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Americans’ sentiment approached a 17-year high last week on increasingly upbeat views of the economy and personal finances, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed Thursday. Weekly index increased to 57.6, the fourth straight advance, from 57.3; best reading since 58.1 in April, which was highest since February 2001. Gauge tracking current views of the economy advanced to 59.4, the highest since mid-March, from 58. Gauge of personal finances at 64 after 63.9; measure of buying climate slipped to 49.4 from 49.9. Americans’ views of the economy have been bolstered by an unemployment rate matching the lowest since 1969 and tax cuts that have fattened wallets, along with fuel prices that have cooled from a three-year high in May. Sentiment was divided along income lines; among respondents earning more than $100,000, the index was the highest in data back to 2004, while it fell to a three-month low for those with incomes below $15,000.
Meanwhile, another survey of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan has indicated that concerns over trade policy are weighing on expectations for the economy, even as Americans remain happy with current conditions and their finances. Sentiment advanced in Northeast, Midwest and South and fell in West. The Index rose among Republicans and independents and fell for Democrats. Comfort levels among married respondents rose to highest since November 2000.
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The staggering amount of food waste in Edmonton and across the country can be stomach-churning.
But now, a University of Alberta researcher is reaching out with a survey for those in the food industry to investigate routes of collaboration between food businesses and other stakeholders to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Lead investigator Farrah So said the City of Edmonton and the provincial government both have plans in place to help create these collaborative programs.
“There’s a lot of work going towards trying to create discussions between food businesses, creating partnerships between food businesses and charitable organizations that redistribute waste,” said So in an interview. “For the Government of Alberta, they’re looking for ways to convert organic material into biofuel and other bio products.”
Reducing waste is good for the environment but it’s also good financially for businesses, said So.
“I would say it’s a triple win,” she said. “That’s commonly said within this area. It’s able to increase revenue, it’s able to have a positive environmental impact and hopefully with less food waste there is more food that can be sold and more food that can be eaten.”
While some food waste is inevitable, So said it can be better prevented or diverted away from landfills by recycling it into animal feed or bio-based materials.
The project has been in development since early 2021, but So said the survey has only been out for a couple of weeks and will remain open until the end of August.
So graduated with a bachelor of science in nutrition and food sciences in 2020 and is currently in the first year of her master’s program in food science and technology. She said her time in the classroom sparked this project.
“Food waste in particular was an area where I thought that more work could be done and I thought a lot of promising research was coming out,” said So. “I took the opportunity during my undergrad to do a project about food waste for food manufacturers and I decided to continue that into my master’s program.”
So said the researchers need as many Alberta food businesses as possible to participate in the survey so they can gain an understanding of various experiences and perspectives.
The survey can be taken at bit.ly/businessfoodwastesurvey .

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Good morning everybody,
US shares climbed once more on Thursday and at the moment are up shut to 4% over the previous month regardless of the Iran disaster and a troublesome spell at residence for retailer share costs. As tensions eased between the US and Iran, attention turned back to US-China trade negotiations. China introduced that its chief trade negotiator will journey to the US to signal the part one deal subsequent week, which is the primary time China has publicly confirmed that it will likely be signing. Trump has indicated that the deal shall be signed on or shortly after January 15th. As a part of the deal China has dedicated to a minimal of $200bn in elevated purchases from the US over the following two years.
As soon as it’s over the road, undoubtedly Trump will hail this as a victory going into his re-election marketing campaign, though he additionally indicated that the “part two” negotiations would start immediately. Trump did warn that this could take a while and sure conclude after November’s election.
Blended fortunes on the UK excessive road
Two updates from two very completely different retailers are seemingly to give buyers a lot to mull over this morning, after each JD Sports activities Trend and discounter B&M up to date on their Christmas gross sales.
JD Sports activities stated in an replace that “in opposition to a backdrop of broadly reported retail challenges within the Group’s core UK market, it’s encouraging to report optimistic like-for-like tendencies within the Group’s international Sports activities Trend fascias, significantly abroad.”. It additionally guided that its outcomes can be within the higher quartile of expectations when it reviews in February. Shares are literally adverse this morning which might presumably be attributed to revenue taking seeing as the value has elevated by 110% within the final yr.
In the meantime B&M European Bargains, the low cost retailer, reported retailer income progress of 8.8%, and like-for-like progress of 0.3%. Regardless of the modest progress, this got here in beneath analysts’ estimates and shares are buying and selling down nearly 9% this morning. The toys and confectionery classes dragged the numbers down with the house departments persevering with to carry out. Echoing JD Sports activities, it stated it had skilled “a tough UK retail setting with decreased shopper footfall and political uncertainty”. Nonetheless, the corporate famous that it had skilled a optimistic begin to January however warned on antagonistic climate situations doubtlessly having an influence.
Apple hits new report excessive on China progress
The trade deal wasn’t the one China information making headlines on Thursday — iPhone gross sales have been up 18% in December versus the identical month a yr earlier, sending the inventory 2.1% larger. Apple faces a troublesome market in China, competing in opposition to native, low value telephone makers. Regardless of this, it has recognized China as a key progress space and as such shall be very inspired by the progress these numbers present.
Tech shares prepared the ground into new decade
Pushed by a flurry of analyst notes because the CES (Shopper Electronics Present) convention shines a highlight on tech, the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite has been main the primary US indices in 2020. It gained 0.8% on Thursday, taking its year-to-date return to 2.6%, after a rating of upgrades for key constituents. Amongst them, semiconductor agency AMD gained 2.4% after a Mizuho analyst upgraded their ranking on the inventory. AMD has been a part of a broader rally in chip corporations and has gained shut to 25% over the previous month, and greater than 70% for the reason that begin of October. On the draw back, pharmacy retailer Walgreens continued to fall after lacking earnings outcomes earlier within the week, dropping 2.1% on Thursday and taking its weekly loss previous 7%. Retailers together with Kohl’s and J.C. Penney fell after reporting poor vacation gross sales numbers, dropping 6.5% and 10.8% from their share costs respectively.
S&P 500: +0.7% Thursday, +1.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Common: +0.7% Thursday, +1.5% YTD
Nasdaq Composite: +0.8% Thursday, +2.6% YTD
Sterling slips as Carney offers downbeat replace
Financial institution of England governor Mark Carney’s first speech of the yr despatched the pound decrease in opposition to the greenback, after he gave a pessimistic overview of the UK’s financial state of affairs. Carney stated the Financial Coverage Committee was debating “the relative deserves of near-term stimulus”, indicating that there was “ample headroom” to double the £60bn of asset purchases by the financial institution to stimulate progress. This was considerably surprising seeing as Mark Carney has often distanced himself from further stimulus and adverse charges in distinction to his European counterparts.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.3%, with names equivalent to Vodafone Group, Rolls Royce and the London Inventory Change main the best way with 3% share value good points apiece. Airways have been additionally winners on Thursday, after the oil value fell back as Iran tensions cooled. British Airways’ dad or mum firm Worldwide Consolidated Airways Group gained 2.6%, and easyJet was up 2.2%.
FTSE 100: +0.31% Thursday, +0.74% YTD
FTSE 250: -0.04% Thursday, -1.1% YTD
What to watch
This autumn earnings season kicks into gear subsequent week, when a lot of the main US banks report, however immediately is a quiet day in inventory particular information. Nonetheless, it’s one other busy day when it comes to US financial knowledge, with the US Division of Labor publishing its December jobs report. Listed here are the highlights:
Non-farm payrolls and unemployment charge: Economists polled by Bloomberg predict the addition of 160,000 jobs in December, versus a shock 266,000 in November. The unemployment charge is anticipated to maintain regular at 3.5%. If the figures are available in round expectations, that will mirror a gradual tempo of labour market progress, regardless of the pains confronted by the manufacturing sector. Any outperformance would nearly actually be met with a beneficial market response.
Wage progress: Wage figures shall be watched intently too, and a few are predicting that that is an space of the report which will produce a optimistic shock, as employers compete to appeal to expertise in a market with minimal unemployment. On Thursday, as an example, quick meals chain Taco Bell introduced plans to trial $100,000 salaries for retailer managers. Keep in mind that the information for December consists of the vacation interval, which might have an effect on the numbers.
Ethereum and XRP, have continued to retreat from highs seen earlier this week as tensions between the US and Iran dissipate.
Having touched a excessive of $145 on Wednesday, Ethereum is back down at $134.90 this morning, while XRP has moved from above $0.22 to $0.198.
Bitcoin has additionally pulled back, albeit much less aggressively. Having peaked at $8,400 mid-week, the coin is now buying and selling back at $7,685.
Now we have additionally seen the bitcoin hash charge hit report highs this week, the hash charge measuring the computing energy behind the mining of bitcoin. Up to now there was correlation between hash charge and value, though not all the time, the hash charge continued to rise all through 2018 when the market was declining.
It’s a little bit of a attain to say the hash charge is chargeable for the value rise we noticed as opposed to the US-Iran tensions and different technical components, particularly when the pullback has additionally coincided with the de-escalation of battle, but it surely’s a believable contributor.
All knowledge, figures & charts are legitimate as of 10/01/2020. All buying and selling carries danger. Solely danger capital you possibly can afford to lose.
This content material is for info and academic functions solely and shouldn’t be thought of funding recommendation or an funding advice. Previous efficiency just isn’t a sign of future outcomes. CFDs are leveraged merchandise and carry excessive danger to your capital.


