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The Happy Meal Goes on a Diet
McDonald’s works toward making its kid-friendly meals healthier.
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The Responsibility Project
In an effort to make the Happy Meal healthier for children – and to appease health advocates and concerned parents – McDonald’s is reducing the amount of fries that come with the popular kids meal by half. The New York Times reports that the new (and improved) Happy Meals will hit stores this September, and by 2015 the company aims to reduce the sodium content in all of its food by 15 percent.
It’s not the first foray that McDonald’s has taken into altering its classic kids meal, though in this particular case the pressure seems to be less overt. You may remember the 2010 ordinance in California’s Silicon Valley that outlawed giving away free toys with meals high in sugar, salt and fat that were aimed at children. Believed to be the first of its kind in the country, the ordinance “prevents restaurants from preying on children’s love of toys,” said its sponsor, Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager, and “breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes.” At the time, the Mommy Files blog at the San Francisco Chronicle reported how, “In the case of McDonald’s, the limits would include all of the chain’s Happy Meals—even those that include apple sticks instead of French fries.”
Critics at the time believed the ban negated parental responsibility, replacing it with government meddling. “If you can’t control a 3-year-old child for a toy,” said Supervisor Donald Gage, who voted against the measure, “God save you when they get to be teenagers.” But what do you think? Will the new Happy Meals make you more likely to swing by the drive-through with your kids, or do you feel the Golden Arches still has some work to do?
(A portion of this story was previously published as “Off the Menu: Toys and Fast Food” on The Responsibility Project on 5/7/10)


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AmSpa is gearing up for its final regional workshop of the year—a day of education is separated into two tracks in order to accommodate your entire team, from front desk professionals to physicians themselves.
Kline report finds that multicultural beauty marketers are breaking boundaries between general and multicultural beauty.
Skin cancer is one of the biggest fears for one in two outdoor workers and when the boss and staff work together the sun safe message gets through, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) study has found.
Humane Society International/India's #BeCrueltyFree campaign is celebrating an historic victory for animals as India bans the import of animal tested cosmetics.
A new study shows a protein known to inhibit the growth of liver and colon cancers can actually promote the development of skin cancers.
Biologists discover chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen, such as peroxides, commonly referred to as free radicals—are necessary for the proper healing of skin wounds.
Botox injections that induce temporary paralysis of muscles in the upper face could stop young people seeking this treatment from learning how to express emotions fully, according to a study.
The American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) has named Cathy Christensen, former Skin Inc. editor and Face & Body® conference director as executive director of Operations and Communications.
The 2014 holiday shopping season will be characterized by cautious spending, while economic realities bifurcate the American holiday shopper.
Developed by a team of researchers the "gigapixel whole-body photographic camera" is allowing the researchers to image the entire body down to a freckle.

domain: news


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The report, produced from a survey of 2,000 people in the UK, sheds light on how consumers perceive the brands they buy from. It found that shoppers are paying much more attention to how companies behave and are more than willing to walk away if they don’t like what they see.
*Starling Bank will not charge you withdrawal or currency conversion fees, but some ATMs may charge a fee.
**On top of this amount, some ATMs may charge a fee
The 2021 data shows that 74% would be less likely to purchase from a brand if they were disappointed by a company’s words or actions on a social or political issue, with 57% agreeing that companies should be socially and environmentally responsible.
Feefo’s Marketing Director, Keith Povey, says: “It’s been an incredibly volatile 12 months for businesses, which has seen a seismic shift in consumer behaviour, some aspects of which will have a long-lasting effect on how buyers think, act and spend. That said, our research shows that for those businesses that are agile and realign their marketing strategies, there are many opportunities to improve brand awareness, perception and loyalty. Those that respond and act with the medium to long term in mind will see greater returns over the next few years than those that see this period as nothing more than a dip, due to external circumstances.”
The report highlights some intriguing statistics which suggest consumers are increasingly sensitive to companies behaving unethically. While almost three-quarters (74%) said they would be less likely to purchase if disappointed by a company’s words or actions on social or political issues, less than half (48%) would give them another chance if they made themselves accountable. However, 26% said they would stop buying from them altogether.
Other highlights include:
- 78% believe brands that say they are socially responsible.
- 61% spend more money with socially responsible brands that they respect above others.
- 61% of the consumers we surveyed say that celebrities/influencers being associated with a brand has no effect on their perception of that brand.
- Only 12% say if they like the celebrity influencer, it creates a positive view for them.
- 47% believe that businesses should always respond to negative reviews.
Povey continues: “The report clearly highlights the need, and opportunity, for brands to invest more in defining who they are, what they believe in and how they operate. Effectively communicating this demonstrates how, by giving business to the brand, the customers will be supporting a transparent, trustworthy and socially responsible business. In other words, it is imperative to invest in creating a brand with a purpose.”
Beck Prior, from Bristol's Prior Shop, added: "We are finding customers want to purchase from brands that align with their personal values. They are interested in who made it and how it was made. There is an increasing desire to buy from skilled local craftspeople."


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Israeli startup says its device can charge your phone in 30 seconds
StoreDot plans commercial production of the bio-organic battery in three years.
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Say goodbye to saying goodbye to your smartphone for a few hours while it charges.
An Israeli tech startup called StoreDot has unveiled a prototype battery charger that can take your phone from dead to full in under 30 seconds.
The battery pack – about the size of a pack of cards – premiered Monday at a Microsoft Think Next event in Tel Aviv.
The bio-organic battery uses “nano-dots” or nano crystals that are made up of naturally occurring organic compunds called peptides.
“We think we can integrate a battery into a smartphone within a year and have a commercially ready device in three years,” founder Dr Dorn Myersdorf told the BBC.
The estimated cost of the charger will be twice that of an average phone charger, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Fitch is the second U.S. financial agency to sound the alarm on Canadian home prices in the past week.


text: West Philly's annual Dollar Stroll was a success yesterday, despite the rain. Each year, businesses set up booths (and families set up tables) to sell dollar bites of food and trinkets -- mostly food. I've been trying to remember everyone I saw there. It's a lot of people. Here are a few, with more on the way.


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This story has been updated to include a statement from Bio-Rad Laboratories.
NEW YORK – The US International Trade Commission on Wednesday issued a final determination that 10x Genomics' older GEM microfluidic chips infringed patents held by Bio-Rad Laboratories. ITC also affirmed that 10x's Next GEM product line did not infringe those patents.
The agency issued a limited exclusion order barring 10x from importing GEM chips and a cease and desist order directed against the company. However, recent moves made by 10x could insulate it from the orders' effects.
"[B]eginning in the third quarter of 2019, the company's [US] manufacturing facilities achieved volume production of certain of the company's legacy GEM microfluidic chips accounting for the majority of the company's [US] consumable revenue in that period," 10x said in a document filed Thursday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. And since Aug. 28, all 10x Chromium instruments "have operated exclusively with Next GEM chips. The firm said it believes that "Chromium products utilizing the company's Next GEM microfluidic chips will constitute substantially all of the company's Chromium consumables sales by the end of 2020."
"The ruling was largely as expected, with imposed penalties actually slightly more favorable than expected for 10X," Cowen Analyst Doug Schenkel wrote in a research note.
In Friday morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of 10x were up 13 percent at $69.90 after dipping more than 10 percent in Thursday trading.
"We are pleased with the International Trade Commission's decision to uphold the Administrative Law Judge's finding, supporting our belief that 10x Genomics has advanced its position in the droplet-based NGS sample prep market through its unauthorized use of Bio-Rad's intellectual property," Bio-Rad CEO and President Norma Schwartz said in a statement. "Bio-Rad will continue to pursue its legal rights to address the selling by 10x Genomics of products, including its Next GEM products, that we believe infringe Bio-Rad's patents."
The ITC case was one of several in the ongoing legal battle between Bio-Rad and 10x. In a separate ITC case, an ALJ has found that Bio-Rad imported products that infringe patents held by 10x.
Following a November 2018 verdict that 10x's GEM chips infringed Bio-Rad patents, 10x released its Next GEM chips. In July, the US District Court for the District of Delaware issued an injunction, preventing 10x from selling GEM chips, but allowed sales to legacy customers.
In September 2018, an administrative law judge issued a final initial determination that was largely adopted by the ITC. However, the judge recommended that 10x post a bond of 100 percent of the "entered value" of the covered products during a review period; ITC is imposing a bond of only 3 percent.
"We still believe management will continue to bring Next GEM manufacturing into the US but they do not need to accelerate the transition as we thought they would have if the ITC ruled against importing Next GEM tech," EvercoreISI analyst Luke Sergott wrote in a research note.
10x noted to the SEC that "in response to the multiple submissions from leading researchers regarding the importance of research enabled by the company's products to 'ameliorate [such] significant public interest concerns,' the ITC expressly allowed the importation and sale of the legacy GEM microfluidic chips for use by researchers who are using such chips as of Dec. 18, 2019, and who have a documented need to continue receiving such chips for a specific current ongoing research project for which that need cannot be met by any alternative product."
The ITC final determination is subject to a 60 day presidential review period.


