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Posted on August 22, 2017 by Matt Pressman
All across the globe, aggressive mandates are being set up to transition countries away from petrol and diesel cars. In fact, according to Climate Change News, "the European commission is considering implementing an electric car quota to be achieved by automakers by 2030, according to diplomats and sources familiar with the issue. With France, the Netherlands and Britain planning diesel bans by 2040, commission officials are said to view a new mandate as a natural step."
Above: Electric cars are growing in popularity all across Europe (Image: Ecomento)
That said, electric cars are showing significant growth in Europe. According to Vivian Zhou at the EVBOX blog, "Norway and The Netherlands are the undisputed kings of electric mobility. Together, they share a total number of over 240,000 electric vehicles on the road.... [and] half of all new vehicles in Norway are fully-electric or plug-in hybrids today. The Netherlands on the other hand, is the world’s most advanced in the implementation of electric public transportation and charging infrastructure."
Above: 2017 electric car incentives in Western Europe (Source: EVBOX Blog)
But it's not just Norway and the Netherlands, "in the wake of Paris Agreement, it’s become pretty obvious that Europe’s EV market does not just evolve around its northern nations anymore. Belgium, France, Germany, and the UK are all catching up on incentives to promote clean cars that’ll help them reach those stricter emission standards. For each country, we’ve listed the three most important incentives you’d want to know about."
Though not much of an early adopter, Belgium is catching up... In 2016, the number of electric-car sales in Belgium almost tripled, and the number of charging points grew by 350% as compared to 2015.
France made tremendous gains in electric-car numbers over the past few years. Going from less than 10,000 registered electric vehicles in 2012, to over 100,000 in 2016.
The UK government pledged a £290m sum to boost the industry of low emission vehicles. £80m of this amount is dedicated to improving charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Home to the most beloved [and scandalous] combustion engine car manufacturers, Germany has been the slowest of the bunch in pushing pro-electric plans. But as of last year, Germany has adopted an incentive and investment program to encourage a switch to plug-in hybrids. Additionally, it has approved a push for a Europe-wide ban on combustion engine vehicles by 2030.
The Netherlands is planning to phase out all internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035. The Netherlands has the highest ratio between public charging points and electric vehicles. 47% of Dutch drivers often or always charge at work.
Norway’s original goal was to have 100,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020. As of last year, Norway has already exceeded this number, as there are now more than 121,000 electric vehicles on the Norwegian roads. Quite impressive for its relatively small population of just 6 million.
Above: Why Norway is a leader in electric cars (Youtube: Financial Times)
And that's not all. According to Zhou, although there are nationwide incentives, many European cities actually "go a step further to get their citizens behind the electric wheel. This means that on top of your usual financial incentives, your electric car may be eligible for extra perks, depending on the city you live in or drive by: free public parking, exemption from toll charges, access to HOV lanes and bus lanes, exemption from ferry fees, [and] free charging on public charging points."


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Hilde Osland was in the holiday spirit as she posed by the Christmas tree in her latest Instagram snap, which was posted to her account on Sunday morning.
In the photograph, Hilde is seen standing in front of a fully decorated tree while she got festive wearing a pair of reindeer antlers and a tight, white bodysuit. The Norwegian model stunned in the skimpy ensemble, which boasted a red heart on the front that appeared to be breaking into pieces.
Hilde showcased her ample bust, tiny waist, curvy hips, and long, lean legs in the outfit as she gave a sweet smile for the camera. The model accessorized the look with some rings on her fingers and a gold bracelet around her wrist.
The Instagram fan favorite had her long, blond hair parted in the center and braided into pigtails that fell over her shoulders. Hilde playfully reached up to grab at the ends of her hair while striking her pose.
The model also opted for a full face of makeup in the shot, which included defined eyebrows, thick lashes, and black eyeliner. She added a glowing highlighter on her face, pink blush to bring out her cheekbones, and a light pink gloss on her lips to complete the glam look.
In the background of the picture, tons of gifts can be seen wrapped in a teal paper with a white tree pattern and silver and white bows on top.
In the caption, Hilde asked her fans if it was too early to wish them a Merry Christmas, and added that her sexy bodysuit was made by the brand Hot Miami Styles.
Of course, the model's over 2.2 million followers fell in love with the post, and flocked to show their love for the photo by writing more than 1,200 comments and clicking the like button over 65,000 times, all within the first three hours after it was uploaded to the network.
"Never to early and you are looking absolutely stunning. Merry Christmas to you," one of Hilde's Instagram followers stated in the comments section."Unbelievably gorgeous. Wow. Insane," another adoring fan wrote.
"When you look that good it's never too early," a third comment read.
"Merry Christmas! Hope you'll have a good one," a fourth social media user said.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the model got the pulses of her fans racing just days before her Christmas tree photo when she posed in a red backless dress in front of a mirror.
Hilde Osland's fans also went wild for that snap, which has gained more than 139,000 likes and over 2,200 comments to date.

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Fine against Ottawa sex shop likely to be withdrawn
Published Thursday, October 1, 2015 5:34PM EDT Last Updated Thursday, October 1, 2015 7:57PM EDT
Ottawa's acting deputy city manager wants a fine against a sex shop withdrawn. Venus Envy was dinged after a complaint from a parent about their child buying a product in the ‘adult entertainment’ store. That contravenes a local bylaw. The store at 226 Bank Street sells books and sex aids, along with products for people who are transitioning genders. That bylaw is about 30 years old and introduced so that kids wouldn't access porn magazines in corner stores. The computer and cellphone, though, made that bylaw almost irrelevant.
It's a product called a ‘chest binder’ that prompted a visit Monday to Venus Envy from Ottawa bylaw officers, sporting a $260 fine for the store owner.
‘It’s a compression vest,’ says owner Shelley Taylor, ‘that you wear like a tank top to compress the chest area.’
It's not the sale of these products to minors that's the problem. It's that anyone under the age of 18 was even in the sex education store.
‘We don't card folks who seem old enough to buy a health product,’ says Taylor. ‘I wasn't surprised that at some point some parent would be mad at us for helping out their kids.’
The problem is, it's against a city bylaw.
‘I feel the bylaw needs to be changed immediately,’ says R.J. Jones. R.J. is non-binary, doesn't want to identify with any gender but has used chest binders and says access, as a youth, to stores like Venus Envy, is critical.
‘There's nothing more important than someone wanting to be like themselves,’ says Jones, ‘to look at themselves in the mirror and be like ‘That's who I am’ and a binder enforces that.’
The acting deputy city manager for Ottawa, Susan Jones, says she probably helped write that bylaw some 30 years ago but times have changed and so, too, she says, should this regulation.
‘Yes, this bylaw needs to be reviewed,’ says Jones, ‘I think the charge should be withdrawn and I will reach out to our provincial offences office to do that.’
The councillor for the area says she's brought her 8-year-old to Venus Envy for years and says it's not up to the city to monitor our shopping habits.
‘This one was written 30 years ago,’ says councillor Catherine McKenney, ‘things are different so we have to look at the modern realities we face today and ask is it relevant today and I don't believe it is.’
McKenney has asked city staff to come back with a report recommending that the bylaw be repealed. The public will get its chance to comment on it as it goes through that process.


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Mokena, IL (PRWEB) July 19, 2012
LifeStorage, Chicago self storage provider for home and business, records management and office solutions, is holding a Summer Garage Sale Event at its Mokena location (8531 W 191st Street, Mokena, IL), on Friday, July 20th and Saturday July 21st, from 10am-2pm. This will be the third Garage Sale for LifeStorage Mokena, so Store Manager Kelly Butt is already a pro at setting up and promoting to get maximum exposure. Utilizing the Mokena Patch news sites through the Mokena and Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce to spread the word, while also branching out online through Craigslist and FaceBook, Butt has a system down that's helped garner a lot of participation and positive feedback.
“Our last event in April was a hit, there were cars lined up just waiting for us to start and some of the best, most direct feedback we received was 'This is awesome' and 'What a Great Idea.' The tenants are so excited and we are proud to offer them such a venue to sell their goods and services,” Butt said. “Each Event sees more and more people, and more and more positive feedback. We're expecting this one to be the best yet.”
Each event has also seen a rise in the amount of merchants that have requested space. Some of the current and past participants include: Rasmussen College, Brannigan Chiropractic Center, Color Me Brown Toys, Michelle Interiors, Crest Construction, Nascar Bob Toys and Things, South Town Newspaper, Avon, AJ Jumpers, Sports Clips of Mokena, Chamber of Mokena, Sedona Staffing, Applebrook Reality, The Funky Zebra, Celebrating Homes, Robert Remblake Contracting, Fred Astaire Studios.
By providing opportunities for not only LifeStorage customers and community members, but also community businesses, LifeStorage Mokena has taken the next step in networking and really connecting to the community in every facet. Butt and her staff work diligently to keep abrest of the needs and demands of all areas of their business, and ultimately, give back whenever they can by listening to feedback and requests.
“LifeStorage in Mokena has grown in the community over the last year of ownership as we had just celebrated our one year anniversary as Life Storage. We are proud of the achievements our facility has made to our fellow businesses and neighbors,” Butt said. “The tenants are so excited and we are ecstatic to offer them such a venue to sell their goods and services, and the Mokena community enjoys the opportunity to come out and purchase goods from our many vendors. We're looking forward to the coming weekend and hope to see you there!”
For more information on the Garage Sale or Move-In Special, please call 815-464-0500.
Since 2002, LifeStorage has been helping people simplify their lives by providing clean, secure, convenient and affordable self-storage solutions.
Located throughout Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, you can always find a nearby climate-controlled LifeStorage facility to fit your needs. Whether you’re looking for business storage (pharmaceutical, legal, financial), everyday storage (furniture, files, equipment, vehicles, boats) or office suites (furnishes or unfurnished) our courteous and professional Property Managers help you find the storage or space solution that directly meets your needs.


