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ARTIST Barney Smith may soon be feeling flush because he has put his decorated toilet seat collection up for sale.
Barney, 96, has more than 1,300 toilet seats he has decorated and displays in a gallery in San Antonio, Texas.
Experts say they may be worth tens of thousands. Barney said: “I was a plumber so found seats easy to come by.”
He is looking to sell up and experts predict that while not priceless, the collection could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Barney explained:"I used my first toilet seat when I needed a wooden shield to put little deer horns on and picked up a toilet seat - and that was the beginning of the collection. Now I have putting other material I collected onto toilet seats for the last 70 years.
"I was a plumber at the time I got started and my plumber friends would round up seats for me. I once got 50 toilet seats from a plumbing supply. They were brand new but damaged in shipment.
"They said they were putting them in the dumpster, so I said I would like them. Now it's become a public museum."
Barney didn't open his collection to the public until 1992, and now only opens up the doors - and lids - by appointment.
But some of America's biggest manufacturers of toilets and bathrooms are expected to try and lift the lid on his astonishing gallery - and increase Barney's bottom line by a large sum of money.


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Virgil Abloh’s “The Ten” collaboration with Nike originally released in late 2017 and encompassed ten pairs of iconic Nike silhouettes. That collection has since grown to almost thirty, as the OFF-WHITE founder has reissued the sneakers in new colorways in 2018.
Now Abloh has seemingly confirmed on his Instagram story that “The Ten” is coming to an end. In the post, a screenshot of which you can check out below, Abloh wrote “small fact: personally I’m visually obsessed with the combination of black sneaker / white swoosh white laces. Hence every edition of the last ever “10” came as such.”
While Abloh is confirming the end of “The Ten,” his post doesn’t necessarily mean that his work with Nike will stop completely. The pair can still go on to collaboration on different collections that aren’t “The Ten.”.
The message is still rather cryptic though, so stay tuned for further updates and official news as we get it.
Next, read more about Cardi B’s decision to pass on performing during the Super Bowl halftime show here.

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Out of an abundance of caution this year’s Senior Fair will be a drive through event. The Senior Fair, which is free to attend, will feature more than 50 exhibitors and vendors offering health tips, wellness information, health insurance, nutrition information and more, including a number of giveaways.
“We are excited to be bringing the Senior Fair back again,” said OCO Coordinator of Community Health and Caring Community Advocates Member Leanna Cleveland. “Thanks to our sponsors, the many exhibitors and vendors, and the Oswego Speedway, we are once again able to offer our older residents the opportunity to gather information on vital programs and services specifically for them.”
In addition to the exhibitors and vendors the CNY Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry will be on hand to distribute boxes of food to anyone wishing to receive one. The boxes, which include fresh produce, refrigerator items, and shelf stable goods, will be available on a first come first served basis while supplies last. The boxes will be loaded into the vehicles as guests exit the fair.
Those wishing to attend the drive though Senior Fair will enter through the back of the Oswego Speedway using the Skyline Drive entrance. There will be volunteers directing traffic.
Operating under the auspices of OCO’s Rural Health Network, Caring Community Advocates works to meet the needs of Oswego County’s senior population as well as their caregivers. For more information on the Oswego County Senior Fair contact Leanna Cleveland at 315 592-0827, via email at [email protected], or visit oco.com.


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December food prices up 4% month-on-month
Category : Archived News
The price of the PACSA food basket increased by R66.08 (4.01%) month-on-month – from R1 648.10 in November 2015 to R1 714.18 in December 2015. The 4.01% month-on-month increase is considerable. The year-on-year price increase on the PACSA food basket from December 2014 to December 2015 is 8.24%.
Read more here


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Apple's TV app gets live and on-demand shows with PS Vue integration
You’ll be able to watch Vue though the TV app on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad.
PlayStation Vue adds 200 more local broadcasters in time for fall TV
Local ABC, Fox and NBC stations across the country are among the new additions.
PlayStation Vue prices are going up $5 per month
The change goes into effect July 24th.
How to watch the World Cup 2018
Here are all the ways you can keep up with the games from Russia.
PlayStation Vue adds select live Fox primetime shows
Subscribers can still access this content on demand.
PS4's revamped video section focuses on shows over apps
You can even see your YouTube recommendations on the home screen.
You can now sign up for PlayStation Vue without a TV
You can also now watch regional sports when you're out of town.
Hulu dives into eSports with four ESL-made shows
They’re the streaming service’s first eSports offerings.
PlayStation boss Andrew House will leave Sony at the end of 2017
Sony Interactive Entertainment deputy president John Kodera has taken over.


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Nigeria: Customs Suspends Rice Distribution After Fatal Stampede
By Ahmad Hadizat Omayoza, Mamos Nigeria
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has halted its food disposal initiative after a tragic stampede on February 23 claimed the lives of seven individuals during the distribution of 25kg bags of rice at its Zonal Headquarters in Yaba, Lagos State.
The announcement of the suspension was made in a statement by Mr. Abdullahi Maiwada, the National Public Relations Officer of the NCS, on Monday. Maiwada emphasized that the suspension was a necessary measure to ensure the safety of Nigerians and to allow the service to thoughtfully plan its next steps without compromising the vision of the initiative.
The NCS had initially announced on February 20 that it would facilitate the direct disposal of food items that had been forfeited to the Federal Government. This initiative was aimed at addressing the challenges of food security in Nigeria and the rising costs of essential food items, with a particular focus on improving the lives of the indigent population.
The distribution of 25kg bags of rice began on February 23 at a discounted price of N10,000 in Lagos. The NCS had assured that the exercise would be managed to ensure that the benefits reached those who were most in need.
However, unforeseen challenges arose during the pilot distribution when the bags of rice went out of stock. This led to heightened desperation among the crowd, who charged through barricades in search of rice bags inside emptied containers. The resulting stampede led to fatalities and injuries, prompting the NCS to suspend the exercise until a thorough investigation could be conducted.
The NCS has initiated an internal investigation to understand the circumstances surrounding the tragic event. The service expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased and assured them of its unwavering support.
In response to critics who questioned the selling of rice at a discounted price rather than distributing it for free, the NCS spokesperson clarified that the items had monetary value and were sold to generate revenue for the government. The spokesperson also noted that the price of the rice had been discounted to enable indigent individuals to afford it.
The decision to suspend the distribution of rice underscores the importance of ensuring the safety and well-being of citizens in all government initiatives. It also highlights the need for thorough planning and management to prevent such tragic incidents in the future.


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Suppose a Chinese electric carmaker wants to win market share by selling cars with the best cutting-edge battery technology. How does it get that technology? It can hire some engineers, build a lab and try to develop it inhouse. It Continue reading →
Former Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick, who has long boasted that he’s never sold any shares in the company he co-founded, plans to sell about 29 percent of his stake in the ride-hailing company, people with knowledge Continue reading →
Saudi Arabia is stepping up plans to turn its sovereign wealth fund into a global giant. This week, it’s holding a coming-out party of sorts for the Public Investment Fund, which is central to the government’s effort to diversify the economy away from oil, under Continue reading →
Former Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick named two new directors without consulting the company’s new leader or other existing board members, ratcheting up a Machiavellian battle for control of the world’s most valuable startup.


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Xiaomi launched its first dual-camera phone Redmi Note 5 Pro in India last year running MIUI 9.2 on top of Android 7.1 (Nougat) and later updated it to MIUI 9.5 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo) back in June 2018. MIUI 9.5 also brought some new features such as full-screen gesture support, Dual 4G VoLTE and more to Redmi Note 5 Pro. Later in September 2018, the company rolled out MIUI 10 update for the smartphone, followed by Android 9.0 (Pie) based MIUI 10 Global Beta update in March 2019.
As per posts on Mi Community, Xiaomi has started rolling out Android 9.0 (Pie) based MIUI Global Stable ROM to Redmi Note 5 Pro users in India. The new update comes as MIUI 10.3.1.0.PEIMIXM and weighs around 1.6 GB in size, and brings Android 9.0 (Pie) along with May security patch to the device. The update also brings system-wide dark mode and new charging animation to Redmi Note 5 Pro. The company had recently rolled out MIUI Global Stable 10.3.1.0 update with face unlock support for app lock. The update is being rolled out in phases and it may take some time before it appears on your device, in case you’re impatient, you can download the recovery ROM from here and flash it using the recovery method.
Xiaomi has already rolled out Android 9.0 (Pie) based MIUI Global Stable ROM to Redmi Note 6 Pro and Redmi 6 Pro. The company has also announced that Redmi Y2 will get Android Pie based MIUI Global Stable update around June. Xiaomi has already kicked off MIUI 11 development and company CEO has already confirmed that MIUI 11 will get rid of ads that affect user experience. Check out the changelog below,
Android 9.0 update.