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It is hard to imagine everyday life without materials made of synthetic polymers. Clothes, car parts, computers or packaging — they all consist of polymer materials. Lots of polymers are present in nature, too, such as DNA or proteins. Polymers are built on a universal architecture: they are composed of basic building blocks called monomers.
The synthesis of plastic precursors, such as polymers, involves specialized catalysts. However, the traditional batch-based method of finding and screening the right ones for a given result consumes liters of solvent, generates large quantities of chemical waste, and is an expensive, time-consuming process involving multiple trials. Ryan Hartman, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at
Polymers are used to develop various materials, such as plastics, nylons, and rubbers. In their most basic form, they are made up of many of identical molecules joined together over and over, like a chain. If you engineer molecules to join together in specific ways, you can control the characteristics of the resulting polymer. Using
Covestro, a German manufacturer of high-performance polymers, has launched a new custom 3D printing brand named Addigy®. Debuting at Formnext 2019, Addigy® will focus on providing material solutions used in industrial 3D printing production. This includes polycarbonates, thermoplastic polyurethanes as well as polyurethane-based resins. Such materials enable personalized properties and specific performances, such as toughness,
A Florida State University research team has developed methods to manipulate polymers in a way that changes their fundamental structure, paving the way for potential applications in cargo delivery and release, recyclable materials, shape-shifting soft robots, antimicrobials and more. “We are making a polymer completely change its architecture through a chemical response,” said FSU Assistant
An international team of researchers has found it can significantly boost an existing polymer’s ability to selectively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) out of gas mixtures by first submerging the material in liquid water. “Normally, improving the permeability of a gas through a material impairs the material’s selectivity,” says Rich Spontak, co-corresponding author of a paper
A polymer that self-destructs? While once a fictional idea, new polymers now exist that are rugged enough to ferry packages or sensors into hostile territory and vaporize immediately upon a military mission’s completion. The material has been made into a rigid-winged glider and a nylon-like parachute fabric for airborne delivery across distances of a hundred