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Turbine Inc, the studio behind Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Asheron's Call, has been acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The deal gives the growing publisher rights to all future computer games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings saga.
Boston-based Turbine is the latest in a string of developer buyouts by Warner Bros. that includes Lego Star Wars
outfit TT Games, the bankrupt Midway (Mortal Kombat
) and Batman: Arkham Asylum
legends Rocksteady Studios.
Warner Bros. already had a license to develop non-internet-based Tolkien games, but Turbine holds an exclusive license to make online games based on the Lord of the Rings
novels. With network gaming its specialty, there's scope for Warner Bros. to explore the MMORPG genre in the future too.
And online gaming is definitely on the company's agenda. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's president Martin Tremblay revealed that "we will, for sure, in the future expand that platform to much more new product."
Turbine's certainly pleased with the acquisition. "I view this as Hollywood coming to Boston," said chief executive Jim Crowley, adding that the business will bring added attention to the local area.


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Bratich was the first Australian woman to win a medal at the karate world titles in more than a decade with a bronze in 2006, but hopes to go one better next year at the championships in Serbia.
While other wives and girlfriends have spent the time carrying shopping and baby bags.
Bratich has convinced Johnson that he can spend is time more fruitfully by holding a kick bag.
"This is the first time training with Mitch. The problem is that when we do it he seems to want to fight, he gets right into it," Bratich said.
Bratich is aiming to compete in the Australian Open titles in April.


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Groupon Aims to Raise $950 Million at $4.75 Billion Valuation
After snubbing a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, Groupon is raising more money.
Of course. But has it raised nearly $1 billion?
That’s the number being thrown around today by VCExperts, which claims to have seen documents filed by Groupon with the Secretary of State’s office.
And our sources say that’s the right number, with the company’s valuation placed at $4.75 billion, but that the deal hasn’t firmed up yet, and it doesn’t involve any one major new investor. A Groupon representative declined to comment on the report.
In the meantime, Groupon has the gigantic round it raised eight months ago to lean on. BoomTown’s Kara Swisher reported in April that Groupon raised $135 million at a $1 billion valuation.
The big thing that’s likely changed since then is the company’s run-rate, now at $2 billion annually (up from the previously reported $500 million).
The group-buying site, which offers consumers discounts of 50 to 70 percent on things like trips to spas and restaurants, already has a plethora of investors.
It has raised money from the same Russian investors that backed social networking powerhouse Facebook and game phenom Zynga, as well as from Digital Sky Technologies and Battery Ventures. In December, Groupon nabbed $30 million in its second round of funding, led by Accel Partners.
The money in April was being set aside for growing the business and getting ahead of its numerous rivals.
One investment source that has since dried up is Amazon, which decided to back Groupon’s nearest rival, LivingSocial, with $175 million. Kleiner Perkins has been named as a potential candidate, but it would also be nice to see a deep-pocket media company step in.
Newspapers, specifically, have been hard hit by a shift in local advertising and classifieds. A Groupon partnership could make it less appalling that they’ve missed yet another trend.


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SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — An increasing number of large companies in South Korea are collecting empty containers for their products from consumers as part of efforts to boost the recycling rate.
CJ Cheiljedang Corp., the country’s leading food manufacturer, launched a service to collect the empty containers of its cooked rice product Hetbahn last month.
If customers buy a set consisting of Hetbahn and a collection box through the company’s online mall and fill the box with more than 20 empty containers, the company will collect the used containers.
The number of Hetbahn packages sold together with a collection box during the past month totaled 260,000 units, accounting for about 40 percent of the total number of Hetbahn sold through the online mall.
Shinsegae International Inc., the fashion affiliate of retail giant Shinsegae, launched the collection of empty cosmetic bottles in collaboration with a local recycling company TerraCycle back in October last year.
Customers can visit Shinsegae stores to return the bottles or simply put them in front of their homes after collecting more than three bottles and filling out an online application.
The number of bottled water brands that are collecting empty mineral bottles is also on the rise.
Jeju Samdasoo, a brand of mineral water produced by Jeju Province Development Corp., established a collection program in May last year, followed by Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., which started collecting empty bottles of its “ICIS” bottled mineral water in Seoul and some Gyeonggi areas from August.
Ashley Song (firstname.lastname@example.org)


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Pennsylvania Farm Show Celebrates PA Preferred Products, Prize Entries
People from across the state and the mid-Atlantic converged on the capital city to experience the 2013 Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest indoor agricultural event in the United States.
Visitors got the opportunity to see more than 10,000 competitive exhibits and nearly 300 commercial exhibitors over 24 acres under roof, spread throughout 11 buildings and three arenas.
Rain or shine, the show’s affordability and familyfriendly atmosphere drew spectators all week, with more than 70,000 vehicles parked through the duration of the show.
The theme for the show, “Made in PA. It makes a difference,” paid homage to Pennsylvania producers and their products.
The show kicked off with the unveiling of the more than 1,000-pound butter sculpture fashioned by Jim Victor of Conshohocken, Montgomery County. The sculpture highlighted several of the state’s top commodities, including dairy products, grapes and wine, Christmas trees, fruits and vegetables.
As part of the state celebration, new events were unveiled, including the Great Grape Stomp and Cow Patty Bingo.
The PA Preferred® Marketplace located in the Main Hall featured nearly 50 PA Preferred vendors who drew crowds by letting them sample their products. Other activities, like the PA Preferred Culinary Connection and the Battle of the Burg cook-off, helped visitors learn how to use more local products in their diets.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show Scholarship Foundation presented 25 students with $3,500 scholarships. The foundation, founded in 1993, marked two milestones in its history as it celebrated its 20th year of giving and its one-millionth donated dollar.
The Today’s Agriculture exhibit, which was a new addition to the show last year, continued to educate the public about agriculture and where food comes from. The exhibit featured live animals, including 155 chickens, 12 piglets, four veal calves and one dairy heifer.
Record attendance kept the PA Preferred Food Court vendors busy to meet the increased demand of Farm Show favorites. As of Saturday morning, the following products were sold or consumed:
The Pennsylvania’s Cattlemen’s Association Booth boasted more than 2,000 steak, egg and cheese sandwiches and used more than 14 pounds of beef for cheesesteaks;
The Pennsylvania Livestock Association sold more than 7,650 hot dogs, 6,500 lemonades, 1,300 pounds of Italian sausage, 1,800 pounds of lamb stew and 6,000 pounds of pork and beef sandwiches;
PennAg Industries Association sold more than 20,000 pounds of pulled pork, 7,000 hot dogs, 60,000 chicken nuggets, 5,000 chicken sandwiches, 10,000 whoopie pies, 10,000 fish sandwiches and 256 gallons of chowder;
Pennsylvania Maple Syrup Producers increased their sales by 5 percent, selling more than 5,000 bags of maple cotton candy and 550 gallons of maple syrup;
The Pennsylvania State Horticulture Association sold 8,200 apple dumplings, 90 tubs of ice cream and over 120 bushels of apples;
Pennsylvania Mushroom Grower’s Cooperative sold more than 8,000 pounds of mushrooms;
Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers sold 7,500 blooming onions, 10,000 battered vegetables, 600 vegetable wraps, 8,000 strawberry and raspberry surprise drinks, 8,800 bowls of soup and 1,800 pickles;
Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association used three tractor trailer loads of milkshake mix, cooked up more than 6,000 grilled cheese sandwiches and 6,000 pounds of mozzarella cheese;
Pennsylvania Beekeepers Association sold more than 2- 1/2 tons of honey, 800 gallons of honey ice cream and used more than 650 pounds of waffle mix.