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NEW YORK, November 4, 2016: US tech giant Microsoft has ended sale for both the Windows 7 and Windows 8 operating systems and these can no longer be bought with a new PC.
“End of sales refers to the date when a particular version of Windows is no longer shipped to retailers or Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs),” Forbes.com reported on Thursday.
NewsGram brings to you current foreign news from all over the world.
Examples of OEMs include Dell and Toshiba, PC manufacturers who often pre-install Windows software.
While Windows 7, launched in 2009, was on sale for seven years, Windows 8/8.1 was on sale for just four years.
NewsGram brings to you top news around the world today.
Despite ongoing updates support for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 until January 2020 and 2023, the end of sales is likely to give the flatlining Windows 10 a boost, the report said.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would roll out two major updates for Windows 10 next year.
According to Windows Central, while the first major update for 2017 — codenamed Redstone 2 — would release in the early part of 2017, the second one — codenamed Redstone 3 — might be released in 2017 summer. (IANS)
Mega cyber attacks such as “WannaCrypt” and “Petya” this year forced governments and enterprises globally, including in India, to focus and invest more in bolstering their security networks. In the first major attack of the year, the world reeled under “WannaCrypt” that locked files on computers. Hundreds of thousands of computers were infected with the malware in May. The primary reason for this attack being successful was not the software but human error.
On March 14 this year, Microsoft released a security update which addressed the vulnerability in the 16-year-old Windows XP operating system. Once the patch for the vulnerability was released, hacker group “Shadow Brokers” exploited this loophole and wreaked havoc in 150 countries. Those who installed the update were saved, while several who did not, fell prey to the attack.
Soon after the “WanaCrypt” attack, tens of thousands of computers globally were affected by the “Adylkuzz attack” that shut down SMB networking to prevent further infections with other malware (including the WannaCrypt worm). While Europe and major parts of the world struggled with another big ransomware attack called “Petya”, India also bore the brunt. Some Indian servers were down owing to the Petya attack.
The Shipping Ministry said operations at one of the container terminals at Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) was affected by Petya. Companies like Genesis BM, a public relations firm, had to shut down systems in India after their international servers were attacked. The month of May saw another cyber attack when a malware called “Judy” hit over 36.5 million Android-based phones, making its way through Google Play Store.
In August, the “Locky” ransomware, once considered almost defunct, sent over 23 million emails with the malware to the US workforce in just 24 hours. It scrambled the contents of millions of computers and demanded payment to unlock it.
A group of hackers leaked the “Game of Thrones” script, along with 1.5TB of HBO data that included other popular TV shows. The hacking group demanded approximately $6.5 million worth of Bitcoins from HBO. A group of hackers also penetrated Equifax — one of the largest credit bureaus in the world — and stole personal data of 145 million people. Accountancy firm Deloitte was also targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients and the attack went unnoticed for months.
In November, Yahoo agreed that it was attacked in 2013 wherein criminals had information about all three billion accounts. In another massive attack, hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber Technologies. The breach was concealed for more than a year.
Most companies fall victim to cyber attackers either because of unpatched software with known vulnerabilities or because of the human factor like people falling victim to phishing emails, Finland-based cybersecurity firm F-Secure said.
Later in the year, the enterprise cybersecurity company FireEye said Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) groups that have allegedly been creating cyber havoc internationally will shift their focus in 2018 to countries like India and Hong Kong and groups seen as a threat to Beijing’s influence over global markets.
Slowly becoming aware of emerging cyber threats, organisations worldwide will spend $96.3 billion on security in 2018 — an increase of eight per cent from 2017, according to a Gartner forecast. More than 60 per cent of organisations globally will invest in multiple data security tools by 2020 — up from 35 per cent today, it added.
“Cyber attacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya, and most recently the Equifax breach, have a direct effect on security spend because these types of attacks last up to three years,” the market research firm said. To ward off future attacks, the Indian government set up NIC-CERT centre to monitor, detect and prevent cyber attacks on government networks.
NIC-CERT will work in close coordination and collaboration with sectoral CERTs and CERT-In. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) in New Delhi in November that witnessed top global security experts deliberating on ways to fight cybersecurity. IANS


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It has been learnt that Ogilvy India's Bengaluru branch has won the creative mandate for the Bengaluru-based corporate real-estate company RMZ Corp. The account was acquired about a week ago.
RMZ Corp has built and managed the offices of firms like Accenture, Google, Shell, Ford, British Telecom and Reuters.
It is also learnt that the win is the result of a multi-agency pitch that saw the participation of several creative agencies in the South.
It may be recalled here that earlier this year, afaqs! reported that the digital agency 22feet had been awarded the digital creative business for the RMZ Corp account. RMZ Corp was in the news recently for its revamped company website Rmzcorp.com.
Since 2007, Lowe Bengaluru has been handling the mainline creative duties for RMZ Corp. Prior to that, the creative mandate was with the Bengaluru-based creative hot-shop Watermelon; the agency won the account in June 2005. Prior to Watermelon, the account was with JWT.
Headquartered at Bengaluru, RMZ Corp's other offices are located at Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune. The company has also expanded its activities to Mysore, Mangalore, Coimbatore, Kochi and Nagpur.
India's leading corporate real-estate developer since 2002, RMZ Corp currently carries the philosophy of 'Being the Change'. Primarily a real-estate developer, it plans to unveil some of its residential projects shortly. Interestingly, RMZ Corp is also a founding member of the Indian Green Building Council and a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Three months ago, Ogilvy Bengaluru won the creative duties for five brands under the British Nutritions umbrella, including a weight loss meal supplement called Slimlife, the fitness product portfolio (product names include X-tra Whey, X-tra Mass and X-tra Gainer, among others), and three other new brands targeted at mothers and children.First Published : June 16, 2011


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The global pandemic had a huge impact on businesses in all industries around the world. While some managed to weather the storm, others struggled to get back on track after lengthy closures. Some have since been forced to close their doors due to the huge losses experienced, and one of these is sadly CUT Fitness, which was launched by Real Housewives of Orange County couple, Tamra and Eddie Judge.
The couple has enjoyed success with various ventures, and this includes their company Vena CBD where you can purchase products such as Vena CBD gummies. However, the impact of the pandemic was too much for the couple’s fitness facility in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. The gym has now been officially closed after first opening its doors back in March 2013.
A Brief Rebound
The reality star spoke about the closure of the gym on her recent podcast and said that while they had been able to rebound briefly from the pandemic, this had not lasted long. Earlier this summer, the couple decided to close the doors to CUT Fitness for good, which marked a sad moment for them. However, they still have plenty of other ventures and will continue to focus on these.
Tamra said that some people have said on social media that she is only returning to RHOC because of the financial losses from closing the gym. Her response to this was, “We decided to close our gym down before I got asked back to the show. So that had nothing to do with anything that’s going on right now.”
She also spoke about how well the gym had been doing until the pandemic struck, and how proud she was of everything it had achieved in its ten years. The gym did not cater to large crowds but was more of a personal facility with small numbers of people using it at any one time. Tamra said that it was hard to close what was a very successful venture until a couple of years ago and that it was a huge personal loss for her and Eddie.
Selling the Gym Equipment
Of course, as a result of the closure, the couple was left with a lot of gym equipment that was no longer required. In a bid to try and get rid of this, the Judges decided to sell the products via their website as well as on social media channels. This has enabled fitness fans to snap up equipment from the once-successful gym while enabling the couple to make back some money to offset the losses.
While the gym may be gone, the couple will continue to focus on other ventures and have commented on the ongoing success of their CBD business. Tamra said that Vena was doing very well and that the products that it sells online have now become available in Sally Beauty stores. The CBD business sells a range of products catering to a variety of needs and budgets.


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Manhattan, NY The Feil Org. has completed the releasing of the retail arcade at 488 Madison Ave., signing Mephisto Shoes to 1,854 s/f and Mighty Bowl to 800 s/f. Both are expected to open in the fall. The leases total 2,654 s/f.
Indochino, Bonobos Guideshops, UNTUCKit, City Hats, and Jack Erwin have all opened at the 51st to 52nd St. blockfront building in the past two years after a renovation and releasing program. The Feil in-house leasing team, comprised of Randall Briskin, vice president of leasing and Nicholas Forelli, director of leasing, saw an opportunity to build on the success of Bonobos and UNTUCKit to create a new retail vision on Madison Ave. The new retailers joined long-term tenant H.L. Purdy Opticians at the building.
“The success of this program was our desire to remerchandise the property with well-established tenants, clicks-to-bricks merchants, and up-and-coming new specialty retailers that have been showing promise as the ‘go to’ merchants of the next generation of retail,” said Brian Feil, vice president of leasing at Feil. “Our leasing team recognized this opportunity and was able to bring it to fruition.”
Known around the world for its quality and comfort, the France-based Mephisto Shoes will complete the storefront space along Madison Ave. Mighty Bowl, to be located off the Ave. on West 51st St., offers carefully crafted Asian-inspired cuisine available for pickup or delivery. The eatery will service a business area that includes Rockefeller Center, the Plaza District, and visitors to nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“Both new retailers are ideal for an area that not only draws thousands of office employees daily, but millions of visitors from around the world,” said Feil.
Once known as the “Look Building” for the defunct magazine, 488 Madison Ave. comprises 447,000 s/f over 23 stories. Feil completed a renovation of the landmarked 1948 modernist building in 2016, repositioning the ground floor for a complete block of retail focused on menswear.
The tenant representatives were as follows:
• In the Mephisto Shoes deal, Amira Yunis and Tienn Wine of CBRE | Retail Services Group represented the tenant.
• In the Mighty Bowl deal, Jack Khaski, Jordan Raphan and Albert Manopla of KSR | Retail represented the tenant.


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French farmers are combating to forestall frost harm to vineyards and orchard timber in a number of areas of the nation.
To take action, they burn candles throughout the vineyards and spray water to create a shell of ice across the buds.
However these efforts to avoid wasting the harvest are sometimes not sufficient and a the massive a part of the crops are affected.
In response to the Council of Bordeaux Wines it’s already sure that this spring frost will severely affect the amount of the 2021 wine harvest.
“Peaches, nectarines, apricots will probably be uncommon on the cabinets this 12 months,” stated Daniel Sauvaitre, president of the nationwide affiliation of apples and pears. “We simply must know now if there are sufficient flowers which can be nonetheless inexperienced to make a harvest,” he instructed AFP.
“A few days are wanted to measure exactly the extent of the harm,” agriculture minister Julien Denormandie stated on Thursday.


