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China Continues to Lead the Blockchain Space, Accounts for Over 25% of The Blockchain-Based Projects Worldwide
Blockchain is one of the fastest growing technologies in the world. After being launched as an underlying platform for Bitcoin ten years ago, the innovative tech has matured to become the most successful technical creations of the 21st Century.
The market was initially ruled by start-ups and small companies, which were purely focused on developing the space. However, in the past two years, the technology has gained tremendous popularity among big business corporations. Several American business giants have invested heavily in the blockchain sector, including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and HSBC. However, a recent report suggests that it’s China which is leading the blockchain space.
Earlier this year, a report by the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) suggested that China filed the most number (790) of blockchain based patents in 2018, closely followed by the US, who had 762 blockchain based patents under its belt. The new reports further confirm the dominance of China in the blockchain game.
According to the report by Blockdata, a Beijing based data service provider, China accounts for over 25% of total blockchain projects in the world. Till November 2018, the world’s second-largest economy had 263 live blockchain related projects, more than any other country in the world. However, this figure grew significantly in the following month, as Beijing based think tank EO Intelligence stated in December that there were about 615 blockchain related companies in the country, with half of them engaged in developing blockchain based solutions for financial companies.
Blockchain activities, in fact, have been growing across the globe. IBM, for instance, has partnered with several governments and private organisations to develop blockchain solutions, apart from launching its own blockchain based payments app. Payment companies like VISA and PayPal have also stepped in the blockchain realm.
In Asia, countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and India are also taking big strides in the space. One Indian tech company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has pledged to lead the blockchain space in the world’s fastest growing economy. The company stated that it will provide blockchain solutions to all the companies in the country, from its tech centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Similarly, in China, there have been tremendous projects under development. Asia’s biggest e-commerce company, Chinese conglomerate Alibaba has been placing big bets on the platform and has already adopted the innovative tech in its supply chain management platform. Contrastingly, China has been quite hostile towards cryptocurrencies and has completely banned ICOs in the country.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, has been a strong advocate of blockchain technology. Last year, Jinping endorsed blockchain adoption, voicing the popular argument of “blockchain, not Bitcoin”. The government itself has been promoting the blockchain technology in the country. In 2017 alone, over 100 start-ups were incorporated in China.
Nonetheless, the government has been completely liberal with the blockchain space. China has stringent regulations in place for blockchain based businesses, which were made even more stricter in February earlier this year. Every blockchain start-up must mandatorily register with the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Last week a list of 197 companies was released, which are to be regulated as blockchain providers. The list included names like Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu.
Many leaders have predicted blockchain to cover almost half of the global economy as early as 2025. If that turns out to be true, China will have played a major role in it. Conditions in China are conducive for blockchain based research and development, mainly due to its high population, and the availability of essential infrastructure.
Also, the government has been finding newer sectors for development, in order to minimise the country’s dependence on the United States, especially after the start of Sino-US trade war. Blockchain space could immensely benefit, if China emerges as the superpower of the innovative sector.


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The BBC's iPlayer is now available on the Nintendo Wii, allowing users to stream BBC programmes direct to their TVs via the console.
The announcement came during a keynote speech by Erik Huggers, group controller for Future Media and Technology for the BBC, at the annual MipTV-Milia conference in Cannes.
"Working with Nintendo marks another exciting milestone for BBC iPlayer," said Huggers.
"The BBC's catch-up TV service can now be accessed on an increasing number of different platforms from the web and portable devices to gaming consoles. It will shortly be available on TV."
Wii owners can access the iPlayer service via the Internet Channel on the Wii's main menu, by navigating to the iPlayer website and searching for the programme they want to watch.
David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK, said: "BBC iPlayer on Wii will offer Wii owners another reason to turn on their console everyday."
Geoengineering on the sea floor near glaciers would form a new ice shelf to prevent melting
Alterations in capillary blood flow can be caused by body position change
Curiosity rover is in 'normal mode' but not transmitting scientific data back to base
NatWest outage comes a day after Barclays' IT systems shut out customers and staff

domain: news


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In our search for the stars of the region’s export companies in the North East Exporters’ Awards, sponsored by UK Trade and Investment, the North East Chamber of Commerce and HSBC, we focus on the Mid and Large Exporter of the Year.
The winner of the Mid and Large Exporter of the Year category will be a business with a turnover in excess of £25m that has demonstrated exceptional achievement in export.
Judges will want to hear about the product range being exported, the complexity and number of markets served, the companies performance in these markets and the obstacles or barriers to success.
Last year’s winner was Aesica Pharmaceuticals, a drug manufacturer which has seen exports grow to India, Turkey and Japan in the past three years.
A crucial factor has been a trend within the pharmaceutical industry for mature medicines to grow within merging markets. Arthritis drug Flurbiprofen, manufactured from Aesica’s Cramlington site for 20 years, has grown in demand across Asia. Added value and enhanced service provision has firmly established Aesica as a leader in this marketplace.
A company spokesman said: “Aesica is now the market leader in the production of the active pharmaceutical ingredient Flurbiprofen and we have achieved our market-leading position as a result of continuous process improvement, investment in facilities and our ability to respond quickly, providing tailored solutions to specific market requirements.
“Furthermore, we have combined our heritage of quality, innovation, customer service and reliability with a competitive pricing strategy, enabling us to secure new business in Turkey and across emerging markets in Asia.
“Over the past three years we have worked on our strategies and we currently hold 90% of the market share on Flurbiprofen and are exporting 99% of this product around the world.
“We have built up considerable internal expertise, working on these strategies. Along with continued support from the North East Chamber of Commerce and our local logistic suppliers, K&N and OSE European, we have been able to demonstrate a very knowledgeable and efficient supply chain to these markets.
“As market demands grow, we will continue to expand our Flurbiprofen manufacturing capacity to ensure Aesica remains competitive within the global marketplace.”
The North East Exporters’ Awards celebrate and recognise the efforts of companies that, through exporting achievements, are making a huge contribution to both the regional and UK economies.
They look to acknowledge and celebrate the strength and diversity of North East exporting, and also recognise individuals who have helped their company boost its international sales performance. Last year entries nearly doubled for these awards, which are now recognised as the main export awards for the region. Let’s hope that even more companies will this year prove that the North East really is a region of exporters.
The awards dinner will take place on Thursday, May 15, at Ramside Hall Hotel, County Durham. Deadline for entries is Friday, March 21.
The award categories are:
New Exporter Award: A business that started exporting within the last two years and can demonstrate significant export success in one or more markets.
SME Exporter Award, sponsored by UK Trade & Investment: A business with turnover of up to £25m that has demonstrated exceptional achievement in export.
Supporting Export Award: A business with turnover up to £500m that does not export itself, but plays a key role in supporting our region’s exporters to trade overseas. This can either be directly, through providing logistical support, or indirectly through providing associated services such as advice and consultancy.
Export Team of the Year Award, sponsored by NECC: A team working in export who can demonstrate significant added value to their business through adopting innovative techniques, personnel development, and successful implementation of the companies’ export sales strategy.
Mid & Large Exporter Award: A business with turnover in excess of £25m that has demonstrated exceptional achievement in export.
Overall Exporter of the Year Award, sponsored by HSBC: The overall winner, which is chosen from the winners of the above awards, plus other export award winners in the region.
Judging criteria and eligibility
In determining the winners, judges will take the following factors into account:
Product range being exported.
Development of export strategy.
Percentage of growth in export sales.
Staff development measures undertaken (for the team award only).
Complexity and number of markets served.
Obstacles/barriers to success.
CLOSING DATE FOR NOMINATIONS : Friday 21st March 2014


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ArtLucent will be showcasing many of our images on Light Boxes at this year’s 100% Design at Earls Court in London, 21st -24th September.
Our work will be on display at Stand H98.
We’ve just released a new catalogue with new images, just in time for Autumn Fair. Download our new Autumn/Winter 2006 catalogue here.
We’ve just confirmed another exhibition for this year:
some of our work will be on show as part of Square Art in London’s Golden Square near Piccadilly Circus. The exhibition showcases work by artist who are working in the media and broadcast industry, brought to live by Golden Square Post Production.
We will have several sizes on show, from 12 x 12cm Framed to 1m x 1m Aluminium Diasec. 10% of all sales will go to charity.
For more information, check the Square Art website: www.goldensq.com/squareart
We are pleased to announce that our images will shortly be available as Limited Edition Light Boxes!
The idea of backlighting our images has been a dream from the start, and courtesy of Chris at www.artlucent.com, we have finally found a solution to do it justice. The LucentFrame illuminates images evenly from the back with white LEDs, using a standard 100-240 Volt power supply for use anywhere in the world. The frame is only 20mm thick and is available in matt black and silver, available in sizes from 40x60cm up to a massive 90x135cm. Check the ArtLucent website for more information.
We currently have a portable prototype available, and will be launching the new frames exclusively at Autumn Fair this year.
UPDATE: As of 2008, Art Lucent are no longer trading.
You can now view a selection of our images at THE SAATCHI GALLERY.
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be exhibiting at Channel Four’s GRAND DESIGNS LIVE show, at London’s premier exhibition space ExCel!
Join us next to the Champagne and Seafood Bar at Stand L59, and get another chance to experience our breathtaking 1m x 1m Diasec prints. Don’t worry if you have a smaller space, as we’ll also have smaller pieces on offer.
Also on show are our long awaited Limited Edition Contemporary Art Clocks.


