defacto standard of compact, portable action cameras.
Xiaomi, known for selling cheap smartphones in China, has launched the Yi Action Camera for 399 CNY (around $64 USD) which is a fraction of the price of the entry level GoPro HERO camera that retails at $130. The specs of the Yi seem to out-class those offered by the HERO:
- 1080p at 60FPS for the Yi / 30FPS for the HERO
- 16-megapixel still photos for the Yi / 5-megapixel shots for the HERO
- 64GB max storage for the Yi / 32GB for the HERO
- 72g weight for the Yi / 111g for the HERO
For divers the important news is the Yi can go to 40m / 131ft underwater which is the same as the HERO. A notable difference is that the Yi will not ship with any cases or rigging, that only being available on the $80 ‘travel edition’ that also includes a “selfie stick”.
The important caveat here is the Yi Action Camera is limited to China, where is can be bought via the Mi.com store, and it is likely that is will never officially be available outside China given Xiaomi’s history but it certainly will give GoPro pause for thought.


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ATLANTA—The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to the consumption of ground beef that has sickened 16 people in five states. Seven people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported.
Collaborative investigative efforts of state, local and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicated that ground beef produced by Jouni Meats, Inc., and Gab Halal Foods are likely sources of the outbreak. Jouni Meats recalled approximately 500 pounds of ground beef products on Jan. 24, 2013; Gab Halal Foods recalled approximately 550 pounds of ground beef products on Jan. 25, 2013.
Among 16 persons for whom information is available, illness onset dates range from Dec 9, 2012, to Jan. 7, 2013. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Arizona (1), Illinois (2), Iowa (1), Michigan (9) and Wisconsin (3). The 7 case-patients consumed raw beef kibbeh on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8, 2012. It is not known at this time if this outbreak strain has any drug resistance; results are pending. FSIS is continuing to work with public health partners and CDC on this investigation.


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Giphy is about sold by Meta
Meta purchased Giphy for $400 million in 2020, but the transaction was criticized for possibly being anti-competitive.
Giphy must be sold by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, due to the “risk of a material reduction in competition in the social media and display advertising market.”
According to CNBC, UK competition regulators announced the final decision on Tuesday, October 18, and Meta was mandated to “sell Giphy, in its entirety, to a suitable buyer.” It is unclear who any potential buyers are as of this writing.
Meta states that it is “disappointed by the CMA’s decision but accepts today’s ruling as the final word on the matter” in response to the ruling.
It’s $400 million acquisition by Meta of the GIF company was announced in May 2020. Since Meta controls “nearly half of the UK’s £7 billion ($7.9 billion) display advertising market,” the deal was under investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Read More News: Click here


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Starz said it will launch eight of its premium channels on the new AT&T streaming service DirecTV Now.
When DirecTV Now launches later this month, the service will feature channels including Starz, Starz Encore and Starz Encore Westerns.
Douglas County-based Starz(Nasdaq: STRZA, STRZB) said it will add more at a later date, including the full Starz and Starz Encore VOD catalogs, featuring both current and past seasons of Starz Original series.
Starz’ original series, include “Power,” “Outlander,” “Ash vs Evil Dead” “Survivor’s Remorse” and next year’s “American Gods.” In addition, the network will include first-run movies such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
Read more at the Denver Business Journal: http://bit.ly/2fNu8Mq


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Toshiba's new Q300 and Q300 Pro range of SSDs might be designed with different customers in mind, but they both offer solid performance with well-rounded features. The question is, do they stand out from the crowd?
The new green-band trailer for the raunchy holiday comedy The Night Before features Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie playing friends reuniting for one final Christmas Eve of debauchery.
Barnes & Noble has announced the third iteration of the Samsung Nook, the Galaxy Tab S2. The 8-inch tablet comes with a HD display for books, movies, TV shows and games, with enough battery life for 14 hours use.
One of the biggest first-world issues faced by gamers today, is that we have too much to play. That's why Valve has made a change in its new Big Picture update, to encourage people to play some of the games they already own, instead of buying more.
Don Coolidge, the CEO and co-founder of Elemental Path and creator of CogniToys, firmly believes that the toy industry should forgo gender labels to ensure that children feel the freedom to choose toys regardless of gender stereotypes.
Apple may have recently launched the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but news of the iPhone 6S and an iPhone 6C are already on its way. Here is all the key information we think we know so far, including specs, and a possible release date.
With a new generation of Intel CPUs just a short while away, motherboard makers are responding in kind by announcing all of their supporting hardware. Asus has followed suit with 10 new motherboards of its own, all packing new and exciting features.
A 14-year-old British teenager couldn't have intended for his sexy, nude Snapchat to land him in a police database for "making and distributing an indecent image of a child." His name will remain in the database for up to 10 years.
A second Huawei smartphone has been announced at IFA 2015, the Huawei G8. Launched a few hours after the Mate S, it looks almost identical with the fingerprint sensor and all metal design, but with lower specifications.