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Janet L. Yellen, in her first monetary policy speech as Fed chair, said that the nation’s economic recovery will be nearly complete within two years but cautioned that the economy still needs the central bank’s support. ¶ The Fed’s forecasts project that the jobless rate will bottom out and inflation will pick up by the end of 2016, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the economy is running close to full steam. ¶ “If the economy obediently followed our forecasts, the job of central bankers would be a lot easier and their speeches would be a lot shorter,” Yellen said. ¶ She framed the Fed’s decision on tightening its easy-money policies on the labor market’s health, inflation expectations, risks from fiscal policies such as federal spending cuts and turmoil in areas such as Europe.
Yahoo’s final bill for Henrique de Castro’s 15 months at the company: $58 million.
General Motors is replacing executives for human resources and communications as the automaker struggles with recalls over faulty ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths.
● A federal judge rejected a bid to compel GM to tell customers to stop driving the 2.6 million cars that have been recalled, deferring to the National Highway Traffic Safety agency.
The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo is headed for liquidation after the Tokyo District Court rejected its bankruptcy protection application. After Mt. Gox went offline in February, its chief executive, Mark Karpeles, said 850,000 bitcoins worth several hundred million dollars were unaccounted for.
Weibo, of China, priced its initial public offering at $17 per American Depositary Share — the bottom of its planned range. The Twitter-like microblogging service, owned by Web portal Sina, sold 16.8 million ADSs in the offering, raising $285.6 million.
T-Mobile, which has taken up the mantle of being the “uncarrier” — the company that knows what mobile customers hate — is ending domestic overage charges. But users who go over data limits will see Web traffic speeds throttled back.
The Pentagon will cut 17 of the 343 F-35 fighters it planned to buy from Lockheed Martin unless Congress repeals automatic budget cuts. The move would save $1.7 billion in planned spending for the F-35, the costliest U.S. weapons program.
The European Union’s parliament passed laws to minimize the risks and costs posed by failing banks. It created a European authority with the power to unwind or restructure failing banks, as well as a system that will see banks’ creditors — not governments — take losses first when lenders fail.● ●
A Canadian cybercrime unit arrested and charged a 19-year-old Ontario man for allegedly hacking into the country’s tax agency using the Heartbleed Internet security bug. It was the first known case of a hacker taking advantage of the security flaw for malicious purposes.
Michaels Stores said 3 million debit and credit cards may have been affected by a security breach.
Facebook’s cautious rollout of the “Nearby Friends” app, which allows users’ locale to be tracked in real time, reflects a shift in its approach to privacy concerns.
Google Glass wearable devices went on sale online for one day for $1,500 plus tax. Wannabe owners had to be U.S. residents with a U.S. shipping address.
Google bought drone maker Titan Aerospace, in a bid to supplement its efforts to connect parts of the world that do not have Internet access. The terms were not disclosed.
American Express first-quarter profit climbed to $1.43 billion, as customer spending increased 6 percent.
Bank of America posted an unexpected loss of $514 million after it took a $6 billion charge to cover litigation expenses, a figure that far exceeded the legal settlements the No. 2 U.S. bank had announced.
Capital One Financial profit climbed 9.3 percent, to $1.15 billion, even as revenue slipped 3 percent.
Coca-Cola profit dipped to $1.62 billion as the amount of soda it sold globally fell for the first time in 15 years. The drop was offset by stronger sales of noncarbonated drinks, which include Minute Maid, Powerade and Dasani bottled water.
General Electric profit slid 18 percent, to $3.3 billion, dragged down by its year-ago NBC Universal sale.
Goldman Sachs profit was $1.95 billion, down from $2.19 billion a year ago. It posted its best investment banking revenue since 2007.
Google profit climbed 2.9 percent to $3.45 billion, hurt by rising costs.
IBM profit shrank 21 percent, to $2.38 billion, as it struggles to keep up with changes in the market for business technology such as cloud computing.
Intel profit dropped 4.8 percent, to $1.95 billion, hurt by fewer PC sales.
Johnson & Johnson profit rose 8 percent, to $4.4 billion, as prescription drug sales surge.
Morgan Stanley profit climbed 18 percent, to $1.45 billion, compared with $936 million a year ago, boosted by its wealth management and bond underwriting.
PepsiCo posted a $1.22 billion profit (vs. $1.08 billion a year ago) as the company sold more snacks around the world and increased prices, including on its drinks.
Yahoo profit fell to $312 million, from $390 million a year ago — but its quarterly report offered a glimpse of the value of Alibaba, the private Chinese online commerce company that is expected to go public at a valuation of $200 billion, which would make it the biggest IPO in U.S. history. Yahoo owns a 24 percent stake in the company.
Businesses boosted their stockpiles 0.4 percent in February after a similar 0.4 percent increase in January. Inventories held by manufacturers rose the most in February, a gain of 0.7 percent.
The Congressional Budget Office lowered estimates of the federal health-care law’s cost by $104 billion over the next decade.
A federal appeals court said the Environmental Protection Agency can force power plants to cut mercury emissions without considering the cost.
China set out to “sweep out porn” and “strike at rumors” on the Internet, a move critics said stifles dissent.
— From news services and staff reports
China’s economy slowed to a 24-year low in the first quarter. That was down from the fourth quarter’s 7.7 percent and came in below the full-year official growth target of 7.5 percent. After a decade of explosive economic expansion, Beijing is trying to guide China to slower, more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption rather than trade and investment.


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The authorities of the Chinese city of Suzhou will hold a new “lottery” for the distribution of digital yuan.
In December, Suzhou will host China’s second “free lottery” to distribute the digital renminbi as part of ongoing testing and preparations for the release of state cryptocurrency.
According to a publication in The Paper, on December 1 2 in Suzhou, the Double 12 shopping festival will host a free distribution of digital yuan. The goal of the second “free lottery” is to help citizens assess the convenience of the state cryptocurrency preparing for launch.
distribution of digital yuan
Testing will be similar to the pilot program to distribution of digital yuan , implemented in Shenzhen in October. Then the city held a “free lottery” for 10 million digital yuan. The size of each “gift” was 200 digital yuan, which could be spent from October 1 2 to 1 8 in any of the 3,389 stores in the Luohu area. The Shenzhen authorities later stated that 88% of free digital yuan was spent on goods and services.
According to the publication, testing of the digital yuan in Suzhou will include additional aspects of technology that have not been tested in Shenzhen, including the autonomous function of the digital yuan, which allows for one-touch translations when interacting with smart devices.
The Paper reports that many enterprises in the Xiangcheng area of Suzhou have already installed terminals with NFC technology and support for QR codes to make payments so that citizens can pay for services and goods with digital yuan. According to the publication, in another city – Chengdu, is undergoing closed beta testing of the digital yuan. Test participants can use a digital wallet for transactions through an unnamed “large bank.”
Recall that the People’s Bank of China (NBK) plans to organize an official testing zone for state cryptocurrency in the capital of China as part of an experiment to create a free trade zone in Beijing.


