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Barbie and Lego Movies: Awards, Snubs, and Controversies
Ryan Gosling Addresses Barbie Oscar Snubs
Ryan Gosling has spoken out again about the Oscars snubbing Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig in the respective Best Actress and Best Director categories for the “Barbie” movie.
In an interview with Variety, Gosling said that he “heavily edited” his original statement, which expressed disappointment that Robbie and Gerwig were not nominated.
“I think if I say any more about it, I’m going to basically put on a mink and start challenging people to a beach-off on Malibu Beach,” he joked, referencing how Ken channels his aggression in the film.
Despite the snubs, “Barbie” received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. This makes Gerwig only the third female director to be up for the award.
Margot Robbie Responds to Barbie Snubs
Margot Robbie also addressed the snubs last month during a SAG-AFTRA discussion.
“Obviously, I think Greta should be nominated as a director,” she said. “What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing. What she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.”
Barbie Critics and Film Nerds Won’t Prevent Oscar Best Picture Bump
Despite the snubs, many believe that “Barbie” will still get a big Oscar bump.
Peter Bart, a film critic and editor, writes in Deadline that “the anticipated ‘Oscar bump’ at the box office will surely ‘lighten up’ their distributors as well as product-hungry exhibitors.”
Carey Mulligan Says Actors Who Claim They Don’t Care About Awards Are Lying
In other Oscar news, Carey Mulligan has said that she believes actors who claim they don’t care about Awards are “100 percent lying.”
“It’s just the coolest thing. Because it’s from your peers. It’s wicked,” she said of being nominated for an Oscar.
Mulligan also expressed her disappointment that Greta Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director for “Barbie.”
Lego Movies: Awards, Toys, and Music
In addition to the “Barbie” movie, there have been several other Lego Movies in recent years, including “The Lego Movie” (2014), “The Lego Batman Movie” (2017), and “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” (2019).
These Movies have been both critically and commercially successful, and they have also won several awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Everything Is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie.”
Lego Movies have also spawned a line of popular toys and video games.
The Lego Movies have been praised for their animation, humor, and clever use of the Lego building blocks.
Where to Watch Barbie Movies
If you’re looking to watch the Barbie Movies, you can find them on streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
You can also purchase the Movies on DVD or Blu-ray.
The Barbie and Lego movies have been a huge success in recent years, and they have won several Awards and nominations.
These movies are sure to continue to be popular with audiences of all ages.


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A German plaintiff who tried to argue that $3.6 million in cryptocurrency profits is not taxable income but instead constitutes a “dataset” lost in Germany’s largest financial court on February 28.
In an important ruling on virtual currency tax registration, Germany’s Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has ruled that capital gains from cryptocurrency transactions are taxable.
Pursuant to regulations regarding income from private sale transactions, cryptocurrency investors are obliged to declare these profits on their income tax returns.
On February 28th, the BFH declared that cryptocurrencies would be considered economic goods subject to income tax on private sale transactions if bought and sold within one year.
However, if the investor holds the currency for more than one year, German law makes the profits tax-free. This is different from stocks.
Investors did not view the ‘dataset’ as a taxable asset
according to the german newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitunghad a disagreement with the tax office on whether certain profits derived from cryptocurrency trading are subject to income tax.
Plaintiffs argued that cryptocurrency gains are records and therefore cannot be classified as “commercial assets” subject to income tax.
Plaintiffs also argued that the lack of effective enforcement makes taxation impractical because only honest taxpayers report their investments in cryptocurrencies, resulting in an unconstitutional “stupid tax.”
However, the Cologne Financial Court dismissed the case in 2021, and also lost cases challenging similar virtual currency taxation in the financial courts of Baden-Württemberg and Berlin-Brandenburg.
The Nuremberg Financial Court has raised questions about whether speculative transactions involving cryptocurrencies are subject to income tax, but these decisions do not affect decisions made by the federal BFH decision this week.
A German court has ruled that virtual currencies can be taxed because they have market value.
The ruling means that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are considered payment instruments traded on platforms and exchanges, have market value, and can be used for payment transactions between parties.
This is the economic outlook for these currencies, supported by BFH, in line with the federal legal opinion presented through our Guide to Income Tax Treatment of Bitcoin and Other Crypto Assets in May 2022.
BFH also addressed plaintiffs’ claims that only honest individuals pay taxes on their cryptocurrency profits, stating that there is no structural flaw in enforcement. The lack of collection rules and evidence that tax authorities are unable to record profits and losses from cryptocurrency transactions indicates otherwise.
BFH considered cases where investigative measures, such as requests for aggregate information, failed, as individual cases do not warrant structural flaws in enforcement.
The amount of tax revenue the Treasury receives from cryptocurrency transactions is unknown, as income on which income tax is payable is typically not attributable to a specific asset, such as certain capital gains.

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Trump continues to face fierce bipartisan backlash over his stated plan to implement a 5 percent Mexican tariff on Monday, increasing it by another five percent at the beginning of each month thereafter.
U.S. President Donald Trump struck a positive, conciliatory tone with top British and U.S. business leaders at a meeting in London on Tuesday, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters, despite tensions between the two countries over China's Huawei.
Trump claimed "millions of people" are entering the US through Mexico and criticized congressional Democrats for not passing new laws.
Navarro said tariffs would impact China by forcing them to lower prices, which would supposedly lead to decreases in their exports, profits, and intake of foreign investments. "I think if they do, it's foolish", he said, citing his broad support generally among members of the party.
"There is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that's for sure", said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the lunch. Many lawmakers are concerned about the potential impact on cross-border trade and on US businesses and consumers.
Mexico exports a broad array of goods to the United States, ranging from cars, auto parts and televisions to popular brands of beer, and is one of the top US trade partners. "There are signs that it matters to the US officials that there's a deal", he told his regular morning news conference.
"Where a pocket is located, what kinds of trim are attached, whether it's button or snaps - all of these things might enter into the kinds of decisions that go into tariff engineering", he says. In other words, USA consumers will eventually absorb that burden, particularly if the tariffs on Mexican goods rise to 25% as Trump outlined.
The Trump administration's expansion of the global trade war to Mexico could have harsh economic consequences for American workers - especially in Texas.
The number of families and individuals crossing the border to seek asylum has spiked since Trump took office promising to build a border wall and stop illegal immigration.
Just last week, business leaders thought that trade disputes with Mexico and Canada were almost resolved after the Trump administration sought congressional approval of the U.S. -Mexico-Canada Agreement.
It is unclear what more Mexico can do - and what would be enough - to satisfy Trump on illegal immigration, a signature issue of his presidency.
"Tariffs are not the way to handle the problems with immigration that we are seeing at the border", said George Hammond, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.
Border agents say they are overwhelmed, but critics say they are mishandling and mistreating migrants. The tariff rates are published by the U.S. International Trade Commission in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which lists U.S. tariffs on everything from dried plantains (1.4 percent) to parachutes (3 percent).
U.S. authorities are overwhelmed by a shift in the type of people turning up at the border in recent years. Six minors have died while they were in USA custody or shortly after being released. Mexico calls the potential tariff hurtful to the economies of both countries and useless to slow the northbound flow of Central American migrants.
"There's nothing more important than borders", he said.
Lucas, whose district includes all or part of 32 counties, mostly in western Oklahoma, said, "I'm told 40% of the Oklahoma pork crop went to Mexico".
The ultimatum from Trump is the biggest foreign policy test to date for Lopez Obrador.
Mexican President said he wanted to let that process run its course before meeting with Trump himself.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a statement that the tariffs, "will be particularly bad for California". Unfortunately, they seem to have become the Trump administration's go-to strategy when it doesn't get its way.