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Taconic names new leader for Advanced Dielectric Division
Jan 07, 2005
Taconic announced that as part of a recent reorganization, Manfred Huschka will assume the role of Vice President of Global Sales for the Advanced Dielectric Division. This new position will be in addition to his role as General Manager of Taconic's operations in Ireland.
As Vice President of Global Sales, Mr. Huschka will be responsible for overseeing sales activities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The Advanced Dielectric Sales Staff as well as the National Sales Manager for the USA will now report to Mr. Huschka. "Manfred has been a tremendous asset in our European operations. I am certain that with his more than 20 years of experience in the base material industry he will increase sales on all continents and strengthen Taconic's global position," commented Andrew Russell, CEO of Taconic.
Taconic is a global manufacturer and marketer of engineered products for demanding specialty applications. These products serve the aerospace, automotive, chemical, food, medical, packaging, textile, and wireless communication industries; encapsulating a broad spectrum of available substrate materials with PTFE, fluoropolymer based materials.
For more information, www.4taconic.com


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Raphael Amsellem, Joseph Ajao, Pascal Faustin and others are enlisted in the challenge
Given the evolution and the gravity of the situation regarding COVID-19, the fifth edition of Viva Technology will not take place June 11-13. Alternative solutions are being studied, in concertation with the main partners of the event, and will be announced soon.
The containment measures decreed by the national authorities in France now make it impossible to prepare and organize the event on the dates originally planned. Especially since, as announced, the containment is likely to be extended as has been the case in China and Italy. VivaTech's priority is to guarantee the health and safety of visitors, partners and staff and to show solidarity and responsibility in the face of this health crisis.
All the Startup applicants to the VivaTech Challenges will get noticed by each Challenge Partner regarding the next steps of the selection. This decision could possibly impact the results announcement date.
Our thoughts are with all those affected by this crisis.
VivaTech is the world’s rendezvous for startups and leaders to celebrate innovation !
This international event is a gathering of the world’s brightest minds, talents, and products and is a celebration of today’s innovations and tomorrow’s possibilities for everyone who believes in the power of technology to transform business and society! VivaTech is dedicated to the growth of startups, hosting more than 13 000 of them and enable them to present their innovation on the market. Learn more about all Challenges here and click here to check out our website
Imagine the future of commerce and payment
Cartes Bancaires CB is the first payment brand in France, with 70 million cards, 1,8 million merchants and 12 billion transactions last year. Lab by CB aims at imagining the future of commerce and payment, and thus propose innovative concepts to demonstrate new use cases or user experience with an open innovation approach. This award fits perfectly with this collaborative approach with start-ups or other players.
Mentoring & discussions about the co-construction and funding of a Proof of Concept with LAB by CB
Visibility through CB events direct demos to CB banks
Onboarding into the Lab by CB Innovative start-up program


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Sales at Boohoo grew strongly in the last four months of 2018, in another sign that people are choosing online shopping over the High Street.
The online fashion retailer, which also owns the PrettyLittleThing and Nastygal fashion labels, saw revenues in the four-month period jump 44% to £328.2m.
It revised its revenue growth forecast for the financial year to 43%-45%, up from a previous estimate of 38%-43%.
The company called the figures “another great set of results”.
In a statement, joint chief executives Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane said: “The global growth opportunity is significant and we will be addressing it in a controlled way – investing in our proposition, operations and infrastructure to capitalise on the opportunity.”
- UK economy’s fate is held in the hands of the shopper
- Boohoo warned over advertising real fur as fake
Revenue from PrettyLittleThing nearly doubled, rising by 95% to £144.2m, while there was 74% growth in NastyGal’s revenue to £20.6m.
Julie Palmer, partner at business consultancy Begbies Traynor, said Boohoo’s results would “go some way to restoring calm” after the surprise pre-Christmas profit warning from rival online fashion retailer Asos.
She said: “Customers are basing their decisions on price, and Boohoo is very competitively placed to capitalise on this.
“Tie in the fact that overall footfall is down on the High Street and online sales continue to grow, Boohoo is entering 2019 in a very strong position.”
However, she warned: “According to our latest Red Flag Alert, the number of online retailers in financial distress increased to 8,500 in 2018. Being cut from a similar cloth to Asos, Boohoo must remain innovative and resilient if it is to stay in fashion.”
Investment bankers Liberum said the figures showed that Boohoo was continuing to “outperform”.


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15 July 2020
OnePlus 7T is coming with so many great features and almost all of them have already been shared by the company. The latest to join the revelation list is the Warp Charge 30T that will have 23% faster charging. OnePlus announced about the same via the official Twitter account and explained further in an interview with TechRadar.
OnePlus CEO Pete Lau says,
We believe that Warp Charge 30T offers the best charging solution for real-world usage. You can charge the phone at 23% faster speeds, even while using the device.
Lau has also revealed that the latest Warp Charge delivers 6A at 5V to attain 30W. He also claims the Warp Charge 30T is able to do fast charge without overheating and even enabling the phone users the capability to play games while they charge their devices.
Lau also mentioned that the company would have released the Warp charger 30T with the OnePlus 7 Pro but it took time to refine and iterate because it’s not about introducing something for the sake of being first. Lau also said that OnePlus 7T will be compatible with the Warp Charger 30 as well.
These are some of the big claims that the company is making with its OnePlus 7T and we can’t wait for the launch event to take place. It was the company itself that revealed the design of the OnePlus 7T. The device has a circular module that carries triple rear cameras and has an impressive overall look but the choice of placement of cameras may bother some users. Later on, it also confirmed the 90Hz refresh for the entire OnePlus 7T series and now we get one more intricate detail of the device.
We are still at a distance of the OnePlus 7T event, so it’s quite possible that OnePlus continues to disclose and confirm more features.


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ServiceNow eyes growth
Hyderabad: US-based IT company, ServiceNow, has been using organic and inorganic means to scale up its operations globally. The company has made 12 acquisitions in the last six years and continues to explore opportunities to acquire both companies and technologies.
Among the latest acquisitions, the company has acquired Appsee In-App Mobile Analytics Platform and R&D Talent on May 13 this year. Appsee, an Israel-based application analytics platform company will enable ServiceNow to further its mobile and web browser strategy by adding deep user analytics and in turn deliver an improved user interface for customers.
It acquired FriendlyData on October 10, 2018. This company makes it easy for non-technical users to ask quantitative questions in plain English and get fast results through direct answers or data visualisations. Service Now also acquired Parlo on May 3, 2018, whose natural language understanding engine enhances ServiceNow’s native AI capabilities across its Now Platform and products, making getting work done as easy as having a conversation. It further acquired VendorHawk on April 25, 2018, which optimises customer SaaS usage, provides transparency and supports digital transformation.
Sharing the acquisition strategy, Rao Surapaneni, VP of Engineering, ServiceNow, told Telangana Today, “A lot of acquisitions till now had been focusing on technology where we acquired teams where re-platform and deliver products and solutions to customers for seamless experience. We focus on customer experience and services while identifying the acquisition candidates.”
“We never rule out large acquisitions, globally. We continue to keep an eye in India for such opportunities. For us its ultimately, technology and team matters, if they can accelerate, they fit our bill,” Rao informed.
On the use cases of the company’s offerings, he said, ServiceNow has helped several companies which had been taking part in the Smart City projects in Europe. With that experience, the company is now working with companies that are involved in the Smart City projects in India.
“We have one customer in India who is now productising their Smart City initiatives on ServiceNow,” he informed.
In the area of cyber security, the company has a broad portfolio of products that helps clients in securing their operations and security management. The company automates everything and makes the life of COOs and CIOs easy.
ServiceNow also has governance and regulatory products, which the financial institutions are deploying so that internal audit controls are up to the standards. This product is well suited in India. The company has recently rolled out a finance-based application that will help clients in financial operations-automate tasks, simplify and improve efficiency. More solutions are under development and soon they will be rolled out.
The company’s solutions also cater to the companies that are into e-commerce, which is a growing sector globally and more so in India. It also works with several startups via the company’s appstore.
The company has 73 offices globally, employing 10,000 people. It has 10 development centres across the world. It has tripled its workforce globally in the last two years. It has been growing at a rate of 35 per cent year-on-year.
In terms of future focus, he informed, “We are looking at growth in the Asia Pacific region. India and Japan are key markets for us. We are expanding our presence in the areas we are. We will double our investments here. Hyderabad will remain a key hub for our growth.”
- Appsee (platform and R&D team) – May 13, 2019
- FriendlyData – October 10, 2018
- Parlo – May 3, 2018
- VendorHawk – April 25, 2018
- SkyGiraffe – October 25, 2017
- Qlue – May 17, 2017
- DxContinuum – January 18, 2017
- BrightPoint Security – June 1, 2016
- ITapp – April 5, 2016
- Intreis – February 24, 2015
- Neebula Systems – July 9, 2014
- Mirror42 – July 9, 2013
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on WhatsApp / Telegram everyday. Click these links to subscribe and save this number 9182563636 on your contacts.