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Shopping for sporting goods promises to get exciting in Singapore with the opening of Decathlon Singapore Lab, the largest French retailer dealing with advanced sporting goods at the Kallang Area.
The store opened on Saturday, 19th January, 2019 and promises to offer advanced sporting gear for sports enthusiasts.
From robotic inventory management, to four types of indoor surface patch to test run wearing new shoes, gravelled surface pathway and a conveyor belt to immediately transport online ordered products, the all-day open store has several advanced features to boast off.
Situated at 230 Stadium Boulevard, Decathlon Singapore Lab is spread over 5000 square meter and offers incomparable sporting gear facilities.
Apart from testing new sporting gear, customers can also freely get a health check-up at the Active Health Lab for which Decathlon has partnered with Sport Singapore.
In order to deliver online orders within a couple of hours in Singapore, Decathlon has put in place a conveyor belt that will manage orders promptly and efficiently.
The store also offers its customers the choice to first place their order online and then personally pick up the stuff from any Decathlon store.
Customers can do so in the next couple of hours without paying anything extra. There is also a free-for-all play area right next to the store.
Decoding the name of the store, the chief executive of Decathlon Singapore Yves Claude said that since a lab denotes a systematic innovative environment where latest solutions are regularly tested, the store is named Decathlon Singapore Lab.
While speaking to the media, Claude added that they wanted to give customers reasons so that they keep coming back to the store.
This is the 4th Decathlon Expansion in Singapore. The showroom at Joo Koon which is spread over 4000 square meters was the largest till the opening of the Decathlon Singapore Lab. There are two other such stores.
The company had already witnessed over 2 million footfalls in all its stores located at City Square Mall, in Bedok’s Viva Business Park and at Joo Koon’s Fairprice Hub in 2017.
In May 2018 Decathlon had signed a MoU with Sport Singapore in order to help the store provide vibrancy at Kallang area, Lim Teck Yin, CEO of Sport Singapore mentioned.
Mr. Lim added that both stakeholders share a common goal of making sport accessible for all.
He also mentioned that Decathlon offers quality goods at affordable price and regularly ideates upon ways to improve customer participation.
Nathaniel Gregory, the store leader of Decathlon Singapore Lab hoped that the new outlet would help change shopping perception of both the customers and the staff manning the store.
He highlighted on how retail was once a monotonous job but with customers preferring online shopping, retailers’ need to evolve is felt ever more.
Gregory added that if earlier the store leader’s job was to function normally as a brick-and-mortar store would, today things have changed so much that they have to learn everything from digital marketing to search engine optimisation.
During his visit to Singapore Bastien Grandgeorge, Decathlon’s CEO said that he is often asked when the group would stop its promotional offers.
This is no surprises as Singaporeans love it at the store picking up $5.90 basketball or running singlet for just $4.90.
To which Grandgeorge says that such prices aren’t part of any promotional campaign but something that would stay for long. He added that the company has constantly set the tone for the sports retail industry by making its products affordable and targeting a wider customer base.
When asked what the company would do if the customers find products sold at its stores lower elsewhere. He was sharp to reply that in such cases they immediately cut their prices to remain competitive.
Addressing a large gathering he said that Singaporeans should brace themselves for more affordable products as the prices are all set to drop in the future. With the target to offer items for 50 sports in one store they are fast becoming the one-stop sports retail store in Singapore.
The company has taken on its bigger rivals such as Under Armour, Adidas and Nike thanks to its competitive pricing strategy.
This has yielded good results as it is giving a run for its money to these brands.
The local retail industry in this business is estimated to range around $5.5 billion with everyone wanting a lion’s share.
Grandgeorge said that while the company is aggressive in pricing it doesn’t compromise with the quality of the product with each passing through stringent QC checks. They in fact show the entire testing process on screen at their stores to reassure customers about quality.
The key to the brand’s success has been its integrated business model. The company designs and manufactures majority of the products sold at its store which has allowed it to be aggressive with pricing.
They have 22 in-house brands which each one of them covering a range of sports with team sports label Kipsta and water sports label Tribord being popular.
They have successfully re-engineered their supply chain by adopting cost-saving initiatives and passing on these benefits to the customers.
An interesting fact to note about Decathlon is that in spite of having 1300 plus stores globally and being a €10 billion they haven’t ever signed up with a sports celebrity to endorse their products nor has it spent millions on advertising during major events such as the FIFA World Cup.
It has rather been investing in offering customers with ample choice. The Viva Business Park store is spread over 35,000 sq ft and is offering customers around 95000 products while the second store at City Square Mall has a space of 21,500 sq ft.
The sports retailer started its Singapore journey in 2013 and has taken its stores on long term lease which has clearly signalling its intentions.
It is aiming to have 20 retail outlets by the next decade and is engaging with the local sporting fraternity. Recently it offered support to ActiveSG which launched a Basketball Academy and sponsored the kit for Tampines Rovers at the S-League.
While attractive pricing may be paying the company huge dividends some experts have sounded words of caution. Dr Seshan Ramaswami who teaches at the Singapore Management University believes that while the brand would ride on value-for-money strategy well in Singapore that may not be enough.
He said that true sports enthusiasts don’t always look at the price tag but demand quality and experience and this is where Decathlon may lose the race unless it can convince this category that they are a serious brand in the market.
He added that while the sportswear market in the country is nearing saturation but Decathlon still can make a mark in some segments that are growing including water sports, yoga and running.
Also, children need constant supply of sportswear due to their growing size and this is one segment that the company seems to be working on. They have a large selection of children’s sportswear and are on the right course towards success.
Grandgeorge said that they are deliberately trying to target the kids and encouraging parents to pick up a sport to play with their kids.
The company has envisioned creating a Decathlon generation when these kids grow up. For Grandgeorge who has been with the company for more than one and half decade the goal is simple – they want to reinvent sports retail in Singapore and build long-term relationship with their customers.
Observing how Decathlon is growing in Singapore, South East Asia and Deloitte Singapore’s sports business group leader James Walton hoped that there would be an increase in people’s participation in sports.
He also added that with Decathlon bringing in cheaper sporting gears, people would move away from brands such as Adidas and Nike – the two dominant brands in Singapore.
Walton hoped that Decathlon would be able to bridge the gap that is currently seen in the market because functional and cheap sporting gear are not available for all.
He added that just as anyone can step into an IKEA store and find something of his choice, Decathlon would do the same in sporting gear in Singapore.


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The cryptocurrency market has been in freefall in recent weeks. Per CoinGecko, Bitcoin and Ethereum are down 9.6% and 14.2% in the last seven days.
Other prominent cryptocurrencies—like Solana and Dogecoin—are also firmly in the red, plunging 19.7% and 12.3% during the last week, respectively.
Alongside leading cryptocurrencies, companies that have made big bets on crypto are also struggling.
Microstrategy—which has over $5 billion in Bitcoin—and is led by Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor—fell by nearly 3% by closing price yesterday.
Similarly, payments firm Block—led by Jack Dorsey and formerly named Square—was down by 0.44% by closing time yesterday. The company has recently announced its intention to enter the Bitcoin mining fray.
PayPal, which made headlines in November 2020 when it announced all U.S. account holders could buy and sell cryptocurrencies through its platform, is also in the red, albeit by 0.16% by market close yesterday.
Crypto exchange Coinbase is, however, bucking this trend, after closing trading yesterday up almost 1%.
Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer that holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, is also up 0.62% today. The company also recently began accepting Dogecoin payments for merchandise like Tesla-branded apparel.
Traditional markets take a dive
A similar bearish trend exists in the world’s traditional markets.
The Nasdaq 100—a stock market index made up of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq—was down by 1.3% at yesterday’s close.
Two months ago, the Nasdaq 100 hit an all-time high but has since dropped by over 10%—a downturn that broadly coincided with early reports of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
The S&P 500—which tracks the performances of 500 large companies listed on American stock exchanges—has also fallen by over 1%.
What does this mean for crypto?
The most recent crypto market downturn offers more evidence that the cryptocurrency market is not immune to non-crypto market movements.
When the Omicron variant spooked markets in November, Bitcoin and Ethereum fell from $58,700 and $4,400 to $54,595 and $4,109, respectively.
Earlier this year, unrest in Kazakhstan and speculation about increasing interest rates from the Federal Reserve both caused crypto prices to plunge yet again. Between January 1, 2022, and January 10, 2022, Bitcoin fell by 14%.
In contrast, Ethereum fell under $3,000, a low that had not been seen since September 2021.
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.


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My favourite security vendors are gearing up for their new releases by running a beta testing program. Do you fancy helping them out and putting yourself in with a chance of winning a prize too?
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA–(Marketwire – Mar 1, 2013) – Bitdefender, the innovative Internet security firm, is seeking beta testers worldwide to try out the latest generation of its elite antivirus software and win free state-of-the-art protection for a year for productive feedback.
The New Bitdefender, which blends proven award-winning technologies and new concepts such as adaptive scanning, is available to beta testers now by visiting beta.bitdefender.com and downloading the beta kit. Beta testers stand to win a beta certificate, as well as some serious prizes, including a Samsung Galaxy S III, a Google Nexus or a Laptop HP Envy dv6.
As a beta tester, you will be among the first to experience the molding technology of the New Bitdefender that quickly personalizes the software to each user, adapting to every system-specific profile and applying recognition patterns so you can move quickly while fully protected.
Beta testers will also see an enhanced version of Bitdefender Safepay™, the secured browser that activates automatically during online transactions to create an unbreachable connection on public wireless connections, Bitdefender Wallet, which seals sensitive information away from prying eyes, and an array of other features.
“Bitdefender has been undergoing a period of intense research, and beta testing marks a crucial aspect of that research,” said Bitdefender chief security strategist, Catalin Cosoi. “Each and every piece of feedback will get the undivided attention of some of the top minds in the anti-malware world.”
If you’d like to sign up as a beta tester you can do so at http://www.bitdefender.com/media/html/beta/?cid=beta_press