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Container xChange opens first office in Pakistan
KARACHI - Container xChange today announced that the company has opened its first office in Karachi, the transport hub of the country.
The new office, located at Machiyara Springfield, Clifton, will offer a global and neutral online platform for trading and leasing shipping containers.
The announcement comes on the back of the company's endeavour to revolutionise digital adoption for Pakistan’s container logistics industry so the customers can grow their business to become truly global organisations and achieve operational efficiency and transparency at every step of container operations.
Commenting on the launch, Dr. Johannes Schlingmeier, co-founder and CEO, Container xChange said, “We are excited about our expansion in Pakistan which is a hub for NVOCCs and an important market in South Asia for Container xChange. With an excellent on-ground team here in Pakistan, we aim to support our growing customer base in their journey towards digital adoption for container operations. Therefore, it only makes business sense to develop our services further in the country.”
Container xChange is a technology company that works towards developing a one-stop-shop for digital container operations infrastructure. The company enables container logistic players to reduce idle container times and find business partners, plan one-way moves, handle the process of container movement end-to-end, and overall, contribute to reducing the carbon emissions of the shipping industry.
"With the opening of this new facility, our aim is to cater to the growing demand of our business amongst the container logistic players in Pakistan. The great disruptions in the supply chain have led companies to rethink their logistics strategy and Container xChange has been at the forefront of transforming the face of container logistics globally. We are confident that having a physical entity in Pakistan will greatly benefit the NVOCCs, shipping lines, and freight forwarders to build agility and resilience for their business, which is key to business sustenance especially during these times", said Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and CEO, Container xChange.
Abdul Aziz Khan, Manager, Container Trade division, Oceanic Star Line (OSL) one of the leading shipping lines in Pakistan shared their excitement on the launch of the xChange facility, “We are pleased to see xChange’s new office opening in Karachi and I trust that it will be beneficial for the existing and the potential customers of xChange. Having a local presence will help immensely in introducing xChange to the local players and building strong partnerships thereof.”
“Moreover, it will help the container logistics players in Karachi to open new frontiers of global business opportunities that the platform presents along with offering services like container trading and leasing, presenting actionable data for its customers, simplifying container operations, and financial services. I wish them all the best for this great progress.” Mr. Khan added.
Ali Paracha, Director, Allied Container Line commented, “We are looking forward to working with a local team at xChange in Karachi. Adding a local presence always helps in bringing a comfort level to local players, adding more trust in the business, and will help us to get to know many more value-added services by xChange which could potentially drive more value from the platform. We wish them all the best.”
The company has developed a global market standing over these years as a truly transparent and trustworthy neutral platform for container trading and leasing. Container xChange has grown its customer base rapidly in Pakistan, especially over the past 2 years. Many reputed shipping logistics companies like M&J SHIPPING LINE, Allied Container Lines, SuperTerra Container Lines & Shipping, Oceanic Star Line Limited, Ravian Shipping Lines, etc are benefiting from Container xChange and the company plans to rapidly grow the customer base in Pakistan within the next two years.
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5 Laws That’ll Help the honda to stop selling combustion globally Industry
- June 16, 2022
- [email protected]
The Honda Civic is an amazing car. It is an incredible car. It holds a lot of power and handles it way better than most cars. But it is a car that is sold only in Japan, and Japanese sales are still on the decline. It is no secret that the U.S. is not the best place to buy a car. Americans want reliable cars. They want cars that are going to last. They want cars that are going to get them through their daily commute and work.
Honda hasn’t been the same since Honda decided to make cars in the U.S. It has been more than a little surprising to hear that the company has decided to make a new line of cars that are sold only in the U.S. and are not made in Japan. But this is not a big surprise. Honda has always sold cars that are made in Japan, such as the Civic.
Honda has been selling cars in the U.S. for years, but the reason you hear about it is that the company, and Honda in particular, want to sell cars that are going to last. They want to sell cars that are going to get you through your daily commute and work. And they want to sell cars that are going to get you through your daily commute and work.
And guess what? The cars made in Japan are built right here in the U.S. and sold right here in the U.S. So it is not surprising that Honda is selling cars that are going to last on the street. In fact, that is likely a key reason why the company has been so successful so quickly. And while Honda’s first U.S. car is not the Civic, it does follow the same line of thinking.
Honda is the second-fastest-selling automaker in the world after Toyota, and the company’s cars are a huge hit with both the mainstream and enthusiast markets alike. They are also one of the few auto makers to sell a car here in the U.S. that is not sold in Japan. And because they are a Japanese company, they can actually bring a new car to market in the U.S. even without a Japanese manufacturing partner.
For anyone who wants in on the action but doesn’t want to wait two years to get their hands on one, there is the possibility to pre-order a new Honda Civic at Honda dealers. According to the company, it will be available for the masses in early February.
Honda has been selling well in the U.S. for a while (the Accord, Accord Hybrid, and Accord GX sold in the U.S. at a rate of about 15,000 units per month), and in fact, the brand has been doing so for at least a couple of years. But this is the first time the company has tried to sell a vehicle here in the U.S. that is not sold in Japan.
“We’re not selling combustion globally. Honda will make it a reality,” says Honda’s CEO, Takashi Sato. “This is the ultimate car.” The question is whether or not this new Civic will be sold at lower prices than the previously available Accord or Accord Hybrid, and if Honda will continue to sell the Accord in the U.S. at a rate of about 15,000 units per month.
This is a good sign. Honda is trying to make it more available to people who live in the United States by letting them buy the Civic before they can buy the Accord or Accord Hybrid. Honda also wants to let more people who don’t have a lot of money to buy a car who could get a car in a couple of years instead of waiting seven years. Honda’s plans are to sell the Civic in the U.S. for about the same price as the Accord.
The problem is that Honda is not only selling the Accord but also the Accord Hybrid. The Accord is a great car and people love the Accord Hybrid, but they are willing to pay more for the Accord with Honda’s promise of giving it a new engine and design in the next year. Honda is hoping that people will take the Accord Hybrid to the next level and buy the Accord without a subsidy that the Accord Hybrid gets.


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Zoom has quickly become a household name as modern life has turned to virtual arrangements. But the company’s rapid rise has also uncovered major security flaws within the software itself. Zoom now faces at least four class action lawsuits filed on behalf of California users citing violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The company also faces a shareholder class action alleging it misrepresented the product’s security issues.
Failure to Disclose Data Sharing
Violations of Consumer Privacy Rights
The first legal response to Zoom’s questionable data practices was from New York’s Attorney General Letitia James. James sent a letter to Zoom on March 30, 2020, inquiring how the company was increasing its security efforts amidst growing traffic and reliance from various key industries.
Later that day on the opposite coast, the first case against Zoom was filed in the Northern District Court of California. The official complaint on behalf of a Sacramento user alleges Zoom violated the California Consumer Privacy Act, which officially went into effect on January 1, 2020. The complaint cites CCPA language which protects individuals’ data from, “unauthorized access and exfiltration, theft or disclosure as a result of the business’ violation of the duty to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.”
Just a day later, a second class action lawsuit was filed in the Northern District Court of California citing similar data-sharing complaints. The suit further outlines the misleading nature of Zoom’s marketing materials, which claim, “end-to-end encryption for all meetings” while the company was routinely sharing personally identifiable information (PII) with unauthorized third parties, such as Facebook.
“Zoombombings” & Webcam Vulnerability
A third class action lawsuit was filed against Zoom on April 3, 2020 in the Central District Court of California. The suit echoes the PII-sharing complaints of the two previous filings but also outlines the hacking vulnerabilities within the platform.
Zoom has become a target for hackers who have circulated unprotected meeting IDs and account information in order to coordinate “zoombombings.” The term “zoombombing” has been coined to describe uninvited guests joining Zoom meetings with stolen meeting IDs. These disruptive—and often offensive, crude, or hate-filled—meeting interjections have targeted government, educational, and cultural groups using the Zoom platform. The suit also explains possible webcam vulnerabilities that allows hackers to access a user’s camera. Zoom attempted to patch this issue by introducing a setting allowing a user’s webcam to be turned off automatically when joining a new meeting. However, the suit states, “Zoom cannot expect users to uniformly adapt to this setting, and millions of webcams are vulnerable to attack.”
Inflated Prices and False Advertising
The fourth class action filing came on behalf of a Zoom shareholder. The complaint alleges the plaintiff acquired Zoom securities at “artificially inflated prices” due to Zoom’s sudden explosion of popularity amidst the public health crisis. The complaint further outlines the “materially false” and misleading nature of Zoom’s security documentation provided to shareholders. As the falsehoods of Zoom’s encryption status were revealed, stock prices suffered and “[damaged] investors.”
The fifth, and most recent, class action suit filed on April 13, 2020, is on behalf of another California user and names Facebook and LinkedIn alongside Zoom as defendants. The complaint outlines an additional security vulnerability within the platform that allowed the mining of users’ LinkedIn data without their knowledge, in addition to undocumented PII-sharing with Facebook. This, the suit states, was used by the defendants to, “amass increasingly detailed profiles on Zoom users,” for advertising and financial gain.
MDLs Moving Forward
As these class action lawsuits pick up steam in pre-trial preparations, a number of expert witnesses will be indispensable for supporting case theory. Here are the expert disciplines we anticipate to be called upon:
Software Engineering Expert: a software engineer will be a critical expert for establishing an understanding of the technical flaws within the Zoom product. A software engineer can explain the security holes on the backend of the platform and where vulnerabilities existed for hackers and other unauthorized data-sharing.
Computer Security Expert: a computer security expert can offer specialized knowledge into the best practices for companies in diagnosing vulnerabilities in their software products. This expert can also speak to where Zoom failed in repairing security practices.
Technology Executive: a technology company executive can provide expertise on internal processes for tech organizations handling data breaches or other security issues. An executive from a Zoom competitor would be especially valuable for establishing where Zoom lapsed in their backend maintenance and promised protections for their users.
Data Encryption Expert: a data encryption expert should be retained to speak to Zoom’s marketing claims of “end-to-end encryption for all meetings” versus the data encryption the company actually employed. It will be important for the expert to be an effective teacher while explaining the immensely technical processes of data security and developing ciphertext.
CCPA Compliance Expert: a CCPA compliance expert will be important to establish whether Zoom’s security issues violated the California Consumer Privacy Act. Each lawsuit claims CCPA infringement and this expert will be valuable for expert interpretation of a relatively new law.