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Many consumers, and some forward thinking businesses realize that Twitter’s short and instant format make the platform perfect for customer service. With more than 50 percent of Twitter users engaging with brands, it’s imperative that brands capitalize on this energy. What may be even more important is Twitter creating opportunities for business to understand the conversations taking place.
While consumers are totally on board with social customer service, many businesses are experiencing major failures. If Twitter doesn’t provide better customer service tools, the company could get left behind as others step up with solutions to satisfy the market. According to Jessi Hempel, a senior technology and business writer for Wired, the competition is already mounting:
Facebook launched Business on Messenger, a feature that lets companies communicate directly with Facebook users to let them track packages and answer their questions or respond to complaints […] Google Now, is improving its ability to connect us with the information we want. And a host of emerging social messaging companies including Snapchat and Instagram are experimenting with new ways to let businesses connect to customers.
There are several things that could keep Twitter ahead in the market and user data could be the most effective. In fact, Twitter has a history of leveraging real time data to provide results for business, and this power could be a inviting for businesses trying to use Twitter for customer service.
Hempel notes that through Twitter’s partnerships with Oracle and Sprout Social, companies could become a lot more responsive and proactive when it comes to customer service.
Right now, companies have access to the same rudimentary tools you and I can use on the company’s general data analytics page. If they want to know how many people are reading or responding to a tweet, they must evaluate it individually and by hand. In the future, they’ll be able to access real-time information about which tweets—and responses—are spurring interaction.
Customer service on social can be very hit-and-miss. Some businesses are excelling, and some customers use it as a first port of call; however, many still see it as a last ditch effort for resolving a customer service issue.
If Twitter can work with business to make itself a destination for customer service, and that service matches or exceeds expectations, Twitter could once again pivot into a unique market position.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.


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News from david l. goetz A wide array of domestic and global news stories; news topics include politics/government, business, technology, religion, sports/entertainment, science/nature, and health/lifestyle.
Apr 17, 2012, 10:00 ET New Book on Messaging Strategy Challenges Entrepreneurs to Speak the Language of Their Prospects
The statistics are grim. Few entrepreneurs succeed past the first couple years. Some say that more than 50 percent of new businesses fail within two...


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WeWork’s chief operating officer says that inflation is leading companies to take a “nimble” approach when it comes to their office footprint.
Taking up long-term office leases has historically been a major part of a company’s expenses, but the increased cost of maintaining, managing and bringing in bodies to occupy these spaces has made them less enticing.
“That … has put the need for companies to look at flexibility in managing and thinking about their workspace,” said Samit Chopra.
“Which is of course, guided by a revolution in the entire work culture and the hybrid work phenomenon that has taken place over the last few months.”
As a result of this workplace evolution, WeWork recently reported its revenue grew 37% from one year ago to $815 million during the second quarter.
But it’s not just startups that are making up the coworking and flexible office membership base – Chopra says that enterprise companies are increasingly leaning on these workspaces to cut costs and accommodate the growing demand for flexible work arrangements.
“Last year, the enterprise segment represented more than 45% of our global business. That part of our business has grown significantly over the last 2.5, 3 years,” said Chopra.
While the demand for coworking is growing internationally, specific regions are leading the shift. For instance, WeWork just launched its Asia flagship in Singapore as the region becomes a giant in the global economy.


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Measuring just 32 feet from tip to tail, Dutchmen Manufacturing Inc.’s Komfort 2820FRL is the smallest true high profile fifth-wheel on the market, according to a press release.
“The 2820FRL offers all the advantages of a true high profile fifth-wheel in a shorter package allowing easy access to more destinations,” said Rob Groover, general manager. “Our customers have been asking for all of the upscale amenities Komfort offers in a smaller package. We believe we have exceeded our customer’s request.”
Despite the smaller platform, the new Komfort floorplan offers a 6-foot 8 inch crowned ceiling throughout the bedroom along with a king-sized bed and walk-in cedar closet. The bathroom sports a 60-inch by 30-inch Ultra Shower with a glass enclosure.
“At Dutchmen, our passion as well as our marching orders continues to be focused on fresh innovations,” said Groover.
The new model and many other industry firsts will be shown at the Dutchmen “Discover the Difference” Open House Sept. 20‐22 at the RV Hall of Fame. For more information on Dutchmen RV, a Thor Industries Inc. subsidiary, visit www.dutchmen.com or call 574‐537‐0600.


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Optical telecom component sales up 11% in 2005
Sales of optical components used in fiber-optic telecommunications grew 11% in 2005 to reach $2.92 billion, according to new figures from Ovum-RHK.
The market research company said that while sales in the fourth quarter of 2005 were slightly weaker than the equivalent period in 2004, the annual trend remained positive, driven by network build-out to support IP and video services.
"JDSU continues at the top of the heap, with Finisar and Sumitomo in second and third, respectively," claimed Ovum-RHK. "Rounding out the top five are Avago and Bookham."
The market recovery has had a positive impact on the financial health of the remaining companies in the ravaged sector. Average gross margins at nine publicly-traded optical component suppliers were 29% in the final quarter of 2005, representing a big improvement from the third quarter.
In particular, Finisar has been profitable in its last two fiscal quarters. And while Bookham is yet to break even, it has bolstered its cash position recently through the sale and leaseback of its InP fab, and another public offering of stock.
"Optical component suppliers are happily supplying arms to all equipment vendors engaged in the network build-out," said Daryl Inniss, VP of optical components at the market research company.
"Growth is coming from all segments, including carrier metro, long-haul and access networks, and enterprise," continued Inniss. "Component vendors best equipped to meet the demand stand to grow and increase market share."


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BPI Announces Fund for Labels Affected in London Blaze; Finders Keepers Gets Jarvis Cocker, Zola Jesus for Benefit Series
Published Aug 17, 2011Last week we learned about LabelLove, a campaign raising funds for the imprints affected by the massive warehouse fire in London that decimated thousands of CDs and records. The outpouring of support did not stop there, though. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has now announced another fund with goals to aid all the labels affected in the blaze.
As Billboard reports, the industry association hopes to get the small businesses back on track and will therefore be offering up £100,000 ($162,192) in aid.
"The BPI is founded on the principle that majors and indies should work together and that a vibrant independent sector benefits the recorded music business as a whole," BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said in a statement. "For that reason, I am delighted that independent and major members of BPI are showing their solidarity by creating a growing fund to assist indie labels that experience financial difficulties as a result of destruction of stock in the Sony DADC warehouse."
BPI deputy chairman Mike Batt added, "We want indie labels to get back to normal business as quickly as possible, and we are joining our funding up with AIM's initiative to ensure that those labels affected can afford to replace damaged stock and can focus on creating great music."
As gracious as the fund is, the labels themselves are starting to pick up the pieces. UK label Finders Keepers has just started up a benefit series of compilations to promote its back catalogue, most of which was lost in the fire. A series of ten collections under the banner Supports Finders Keepers will be released as digital downloads and on limited CDs, with a number of artists pointing out their favourite tunes from Finders Keepers' vaults.
Jarvis Cocker has unveiled his picks in Volume One, while future editions will be selected by Zola Jesus, Super Furry Animal's Gruff Rhys, Zola Jesus, Prefuse 73 and more.
You can find out more about the series on the label website here.
Jarvis Cocker Supports Finders Keepers: Make Due and Mend (Volume One):
1. Carol Batton - "Beeing"
2. Yamsuki - "Yamasuki"
3. Jean-Claude Vannier - "Le Roi Des Mouches Et La Confiture De Rose"
4. Jacky Chalard - "Super Man, Super Cool" (Extended Version)
5. Billy Green - "Death Trip"
6. Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Drum Orchestra - "The World Is A Ghetto"
7. Gong - "Rational Anthem"
8. Fusioon - "Tocatta y Fug"
9. Angelo Michajlov - "Haxipola's Trip"
10. Angelo & Eighteen - "Flight 2"
11. Jane Weaver and Wendy Flower - "Silver Chord"
12. Jean-Claude Vannier - "Au Desepoir Des Singes"


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A study published by NewsCred (opens in new tab) has revealed that a third of UK consumers surveyed don't trust their banks, and – marketers take note – more than half said that helpful content makes them trust their bank more.
20 per cent of respondents of "The Trust Transaction" study said that they'd trust content written directly by representatives of the bank, whereas content from writers outside the organisation, such as finance journalists and independent experts, would be trusted more (53/54 per cent respectively).
Millennials were found to be the slightly more receptive audience demographic for banks' content marketing strategies, with 66 per cent of 18-24 year olds saying they'd trust a bank more if it offers useful content, compared to half of respondents overall.
37 per cent said they'd share interesting articles from their bank on social media – almost double the average survey response. No doubt these results will confirm to many-a bank's marketing team that millennials require a contemporary form of engagement strategy, more attuned to the social media age.
The study surveyed 1,000 UK consumers in August 2014.
NewsCred Founder and CEO, Shafqat Islam, said: "Our study shows that consumers don't trust just anyone when it comes to financial content - banks need to think carefully about how they use the right teams, tools and insight to make an impact and truly connect with their target audiences."
"Banks are being judged by the quality of content they create," he continued.
As we at ITProPortal watch the digital publishing landscape change every day, surveys like this constitute food for thought, as we, and hundreds of competing websites vie for ever-shortening attention spans.