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Internet-based options – cutting the cord, in other words, in favor of options like Netflix, Hulu and the like. Indeed, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime – and the simplicity of the subscriptions, as opposed to
Almost 60 percent of Americans, according to this new survey, have canceled their cable TV packages, with only 12 percent affirming they're TV cable TV companies. In another sign of how things have become for those cable companies,  "As industry The survey report notes with a bit of understatement, with: "The survey report notes with a bit of understatement, with
A picture of where cord-cutting is most prevalent around the country.
Netflix, Amazon, and the billions of dollars' worth of content are also available Hulu alone. Netflix, the survey notes, spent $ 13 billion on content in 2018, while Amazon shelled out $ 5 billion and Hulu gives its subscribers access to $ 30 billion worth of original and licensed content.
This helps explain Netflix's recent announcement that the streaming giant is Netflix's pending move to crack down on the illegal sharing of accounts. Who's mooching, which could generate some substantial new revenue for the company.
How much? Well, a report from Parks Associations found that over the next two years, "Credential Sharing" wants to be responsible for almost $ 10 billion in revenue for pay TV and a little more than $ 1 billion in lost over-the-top revenue.


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Updated to Kodi 17.1 Krypton and now facing the annoying buffering issue? Do not worry as this tutorial will guide you step by step to fix this problem.
It seems like Niantic developers are on the roll. The team has just released new update for Pokemon Go for Android, making the version to 0.59.1. This new update adds lot of new feature as well as some improve the stability.
Pokemon Go for Android is updated, making it version 0.57.4. According to developers, this new update brings some performance improvements as well as bug fixes.
Complete step by step tutorial to download and Play latest Pokemon Go gen 2 0.57.4 on your Windows 8/10 PC using GPS hack and Bluestacks emulator.
After updating to version 0.57.4, users are facing different GPS and location based issues. Do not worry as this workaround will help you fix Pokemon Go failed to detect location and GPS signal not found working error on both Android and iOS devices.


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Smart Solar has bought the garden products supplier Greentree for an undisclosed sum and appointed its founder Gary Ackers, in a new role of commercial director.
Ackers, who built Greentree into a £1million business in the last four years, was previously with Gardman and has been in the garden trade for 12 years. His experience is in purchasing, planning and supply chain management. He will be managing the integration of the Greentree business but will also have responsibility for the entire supply chain and purchasing team.
He said: "This is a great opportunity for me to join a company that has ambitious plans for the future. I am looking forward to playing my part in the executive management team that is leading Smart Solar’s development."
Jonathan Stobart, founder and chief executive of Smart Solar, added, "Gary’s industry knowledge and experience in purchasing and product development will bolster our existing skills and take our supply chain management to a new level."
Smart Solar was set up in January 2003. In 2012, Smart Solar bought the exclusive distribution rights for Haxnicks ‘Love to Grow’ product collection. Gardman founder Paris Natar joined as chairman in May 2013.


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The ACTU has committed to undertake an inquiry into price gouging by big business in Australia and has today announced it will be chaired by Professor Allan Fels AO.
Professor Fels AO is an eminent Australian, prominent economist and the former chair of Australian competition and consumer commission (ACCC).
Professor Fels AO will use his years of experience as a regulator to consider the extent of price gouging facing working people on essential items.
The inquiry will take public submissions, submissions by experts and by organisations concerned with the potential impacts of price gouging.
The inquiry will also hold public hearings across the country to hear about the potential impact of price gouging on working people and on what can be done to address it.
The inquiry will make findings and may make recommendations to the ACTU on policy solutions to limit future price gouging.
Those interested in making submissions and tracking when and where public hearings will be scheduled should visit https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/
“I am pleased to have been asked to Chair this inquiry, which echoes the beginnings of my career at the Price Justification Tribunal. It’s time to take a serious look at what is a serious problem, does Australia have a price gouging problem and if so to what extent?
“In a cost-of-living crisis, price gouging has real consequences. Those affected by this deserve an opportunity to express themselves alongside debate on potential policy solutions.
“We are delighted that Professor Fels has agreed to head up this inquiry. Professor Fels brings a lifetime of experience as a regulator and provides us with an opportunity for a deep and detailed examination of the issues.
“The impacts of the cost of purchasing our most basic goods shouldn’t be underestimated. Working people are feeling this every day at the checkouts and when the bills come through the door.
“It’s only right we take a look to see what’s fulling these rises and what can be done about it.”


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EMBERS Hackathon is taking place at Junction, happening in Helsinki from today until the 27th November, with a great opportunity for all of those who dare to hack mobility! EMBERS goal is to stimulate the smart city ecosystem in Europe. While providing an IoT middleware with open APIs, we’re seeking for developers to reveal the sharp potential of the platform and integrate new data sets as well as to design innovative applications and solutions. So what is the EMBERS challenge at Junction? Integration of data is the key to success! The goal is to show how EMBERS could be used to connect the physical world with innovative services and applications that improve the mobility experiences of people in smart cities and, most of all, enhancing their quality of life. Participants will have access to data from different cities such as Valencia, Recife/Olinda, New York and others allowing them access to hundreds of sensor nodes, tools for sensor emulation real city data and historical data sets. The fun is starting now! What a productive and fantastic day at Junction. Hundreds of developers, engaging pitches, exciting networking opportunities and excellent activities happening all in a single event. Developers are now starting their work towards the development of innovative solutions. EMBERS teams are in action!
aston baseball basketball beauties chair cigarette clothing coffee computer creative cup deck dress drug dye fabric fan fitness flowers food


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The Apple Q2 2015 earnings announcement has been scheduled for the second fiscal quarter of 2015 for Monday, April 27. The earnings statement will be released around 1:30PM Pacific/4:30PM Eastern time. A conference call to discuss the report will be held at 2:00PM Pacific/5:00PM Eastern time.
The Apple Q2 2015 earnings announcement will reflect sales of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineups during the second quarter. The report will follow Apple’s record-breaking first quarter, when Apple announced revenues of $74.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $18 billion, on 74.5 million iPhone sales, 5.5 million Mac sales, and 21.4 million iPad sales.
Although the second quarter earnings report will follow the April 24 release of the Apple Watch, earnings for the new wearable device will not be included until the third quarter report.
Apple provided the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 second quarter:
- Revenue between $52 billion and $55 billion
- Gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
- Operating expenses between $5.4 billion and $5.5 billion
- Other income/(expense) of $350 million
- Tax rate of 26.3 percent
MacTrast will provide coverage of the Apple Q2 2015 earnings announcement and conference call on April 27.