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A survey of more than 500 market professionals see a 5% to 10% pullback by year's end. See full story.
Here’s what Apple is expected to announce at its iPhone 13 launch event Tuesday
Fresh off a legal sting in its battle over App Store payment practices, Apple Inc. will be looking to refocus attention back on its technology with its upcoming iPhone reveal. See full story.
America’s ‘ugliness and divisiveness’ pushed this couple to retire abroad
'Leaving the U.S. for a more peaceful environment was in our best interests' See full story.
9/11 changed air travel forever — will COVID-19 do the same?
The terrorist attacks on 9/11 quickly led to enhanced security procedures, and the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic could create similar long-lasting changes. See full story.
House Democrats may propose raising corporate tax rate to 26.5%
House Democrats expect to propose raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21% and imposing a 3 percentage-point surtax on individual income above $5 million, according to a House Democratic aide familiar with the plans. See full story.
' We covered the house payments while this was happening as well as put in our own money to fix up stuff. I specifically asked her to not do one of the upgrades, and she did it anyway.' See full story.


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As Nissan’s Sunderland plant marks 30 years since its official opening, Robert Gibson finds out how the factory has transformed the North East and UK manufacturing as a whole.
On September 8, 1986, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opened the Nissan plant in Sunderland with the hope that it would “provide a steadily growing number of jobs in an area which really needs them” and “show in the clearest possible way how such areas can help to recover their prosperity and self esteem”.
At the time the plant, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK employed slightly less than 500 people and in its first year built 5,000 cars.
30 years on from that day, there are 7,000 people people directly employed at Nissan and a further 40,000 in its supply chain. The factory now produces more than 500,000 vehicles a year and exports to more than 130 different countries.
“The impact has been massive - not just locally but nationally,” said MD Kevin Fitzpatrick, one of 115 members of staff who have been at the plant for its entire history (starting as supervisor of its paint shop).
“There wasn’t a supply base in the North East when we started, but through the local contract requirement with the Government, we started getting parts in Europe and the UK and set the local supply base up.
“At first that was pretty poor in terms of meeting delivery and quality standards, but Nissan worked by itself and through a Government agency to train the supply base in modern manufacturing.”
Without the company’s lead, Mr Fitzpatrick said, it was unlikely UK manufacturing would be as competitive as it now.
“We opened the door for the likes of Toyota and Honda to come here,” he said. “I don’t know if they would have done otherwise.”
In the factory’s early days, he said, there was a “cynical view” in some quarters that the company would likely disappear from the North East within five years.
At the same time, it was “very exciting” for the new recruits, many of whom were eager to leave traditional industries behind them and embrace the “great opportunities to learn” that Nissan represented.
One of the of biggest changes to take place over the years, he added, has been the increased use of robotics, with the plant now 95% automated.
As far as output is concerned, a Qashqai can built in 8.5 hours, compared to 22 hours for the Bluebird, the first car to come from the site,
NMUK Sunderland has also become a leader in pioneering green technology, producing the Nissan Leaf, and committing to a £26.5m investment to produce the future generation of electric vehicle batteries.
The site is likewise embracing the latest developments in autonomous driving technology, which will next year make its way into the Qashqai.
As Mr Fitzpatrick pointed out, however, it hasn’t always been plain sailing; in the late ‘90s, for example, poor sales of models such as the Primera caused significant upheaval, leading to the signing of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
“We knew we were good, but we had to demonstrate to Renault that we were good,” he said.
“We spent a lot of time doing that and on improving ourselves, which led to a step-change in our competitiveness.”
A decade on, then, there was the economic crash to contend with.
“We were still doing what we normally do, then pretty much overnight, people stopped buying cars,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“It was pretty scary and we didn’t know how to combat it. There had been uncertainty before, but we had never had that kind of crisis.”
In the end, around 800 employees were lost their jobs.
Nissan, however, bounced back swiftly and many were re-hired, benefiting from the “turning point” that was the success of the Qashqai and the Juke.
Today, the company continues to place significant emphasis on its skilled workforce, offering career development programmes, graduate schemes, initiatives with schools and, of course, apprenticeships.
“I’ve always thought apprenticeships were a good way of developing people within manufacturing and engineering,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.
“When I was 16, I couldn’t face another two years in the classroom; I wanted to learn and gain qualifications, but I also wanted to get out and make money. It’s the same for lots of people, but I think many are denied that opportunity.”
As it looks to the future, Nissan will be paying close attention to discussions surrounding Brexit.
Mr Fitzpatrick would not be drawn on the implications of the EU referendum vote on the Sunderland site, though comments from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this week highlighted concerns among Japanese companies about Brexit.
The company’s global CEO Carlos Ghosn had called for a Remain vote before June’s referendum, and has made it clear since then that the company hopes the UK will retain its ability to export easily into the European Union.


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The rebrand includes a new logo, brand identity, fresh tone of voice and developments across its mobile and desktop channels.
Gumtree appointed creative agency Koto, which houses the designer behind Airbnb’s 2014 brand redesign, to develop its new brand identity - a revamp of its tree logo.
Despite the new look, Gumtree wants to communicate to consumers that it has kept the heritage of the brand. Head of marketing Hannah Wilson said: "The key thing for us in the short term is to ensure that we’ve got really strong communication with our consumers so that they quickly understand this is the old Gumtree that they love with a new look and feel."
The relaunch, which the firm was working on throughout 2015, is expected to expand the company’s reach and enable consumers to get the most out of the website. The firm said it was aiming to have every adult in the UK who uses the internet to be using Gumtree by 2018.
TV ads, created by Fold7, will break on 15 January and Gumtree also plans ads across radio, outdoor and digital as well as social media activity. It is also working with PR agency Manifest London to bring to life its new brand mission, 'A world of opportunity within our reach'.
This article was first published on www.prweek.com


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Prices on a range of products including coffee and laundry liquid went up by as much as 60p at the store in Hampshire Centre mall.
Yesterday a senior company representative visited Bournemouth to apologise to the shoppers, and return prices to their original level, as the issue was featured on Radio 4's consumer programme You and Yours.
One shopper, Marilyn Rigler had spotted two weeks ago that jars of Nescafe coffee had soared by 19p from pounds 1.79 to pounds 1.98. Checking the price against identical jars in another Sainsbury's just three miles away in Boscombe, she was amazed to find that the rise applied only to her store.
Mrs Rigler said: "A friend of mine mentioned that sherry had gone up by about 50p a bottle, so I made lists of items in the two stores, and found that there was a whole range of them that were more expensive at the Hampshire Centre.
"There didn't seem to be any logic to which ones were chosen. There were own-brand products and big brand-names like Kellogg's, and the rises ranged from 4p to 60p."
She added: "I think it's sneaky. If they put a few pence on their prices a lot of people probably don't notice while they are filling their baskets, but it all adds up. Most people are watching their budgets nowadays and they can't afford to pay more for their food. Who knows how long its been going on?"
The chain - which announced a 15 per cent slump in pre-tax profits in its annual results on Wednesday - said that the variations in price were part of market research which was "limited to a small number of stores and a specific time frame".
A spokeswoman said that the increased prices had been scheduled to be phased out over the next few weeks, as the project ended.
She added: "We carry out constant research into many elements of our offer, and monitoring our prices against competition is part of it.
"Market research is an ongoing process for any big company. We are looking at the relationship between price, service, quality and in-store facilities."
But Mrs Rigler was not impressed: "They talk about customer loyalty, but customers will only be loyal to a shop as long as the shop is loyal to them."
A spokeswoman for the National Consumer Council said: "Maybe Sainsbury's are testing whether we consumers are awake as we fill our trolleys.
"The message to consumers has got to be the traditional advice - stay alert and shop around.
"You cannot assume that supermarkets will give you the best deal or that they will charge the same wherever you are in the country. This case proves that."
Similar experiments had been carried out in other industries, she said, but this was the first time she was aware of it being done by a supermarket.
A spokeswoman for the National Consumer Council said: "The message to consumers has got to be the traditional advice - stay alert and shop around. You cannot assume that supermarkets will give you the best deal or that they will charge the same wherever you are."