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Annual gift card tree drawing fundraiser returns
Businesses asked to donate gift cards worth a minimum of $20
– Downtown Paso Robles Main Street Association will be hosting its winter fundraiser Gift Card Tree Drawing from Nov. 12 through Dec. 20. The event is a fundraiser for the organization, which works throughout the year to bring memorable events, and guests, to the downtown area.
Local businesses are requested to make a gift card donation (a minimum of $20.00) from their business to adorn the holiday tree. The organization will then be selling tickets for a chance to win all of the gift cards gathered.
The tree will be on exhibit at Bijou, located at 815 12th Street in Paso Robles. Tickets will be sold at the following locations: Jayde Boutique, Kahuna’s Surf Shop, and Odyssey World Cafe. The winner will be announced on Dec. 21 and items will be available the following day for pick up at the organization’s office located at 835 12th Street #D, in Paso Robles.


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NEW YORK ( TheStreet) - Another week, another new Nokia ( NOK) phone. This one is terrific, even if it won't sell as well as it should in the U.S. This week it's a new, top-of-the-line Lumia model - the 925. It runs on Microsoft's ( MSFT) latest Windows Phone 8 operating system. It sports a nifty-looking 8.7 megapixel camera, interesting new photo software, optional wireless charging and a beautiful, lightweight aluminum body. It's also the second announcement that Nokia has made outside of the United States market. Last week, their Asha 501 feature phone was announced in India. Southeast Asia and other emerging markets are where the Asha line is popular. And, despite speculation that the new Lumia 925 will be coming to T-Mobile ( TMUS) in the United States, today's announcement was made in London. That's because Europe is actually the target market for Nokia's Lumia line. First of all, Nokia is an European-based company and their products have always sold well there - and everywhere else, for that matter. For many years, they were the number one cell phone manufacturer on the planet. Except for the United States. Historically, Nokia has had their fans here but their designs just didn't click big in America. Also, the United States is unique in that cellular phone manufacturers have to deal with more than one mobile standard if they want to do business here. That means they can sell one model in a particular region but would have to produce at least two (GSM and CDMA) and possibly four ( AT&T ( T), Sprint ( S), T-Mobile, Verizon ( VZ)) different models for the U.S. market. But now, they have bigger problems to overcome, particularly that Nokia isn't making Android phones. When Nokia cleaned house and decided they needed outside assistance with modern-day smartphones they chose to align themselves with Microsoft and the Windows Phone operating system. Don't get me wrong, the Windows Phone 8 OS is great. Windows Phones are great. And, Nokia's new Windows Phones are great. But, there's that problem of Apple and Google ( GOOG) Android. Their phones are great too. And, they're loaded with features, and everywhere you look there are print ads, TV ads and billboards touting just how popular they are.
And then there's the Microsoft Windows problem. Although the latest Windows Phone OS is quite good it took way too long to begin threatening the Apple/Google axis of products. Both of those other platforms were maturing - and, more importantly, attracting fans and developers - while Microsoft was busy playing catch-up and relaunch their mobile offerings a few times. Plus, recent buyer antipathy toward the similar-looking Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems for computers aren't helping matters at all. The bottom line is that despite all the changes - and despite the fact that they're creating wonderful designs - Nokia is still making phones that won't sell as well as they should here in the United States. That's a shame. Because the Lumia 925 looks like it's a terrific device. --Written by Gary Krakow in New York. >To submit a news tip, send an email to: firstname.lastname@example.org.


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This week the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ecosystem is seeing further infrastructure growth as wallet providers, merchants and exchanges continue to announce BCH support. The entire BCH network is seeing improvements every day, while the legacy chain and Segwit2x supporters argue relentlessly.
Bitcoin Cash Revamps Its Website, While More Infrastructure Support Flocks to the Network
The Bitcoin Cash network is currently closing in on two months of existence, and has so far seen an abundance of infrastructure support over the past few weeks. This week the company Bitpay added BCH support to its Copay wallet giving BCH proponents another credible open source light client. Additionally, the popular exchange Bitstamp enabled BCH withdrawals, and the currency will be available for trade on the platform in three days. Alongside this, Xapo has announced that BCH withdrawals are available and that customers must send the funds to a valid external BCH account before December 14th.
In addition to a few businesses supporting BCH or allowing withdrawals, the project also has a revamped website. Bitcoincash.org has a few new features, like a live feed of the current market value of BCH against USD, EUR, JPY, and CNY. The site also has a large list of full node clients, wallets, services, and exchanges that list BCH for trade. As far as on-chain scalability is concerned, the development team says research is underway to allow massive future increases.
The Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative
Another website called “The Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative” was also created for the nascent BCH network. The web portal is a community-curated list of sites/merchants that accept bitcoin cash and users can submit new sites/merchants to the Github repo. Currently, the site has a list of merchants and service providers with categories like food, entertainment, cloud services, social media, gambling, VPN services and more.
“This site was built as a means to connect consumers and merchants, while spreading awareness and promoting global adoption of Bitcoin Cash,” explains the Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative website. “It is our hope that as time goes on, more and more sites will be accepting Bitcoin Cash as a fast and secure payment method, with the added benefits of low fees, no third-party, atop a very strong decentralized network.”
BCH Market Value Stays Relatively Stable As Both Chain’s Mining Profit Parity See Minimal Fluctuations
The value of bitcoin cash is currently hovering around the US$450 price range, and has dropped to the fourth position in regard to cryptocurrency market capitalizations, due to Ripple (XRP) seeing a 10 percent price spike. BCH markets are seeing lighter volumes than weeks prior as the digital asset is averaging roughly $150M in 24-hour trade volumes this week. At press time the BCH chain is operating at 9.69 percent of the legacy chain’s difficulty and BTC is 3 percent more profitable to mine. However, mining profit parity between both chains has been relatively the same since August 27 with very minimal changes.
The Bitcoin Cash Lifeboat in a Sea of BTC Drama
The BCH community seems pleased with all the infrastructure building taking place within the new network environment. Currently, Core supporters are busy focusing in on the upcoming November Segwit2x hard fork and seem to be paying little attention to bitcoin cash. Quite a few speculators believe bitcoin cash might be a lifeboat if things get messy between Core and Segwit2x supporters.
What do you think about the Bitcoin Cash network’s past two months of progress? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, the Accept Bitcoin Cash Initiative, Bitcoincash.org, Coindance, and Coinsalad.
Bitcoin News is growing fast. To reach our global audience, send us a news tip or submit a press release. Let’s work together to help inform the citizens of Earth (and beyond) about this new, important and amazing information network that is Bitcoin.


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While everybody is looking forward to the arrival of GTA 6, there is a good possibility of a new GTA game dropping on Netflix Games soon!
GTA on Netflix – now, that has a nice ring to it! If the rumors floating around are true, one could soon see a Grand Theft Auto Game on Netflix. Since GTA is one of the biggest gaming properties out there, it is quite natural to see platforms like Netflix wanting to exploit its popularity for their growth. Netflix has a gaming service and there’s a good chance of a GTA title being on it soon.
A recent report published in The Wall Street Journal states that Netflix is making a conscious effort to put together a well-structured library of gaming titles. As per the report, the streaming giant is in talks with Take-Two Interactive to sign a licensing deal which would enable it to launch a GTA game through its platform.
According to gaming experts, if a GTA game arrives on Netflix, it would be designed as a mobile game. At the moment, one can only try out the games available on Netflix through its mobile app. Therefore, if Netflix hosts a GTA game on its platform, it will only be a mobile game. Players wouldn’t get the opportunity to play it on a PC or TV.
Netflix seems to be quite serious about building its gaming library. As per an industry analyst, Netflix has shelled out close to $1 billion on games till now. As per the chatter in the industry, the streaming giant is planning to hire a bunch of gaming executives to step into acquiring and developing AAA titles.
At the moment, it is a little difficult to predict as to how well investing in games will work for Netflix. Instead of buying the games, people might get the opportunity to play them after getting a Netflix subscription. So, Netflix’s larger goal is to expand its subscriber base by including a large number of gaming titles in its roaster.
While the mobile games on Netflix’s gaming service have their share of followers, they are quite less as compared to full-fledged gaming platforms. Till September 20, the games on Netflix have been downloaded a little more than 70 million times. Though this is not a small number, other gaming subscription services have registered much higher playtime and downloads.


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One of the apps featured in Steve Jobs’ rollout of Apple’s new iPad on Wednesday, Jan. 28, was Major League Baseball TV. That’s the subscription service where users can watch out-of-market baseball games.
According to the article, "Chad Evans, director of mobile product development for MLB Advanced Media, gave the demo for MLB.com before Jobs returned to the stage.
" ‘We were incredibly excited to build something for the iPad, and we realized we couldn’t just take our existing iPhone app and make it bigger,’ Evans said. ‘We really needed to create a whole new experience to take advantage of the big, gorgeous interactive screen on the device.’
"He went through several screen displays showing how the content will look, including users’ ability to touch players for details, bells and whistles, and to access data pertinent to game situations."


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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has halted updates on its website for meat and poultry recall updates because of the partial government shutdown. The last update listed on the site is dated Dec. 30.
The U.S. government shutdown is now in its third week. The agency released the following statement regarding the lack of updates on its website during that time.
“Due to a lapse in federal funding, this USDA website will not be actively updated. Once funding has been reestablished, online operations will continue.”


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Global rum sales have disappointed in recent years, but the category could be set for a much-needed resurgence over the next five years, according to the Global Rum Insights 2018 report from just-drinks and The IWSR.
Blaming rum’s poor recent performance on declines in the vital US market, the maturity of category leader Bacardi and its lack of premiumisation, the report notes that, following a peak in 2013, rum sales (excluding low-priced products) have consistently declined ever since. The immediate prospects, however, look much brighter, the report notes, despite predictions of continued declines in the US.
Between 2016 and 2021, all of rum’s other top 15 markets, barring Venezuela and Italy, are expected to expand.
“Among the leading markets, France is likely to be the big mover, overtaking both Canada and the UK to become the world’s second-largest market (excluding low-priced) by 2021,” the report says.
And, while rum has come late to the premiumisation party, it is beginning to move, with premium-plus sales growing by almost 2.2m cases between 2011 and 2016.
This shift towards higher-price echelons is being helped by increasing consumer curiosity about the category’s geographical and flavour diversity, as well as brands tapping into rum’s helpful associations of provenance, history and lifestyle with an array of new products, especially within spiced, flavoured and sipping rum.