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For Apple, AirPods are what you need to have in a world where the 3.5mm jack does not exist anymore. And if CEO Tim Cook is to be believed, they have already hit the bull’s eye so far as acceptance of the wireless earbuds is concerned. This despite the fact that many AirPod users have complained of unexpected battery drain issues.
In fact, the battery drain issue is already proving to be more widespread than perhaps Apple anticipated. The company has started to dole out replacements to a few users as well.
However, not all owners seem to be having the issue. According to Apple, the AirPods will offer five hours of usage before they need to be charged again. The charging process though is as easy as just putting them back into the special case those come with, which also serves to be the battery for the earbuds as well. The case, in turn, should offer 24 hours of battery life.
One Reddit user, who goes by the name ‘serverinskulls’ complained that his case lost at least 20 percent of its charge each time overnight even though both the case and the AirPods were charged 100 percent initially. Yet another user reported he lost 50 percent of the charge after just about 3 hours of usage in the morning even though both the case and the AirPods were fully charged before.
Earlier, Apple justified the delay in shipping the device claiming: ‘We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready.’ The company has unveiled the $159 wireless earbuds back in September. It had then stated the earbuds would be reaching customers by the end of October itself. However, it was only during the beginning of December that buyers eventually got to order the product.
Apple however is yet to reveal how many AirPods it has shipped so far to back Tim Cook’s claims of the product being a ‘runaway success’. Analysts though are of the view Apple might be having a hard time convincing iPhone 7 owners to adopt the AirPods in lieu of the 3.5mm headphone jack that has been junked in the handset.
If that is not all, the earbuds also have issues with the sound quality as well. Besides, it is easy to lose too and doesn’t come cheap either.


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|Bags to Go! SD 52 has successfully launched its plan to|
make weekly deliveries of groceries for families in need
(photo from SD52 twitter feed)
The bags were plenty, the hands of help many, as teachers, staff and many others from SD52 delivered their Bags of Goodness program recently to families around the region.
The program ensures that important food items make their way to families that may be facing challenging times during this period of COVID-19 the program somewhat of an expansion of the food program in place during more normal times of classroom attendance.
As they rolled out their initiative this month in addition to the weekly grocery delivery program now in place, SD52 has also provided 200 families in the community with gift cards from Canada Safeway.
Among those who helped out the School District in launching the program was Bandstra which handled the logistics of food delivery along with the Prince Rupert Port Authority which also offered assistance to the project.
Safeway also is recognized for their quick response, as were the many members of the SD52 staff who helped bring the "Bags of Goodness" concept from the planning phase to the delivery runs.
You can explore more on the program here and can check out some of the photos of their work through the SD52 Instagram feed.
For more items of note on SD52 see our archive page here.


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technology fund Prosus a takeover fray launched around maaltijdbezorger Just have to Eat. Recently on the Amsterdam stock exchange-listed company, has a 4.9-billion-pound, the euro as eur 5.7 billion, the British company that offer a convincing rejection. The bid in the amount of Prosus is to be 20 per cent higher than that of the Takeaway and Just Eat.
the Prosus, the subsidiary of South African media, and techreus Naspers, has approached the board of directors of Just Eat was recently to be an inheritance talk about it. Compromise was not, however, and three of the bids were rejected. I decided that Prosus to put up with a hostile offer, and the price of 7.10 m sterling in cash per share directly to shareholders.
you Just have to Eat it, “unsolicited bid” by Prosus in the meantime, in a statement to resolutely refused. They call out to their shareholders also to the requirement of the investor, in the deal. Just-Eat is called by the Prosus offer price is too low. The offer of a Takeaway, it would be more of value to offer.
Chief executive Bob van Dijk of Prosus is the step, however, is not at odds with. “We believe that many shareholders are interested in and want to make their case.” Prosus, says his bid, in cash, to provide certainty to shareholders and Just Eat. This security also offers Takeaway, which is that the acquisition was largely in shares, wanted a meeting and talked about a merger, according to the investor, does not.
the Prosus points out, moreover, to have faith is to have private delivery companies such as Just Eat, which has. Takeaway and ceo Jitse Groen, has on several occasions said there would be little to see. Prosus has a lot of experience with such ” hybrid bezorgbedrijven’ which is well delivered, if a market can offer to companies that are self-service. That’s what the fund is invested in.
The technology fund has already made investments in a number of similar businesses, such as Delivery Hero, iFood, and Swiggy. Just Eat and iFood in Brazil, a joint venture, and we know each other so well. “We have to make, which is reason regular discussions with the board of directors at Just Eat and it would be in the top-level management largely intact and would hold.” By Delivery Hero has Prosus, moreover, indirectly have a small interest in the Takeaway in his hands.
the Takeaway and did not respond immediately to the notification. The price of the stock, Just have to Eat and went to the stock exchange in London, up almost 25 percent. Prosus has won by 0.5 per cent in the world. The share of Takeaway and it was much higher, and led the blue chip companies in Amsterdam, with a plus of 4.2 per cent.