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In the USA, Duke Energy has started a pilot project for the use of bidirectional charging with new Ford F-150 in Florida to support the grid with vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G).
The research and development pilot program aims to test and evaluate the viability of the new Ford F-150 Lightning batteries as a resource that it says could help transform the energy system. Duke Energy will add approximately five Ford F-150 Lightning trucks to its Florida fleet. The electric utility company says it will perform additional testing of the technology focussing on leveraging homes that have solar energy and stationary storage.
The aim of the Duke Energy pilot project is to look at new ways customers in Florida may eventually be able to use bidirectional charging from electric vehicles to power their own homes during outages and to help support the power grid. Here the focus will be real-world use cases with the Ford F-150 Lightning – such as how the vehicle interacts with other customer-owned distributed energy resources like rooftop photovoltaic solar and customer home batteries, how the truck’s battery performs in powering homes during an outage, how the electric pickup trucks will be used to feed the grid during peak times of use, and how these uses might impact the trucks’ batteries over a longer period of time.
“Ford’s electric vehicles are unlocking new possibilities in energy management for our customers, becoming valuable energy storage sources that are changing the game on the benefits an EV can deliver,” said Steven Croley, chief policy officer and general counsel, Ford Motor Company.
Multiple pilot programs have been conducted by other electric utility companys and carmakers – most recently in the USA also with the Ford F-150 in California. The same electric utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has also started a bidirectional charging and grid-stabilizing project with General Motors and several of their electric vehicles.
“The potential is enormous when it comes to emerging vehicle-to-grid technologies,” said Lon Huber, Duke Energy’s senior vice president of pricing and customer solutions.
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India and Canada Sign Agreement for Blockchain
Recent visit to India by Canadian Prime Minister ‘Justin Trudeau’ has brought all the good news for both the economies. In one of the most landmark international trade agreements ever signed, India and Canada have agreed to unite together to explore opportunities for increased business-to-business and people-to-people collaboration that will bolster the prosperity for both the countries. Canadian and Indian companies signed 66 new commercial contracts and agreements – worth more than $1 billion – which will help grow both our economies. As per one of the agreement, India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will work with Canada’s Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) to help developers understand more about Blockchain platforms for creating tools within the nation.
‘Don Tapscott’, the founder and executive chairman of the Canadian institute, stated:
“We see our coalition with NASSCOM as a delightful opportunity to nurture the Blockchain community in India. We strongly believe that India has the potential to lead the Blockchain revolution.”
NASSCOM and BRI have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a financial and research partnership. As stated by BRI’s ‘Don Tapscott’ the MoU has two phases. He explained, “We need to create an awakening in India, showcase the power of Blockchain and we can do this by looking at incentives/discounts to organizations who do this, that's phase one.” Phase two would build a Blockchain institute in India, which will be specifically aimed at helping grow the digital ecosystem in the state of Telengana. According to some media houses, each organization will invest in webinars and other types of seminars whereby researchers within the BRI can share their knowledge using case studies with Indian government departments and other entities. India's tech industry association Nasscom and Canada's Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) said they would also create a center of excellence in India to provide "high-end technology capabilities."
Some of the Blockchain related commercial deals signed this week includes Starmass Environment Technologies Corporation’s agreement with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) Water Ltd, a subsidiary of IL&FS India, to add value to their water sector services to address some of the acute and immediate concerns of the water utility industry. They will use some of the very high potential technologies available with Starmass using smart contracts and Blockchain technology for leak detection, automated meter reading, and water systems integration.
BRI’s stated goal is to build Blockchain based economies around the world and India being one of the fastest growing economies in the world is next big frontier for the technology. It is also the priority market for Canada in variety of sectors, including aerospace, clean technology, transportation and infrastructure. This is good news for Indian cryptocurrency enthusiasts because until now, Indian government have been repeatedly warning citizens about virtual currencies as ‘Ponzi Schemes’. This is a very positive step for India and in continuation from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement in the budget that the country would explore “explore use of Blockchain technology proactively”.


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The boom in e-commerce has propelled the transportation industry into rapid growth, with new technology and solutions emerging to keep pace with the demand. By tracking the latest advancements, shippers and brokers will be better positioned to adapt to the changes. Here’s what’s developing rapidly in the cargo shipping industry:
- Automation & Robotics
A tremendous amount of money and resources are being invested in automation and robotics for cargo shipping services. Automated trucks, ships, and warehouses are already being beta tested in many locations.
For example, Maxlimer, a product of SEA-KIT, is an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that’s scheduled to make a historic Atlantic crossing in 2020. Completely robotic with no human crew and using less than 5% of the fuel required to operate a standard ocean-going vessel, Maxlimer has already made short runs between Britain and Belgium, and sailed to Norway. If successful, the month-long journey would be the first cross-Atlantic trip for a USV and would lay the groundwork to expand SEA-KITs technology to develop other unmanned ships, tankers, and workboats.
Plus, versatile, increasingly intelligent robots are being introduced to handle more routine tasks in the supply chain. The Global Marine Technology Trends 2030 report predicts three new types of robots will be used in commercial shipping: a learning robot, a practical, asset-handling robot, and a mini-robot that’s built for inspections.
How the industry will handle autonomous vessels is a looming question—there are several worldwide initiatives in progress that aim to tackle the regulations, legislation, environmental concerns, and insurance requirements related to automation.
While full autonomy is likely in the distant future, partial autonomy—automated systems with robots replacing most of the human roles—is nearly here.
- Connected Vehicles & Vessels
Widespread adoption of 5G is nigh, which will completely transform how vehicles and vessels communicate. The speedier 5G network will lead to “connected” ships and trucks—with multiple applications running simultaneously and transmitting real-time, accurate information, taking freight operations to the next level. For example, operators and dispatchers will be able to access HD and 3D video from on-board video devices. This enables them to make informed decisions on how to improve logistics and protect employee welfare.
Because of 5G speeds, more and more devices throughout the supply chain will become part of the Internet of Things. Aggregating the data from all devices provides businesses with rich, layered insights into what’s happening in the field. Connected vehicles and vessels will be able to communicate with each other, their home base, and even manufacturers and warehouses.
- Advanced Sensors
Next-generation sensor technology is starting to eliminate the need for functions relating to in-person inspections and checks. For example, sensors can automatically collect data on cargo and relay it in real time, allowing for continual, remote monitoring. Sensors provide data on a container’s location, temperature, humidity, impacts, movement, vibration—and even if the container has been opened. Sensors can also send notifications when equipment needs maintenance, helping ship and fleet owners improve overall maintenance.
Some emerging sensor technology is facing controversy as it can monitor humans, such as tracking heartbeats to alert operators if a driver or crew member has fallen asleep while on duty.
Powerful technology for 2020 and beyond has arrived, launching the shippers and brokers into a new decade of innovation. The question remains how underwriters and cargo insurance policies will include or exclude coverage for shipments via automated trucks, ships, and other conveyances. Click here to read about other emerging trends in the industry.


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Analyst also predicts that Sony won't launch PS4 till 2014.
Disney and Lucasfilm have officially announced Abrams as the director of the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII."
EA Sports has announced the final eight colleges for its NCAA Football 14 Cover Vote contest.
Rewrite the NHL's opening weekend in EA Sports' NHL '13.
Ubisoft has revealed the Collector's Edition for the upcoming stealth game, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
Long time PC accessories maker, Logitech announced that it would no longer make video game console controllers.
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office fines Sony 250,000 pounds for 2011's PlayStation Network breach.
Tamriel's Mid-Second Era has all of the races and provinces that are well known to player, but tells new stories and adventures.
Is J.J. Abrams going from Starfleet Captain James T. Kirk and Mister Spock to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker?
The new challenge starts on Friday.
Here is look of who we think should be cast in a film adaption of Mass Effect 2.
Here is our list...
In a recent statement, the Germany based Koch Media has confirmed its purchase of the Saints Row and Metro intellectual properties from the now defunct THQ for the total price of $28 million.
Episode seven goes live on next week on Jan. 28.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II was one of the biggest games of last year and it was also Xbox Live's most played game of 2012.


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DID YOU KNOW?
- Women spend a little more than 70 days of their life shaving their legs.
- You see six lies per hour on the average soap opera.
- Americans spent $1.5 billion on single serve coffee pods in the past year.
- A British survey finds that people say they are most likely to cheat on their diets on Sunday nights between 7-10pm.
- According to a recent study, 2 out of 5 people have stopped talking to a friend because of an argument on Facebook or some other online entity.


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Written by Staff Writer
14 Feb, 2015 | 9:44 am
The Consumer Affairs Authority says the importation of cement from SAARC countries has resulted in the high cement prices, despite concessions granted by the interim budget.
The authority points out that the government expected the price of a bag of cement to go down by Rs. 90 with the removal of the 7.5% duty levied on the imported cement.
However, the authority says the duty was not levied on cement imported from South Asian countries.
The Consumer Affairs Authority said that it is looking into alternate means of giving the price benefit to consumers.
Attention will be focussed on reducing the price of cement, based on the price reductions of electricity and fuel.
The Consumer Affairs Authority said that it is currently holding discussions with cement companies and the treasury in this regard.
17 Feb, 2021 | 01:19 PM
28 Sep, 2020 | 06:21 PM
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On the back of customer demand, ASX-listed, Data#3 (ASX:DTL), is investing in its own Australian-based infrastructure to supply trusted Cloud services to the market.
This will be an extension to Data#3’s infrastructure design, deploy and operate offerings and includes a pay-per-use off-premises alternative as part of its overall Technology Consumption Model.
This model offers customers seven varieties in which they choose to consume technology. To help customers make the right choice, Data#3 has plumped up its strategic consulting practice to include specialised expertise in guiding customers towards the right combination suitable for them.
Data#3 Group general manager, Laurence Baynham, said customers were demanding local and secure Cloud-based solutions to meet data sovereignty requirements.
“Working closely with our customers, it became clear that the real world in which they operate requires a hybrid of service types across what we’ve defined as the Technology Consumption Model. Trusted Cloud is one of the more recent ways in which our customers are choosing to consume technology,” Baynham said.
“Data#3 made the choice to locate its infrastructure and services within Australia and we intend to continue this, with additional investment planned in the coming year.”
Data#3’s Technology Consumption Model is made up of a procurement of a software or hardware product; procurement of expertise; a solution integration product and services; contracting for an outcome over time via outsourcing; or contracting on a pay-per-use basis for private, trusted and public Cloud services.
In August Data#3 managing director, John Grant, said the company was expanding its Cloud offerings and building out new consulting offerings for customers.