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iPhone 14 series comes with satellite connection!
Apple has announced the new iPhone 14 lineup for 2022. This year’s iPhone line-up includes iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Let’s know about the newly released iPhone models.
iPhone 14, 14 Plus
First of all, it is better to say that there will be no mini model this year. Instead of the iPhone 14 mini, Apple has brought the iPhone 14 Plus with a 6.7-inch display this year.
The battery life of the iPhone 14 Plus is going to be better than the iPhone 14 Pro model. 26 hours of video can see in iPhone 14 Plus, which was only 19 hours in case of iPhone 13. On the other hand, the iPhone 14 model will have a battery life of 20 hours of video viewing. The larger size of the iPhone 14 Plus makes it easier to improve the cooling system while delivering better performance.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, these two phones have last year’s A15 bionic chip. But instead of last year’s 4-core GPU, there is a 5-core GPU here. iPhone 14 and 14 Plus will offer 18% better graphics performance than previous Pro models.
iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, both models have the same 12-megapixel camera as before. The iPhone 14 can capture 49% more light than the iPhone 13 ‘s camera thanks to an improved sensor over previous iPhone models . Apple has introduced Photonic Engine as part of Deep Fusion technology, which will play an important role in image processing. Thanks to this technology, Apple claims 2x front camera, 2x ultrawide camera, and 2.5x better photos in low-light than the new main camera.
The new Action Mode feature has arrived in the iPhone camera, which will essentially provide action camera features with gimbal-like stabilization. In addition to Dolby Vision HDR, there is a feature to record video in 4K resolution.
iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, both phones have a notch display, but the TrueDepth camera can capture 38% more light thanks to the autofocus feature. A lot has been said about the camera, now let’s talk about the important additions and changes like satellite and e-SIM.
A combination of software and hardware through the satellite feature will provide text-based communication facilities during emergencies. If you get lost somewhere or can’t find your way through Find My, you can send a signal asking for rescue help through this feature. Besides, there is an option to send custom message or SOS referring to the condition. The satellite service will begin in November in the US and Canada. iPhone 14 buyers will get this feature for free for two years. Like the recently released Apple Watch Series 8, the iPhone 14 line-up also has a crash detection feature.
Apple has worked hard with e-SIM support, the impact of which we finally saw in the iPhone 14. Apple will offer only E-SIM based iPhone 14 models for US users. Almost all the companies started adding this feature to their phones after the 5G feature came to the iPhone. Due to this decision of Apple towards e-SIM, it can be assumed that many smartphone manufacturers will bring e-SIM facility in their phones.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus can be ordered from September 9. Like the previous year, the price of iPhone 14 has been kept at 799 dollars. On the other hand, the price of the new iPhone 14 Plus model is 899 dollars. iPhone 14 and 14 Plus can purchase in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB variants. The phones will run on iOS 16 operating system.
iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max
For a long time, the iPhone vanilla and Pro series looked almost the same. However, with the new iPhone 14 series, there is a big difference between the regular model and the pro model. Let’s know about iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max with new notch design and chipset.
However, some things have become true in the case of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Max.
First, the new Peel design notch display has arrived in the new Pro models. Finally, always-on display support and a new camera have been add to the iPhone Pro series. This pill-shaped notch is much smaller than the previous notch. In addition, the proximity sensor in the phone has keep under-display for the convenience of good use.
Oh yeah, Apple has given the new notch design a pretty funny name. Around this notch cutout called “Dynamic Island” various dynamic effects are display base on it. Space around the cutout of the notch will show background activity like maps or music.
The display of iPhone 14 Pro is 6.1 inches, while the display of iPhone 14 Pro Max is 6.7 inches. 2000nits maximum brightness can find in this display with a refresh rate of up to 1Hz. Finally, the always-on display feature arrived with the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. The always-on display will show the current time, widgets and live activity.
Finally, high megapixel photos came to the iPhone. iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max have a quad-pixel sensor as the main sensor on the back of the phone. The 48-megapixel sensor provides a great deal of detail in iPhone photography. In addition, the second generation sensor shift stabilization with full focus pixels is use in iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max phone. There is also a surprise in the price of the iPhone Pro model , which I will talk about a little later.
Thanks to the high resolution camera, any image can be zoom in and cropped as desire. Sharper images and better macro shots can take on the iPhone Pro thanks to the larger sensor. There is also optical stabilization on the telephoto camera which can do 3x telephoto zoom.
The new A16 bionic chip is present in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro models. This 6-core CPU will consume 20% less power than the A15. Apple A16 Bionic can perform 17 trillion operations per second.
iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, the phones will be available in Space Grey, Silver, Gold, Deep Purple, Product Red, etc. colors. Almost the same price as the iPhone 13 Pro is maintain in the case of the new iPhone. The iPhone 14 Pro model is priced at $999, while the Pro Max will be available at $1,099
2 thoughts on “iPhone 14 series comes with satellite connection!”


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Kinetic's Evans joins Digicom
LONDON - Digicom, the digital out-of-home sales house, has appointed Gareth Evans, international business development director of WPP out-of-home agency Kinetic, as account director.
Evans will report to Digicom managing director of sales and marketing Chris Forrester, and will work alongside account directors Glenn Brawn and James Thornton selling across Digicom's networks.
At Kinetic, Evans was responsible for planning and buying pan European out-of-home campaigns for clients such as BP, Zurich Insurance, IBM and Visa, as well as developing and promoting new revenue streams for the company.
Before he joined Kinetic, Evans was senior business development manager at outdoor media owner JCDecaux. He joined JCDecaux's trading team following experience at out-of-home agencies IPM and Helix Outdoor.
Forrester said Evans' career had included stints at outdoor specialists, as well as media owners, which meant Evans had a "rounded understanding of the market that will prove very valuable for Digicom".
Digicom currently sells the media across Sir Alan Sugar's Amscreen digital networks, which include screens in BP petrol stations and in GP surgeries, and is set to win the contract for TrainFX.
This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk
- On-Air Creative / Creative Executive Discovery Communications Very Competitive with excellent benefits, London (West), London (Greater)
- Senior Marketing Manager Cutis Developments £50,000 - £60,000 per annum , Victoria, London (Greater)
- PPC Executive Dot-Gap £19k, London Central
- Account Director (Planning) Dot-Gap £45k + BONUS, London Central
- Account Manager Dot-Gap £35k , London Central


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A well-known cyber security consultant has been charged over a data breach at Australian car sharing service GoGet that potentially compromised the personal information of its users.
Nik Cubrilovic, 37, was arrested and appeared in Wollongong Local Court.
He was charged with two counts of unauthorised access, modification or impairment with intent to commit serious indictable offence and 33 counts of take and drive conveyance without consent of owner.
GoGet confirmed in a statement last Wednesday that it had identified unauthorised activity in its system in June last year. GoGet CEO Tristan Sender said the company immediately launched a full internal investigation and reported the matter to the New South Wales Police Cybercrime Squad.
“We are sorry that this has happened,” Sender said.
“We take your privacy very seriously and have been working hard to get the best outcome from this police investigation.”
The company has only just notified users that their personal data may have been accessed, six months after the incident.
GoGet said that it did not advise its users of the breach earlier on advice from NSW police.
“The strong advice of NSW Police was that notifying affected individuals sooner could jeopardise their investigation and potentially lead to the suspect disseminating the information,” the company said in a statement.
“GoGet’s number one focus has been to protect its members and any affected individuals and retrieve information potentially accessed by the suspect to prevent any misuse of that information.”
“With the assistance of company staff, investigators identified that unauthorised access was gained into the company’s fleet booking system and customer identification information from the database was downloaded,” police said in the statement.
This information was used to access GoGet vehicles without consent more than 30 times between May and July last year.
Sender said that there is no indication this information has been spread by the hacker.
“Based on advice from the NSW Policy Cybercrime Squad, at this time there is no evidence that the suspect has disseminated any of the personal information of affected individuals,” he said.
GoGet members, past members and anyone who attempt to sign up to the car share service in the past may have been impacted by the breach. The company said it has now reached out to any users that may have been affected specifically.
Any user who signed up after 27 July, 2017 was not impacted by the breach.
The compromised information is anything that a user has told GoGet, potentially including, name, address, email address, phone number, date of birth, driver licence details, employer, phone number and emergency contact name.
NSW Police is also investigating whether the hacker installed software into GoGet’s system in order to access payment information of a “small group” of users. The company said that it does not store payment details and instead integrates with an external third-party payment gateway, but users who signed up between 25 May and 27 July may have had their credit card details accessed.
These users have been advised to review and monitor their credit reports and account statements.
GoGet has since brought in external cyber security experts to help make improvements on the company’s cyber security, and has also informed the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner about the breach.
It comes just weeks before Australia’s Mandatory Data Breach Notification laws come into effect, requiring companies to inform customers within 30 days of a breach if the data accessed would “be likely to result in serious harm to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.”
Failure to do this could lead to a fine of $1.8 million for a company and $360,000 for an individual.
At the end of last year it was revealed that ridesharing giant Uber had paid off a group of hackers to cover up a huge breach of its users’ personal data in 2016. The names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber users were stolen, while the driver’s licence numbers of seven million drivers were also compromised.
Uber was legally obligated to report the breach to US authorities, but instead paid a ransom to the hackers to keep it quiet.