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Germany will ban plastic bags in supermarkets in 2022
Germany will ban supermarkets from 2022 to distribute plastic bags to customers at the checkout. The German parliament, the Bundestag, agreed to this on Thursday.
Lightweight plastic bags of the type that customers usually pick up at the checkout point should be prohibited after a transitional period that was extended from six months to 12 months at the industry’s request.
Stable reusable bags and thin plastic bags used in the fruit and vegetable sections are excluded from the ban.
“The plastic bag is the embodiment of waste of resources,” said Environment minister Svenja Schulze, who initiated the ban. “Good alternatives are shopping baskets, washable fabric bags for fruit and vegetables and reusable boxes for products from the fresh-section.
For the WWF environmental organisation, the ban is only symbolic. Plastic bags account for only 1% of plastic consumption in Germany.


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Starbucks Likely to Roll Out Pumpkin Spice Latte Early
School is almost back in session, and you know what that means Fall is arriving. With the arrival of Fall, pumpkin spice items will be found everywhere.
Last week, Starbucks revealed that they would be rolling out new pumpkin spice items in stores. Yes, there will be a ready-to-drink version of the fall favorite, pumpkin spice latte in grocery stores. There will also be a pumpkin flavored ground coffee.
Get ready for the pumpkin invasion, but when will Starbucks roll out the fall favorite everyone seems to be waiting for? That date has yet to be announced, but it was been increasingly early over the last two years. In 2015, they rolled it out on Sept. 8, and in 2016, the drink debuted on Sept. 1.
So the question is, when will it debut this year?


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Founder of clothing label Butter Pudding Papama Mtwisha has launched a campaign to challenge widely held preconceived notions of the continent, leading with the bold slogan “Africa your time is now!”
The campaign is about celebrating the African spirit, with influential individuals from various industries donning black-and-white T-shirts with the distinct slogan. These influencers include businesswoman and radio presenter Azania Mosaka, musician Khuli Chana, actress S’thandiwe Kgoroge, fashion designer Marianne Fassler, radio and TV presenter Anele Mdoda and activist Josina Machel.
The statement T-shirt makes the wearer a “breathing billboard sending a positive vibration. You convey a powerful message of inspiration that positively reaffirms and sends a bold reminder of the power that Africa and Africans possess,” according to Butter Pudding.
“The aim is to have as many people wearing the T-shirt so the message is always top of mind. The T-shirts are a proclamation of power, strength, beauty, identity and character.”
For every T-shirt you buy (go to www.butterpudding.com), Butter Pudding will donate a portion of the profits to child-focused charity organisations.
Watch various personalities share what the statement slogan means to them:


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Two decades of various attempts at brand renewal haven’t resulted in much movement for the Cadillac brand. “In some ways, Cadillac doesn’t really compete with other luxury
brands,” according to The New York Times.
“Cadillac buyers most often trade in Chevys and Fords; rarely do they trade in German makes. Almost 40% of Cadillac buyers are over 65,
compared with 20% for Audi, according to Cox Automotive.”
Read the whole story at The New York Times »


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Small businesses struggling due to economic impact of pandemic can get support with US government-backed loans in Paycheck Protection Program
Between April and August 2020, as you likely remember, the Paycheck Protection Program distributed $523 billion in government-backed loans to 5.2 million small businesses. The intention was to help businesses continue paying their employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic crisis.
Now, 5.2 million businesses is no small number. Compare that to 2017, when 40% of American business owners applied for a loan. And while for many businesses, these PPP loans were a saving grace, it’s becoming clear that the devastation caused by the pandemic is not over, and financial assistance is still needed.
That’s why Congress included in the stimulus package it passed in December $284 billion in new funding. “PPP 2.0” will offer some of the hardest-hit businesses the opportunity for a second forgivable loan. However, there will be some minor differences from the last round. Let’s take a look at what you need to know.
The rules will be different for first-time applicants compared to returning borrowers.
First-time applicants: The business must have no more than 500 employees. Applicants must have been in operation on Feb. 15, 2020. Self-employed business owners and independent contractors are eligible but must have shown a profit on their 2019 tax return.
Returning borrowers: Applicants requesting a second loan must have no more than 300 employees. Publicly traded companies, political lobbyists, and members of Congress are not eligible to receive a second loan. Applicants must be able to prove hardship as a result of the pandemic, showing at least a 25% decrease in gross receipts between comparable quarters in 2019 and 2020. For instance, the floral industry is worth over $100 billion, but many small florists saw a significant loss in revenue as flower purchases were suddenly deemed unimportant during the economic downturn. Finally, businesses must prove that they have used all of the funds from the first loan in appropriate ways.
When to Apply
Most small businesses can begin applying on January 19. There are projected to be thousands of participating lenders, including major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo as well as fintech institutions like PayPal. The application deadline is March 31.
First-time borrowers may receive up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll cost, with a cap at $10 million. It’s important to note that the calculation is different for sole proprietors: they are eligible for 2.5 times the monthly profit reported on their 2019 Schedule C tax form.
Second-time borrowers are a bit more restricted. Their loans are capped at $2 million.
Back in April, PPP funds ran dry in only 13 days, leaving many desperate small businesses out in the cold. Fortunately, Congress quickly allocated more. The Treasury Department believes that funds will not run out this round, saying that $284 billion is expected to be sufficient to fund all qualified applicants.
Small businesses from mom-and-pop shops to private medical practices are struggling to keep the lights on, even 10 months after the initial shut-down. While some 4 million Americans are wearing braces, orthodontists had to close their doors to slow the spread of the virus, and while telemedicine has grown in popularity in certain medical fields, installing metal braces is not something one can do over Zoom. The second PPP loans will likely prove vital to the well-being of many workers and small business owners across the country.
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As the festive season nears, the Department of Agriculture says it is working to ensure that there is no shortage of poultry products in the country.
This as the deadly Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) continues to wreak havoc in the poultry industry, leading to over seven million chickens being culled.
Minister Thoko Didiza says she has decided to allow the import of poultry products into the country amid the outbreak of bird flu.
The disease, which affects both domestic and wild birds and could kill infected poultry, has been detected in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State, and also has been found in the Western Cape.
There has been a shortage of eggs and chicken in supermarkets due to the deadly disease.
“Minister Didiza has decided to allow the importation of table eggs, fertilised eggs and poultry meat to ensure sufficient stocks are available on time for the Christmas holiday season. Since the 1st of September 2023, the department has granted 115 permits for fertilised eggs, 48 permits for egg powder, 2,406 permits for poultry meat, 24 permits for table eggs,” the Agriculture Department’s Reggie Ngcobo told YNews.
Countries such as Namibia and Mozambique have since banned chicken meat and egg imports from South Africa.
Mozambique bans poultry imports from SA; first avian flu case reported in Morrumbenehttps://t.co/K9tIfBqkQW#Mozambique #Moçambique #Mocambique #SouthAfrica #AvianInfluenza #BirdFlu pic.twitter.com/nBBDME13EH
— Club of Mozambique (@clubOmozambique) October 17, 2023
@sa_poultry is sweating over the Avian Flu outbreak currently gripping the republic.
This comes as the Western Cape has now confirmed it’s first case of the highly pathogenic H7 Avian Influenza in George.
Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free Sate have also confirmed cases. pic.twitter.com/lm0XLEKMGI
— The Legal SA (@TheLegalSA) October 19, 2023
Written by: Nonhlanhla Harris