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Manchester-based Milk Jnr’s & Kidworks turns the four characters it created for Morrisons last year into an exclusive set of collectable figures.
Organisers of The International Business Festival, the UK’s flagship trade and investment event, are already looking for a creative team to work on the event in Liverpool next year.
The BBC reveals further details of plans to mark Hull’s year as City of Culture, including the premiere of a musical dramatisation to accompany A Clockwork Orange.
Liverpool has appointed a senior executive at global gaming firm Electronic Arts as its new chief executive.
Joanna Natasegara, who went to Withington Girls’ School, won the oscar for best documentary short for The White Helmets, which follows the perilous work of volunteers helping the victims of Syria's civil war.
Phil Hodari, an early backer of Graphene, has been named as a key sponsor and judge of the University Entrepreneurs Challenge.
Conference and training provider Salford Professional Development recruits former BBC presenter and producer Lynne McCadden as head of its new digital and creative business unit.
Photos from Spencer Tunick’s Sea of Hull event - the largest nude installation in the UK - will form the centrepiece of an exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery in April.
The British Business Bank launches its £400m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, offering help to small and medium businesses in the North.
LOVE reveals its new packaging design for ‘Flowers by Häagen-Dazs’, a limited edition collection that will be launched globally in Spring 2017.


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AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) - Amherst Police are on the hunt for a suspect who is shown stealing a purse from a victim's shopping cart at a local grocery store.
Police say the incident happened on November 16th.
The suspect shown in these surveillance images is described as a white male wearing dark sweat pants, red sneakers, a white knit hat, and long-sleeve white shirt under a red short-sleeve shirt with a design on the front.
The suspect was seen getting into a silver or white sedan in the parking lot.
Anyone who may have information on this case is aksed to call Amherst Police at (716) 689-1340.


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Lamb prices in the UK have begun their seasonal decrease but remain higher than the same period last year and above the five-year average as fewer new season lambs are available for slaughter this year. Poor lambing conditions have been blamed for the dearth of new season stock.
Pork prices have remained relatively stable in the EU this year. Despite a fall in the number of slaughterings, which fell 1% compared with the same period last year in March to 22.4 million head, a slight increase in carcase weight meant overall production held steady at 2.1 million tonnes.
Brazilian beef prices remain lower year on year due to weak demand resulting from ongoing corruption scandals around malpractice in the country’s meat industry. With buyer confidence low, the high stocks have led to a glut in the market, weighing down domestic prices. Suppliers hope to exploit new opportunities to export chilled beef to Israel.


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This article has been translated from our Spanish version using AI technology. There may be errors in this process.
One thing is for sure: electric vehicles are gaining ground. It is even more common to see them rolling the streets of cities, and carmakers are expanding their offerings into an industry that has been dominated by fuel for more than a century. This morning Honda Motor Co. And General Motors (GM) Announced that they would form an alliance to develop a series of electric vehicles based on a shared platform that would allow them to produce millions of units by 2027.
Be able to produce the concept of two automakers 100% electrical compact crossover Ultium, using GM’s battery technology at an affordable price. In a press release, Mary Barra The CEO of GM, commented that the car manufacturers “North America, South America and China will share their best technology, design and manufacturing strategies to offer affordable and preferred electric vehicles worldwide, including key markets.” . Toshihiro Mibe The president of Honda Motor, assured that what they are looking for “To help achieve a spectacular expansion in sales of electric vehicles” .
Today GM The next chapter is announced in our collaboration with @ Honda . Continuing GM’s mission to keep everyone in an EV, we are working together to create # Electric vehicles More affordable and accessible using next generation Ultium technology as a foundation.
– Mary Barra (mtbarra) April 5, 2022
A compact crossover is a tall, compact car that looks like an SUV, although it is designed for an urban environment. According to the statement, the compact crossover segment is the largest in the world with annual sales of over 13 million units. The models that fall into this category include Hyundai Bayon, Suzuki Ignis, Fiat Panda, Ford Ecosport, and Honda HR-V.
Both companies want to acquire Carbon neutrality All their products and operations. GM has set the target for 2040 and Honda for 2050. The two companies have been actively collaborating since 2013 and in 2024 they will have Honda Prologue, an electric pickup truck and Acura’s first electric SUV, probably known as ADX.


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Relations between South Korea and China are showing some signs of improvement after the inauguration of the new government in South Korea. Under the circumstances, South Korean companies are expecting that China’s economic retaliation for the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea will be subsiding.
Lotte Mart recently reopened its website in China although the suspension of its business is still going on in the country. Orion’s manufacturing facilities in China showed some improvement in sales last month after a drastic drop in the previous month.
Korean Air is planning to prepare non-scheduled flights to China for the first week of next month, when June 6 is a holiday in South Korea, depending on the China National Tourism Administration’s move. Asiana Airlines is planning to replace small airplanes with larger ones for flights to China, too. Asiana Airlines reduced the number of seats for those visiting China in January this year in the wake of the Chinese government’s economic retaliation and travel ban.
Low-cost carriers (LCCs) are preparing more flights to and from China as well. For instance, Jin Air recently obtained 120 non-scheduled flight permits for September this year. Eastar Jet is looking to resume non-scheduled flights to and from the Cheongju International Airport, which is used by a number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea. The Chinese government’s ban on non-scheduled flights that has been effective since the first month of this year should be lifted for the South Korean LCCs to be able to actually provide the services.
South Korean duty-free shops and cosmetics shops are full of hopes, too. Lotte Duty Free is working on product packages for group tour from China, which is expected to be resumed in the near future.
Likewise, cultural content exchange between the two countries is gradually resuming. For example, the K-Pop Chart of QQ Music, which disappeared two months ago, appeared again early this month. Musical Washing, an original South Korean musical, is scheduled to be staged in China next month before My Bucket List in Shanghai and Beijing in August and Vincent van Gogh in Shanghai on September 30 to October 8.


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Opera Max made some changes a while back that we weren't super-pleased about, but now it's trying to make amends. Sort of. Opera Max is a free VPN that you're paying for by seeing ads every time you open it to re-enable the VPN. You have to do that every 12 hours, but you can leave it on all the time with the new VIP Mode. However, it shows you lock screen ads when your device is charging. Read More
Android apps have gotten more powerful and faster over the years, but there are still times when a desktop program is necessary. Usually that means you need to hop over to your (for example) Windows computer, but the ExaGear Windows Emulator can run those programs on Android. So, Android devices and select Chromebooks have access to a ton of desktop applications in theory. ExaGear is not perfect, and it'll cost you $30 to test yourself. Read More
AT&T is not usually one to leave money on the table, but in a rare showing of benevolence, it has launched a new service called Call Protect. It can be activated free on AT&T devices, allowing you to block numbers and get warnings of potential spam calls at the network level. Read More
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android games that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.
Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Facebook has made a few long-awaited additions to Messenger lately, including that new Snapchat-like camera interface. Well, there's one more big change coming in 2016—group video chat. This feature it rolling out to Android and iOS starting this very day. You'll have to forgive the iPhone screens, that's all Facebook has provided. It should look similar on Android. Read More
Google released a keyboard app for the iPhone some months back called Gboard, and everyone was wondering if it would come to Android. Well, now it has as the v6.0 update to Google Keyboard. It's not only a name change, though. There are a few important new features, including a search shortcut and true multi-language support. Read More
Users of Facebook Messenger have been seeing a new camera tool pop up in recent weeks, but it wasn't consistent or widely available. Now, Facebook is rolling this feature out to everyone in Messenger. The so-called native camera is easier to access and it has a ton of effects and filters. I'm told by some young people that it's much more like Snapchat now. Read More
Android has been around for eight years now. It's the most-used operating system on the planet, and it's helped spearhead a revolution in mobile access and capability. That being the case, it shouldn't surprise anyone if the truly mind-blowing new apps aren't exactly thick on the ground anymore. This year's crop of apps aren't especially amazing, but each one exhibits new functionality for users that wasn't accessible (or at least practical) before. All of them deserve a spot on your phone or tablet. Read More
Mint has been on Android for years, long before it was acquired by Intuit. It's always been able to track your money, but bills are a more tricky matter. The service recently added bill tracking and payment to its list of features, and now the main Android app has been updated to take advantage of it. This is separate from the bills-only app, which hasn't been updated since earlier this year. Read More
Did you know that today is the fifth anniversary of Nova Launcher? In celebration of this occasion, the v5.0 update to Nova Launcher is being released in the Play Store. This update has been in beta testing for a while, but now everyone can get it without joining the beta. Read More