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'Earth Focus' Documents How a New Jersey Town Reclaimed Its Water Supply After Decades of Chemical Pollution
Toms River, N.J. was the sort of place people romanticized about as a quintessential setting for the American dream—until a dye manufacturer began dumping its toxic waste in the local water supply.
People were thrilled to welcome Ciba Geigy to Toms River in the '50s, but soon the town's reputation inspired monikers like "cancer hotspot." Unfortunately, that didn't happen until after more and more people moved to town believing the local government's assurance that everything was just fine.
Earth Focus spoke to some of those people who are old enough to remember the transition their town underwent, including the horror their families felt when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the company a permit to build a 10-mile pipeline enabling the company to dump its waste directly into the Atlantic Ocean. Those people also recall how the pipeline burst in the middle of town years later and how residents, attorneys media and more fought back to reclaim their drinking water.
In the episode's latter half, Earth Focus examines illegal gold mining in Peru and its tragic impact on human health and the environment. The topic was featured in the 2012 film, Amazon Gold.
EARTH FOCUS airs every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) on Link TV—channel 375 on DIRECTV and channel 9410 on DISH Network. Episodes are also available to watch online at linktv.org/earthfocus.
University of Colorado Boulder Scientists Link 10,800-Foot-Deep Fracking Wastewater Well to More Than 200 Earthquakes
[Editor's note: This article was updated Aug. 1.]
A team of University of Colorado Boulder researchers began a seismic investigation after a May 31 earthquake. The researchers' information led the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to request a 20-day halt to NGL Water Solutions' fracking wastewater injection operations.
NGL, formerly known as High Sierra Water Services, was given permission to resume its activities at a 10,800-foot-deep well a few weeks later. Anne Sheehan and her team found that the well is linked to more than 200 earthquakes, the geophysics professor in the CU Department of Geological Sciences told Boulder County Business Report. NGL made modifications to the well, cementing the bottom 400 feet of the well, and it is has come back into production at a lower rate of pressure and injection. CU continues to monitor the earthquake activity and has found it has decreased. The information from the study will help the researchers find out why some wells have earthquakes and some do not, and how to fix the wells that do have earthquakes, if possible.
Sheehan said the group found "quite a few" earthquakes with epicenters within two miles of the well.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Two earthquakes—with magnitudes of 3.4 and 2.6—took place within mere miles of the well. Shemin Ge and Matthew Weingarten, also of CU, also found that activity within fracking wastewater injection wells likely caused earthquakes in central Oklahoma.
NGL operates 11 of the 29 fracking wastewater injection wells in Weld County, CO. When the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission allowed NGL to resume activities, it began injecting 7,500 barrels per day at maximum pressure.
"We’ll continue to closely monitor and accumulate all available information at this location,” Colorado Department of Natural Resources spokesman Todd Hartman told the Report, “and work with partners to continue understanding how best to limit and prevent potential seismic impacts related to deep injection generally.”
There are many different CBD oil brands in today's market. But, figuring out which brand is the best and which brand has the strongest oil might feel challenging and confusing. Our simple guide to the strongest CBD oils for pain, anxiety, and sleep will point you in the right direction.
More and more people are looking to boost their health with CBD oil. The rise in CBD's popularity shows that many people are experiencing positive outcomes through the regular use of CBD to help control and improve difficult health issues.
Our guide to the strongest CBD oils will help to point you in the right direction so that you can choose the best, most potent oil for your needs. We will also educate you about the best CBD oils along the way, while also discussing how we chose our top brands and why.
Does Strength of CBD Oil Matter?
The strength of an oil does matter. The more potent a CBD oil is, the stronger effects it will create. To that end, full spectrum oils are the best oils to go with because CBD isolates do not have all of the other vitamins, terpenes, compounds, and phytonutrients that full spectrum oils have. So, not only will you be getting all the positive effects that a strong oil has to offer, you'll also be able to receive the vast therapeutic benefits that the many compounds, terpenes, and phytonutrients bring to the table.
The strength or concentration of a CBD oil is measured in milligrams of CBD, both per bottle and per serving. For many brands, a serving is considered 1 mL of the oil tincture. The best way to evaluate the strength of a CBD oil by how many milligrams of CBD you will get with each 1 mL dropper.
6 Strongest CBD Oil Brands of 2021
Each product featured here has been independently selected by the writer. You can learn more about our review methodology here. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
- Best for Pain Relief - Spruce CBD Oil
- Best Organic - Cornbread Hemp Distilled CBD Oil
- Best for Sleep - Charlotte's Web CBD Oil
- Best Value - CBDistillery Full Spectrum Tincture
- Best for Calm - Plant People Drops+ Mind + Body
- Best Flavors - FAB CBD Oil
How We Chose the Strongest CBD Oil Brands
When it comes to choosing a CBD oil brand, you need to take the time and put in the research to ensure that you are getting the strongest, and best quality product you can purchase.
We've put the time and effort into selecting the top brands that we feel have the strongest CBD oil, the best reputation, and the cleanest, most effective products. When it came to selecting our top strongest CBD oils, we looked at six key categories:
- Type of CBD - We looked to see whether the CBD oil was full spectrum, broad spectrum, or CBD isolate.
- Strength - We compared the oil strength and purity versus other available options. All of our recommendations offer a concentration of at least 50 mg of CBD per serving.
- Source - Where does the brand source its hemp from, and is it grown organically?
- Flavor - We looked for oil flavors and the ingredients used in the oil.
- Transparency - A key consideration is whether a third-party lab was used to test the products and if those results are easy for customers to find
- Customer experience - We also read verified customer reviews to see what actual users had to say.
Based on these factors, here are the brands that made our list of strongest CBD oils.
6 Strongest CBD Oils of 2021
Best for Pain Relief: Spruce CBD
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 80 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - North Carolina and Kentucky
Why buy: Spruce CBD oils are high-quality, extremely potent, and 100 percent all-natural. We like their high potency CBD oil because it's an organic and all-natural CBD oil that has no added flavor to allow for their strongest CBD concentration in a 30 mL bottle. This is the strongest CBD oil for pain that may help manage aches, pains, and stiffness.
Best Organic: Cornbread Hemp Distilled CBD Oil
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 50 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - Kentucky
Why buy — Cornbread Hemp CBD oils are all USDA-certified organic. They use a distillation process designed to preserve as many of the beneficial phytonutrients and minor cannabinoids as possible, and only extract their CBD from the flower of the hemp plant. We love that this CBD oil is vegan, non-GMO, and ideal for daytime use.
Best for Sleep: Charlotte's Web CBD Oil
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 60 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - Colorado
Best Value: CBDistillery Full Spectrum Tincture
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 83 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - Colorado
Why buy: CBDistillery is a reputable brand that works hard to create quality, potent, and affordable products. The brand has a broad product line that includes oils, gummies, and topicals. We love the affordability of their extremely potent CBD oils (like the 2500 mg option), and that they use Colorado-grown organic hemp.
Best for Calm: Plant People Drops+ Mind + Bodyplantpeople.coBest for Inflammation: Plant People Drops+ Mind + Body
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 50 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - Colorado
Best Flavors: FAB CBD Oil
- CBD - Full Spectrum
- Strength - 80 mg CBD per 1 mL serving
- Source - Colorado
Why buy: FAB CBD offers some of the strongest, cleanest, and best CBD products out on the market today. FAB's full spectrum CBD oil comes in a variety of flavors and strengths, including mint, citrus, vanilla, natural, and berry oils in strengths of 300 mg, 600 mg, 1200 mg, and 2400 mg. We like FAB CBD oil because it gives you so many different options to find the strongest CBD oil that's right for you.
Research on CBD Oil and Potency
CBD oil is created when cannabidiol, or CBD, is infused into a fat-based carrier oil such as hempseed oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, or olive oil. Carrier oils are usually medium-chain triglycerides that are easily digested by the body. The very basic oils will only have CBD and the carrier oil, however, some can also contain other compounds such as tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, flavonoids, phytonutrients, and terpenes. Some brands will also infuse various natural flavors or essential oils into the final products.
CBD oil can vary in color, flavor, and consistency depending on its makeup. Likewise, the strength also depends on the oil's formulation. CBD oils can be isolates, broad spectrum, or full spectrum. In CBD isolates, only pure CBD is used. These oils are usually 99 percent pure. CBD isolates are typically made solely from the hemp plant.
Broad spectrum and full spectrum oils, on the other hand, are typically sourced from the cannabis plant and have had minimal processing and purification. These oils have a large amount of cannabinoids, terpenes, nutrients, vitamins, and phytonutrients. The difference between the two is that broad spectrum CBD products contain zero THC.
Along with CBD, one of the main compounds in full spectrum oils is THC. In large amounts, THC causes feelings of euphoria. However, legally, all CBD crafted and sold within the United States must contain less than 0.3% THC. When CBD and THC are combined, an entourage effect occurs. In the entourage effect, the compounds work together to dampen each other's negative side effects while amplifying each other's best qualities. For example, too much THC can cause feelings of nausea or dizziness. However, when THC is combined with CBD, the THC enables those with sleep issues to finally get some rest, and helps those with extreme nausea, due to cancer treatment, finally get some much-needed nourishment by increasing appetite. Put simply, the cannabinoids bind with cell receptors in the human endocannabinoid system to create therapeutic effects.
How to Choose the Right CBD Oil and Potency for You
There are several key factors to take into consideration when choosing the strongest CBD oil for pain, sleep, or anxiety. One of the first things to look at is the concentration of CBD within the product. Next, take a look at the milligrams of CBD that are in a single serving. The best quality products clearly have all the facts and information laid out on their labels. In reading the labels, you should be able to tell exactly how much CBD you are getting per serving. How much CBD you need to be taking depends on how your body reacts to the product over time.
What to Look For
Here are the primary things to look for when comparing the strongest CBD oil options.
CBD Spectrum - Make sure you know whether you are getting a full spectrum, broad spectrum, or CBD isolate oil. This is especially important if you are concerned about THC content.
Concentration - When looking for the strongest CBD oils, you need to be certain of how many milligrams of CBD are contained in each bottle and each 1 mL serving.
Lab Testing - For any CBD product, it's vital that you look for brands who ensure their CBD undergoes independent third-party lab testing for purity and safety.
How to Read Labels
Make sure that you know what to look for on the label of any CBD oil or product. Here are the key things to know.
- Type of CBD - The label should clearly indicate the spectrum of CBD in the oil. If it is a broad spectrum or CBD isolate, it will usually say that it is "THC-Free."
- Dosage Guide - Some brands include a dosage guide on the label to help you measure the appropriate amount of CBD per serving. This is important with higher potency oils.
- Test Results - Look for proof that the CBD has undergone third-party lab testing. Many brands include a QR code or link on the label to the test results for that product.
How to Use
Everyone's body is different, so what works well for one person might not work for another. Smaller individuals might need less CBD than larger individuals based on body size and overall mass. Along with body size, the reason you are taking CBD is another consideration in purchasing strong CBD oil.
Whatever oil strength you choose, you should first start low and go slow when it comes to dosing. For example, begin by taking half of a serving of CBD once a day for one week. If you are not feeling any benefits, then go ahead and take half a dose twice a day. Continue increasing the dosage slowly until you are achieving the desired effects. Always check in with yourself to see how you are feeling along the way. This will help you to determine if you should increase the dosage at all. As with any other medication or holistic supplement, your body will need adequate time to get used to a new CBD dosage, and CBD typically works best as it builds up in your system over time.
Safety & Side Effects
There are very few minor side effects associated with CBD. To date, a great number of studies have been done on CBD showing that it is generally well-tolerated and safe for adults.
Some of the most common side effects associated with CBD include:
- Dry mouth
- Changes in weight
- Changes in appetite
Those suffering from chronic pain or increased stress may benefit from stronger CBD oil tinctures that can provide a more potent dose of cannabinoids. CBD oil can be a great addition to any natural healthcare routine. Just make sure you are putting in the time and effort to find the product and the brand that is best suited to your own unique needs, condition, and lifestyle.
One thing is for sure—you can't accuse Boulder County District Court Judge D.D. Mallard of being dishonest.
Her decision Thursday regarding Longmont, CO's fracking ban includes no ambiguity. Instead it clearly states that concerns about health risks to residents don't quite stack up against Colorado's stake in the oil and gas industries.
"While the court appreciates the Longmont citizens' sincerely held beliefs about risks to their health and safety, the court does not find this is sufficient to completely devalue the state's interest," Mallard wrote in the decision, uploaded to Scribd by the Denver Post.
Voters approved the ban in 2012, but the Colorado Oil and Gas Association never stopped fighting to overturn it. Earthworks, the Sierra Club, Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont and the other environmental groups listed as defendants plan on appealing the decision. The judge ruled that the ban can remain in place while an appeal is considered.
“While we respectfully disagree with the court’s final decision, [Mallard] was correct that we were asking this Court, in part, to place protection from the health, safety and environmental risks from fracking over the development of mineral resources,” Kaye Fissinger, president of Our Health, Our Future, Our Longmont, said in a statement on Earthworks' website.
“It’s tragic that the judge views the current law in Colorado is one in which fracking is more important than public health; reversing that backwards priority is a long-term battle that we’re determined to continue.”
According to the Post, the City of Longmont had spent $116,324 defending the ban as of June 30. Though the groups argued that the language the industry relied on to get its desired result was written far before modern practices like fracking, Mallard said the issue should be taken up with a higher court or state legislators.
“This decision means two things: The judge has invited us to seek the change we need either through the higher courts or the legislature," said Bruce Baizel, Earthworks Energy Program director. “We fully intend to pursue the former on appeal, while the latter underscores the need for the citizens of Colorado to get out and support the Environmental Bill of Rights ballot measure this Fall.”
Elon Musk received his widest TV exposure earlier this year on 60 Minutes, providing insight into his multiple technologies in response to a serious line of questioning. Obviously, things were different Thursday night when Comedy Central's audience saw him sitting on the set of the Colbert Report.
The interview, broken into two videos, features a bit of Stephen Colbert rightfully marveling at Musk's innovations before asking him to explain why he allowed other automakers access to the electric vehicle patents his company, Tesla, uses to advance the market.
"You saw the future as a kid and said, 'let's make that happen,'" Colbert hypothesized. Musk didn't deny it.
The videos also include Colbert asking Musk what he'll do next to "blow my mind with" and test-flight footage for a reusable SpaceX rocket that Colbert could only describe as "the most badass thing I've ever seen in my life."
As jet shootings intensified the Ukraine crisis this week, some U.S. politicians took the opportunity to advocate for more oil drilling.
Hours after the jets were shot down, Congress members from both sides of the aisle presented cases to lift the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports. The oil would cut Europe's oil dependence on Russia and provide an economic boost to the U.S.—but at the cost of further damaging our environment and collective health by drilling.
MSNBC's The Ed Show features U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who does not advocate for more drilling, and Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters in a lengthy segment that shows why this isn't a good idea. The clip puts recent news about the warmest June ever and raging wildfires in Washington State into perspective as part of the climate problem. Drilling for more oil certainly wouldn't help that problem.
Earlier in the week, Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio appeared on the show to discuss some politicians' desire to lift the ban.
A new ad campaign from the League of Conservation Voters characterizes the recent behavior of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other fossil fuel supporters and donors with three D's—dirty, desperate and dangerous.
The $250,000 "Desperate" campaign blasts the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its allies’ attempts to kill the Environmental Protection Agency's emissions proposal in advance of next week's public hearings in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington D.C. The ad is in response to the analysis from Chamber and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) stating that the power plan would cost the country more than 224,000 jobs and $17 billion in electricity bill costs.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s phony analysis of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan should be shelved under ‘Fiction,’ LCV President Gene Karpinski said in a statement announcing the campaign. "Politicians like Speaker Boehner should be ashamed for doing the bidding of polluters and pedaling its proven lies to just help their campaign contributors make even more money.”
Several of the Chamber’s largest donors are fossil fuel companies and its board of directors includes senior officials from ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, big coal producer Alliance Resource Partners, CONSOL Energy, and Southern Company.
The LCV ad campaign airs this week in the four markets where the EPA hearings will be held.
In the case of the Japanese macaques, the radioactive material spewed by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has led to abnormally low white and red blood cell levels and low haemoglobin. The findings, published Thursday in the Scientific Reports journal, show that the low counts make the monkeys more susceptible to various diseases.
“This first data from non-human primates—the closest taxonomic relatives of humans—should make a notable contribution to future research on the health effects of radiation exposure in humans,” Professor Shin-ichi Hayama, of the Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University in Tokyo, told The Guardian.
One of the study's 11 authors, Hayama said that the monkeys were likely exposed to radiation from feeding on tree buds and bark that accumulated radioactive caesium from the power plant explosions. The researchers examined wild monkeys who were 43 miles away from the plant reactors in the forest area of Fukushima City. Their counts of white and red blood cells, as well as hemoglobin, and hematocrit, were much lower than those of monkeys about 250 miles away in the Shimokita Peninsula in the Aomori Prefecture.
Hamaya would not make a definitive claim that caesium caused the low blood counts, despite the suggestive findings and the inability to find any other cause.
“The low haematological values in the Fukushima monkeys could have therefore been due to the effect of any radioactive materials,” he said. “We did not conclude the low-blood cell counts are caused by caesium but so far we cannot find other reasons except radiation.”
Professor Geraldine Thomas of Imperial College in London didn't believe the study at all.
“Unfortunately this is yet another paper with insufficient power to distinguish real effects and relevance to human health,” she said. “We know that one of the most damaging health effects comes from fear of radiation, not radiation itself.”
A new report from Friends of the Earth Europe aims to expose Shell, Total and ExxonMobil, along with groups like BusinessEurope and OGP, to reveal what it calls a "thick web of lobbying activity." The report says public relations and law firms, paid-for scientific reports, and even members of Parliament have all been used to advance fracking for shale gas around the continent.
"The legislative process has been taken hostage by private interests," Antoine Simon, a shale gas campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe, said in a statement. "They have created a climate of industry-funded misinformation that sells shale gas as a responsible resource—this could not be further from reality. The European Commission needs to put the interest of people and planet before the profits of big oil companies, by re-opening the debate on shale gas regulation.”
The report hopes to reignite the discussion of stronger shale gas industry regulation within the European Commission and increased lobbying transparency. At the very least, FOE Europe hopes for a moratorium on fracking, similar to those passed in the U.S. by the New York Assembly and in cities like Los Angeles.
In the meantime, the organization seeks to explain who is making contributions to keep a practice with proven health risks alive. Here is a visualization of the tangled web of gas companies and lobbyists in Europe. Each line shows membership, affiliation or financial contributions from energy companies to lobby groups in Brussels who represent their interests. Europia, European Union of the Natural Gas Industry and European Federation of Energy Traders are among the names included.
“An underground offensive by the oil industry has managed to silence well-founded concerns about the dangers of fracking," Simon said. "It has side-stepped the growing body of evidence on the environmental, economic and health risks of shale gas development, and undermines Europe-wide opposition from citizens to the unconventional fossil fuel.”
President Barack Obama is part of a "very long list" of global officials slated to attend a climate summit in September in New York, United Nations Climate Chief Christiana Figueres said, and for good reason.
A wildfire that has burned nearly 400 square miles in North-Central Washington was only about half contained as of Thursday morning, and Obama minced no words Wednesday when describing its cause.
The Carlton Complex—the largest wildfire in the state's history—has destroyed about 150 homes and has been fought by about 2,500 people. Earlier this week, Chelan HD Productions provided drone footage of devastated land in Washington.
The other fires damaging North-Central Washington are the Chiwaukum Complex fire near Leavenworth, which has burned 12,225 acres, and the Mills Canyon fire, which has burned 22,571 acres. The latter was about 90 percent contained by Thursday morning.
Obama has asked Congress for $615 million in emergency spending to battle wildfires in the West. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have coordinated disaster relief, aiding state and local agencies with more equipment and resources following the the president's declaration of a state of emergency.
"These additional resources will significantly help our efforts to restore power to thousands of people affected by these fires," Gov. Jay Inslee said. "I appreciate his prompt response and partnership in helping our state."
Earlier this year, California, Arizona and Alaska all dealt with severe wildfires. Nearly one dozen wildfires burned more than 25,000 acres in San Diego County alone in May.
The nation's largest-ever climate march is scheduled to take place in New York the day before the UN climate summit.
Environmental groups believe the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency got it right by denying the emergency use request Texas filed in order to use hazardous herbicide propazine to kill superweeds infesting the state's cotton.
Environmental groups, public health advocates and organic farmers all pleaded with the EPA to recognize the health and water risks that would arise from permitting propazine to be used on 3 million acres of cotton fields across the humongous state.
"Based on an assessment consistent with EPA's legal responsibilities, drinking water estimates suggest that risks from drinking water alone may lead to unacceptable risks in some cases," Jack Housenger, EPA director of the office of pesticide programs, wrote in the agency's response to the request, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Though the EPA found that the request met urgent and non-routine emergency criteria, groups like Beyond Pesticides were pleased with the final decision.
"While we disagree with the EPA that this meets any of the criteria for emergency exemption, we applaud the EPA for putting the health of people and the environment first and upholding the health and environmental standards under the law," Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, said in a statement.
Beyond Pesticides filed comments opposing emergency status for the use of propazine.
"This is not an emergency because the weed resistance is predictable since it has been known for many years that GMO cotton sprayed with glyphosate would create resistant superweeds," Feldman said. "It is an abuse of the law to prop up failed GMO cropping systems with toxic chemicals when viable alternatives, like organic growing methods, exist."
Texas Department of Agriculture officials lamented the news.
"Once again, members of the current administration have turned their back on the hard-working farmers of Texas," said Bryan Black, a department spokesman.
Propazine is a possible human carcinogen and a “restricted use pesticide”—the EPA’s category for particularly hazardous agricultural chemicals. The EPA has found that propazine, like atrazine, is an endocrine disruptor (disrupts the hormonal system) and that when fed to pregnant rats, it causes birth defects in their young. Propazine is persistent, requiring years to break down, and is detected in both ground and surface waters. The European Union has banned propazine due to its toxicity.
The City of San Diego claimed a week ago that its permanent mandatory water use restrictions were good enough as a response to California's continuous drought. The city believed it didn't need any additional or different actions.
That line of thinking didn't sit well with environmental groups. As a result, San Diego Coastkeeper and the Save the Colorado River Campaign banded together to call out the nation's eighth-largest city for what they view as a laissez–faire approach to the drought.
"Governor Jerry Brown has asked for statewide water conservation of 20 percent, and the City of San Diego contributed to an eight percent increase in water use—how is it acceptable to not take action?" Matt O'Malley, waterkeeper for San Diego Coastkeeper, asked in a joint statement.
"We don't want the City to be a bad actor. At a bare minimum, it must follow the State Water Board's regulations and enact its level two drought response conditions to ensure this region does its part to reduce water use."
California is in the midst of its driest year on record in 115 years. San Diego imports more than half of its water from the Colorado River, which no longer capable of reaching the Gulf of California because cities, farms and industry drain 5 trillion gallons of water from the river per year. The Colorado also feeds Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir, which fell to its lowest level in history a week ago.
"As Lake Mead drops and other states in the Southwest U.S. face water shortages, San Diego needs to know that a dwindling supply of water is the new normal," said Gary Wockner with the Save the Colorado River Campaign. "We think San Diego, the nation's 8th largest city, should be a national leader and acknowledge with action that its California way of life can still flourish on less water."
The organizations hope the city implements its predetermined and approved level-two drought response conditions that are stated in its water shortage contingency plan. O'Malley pointed to the fact that the State Water Board said emergency regulations set a "minimum standard requiring only modest lifestyle changes across the state."
"Many irrigated landscapes would not suffer greatly from receiving a decreased amount of water," according to the board.
The proposal would phase out older DOT 111 tank cars that ship packing group I flammable liquids, a category that includes most Bakken crude oil. Retrofitting the tank cars to comply with new standards is the only way that wouldn't be phased out.
Other elements of the proposal include braking controls, lower speed laws and a testing program for mined gases and liquids.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
“Safety is our top priority, which is why I’ve worked aggressively to improve the safe transport of crude oil and other hazardous materials since my first week in office,” DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “While we have made unprecedented progress through voluntary agreements and emergency orders, today’s proposal represents our most significant progress yet in developing and enforcing new rules to ensure that all flammable liquids, including Bakken crude and ethanol, are transported safely.”
The proposal is subject to 60 days of public comment. The proposal is based on an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in September that received more than 150,000 comments. Here are some highlights of Wednesday's proposal:
- Carriers would be required to perform a routing analysis for high-hazard flammable trains (HHFTs) that would consider 27 safety and security factors and select a route based on findings of the route's analysis.
- HHFTs that contain any tank cars that don't meet enhanced tank car standards would be required to choose one of three speed restrictions: A 40-miles-per-hour maximum speed restriction in all areas; a 40-mph speed restriction in "high-threat urban areas"; or a 40-mph speed restriction in areas with populations of 100,000 or more.
- All HHFTs would be equipped with alternative brake signal propagation systems. Depending on the outcome of the tank car standard proposal and implementation timing, all HHFTs would be operated with either electronic controlled pneumatic brakes, a two-way end of train device or distributed power.
More crude oil was spilled from rail cars in 2013 than in the previous four decades combined. The trend continued this year with derailments like one that spilled thousands of crude oil gallons into the James River in Virginia.
The DOT in February issued an emergency order requiring all shippers to test product from the Bakken region to ensure the proper classification of crude oil before it was transported by rail.