text: The FCC has approved the Motorola Canary, referring to the device as the Motorola K1. The quad-band EDGE flip-phone is the next-generation RAZR. It includes a 2-megapixel camera and, thankfully, a Micro SD slot. The release date is still unknown, but Phone Scoop expects it to be soon, since the company allowed the FCC to publish details of the phone. Rumor has that a CDMA version of the device is destined for Verizon. Also, check out the leaked photos of the Canary I linked to last month.


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If movie producers charged a $15 monthly fee to just 45% of the world's online subscribers, they could rake in just as much cash as they currently do through TV downloads and disc sales, a report released today showed.
According to the report from U.K.-based Generator Research, movie producers this year are expected to earn $29.4 billion from TV and home video sales.
"Movie producers have little to fear from online distribution in the long term," the report states. "It is the distribution part of the movie business that should be worried because online distribution will replace a sizable portion of their current industry.
"For those operating in developed Internet markets, this will mean that corporate strategies must change," the report added.
The report's theoretical model for ISPs points to a future where internet users pay a fixed fee for movie content on services such as Netflix, just like many users do today for music content.
Revenue from movie distribution formats
The Generator Research model assumes stagnant online movie distribution. However, online movie revenue is expected to increase by 260% from $3.5 billion this year to $12.7 billion in 2018, the report adds.
Forty-five percent of the world's broadband subscribers equates to 348 million people.
According to the report's hypothetical model, the $15 fee would offer open access to all movie content - meaning instant online access to all movies that have been ever produced, "along with new releases as they come out."
"And they would get access to all of this from all of their connected devices," the report stated.
Box office revenues, according to the report, are also expected to increase over the next four years by 22%, from $33.2 billion in this year to $40.5 billion in 2018.
Revenue from television downloads and rentals are also expected to increase, Generator Research said, from $11.7 billion in 2014 to $14.3 billion in 2018, a 22% hike.
Conversely, DVD and Blu-ray revenues will fall because consumer demand is falling and competition from so-called "virtual formats" is increasing. Revenue from DVD and Blu-ray sales will decrease by 38% from $14.3 billion in 2014 to $8.9 billion in 2018, the report showed.
"We think that movies represent a sustainable entertainment proposition: there is no evidence that consumers are growing bored with movies and when all channels are taken into account demand for great movies today is actually stronger today than at any time in the past," Generator Research stated.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian, or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His email address is firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Dyson Loses Appeal Court Case Over EU Energy-Labeling Rulesby
British vacuummaker had protested over `misleading' labels
Dyson argued that labels favored older machines with bags
Dyson Ltd., the British engineering company famous for its iconic vacuum cleaners, lost a court appeal to overturn European Union rules it said created “misleading” energy labeling of products.
The EU General Court in Luxembourg on Wednesday said it “dismisses Dyson’s action in its entirety, thereby upholding the rules put in place by the commission in the contested regulation.”
Dyson argued the EU’s method of evaluating energy use will favor old-fashioned models that use bags. The EU had developed labels to help people choose household appliances. From 2013, vacuum cleaners also had to meet certain energy performance criteria and the test to evaluate this is misleading, Dyson argued, because it requires this be done in a laboratory with an empty and dust-free vacuum.
The EU court decision will back “unrepresentative tests devised by the commission with a small group of European manufacturers which in our view disregards the interests of consumers,” Dyson said in an e-mailed statement. “Dyson was the only manufacturer to support a cap on motor wattage, which would be the most effective way of reducing energy consumption and promoting greater efficiency.”
Dyson tried to tie the case to investigations of cheating on emissions tests by Volkswagen AG, which is facing claims that it used computer technology to cut pollution by its vehicles during testing.
“The judgment is all the more surprising in view of the revelations about car testing in the VW scandal where the tests do not reflect real life usage,” the company said. “We don’t believe” the EU court “is acting in the interests of consumers and will continue to fight for testing and labeling, which is.”
Dyson said it will reassess the situation before deciding to file an appeal.
The case is: T-544/13, Dyson v Commission.