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Category Archives: 3DS
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 | 15:38 BST
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D topped the Media Create charts in Japan with 104,569 units moved, and ultimately helped provide 3DS with a much needed surge after disappointed hardware sales over the last couple of weeks. Sales of 3DS LL hit 29,533 units over the prior week’s 27,172 units, while 3DS sales saw the biggest jump out of the two offerings. The system moved 17,602 compared to 12,700 the prior week.
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 | 12:42 BST
Ecco the Dolphin will be splashing his cheeky little flippers on the Japanese 3DS eShop from June 26, Sega has confirmed.
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 | 02:30 BST
Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has blamed North American retail practices for the relative lack of variety in 3DS and 3DS XL colours.
Wed, Jun 19, 2013 | 02:18 BST
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 23:35 BST
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 22:03 BST
Metal Max 4: Moonlight Diva has been announced for 3DS. The RPG, vehicle combat titles takes place in a post apocalyptic world with an open ended gameplay and combat dogs.The game was announced via Famitsu and will be released in Japan this fall. Kadokawa Games will publish the title, and its DLC. Thanks, Siliconera.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 17:50 BST
European 3DS owners have reported crash issues with StreetPass after applying the latest firmware update. According to CVG, users are finding that when they purchase the new content available through the update, an error messages occurs causing them to be unable to download the titles. A Nintendo representative said the firm was aware of “the technical difficulties which are occurring,” and that it is “currently investigating the situation.” Thanks, CVG.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 12:18 BST
Super Smash Bros’ new combatant Wii Fit Trainer has been showcased in a screen assault from Nintendo. Get all the images here.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 08:09 BST
Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai has called the stress of deciding which characters stay and go in each iteration of Nintendo’s brawler “almost deadly”. It’s not a decision the man has made lightly for the incoming Wii U and 3DS editions.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 05:14 BST
Portable console, mobile and tablet gaming is worth big, big money, according to a new report.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 04:57 BST
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 02:18 BST
Update your 3DS system software to access a new Mii Plaza shop vending StreetPass games.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 22:52 BST
For its first major 3D Mario game for Wii U, Nintendo turned its attention to Super Mario 3D World in order to make good on the dream of bringing multiplayer to the former 3DS exclusive series.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 12:48 BST
Nintendo has published its weekly selection of downloadable games and DLC across Wii U and 3DS, and New Super Luigi U is the star attraction. It’s a lean, green, wailing week to be sure.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 11:38 BST
Pokemon X & Y is ripe for the DLC treatment when you really, really, honestly think about it, and that’s just what developer GameFreak is doing: thinking about it.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 11:10 BST
Super Smash Bros. on Wii U and 3DS will feature a single-player mode, but it won’t follow the format laid down by Brawl’s ‘Subspace Emissary’ campaign.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 09:32 BST
Animal Crossing: New Leaf has entered at second in the UK charts this week, and now that the E3 dust has settled we’re ready to round up the review scores in one handy place.
Tue, Jun 18, 2013 | 00:49 BST
The Last of Us has entered the UK charts at first this week, after receiving a raft of near-perfect scores across the board at review. Twee 3DS sandbox romp Animal Crossing: New Leaf has entered at second place.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 09:01 BST
Pokemon X & Y has received a new trailer and a barrage of fresh screens. We’ve also got more information on the game’s starting town, gym leader Violet as well as English names and details for four new Pokemon revealed during E3.
Mon, Jun 17, 2013 | 06:48 BST
I’m not sure how many of you remember Retro Game Challenge, a weird nostalgia trip of a DS game released back in 2009, based upon the Japanese comedy show GameCenter CX. It didn’t even sell 100,000 copies in the west.


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Seaboard Marine has recently received the majority of 721 new 45-foot (102-inch wide) new dry containers that have been ordered in 2010. These extra width containers have been immediately deployed to serve customers in Central America and the Caribbean.
“The shipping industry has been a roller-coaster over the last several years, but Seaboard has constantly strived to not only provide our customers the highest quality equipment but also the right type,” said Edward Gonzalez, Seaboard Marine President. “We are investing in new 45’ x 102” wide containers to meet the specific needs of many key customers, particularly those with two-way cargoes.”
In the first six months of this year, 433 of these specialized containers were received and are now being used within the Seaboard Marine system. Meanwhile, another 289 are currently under construction at the manufacturer, Singamas. In late August, they will be loaded in Qingdao, China on-board the M/V Seaboard America, a new ship that will soon be entering the Seaboard Marine vessel fleet.
Once these 289 containers are delivered, Seaboard Marine will have nearly 2,900 of the specialized 45’ x 102” containers, all owned, within its equipment network. These dry containers are part of a broad and diverse container and chassis fleet that consists of nearly 54,000 pieces of cargo-carrying equipment.


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Commenting on Virgin Media’s help for customers Ru Bhikha, mobiles expert at Uswitch.com, says: “Virgin Media deserves huge credit for giving out free minutes and data to help more than a million of their pay monthly customers.
“The offer by Virgin Media comes soon after Sky gave its customers free data and calls to landlines.
“Mobile phones are a vital lifeline for consumers working from home and especially for vulnerable and older people who are self-isolating and need to keep contact with the outside world.
“It’s commendable that Virgin Media are looking at ways of helping customers who cannot pay their bills, but struggling consumers need to be told exactly what assistance is being offered.
“Every small gesture helps at this time of uncertainty, and it will be interesting to see how others respond to providers’ generous offers.”
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The Google Pixel is unarguably one of the best phones of 2016/2017. But in a few months Google will roll out the next-gen Pixel and the company wants to make sure it will be able to truly deliver the phone of your dreams.
Now product lead for the Pixel, mister Krishna Kumar is asking Pixel owners for feedback regarding the phone. The thread is open in the Pixel User Community:
“What do you like about the design? What do you hate about it? What did we get right? What would you like to see us improve?”
It’s the chance Pixel users have been waiting for to speak their minds.
One aspect the Pixel didn’t wow us with was design. With more and more phones sporting so-called edge-to-edge displays, the Pixel’s bezels looked pretty chunky in comparison. So naturally the majority of users responding to the query have requested smaller bezels, as well as front-facing speakers and water-resistance.
Users have also asked Google to find ways to be able to meet demand in 2017. Some models of the Pixel XL, especially the 128GB version have been incredibly hard to find. Some third-party resellers (including Amazon) have taken advantage of the situation by attempting to sell Pixel XL models with 128GB at almost double the cost.
Anyway, if you too have some ideas of how Google can make the Pixel better, head on to the forums and speak your mind.
Rumors about the Pixel 2 have already appeared online indicating the phone will indeed be waterproof. We’re also told a more affordable Pixel 2B variant might also be in the cards this year.


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Mobile World Congress 2015 is just round the corner and the gadget companies are all prepped up to showcase their line-up of devices.
Sony, the consumer electronics maker, has just launched Xperia Z4 Tablet and now, the company is planning to unveil a new mid-range smartphone at the upcoming event in Barcelona. An AndroidOS report claims that Sony will now announce the new Xperia M4 Aqua at MWC 2015.If the reports are to be believed, Sony Xperia M4 Aqua will succeed the already existing Xperia M2 Aqua phone. The Xperia M2 Aqua was introduced in August 2014 and is waterproof and dust-proof device with IP65/68 rating. Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is likely to sport these features of its predecessor.
Sources quoted by AndroidOS claim that the smartphone will on Android 5.0 Lollipop. Since there is no official word from the company so far, all we can guess is that the smartphone will pack a 12.7-cm (5-inch) 720p HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 2300 mAh battery. Sony Xperia M4 Aqua is likely to be available sometime in Q2 of 2015 for about GBP 200-250. Since MWC is just a few days away, we will have to wait and watch on the developments related to this smartphone.