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LIDS to open new store over at the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay
(Courtesy: Lids Facebook page)
Leading omnichannel sports licensed retailer LIDS Sports Group is set to open a new LIDS store in the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay on February 16.
The new LIDS store is located in the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay (500 North Highway 77 SPC 406) and offers officially licensed and branded headwear of collegiate teams, major professional sports teams, as well as other specialty fashion categories in the latest styles and colors.
Customers can also enjoy the store’s “Custom Zone,” which provides unique, personalized embroidery capabilities for headwear. The EmbroidiGraph option is exclusive to LIDS and allows the stores to embroider autographs of current professional athletes on any piece of headwear. Shoppers can also request the embroidery of names, numbers, quotes, phrases, images and more to truly make the headwear their own.
To celebrate, LIDS will hold an official grand opening celebration on February 17 from 4-6 p.m. complete with live music, giveaways, and special deals. The first 25 customers will receive LIDS gift cards, while the first 100 customers will receive a surprise scratch-off prize. The scratch-off prizes will range from 10-40 percent off a customer’s entire purchase that day only. Shoppers in attendance will also receive 50 percent off embroidery on any hat purchase.
“We’re excited to grow our footprint in Texas and bring a new destination for headwear to the area’s passionate fans,” said Jeff Pearson, senior vice president of e-commerce and marketing.
As the country’s largest hat retailer, LIDS Sports Group currently operates more than 1,200 total retail locations across North America. In addition to LIDS headwear stores, the company also operates Locker Room by LIDS stores selling headwear, apparel, and accessories, the Locker Room by LIDS in Macy’s chain, the LIDS Clubhouse retail stores, and the internet businesses www.lids.com.
For more information about LIDS Sports Group’s stores, headwear and sports apparel, visit www.lids.com.
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President Donald Trump's pegged his move to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as ushering in a golden age for U.S. companies long hobbled by unfair trade deals.
Add an unlikely beneficiary: Hyundai Motor.
The scrapping of the deal will likely benefit Hyundai by scuttling the advantage Japanese carmakers would have garnered from TPP, Daiwa analyst Sung Yop Chung said in a note this week, describing Trump's move as a "sigh of relief" for South Korea's carmakers.
Trump on Monday formally pulled the U.S. out of the TPP, which would have created a 12-country free-trade bloc. The TPP, which was negotiated during President Barack Obama's term in office, hadn't yet been voted on or ratified by Congress.
Trump also signaled he planned to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), enacted in 1994, which eliminated most tariffs between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
South Korea wasn't a party to the 12-country TPP.
"If TPP were to be implemented, Japanese carmakers such as Toyota and Honda could have benefited, based on the current tariff of 2.5 percent imposed on exports," he wrote. The U.S. currently charges a 2.5 percent tariff on the cars it imports from Japan.
Additionally, Chung noted that under TPP, Japanese carmakers would have benefited from a lower local-content ratio of 45 percent, compared with 60 percent currently.
The local-content ratio determines how much of a car must be made within a trade bloc to qualify for the trade-deal's benefits.
Chung pointed to the likelihood that the lower content ratio would allow Japanese automakers to source cheaper parts from a greater number of locations.
"In other words, Japanese automakers could have gained stronger price competitiveness, coupled with the recent weakness in the yen versus the U.S. dollar given the widening gap between their interest rates," Chung said.
He also noted that the if the recent strength of the U.S. dollar persists, it would also boost Hyundai's earnings, estimating that every 1 percent rise in the greenback against the South Korean won would boost the auto maker's earnings per share by 1.4 percent this year.
The benefits of TPP's demise likely wouldn't flow as easily to Hyundai Motor's affiliate Kia Motors, however, Chung noted.
That's because renegotiating NAFTA and/or imposing a border tax of as much as 35 percent would be negative for Kia, which manufactures in Mexico for export to the U.S.
In a note from November, Chung estimated that Kia had an 18.3 percent revenue exposure to exports to the U.S. and 1.8 percent exposure to U.S. imports from Mexico, with a potential downside of as much as 15.2 percent to his 2017 earnings per share forecasts.
Other analysts have expressed serious concerns about how a Republican border tax plan could impact the U.S. economy.
For example, in a report dated Monday, Deutsche Bank estimated that if the U.S. introduced a "border adjustment" for imported products, it would increase the cost of the average vehicle by $2,300, reducing U.S. demand by 1.2 million units a year in the short term.
—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1