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Bitcoin purchases on Lumi Wallet hike by 200% after Apple Pay launch
Only a week after the launch of Apple Pay as a new payment option for Bitcoin purchases on Lumi Wallet, in-wallet transactions have risen by over 200%, according to a report shared with AMBCrypto.
The introduction of Apple Pay has reportedly led to a simplification of the crypto-purchase procedure, with the time involved in the transaction process falling by around 7 times. This came down to the fact that the KYC verification process, which is customary for traditional ways to buy crypto, usually takes around 10-14 minutes. With Apple Pay, Lumi Wallet users can skip this identification procedure. Thus, the reduced purchasing time to less than 15 seconds.
According to the CEO of Lumi Wallet Diana Furman,
“We were sure that Apple Pay is a crucial feature in our wallet, as well as bitcoin adoption in general. Our team understands that we, as a participant of the market, have to simplify crypto as much as possible.”
According to Lumi’s in-wallet statistics, a majority of the purchases were made by users in the United States, accounting for 33% of all purchase operations.
Interestingly, however, despite North America making the highest volume of purchases, it was Latin America that recorded the most number of newcomers – a 29% increase since November.
This sharp increase in newcomers, especially from regions such as Latin America, suggests that bypassing KYC processes goes a long way towards simplifying the barriers to entry for crypto-purchases.
A similar sentiment was shared by crypto-investors from India, according to a survey titled ‘Mood of the Nation’ by Indian crypto-exchange, CoinDCX. This survey had revealed that 60% of the respondents felt that they needed an easier way to join crypto.


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Each AMD and Intel on Thursday mentioned that the 2 firms had halted gross sales of their merchandise to Russia and Belarus, an specific dedication from the chip trade in taking motion towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Microsoft, too, additionally mentioned it will halt “new” gross sales of Microsoft merchandise, too.
On Thursday morning, AMD mentioned it was halting all chip shipments. By Thursday afternoon, Intel had joined AMD with an analogous assertion. Microsoft added its personal assertion on Friday morning.
In response to AMD, the chip ban extends to Belarus, which Russia has used as a staging floor for its attacking forces. “Based mostly on sanctions positioned on Russia by the USA and different nations, at the moment AMD is suspending its gross sales and distribution of our merchandise into Russia and Belarus,” an AMD consultant mentioned in an e-mail. “It’s all AMD merchandise and merchandise we energy (PCs, and so forth) in Russia and Belarus.”
Intel, too, mentioned it had suspended shipments. “Intel condemns the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and we’ve suspended all shipments to clients in each Russia and Belarus,” Intel mentioned in a press release on its Website online. “Our ideas are with everybody who has been impacted by this battle, together with the individuals of Ukraine and the encircling nations and all these all over the world with household, mates and family members within the area.”
Intel mentioned that it had begun to boost funds for reduction efforts, too.
“We’re working to assist all of our workers via this troublesome state of affairs, particularly these with shut ties to this area,” Intel added. “Now we have launched an worker donation and matching marketing campaign via the Intel Basis that has already raised over $1.2 million for reduction efforts, and we’re pleased with the work our groups in surrounding areas together with Poland, Germany and Romania are doing to assist refugees. We’ll proceed to face with the individuals of Ukraine and the worldwide group in calling for an instantaneous finish to this battle and a swift return to peace.”
For its half, Microsoft mentioned that it will halt gross sales of all “new” Microsoft merchandise. “We’re saying at the moment that we are going to droop all new gross sales of Microsoft services and products in Russia,” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith wrote. “As well as, we’re coordinating carefully and dealing in lockstep with the governments of the USA, the European Union and the UK, and we’re stopping many points of our enterprise in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions choices.”
It wasn’t clear whether or not Microsoft would go away in place ongoing subscription companies. Microsoft additionally mentioned that it continues to guard Ukrainian websites from Russian assaults. “Our single most impactful space of labor virtually definitely is the safety of Ukraine’s cybersecurity,” Smith added. “We proceed to work proactively to assist cybersecurity officers in Ukraine defend towards Russian assaults, together with most lately a cyberattack towards a serious Ukrainian broadcaster.”
Lastly, clear statements in favor of Ukraine
On Feb. 24, the U.S. Division of Commerce applied a brand new Commerce Management Record-based license requirement for Russia. This requirement restricts exports to the nation for key industries together with “microelectronics,” avionics, navigation gear, and extra. Basically, the brand new export guidelines blacklist Russia and companies working there from legally shopping for the restricted items.
Up to now, nevertheless, the chip trade has been considerably obscure in the way it has reacted to the continued Ukraine battle.
On Feb. 26, for instance, an Intel consultant merely mentioned that “Intel complies with all relevant export laws and sanctions within the nations through which it operates, together with the brand new sanctions issued by OFAC and the laws issued by BIS.” On the time, the consultant declined to remark additional when requested if that indicated a selected ban on gross sales to Russia. A supply near Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest and most necessary fab, instructed the Washington Publish that the foundry has suspended all gross sales to Russia and to 3rd events that provide merchandise to Russia. On the document, nevertheless, a TSMC consultant instructed the paper that it will merely adjust to the brand new export guidelines.
In comparison with the general market, nevertheless, chip gross sales to Russia symbolize a small fraction of whole gross sales. On Feb. 24, the Semiconductor Business Affiliation launched a press release that characterised Russia as “not a big direct shopper” of semiconductors.
“Whereas the affect of the brand new guidelines to Russia could possibly be important, Russia just isn’t a big direct shopper of semiconductors, accounting for lower than 0.1% of worldwide chip purchases, based on the World Semiconductor Commerce Statistics (WSTS) group,” the SIA mentioned in a press release. “The broader Russian ICT market totaled solely about $50.3 billion out of the $4.47 trillion world market, based on 2021 IDC information.
“As well as, the semiconductor trade has a various set of suppliers of key supplies and gases, so we don’t imagine there are fast provide disruption dangers associated to Russia and Ukraine,” the SIA added.
The AMD consultant echoed what the SIA mentioned, particularly relating to its personal provide chain. “At present, we don’t imagine that the battle will affect our capacity to offer merchandise, assist, and companies to our companions and clients,” the AMD consultant mentioned in his e-mail.
Representatives for Nvidia didn’t reply to a request for touch upon Thursday.
This story was up to date at 9:17 AM on Friday, March 4 with a press release from Microsoft.
As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft information and chip expertise, amongst different beats. He has previously written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.


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BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont dairy farm and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have reached an agreement that prohibits the farm from selling cattle for human consumption that contain drugs not allowed in the human food chain.
A consent decree signed by the Lawson Farm of Irasburg and the U.S. government prevents the farm, its owners and operators from selling any animals for use as food unless and until they can assure that animals with illegal drug residues do not enter the food supply.
Court documents say that between 2002 and 2012, tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found illegal drug residue from six animal drugs in tissue samples collected from 10 Lawson Farm animals. The records also claim the farm did not maintain adequate treatment records, such as how the drugs were being administered them or who administered them.
As part of the consent decree dated Monday, the farm did not admit or contest the allegations in the government's complaint.
The farm's attorney said Lawson Farm is a family operation that is committed to a safe supply of milk and milk products.
"The Lawson family is firmly committed to a safe supply of milk and milk products in the stream of commerce, and in response to FDA and Department of Justice requests, have just instituted a highly sophisticated software program, with highly skilled and trained employees, to insure compliance with the highest standards of milk quality and the consent order," said a statement from Lawson Farm Attorney Duncan Kilmartin.


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LTCN shares are trading 20 times lower in comparison to the LTC holdings per share by Grayscale. Thus, it’s 20 times more expensive to buy Litecoin via Grayscale than directly through the spot exchange.
The world’s eighth-largest cryptocurrency Litecoin (LTC) is up 13% today and is just short of $200. At press time, LTC is trading at a price of $194.9 with a market cap of $12.9 billion. Interestingly, investors seeking exposure to LTC via the Grayscale Litecoin Trust are paying a premium of 1800%. The shares of Grayscale Litecoin Trust (OTCMKTS: LTCN) have been trading at this massive premium over the market rate of the underlying asset i.e. Litecoin (LTC).
Grayscale Litecoin (LTC) Trust
On Tuesday, March 2, the LTCN shares touched a peak of $391 before correcting nearly 5% by the end of the trading session. This wide difference arises majorly from the retail investors’ inability to buy LTCN shares directly from Grayscale. The Trust is basically available only to accredited investors.
While LTCN shares are trading at over $300, its LTC holdings per share are worth just $16.42. Thus, it’s 20 times more expensive to buy Litecoin via Grayscale than directly through the spot exchange.
Grayscale launched its Litecoin Trust (LTCN) last year in August 2020. The LTCN share price peaked out in November that year shooting all the way to $500. While the premium for the Litecoin fund has dropped significantly over the last three months, investment for LTCN isn’t much attractive for retail players yet.
It turns out that Grayscale itself has been aggressively buying LTC over the last month. A tweet from Litecoin shows that Grayscale scooped nearly 80% of all Litecoins mined last month.
In the past month @Grayscale Trust has purchased over 174,000 Litecoin.
This is approx 80% of all Litecoin mined last month… pic.twitter.com/5RmDARZ3dy
— Litecoin (@litecoin) March 1, 2021
Anyone willing to leverage this arbitrage opportunity with LTCN share price needs to know that all LTCN shares require a minimum of a one-year holding period after creation. Also, one needs to be an accredited investor with a minimum investment ticket of $25,000.
Litecoin Founder Calls NFT Craze Similar to ICO Mania
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are getting all the limelight in recent days. Bing names like Christie’s and NBA have adopted the NFT route to sell some very popular digital artwork and videos through the NFT digital collectibles.
With all the frenzy around NFTs, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee compares it to the 2017 ICO mania. Lee mentions five points of similarity between the current NFT popularity and the 2017 ICO mania. Interestingly, he also compares both to the altcoin mania of 2013.
I see a lot of parallels between 2021's NFTs with 2017's ICOs and 2013's altcoins:
– easy to create new ones with no barriers
– simple to understand & explain
– brings tons of new people into crypto
– high prices & pumps create hype/FOMO
– few will hold & have value, most won't
— Charlie Lee Ⓜ🕸 (@SatoshiLite) March 2, 2021
Lee is not alone in his criticism of NFTs. Some of the popular personalities from the crypto space share similar opinions on it.