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AnnaSophia Robb certainly has big shoes to fill (Manolos, to be exact), so when she stepped out for the New York Television Festival premiere of The Carrie Diaries yesterday evening, we watched with baited breath for a glimmer of our beloved Carrie Bradshaw. Robb donned a black-and-gold peplum number from Emilio Pucci's pre-fall '12 collection (topped off with Miriam Haskell earrings and a DVF clutch), perhaps in an attempt to recall that infamous '80s flashback scene from Sex and the City 2.
While we're digging her look — and the fashion adventurousness it takes to pull it off — we know that SATC fans are pretty, well, demanding. It takes a lot to embody that perfect Carrie demeanor, and the R29 jury is still out on whether Robb has stepped up to the sartorial plate. What do you think — does she have the SJP swagger that the role demands? Either way, we've got that theme song stuck in our heads now. (RCFA)
Photo: Courtesy of HL Group


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After holding fuel prices stable for a day, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) increased the rates on Tuesday. Petrol and diesel prices have jumped by 28 and 26 paise, respectively.
Following today's hike in fuel price, both petrol and diesel are selling at new record highs.
In Delhi, the retail price of petrol has risen to Rs 97.50 per litre, while diesel now costs Rs 88.23 per litre. In Mumbai, the retail price of petrol is approaching Rs 104 per litre, while the retail price of diesel is Rs 95.72 per litre.
Since May 4, fuel prices have hiked by at least Rs 7 per litre in 29 increases. In several places, petrol prices have already surpassed Rs 100 per litre. Petrol was selling for more than Rs 100 per litre in at least 15 cities as of Friday.
Diesel prices have already surpassed Rs 100 in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, and if present trends continue, more big cities may soon follow suit.
It should be noted that when global crude oil prices rise, OMCs have raised fuel costs on a regular basis. Economists, on the other hand, are concerned that the continuing rise in domestic fuel costs would hinder the economic recovery.
Fuel price hikes have already sparked a period of inflation, and the cost of several basic items have risen substantially as a result. Higher fuel prices, in addition to inflation, are expected to stymie demand, slowing overall economic growth.
Experts believe that the only way to cut fuel costs at the moment is for the government to eliminate excessive taxes. It should be noted that the country has the highest fuel taxes in the world, accounting for 60% of the retail price of petrol and 54% of the retail price of diesel.
Fuel Price Hike in India's Major Cities
City Petrol (per litre) Diesel (per litre)
New Delhi Rs 97.50 Rs 88.23
Mumbai Rs 103.63 Rs 95.72
Kolkata Rs 97.38 Rs 91.08
Chennai Rs 98.65 Rs 92.83
Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Steel, stated on June 13 that fuel prices cannot be reduced since the government is conserving money to spend on welfare programmes.
However, the government has indicated that it is unable to decrease fuel taxes at this time because to increasing expenditures during the second wave of the Covid-19 wave. It simply indicates that citizens may be forced to bear the burden of high fuel costs for an extended length of time.


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By: Clara Choy
Impact Hub, in collaboration with Clean Energy Week and UNDP Cambodia is hosting an up-close and personal interview with two of the top tech founders in Cambodia — KOOMPI’s Rithy Thul and Okra Solar founder Afnan Hannan.
Hosted by Piers Grove, founder of EnergyLab, the interview will be a perfect opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn from some of the best talents in Cambodia, as they share why they started their businesses, their struggles, their dreams, and their highlights.
You may already know Rithy Thul, the serial entrepreneur behind successful Cambodian startups such as KOOMPI, SmallWorld Ventures, and Codingate. Afnan Hannan founded Okra Solar in Cambodia in 2016, along with multiple startups in mobile, Internet of Things, big data and tech to improve social outcomes. If you have long wanted to hear more about their projects and plans, now you can!
The free event will be held at Impact Hub on the 6th of November, from 6-8pm.
Register and find out more information about the event HERE!
(Edited by Eldon Lee)


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Accenture employees, about 1,40,000 of whom are in India, are each assigned 80 hours of classroom training a year, in addition to online courses.
The Bengaluru-headquartered company has spent about $45m from $500 million investment fund
Infosys' Q1 is a positive signal at a time when the software services sector is facing slowing growth and the impact of protectionist rules in major markets.
The company will also announce its financial results for the June quarter ended on July 20.
“The company has asked, for business reasons, MD Ranganath the CFO to operate from the US,” the company said in the filing. It did not elaborate on the reasons.
The company is also using its cognitive technology to help farmers identify pest infestation earlier and in working out supply chains and grain storage.
Most IT companies are hiring fewer people and reskilling staff in adopting automation and digitisation. Nasscom's annual review said jobs grew only by 5% in FY17.
Cloudyn gives enterprise customers tools to identify, measure and analyse consumption, enable accountability and forecast future cloud spending.
The platform, called Genpact Cora, is built using the company's original process and industry knowledge with new digital capabilities from its acquisitions of Rage Frameworks.
The statement said that Infosys obtained B-1 visas, which are temporary visitor visas, instead of the H-1B work permit which was required.
- No blogs yet have been written by the author, we’re sure the author will contribute one soon


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Recently, we shared lots of new wallpapers for different devices. We also shared over 80 wallpapers for the iOS 16 and also shared the wallpapers that suit the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max Dynamic Island features.
Apple recently unveiled its latest iPad 10 and iPad Pro 2022 and we also shared the wallpapers of the newly launched devices. Windows 11 received a new wallpaper two days ago but Microsoft hasn’t released this wallpaper officially yet. Also, we have shared 25-something Halloween wallpapers.
Now, coming to the topic, today we have shared these 17 super cool iPhone and Android wallpapers that you should download and apply on your phone’s screen.
You can download the latest wallpaper here:


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'OutOfOffice' is the name of a new travel start-up that's decided to specifically cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples.
As of now, the site features more than 200 itineraries across 40 countries. On the site, users are able to book a range of LGBT-friendly hotels to flights, transfers and excursions. The start-up was developed as an alternative to other "seedy" services and platforms that claim to be gay-friendly, yet feature no images of same-sex couples holding hands, as OutOfOffice proudly does.
Already, OutOfOffice has seen a boom in business with the rise of same-sex marriages able to happen in many new places around the world. As a result, there's now a high demand for honeymoons. Darren Burn, one of the founders of OutOfOffice reports: "We were predicting revenues of £50,000 in our first month and we made £250,000."
LGBT Travel Websites
More Stats +/-
LGBT Winter Sport Events
Luxurious LGBT Wine Cruises
Inaugural LGBT Cruises
Personalized LGBT Travel Providers
LGBT Ski Events


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(Filed Under Event News). On the evening of Tuesday, November 3, intimate apparel executives gathered for the Intimate Apparel Square Club’s annual H.U.G gala, this year honoring Maurice Reznik, president and C.E.O. of Maidenform, and Dr. Mathew Lee, M.D., former chairman of the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Pediatric Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.
The annual New York City event—held this year at rooftop venue 230 Fifth Penthouse—benefits the Rusk Institute’s pediatric unit, and honorees are required to raise funds in support. According to organizers, Maidenform went “far and beyond” fundraising expectations, with efforts including an employee iPad raffle in support of the H.U.G awards; charity sample sales at each of the company’s domestic offices; and an “E-spot” on the Maidenform website encouraging customers to support the H.U.G and directing them to the IASC website. Additionally, the company reported that many of its employees donated individually to the cause.
Maidenform’s guest of honor was Janie Bryant, the Emmy award-winning costume designer for “Mad Men” and new wardrobe expert for Maidenform, who just published the style advice book “The Fashion File,” featuring advice on proper foundations and favorite Maidenform pieces. The company also arranged for comedian Ray Ellin to be the master of ceremonies for the event.
Also in attendance were additional Maidenform executives and staff members, as well as representatives from Wacoal; Carroll Textiles; Rago; TC Fine/Cupid; Macra Lace; Barry Ross Intimate Connections; Fair Lane Industries; and other companies. In addition to catered hors d'oeuvres, young women dressed in classic “Cigarette Girl” garb walked the event, their “cigarette” boxes filled with the more youthful treat of candy.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in comments published on bodymagazine.us are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of Bodymagazine or its staff.
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BERLIN — Escada Group, the Munich-based luxury fashion house, pared its third-quarter loss on a revenue gain of 3.7 percent gain.
For the three months ended July 31, Escada reported a loss of 2.6 million euros ($3.14 million), or 15 euro cents a diluted share (18 cents), compared with last year’s loss of 44.2 million euros ($51 million), or 6.24 euros ($7.20) a share. The figures have been converted at average exchange rates for the corresponding periods.
Restructuring charges pushed the company to a loss of 3.7 million euros ($4.47 million), the majority for the final settlement with the bankruptcy administrator of Féraud GmbH, Escada said in a statement. The fashion house previously held an equity stake in Féraud. It agreed in July to make a final payment to the company in “the lower single-digit millions,” bringing its dealings with Féraud to a close.
Group revenue for the quarter improved to 144.9 million euros ($175.9 million), from 139.7 million euros ($161.1 million) a year ago.
Chief executive officer Wolfgang Ley said in a conference call that the overall trend for Escada was positive in the face of weak economic conditions. Women’s wear retailers have had a hard fight even in the luxury segment, he noted, adding that consumer restraint in Germany has spilled over to neighboring markets.
For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Escada reported no net income. Last year, by comparison, the company recorded a net loss of 51.5 million euros ($56 million), or 7.27 euros ($7.91) a share. Group revenue for the period inched up 1 percent to 450.9 million euros ($550.6 million), from 446.3 million euros ($485.3 million), last year.
— Melissa Drier