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Working as “Marketplace-as-a-Service (MaaS),” the platform enables both businesses and individuals to effortlessly sell and transfer NFTs without the requirement of coding knowledge.
The full release of the platform is scheduled for later this year. VeChain also plans to integrate NFC functionality and extend support to “phygitals” — physical products accompanied by their digital counterparts.
Gresini Racing, a motorcycle racing team competing in the MotoGP World Championship, supported by ExPlus, stands as the first user of VeChain’s MaaS.
The team has established a marketplace to offer iconic moments from their races to fans worldwide. Notable moments turned into NFTs include Marco Simoncelli’s 2011 ride on the Honda RC212V and Daijiro Kato’s 2000 performance riding the Honda NSR 250.
The marketplace is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive. Users are not required to own a digital wallet for login, and they can make NFT purchases using debit or credit cards.
This initiative by VeChain marks another stride towards democratizing access to the NFT space. In a similar move in 2023, VeChain introduced “VORJ,” a no-code digital asset and smart contract creation platform, enabling users to deploy NFTs and DAOs and manage contracts via APIs without any coding expertise or transaction fees.
These solutions are driven by the growing interest from both enterprises and individuals in embracing Web3 technologies. Market projections suggest exponential growth in the NFT sector. Statista predicts that the revenue in the NFT market will reach $2.3 billion by 2024, and it is expected to expand further, reaching $3.3 billion by 2028.


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July 1, 2013
Rutledge residents Alan Richardson, right, and son Brett have set up shop in the Covington Gallery shopping center near K-Mart to sell fireworks. Richardson, a retired teacher and coach from Newton High School, has a variety of fireworks for sell inside the tent, which will be open most of the day and evening this week. Staff Photo: Michelle Floyd
Stories this photo appears in:
Fireworks are for sale in the Covington Gallery shopping center near K-Mart.


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Tesla announces $300 charging mat that can charge 3 devices at once • TechCrunch
Remember the Apple AirPower Charging Mat? Announced in 2017, the device was supposed to charge three devices simultaneously, but Apple never released it, citing engineering issues. Now, Tesla is giving it a shot with the just-announced wireless charging platform.
Inside the Cybertruck-inspired aluminum case is a wireless charging pad named FreePower from a startup called Aira. This is the same platform used in other multi-device charging mats like the Nomad Base Station Pro. This technology provides up to 15W of fast charging for up to three devices. Apparently, users can just throw their devices on the Alcantara surface, and no matter where they land, they’ll be recharged.
This convenience doesn’t come cheap; the wireless charging pad costs $300.
Aira, the company that developed the charging platform, was founded in 2017 and has since raised $16 million to date. Its last fundraising was through angel investors in 2019, mostly led by private investors including Jawad Ahsan, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec. At the time, the company said the funding would be used to go beyond the consumer market and allow the company to expand into the corporate, automotive and hospitality fields. .
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text: Popular Rwandan Fashion designer Matthew Rugamba has featured on Under 40 CEOs, a continental initiative celebrating young business leaders aged 40 and under from East, West and South Africa. The initiative seeks to research and celebrate young business leaders in Africa with a focus on their journey, process, and their proposed destination. Rugamba is the founder and proprietor of House of Tayo, which was founded in 2011 and created out of the desire to find a unique way to showcase African sophistication, style and flavor through contemporary, locally-made clothing and accessories. “With style influences ranging from the Motown era to traditional British tailoring they seek to combine elegance and class with a strong sense of African heritage and iconography,” the authors of the ranking said. The ranking recognized Rugamba for having a distinctly Rwandan-born brand that works with local artisans and tailors, they support the local community by providing stable income and employment opportunities. “With its unconventional combination of colors and patterns, the brand is bold and futuristic; edgy, yet sophisticated; and reflective of the current proliferation of African arts, culture, and style on the world stage,” the ranking noted.


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New independent games studio, D-Tech, has announced their latest online slot creation, Year of the Dog. The new game is created in partnership with Leander Games, and the first game released as part of the collaboration. D-Tech is a new studio that [...]
Maltese iGaming solutions innovator Gaming Innovation Group Incorporated (GiG), has announced it has received a provisional license that will allow it to offer you a real-money online casino platform solution to operators in the state of New Jersey. [...]
Resorts World Las Vegas owner sells $1 billion bond to finance its construction; property on track for late 2020 opening Two subsidiaries of Malaysian casino and hospitality giant Genting Bhd priced on Tuesday $1 billion senior notes to fund the [...]
Top-rated programmer, OneTouch, has established the first-ever Andar Bahar mobile alternative in portrait style. The sport is among the most popular in the card game category of India, with the option now available in a unique format. New Mobile [...]
Global online lotto operator, Lottoland Limited, has revealed that the South African Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board has granted it a pair of licenses, including a manufacturing license for the development and use of the company’s own [...]
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Safe stolen in Clear Lake smash and grab at Valero station
Burglars crashed a van into a Clear Lake area gas station early Thursday and stole a safe, Houston police said.
The Valero gas station at 800 Edgebrook near Theta was closed when several men drove a white Ford van into the back of the store about 3 a.m., Lt. Larry Crowson said.
They took the safe from the store and put it in a small red van, Crowson said.
The investigation is ongoing, Crowson said. Store owners are checking surveillance cameras.


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The Sony Xperia XA3 Might Actually Be the Xperia 10
Sony, much like other companies, is expected to unveil new phones during MWC 2019 later this month. One of the devices the company will unveil recently leaked out. Called the Xperia XA3, the phone features a 21:9 display, a large forehead, and mid-range specs. However, the device itself might not go by its original name.
WinFuture has updated a previous article that now shows off two new devices from Sony which the publication claims are called the Xperia 10 and Xperia 10 Plus. Apparently, at some point, Sony decided to rename the XA3 to the 10, likely due to the major design refresh both devices are seeing. Mind you, they look nearly identical, just with larger screens. But compared to last year’s Xperia lineup, you’d think these phones came from a completely different manufacturer.
Whatever they wind up being called, we expect the new mid-range Xperias to launch later this month. Stay tuned, folks.


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PUNE: The Federation of Retail Traders
Welfare Association has threatened to go on strike
over the soon-to-be-implemented plastic ban
The association, which boasts of 13 lakh shops and retail stores in the state directly or indirectly under it, is miffed at the absence of sufficient clarity from the government on some aspects of the ban.
Association president Viren Shah told TOI that they have called a meeting on June 20, to be attended by major trade associations in the state. They will discuss and decide the strategy for the protest
against the “impractical blanket ban on plastic, without even bothering about providing suitable alternatives as well as its unclear policy”.
“This ban on plastic, without suitable alternatives, will cause many problems and hardships to citizens, trade and industries,” Shah said. “When plastic is allowed to wrap material at the manufacturing stage, why can’t the same be allowed at the retail level?” he added.
“Sometimes, garments are not supplied by the manufacturers in plastic, but in cartons. Before the ban, retailers would wrap costly garments in plastic to protect them from dust and rain,” he said.
With the four-month monsoon underway, retailers have no suitable alternative in which to pack expensive garments. “We have not been given a good enough alternative. When garments worth Rs1 lakh — like wedding clothes — are sold to customers, we don’t have a material as sturdy as plastic to wrap them in,” he said.
He said kirana shops are struggling, as they have nothing to pack loose items like oil, sugar, tea powder, etc. “Paper bags are not strong enough; liquids can’t be packed in paper. Cloth bags are unaffordable,” he said.
A final decision on the strike will be taken after the meeting on Wednesday.


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Annual inflation rates in Russia declined from 11.57% to 11.49%. It has been reported to report “On the current price situation” of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.
“Annual inflation continued to decline to 11.49 percent. <...> c 11.57%,” says the review.
In the week between January 17 and January 23 this year, inflation fell to 0.14% from 0.15% a week ago, the ministry said.
According to the Ministry of Economic Development, the reason for the slowdown in inflation is the rising prices in the non-food segment, mainly due to the fall in prices of electrical and household appliances.
However, the ministry added that prices have increased in food products (+0.27%) and tourism services (+0.13%).
Formerly Russian financiers assumedIn March-May, prices in Russia will increase by 3% this spring. According to them, inflation should slow down in March-May.
Ben Stock is a business analyst and writer for “Social Bites”. He offers insightful articles on the latest business news and developments, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the business world.