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In 2013, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker frontman David Lowery released a list of the top 50 lyric Web sites he believed weren’t paying songwriters to display the words to their songs. Through a process of systematic web searching, the underground rock pioneer turned musicians’ advocate ranked what he found to be the worst offenders.
The National Music Publishers Association quickly seized upon the list, sending take-down notices to all 50 sites. The strategy proved successful, and the threat of litigation along with the blitz of bad publicity that ensued convinced many of the most popular sites to pursue licensing agreements with publishers.
While many in the music industry might have assumed there wasn’t much money at stake, Lowery suspected otherwise.
People Google song lyrics over 5 million times every day, according to digital lyric licenser LyricFind. That’s not an insignificant amount of Web traffic, and if many of the ad-supported sites people are visiting are unlicensed, songwriters are missing out on meaningful royalties from the use of their copyrighted work.
“The idea for me was to kind of clean up the market,” says Lowery, adding that “Lyrics are a popular thing to search for, and you’ve got to wonder if there’s more money out there.”
Song lyrics are a shorthand for how people express their feelings and emotions. Nowhere is this more apparent now that Bob Dylan — a songwriter no less — is the newest Nobel Laureate in literature.
“Lyrics have become the voice of the culture,” says Bonnie Hayes, songwriter and chair of the songwriting department at the Berklee School of Music. Hayes, who wrote chart-topping hits “Have a Heart” and “Love Letter” for Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning album “Nick of Time,” sees song lyrics as more than just entertainment.
“Lyrics allow there to be a conversation about things that certain people don’t want discussed,” says Hayes. “You look at social justice issues, or race and gender, and this is the main place where that conversation is being had.”
It’s no wonder then that the world’s largest technology companies are looking to cash in by licensing lyrics online.
In the past few months, Apple, Google, Amazon and Spotify have all added or expanded licensed lyrics into their various platforms. Unlike the rise of streaming, which has effectively gutted musicians’ royalties earned from recordings, this recent explosion of song lyrics online stands to give songwriters an entirely new way to benefit from their work.
“This is a space where the internet actually created a new revenue source for musicians instead of whittling away at our old ones,” says Lowery.
Lowery formed Camper Van Beethoven — an offbeat, proto-alt rock outfit known for mixing eclectic folk influences with a punk rock attitude — while attending UC Santa Cruz where he studied math and computer science. He took a job as a computer programmer upon graduation, and after the band became something of a cult hit in the late ’80s, parlayed his success as a musician into advising high tech derivatives traders as well as startup companies like instrument retailer Reverb.com. In 2011, he took a position as a music business professor at the University of Georgia where he conducted his lyrics study.
Since giving a scathing presentation on how he believed tech companies were exploiting musicians’ work at the SF Tech Summit in 2012, Lowery has become one of the most outspoken critics (and sometimes litigants) of online music services like Spotify and YouTube, prompting the New York Times to write that he “has come to represent the anger of musicians in the digital age.”
“I went from having a digital utopian view of the internet, to switching completely to where I thought, ‘Oh no, we’re dominated by these monopolistic digital companies and we’re getting screwed again,’” says Lowery.
Despite being a perpetual thorn in the side of Silicon Valley, Lowery believes that lyric licensing is one instance where technology is actually helping musicians. He estimates that, currently, only about 2-5% of his publishing royalties come from lyrics, but says it’s money rightfully earned from his copyrighted work and is hopeful songwriters will see an increase in payouts the future.
Digital lyric licenser LyricFind is one of the companies making this new revenue source possible. Founded by CEO Darryl Ballantyne in 2004, LyricFind brokers deals with over 4000 publishing companies and then licenses the rights to display its lyric database on services like Pandora, Amazon, Deezer and Shazaam. Payouts are made based on a revenue sharing system, in which rights holders are paid in proportion to the number of views their lyrics receive.
The company made news earlier this year when it announced a partnership with Google to show lyrics directly on its search results page.
“Ideally [the partnership] means more and more lyric usage is legitimized, which is the same for every deal that we do, although obviously Google has a very large reach, says Ballantyne. “The more people that are seeing licensed content, the more that publishers and writers are getting paid.”
Ballantyne says Google’s new feature will generate millions of dollars in total annual revenue for songwriters.
“If you move from a spammy space where ad supported revenue is really low, to search, where there’s an ad share on search results, that’s totally different,” says Lowery. “It’s a pretty healthy advertising economy.”
Apple is also making a major play to use lyrics by incorporating them into its streaming service Apple Music.
“Now that Apple has implemented it, everybody needs to keep pace if they haven’t already,” says Ballantyne. “It’s become table stakes in a streaming service.”
Ballantyne says LyricFind works with Apple, but declined to comment on whether or not LyricFind was involved with the new rollout.
Genius (formerly Rap Genius), a popular app and site that lets people annotate song lyrics, aims to move beyond just search or streaming and make lyrics social. The New York startup, which is now fully licensed, recently reached an agreement with Apple for users to send customized, Tumblr-inspired lyric messages in Apple’s iMessage app on iOS 10.
“We’re letting people speak to each other through lyrics,” says Ben Gross, Director of Business Development at Genius. “Lyrics are super meaningful to people, and until Genius came along I think they were treated pretty poorly.”
Looking forward, the future of digital song lyrics may lie with Silicon Valley’s favorite buzz-phrase—artificial intelligence.
Massimo Ciociola, CEO and founder of community-minded lyric site Musixmatch, envisions using artificial intelligence to create new kinds of lyric-inspired products. Ciociola says the startup’s mobile app has been downloaded over 60 million times since it debuted in 2010, and hopes to use AI to analyze this expansive database and build features like a music recommendation tool to pick songs and ultimately market ads to users based on the lyrics they view.
“If you use machine learning and AI for any Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber song, you can get tons of data,” says Ciociola. “You immediately realize who the target is and who the people are listening to these tracks.”
Musixmatch isn’t the only company thinking along these lines. Google, for one, has been vocal about its ambition to create an “AI-first world,” where our devices will predict how to best assist us in nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives. The catch is that the company needs to collect enormous amounts of consumer data to make this dream a reality, and it’s not hard to imagine Google using lyrics as another dataset to expand its reach, possibly at artists’ expense.
“Do we end up in a situation where Google is the only place for lyrics, where basically Google sets the price? That’s the negative side,” says Lowery. Despite these concerns, he remains cautiously optimistic. “In general, it’s actually a net positive for us to restructure the lyric licensing model where people are looking in a paid app like Spotify or Apple Music or in Google search.”
While no details about the royalty payouts of these agreements have been made public, the fact that licensed lyrics are available across digital platforms should be encouraging to songwriters. The internet hasn’t exactly been kind to musicians since the dawn of Napster of 1999, but the lyric licensing model serves as a hopeful example that new sources of revenue are actually possible online.


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Will your organisation be affected by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation?
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is due to begin in May 2018
In 2018, the Australian and global privacy and data landscape is shifting significantly, with the introduction of both:
- mandatory data breach notification (MDBN) under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth); and
- the new European Union privacy regime, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Organisations should by now have taken steps to prepare for MDBN, which became law on 22 February. But many Australian organisations are not yet so familiar with the GDPR, which will come into effect on 25 May 2018.
The GDPR does not only apply to organisations based in the EU – instead, many Australian organisations will be caught by the GDPR. The GDPR will apply to organisations if they process the personal data of people in the EU and do any of the following:
- offer goods or services to people in the EU – for example, on a website or in marketing material that is in a European currency or language;
- monitor the behaviour of people in the EU – for example, by using cookies or other data processing or techniques which track individuals online; or
- have an office in the EU.
Where the GDPR applies, it is very demanding and the potential fines for non-compliance are eye-watering – up to €20 million or four percent of annual global turnover (whichever is higher).
This is an optimal time for organisations to:
- consider whether they fall within the ambit of the GDPR;
- map their data flows and understand the privacy implications; and
- review and, if necessary, amend their practices, policies and contracts to ensure that they are GDPR-compliant.
Maddocks offers a ‘privacy by design’ approach to proactively ensure whole organisations are privacy compliant. We believe that organisations who are robustly prepared can adjust to the new privacy and data landscape with confidence. For more information about the new privacy laws and practical ways to prepare for them, you can access our framework for preparing for the new mandatory data breach laws and our GDPR survival guide, both of which are co-authored with data security experts Commvault.
ACCC updates advertising and selling guide
By Laura Cantillon
The ACCC has updated its guidance to Australian businesses on what is required to ensure compliance with the ACL
Managing climate change-related risks in the financial system
By Patrick Ibbotson & Jessica Dorricott
Risks posed by climate change to the stability of the US financial system.
Franchisors, it’s time to update your disclosure documents
Key considerations when updating the franchising disclosure documents as per the Franchising Code of Conduct (Code).
GDPR decision slaps down Privacy Shield and imposes strict conditions on Standard Contractual Clauses – implications for Australian organisations
Impacts for Australian entities who are either directly subject to the GDPR or receiving personal data from the EEA.