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Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Board (CFPB) released a 728-page study on “forced arbitration” — fine-print contract provisions that compel consumers buying everything from phones to cars to waive their right to sue in court if a dispute arises, even if the dispute involves fraud.
The study reveals that only one-fourth of consumers who sign such contracts realize they”ve given up their right to sue. It also shows a tiny number of consumers will ever use arbitration or small-claims court. The CFPB”s next step should be to work to ban forced arbitration clauses from consumer contracts.
Forced arbitration agreements typically stipulate that aggrieved customers must have their disputes settled by a private company chosen by the bank (or other business entity) — at potentially huge cost to the consumer. Class actions are banned or limited.
The agreements became nearly ubiquitous after 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 2005 California Supreme Court ruling. The California high court had indicated that banning class actions would essentially allow businesses who had unlawfully taken small amounts of money from large numbers of consumers to keep that money.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision, virtually every consumer contract has been revised to ban class actions: 99 percent of payday loan contracts and 86 percent of student loan contracts contain such forced arbitration clauses.
Congress passed important reforms to class actions in 2005 and class action remains a tremendous tool for justice and relief when significant numbers of consumers are cheated out of relatively small amounts of money.
We see such cases regularly at Santa Clara Law”s civil clinic, the Katharine & George Alexander Community Law Center.
For instance, when auto finance lenders collected $800,000 in “debts” from 2,000 clients who did not really owe them, our class action settlement helped recoup all of those funds. When a local car dealer promised 0 percent financing, but hid the interest in the prices of the cars he sold, our class action settlement helped customers get back roughly $260,000 in unnecessary and undisclosed fees and inflated taxes.
But since the 2011 Supreme Court ruling, the Law Center hasn”t filed a single class action suit — and not for lack of eligible clients.
Supporters of arbitrations argue that banning class actions doesn”t mean consumers have no recourse: They can pursue arbitration or small claims actions individually. But few consumers are aware of all the rights they may possess under federal and state laws. And the CFPB study proves that few consumers pursue individual private arbitration or small claims court hearings. When those venues are used, in fact, it”s predominantly by companies going after customers.
Over a three-year period, consumers filed just 600 arbitration cases nationwide, netting $400,000 — compared with financial institution awards of $2.8 million against consumers in arbitration, predominantly on disputed debts, the CFPB study found. By contrast, during the five years before 2011, 32 million consumers received nearly $3 billion in cash in class action settlements. That is, class actions are worth roughly $600 million to consumers per year, yet they are going the way of the dinosaur.
Dodd-Frank, the law that compelled the CFPB to undertake this study, also requires the CFPB to engage in rule-making if its study found that forced arbitration undermined consumer protection. Clearly that standard has been met. The next step is also clear: Forced arbitration clauses, which cost consumers $600 million a year, must be banned from consumer contracts.
Scott Maurer is supervising attorney and associate clinical professor in consumer law at Santa Clara University School of Law”s Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center. He wrote this for this newspaper.


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New Blockchain-Based Startups Create Opportunities for Healthcare
Nov 13, 2017 Posted / 5197 Views
Healthcare is another popular industry where blockchain has made a contribution. The Blockchain has provided a new foundation and structure for health information management, creating electronic medical records more efficient, without including intermediaries and allowing patients to manage their records themselves.
In this article, we will reveal top 3 benefits of Blockchain-Based Startups in Healthcare sector and how to create new opportunities for the healthcare industry.
So, if you’re one among them - either healthcare professional, healthcare startup, or an individual, who is interested in leveraging the benefits of Blockchain technology, you must read on!
How helpful it would be if you can have the full history of your health?
What if the medicines you’ve using, information of every doctor’s visit, operations, and illness can be collected accurately and efficiently?
This is where Blockchain in the healthcare industry could do exceedingly well.
Using blockchain healthcare applications, the risks and costs are likely to go down while the quality of healthcare is predicted to rise - as you know that data stored on blockchains can be communal in real time across a group members or institutions. So that, each event or transaction is time-stamped - as a permanent record and cannot be tampered.
In case of permissionless blockchains, individuals are allowed to view all records. Also, in permission blockchains, an agreement is used to maintain privacy - by masking the identity of the party who view the agreement.
Regardless, a lot of healthcare organizations are emerging and even seem to have a lead for blockchain in healthcare. Recently, a blockchain study conducted by IBM - where they graphed 200 healthcare executives from 16 countries and conclude that - 16% of them aren’t just experimenting, By the end of 2017, they are likely to build commercial blockchain applications.
However, they’re leading the charge with real-time blockchain applications and expecting to take down the frictions that`s holding them back. They seem to be intended on log on new and trusted information that they can keep a system secure, safe, and enter new markets as well.
Despite the current euphoria, let’s move to the realistic benefits of blockchain in the healthcare industry.
Usually, Data exchange concept first topic pops up in the head, when talking about the term Blockchain in Healthcare. Alongside, the blockchain-enabled Health IT systems that provide technological solutions to many challenges, including health data security, integrity, and interoperability.
Most importantly, the health data exchange systems that are irrevocable and cryptographically secured are enabled, using Blockchain technology. Ultimately, it enables unified access to real-time patient health data and remove the cost and burden of data reconciliation.
Recently, a data-centric security company: Guardtime, collaborated with Estonian eHealth Foundation to protect the health data of over one million Estonian citizens using KSI (Keyless Signature Infrastructure). To prove the success of Blockchain in Healthcare sector, this is a good example.
5-10% of healthcare costs are fraud in today's digital era, as a result of billing unperformed services. In 2016, Medicare fraud in U.S. caused around $30 million in losses. Even for $1 billion Medicare fraud and money laundering scheme, the U.S. Department of Justice charged three individuals
However, Using blockchain applications and systems, it is not possible – as people have to provide realistic solutions. Blockchain Technology completely eliminates the need for intermediaries and decrease the administrative costs, by automating the bill processing activities.
At present, the pharmaceutical companies suffer an annual loss of $200 billion – the reason behind is counterfeit drugs. However, the use of Blockchain based system assures a chain-of-custody log, and track every step of supply chain at an individual product level.
Moreover, proof of ownership of drug source at any point in the supply chain can be built with private keys and smart contracts.
Putting iSolve LLC as an example. It is working with many pharma companies to implement Advanced Digital Ledger Technology (ADLT). Blockchain healthcare application here is helping them to manage drug supply chain integrity.
Another example is FivePharma which is a healthcare application developed by Space-O that revolutionized the way of providing auditing, training, and consulting services in Healthcare sector. Every month the app is updated and try to enhance the pharmaceutical industry for the better.
Healthcare startups like FivePharma, are on their way to bring the next disruption, using Blockchain Technology. As far as drug supply chain is concerned, Companies can modernize the entire process of bringing updates to supply chain log with Blockchain Technology.
Blockchain Technology is built on open-source software, commodity hardware, and open API. Blockchain architecture includes widely used and accepted as industry standards cryptography technologies, in-built fault tolerance, and data encryption. All these capabilities of blockchain made it easy to work with and eliminate the need developing complex point-to-point data integration in health IT systems.
The data is rapidly growing from cheap smartphones and wearables. Further, these data are distributed across numerous servers at various different locations, this means - there is no single point of failure. This is considered as a huge advantage of blockchain in the healthcare industry. This made various healthcare professionals and startups to actively look for ideas and blockchain developers in order to build next-generation blockchain applications for the healthcare sector.
As an advice: Since Blockchain technology has created a definite place in the health IT systems, one should make advancement on re-basing their interoperability strategy in order to gain leadership in forthcoming years of healthcare sector
Applancer is an open platform for discussion on all things like Blockchain , Cryptocurrency and Ico news updates. As such, the opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Applancer .
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A cryptic tweet by the official Konami shop has made the gaming community from all over the world go frenzy.
Before I go ahead, let me ask you a simple question – Do you follow the work of Hideo Kojima?
In the past, he has done some brilliant work on Death Stranding & Metal Gear Solid.
After creating these two classics, a recent tease has made many of his followers believe that the upcoming PS5 game “Abandoned” is actually a part of the Silent Hill franchise.
Even though nothing is clear at the moment, Konami has now gone out of its way to add fuel to the fire.
Here’s the tweet from the official Twitter account of Konami Merch Shop:
COMING SOON… pic.twitter.com/2rsahqlU14
— OfficialKonamiShop (@KonamiShop) June 19, 2021
The image tweeted above looks nothing more than a new Silent Hill merch.
Given that the speculation related to Abandoned has been at an all-time high since the rumors of PlayStation, Konami & Kojima coming together to revive Silent Hills has made the news. One day or another, this was bound to happen.
But then again, something very interesting thing happened.
Geoff Keighley (creator of the game awards), replied to the post with the following GIF:
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) June 19, 2021
With all these rumors spreading like a wildfire, it looks like something is definitely brewing between the upcoming PS5 exclusive mysterious abandoned game and Kojima.
That’s all for now. What are your thoughts on the image posted on the Official Konami Shop Twitter handle? Do share your valuable opinion in the comments section given below.