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Nokia has announced its return to the smartphone market and there is not a Windows in sight. The company was long associated with Microsoft’s platform through its previous smartphone stint. However, the Finnish company is now working on smartphones that will run on Android. Nokia is already offering new feature phones on its website.
As Nokia said at the start of the month, its smartphones will now be developed and sold by HMD Global. The Indian company is licensing the Nokia brand. Despite this, HMD has also taken numerous Nokia employees and some who made the move to Microsoft after its acquisition.
In an interview with The Economic Times, HMD’s chief executive Arto Nummela, has discussed the company’s plans.
While Nokia has relaunched feature phones on its website, most of these are older devices. In fact some of the handsets are actually some of Microsoft’s old products. Nummela says that HMD will build a feature phone before introducing a smartphone in 2017.
“When we were running the feature phone business in the context of Microsoft,” Nummela said, “we didn’t stop doing anything, so we were creating new products in the pipeline. One of those is now ramping up as we speak, so we will continuously renew our feature phone line up.”


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Duvall O’Steen and Jen Cullen Williams on why jewelers should utilize two big audio platforms: podcasts and Clubhouse.
Baselworld Is Rising From the Ashes as ‘HourUniverse’
In addition, Watches & Wonders, the former SIHH, is planning to hold a show in Shanghai this fall.
Basel, Switzerland—MCH Group, the Swiss company that ran the now-defunct Baselworld show, announced a new event Thursday, though it released few details.
The replacement for Baselworld, which crumbled in the wake of its cancellation due to COVID-19 this year, is called HourUniverse and is billed as an online platform for networking and content that will be active and updated all year, with one annual live event.
The site will target both consumers and members of the watch industry.
The first live event, MCH Group said, will take place in Basel in April 2021, “aligned with the watchmaking events in Geneva, in the best interests of the international community, which will only have to travel to Switzerland once a year.”
Watches & Wonders Geneva, which also was called off this year due to the pandemic, is slated for next April, though organizers have not announced exact dates yet.
There is also a new watch show being organized for April 2021 in Geneva, created by five of the biggest brands in the business: Rolex/Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chanel and Chopard, which all cut ties with Baselworld this year.
MCH Group said it will release more details in late August, when it also plans to start marketing HourUniverse.
Also on Thursday, Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, organizer of Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH), announced it is holding a show this fall in China.
Watches & Wonders Shanghai is scheduled for Sept. 9-13 at the West Bund Art Center.
The five-day show will include brand keynotes, product launches, talks, panel discussions, and a hands-on introduction to watchmaking.
Information on and photos of all the new watches presented at the show will be uploaded simultaneously on the Watches & Wonders website.
A total of 11 brands—all Richemont-owned, except for two—are slated to participate: A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, Cartier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Panerai, Parmigiani Fleurier, Piaget, Purnell, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin.
The D-color, internally flawless diamond leads the Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction.
Friedrich Jewelers owners Doug and Jacki Friedrich are ready for retirement.
Gold has had its share of ups and downs over the last 5 decades. Here’s why the metal is having another big comeback.
The Swiss lab reveals how stones from the Panjshir Valley are both different from and similar to emeralds from other places.
The reminder follows a frightening incident at a store in California.
The survey showed Americans are becoming more optimistic about their financial futures and view precious jewelry as an important category.
Learn how to increase customer loyalty and revenue by making JM™ Care Plan a cornerstone of your business plan.
Ahna Shmuel returns to the company to head brand management as well as oversee the jewelry division.


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Intuit Inc. has dipped its toe in the payments pond often, and now the business software provider wants to make a bigger splash by enticing more merchants to use QuickBooks Online.
To further this strategy, Intuit is partnering with e-commerce platforms Bigcommerce and Shopify to enable online merchants (or those contemplating e-commerce) to use QuickBooks Payments and other tools to automatically update, reconcile and transfer accounting data.
The pitch is less about cross-selling other Intuit products to QuickBooks users and more about recasting Intuit's range of payments and business offerings as the means to conduct business across multiple channels.
Square engaged in a similar partnership this month with Bigcommerce and Weebly in an effort to make it easier for its small merchants to sell on the Web.
Intuit has 29 million businesses in the U.S. and 600 million globally using QuickBooks, giving the software maker a stronger position as it works to bring small businesses into using more of its services, said Thad Peterson, senior analyst with Boston-based Aite Group.
"A lot of these businesses are trying to move toward an omni-channel model, where you can deliver payments capabilities across the board and integrate that into a richer data set," Peterson said.
The new arrangement with e-commerce providers is focused on automating bookkeeping tasks for merchants, but it also represents a continuation of Intuit's strategy to provide an open cloud-based platform for developers wanting to participate in the company's business and payments application offerings.
"We depend on best-of-breed in business apps to help us serve our customers better," said Avi Golan, vice president and general manager of Intuit Developer Group.
Intuit wants all business and payments apps working together "as invisible and simple as possible" for small-business owners, Golan said.
Merchants trying QuickBooks Online through Bigcommerce or Shopify will have a link to set up QuickBooks Payments as the payment gateway on the control panel of their online store.
Those who already have a QuickBooks account can click on the QuickBooks Payments button to immediately establish the gateway. Those without an account can register to set it up.
"The retail industry functions online, in physical stores and everywhere in between. Together with Intuit, we're working to connect those channels to make business more efficient," said Melanie Kalemba, senior vice president of sales and strategic business development at Bigcommerce.
Intuit has the same goal, considering it can also offer a presence in the physical retail setting with its GoPayment mobile card reader and its recent advancements with Revel Systems at the point of sale.
Intuit is working with Revel on QuickBooks Point of Sale, an iPad-based system for retail, grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses. Intuit launched that product last month, linking it with QuickBooks to support sales, payments, inventory and payroll.
Calling the Revel partnership "a nice target for both companies to attract customers and convert them," Golan said more than 60 customers have signed up for QuickBooks Point of Sale already and the company is targeting thousands by the end of 2015.
These recent developments signal that Intuit wants to position its technology as an open platform, Golan added.
"We also have integrations with Square and PayPal and we are open to all of it," Golan said. "We have more than 900 business apps on our platform and it is increasing every day. A year ago we had eight, so you can see the potential of being an open platform."
Intuit's platform strategy will also play well in a growing and changing payments landscape, Aite's Peterson said.
"Payments has always been a subset of commerce, and we're just figuring that out now," Peterson said. "Commerce players like Intuit are probably in a real good place, whereas payments players may or may not be."


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Quantum on Monday unveiled two new technologies that reflect the impact disk-backup is having on the tape market.
The Milpitas, Calif.-based tape drive and automation vendor on Monday unveiled the latest iteration of its midrange tape technology, DLT-S4, which provides high-capacity backups at what company officials say is the lowest cost-per-Gbyte archiving media.
Quantum also unveiled new hard drives built into removable cartridges that can be treated as tape for off-site archiving.
The new DLT-S4 tape cartridges from Quantum have a raw capacity of 800 Gbytes, which can be expanded to 1.6 Tbytes with compression. Data throughput for DLT-S4 drives is up to 60 Mbytes per second raw or 120 Mbytes per second compressed.
The drives are available with 4Gbps Fibre Channel, Ultra 320 SCSI, or SAS connectivity.
Greg Fredericks, director of product marketing for Quantum, said for archiving purposes, access to data on the cartridges can be locked with user security keys. The keys can also be used for backing up data in a WORM format. Quantum in the near future also plans to add encryption capabilities to the DLT format, he said. With the new DLT-S4 format, Fredericks said that Quantum is emphasizing capacity over performance. “As tape becomes an archiving media, and less of a backup media, so capacity becomes more important than performance,” he said.
Pat Edwards, vice president of sales at Alliance Technology Group, a Hanover, Md.-based solution provider, said that Quantum is bringing out its new tape format just as the industry is looking for higher capacities.
“I don’t have a lot of DLT customers,” Edwards said. “But we are talking to customers about tape drives from StorageTek and IBM. Those drives start at $35,000 to $37,000, with cartridges running about $200 each. It sounds like Quantum could go after this market.”
The new DLT-S4 drives cost much less, with list prices starting at $4,495, said Fredericks. Cartridge prices start at $100, which is a break from Quantum’s traditional new product rollout pattern of starting new cartridges at $150 and gradually cutting prices, he said.
As a result, the DLT-S4 format offers a cost-per-Gbyte of about 6 cents, compared to 14 cents for LTO-3, the main rival to DLT, Fredericks said.
Edwards said that over the past couple of years, Quantum’s DLT format has lost a lot of momentum to the LTO format. “They still have a long way to go before they can regain their market share,” he said. “But with DLT-S4, maybe they can reclaim part of it.”
The move to focus on higher capacity tape, one also cited by LTO tape technology vendors, including Quantum during the introduction of LTO-3, is coming as enterprises become more open to moving part of their backup process to disk-based systems, including virtual tape libraries.
Peripheral Concepts, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based analyst firm, and Coughlin Associates, an Atascadero, Calif.-based analyst firm, found in a survey earlier this year that 2006 will see enterprises backing more of their data up to disk than to tape.
In their report, the analysts also found that 57 percent of businesses would like to scrap their tape libraries in favor of disk-based systems. They also estimate that about 30 percent of businesses expect to back 80 percent of their data to disk by 2008, compared to about 17 percent of businesses that currently do so.
Quantum is also trying to help small businesses take advantage of disk-based backup technology with this week’s introduction of the GoVault Drive.
The GoVault Drive is a Seagate 2.5-inch mobile hard drive in a ruggedized cartridge that can protect the drive against falls of up to one meter, said Fredericks. They plug into a docking station that fits in a 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch server bay.
The drives are currently available in 40-Gbyte, 80-Gbyte, and 120-Gbyte capacities, with future capacity options increasing with new mobile hard drive releases, Fredericks said. Prices for the GoVault start at $299, which include a docking station, a 40-Gbyte hard drive cartridge and backup software from San Jose, Calif.-based Yosemite Technologies.
The GoVault will be available to solution providers and to custom system builders through distributors, Fredericks said. IBM is also planning to offer it as an option to its xSeries server family, he said.