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Visit of the students of the University of Technology Budapest
As every spring, the students of the Technical University of Budapest, Faculty of Traffic Engineering, Logistics and Forwarding paid a visit to the shunting yard and container terminal of GYSEV CARGO Zrt in 2018, too. The aim of the field trip was to get an insight into the everyday practice of logistics and freight transport.
As usual, Ms. Grubits, Head of the Commercial Center and Mr. Dergez Head of the Logistics Warehouse held presentations to the students and escorted them amongst others to the traffic control center or to the control tower, where they gained insights into the everyday life of rail freight transport.
We look forward to seeing interested students next year, too!


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First we could print on paper, next came 3D-printed plastics, then food, a flute, and even a car!
Google co-founder Larry Page will take over as Google CEO in April from Eric Schmidt, who will remain with the company as executive chairman.
HTC, the maker of several popular Android smartphones, plans to launch three Android-powered tablets, with the first of the lot arriving as early as March, according to a DigiTimes report. The first tablet from the Taiwan-based manufacturer would be ...
Your dream of holding an iPad 2 steady in front of your face so you can snap a photo of your friends and family is about to be realized -- new visual evidence confirms that the device will have at least one camera.
British businesses are lagging behind many of their global competitors when it comes to disaster recovery in the clouds, according to research from Acronis. And even the companies who are diligent about backing up are failing to treat virtual servers...
Virus writers finally paid some attention to Apple Macs in 2010, with several new types of malware appearing to puncture the myth of the platform's security invulnerability, security company Intego has reported in its annual review.
As Android phones become more powerful and more useful, they also store more of your important personal data. Losing that data can be more than a minor inconvenience, and given the fragility of electronic devices, it's something that's likely to happ...
CES might be over, but the 4G phones keep trickling in. As a part of its aggressive 4G plans, T-Mobile announced that the Samsung Galaxy 4G will launch in the first half of 2011. But will it have the specs of the hot next-gen Galaxy phones? It doesn'...
It's a new dawn, people! As of today, you can walk into just about any Starbucks store and pay for your latte using nothing other than a (free) iPhone app, coupled to an existing Starbucks card account. That's right -- the day of mobile electronic pa...
It's a truth universally acknowledged that public Wi-Fi hotspots aren't secure, but they're so convenient that most of us use them anyway. That's why there was something of a panic last year when Eric Butler showed everyone how easy it is to hijack F...
T-Mobile USA will soon launch 4G HSPA+ versions of the Samsung Galaxy S and T-Mobile Sidekick phones, T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm announced early Thursday.
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As Bitcoin enters its second decade, it is opportune to reflect on its transformation from a monetary thought experiment, the first recorded transactional use being to buy pizza, into a fully-fledged financial ecosystem that has garnered significant interest, both from retail and institutional investors.
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In a canonical July 2010 Bitcointalk.org forum post by Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator, they said “Sorry for being a wet blanket. Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There’s nothing to relate it to.” Because Bitcoin is so hard to describe, define or contextualise, people can barely agree on what Bitcoin is, let alone how to value it.
The unprecedented influx of demand for digital-asset investments has exposed limitations in Australia’s existing regulatory framework. As ASIC, AUSTRAC and the ATO work to implement an appropriate regulatory framework for these new assets, rapid investment continues into a space which is absent of significant regulatory oversight.


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After trailing 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons late in the third quarter, the New England Patriots bounced back to win Super Bowl LI in overtime and claim their fifth championship title. Quarterback Tom Brady led the way for the Patriots in his trademark Under Armour cleats.
Brady went 43-for-62 and set a Super Bowl record with 466 passing yards, surpassing former NFL great Kurt Warner’s record of 414 yards. Brady also passed for two touchdowns and powered the Patriots to a Super Bowl record 25-point comeback.
The Patriots’ rally began late in the third quarter, when Brady connected with running back James White for a 5-yard touchdown that swung momentum in New England’s direction. The Falcons went scoreless in the fourth as the Patriots’ comeback continued, sending the game into overtime — yet another first for the Super Bowl.
In addition to Brady’s phenomenal showing, LeGarrette Blount led the Patriots in rushing with 31 yards, while White led all receivers with 110 yards and 14 receptions.
Although Brady’s exclusive Under Armour cleats are not for sale, Nike released a New England Patriots championship collection featuring apparel and footwear that you can shop here.


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- Consumer rights around digital identity to be strengthened to enable wider use across the country
- Reports show the digital identity market could add 3 per cent to UK GDP by 2030.
Leaders in the tech, business and civil society sectors have welcomed the government’s plans to enable the use of digital identity across the UK, with plans to update existing laws and a new set of guiding principles for policy development.
The proposals come after it was revealed 2.6 million people made a claim for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme online since its launch on 13 May 2020, with 1.4 million having no prior digital identity credentials and needing to pass through HMRC’s identity verification service.
Increasingly people are required to prove their identity to access services, whether it is to buy age-restricted items on and offline or make it easier to register at a new GP surgery.
Now, following a call for evidence published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport alongside the Cabinet Office, the government plans to update existing laws on identity checking to enable digital identity to be used as widely as possible.
It will consult on developing legislation for consumer protection relating to digital identity, specific rights for individuals, an ability to seek redress if something goes wrong, and set out where the responsibility for oversight should lie. It will also consult on the appropriate privacy and technical standards for administering and processing secure digital identities.
Figures from 2019 show a 32 per cent rise in identity fraud over five years, with 223,163 cases recorded in that year alone - up 18 per cent on the previous year.
A new government Digital Identity Strategy Board has also developed six principles to strengthen digital identity delivery and policy in the UK.
Digital Infrastructure Minister Matt Warman said:
Digital technology is helping us through the pandemic and continues to improve the way we live, work and access vital services.
We want to make it easier for people to prove their identity securely online so transactions can become even quicker - it has the potential to add billions to our economy.
Today I’ve set out further detail on our proposals and I look forward to working with partners in the private sector to unlock the UK’s digital identity economy.
Cabinet Office Minister, Julia Lopez, said:
It is clear that there is a need and an expectation for the government to make it easier for people to use digital identities quickly, safely and securely and we are committed to enabling this.
We want to ensure there is transparency for people when they create and use digital identities so that they are always in control of who has access to their data and for what purpose.
We have already started to explore how we can work across government to achieve our ambitions and through the Document Checking Service pilot, how we can also work with the private sector to harness the value to our users across the UK’s digital economy, and I am committed to continuing this drive going forward.
Hannah Gurga, Managing Director of Digital Technology & Cyber at UK Finance, said:
Removing the barriers to creating secure digital identities, combined with the necessary safeguards, will make it easier for people to use online services while at the same time helping to prevent criminal activity such as money laundering and terrorism. Developing a legal framework for digital identity is therefore an important next step and we look forward to working with the Government as it develops its proposals.
Felicity Burch, Director of Innovation, CBI, said:
This publication is an important step towards creating a robust digital identity system in the UK. A framework based on privacy, transparency and interoperability will bring many benefits to individuals and firms, providing greater access to online services and increasing productivity.
The CBI supports the government’s ambitions to create a digital ID framework that can help protect consumers and unlock economic growth, and looks forward to collaborating with DCMS and the Cabinet Office to make this a reality.
The six principles are:
1) Privacy - When personal data is accessed people will have confidence that there are measures in place to ensure their confidentiality and privacy; for instance, a supermarket checking a shopper’s age, a lawyer overseeing the sale of a house or someone applying to take out a loan.
2) Transparency - When an individual’s identity data is accessed when using digital identity products they must be able to understand by who, why and when; for example, being able to see how your bank uses your data through digital identity solutions.
3) Inclusivity - People who want or need a digital identity should be able to obtain one; for example, not having documentation such as a passport or driving licence should not be a barrier to not having a digital identity.
4) Interoperability - Setting technical and operating standards for use across the UK’s economy to enable international and domestic interoperability.
5) Proportionality - User needs and other considerations such as privacy and security will be balanced so digital identity can be used with confidence across the economy.
6) Good governance - Digital identity standards will be linked to government policy and law. Any future regulation will be clear, coherent and align with the government’s wider strategic approach to digital regulation. For example, firms verifying your identity will need to comply with laws around how they access and store data.
The government is also exploring how secure checks could be made against government data. This month the Document Checking Service Pilot scheme launched by the Government to give people easier and safer access to digital services which require identity checks, such as online mortgage applications, financial services and recruitment onboarding.
The new service will also help organisations tackle fraud and test if there is a market for this type of digital identity checking service.
The pilot, which will run for approximately a year, will deliver significant time savings for people who previously went through in-person processes to verify their identities. It will also provide financial savings for organisations who can move their identity proofing processes online.
Notes to editors
The Government response can be found here
Document Checking Service Pilot
The Government Digital Service built the Document Checking Service to allow Identity Providers for GOV.UK Verify to check that passport and driving licence records are valid when verifying a user’s identity.
In this pilot, up to eleven private sector organisations will be allowed to verify the validity of passport data only.
No organisation will be given access to government-held data – participating organisations will simply receive a yes, no or error message as to whether the document was validly issued, and no personal data not already provided by the individual would be used or shared.
The Government Digital Service are in discussion with the selected organisations and finalising agreements before the onboarding process can commence.
Sedicii Innovations and Agenda Resource Management are confirmed pilot participants who will use the checks as part of financial services onboarding .
The full list of pilot participants will be available in due course.