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This game will be released on May 1, 2012.
Mar 18 2012, 9:26am CDT
Sierra Entertainment announced today that World in Conflict would be heading to the PS3 and Xbox 360 game consoles this...
Feb 15 2008, 12:05pm CST
Sierra entertainment announced today that World in conflict is now available in America. The game was created by...
Sep 18 2007, 1:15pm CDT


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Delivery drones cheer shoppers, annoy neighbors, scare dogs
CANBERRA, Australia—Robyn McIntyre, who lives on the outskirts of Australia’s capital, was in her family room a few months ago when she thought she heard a “chain saw gone ballistic.”
It was actually a drone on its way to deliver a burrito or coffee as part of a test from Wing, which like Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. One recent day, she said delivery drones flew over her house about 10 times in 2½ hours, making it difficult to focus on working or reading the newspaper.
“There’s one!” said Ms. McIntyre, 64 years old, drinking tea in her living room on a recent Saturday morning. “Oh no, it’s a blowfly. See there, it’s gotten into my head. Every time I hear a high-pitched noise, I think it’s a drone.”
Drones could someday revolutionize e-commerce by cutting delivery times, reducing energy use and lowering costs. For now, they are dividing neighbors in the suburban neighborhood of Bonython, where one of the world’s most advanced drone-delivery tests has taken flight.
'TECH ADDICTS' SEEK SOLACE IN 12 STEPS AND REHAB
Tech companies are tinkering with drone deliveries all over the world. Wing is a step ahead of some by routinely bringing everyday items to customers in an entire neighborhood. Residents can use a smartphone app to order food, hardware supplies and over-the-counter medications from half a dozen retailers. Next year, Wing hopes to move the trial to another part of Canberra and plans to begin a similar test in Finland.
Some residents don’t use their yards as much because of the noise. Others say they’ve seen magpies, famous for swooping at pedestrians and cyclists in the spring, do the same to drones. At a local dog club, some members are avoiding an area near where the drones take off because dogs can get nervous, says the club president. For some residents, it’s a small-scale version of the misery heaped on travelers at London’s Gatwick airport, whose holiday plans were ruined by mystery drone incursions.
Irene Clarke, who is Ms. McIntyre’s neighbor, gets up to 10 deliveries a day. After she discovered that her sunscreen was out of date, she ordered a replacement via drone so she could quickly lather up her three young grandchildren. It arrived within seven minutes.
Ms. Clarke, 64, calculates it would have taken 25 minutes to get the children in the car and make the round trip to the shopping center. Some people may not like the drone service “because they’re not using it,” said Ms. Clarke, adding that none of her neighbors have asked her to stop getting deliveries.
The convenience isn’t swaying members of Bonython Against Drones, a group of residents “united against noisy, intrusive, unnecessary drones,” according to its Facebook page. The organizers recently submitted a petition to the local legislative assembly. Politicians voted to launch an inquiry into drone deliveries and a committee will produce a report on the trial’s environmental and economic impacts.
PEOPLE ARE TEXTING THEIR EXES AND BUYING STUFF IN THEIR SLEEP
“It is a suburb surrounded by bush,” said Nev Sheather, 68, who opposes the trial. “It is normally a very peaceful, quiet place. We have kangaroos hopping literally in the street.”
Laura Edwards, 32, hasn’t used the drone service, but she returned home after a weekend away to find two hot chocolates in front of her house, still in the aerodynamically shaped box that Wing uses for delivery. One had mostly leaked out, requiring her husband to hose down the driveway.
“I just felt angry, because I thought, ‘Really? We have to clean this up,’ ” said Ms. Edwards, who posted about the incident on social media but didn’t file a formal complaint. An investigation by Wing later determined the hot chocolates had been left at the wrong house because a customer selected the incorrect address.
Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal, where this article was originally published.


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Earlier this month, we saw a multi-pair J.W. and Converse collaboration that emphasized “statement soles” and glitter. Now, the acclaimed British designer has teamed up with Converse once more for a new take on the Chuck 70.
Specifically, J.W. Anderson and Converse have produced a “Twilight Blue,” logo-heavy Chuck 70 Hi for their latest collaborative effort. Consumers also will notice a familiar pattern in the grid design and the shoe’s all-over approach to branding. Rounding out the package: the “JWA” monogram embroidery on the lateral heel area.
You can take a look at J.W. Anderson and Converse’s new “Twilight Blue” Chuck 70 Hi collaboration above. The shoe is expected to hit retailers, such as END., this Wednesday, October 10 with a retail price of $120 USD.
Previously, Converse revealed the Chuck Taylor All Star “Manypatch.”


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Don’t expect retailers to let go any time soon of their new holiday-shopping tradition of being open on Thanksgiving day.
In fact, given the latest statistics from Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation, more retailers may opt to open their doors come Thanksgiving 2014.
Nearly 45 million shoppers took advantage of special “turkey day” savings, according to the results of a new survey conducted by Worthington, Ohio-based Prosper Insights & Analytics for NRF. That figure marks a 27 percent jump from the 35 million who shopped last Thanksgiving.
Black Friday, however, remains the busiest shopping day. This year, some 92 million shoppers braved the crowds — up from the nearly 89 million who shopped on Black Friday 2012.
NRF estimates that total spending for the four-day weekend will reach $57.4 billion
On average, over the four-day shopping spree (Thursday through Sunday) shoppers spent $407.02, which is down from the average of $423.55 over the same four days in 2012. Lower prices on the part of retailers, NRF officials say, was a leading factor in the smaller average spending total for this year’s Thanksgiving weekend.
There is still, however, another key shopping day to consider — Cyber Monday. NRF is estimating that 131 million shoppers will take to the Internet on Dec. 2 — up from the 129 million cyber shoppers in 2012.


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This week, two stories caught my attention. One’s about how a fashion retailer is using technology to learn more about its customers. The other’s about how a renowned fashion brand is using technology just to get on the fashion tech bandwagon. So which is good and which is bad? Let’s see.
Boohoo is making a go of visual search. Over the past seven months, the fast-fashion retailer has added visual search capabilities to its website, to see how its U.K. audience interacts with this technology. The results of the test are encouraging, as Boohoo has seen a positive uplift in purchase behavior since they introduced visual search. Now, the retailer is looking to roll this capability out to their entire shopper base and further refine it. If you’re a retailer looking for new ways to stimulate purchase behavior, BooHoo’s story is a must-read!
This second story pales in comparison: Dolce & Gabbana used drones to carry handbags down the runway instead of models. Whether it was a statement or desperate cry to save the show doing something interesting given all the fashion tech stuff going on right now, the idea of using drones to carry bags on the runway is underwhelming, to say the least. However, this attempt to integrate tech gadgets into a runway show by a huge fashion brand goes to show how important technology has become for the fashion industry.
So, which is which?


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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Central Bank (BC) president Roberto Campos Neto said that Pix, the Brazilian instant payment service, may evolve to other functionalities and eventually become a kind of digital identity.
"We understand that we can expand this [the Pix] to improve even more the quality of life of people with public services and eventually even becoming a digital identity, as was done in India," he said during a virtual event promoted by the Indian Embassy on Wednesday, April 14th.
"The project can have other dimensions. We have developed new features in Pix that come from the interaction with . . .


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Modern electronic systems have allowed for some serious changes in the way we live with our cars. Conveniences like over the air updates mean that we no longer have to head to the dealer for software updates, or even recall notices. However, the ECUs that allow for this trickery are also locked down with some serious cybersecurity measures. This has created issues for those looking to tune their performance cars. However, HP Tuners have just announced that the S550 Mustang Shelby GT500 is joining the list of vehicles covered by their tuning software.
HP Tuners made the announcement via their social media channels, which states that the S550 Mustang Shelby GT500 is supported by versions 4.5 and newer of the HPTuners software. In order to tweak the high-power muscle car however, you will need their MPVI2 scan tool. This piece of hardware allows you to edit parameters within the vehicles control modules, such as torque strategies, spark tables, fueling, RPM limits, fan activations, transmission shift points and pressures, and exhaust valve control among others.
Customers will also be required to purchase four licensing credits from HP Tuners in order to access the GT500’s ECU, with each credit listing for $49.99. A small price to pay considering the performance potential unlocked by this setup. Not that the 760 horsepower 5.2L Predator V8 is anything close to a boring powertrain in its stock form. Whereas C8 Corvette owners haven’t really been able to tune their cars effectively yet, the floodgates are now open for the mighty Mustang..
Whipple has already released an upgraded supercharger that fits the GT500, and we’re sure that some twin turbo kits are going to be put together by someone down in Texas. The era of four-digit power levels may have just arrived for this latest iteration of the Shelby GT500, a car that might just be ready for it.