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We're all hoping we get to see something of the new Fable at the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase next week, but before that point, the game has been trending for the wrong reasons on social media due to a new rumour.
The rumour comes from the Colt Eastwood podcast, where his guest ("gazondaily") claimed that he'd heard "Fable had to be scaled down because the team had trouble with the [ForzaTech] engine". He stated that it was "nothing to worry about, but [the game] may be further away than you think".
This has caused Fable to get a lot of attention online, and therefore the game's Senior Producer, Amie Loake, has taken to Twitter to try and reassure fans, talking about the process of "scoping" during game development, which is basically establishing the overall vision of the project along with the potential to execute that vision:
"I wanted to clear something up about scoping; it is a normal, necessary and healthy part of game development. I can guarantee that every single AAA game you've ever played will have gone through scoping regularly during development."
"It's intention is to make sure the team are focused under one clear vision and can get it made in the time they have without killing themselves. Games that haven't been scoped correctly often have delays and crunch, both we should be aiming to avoid whenever possible."
In addition, Loake also responded to a fan who stated, "Fable will be just fine, I promise" (which you can see below).
Playground Games is still currently hiring for the new Fable, so we're assuming it's fairly early in development right now, but fingers crossed we get a bit more of a concrete update on its progress at the Xbox Showcase next Sunday.
What do you make of this? Let us know down in the comments below.


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July home sales in the Bancroft area have dropped almost 40 per cent year-over-year.
That’s according to the Bancroft and Area Association of Realtors, which reports 27 homes were sold in July. President Marilyn Dillon says home sales have cooled sharply over the last two months, in line with trends in many markets to the southwest of here.
However, the average price of a home increased almost nine per cent since last year to almost $224,000.
The average time a home spent on the market was seven months at the end of July, up from just over five last year.


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Nations are becoming increasingly conscious about regulating carbon emissions from the fashion industry.
Last year, Bill Gates wrote in his blog GatesNotes that, by 2060, climate change could be just as deadly as the pandemic, and by 2100, it could be five times as deadly. “In the next decade or two, the economic damage caused by climate change will likely be as bad as having a Covid-sized pandemic every 10 years,” he said.
Not just Gates, but many other climate advocates, too, have stressed that the current global crisis can inform the response to the next one. The fact remains that, besides automobile and energy, fashion is one of the major polluting industries in the world that needs major attention, as it contributes to divergent forms of environmental pollution, including water, air and soil.
Simply put, overproduction of fashion items, use of synthetic fibres and agriculture pollution of fashion crops are a few factors that contribute to waste pollution. Take, for instance, polyester, one of the most popular fibres used in fashion, which is non-biodegradable. In fact, fast fashion, quick and affordable trendy wear, is a massive producer of waste that combines cheap labour and clothes.
If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory, that share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050, according to a 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The foundation also reports that more than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing under-utilisation and lack of recycling.
World leaders have now slowly begun to realise the catastrophic future of climate change, especially when it comes to regulating the industry. US President Joe Biden announced America’s return to the international Paris Agreement to fight climate change with a safe global temperature, increased climate resilience and financial flows aligned with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and a climate-resilient development.
French legislator Brune Poirson, who was officially one of the three secretaries of state to the minister for ecological and inclusive transition, was unofficially in charge of fashion and has been known to ban brands from destroying an estimated $700 million worth of unsold goods annually, a common practice in the French fashion industry.
The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles & Apparel (HKRITA) has a garment-to-garment recycle system (G2G) for old clothes broken down into fibres and yarns to make raw material for knitted new clothes. This fibre-to-fibre recycling method is cost-effective and there’s no secondary pollution, ensuring that the life of the recycled material is prolonged in a sustainable way.
If responsible fashion is the call of the hour, nations might like to add an additional portfolio of ministry of fashion for better incentivised, locally-produced and technologically-advanced systems to tackle pollution. The ministry may set guidelines, scrutinise products, examine markets and assess demand and supply.
Brands are also now becoming conscious of how damaging fast fashion is for the environment and taking small steps in consciously building sustainable nations. The negative impacts that are rising inexorably point out how fashion creates waste across industries (logistics, animal farming, agriculture) and is not as disposable as one is made to believe.
Around 1 kg of cotton production, cultivated as part of the agricultural industry in India, uses more than 10,000 litres of fresh water. Cotton production uses 24% of the insecticides and 11% of the pesticides produced globally. “Every time we consume fresh conventional cotton, we use large quantities of water, insecticides and pesticides, which eventually seep into groundwater and waterways. About 70 million trees are cut every year to produce plant-based fibre. Fashion uses 342 million oil barrels to make plastic-based fabrics like polyester and nylon; 23% of all chemicals produced worldwide are used for the textile industry. Recycling or upcycling can instead use natural resources to create fresh material. Working locally reduces the carbon footprint of products that travel back and forth between production, packaging, warehousing, quality checking before they reach the store shelf or the consumer,” says Kriti Tula, co-founder of Doodlage, a Delhi-based sustainable fashion brand that uses upcycle factory waste to make limited-edition collections and recycled post-consumer waste and scraps to make new fabrics and garments.
Additionally, India has made significant strides in sustainable fashion as PM Narendra Modi’s ‘vocal for local’ empowers MSMEs. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) gives a push to local manufacturing via the Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme. There are other sustainable Indian brands like Rewanta as well that support artisans by creating a positive demand cycle for khadi. Antaran, a direct implementation programme of Tata Trusts, aims to help artisans deal with markets directly.


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Microsoft’s 2020 acquisition of ZeniMax was, at least in part, to stop Sony from paying the company to skip Xbox releases of its games, according to a statement by head of Xbox Phil Spencer during the FTC v. Microsoft hearing.
“When we acquired ZeniMax one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for ‘Deathloop’ and ‘Ghostwire’… to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox,” said Spencer. “So the discussion about ‘Starfield’ when we heard that ‘Starfield’ was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business.”
For context, “Deathloop” and “Ghostwire: Tokyo” were both major game releases that skipped over Xbox at launch. In the case of “Deathloop,” the title was also a critical darling, garnering Sony exclusive prestige despite the game being a third-party release.
The difference with “Starfield” is that it’s a mega blockbuster — the kind of ultra-lucrative, supersized game that ZeniMax’s Bethesda Game Studios only releases once every few years. As such, while it may have stung Xbox to miss out on well-received titles like “Deathloop,” Xbox not receiving “Starfield” would’ve been a serious black eye for the platform.
Spencer went on to sidestep the question of whether “The Elder Scrolls VI” (another ZeniMax/Bethesda mega blockbuster game) will be Xbox exclusive, saying it’s hard to tell for “a game that’s five-plus years away.”
This all comes after the hearing revealed just how small Microsoft’s console market share stats are compared to Sony’s and Nintendo’s, with Xbox controlling only 16% of the pie. That puts it in third place behind its two console rivals but doesn’t account for Xbox’s overall brand presence on PC.


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Domino's DomiCopter takes pizza delivery airborne
Recently, aerial drones have been used to bless festival goers with strategically placed beer drops and burrito lovers with air-borne deliveries. The next step in the fast-food delivery evolutionary chain is the DomiCopter, an octocopter designed to ferry Domino's pizza to your front door.
Before you get too excited, the DomiCopter isn't likely to be replacing ground-based deliveries anytime soon. Rather, it is the promotional brainchild of Domino's UK and digital creative agency T+Biscuits, who enlisted the services of Aerosight, a UK-based company specializing in aerial photography.
Piloted by Aerosight’s Dean Wynton, the customized pizza octocopter (which appears to be a modified Steadidrone EI8HT RTF) uses oversized claws to firmly grasp and hold a Domino's Heatwave bag and carry it to its destination.
The idea of replacing delivery drivers with drone pilots certainly has its merits, a reduction in delivery times and fuel costs being the obvious ones. But given the current regulations banning the use of such aircraft for commercial purposes in most countries, it's unlikely we'll see such a service get off the ground in the UK or the US in the near future. That's despite rumors of a Domino's DomiCopter Flight Academy being in the works.
The DomiCopter is shown delivering a Meatlovers Special in the following video.