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JD’s boardroom shuffle ignites talk of founder’s return
The executive who replaced JD.com founder Richard Liu as CEO only a year ago is unexpectedly stepping down, handing the reins to the firm’s CFO. The management shake-up at the e-commerce titan has sparked speculation that Liu could return to center stage
- The founder of JD.com, Richard Liu, stepped down as CEO last April. His successor, Xu Lei, has said that the boss never really left, suggesting the CEO title conferred limited power
- JD.com’s first-quarter adjusted net profit rose 88% to 7.59 billion yuan, and some analysts are upbeat about the outlook
By Ken Lo
It’s all change again in the boardroom at Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. (JD.US; 9618.HK), barely a year after founder Richard Liu stepped down from the top job.
Liu’s successor, Xu Lei, has resigned as CEO and is moving to a non-executive position on the advisory board, the online retailer announced last week, citing what were described as “personal reasons” for the decision. The vacated CEO post is to be filled by the current CFO, Sandy Xu, who becomes its third occupant in just over a year.
The executive shake-up, coming on the heels of a retail business overhaul, has sparked speculation that Liu may be planning an official comeback after continuing to pull strings behind the scenes.
In its unexpected announcement, which coincided with quarterly earnings, the company quoted the outgoing CEO as wanting to devote more time to his family. The position of CFO at the e-commerce group would be filled by Ian Shan, currently CFO of JD Logistics, Inc. (2618.HK).
JD.com has been reorganizing its main business unit, JD Retail, in what media reports have called the biggest transformation in five years, with changes in the business structure and platform. It would likely take at least six months for the restructuring to bed in.
Up to this point Xu Lei had been in charge of the retail business and had previously served as CEO of JD Retail. Therefore, the timing of his departure from the top spot is puzzling the market.
Step forward Richard Liu?
Some observers are wondering whether the stage is being set for Liu’s return as executive chairman. The company founder has been busy in the wings since stepping out of the spotlight a year ago amid China’s crackdown on powerful tech companies. He steered several waves of the reorganization, identified a low-price strategy as the way forward for JD Retail for the next three years, and accused some colleagues of underperforming. All this points to deep and ongoing involvement in the day-to-day running of the company. JD’s share price jumped 7.3% the day after the management changes were made public, perhaps reflecting hopes of an official comeback for the JD.com founder.
A closer look at the company’s quarterly results, also announced last Thursday, may offer clues to the reasons behind Xu Lei’s departure.
JD’s first-quarter revenue rose just 1.4% year on year to 243 billion yuan ($35.2 billion), dragged down by a 4.3% drop in product revenue to 195.6 billion yuan. Revenue from services fared better, jumping 34.5% to 47.4 billion yuan. During the same period, JD’s operating profit more than doubled to 6.4 billion yuan, from 2.4 billion yuan in the first quarter of last year. As for the bottom line, the company made a net profit of 6.26 billion yuan, reversing a year-earlier loss. Its non-GAAP adjusted profit, which reflects actual business performance, rose around 88% to 7.59 billion yuan.
Looking at the economic context, official figures show Chinese sales of consumer goods rose 10.6% in the first quarter from the year-earlier period, but some segments bucked the brighter trend. Household appliances sagged 1.7%, while audio-visual and communication equipment fell 5.1%. JD has traditionally been strong in the home appliance business. With that in mind, Liu may have wanted to put the flagging core of the retail business into the hands of a finance expert in the hopes of engineering a quick turnaround.
In a conference call after the results, Xu Lei said that the lifting of Covid controls had helped to revive consumer demand, but momentum was still lacking, leading to divergent recoveries across retail categories.
He said JD Retail was flattening its management structure to improve agility and efficiency, leaving only three levels between the CEO and ground-level employees in procurement and sales.
Sandy Xu, who will be promoted to CEO next month, also outlined planned changes to the business structure of JD Retail, whose procurement and sales teams would be divided by product category, delegating more decision-making and management power and linking individual performance assessments within teams.
JD’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) and revenue have both accelerated since the start of the second quarter, Sandy Xu told the meeting. Under its low-price strategy, the company has invested heavily in subsidy programs to support third-party merchants, hoping to shift shopping habits and boost sales. As a result, the transaction volume at active merchants, user traffic and repurchase rates are all steadily increasing.
While the low-price strategy is starting to pay off, the e-commerce business is still grappling with weak Chinese consumption and domestic demand. But services such as health and logistics have been outperforming sales of goods.
Services on the rise
Service revenue grew to 20% of total sales in the first quarter, Sandy Xu said, contributing to healthy profit margins. The promotion efforts also attracted a record number of third-party merchants to the JD platform.
The main drivers of service revenue were JD Health (6618.HK) and JD Logistics. First-quarter revenue from the health division rose 54% from a year earlier while adjusted operating profit surged 108%. Over at logistics, revenue jumped just over 34% and the unit’s adjusted loss shrank 29% to 710 million yuan.
Despite the decent report card for the first quarter, JD.com’s retail performance was still weak, which does not bode well for the next few quarters. The company’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is about 13 times, falling between the 9.3 times for Alibaba (BABA.com; 9988.HK) and 16.7 times for Pinduoduo (PDD. US, indicating a neutral stance among investors.
However, some analysts are upbeat about the outlook after the latest JD earnings beat some expectations. A Macquarie report said the figure for adjusted revenue had been far stronger than anticipated, lifted by the business overhaul and efforts to streamline operations. The investment bank duly raised its forecast for the firm’s adjusted profit by 8% for 2023 and 5% for next year. Macquarie also raised its target price from HK$205 to HK$207, while maintaining an “overweight” rating.
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Leading iGaming supplier Delasport has partnered with multiplayer and jackpot engagement software developer BeyondPlay to enhance the player experience of Delasport's licensees. The partnership introduces a Cross-Casino-Provider Jackpot system, powered by BeyondPlay, which allows casino players to enjoy their favorite games with the added excitement of an overarching jackpot.
Playtech, a gaming supplier, is engaged in a legal dispute with its Mexican partner, Grupo Caliente. The disagreement centers around a financial dispute regarding service fees related to their joint venture, Caliplay. Playtech claims that it is owed certain service fees by Grupo Caliente, while the latter filed a lawsuit in Mexico. However, Playtech argues that the legal action is not valid unless it originates in the UK.
Regular exercise has numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. It can help prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Exercise also improves cardiovascular health, strengthens muscles and bones, and enhances flexibility and balance. In addition to the physical benefits, exercise has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, improve mood, and boost overall mental well-being. Regular exercise can also help with weight management, improve sleep quality, and increase energy levels. It is recommended to engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week for optimal health benefits.
RCA, a company known for its history of innovation and groundbreaking technologies, is once again making waves in the technology sector. With over a century of experience in radio, TV, and music, RCA is now venturing into the gaming industry with its new monitor lineup, the M Series QHD monitors.
If you want to take your gaming experience to the next level, it's essential to understand the benefits of High Roller and VIP bonuses. These rewards are not just a form of recognition, but also a way to enhance your gaming experience. In this article, we will discuss the difference between these two offers and how they can make your live dealer casino sessions more exciting.
The world of mobile phone accessories has come a long way since the days of giant bricks. From wired headphones to protective cases, we have seen various accessories rise and fall in popularity. But what can we expect in the future?
The third quarter financial results for Betsson Group, covering July to September 2023, have been released. Throughout the seventh consecutive quarter, Betsson reported an increase in revenue during the reporting period.
Pragmatic Play, a top-tier supplier of live casino content, has announced plans to participate in the upcoming SBC Summit Latinoamerica. After a successful event in Barcelona, the event will kick off from October 31 to November 2, 2023.
Ezugi, an Evolution-owned supplier of live casino games, has revealed that its modern Baccarat studio is now operational. According to the company, this studio delivers a selection of high-grade live dealer Baccarat games to online gamers in multiple countries. The improved Baccarat games now live streaming from Ezugi's studio are the first to showcase the company's new user interface.
Namaste to all the avid gamers and curious minds! Live dealer casinos in India are more than just a trend; they're a phenomenon. With the rapid growth of internet connectivity and the love for a good game, it's no surprise that live dealer games have found a special place in the hearts of Indian players. But what's the real deal behind their soaring popularity? Let's dive in and explore some truly fascinating facts about these virtual yet vivid casino experiences.
Evolution, a powerhouse in the live casino sector, has confirmed its attendance at the G2E Las Vegas 2023. During the event, the company will showcase products from its seven Group brands: Evolution, Ezugi, NetEnt, Red Tiger, Big Time Gaming, Nolimit City, and DigiWheel.
Craps is more than just a roll of the dice—it's a crowd-favorite in online live casinos, bringing the thrill of the casino floor to your screen. For you, the experienced player, refining your game with advanced tips is vital to stay on top of your rolls.
Pragmatic Play, a leading provider of live dealer games, and Rank Group, a popular live casino operator, have inked a new deal to solidify their partnership. In this agreement, Rank Group will incorporate Pragmatic Play's Live Casino vertical in its casino brands across Europe.
Money Drop Live, a thrilling game show-style experience, has rapidly gained traction in the realm of live casino sites. This game, inspired by the famous TV show, combines elements of chance, strategy, and sheer excitement, making it a hit among players of all levels. Its unique format and interactive gameplay have drawn a growing number of enthusiasts to online live casinos, eager to experience the rush and potential rewards that Money Drop Live offers. Let's dive into what makes this game an exciting addition to the live casino world and explore some beginner tips to help you get started.
Baccarat, a classic casino game renowned for its simplicity and elegance, has been a staple in both brick-and-mortar casinos and online platforms. The advent of live Baccarat has taken this beloved game to new heights, immersing players in an authentic casino experience right from the comfort of their homes.
The online live three-card poker variant has garnered a dedicated following for its fast-paced action and simpler rules compared to traditional poker games. Thanks to the internet, enjoying 3 Card Poker from the comfort of your home is now a reality, combining the convenience of online gaming with the authentic experience of a live dealer. We gathered some essential tips for players to consider while participating in this exciting game. Read on to learn more!