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Barcelona, Feb.22 (ANI): South Korean multinational conglomerate Samsung Electronics has revealed a golf-ball-like camera at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016.
Called the Gear 360, the little sphere is designed to sit on a table or tripod or even hung from a drone and capture 360 degrees of video, the Techcrunch reported.
The dual lens spherical camera also includes a pair of microphones for audio capture, a microSD slot to allow memory expansion up to 128GB, and a removable battery which should allow up to 140 minutes of active use.
The camera has four different shooting modes: video, photo, time lapse video and looping video.
The release date of the Gear360 is not known but the cost is expected to be above USD 100. (ANI)


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RAIN (rapid innovation)
powered by: plexal, imperial college business school, UK Oman digital hub
We have witnessed an accelerated rate of digital transformation, startup innovation, and private/public sector collaboration as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that has placed global pressure on economies, healthcare systems and communities.The UK Oman Digital Hub and the British Embassy have appointed Plexal, a London based innovation hub, and AL JABR in Oman to collaborate and support startups with solutions to local challenges created by the pandemic.
The program ran across two phases; the first being a report looking at the response to the pandemic from UK based and Omani startups, as the impact of COVID-19 on Omani society and businesses. Based on the findings of the first phase, a second phase was designed to be a virtual 6 week acceleration programme that enabled 15 Omani startups to learn through mentoring and workshops from UK startups, corporate innovation specialists, academics and business leaders. The program aimed to accelerate the path of the startups to an appropriate level of readiness or maturity to address the market in a post Covid-19 environment.
The three focus areas of the program were:
Traditional SME’s saw an immediate challenge due to their offline presence in the market. Innovation in this area has seen an accelerated rate of innovation as shopping moved online as a result of the pandemic, in order to enable these businesses to have an online presence. An initiative we witnessed within the fishing sector in Oman in April 2020 was an online fish auction platform called Behar that was launched with support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The importance of an agile education system that would not be disrupted by a crisis was emphasized through the pandemic. In Oman we saw that technology enabled students to continue receiving their education remotely, however there were challenges to edtech adopted across the sparsely populated regions in the country, where some areas had limited access to reliable broadband.
Virtual communities came into existence as a result of the pandemic, like the Muscat Hub; a network developed and led by young people. From a more traditional perspective, artisan traders who typically appeared at the Souq Es Sabt market turned to Instagram to connect with customers.
Strategic program partners included The Center for Financial Technology at Imperial College London, Oman’s SME Development Authority, and Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications & Information Technology.
Noor Al Haddabi
| lead business analyst


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THE Sport Business Africa Centre (SBAC), a think tank division of RICS Consult Limited, Ghana’s foremost sport business and events architecture, planning and management agency, will launch the Africa’s Passions quarterly as the mouthpiece for the continental sport business industry in July this year.
According to Magnus Naabe Rex Danquah, the head of the SBAC and the Managing Editor of the quarterly, the magazine will feature articles covering all essential areas of the industry including Sponsorship, Marketing and Advertising; Broadcasting and New Media; Merchandising, Endorsement and Licensing; Player Representation; and Image Rights.
Other areas to be covered by the magazine are Brand Protection, Copyright and Trademarks; Governance and Regulatory Matters, Lottery Distribution, Funding and Awards; Construction and Sports Facilities; Bidding for Rights to Host and Organise International Sports Events; and listing of all sport business professionals as well as agencies in Africa.
According to Rex Danquah, the 60-page full colour quarterly will target a million (1,000,000) global online readership and a hundred thousand (100,000) corporate and individual free subscriptions in Ghana.
The maiden edition will feature various reviews of international games and tournaments hosted and or those planned for the African continent between the years 2018 and 2023, including the 13th TOTAL Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, Ghana 2018, the hosting and organisation of the 12th African Games, Rabat 2019 and the bidding for the rights to host and organise the 13th African Games in Ghana 2023.
Rex Danquah, the Managing Editor of the Africa’s Passions magazine, intimated that the quarterly will also institute an annual sport business industry awards to honour practitioners of the industry in Africa as well as honour global sport achievers of African descent in 2022-2023 during a proposed Global Convention For Africa Sport in Accra, Ghana.


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Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics, Information, and Technology, stated on Thursday. The recently released Apple iPhone 15 series has the NavIC satellite system built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), calling it a “milestone for India.” He said that it was a “proud moment”. Because these phones were accessible in India on the same day as they were in New York and London.
“Apple, the largest technological corporation in the world, has unveiled its new iPhone 15. India is setting two goals with this launch. First off, the iPhone 15 will become available in India on the same day as it did in New York and London. The second is that the iPhone 15 include the NavIC GPS satellite system created by ISRO. A Union minister cited as saying by the news agency ANI.
The much awaited iPhone 15 series unveiled by Apple Inc. on Tuesday at its yearly event, “Wonderlust.”
What is NavIC?
In order to meet the needs of the country in terms of location, navigation, and timing. ISRO built a regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). Formerly known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). It started to lessen reliance on global satellite navigation systems run by other countries.
NavIC, a project that ISRO independently developed, initially approved in 2006 with a budget of $174 million (1,426 crore), with a completion date anticipated for late 2011. It started to function in 2018.
The Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users and the Restricted Service (RS) for strategic users the two services offered by NavIC. Both the L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S bands (2498.028 MHz) offer these services.
NavIC’s coverage region covers all of India and stretches outward up to 1500 km. Transmissions from various global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as GPS, Glonass, Galileo, and BeiDou, are compatible with NavIC SPS transmissions.
Terrestrial, aerial, and maritime transportation, location-based services, personal mobility, resource monitoring, surveying, scientific research, time dissemination, synchronization. The distribution of safety-of-life warnings are all uses of the NavIC.


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Young creative Clinton Nyarkoh is a 22-year-old entrepreneur and the CEO of iSupreme, the fastest growing integrated marketing agency in Ghana.
Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in
He started iSupreme as an events and media organization during his college days at the University of Ghana.
The company has since grown into serving brands with brand and marketing strategy, digital, advertising, and experiential marketing and currently employs over 8 people.
READ ALSO: TV star AJ Poundz welcomes baby girl as she drops beautiful bump photo
For a small firm, iSupreme has an impeccable clientele having worked with multinational brands and organizations like Simbisa Brands Ghana (owners of Pizza Inn, Chicken Inn & Galitos), JA Ghana, and the American fashion brand D’Marsh Couture among other Ghanaian startups and emerging brands.
Clinton is on a mission to grow the next generation of relevant brands which he does through iSupreme by building solutions, initiatives, and providing services that help small brands grow.
Find out more about iSupreme, their services, clients and works at www.isupremegh.com or on their social media platforms @isupremegh
Clinton has a vibrant team that helps him pull off all these great branding ideas.
READ ALSO: Meet Dr Ayisha Baffoe-Ashun: KNUST’s first-ever female holder of PhD in Architecture
Meanwhile, Ghana's current graduate of the moment, 57-year-old Madam Elizabeth Yamoah, has opened up about her future ambitions and has stated that she wants to become a nurse.
While speaking in a radio interview with award-winning radio personality, Abeiku Santana, Madam Elizabeth Yamoah revealed that she had high hopes of seeing her ambitions through.
While speaking on her ambitions, she revealed that even though she is currently a farmer and trader, she has nursing on her checklist and would want to see herself in the healthcare delivery field sooner than later.
In a related development, multiple award-winning radio presenter, Abeiku Aggrey Santana, put the intelligence of 57-year-old BECE graduate, Madam Elizabeth Yamoah to the test in a live radio interview.
In the video sighted by YEN.com.gh on Instagram, Abeiku Santana who was interviewing Madam Yamoah on his show asked her to read a "Myself" essay she had written.
READ ALSO: Side chick pushes man's wife into pool after they were caught chilling at hotel (video)
The Okay FM radio show host then went on to ask her some brain-teasing arithmetic questions which saw her fumbling a bit but she managed to answer.
Have national and human interest issues to discuss? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome.
Get interactive via our Facebook page.


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The Huawei AppStore is making its way out of China and is soon coming to Europe, the Shenzhen-based tech giant announced earlier this week at its Eco-Connect Europe 2017 event in Berlin. The digital marketplace for smartphones and tablets will be live on the Old Continent at some point in Q1 2018, Huawei said, without providing a more specific time frame for its availability. The original equipment manufacturer described the move as the latest step in its endeavor to additionally reinforce its already strong position in the European consumer electronics and services market where it’s been selling mobile devices for a number of years. The upcoming platform will be pre-installed on all Huawei devices released in Europe from next year onward, the OEM said.
The Huawei Video Service is also set to launch on Android handsets next year, the company confirmed, though it’s still unclear whether the streaming platform will debut alongside the Huawei AppStore. The new Android app store is meant to provide consumers with a selection of what Huawei deems are “high-quality” mobile tools and games which already proved to be popular among consumers. It’s understood that the digital marketplace will only be available on Huawei-made devices, similar to how Samsung’s Galaxy Apps platform is meant to ennoble the South Korean company’s first-party offerings. Huawei is also planning to deliver a new app recommendation service to European consumers, in addition to improving its regionally sold devices with the addition of the Huawei Themes Store. The latter is meant to serve as a straightforward method of personalizing a Huawei smartphone with various skins and icons, as suggested by the Chinese firm.
The Huawei Video Service is said to offer a wide variety of content with no ads but Huawei has yet to name any specific partners supporting the launch of its streaming platform. The recently introduced Mate 10, Mate 10 Pro, and Mate 10 Lite are all expected to benefit from Huawei’s upcoming services, with the company still being adamant to differentiate its offerings through a combination of software and hardware. Huawei’s latest tech conference also saw the company reiterate its commitment to Europe in terms of commercial presence and business investments, with its officials stating that the firm continues nurturing digital talent across the continent and is determined to maintain this approach in the future.Huawei AppStore