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August 24, 2016
This week, a new technology startup promising a better online fraud prevention solution came out of beta. New York City-based NoFraud leverages a proprietary algorithm that synthesizes data from various sources including the device, the transaction, the user’s social media accounts, global black lists, bank information, CVC/CVV information, merchant-specific information and more.
The company was founded by online merchants from the jewelry and electronics verticals. Shaya Posner, a former executive for online electronics retailer A4C, and Isaac Gurary, founder and president of Maiden Lane Jewelry, founded NoFraud in 2014 when they were battling fraud in their businesses and were unsatisfied with existing solutions.
The startup claims its solution will reduce fraudulent transactions to 0.01 percent and false positives to 0.2 percent. If a transaction is still questionable after applying the algorithm, the company said it will personally contact the legitimate cardholder to verify the purchase.


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Ahead of its edition planned for January 31-February 3, ISM highlights a rise in the demand for organically cultivated food, which rose significantly stronger during the first three months of the COVID-19 crisis than the turnover of the food trade as a whole. But also, regardless of the pandemic, the organic market continues to grow, Koelnmesse highlighted, based on market data. While the organic segment has been booming for years and has slowly become mainstream, research from the Association for Consumer Research (GfK) shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is also contributing towards the further growth of this segment.
According to the Research Institute for Organic Farming (FiBL) and the Agricultural Market Information Association (AMI), the expenditure of private households on organic products has more than doubled since 2010. In 2018, organic foodstuffs valued at EUR40.7bn were sold throughout Europe, EUR37.4bn of which in the European Union.
Particularly the organic snacks segment is experiencing enormous growth, because the consumers are attempting to reconcile their work-intensive lives with staying healthy. Snacks play a decisive role here, because snacks can provide useful nutrients when there is no time for a proper meal. According to a report from the Global Organic Snacks Market, which was published by KBV Research, the global organic snack market is expected to turn over USD23.7bn by 2025, which corresponds to a market growth of 14.09% CAGR during the forecast period.
These market developments will also be reflected at ISM. Whereas in 2017, only 282 exhibitors with organic products were represented at the global trade fair, in 2018 the share of organic exhibitors was already around 25% higher, with 362 exhibitors. At the 50th edition of ISM in 2020, 425 companies presented numerous organic products. This corresponds to a growth of around 34% for the period between 2017 and 2020. 175 exhibitors, who will be presenting their organic products at the trade fair, have already registered for ISM 2021. Based on previous experiences, this figure will more than double over the coming months.
The offer ranges from organic chocolate and sweet organic sandwich spreads such as nut nougat creams or jam, to cakes and biscuits, ice cream through to organic snack items such as vegetable chips, energy bars or dried fruit. In addition to companies with many years of expertise in the organic segment, many young companies have expanded their line-ups to include organic items.


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DANVILLE — When Amy and Troy Wasson decided to name their new store The Local Farmhouse, they wanted it to emphasis the “shop local, support local entrepreneurs” aspect of their business.
The Danville couple also hopes the addition of their home décor shop at 55 N. Vermilion St. will help to reinvigorate Downtown Danville.
Although the couple is still putting the finishing touches on the shop and wasn’t quite ready to open the store in time for today’s nationwide Shop Local/Small Business Saturday initiative, a soft opening is planned for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11. A grand opening will take place in March.
“We’re going to have a soft opening and see what people gravitate to,” Amy said. “I’ll see what they really enjoy. If something doesn’t do well, I’ll phase it out and bring in what they want.”
Those who attend Danville’s Night of Lights Parade at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 3, will get a sneak peek of the store and be able to do some light window shopping.
“We will take down the paper and light our window displays and take the plastic off the sign overhead on the third,” Troy said.
The shop is chockfull of home décor, custom candles, boutique clothing, accessories and jewelry.
“I wanted to reach out to all ages of women,” Amy said of her merchandise selection. “We hit all price ranges, so a little girl can buy a gift for her daddy for $3 or $4, or a guy can come in here and find something to buy for his girlfriend.
“There’s nothing in here I wouldn’t put in my own home,” she added. “I wanted to stay local, but I tried to give it a boho edge.”
To help emphasize that “local” flavor, the shop will carry several products made by a handful of local women entrepreneurs, such as bracelets, lip gloss, signs, macramé ornaments and custom candles.
“I tried to stick with female-run businesses because this is how I started,” Amy said. “I started making signs out of my home.”
It was her sign-making business that inspired her to open a home décor store. Amy said she first looked at possible locations in St. Joseph before settling on Downtown Danville.
“I want to complement the other places we already have downtown,” she said.
The search was on for a suitable downtown location when Troy noticed the empty storefront at 55 N. Vermilion St., where Mag’s Men’s Wear had been located for more than 30 years until it closed in 2013. More recently, the building had been purchased by someone who wanted to open a barber shop there.
“I started looking at buildings, but they wanted a two- or three-year lease,” Troy said. “I was driving on North Vermilion when I saw this storefront, and I got on Facebook to ask who owned the Bearded Barber Shop.”
After getting in contact with the building’s owner, he agreed to open it up and show Troy around.
“I knew the minute I walked through the door that I wanted this building,” Troy said. “It was February 7 when I looked at it, and we bought it in March.”
The building was far from move-in ready, but Troy, who has renovated spaces including the couple’s own home, was up for the challenge.
“It took several weeks of cleaning out before we could start renovations,” he said. “The roof was caved-in in the back, and we had leaks in the back and leaks in the front.”
Amy added, “We had no heating, no air conditioning, and water had been getting in for years.”
The previous owner, however, had started chipping away at a concrete floor that revealed hardwood floors underneath that are more than 100 years old, she said.
Not only is the old wooden floor on full display inside the shop, but so is the original tin ceiling. The store’s large, white chippy paint counter with multiple drawers was one of the couple’s finds this summer at a vintage market in Rockford.
“There’s nothing like renovating an old building and bringing it back to life,” Amy said. “I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible. It took a lot of love.”
Troy said the City of Danville helped make their decision to invest in downtown a little easier.
“It’s a little scary opening a business during COVID,” he admitted, joking, “We were like, ‘Let’s buy a building and invest everything we have in it.’”
But the couple was able to secure some grants from the city and was encouraged by the city’s administration.
“We did get help through the City of Danville, which helped a lot when we were trying to put in electricity,” Troy said.
“Without that, I don’t know if we would have been able to renovate it the way she wanted it done,” he said. “When you walk in the shop, you want it to be different than any other.”
The couple is looking forward to the community’s reaction at the Dec. 11 soft opening. The event will be a family affair with Amy’s mother and sister helping out and her dad greeting customers at the door, possibly wearing a Grinch outfit.
“My mom has helped me price every single thing in here,” she said.
The couple believes that Downtown Danville is on the verge of becoming something great once again.
“We’re fortunate and blessed to have done this,” Troy said. “We’re so fortunate to have bought this building.”
Amy agreed. “Downtown Danville is coming back to life, and we want to bring the heartbeat back.
“It makes being a part of this exciting.”


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Succeeding its predecessor, the AMS2 will run 10 times faster, reduce referral rates, and process smaller sizes and all shapes of polished diamonds.
“The AMS2 is the most technologically advanced, efficient and cost-effective melee diamond verification instrument available. Its industry leading low referral rate has significant economic benefits to users, greatly reducing the need for additional and costly secondary testing,” says IIDGR president, Jonathan Kendall. “Confidence is everything in the diamond sector and the AMS2 will play a big part in maintaining trust in trade transactions.”
The AMS2 will be available for purchase June 2017 for $45,000 U.S.


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The US brand, a gold standard in international relations since World War II, is in peril, as governments and populations around the world have diminishing trust in the American political system. With continued political polarization and turbulence, the brand is in need of repair. The Biden Administration has pledged to rebuild America’s bonds with the international community – even stronger than before. But is it enough?
During this session, we will hear from Allyson Stewart-Allen, an international business advisor and the Founder & CEO of International Marketing Partners. Stewart-Allen will address what builds and erodes trust in a country’s brand, and how US company executives can and do function as Corporate Diplomats or “Brand Ambassadors” for the country. She will also suggest ways to best integrate US corporate brands within Nordic business culture.


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Startups are part of the American Dream, and small businesses play a key role in economic growth. Between 2009 and 2013, 60% of the jobs created were from small businesses.
Todd Massedge, Founder of the Invest Like The Street program that helps students and adults break into their dream careers by becoming better investors joins Enterprise Radio to discuss how you can become an investment banker or start investing like a hedge fund manager with NO experience.
Starting up a new company is an exciting time, and for entrepreneurs some say that there has never been a better time to get their ideas out there, and start creating opportunities for themselves and others. In fact, there are over 27 million self-employed entrepreneurs in the US, and the trend is growing. But it’s not as easy as simply having a good […]
Hugh Massie, CEO and founder of DNA Behavior that uses behavioral analytics to know, engage and grow every employee and client using all dimensions of a person’s personality traits joins Enterprise Radio.