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In 2019, more and more Americans are struggling to find steady, reliable employment with benefits. Nearly half of Americans today work for companies that either do not provide health insurance or have insurance options are too expensive and provide too little coverage. With options for steady employment declining elsewhere, the nation’s car dealerships should be highlighting the quality of jobs they can provide when it comes to recruiting. Many will need to change their regular recruiting practices.
In a recent interview with Ward’s Auto, Hireology CEO Adam Robinson said the vehicle dealership sector should be playing up the advantages of working in the industry. Hireology works with the National Automobile Dealers Association on human-capital management and talent-search programs.
“The industry has a recruiting challenge,” Robinson told Ward’s Auto. “There’s a technician shortage. There are issues about filling open positions. But there’s a marketing problem. We’re not good at telling the story of automotive retail. Dealers struggle in using the same sources for hiring for the last 20 years. We’re helping them change so they can better build their team.”
Robinson noted that the difference between dealerships that thrive and the ones that do not will be rooted in their ability to recruit, hire and retain the right people who fit well into today’s digital landscape. In other words, if you’re still trying to hire like it’s 20 years ago, there’s a reason you’re not coming up with great candidates.
“Dealers’ digital assets for retailing their jobs typically are insufficient,” said Robinson. “We end up paying a ‘brand tax’ because of the perceptions about this industry. We pay it on job boards. We help dealers control and build their employment brand in their digital career site.”
Many dealers focus on branding their businesses for customers, but they need to spend some time branding their businesses as attractive workplaces for high-quality candidates. This is particularly critical when trying to hire technician candidates for service departments, because they’re unlikely to be looking in the same places as sales job candidates such as LinkedIn.


text: Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University, is concerned about two things in agriculture; the American economy as it sits today and the ongoing trade wars. “The American Economy is growing very slowly and there is the possibility of a recession,” says Flinchbaugh. “The big problem facing agriculture is trade wars. China, Mexico and Canada are our top three customers, so it’s difficult to sell products with a trade agreement.” During Flinchbaugh’s presentation, a banker at the Ag Credit Conference asked the simple question: Who will win the trade war, the U.S. or China? “When you lose sales overseas, it’s like losing sleep. You never get it back. There is no way to win it.” Listen to the interview.