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While Miami Beach's new DecoBike bicycle sharing program seems to be a hit with riders, the private company that runs the program says it's already facing financial concerns. DecoBike says its failed to raise enough money in advertising and now wants to place mini-billboards on its bike stands. That's a proposal that Beach officials don't seem to want to take for a spin.
According to The Miami Herald, 180,000 rides have already been taken on DecoBikes during its first four months. Though, the company has failed to meet even 20 percent of its anticipated advertising revenue.
The company originally wanted to install advertising on 65 bike racks around the city, but City Hall nixed the idea and limited advertising only to bike baskets. DecoBike says the basket ads aren't a hit with companies, and they now want to install 7-foot-by-2-foot ads on bike racks.
"They're very huge; it's not acceptable," Mayor Matti Herrera Bower tells The Herald. "When they came to us in the very beginning they said they could do it without advertising. They should have thought of a better business plan and they should have researched more options."
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Though, the city will ask residents for input. Meanwhile, the advertising issues alone won't likely doom the program.
"Is DecoBike's financially failing? No, but we need to know that we can prosper to put out the stations and bikes that we need," Colby Reese, chief marketing operator of DecoBike, told the paper. "We're not in this to lose money, and we don't want to break even, but right now breaking even is a great thing."


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While there are a number of known issues associated with the May update, most are expected to be ironed out long before its successor arrives.
However, with Windows 10's recent reputation for being susceptible to bugs, stability will once again be a priority, as users demand an operating system they can rely on.
Windows 10 November update release date
We can only assume that Microsoft will stick with biannual feature updates, meaning the next major version will arrive in November 2020.
Security updates are delivered to Windows 10 devices on the second Tuesday of each month, on a day informally known as 'Patch Tuesday'.
Should Microsoft follow this schedule, we could expect the update to arrive on 10 November, although that's pure speculation at this stage.
Windows 10 November update device support
The vast majority of Windows 10 devices that were eligible for the May update will still be compatible with the next version. However, support will likely vary between companies, so it's worth checking with manufacturer of your device.
As with the May update, Microsoft is likely to throttle availability in order to manage ever-increasing demand. Depending on the age of your device, it could mean you have to wait a number of weeks after the official release date for it to be 'ready' to install.
While we wouldn't recommend downloading the May update at the moment, checking if it's available for your device is a good indicator that the November update will also arrive.
Windows 10 November update new features
Although months away from any expected release, there are already a few rumours about what we can expect from Windows 10's next feature update.
Windows Latest is reporting that the '20H2' update will be more cumulative, without any of the headlining new features we saw in the May update. The website's strong track record when it comes to Windows news means we have no reason to doubt them, particularly as the late 2019 update was similarly minor.
With under the hood improvements prioritised, one such area that looks to be getting some attention is storage settings. Again according to Windows Latest, the next update will add user cleanup recommendations, to help you easily clear unused files.
This is expected to work in a similar way to what we've seen on smartphones, recommending large, rarely used or backed up files to be deleted from your hard drive.
In an official blog post, Microsoft also said it would prevent the deletion of items in the downloads folder if it's to a cloud storage provider. Windows 10's File Explorer can sync directly to the likes of OneDrive and Google Drive, but it means accidental deletions usually apply across all your devices.
Of course, the priority for Microsoft is to ensure the November 2020 update is as stable as it possibly can be. The May update has been plagued with issues since launch, leading the likes of Tom's Guide to label it 'a disaster'.
Windows 10 upcoming features
Although some new features have already been confirmed, we're not expecting to see these appear on Windows 10 before the end of 2020.
Microsoft teased a redesigned Start Menu back in April 2020, although it might not make its way into a final version until 2021.
Created by the @Windows design team, this animated clip illustrates a sliver of the #UX evolution and modernization of the Windows experience. Let us know what you think in the comments below! pic.twitter.com/s4SVXncLEo— Microsoft Design (@MicrosoftDesign) April 6, 2020
As the short clip above illustrates, the new Start Menu will be released alongside updated icons for a number of Microsoft's stock apps. Teams, Outlook and the Microsoft Office apps all look set for a refresh.
Microsoft shed more light on this redesign in a blog post in July 2020, which included some official screenshots and the below GIF illustrating the transition.
Previously, Microsoft has showed off the new Start Menu in a Facebook post to celebrate Pride month.
The new Start Menu looks like it will be much sleeker than the current version. There's particular emphasis on the redesigned live tiles, with icons showing up over a consistent background if not displaying live information.
It's unclear why Microsoft debuted this new design more than a year before it's expected to arrive, although an early build of the 2021 (21H1) update has already been released to insiders.
Early testers of the new software have also noticed a subtle change to Control Panel. As Windows Latest is reporting, the popular 'System' area will be removed, with a similar overview available via the Settings app.
It's the latest in Microsoft's slow phasing out of the Control Panel, which began with the release of the separate Settings app alongside Windows 8 in 2012.
In the same July 2020 blog post as mentioned above, improvements to the Alt+Tab shortcut were also revealed. This is usually used to quickly switch between programs, and now all tabs in the Edge browser will be available in this menu. This means you'll be able to move between tabs and windows using the same shortcut, although new multitasking settings will allow you to customise this.
Elsewhere, Windows Latest has revealed lots more features that we're expecting to see on Windows 10 in 2021. These include modernised volume controls, a smaller search bar and redesigned action center. The latter looks set to offer significant improvements to users' ability to manage notifications and quickly access controls.
We'll update this article as and when more is known about the next major Windows 10 update.


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This is the digital age, and many people here in California and elsewhere prefer to purchase, view and store their entertainment electronically. For this reason, music-streaming services such as Spotify are widely popular these days. The problem is that entertainment companies claim that this service routinely violates copyright law.
One of the most recent companies to make accusations against Spotify is Sosa Entertainment. The company claims the music streaming service has failed to pay agreed upon royalties on more than half a billion of its music streams. The trouble began in 2017 when Spotify removed the company’s music catalog for alleged “illegitimate” activity. Sosa claims those allegations were false, and Spotify’s actions damaged the company’s relationship with a global digital rights agency called Merlin.
The hip-hop label’s lawsuit is the first to accuse Spotify not only of violating copyright law, but also of deceptive and unfair practices designed to avoid paying royalties to the artists, record labels and others with which it does business. Sosa and its fellow plaintiffs say they are willing to stay in this fight for the long haul in order to force Spotify to honor its agreements. This is an important statement since Sosa and others have accused Spotify of dragging out litigation long enough for the other side to run out of money.
Sosa’s troubles with Spotify are nothing new in the music industry. Copyright law violations have gone on for decades. The internet has only increased the problem since the music is readily available through streaming services like Spotify and other mediums often without the permission of the artists or their record labels. California musicians need to remain vigilant in order to protect their works and receive the compensation they deserve for their copyrighted material.