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Trends at Gulfood 2022
Unlock Insights from the worlds largest food & beverage show!
14 Mar 2022
80% of Middle Eastern adults are more conscious of their environmental impact since COVID-19
With a growing trend towards more conscious purchasing and consumption among consumers who want to make a difference for the planet through their actions, NZMP’s return to Gulfood 2022 showcased new solutions to meet growing conscious consumers appetite for sustainable products as well as bringing our world-class innovations and technical experience to the fore.
According to recent studies, 80% of Middle Eastern adults surveyed are more conscious of their environmental impact since COVID-19, and nearly three-quarters of adults (72%) in the Middle East region acknowledge that companies are moving toward more sustainable and eco-friendly ways.
In line with this growing trend, NZMP promoted the benefits of Fonterra’s unique low carbon pasture-based farming system through a new digital sustainability activation.
Attendees who visted the stand this year were able to interact with a series of engaging animations, videos and articles that demonstrated the proof-points behind New Zealand grass-fed dairying. This included why it’s a better choice for the animals, soil health, the climate, and most importantly why Fonterra New Zealand’s low on-farm carbon footprint provides a competitive advantage to NZMP customers and greater transparency to consumers.
Fonterra’s unique suite of sustainability solutions was on show, including the launch of its new third-party certified cared for cow’s claim, providing a platform to engage with consumers who are interested in the impact of products and animal wellbeing. Coinciding with this was climate leadership claims such as Toitū carbonzero™ certification, available on NZMP Organic Salted and Unsalted Butter with the capability to expand this offering to more NZMP ingredients in future.
Simon Penfold, Sales Director - Ingredients and Food Service – Middle East said what a privilege it was to be back for another edition of Gulfood.
Fonterra New Zealand’s grass-fed dairy has one of the lowest on-farm carbon footprints in the world – but we’re not stopping there. We have a plan to reduce our emissions across the value chain and an aspiration to be net zero by 2050. So simply by purchasing from us you are already reducing emissions in your supply chain and showing tangible progress to your stakeholders and investors.
Given the tight supply out of NZ for the current season the focus for Gulfood 2022 was not so much on selling in the spot window but making and maintaining connections for the future. Throughout the week the sales team captured plenty of leads and will surely bring about further business and good relationships.
A key highlight was the NZMP Organic Butter Carbonzero™ from Fonterra was named the Most Innovative Dairy Product at Gulfood awards and featured in promotions for the event during the rest of the week.


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The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho's new-look website promotes the right to information and free speech...
3 days ago
NEW YORK, US / LONDON, UK: MediaCom has named Fernando Emilio Silva as its new chief executive for Latin America. Fernando, who was previously chairman of Vivaki for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, will join the company 1 March 2012.
30 Jan 2012
MIAMI, US: Latam's jury of advertisers, media specialists and advertising experts has deliberated over work from 44 agencies across 11 countries in Latin America - covering entries from 77 brands in total. A shortlist of 45 entries has been announced.
22 Oct 2010
ATLANTA, US: CNN has announced the launch of a new initiative for journalism students, called CNN iReport University, linked to iReport, the network's user-generated news community.
16 Sep 2010


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But no job cuts or closures planned for France-based supplier of infrared systems for military, aerospace and commercial markets.
First strategic investment by the auto firm’s new tech fund goes to the California-headquartered developer of high-performance lidar systems.
Indiegogo launch of first day/night action camera, which also converts night vision into full-color daylight.
Photonics companies notable among IHS Markit’s “Top 20”; China’s investment in LED is eclipsing western players.
Clinical Laserthermia Systems and Exact Imaging sign memorandum of understanding to market image-guided laser system said to stimulate immunotherapy response.
UK and US firms partner on development of compact waveguide-based smart glasses for augmented reality (AR) applications.
Diode and fiber laser maker reports strong growth in first quarter as a public company.
'aktiia' spin-off from CSEM developing wristband sensor for continuous, non-invasive monitoring.
Defense, aerospace and diverse engineering firm attracted by award-winning, France-based surveillance specialist.
CEO hopeful of another record-breaking year for the optics giant, with extreme ultraviolet lithography a key driver.
Twin reports on lidar applications and the related intellectual property landscape highlight huge technological diversity.
Strong growth in optics and life sciences segment pushes up sales and profit at German photonics firm.


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The bitter trade war between China and the United States kept Asian factory activity mostly in decline in August, business surveys showed, strengthening the case for policymakers to unleash fresh stimulus to fend off recession risks.
China’s factory-gate prices shrank at the sharpest pace in three years in August, falling deeper into deflationary territory and reinforcing the urgency for Beijing to step up economic stimulus as the trade war with the United States intensifies.
China’s factory activity likely expanded again in December on stronger external demand and an infrastructure push at home, but the pace of growth is set to ease as markets await more certainty
A fire official said three people were rescued from the debris of the building in Peera Garhi area in western New Delhi. Thirty-five fire engines were at the site, and the rescue operation was continuing for some people feared trapped there.
Profits at China’s industrial firms grew at the fastest pace in eight months in November, but broad weakness in domestic demand remains a risk for company earnings next year.
Japan’s industrial output slipped for the second straight month in November, raising the likelihood the economy will contract in the fourth quarter due to slowing retail sales abroad and at home.
Factory activity in China contracted at the fastest pace ever in February, even worse than during the global financial crisis, highlighting the colossal damage from the coronavirus outbreak on the world’s second largest economy.
Japanese manufacturing activity shrank at the fastest pace in seven months in September, underscoring the broadening economic impact of the Sino-US trade dispute and keeping policymakers under pressure to step up stimulus.
Factory activity in China unexpectedly returned to growth in November for the first time in seven months, as domestic demand picked up on Beijing’s accelerated stimulus measures to steady growth.


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The US hasn’t always been known for leading the way when it comes to mobile technology, but when it comes to certain aspects of mobile marketing, the US is leading the way.
This morning, Bango released some interesting statistics regarding the growing usage of mobile-based Web browsing and mobile spending in general. The US has surpassed the UK for the number one spot in mobile Web browsing with 29% of the worldwide traffic. Interestingly, the growth in mobile traffic has coincided with a massive growth in mobile users paying for mobile-based content in the US as well. According to Bango, the US now accounts for 57% of mobile spending worldwide.
This correlation is important to mobile advertisers because it signifies the relationship between mobile Web traffic, and the amount of that traffic that’s converting in terms of mobile spending. Countries that have high mobile Web traffic, such as India and South Africa, don’t always have the corresponding high levels of mobile spending like the US and UK which means the way people interact on the mobile Web differs greatly from region to region.
In the end, these statistics solidify the opportunities for mobile marketers in the US by proving that consumers who use the mobile Web are becoming more comfortable with spending via the mobile Web- which has been a major hurdle since the beginning. People haven’t always been keen on paying for mobile content via their cell phone bills, but as technology and integration with mobile campaigns become more complex and prevalent, the usage numbers should steadily increase as well.


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As a result, the US facilities in Fort Wayne, IN; Neenah, WI, and Greenfield, IN will play a greater role in the company’s finishing and distribution operations, says Judy Abelman, vice president of communications for the division. “In anticipation of increased volume, we have invested in capacity and capability in our centrally-located Indiana facilities, including new state-of-the-art finishing assets that were recently brought online in Greenfield,” she says.
“In addition, we have redistributed finishing volume across six different locations to ensure that we meet service expectations,” Abelman continues. “We have also added inventory of pre-slit materials, and have set up additional dedicated delivery trucks and augmented capacity of our freight lines to manage increases in demand.”
Employees affected by the changes were notified May 5. “We are committed to providing the employees with as smooth a transition as possible over the coming months,” Abelman says.


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Pamela Anderson looked incredible at Vivienne Westwood’s Paris Fashion Week show so we had to chat with an expert who told us if she’s looked like she has had surgery!
Pamela Anderson, 49, has definitely changed her look lately and has opted for a cleaner, less make-up heavy approach to her beauty lately. We totally approve and think she looks incredible as always, but even from her appearance in Paris in Jan. and at the Vivienne Westwood show at Paris Fashion Week, we noticed a difference. HollywoodLife.com chatted with plastic surgeon Dr. Anthony Youn about any potential work Pamela might have done.
“Wow! Pam looks like she just walked off the set of Baywatch… in 1995! She looks at least 10-15 years younger than her age,” he told us. “I suspect that she’s had a relatively recent facelift, causing her jawline and neckline to be perfect,” he said. He also thinks she might have had her lips done because they’re “plump and pouty, possibly due to injectable fillers like Juvederm.” Dr. Anthony said, “I also suspect she’s had her forehead smoothed with Botox, and her cheeks plumped with a filler like Voluma.” In any case, he thinks Pamela looks amazing. “Kudos to her plastic surgeon!”
Pamela definitely shocked people when showed up to an event in Paris looking effortlessly relaxed and without her signature dark make-up and voluminous hair. She had instead chosen a sleek and simple hair and make-up look made her look almost unrecognizable.
“As far as cosmetic procedures, I don’t see anything other than possibly some Botox and fillers. She has great skin which goes a long way to keeping you looking youthful,” Dr. Andrew Miller, expert board certified plastic surgeon in NJ/NY told us back in Feb. about her new look. Whatever changes she’s made in her skincare and beauty routines, Pamela looks flawless!
HollywoodLifers, do you think Pamela had something done? Tell us in the comments below!