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The Indian government recently signed off on a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage local and foreign enterprises to invest in India’s manufacturing sector.
India has become a hub for back-office services and a growing manufacturing base. As a nation, India offers a wealth of perks for manufacturers, such as an educated and hard-working population, reasonable prices for factory grounds and tax reductions for smaller manufacturers.
Given its large population, India has ambitions to get people out of poverty by offering support to help them improve their standard of life. The goal is to achieve the same success with the PLI scheme, and present India as a solid choice for manufacturers to set up their factories and boost the country’s economic growth.
The PLI scheme, where the government will distribute $20 billion USD amongst eligible manufacturers, aims to remunerate manufacturers for increasing total manufacturing output and reward them for increasing the production of key goods in India.
For example, if a company manufactures 1000 units in India on an annual basis then increases to 2000 units, the government will issue an incentive for the additional 1000 units. Previous incentive schemes have provided between 2-6% of sales depending on the sector and size of the factory. As a result, these manufacturers could either produce more for the Indian market or produce in India to export to other countries.
Many mobile phone manufacturers, including Foxconn, Pegatron and Apple already manufacture their products in India. In just two years, India has become the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer (after China), as well as one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world.
Similar schemes for mobile phone/electronic manufacturers and pharma companies have already yielded significant investments in the respective sectors. The hope is to create the same manufacturing foothold in other sectors by inspiring more companies to set up shop in Indian factories.
The PLI scheme’s main benefit is that it’ll help foreign companies expand into India, or expand their existing manufacturing facilities in the country. Every new unit these manufacturers produce will earn them an incentive from the Indian government, which will help them to expand their operations further.
Providing a more extensive manufacturing base will also benefit the local population as larger factories require more staff. The incentive scheme will create more job opportunities and more economic activity, which will hopefully aid in reducing poverty in India.
The PLI scheme provides a win-win situation for India and for companies looking to expand.
To qualify for the PLI scheme, manufacturers must meet specific criteria, including an investment threshold that will likely rule out smaller manufacturers. The government will release the details at a later date.
The eligible sectors are:
- Automobiles & components
- ACC batteries
- Telecom products
- Steel products
- Food processing
- White goods
- Solar PV
The eligible product lines have been covered in detail here.
How Long Will the PLI Scheme Last?
At present, the PLI scheme is set to last for three to four years for most sectors, and five years for the telecom sector. Over time, the government will review the progress of the scheme and make changes as necessary based on how well it performs.
Options for Smaller Manufacturers
For those who can’t pay the minimum investment fee, India has an excellent tax system. In October 2019, the Indian government reduced the tax rate for new manufacturing companies to 17%, as compared to 25% for other companies.
This is one of the lowest tax rates in Asia, which makes India a winning choice even for new and smaller manufacturers. Also, by paying less tax, these manufacturers have a more substantial chance at expanding and making enough money to join the PLI scheme to reap its benefits eventually.


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Sany’s excavators and motor graders can now be equipped with Leica Geosystems machine control technology. The technology allows operators to increase their productivity while lessening the intensity of tasks. This helps keep workers safe and results in less wear and tear on machines.
The technology is available via a joint Technology Access Program, in which Sany dealers can offer customers a variety of machine control solutions through their leasing and purchasing agreements, with installation and support by certified Leica Geosystems dealers.
“This Technology Access Program will make deploying technology seamless and painless for operators,” says Troy Dahlin, vice president of heavy construction for Leica Geosystems U.S./Canada. “Local Sany dealers are now able to retrofit their machines easily with Leica Geosystems technology. This collaboration extends beyond both our companies, stretching deep into local dealer partnerships for both organizations.”
Customers and dealers can also take the technology for a test drive at the Sany Digs demo area at the Sany America headquarters near Atlanta, Georgia.
“Our customers and dealers want straightforward, streamlined solutions that make working with a mixed fleet easy and simple,” says Gabe Weiss, director of marketing for Sany. “This program is built on feedback from our Dealer Partner network and will provide operators with a technology option for grade control and dedicated access to the Leica Geosystems dealer support network.”
Customers interested in the Technology Access Program should contact their local Sany dealer.


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Network manufacture Cisco has documented a higher profit for its first quarter, powered by cost cutting measures and strong sales growth. The three months commencing October, the company reported a net income of ¢2.09bn (£1.83bn), up 17.7 % year over year. Earnings per share rose 18.2 per cent to ¢39.
After adjusting for exceptional items totalling ¢663m, non-GAAP net income amounted to ¢2.57bn or ¢0.48 per share, compared to ¢2.32bn or ¢0.43 per share for the same quarter, a year ago. Analysts' average estimate for the quarter was 0.46 per share, according to Reuters. Notwithstanding challenging market conditions, Cisco posted first-quarter net sales of ¢11.88bn, 5.5 % higher than the previous year level. Analysts expected ¢11.77bn for the quarter.
The total product revenue increased about 4 % year over year and service revenue rose by almost 12%. Geographically speaking, total revenue increased 7 % for the Americas and 10 % for Asia-Pacific, Japan and China, while revenues for the EMEA were almost flat.
CEO John Chambers stated, "We delivered record results this quarter with revenue growth of 6 % and strong earnings per share growth demonstrating our vision and strategy are working".
Chambers further went onto say, "Our innovation engine, operational discipline and on-going evolution are enabling us to differentiate in the market." In line with the company's cost cutting initiatives, designed to reduce expenses by about 1bn, operating expenses declined to 4.59bn from 4.68bn.
In 2011, the switching and storage products provider shed 10,000 jobs and was planning a further 1,300 cuts earlier this year. Cisco stated that the on-going debt crisis in the Eurozone continues to affect its day to day business. Chambers also said, "We are modelling Europe to get worse before it gets better". It has been reported that product orders for the quarter were stable year over year. In the past quarter, the company recorded a 13 % year-over-year growth in product orders.
Looking into the future, Cisco expects second-quarter non GAAP earnings to come in the range of ¢0.47 to ¢0.48 per share. It reported earnings of ¢0.47 per share a year earlier. Cisco’s quarterly revenues are expected to grow in the range of 3.5% to 5.5 %, compared to an 11.6% growth in the second quarter of 2012.


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Toronto, Ontario — DesRosiers Automotive Consultants (DAC) has released its latest Automotive Aftermarket scorecard, reporting increased repair costs and increased retail sales figures to auto parts in 2022, as well as expectations for “strong [aftermarket] growth” in 2023.
With parts shortages “widespread throughout the year,” writes DAC, the customer price index for passenger vehicle maintenance and repair services (as of Dec. 2022) increased 5.6 percent compared to Dec. 2021.
Passenger vehicle parts, accessories and supplies consumer price indexes were up 8.6 percent in Dec. 2022 over Dec. 2021.
For 2022, retail sales figures for automotive parts, accessories and tire stores showed an increase of 10.5 percent compared to 2021, indicating “strong dollar sales,” says DAC. Employment within the automotive aftermarket parts category grew, too, with parts and accessories stores seeing 5.4 percent more jobs in Dec. 2022 than in Dec. 2021.
DAC says employment in the automotive repair and maintenance segment grew between Dec. 2021 and Dec. 2022, adding 4.6 percent more jobs than in the year prior.
The report also states that gasoline consumption (in place of vehicle usage data) remained “fairly steady” in 2022, with just a 1.9 percent decrease overall, which DAC says is “unsurprising given the improved efficiencies of the fleet.”
“All expectations point to another strong year for the Canadian aftermarket in 2023, barring severe wider economic uncertainty,” concludes DAC’s report.