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Several motoring events cancelled due to coronavirus
Motorsport and motor shows are canned or postponed as SA goes into Covid-19 lockdown
A number of motoring events in SA have been cancelled or postponed in accordance with the Disaster Management Act announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 15 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In light of the government’s decision to prohibit gatherings of more than 100 people for the foreseeable future, these events include:
• The South Coast Bike Fest in Port Edward from April 25 to 27. Full refunds will be made to any ticket holders, who contact firstname.lastname@example.org to arrange this. The remaining three Bike Fest SA events remain on schedule, namely Clarens from July 24-26, Ballito from September 4-6, and Lanbebaan from October 23-25. Please visit www.bikefestsa.co.za for the latest updates.
• Motorsport SA (MSA) announced that all MSA-sanctioned motorsport events scheduled to take place over the next three weekends have been suspended. This may be extended, depending on further government decisions. MSA will engage with the member clubs, promoters and organisers of the affected events and updates regarding the individual events will be published on www.motorsport.co.za as soon as the details are finalised in each instance.
• The Simola Hillclimb due to have taken place in Knysna from May 7-10 has been postponed to later in the year, at a time when this becomes “sensible, safe and possible” according to the organisers. The annual Hillclimb has become one of SA’s premier motorsport lifestyle events with about 17,000 people from around the globe attending over the weekend.
• The Knysna Motor Show scheduled for May 3 has been cancelled. Organiser Peter Pretorius of the Garden Route Motor Club says that the show will not be rescheduled to a later date in the year.
New York auto show postponed to August
Organisers of the 2020 New York auto show have postponed next month’s show until late August due to increasing health concerns related to the spreading coronavirus in the area.
“We are taking this extraordinary step to help protect our attendees, exhibitors and all participants from the coronavirus,” Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association that operates the auto show, said in a statement.
The show will be held from August 28 to September 6 at the Javits Center in New York City.
The 2020 New York auto show is the latest in a string of auto shows or vehicle debuts that has been pushed back due to the spreading coronavirus. Earlier in March, the Geneva auto show was also cancelled.
Significant response to service and repair deadline
Local motorists won’t be able to choose their preferred automotive service providers just yet.
The Competition Commission of SA has received several comments and submissions to its draft guidelines for competition in the SA Automotive Aftermarket industry, which were published last month.
The controversial guidelines, which were open for comment until March 16, proposed to ensure that vehicle owners were able to service or repair their cars at non-franchised workshops without fear of voiding their warranties.
Car owners would also be able to choose between fitting original and nonoriginal spare parts (where a specific part’s warranty has expired), without the risk of voiding their warranty. The competition watchdog further proposed that maintenance and service plans be unbundled from the vehicle’s purchase price, with consumers given the choice of whether to purchase these plans or not.
The process was triggered by Right to Repair SA (R2RSA) which called for improved competition in the motor repair industry.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), the umbrella body for SA’s motor vehicle manufacturers, has slammed the draft guidelines, calling them a punitive and dangerous retrogressive step that would harm the economy.
The Competition Commission’s Sipho Mtombeni confirmed that Naamsa was one of the respondents that made a submission by the March 16 deadline, and said it will take a number of weeks to go through all the submissions received.
Coronavirus leads to cheaper fuel
Motorists have one silver lining to look forward to in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic: cheaper fuel.
Oil prices have plummeted due to declining global oil demand as the Covid-19 virus hits manufacturing and commerce, and the rand’s weakness against the US dollar has paled into insignificance against this fuel price bonanza, says the Automobile Association (AA).
The AA expects a decrease of up to 86c/l for petrol, and up to 85c/l for diesel in SA next month. The levies are not applied to paraffin.
The data shows petrol down by up to R1.11/l and diesel by R1.10/l, says the AA. However, these declines must be weighed against the 25c increases to the fuel levies announced by the finance minister in February which come into effect in April.
“As the spread of the Covid-19 virus accelerates across the globe, world financial markets have plunged, with capital fleeing to safe-haven assets. The rand has been sharply weaker against the dollar on this trend,” the AA says.
“However, this has happened side by side with Saudi Arabia’s decision to break ranks with Opec. Not only has Saudi Arabia slashed its crude prices, it has also increased production substantially.”
The last time oil prices dropped this suddenly was in the first Gulf War, almost 30 years ago, says the AA.
The AA says it doesn’t believe the declines will end at their current levels.
“There is little indication of what the final picture of Covid-19 spread will be, nor where the rand will stabilise against the dollar. It can also not be predicted how long the Saudis are prepared to hold out in their oil price war, since their oil industry is believed to be able to maintain profitability at substantially lower per-barrel prices than the current level,” the AA notes.
The AA says it foresees an extended period of turmoil.
“It will take quite some time for the global economy to get back on an even keel after the current ongoing events, and the next two or three months seem set to provide some fuel price relief to hard-pressed motorists,” it concludes.
Carlos Tavares is car industry’s person of the year
World Car Awards (WCA) jurors from 24 countries have chosen Carlos Tavares, CEO of PSA Group, as recipient of the 2020 World Car Person of the Year award.
Tavares’s accomplishments over the past year made him the jurors’s choice over several other auto industry executives, engineers and designers from all around the world.
PSA Group is responsible for the Peugeot, Citroën, and Opel brands and Tavares was lauded for bringing the company back to profitability. He also negotiated a merger of PSA and FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) that will create the fourth-largest auto company in the world, and also for masterminding the integration of electrification and mobility and strengthening market development in China and beyond.
Previous World Car Person of the Year recipients were Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO, Volvo Car Group (2018), and the late Sergio Marchionne, CEO at FCA; CNH Industrial chair; and Ferrari chair and CEO (2019).
The World Car Person of the Year award is just one of six awards handed out annually by the World Car Awards.
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The Lightyear One is the world’s first long-range solar-powered electric car. It can be charged via its solar panels or plugged into a conventional charger. It replenishes its battery while parked or in motion. Lightyear claims a 450-mile range. The price starts at $170,000 and a European release is expected for early 2021.
Netherlands startup Lightyear unveiled its solar-powered Lightyear One prototype vehicle today. The event took place at the TheaterHangaar in Katwijk, the Netherlands, and was timed to coincide with the local sunrise. Famed English author and adventurer Alastair Humphreys warmed up the crowd and then Lightyear CEO and co-founder Lex Hoefsloot took the stage.
“Two years of dreaming, thinking and working hard have led to this milestone, which is a giant leap towards achieving our mission of making clean mobility available to everyone,” Hoefsloot said.
Lightyear was formed in 2016 by members of Solar Team Eindhoven, which competed in the biennial Bridgestone World Solar Challenge. The event began in 1987 and the team from the Eindhoven University of Technology took home victory in the Cruiser Class three times in a row, in 2013, 2015, and 2017.
“We all have a performance background and with that we focus relentlessly on to optimize efficiency and safety,” Hoefsloot said. “The main goal of the car is to fill in where electric cars fall short. Research has shown that range and the lack of charging options are still the top concerns that people have when considering electric cars.”
Add light, then add lightness
According to an official press release, the Lightyear One has a range of 450 miles from a “relatively small battery.” The solar panels alone can generate up to about 12,500 driving miles per year. Thanks to its relatively lightweight and efficient design, the car will go further on a charge from conventional methods. Hoefsloot said that you can get a 250-mile charge overnight from a 230V outlet. You can also plug into fast charging stations.
“We optimized every part from the chassis to the side mirrors, from the crash cone to the luggage compartment,” Lightyear says on its website regarding the car’s aerodynamics. The priority for efficiency continues to the wheels, which each get their own electric motor. Each wheel produces its own power as needed and the loss of energy is minimal between the wheel and motor. “State-of-the-art” materials were used to reduce weight while keeping industry safety standards up to par.
The practice of putting motors in each wheel might raise flags when it comes to unsprung weight. This measurement is comprised of vehicle components not supported by the suspension of the vehicle, including the wheels. Adding electric motors adds unsprung weight, which compromises performance. In a video from Fully Charged, Hoefsloot addresses this concern, stating that since the car was designed from the beginning to use motors in the wheels, they were able to “integrate the suspension very well with the motor and the rim to reduce weight.” He concludes by saying that the system is “marginally more heavy” than what you get on a normal car.
Chasing the sun
The Lightyear One’s battery charges as long as the sun is out. The solar cells operate independently of each other. So if you park the car with half the panels in the shadows, the parts getting sun will still charge. And unlike an electric vehicle, the panels on the roof and hood continually charge the battery as you drive along, producing up to 7.5 miles of range per hour.The solar panels alone can generate up to about 12,500 driving miles per year
The solar cells measure five square meters and are encased in safety glass. A full-grown adult can walk over the panels without causing any damage.
The Lightyear One website contains a section where you plug in your location and it lets you know how many days of “carefree range” you get during the sunny months. We put in New York City, since that’s where we come from. The graph showed that for 70 days, from June 26 to September 4, the car’s solar panels will generate 40 miles of range per day.
The Lightyear One seats five adults and comes with over-the-air software updates, a companion app, wireless key, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. The website lists a 0 to 62 mph time of 10 seconds.
All aboard the solar train
Lightyear calls itself a technology company rather than a car company. And as with any new tech, it doesn’t come cheap. The Lightyear One starts at the equivalent of just under $170,000 including value-added tax (VAT). The expected delivery is early 2021 for Europe. There is no mention whether or not this car will come to the U.S.
The company says the first 100 cars are already spoken for, and you can put your name down for one of the remaining Pioneer Edition Lightyear One cars for a $135,000 reservation fee. There is also a leasing plan that starts at $2,135 per month.
Lightyear has its own production facility in Helmond and it employs over 100 people, including former Tesla and Ferrari workers. The company has won the CES Climate Change Innovator award and was a Postcode Lottery Green Challenge Finalist. More recently, Lightyear received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
Early adopters who can afford this vehicle will contribute to its development. There will be limited initial production and this should be viewed as a proof of concept for the road. Remember when electric and hybrid vehicles first timidly hit the streets? Now we can’t walk a Manhattan block without bumping into a Toyota Prius or Tesla vehicle.