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Only 1 Indian Brand Among Leading OEMS For Mobile Handsets In India In 4Q, CY 2016
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Time to revisit ‘Make in India’ initiative to strengthen domestic brands
- Samsung, Intex and Rising Star are the top three Original Equipment Manufacturers in the country.
- Rising Star is the largest contract manufacturer in India.
- Leading global OEMs manufacturing handsets for India market are Shenzhen Tecno Technology, Samsung Electronics (Huizhou) and Shenzhen Benavi Electronics Co. Ltd in that order.
- Focus should also be on Designing and Engineering to complete the acronym of ‘MADE’ in India.
New Delhi / Gurugram, Monday, April 10, 2017: CMR today announced industry’s first report that gives insights on OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) manufacturing handsets for their own brands or supplying to leading handset brands selling in India.
As per the report, 48 OEMs and 3rd party manufacturers made mobile handsets in India during 4Q, 2016. Remaining 140 OEMs supply to brands selling in India for the same period.
Announcing the report, Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Industry Intelligence Practice at CMR said, “The positive thing about ‘Make in India’ of attracting foreign OEMs to assemble/manufacture in India has been progressively achieved. However, at the same time, it has not resulted in strengthening of domestic brands. There is a need to revisit the initiative that focuses on empowering domestic brands within the global trade regime. CMR believes ‘MADE’ for handsets stands for Manufacturing, Assembling, Designing and Engineering, while the Manufacturing and Assembling have been taken care of, now we should gear up for Designing and Engineering to complete the acronym MADE. ”
As per Faisal, “This could be achieved in supporting domestic brands in their transformation from trading to technology companies. The entire ‘Make in India’ programme should have elements that not only attracts manufacturing but also gives impetus, especially for local brands towards building a thriving ecosystem within a time bound manner. Otherwise, we are seeing non-local brands, especially from China, gaining market at the cost of Indian brand share.”
As per the report, Samsung is the leading OEM for overall mobiles as well as Smartphones in India. Rising Star is the leading 3rd party manufacturer, while Intex and Vivo are the other two OEMs making to the top 3 lists of overall handsets and Smartphones respectively. Rising Star manufactures phones for Asus, Gionee, InFocus, Microsoft, Oppo, Xiaomi.
Top global OEMs manufacturing handsets for India market are Shenzhen Tecno Technology (manufactures for Itel), Samsung Electronics (Huizhou) and Shenzhen Benavi Electronics Co Ltd (manufactures for Micromax and Zen).
Krishna Mukherjee, Telecom Analyst with CMR said, “Make in India has surely helped to pull the crowd and the numbers are quite encouraging for the country. In fact, the ratio of domestic and import shipments today stands at 66:34. But now the only concern remains to reduce the global imports, which is possible with government’s intervention. Apple’s manufacturing plans would further improve the current scenario.”
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Over 7.5 million downloads were reported in the US appstore of the game created by Niantic Lab and Japan’s Nintendo which owns the Pokémon trademark. While augmented reality is not a new phenomenon, millions are attracted to the idea that you can find new monsters in shops and parks, in hospital queues and even in your own bed.
“Even though the tools for creating such augmented reality games have been around for some time”, explains Denis Stolyarov, Design and Multimedia Center`s engineer and one of “Video360” inventors, “the existence and widespread popularity of Pokémon GO is a great way to promote virtual and augmented realities. People who earlier did not know what it is, are now acquainted with the main technology of the future through this game… Quite possibly, Pokémon GO will be recorded in the history of the development of the field of virtual and augmented reality, not as a revolutionary game but as an important instrument for promoting these technologies.”
Vladimir Konovalov, CEO of the aeMind IDEntity company, developers of a virtual body control system IVoRy, explains that “the basic requirements for such a game are a device with a camera, display, the ability to import information from the camera, and a graphics processor that is able to add graphics to the display. Smartphones and tablets have all these characteristics. What happens is that the camera transmits the image on the screen, and the GPU “draws” over the objects it sees. The application can also use certain markers which the smartphone can read and it creates a map of virtual objects. You can then interact with these virtual objects by tapping on the screen.”
It seems that it’s not the technology that makes the game so popular but rather the idea, with Pokémon’s loyal target audience, children of the 90s, it doesn’t take much for the game to become well known. Another significant factor for the quick spread of the game, is that it’s interactive. Unlike many computer games that encourage one to be antisocial and sit at home, Pokémon GO, has players out and about, finding new places and meeting people who are also on the lookout for the same monsters.
“It’s a multiplayer game in which you and your partners see the same thing: if you notice Jigglypuff on the Palace bridge, you can be sure that there’s another user with a smartphone is also looking at it, and not another pokemon for example. You are participating in a joint gaming experience which is very important. Earlier applications with augmented reality usually individual in character, while now you can go on a bike ride with your friends around the city looking for pokémons.” says Mr. Stolyarov.
Of course the game also has its disadvantages, players engrossed in the game at the mid-hours of the morning in Missouri found themselves in deserted alleys ready to be pounced upon by armed robbers. Safety tips are going viral explaining to users to watch out for trees and look up from their phones. Mr. Konovalov also sees some issues in the actual visual implementation of the game. He points out that the height of the table is sometimes mistaken as a floor, with pokeballs bouncing across non-existent surfaces, or phones not perceiving a solid wall.
Soon to be officially released in Russia, you will soon find “gyms” inside the university’s main campus where you can get extra points or battle it out with other pokemon trainers.


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It’s just after 10 in the morning when a couple of regulars drop by the West Hill Pharmasave in Scarborough to pick up their prescriptions.
Owner-pharmacist Neil Bornstein is steering retired nurse Norma Tuttle toward the cheaper private label brand of baby aspirin while summoning a staff member to address a problem with her Glucometer, a device that measures blood sugar levels.
“I come here because he knows me,” Tuttle, 70, says of Bornstein. “I want my pharmacist to know my name.”
Bornstein says a lot of people choose to deal with independents because he may not be able to provide that level of personal service in future under the province’s proposed drug reforms.
The Ontario government plans to slash $750 million in professional allowances pharmacists receive from generic drug makers, part of a plan to cut the price of those drugs in half.
The cuts, which the government says will bring Ontario’s drug prices in line with other jurisdictions, will hit pharmacies across the province, whether they’re independently owned, part of a national chain, or housed in supermarkets or discount department stores.
The industry says independents like Bornstein, who account for 51 per cent of the Ontario market, will be hit hardest.
That’s why Bornstein agreed to open his books to explain how the drug plan will hurt his business – and his customers.
Sitting in the patient consulting room in the newly renovated pharmacy he bought 20 years ago, Bornstein says he is $400,000 in debt. His revenue last year was $2.5 million. But after paying himself, his staff, his rent, utilities and other expenses, the store cleared just $30,000 in profit.
That’s all going back into the business, to pay down his debt and upgrade computer equipment. “It’s not going to buy a boat.”
His biggest expense is labour. He declined to say how much he pays himself. A survey in 2006 found pharmacist-owners in Ontario paid themselves the same hourly rate as they paid their staff pharmacists. The owner could also pay him or herself a dividend out of profits, if any.
The cost of becoming a pharmacist is at least $77,000, the association said, once you factor in six years in school, plus textbooks and licensing fees.
Bornstein employs 15 people, including two other pharmacists and four technicians. A pharmacist in Toronto earns $45 to $50 an hour on average, or nearly $100,000 a year. Technicians earn less than half that, or $16 to $20 an hour, he says.
Under the government’s drug reform plans, the average pharmacy will lose $300,000 – roughly 10 per cent – of its annual revenue, the Ontario Pharmacists Associations says.
That’s more than they earned last year. Average net profit at an Ontario drug store was $204,000 on sales of $3.2 million, according to Community Pharmacy 2009, an annual survey of the industry.
The impact varies with the size of the drug store and its clientele. Bornstein’s profits were lower last year because he renovated his store. But even in a good year, his store earns between $60,000 and $80,000 in profit.
“With a major business focus on long-term care, our labour costs are probably significantly higher than average. And my pharmacy is located in an economically depressed area, which translate into the inability to charge higher prices,” he said.
Bornstein says his pharmacy will lose $170,000 – or 6.8 per cent – of its annual revenues under the proposed plan. Any amount is difficult to make up in a highly regulated and competitive environment, he says.
Prescriptions, which account for 80 per cent of his sales (and 90 per cent for some independent pharmacies), are highly regulated.
Though he’s allowed an 8-per-cent markup, that margin quickly dwindles if the drug goes through a wholesaler and the customer pays with a credit card, he said.
On brand-name drugs, which account for 75 per cent of the prescriptions he fills, he earns just $2.50 on every $100 sale. (The wholesaler takes 3.5 per cent. The average cost of processing a credit card is 2 per cent.)
The price of everything else in his store, from Band-Aids to Aspirin, is determined by competition from far bigger retailers.
Unlike supermarkets and mass merchants, he can’t use his pharmacy as a loss leader to sell more shampoo, candy or jeans, he says. “I compete against the largest retailer in the world,” he says. (Don’t say Wal-Mart, he asks, mindful of the industry’s desire to appear united against a common foe.)
And it’s not just the immediate financial impact of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s proposed drug reforms that worries Bornstein. It’s also the impact on his future retirement income.
“The value of the pharmacy, what I thought was my nest egg, has gone down to nothing because of Mr. McGuinty,” says the 53-year-old Bornstein.
That leaves him with two options: Cut his costs or start charging for services.
To save $170,000, Bornstein says, he’d have to fire one of his two full-time pharmacists and two of his four technicians.
To fill the gap, he’d have to spend more hours behind the dispensary counter and less time running his business. And he’d still have to close his doors earlier on weeknights and weekends. His store is now open 66 hours a week and at peak times he likes to have more than one pharmacist on duty.
His only other option is to start charging for services, the one thing he says differentiates the independents from larger rivals.
In addition to the personal attention and service his customers get, Bornstein says he provides free delivery even for non-prescription drugs. “I have some shut-ins. If they want a bag of chips and a pop, I deliver it,” he says, with a shrug.
“I really get to practice pharmacy and health care the way I think it should be practiced,” Bornstein says. “People deal with us because of the quality of healthcare we provide.”
Pharmacists are one of the few front-line health care professionals you can see immediately without an appointment, he notes. They take the pressure off the rest of the system, Bornstein says, trying to stick to the careful script he’s prepared on the subject.
But not far below his oft-repeated phrase that “pharmacists are the glue” that is holding a shaky health care system together, he’s clearly mad as hell.
Beside the cash register, Bornstein has posted signs explaining the problem to his customers. They’re invited to protest by emailing their MPP or signing a petition he plans to present to his local MPP, Margarett Best, who also happens to be the minister for health promotion in McGuinty’s government. “How could she stand by and let this happen?”
“Could I have made more money doing something else? Sure I could,” Borstein says. “But I get to do what I love every day.”
West Hill Pharmasave
Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough
Owner: Neil Bornstein
Revenue: $2.5 million a year
What drug reform will cost: $170,000.
What a pharmacist earns: $45-$50 an hour ($80,000-$90,000 year)
What a pharmacist technician earns: $16-$20 and- hour ($35,000-$40,000 a year.)
How drugs are priced:
On a prescription of $100:


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The latest poor numbers coming out of the auto sector
US auto sales have been down persistently on a year-over-year basis during the past several months. March was no different, according to figures released today. WardsAuto put out a seasonally-adjusted annualized number of 16.53 million for March light vehicle sales. That’s the first sub-17 million number for cars and trucks sold since August. And this number compares unfavourably to the 17.3 million that analysts had expected.
Why this maters. When I look at historical data, I see no correlation between light vehicle sales and the business cycle. Just because auto sales have declined doesn’t mean the economy is going to follow suit. But for auto companies, this fall in sales is a significant credit risk for the auto lenders and the auto asset-backed security market.
So while declining auto sales may or may not be a harbinger of things to come in consumer credit, it is a bad sign for the stocks of auto companies, auto lenders and the value of auto ABS. And given the discounting by auto makers, the rising auto credit delinquencies and auto inventories, we should expect the pressure on these asset classes to continue.