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In late October, researchers at North Carolina State University alerted Google to a security flaw that could let scam artists send phony text messages to Android phones — a practice called “smishing” that can ensnare consumers in fraud. Google’s security…
In late October, researchers at North Carolina State University alerted Google to a security flaw that could let scam artists send phony text messages to Android phones — a practice called “smishing” that can ensnare consumers in fraud.
Google’s security officials replied in minutes, confirming the flaw and promising to correct it. Within days, they had incorporated a fix into the latest version of the Android operating system, Jelly Bean 4.2, and made available a security update for earlier versions.
But for most Android phones, the fix never arrived. For many, it never will.
That is because it is not clear which company — Google, the smartphone maker, or the wireless carrier that sells it — bears ultimate responsibility for the costly process of getting security updates to an Android device. Fixes to known security flaws can take many months to reach individual smartphones if they arrive at all.
Security experts say the problem has contributed to making the world’s most popular mobile operating system more vulnerable than its rivals to hackers, scam artists, and a growing universe of malicious software.
Breaches remain more common on traditional computers than on smartphones, which have been engineered to include security features not found on desktop or laptop machines, experts say Page Design Shop.
But outdated software can undermine such protections. If there was a major outbreak of malicious software, the fractured nature of the system for delivering updates could dramatically slow efforts to protect information carried on Android phones — including documents, passwords, contact lists, pictures, videos, location data, and credit card numbers.
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The risks are severe for businesses and government agencies, whose increasingly popular bring-your-own-device policies have created new potential portals for espionage aimed at secure computer systems.
“You have potentially millions of Androids making their way into the workspace, accessing confidential documents,” said Christopher Soghoian, a former Federal Trade Commission technology expert who now works for the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s like an arid forest, and it’s just waiting for a match.”
Google engineers designed Android to resist hackers and have continually improved it. The company has also worked to purge malicious software from its app store, Google Play, minimizing the risk from one possible infection route.
“We’ve built the system from Day One to deal with this kind of world,” said Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of Android engineering. “The health of the Android ecosystem is essential to us.”
Yet while each new generation of Android delivers improvements that close off newly discovered avenues of attack, the company has struggled to get updated software to smartphones already in the hands of consumers.
The latest version of Android — the one with the “smishing” fix — is used by just 1.4 percent of the more than 500 million Android devices worldwide, according to data compiled by Google. The company also released a security patch that could repair the flaw in earlier versions of Android. Still, neither Google nor the wireless carriers could say how many current phones received the patch.
Ars Technica, a new site covering the technology industry, analyzed the update schedules for dozens of the most popular Android smartphones in December and found that most had received only two updates since consumers bought them, sometimes years earlier.
Apple’s iPhone, the leading competitor to Android smartphones, gets operating-system updates several times a year. A similar update schedule is common for desktop and laptop operating systems and other software, with updates happening automatically — often with users not knowing it.
What is different about the Android line of smartphones is that various manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG, and HTC, make dozens of devices that tailor the software and its updates to their own specifications. Then wireless carriers, such as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, make their own changes and test each update before sending it to consumers over their wireless networks.
The overall updating process for Android phones typically takes months and happens far less frequently than recommended by security experts, who call the diffusion of responsibility among several companies “fragmentation.” Blame also is spread widely, though it often focuses on the carriers as the most important chokepoint.
Wireless carriers say they seek to release updates promptly, but they acknowledge that the process generally takes months.
“When more than one company is involved in delivering the final product, as is the case with the Android environment, any improvements in the security update process must include all entities involved,” said Ed Amoroso, the chief security officer at AT&T. “We intend to coordinate with other providers to see if we can engineer a better solution than the one we have now.”
Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless carrier, and Samsung, the largest Android device maker, declined to answer detailed questions and said they deliver updates as quickly as possible. Sprint declined numerous interview requests, referring queries to Google.
But security experts say Google, by itself, has little power to get faster updates to phones. It founded the Android Update Alliance in 2011 and carriers and device makers, but the initiative has produced little.
Last year, Google bought Motorola Mobility, a leading manufacturer of mobile devices, which may eventually lead to faster updates for that company’s products. Google’s record of updating software on its own line of phones and tablets, called Nexus and produced in conjunction with other manufacturers, is better than when phone makers adopt the Android system, which Google makes and distributes for free.
The extent of risk to smartphones is a subject of debate among security experts. CrowdStrike’s Alperovitch said that most consumers face little danger as long as they buy apps through Google’s store and do not patronize the growing number of third-party stores that have become popular in China and beyond.
Other experts say the risk is real and growing for all Android users. McAfee, the anti-virus company, says it has documented an explosion in the amount of malicious software designed to target the operating system, which runs on three out of four new smartphones worldwide. Some malicious software steals personal information, while some can initiate phony charges that can appear — and often are not detected — on consumers’ cellphone bills.
Trend Micro, another security company, has reported on the spread of Android-based botnets, which could allow remote users to take control of thousands or even millions of devices at a time.
There are many potential entryways for those looking to hack into smartphones: browsers, text messages, e-mails, cellular signals, WiFi signals, Bluetooth connections, and, for the latest smartphones, near-field communication radios. Some powerful spying software, typically used by governments, allows hackers to switch on cameras or microphones to watch or listen to smartphone users.
“Now they can hack your life, your physical life, not just your cyber-life,” said Tom Kellermann, a Trend Micro vice president and member of President Obama’s commission on cybersecurity.
Such intrusions are difficult and time-consuming, making them unlikely for ordinary users. But security experts warn that such tactics could be used against the most valuable targets, such as business executives or senior government officials, especially if they are running outdated software.
“It’s essentially the weak link in the chain,” said Pat Calhoun, a senior vice president at McAfee, a maker of security software. “The cybercriminals have determined that if they want to get into the enterprise, the best way is through the mobile device.”
The need for fast action
There is little evidence the “smishing” vulnerability — so named because it was a version of “SMS phishing,” meaning it sought to trick users into clicking on a malicious link on a phony text message — has spread widely. Xuxian Jiang, the computer science professor who reported the flaw to Google, said he has heard numerous reports of “smishing” attacks in China but few in the United States.


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“In the wake of Apple’s (AAPL) better-than-expected earnings report on Monday, many are giving the company’s cheap stock a second look,” Prasad Kaipa and John Edson write for Fortune. “There’s an even better reason to revisit Apple, however. Tim Cook has been humbled, and now he’s reintroducing the company’s original profit driver: disruptive innovation.”
“Cook has always been a smart leader when it comes to operations. He built his reputation by building a global supply chain that reliably delivers millions of products at managed costs to consumers all over the world,” Kaipa and Edson write. “He also knew when to build bridges (like he did with HTC), when to fight (like he is doing with Samsung), and when to apologize (like he did with Apple Maps and service in China).”
Kaipa and Edson write, “Under Cook’s leadership, we’ve seen Apple Maps, a new (thicker, heavier) iPad, the iPad mini, and many smaller product improvements across the board. But we received no new products in March. Can Apple turn this trend around? We believe it can, and we believe Tim Cook is the man to do it. That’s because, like many leaders who evolve from being merely smart to wise, he is showing evidence of leadership changes.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We believe Tim Cook is the man to do it, but we disagree that he’s been humbled as he always stuck us as a rather humble man, despite running the greatest company on earth while carting around a personal net worth approaching half a billion dollars.


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David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are the best smartphones you can buy, well ahead of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, according to Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports praised the bright and colorful displays on Samsung’s new flagship smartphones, and also noted both provide good battery life and “stunning” cameras.
The outlet also liked that Samsung’s phones were able to survive drops into its pressurized dunk tank, which means consumers won’t have to worry too much if a phone drops in the pool.
Consumer Reports didn’t dig too much into what makes the phones stand out against Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, however. Like Samsung’s new phones, both offer water resistance, good cameras and solid battery life. The iPhone 7 Plus advanced dual camera received a nod, but the report said Samsung’s phones aren’t missing out by not having that feature.
CNBC found Samsung’s phones don’t offer as good of a “Portrait Mode” as Apple’s do, which allow you to take pictures that appear to be snapped by much more expensive cameras thanks to blurred backgrounds. That’s what the secondary sensor is for on the iPhone 7 Plus, after all.
Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge was Consumer Reports previous top-rated smartphone, a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC. The iPhone 7 Plus is the fifth-rated smartphone behind the Galaxy S8+., Galaxy S8, Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G6, Consumer Reports told CNBC.
Apple will need to impress with the iPhone 8 if it wants to climb the ladder.
Be sure to read CNBC review of the Galaxy S8 for more.


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NANAIMO, B.C. — Tilray Inc. and Aphria Inc. say their merger deal has now closed after receiving approval from shareholders of both companies.
Tilray shareholders voted Friday in favour of issuing stock to Aphria's shareholders, but the Nanaimo, B.C.-based company has yet to reveal how many supported the proposal.
About 99 per cent of Aphria shareholders voted in favour of the deal in April.
The two cannabis companies announced in December that they will merge under the Tilray name with Aphria CEO Irwin Simon at the helm and Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy joining the board.
The new company is expected to have a pro forma revenue of $874 million and will control more than 17 per cent of the retail cannabis market — the largest share held by any Canadian licensed producer.
While Tilray shareholders at Friday's meeting supported the Aphria deal, they voted against increasing the company's authorized capital stock from more than 743 million shares to 900 million shares.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2021.
Companies in this story: (TSX:APHA)
The Canadian Press


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Image upscaling has become a standard in the visual industry, especially for AAA games. AMD has FidelityFX Super Resolution, a more open-source version of Nvidia’s DLSS scaling tech. Modern developers need to improve graphics without putting more strain on their hardware. The latest version of team red’s FSR, a more open-source variant of Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling tech, is now available to Xbox developers.
IGN spotted a blog post on AMD’s website acknowledging the first anniversary of FSR. Version 1.0 will be launched on June 22, 2021. Version 2.0 was released last month and is being updated to be compatible with newer games. Developers for the Xbox One consoles and Xbox Series X/S will now be able to use the updated image scaling software.
The post states that the software will be available in Xbox GDK (or Game Development Kit). Upscaling is essentially an AI-driven technology. It redraws pixels to create higher resolutions. Upscaling can make a 1080p game appear as if running at 1440p, improving visual quality and not causing more work for the graphics cards. FSR 2.0 by AMD has been used in Cyberpunk2077. However, a fan-made this mod, which is now being used in many other titles.
FSR 1.0 supported 47 games last year, including Deathloop and Resident Evil. According to AMD’s blog post, FidelityFX Super Resolution was made compatible with 110 titles since then. Its open-source version 2.0 now supports consoles and may give it an advantage over other competitors, particularly Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling, which has been the industry leader in scaling technology upscaling until recently.
Others are also looking to join the fray. Apple has recently introduced MetalFX, its upscaling artificial intelligence that will be included with its Metal 3 graphics API. Intel also has XeSS (or Xe Super Sampling), so the competition is getting tougher. It seems AMD may have an edge, especially since Xbox developers can implement it in games.