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The integrated offering is the first of several bundles planned by the SMB cloud business apps developer.
Showing results 1 to 20 of 326
Kicking off the announcements less than a week before Dreamforce, the CRM giant has plotted new directions for its cornerstone Sales and Service Clouds.
The FinanceIT mobile application and Web service is currently used by around 3,700 businesses in Canada. A U.S. expansion is planned before the end of 2014.
A Russian man accused of hacking point-of-sale systems and stealing credit card information now faces charges in the United States.
Big Blue to open new London datacentre as part of its $1.2bn investment in its SoftLayer cloud services worldwide.
Fueled by $600,000 in seed funding, the startup automates collection of local taxes related to e-commerce transaction.
TrustFile helps e-tailers figure out where to collect, as well as when and how they should report.
The third-party provider of maintenance and support services for SAP and Oracle business applications says its total net sales surged 40 percent in fiscal 2013 to more than $61 million, an all-time high.
The HR software developer's Salesforce Sales Cloud implementation is integrated with several other services including Eloqua, OneSource, Equifax and Influitive.
Backed by $15 million in venture capital, the company focuses on marketing automation for small and midsize businesses.
Microsoft's enterprise software sales are still carrying the devices and services company, as the company's latest earnings report makes plain.
Maybe it's unfair to expect Internet services like Airbnb to collect hotel taxes, but then why should Hilton or Sheraton have to? It's just like the Internet sales tax problem. Happy holiday shopping season!
NRMA Motoring Services is digitising its flagship magazine, Open Road, and investing in analytics, geo-location and in-app purchasing to drive sales and advertising opportunities
Social media and Web services have enabled small businesses to become far more savvy about sales and marketing, but not everyone is embracing them the same way.
London 'innovation lab' aims to accelerate development of software for the financial services industry.
Tata Consultancy Services has turned in another solid quarter of growth, reporting profits of US$668 million on the back of strong sales across all markets, led by the United States.
With more than $4.45 billion in annual sales, the reseller has close ties to Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell, Microsoft, Symantec, and VMware.
Keith Block will be responsible for leading the CRM giant's global sales, customer support and consulting services units.
Sales for customized engineering services — and for its Canadian operations — helped offset slower sales to the solution provider's traditional SMB customer set.
In its third year of existence, CRM Idol has become one of the ways that emerging technology companies in the customer-facing space (CRM, social, marketing, sales, customer service, etc) get visibility and build a name for themselves.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
- 1 Perfectly legal ways you can still get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)
- 2 How much does an iPhone 6 really cost? (Hint: It's way more than $199)
- 3 34 ways to improve your iPhone's battery life
- 4 Election 2016: How to filter politically sanctimonious Facebook posts from your news feed
- 5 So you have an app idea and want to make a bajillion bucks


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Best online bank account: a trending 2018
After an initial period of skepticism, people in Italy are beginning to choose online banking to manage their savings. According to Eurostat, one Italian in three now prefers to manage his savings online – and for this reason, the best online bank account to choose is the one proving to be able to offer its users the most efficient and user friendly online management services.
Moreover, digital banking makes banking operations simpler, eliminating queues at the counter, providing real-time assistance as well. This managing savings method has been awarded with constant growth across the European continent: at the end of 2018 there are more than 25 million online account owners. Italy also recorded an increase of 2 million online bank account holders compared to two years ago, reaching a total of 18 million. The use of online banking and mobile apps grew by 71% in two years, reaching more than 6 million customers.
Despite the encouraging data, there are still more than 5 million italian customers who prefer traditional banking, the majority of which claims that the traditional banking service fully meets their needs and does not need online support. However, there are those who avoid online services because they do not trust their security systems and fear online attacks and unauthorized accesses. Finally, there are also those who admit that they do not have sufficient confidence with computer technology and mobile devices to use online banking services and mobile apps on their own. It should also be noted that, despite the increase in online accounts, the Italian habit of “pay a visit at the bank” is not changing. Current account holders prefer to maintain a direct link with their branch of reference: 75% of the holders of a multichannel account, in fact, have in any case visited their bank at least once in the last three months.
The data shows well how the online service and the traditional banking do not represent two alternative dimensions, but they compensate each other to offer a much wider and complete customer service. A demonstration of the fact that the best online bank account is not limited to offering financial tools of various kinds, but one that is constantly listening to the needs and demands of its holders. If you are looking for an online banking service that offers secure and reliable financial tools, and offers fast and effective support, Trustcom Financial is the best online bank account you can find. For more information, get in touch with us.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Leaving the European Union at the end of March without a deal would be “reckless” for Britain, the finance chief of Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF.L), said on Thursday.
Other business leaders in Britain have warned of catastrophic job losses and chaos at ports if the country does not agree on terms for its withdrawal from the European Union, now little over two months away.
As well as owning the Primark fashion chain, AB Foods is one of Britain’s biggest food producers with brands such as Ovaltine, Ryvita, Twinings and Jordans. It also owns major sugar, agriculture and ingredients businesses and generated revenue of 15.6 billion pounds in 2018-19.
“If anybody believes that you can just go ahead without some sort of an agreement here, I think that that is reckless,” finance director John Bason told Reuters.
“The UK’s food supply generally is dependent on the free flowing border,” he said.
Bason noted that most of the food AB Foods sells in the UK is produced in the country.
He said the firm had stockpiled essential machinery that is sourced from outside the UK, or consumables, such as ink, that are needed in production processes.
“This isn’t like warehouse upon warehouse with food flowing out of it. It isn’t like that,” he said.
AB Foods maintained its full-year earnings guidance on Thursday, reporting revenue growth for the 16 weeks to Jan. 5 in all of its businesses apart from sugar, sending its shares up to 6.7 percent higher.
Total sales at Primark, which accounts for about half of the group’s revenue and profit, increased 4 percent at constant currency, though like-for-like sales saw “a modest decline”. Operating margin increased.
Primark’s total sales in the UK rose 1 percent - exceeding internal expectations in a market which declined year-on-year. Trading was described as strong in France, Belgium, Italy and the United States but soft “in a difficult German market.”
Bason said Primark had continued to trade positively in the UK in the early weeks of January.
“AB Foods’ crown jewel is still Primark, and it’s managing to shine through a pretty muddy high street environment,” said
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.
ABF said overall revenue from continuing operations for the 16 weeks was 2 percent ahead of the same period last year at constant currency.
It said it still expected adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share for its 2018-19 financial year to be in line with the 1.40 billion pounds ($1.81 billion) and 134.9 pence made in 2017-18.
AB Sugar’s revenue from continuing operations was 12 percent behind last year. The group cautioned last year that profit in its sugar business would be significantly lower this year reflecting lower EU sugar prices for contracts negotiated at the end of the last financial year.
But it noted “early signs of recovery” in EU sugar prices, which would boost results in the 2019-20 year.
Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Paul Sandle/Keith Weir


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Greece will ban the selling of “electronic cigarettes” as the National Organication for Medicines (EOF) came to the conclusion that the E-cigarette is harmful to the human body due to substances like drops of nicotine, lugid ingredients and essential oils. The EOF proposed the prohibition of both the sale and the use of e-cigarettes in Greece and the Health Ministry announced that strict controls will start next week. And...
At the same time, the General Secretary for Public Health, Antonis
Dimopoulos, said that the government is seriously considering to increase the prices of cigerettes at 20% in order to decrease the number of smokers in the country. “For health reasons” you would think! I dare doubting it. The measure is purely tax-collection oriented, I suspect. Papangiotis Behrakis, President of the National Committee for the
Smoking Control, has already calculated the benefits for the state from
the increased prices: 400 million euro. Read more
Another take on it.


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Goop’s Horrible Netflix Show Accidentally Makes a Case Against Social Media Censorship
By misidentifying parts of the anatomy she claims to be an expert on, actress and self-appointed lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow demonstrates the damage caused by censoring women’s bodies.
Google CEO Says No Plan to ‘Launch’ Censored Search Engine in China
In a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai kept saying the company has no plans right now to launch a search product in China. But that response leaves plenty of room to launch when it does want to.


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Citizens Advice has issued a warning for consumers shopping on online marketplaces after a 160 per cent surge in the number of cases of people being scammed on the platforms.
The network of consumer charities said 96 per cent of UK adults have bought something online since the country first went into lockdown in March.
With the extra time spent indoors to do tasks like clear out wardrobes or set up businesses, Citizens Advice said it had received a 28 per cent rise in inquiries in the last year from people asking for help about selling on online marketplaces such as Ebay, Etsy and Depop.
Mis-selling, failed deliveries and poor quality items were among the issues people brought up when they contacted the charity.
Citizens Advice has seen a 160 per cent increase in the number of cases of people being scammed on online marketplaces over the last year.
“Now more than ever, people need to know how to use online marketplaces safely,” Citizens Advice senior consumer expert Kate Hobson said.
“These platforms are great for selling your pre-loved clothes to make some extra cash during these tough times, or supporting small businesses while doing your Christmas shopping. But, Citizens Advice has seen even the savviest of shoppers run into difficulties, so it’s important to shop-smart and know your rights, so you can take action if things don’t go to plan,” Hobson added.
The charity said buyers should always look into the seller’s shipping and contact details in order to check for fraudulent activity, and to only send and receive money through marketplace apps or marketplace websites.
Buyers are also warned to research and ask for authentication if buying a branded item, and that sellers must describe products for sale accurately.