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A few hours ago Binance announced that it had entered into a partnership with the Australian platform TravelbyBit, which allows reservations for hotels and flights with crypto payments. The purpose of the partnership would be to launch a crypto card.
— Binance (@binance) November 28, 2019
This card will make it easier to use cryptocurrencies to pay for the services offered by TravelbyBit but not only, as it will be usable on other websites.
A prepaid card that can be topped-up with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Binance USD (BUSD), Binance (BNB) and Ontology (ONT) and will also offer rewards and discounts.
The aim is to make crypto usable in a simple way and without hidden costs, as stated by TravelbyBit CEO, Caleb Yeoh:
“Many businesses that accept crypto for their services charge users a high premium, which poses a significant barrier to adoption. At TravelbyBit, we want to make crypto usable, provide incentives for early adopters, and see crypto adoption grow. We are excited to work closely with Binance to bring crypto payments to travellers around the globe.”
The collaboration and issuance of the debit card will start next year and will begin in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Australia, and Europe, with more countries to follow.
As can be seen, the travel sector is experiencing a positive development and perfect symbiosis with the blockchain and crypto world. Just a couple of days ago, the biggest online booking service for flights and hotels, Booking.com, entered into a partnership with Travala, another important player in the crypto tourism sector.
This represents a great opportunity for Binance as it will allow the exchange to assert its name among the users who have not yet approached the crypto space.
In addition, the card can be topped-up with 2 of its tokens such as BNB and BUSD, bringing a significant advantage both in terms of volume and transactions, allowing Binance to redeem itself from the negative and unfounded wave of FUD news that affected it a few days ago.


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Williamstown Bag Bylaw Advocates Want Town Meeting Decision
A petition will ask town meeting to ban the use of plastic bags.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Proponents of bylaws to ban single-use plastic bags and polystyrene containers say it is time to make a stand, not a study.
The town will decide at Tuesday's annual town meeting whether to enact two bylaws generated by citizens' petitions.
The Board of Selectmen recommends that the bylaws be reshaped over the next year.
Brad Verter, one of the organizers of the citizen-driven bylaw effort, is having none of that.
"There is zero point in tabling it," Verter said shortly after the board's vote. "Each of their concerns is very easily addressed.
"They're worried about the legality and enforceability of things, but from my perspective, that's a non-issue. There's nothing in there that hasn't already been approved by the attorney general's office elsewhere in Massachusetts."
The proposed bylaws come near the end of the annual town meeting warrant, which also includes, in addition to the usual spending measures, a solar bylaw amendment generated by the Planning Board, three bylaw amendments designed to ease restrictions on the use of commercial signage in town and a citizen-sponsored resolution opposing the Northeast Energy Direct (Kinder Morgan) natural gas pipeline.
The Board of Selectmen unanimously recommended adoption of the pipeline resolution by town meeting, although it balked at the idea of making that decision for the town.
When it came to the bans on plastic bags and polystyrene, each of the selectmen present during an April 13 discussion
of the bylaws praised their goal and a motion passed by the panel emphasizes that point, reading, in part, "We, the Board of Selectmen, endorse the goal and intent of [Articles 41 and 42]."
But individual members questioned the enforcement mechanisms in each proposed bylaw. Specifically on the single-use plastic bag bylaw, for example, they questioned the provision requiring stores that offer "a recyclable paper bag, a compostable bag or a marine degradable plastic bag" to charge customers 10 cents per bag.
Selectmen wondered whether it made more sense to allow store owners to absorb that cost rather than penalize customers who forget to bring enough reusable canvas bags on a shopping trip.
But part of the bylaw's intent is to change consumer behavior.
"Letting the owner decide that would defeat the purpose of the bylaw," Verter said. "Every business owner is going to feel obliged to offer free bags and absorb that cost."
Selectmen and others also have wondered whether it makes sense for Williamstown to go it alone and ban single-use plastic bags when A) there are not that many businesses in town that dispense them and B) a bylaw would place those businesses that do dispense them at a competitive disadvantage.
Bylaw critics suggest it might make sense to wait until the commonwealth of Massachusetts bans the materials. That way Williamstown businesses would be on an equal footing with businesses in neighboring communities.
Verter said he talked with the manager of the Cumberland Farms in Williamstown and was told that the store would have no problem adjusting to such a local bylaw, as the chain's store in Great Barrington did under a similar bylaw.
When reached for comment, the manager of the Williamstown store referred all inquiries to the corporate office. A request to a company spokesperson for comment on either the Williamstown proposal or Great Barrington bylaw was unreturned.
Proponents of the Williamstown bylaw also maintain that local bylaws in towns like Great Barrington and Williamstown advance the cause of a statewide ban on the polluting, nonbiodegradable materials.
Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams, a co-sponsor on the House version of a proposed statewide ban, agreed.
"A groundswell of support around the commonwealth in instances like Williamstown's proposal would certainly help to move the issue forward," Cariddi said.
Cariddi said the statewide ban makes sense not only because of its benefit to the economy but also because it would help a Bay State manufacturer of alternatives to single-use plastic bags.
"My opinion is if there are acceptable alternatives, [businesses] should use those alternatives in all of their locations and not just in the communities that are regulating it," Cariddi said in a telephone interview. "I specifically recall a manufacturer in the eastern part of the state who showed us what looked like your average regular plastic supermarket bag, but his bag would deteriorate in 10 days or less.
"There are alternatives out there and alternatives that will help the commonwealth produce jobs."
The Board of Selectmen's suggestion that the town take a year to "review" the proposed bylaws is reminiscent of the last time a potentially controversial issue was due to be decided by town meeting. That was the 2013 special town meeting
at which town voters arrived expecting to decide the possibility of developing two town-owned properties for use as affordable housing.
In April 2013, the Board of Selectmen endorsed the idea of a "timeout" that was adopted by the special town meeting. The intention was to allow the town time to study that issue.
A month later, the board created a committee comprising the heads of various town boards and committees. The stated goal was to coordinate dialogue among those committees and make recommendations to the Selectmen about whether it made sense to look at the Lowry or Burbank properties for housing.
In fact, the "super committee," which became known as the Spruces Roof Group, essentially disbanded without ever really addressing the Lowry/Burbank question, much less making a recommendation to the Selectmen.
The only town committee that ever did address the disputed properties is the town's Conservation Commission, which created a nonbinding legal opinion that the properties are both covered by Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution and essentially off-limits to developers.
Proponents of the plastic bag and polystyrene bylaws would not want to see a similar outcome from a "timeout" at this year's annual town meeting.
"We could be leaders, or we could drag our feet and not do anything until the state makes us," Verter said.
Williamstown's Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at Williamstown Elementary School.
Tags: bag ban, plastics, town meeting 2015,
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Ford Motor Indonesia has added some new brand ambassadors to its arsenal – with employees and their families recently gathering at the Bogor Botanical Gardens to experience the soon-to-be-launched all-new Ford Ranger.
At the vast and lush garden located 60 km south of Jakarta, the group of more than 120 participants had the opportunity to put Ford’s all-new global compact pickup truck for a spin around the garden.
Following a morning exercise for warm up, the participants received a briefing on safe driving and product presentation on the many advanced features available on the all-new Ford Ranger.
Each employee was then given the opportunity to take the all-new Ranger for a test drive with their family along to experience the pickup truck’s unparalleled handling and comfort, and advanced features that include the Bluetooth with Voice Control system.
Several posts were located along the track to provide guidance for direction and help for any technical issues.
Bagus Susanto, managing director, FMI, opened the day where everyone was excited to get acquainted with the ‘Built Ford Tough’ truck.
"This event serves as an opportunity for us not only to get to know each other better, but also to get to know our products better, specifically the all-new Ford Ranger," he said.
The Ford employees were absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to personally test the all-new Ranger, and thoroughly impressed after doing so.
“As soon as I got inside the all-new Ford Ranger, I could feel the difference. The leather-covered seats, advanced communications system, automatic transmission, and the rest of the convenient features create a comfort zone that you will not find in any other pickup truck. Even my wife loves it,” said Hari Arifianto, marketing communications and advertising promotion, FMI. “Ford has truly built a winner.”
The event also included a group photo contest, in which each group posed with the all-new Ford Ranger and posted their photos on Facebook. Group that got the most votes received gift vouchers.
"All members of the Ford family are our brand ambassadors," said Gumgum Prijadi, general marketing manager, FMI, who coordinated the weekend gathering. "By experiencing the pickup truck themselves, all of our colleagues will become better and even more informed spokespersons for the all-new Ranger."
The event served as an opportunity to get to know each other and our products better.
More than 120 participants were absolutely thrilled and impressed with the all-new Ranger.