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However Tapjoy might like to bill it, there's no doubt the launch of the firm's first web-based app platform certainly eases any previous concerns the company had with Apple, and the latter's reluctance to support incentivised downloads.
There is, however, another string to Tapjoy's App Marketplace's bow - which has just launched in beta form - recommendation.
At a time when developers are concerned platform holders hold far too much power over what games sell and what don't, Tapjoy's recommendation system which looks to push games based on what you already have installed plus likes, dislikes and the activities of friends adds a new layer to the process.
Credit where it's due
Of course, there are other benefits to Tapjoy's approach, with the marketplace also allowing users to earn virtual currency for watching or interacting with ads.
What used to be called incentivisation is now dubbed Mobile Value Exchange.
"Smartphone and tablet users are clearly eager for a better way to find new apps," said president and CEO Mihir Shah.
"We already touch a very large and very passionate community of mobile app consumers - with more than 35 million MAUs - and we are proud to bring them something totally different from anything else out there."
For those new to the platform - and, perhaps, without any friends to connect with initially - Tapjoy will also push forward select apps via editorial reviews and staff picks.
The focus, however, remains on engaging users without forcing apps on them en masse.
"We've combined our personalised app recommendation engine and enormous app marketplace with social sharing and joint discovery features to create a unique and very personal app discovery experience," concluded Shah.
Tapjoy's marketplace can be accessed online or used fully via any HMTL5 mobile browser on iOS or Android at Tapjoy.com.
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
News Sep 12th, 2022
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Interview Dec 28th, 2021
Feature Nov 27th, 2023
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|Africa Games Week 2023||Africa||Nov 27th|
|Nordic Game 2023 Helsinki||Nov 28th|
|VR Days Europe 2023||Europe||Nov 28th|
|Playcon 2023||Europe||Nov 30th|
|Slush 2023||Nordic||Nov 30th|
|PAX Unplugged 2023||Dec 1st|
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Feature Nov 21st, 2023
News Nov 22nd, 2023
Interview Nov 21st, 2023


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Apple today released iOS 17.0.3, which as the name suggests is a very small incremental update to iOS 17. At least if you own something other than an iPhone 15 Pro or an iPhone 15 Pro Max. With one of these iPhones in hand, however, it is exactly what users have been waiting for for several days. And should therefore be installed as quickly as possible.
The new firmware is intended to fix the overheating problems that many iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max buyers have reported since the smartphones were introduced. Last week, Apple finally acknowledged the problems after countless online reports. A future software update should fix the cause of the overheating, as Apple promised. That’s exactly this update.
Meanwhile, Apple also collaborated with the developers of certain apps such as Instagram and Uber. Both apps were “overloading” the A17 Pro chipset, causing heat dissipation issues. More apps will probably also receive updates in the near future to reduce resource utilization.
The update released today with build number 21A360 also fixes a kernel vulnerability. This would allow an attacker to bypass authorization management under certain conditions. According to Apple, the bug has already been exploited in iOS 16.6 and earlier versions. Therefore, the update is definitely worth it, even if you don’t have an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple also released iPadOS 17.0.3, which only contains the security update.


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Confederation Of All India Traders
The flash point for the latest escalation was Diwali. This year’s festival in October came amid a slowdown in consumer spending that’s hit everyone. But while the shopkeepers union said its members saw as much as a 60% drop in Diwali sales, Amazon and Flipkart managed to report record revenue from the six-day festival.
"Under the circumstances and visualising it as a price war, we suggest it is the high time when the government must step in and enforce the fundamental of Minimum Operating Price which is the price consisting of landing price, operational cost and reasonable profit margin and below the MOP no product should be sold in the market," CAIT said in the letter.
The letter also took aim at various cashback schemes provided by banks exclusively on these e-commerce platforms.
While the consumption slowdown is affecting sales, experts believe a major reason for decrease in footfall is because of the mass shift to the online markets, which is affecting brick and mortar shops.
The CAIT in a written submission said that e-commerce business in the country needs to be revamped and e-commerce policy should be rolled out immediately.
Under the scheme all shopkeepers and self employed persons as well as retail traders with GST turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged between 18-40 years can enroll for the scheme.
E-tailers should be asked to furnish certificates about FDI policy compliance, CAIT writes to Prabhu
The government last month announced changes to FDI policy for the e-commerce sector, which would put an end to a barrage of discounts and cashback offers by online platforms.
"We are in the process of drafting the new e-commerce policy," Secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) Ramesh Abhishek told.
Rahul Gupta, chairman and MD of PP Jewellers and Diamonds, said what is helping the industry is a recent dip in the prices of gold. Satish Padmanabhan, sales head for Sony, said the industry growth has been patchy with some cities lagging in demand.
CAIT said that Walmart "may cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition" in the domestic market post combination as its "predatory tendencies" would be on a much larger scale.
Traders' body CAIT Wednesday termed the government's reported move to drop the draft of e-commerce policy as a regressive step, and has written to commerce minister Suresh Prabhu registering its protest.
Protesters say the deal is in contravention of press note 6 of 2013 that disallows FDI in e-commerce.
The sellers highlighted the draft policy’s proposal to allow 49% FDI in inventory model as long as Indian goods are sold, which is currently banned.
The bodies also argued that allowing the deal to go through would create an American duopoly (Walmart and Amazon) in the Indian retail sector and also lead to control of consumer data by these multi-national corporations (MNCs).
government on Friday said Walmart's acquisition of a majority stake in Flipkart was in line with the current policy on online marketplaces, where Amazon was already present.
Industry body CAIT has sought a close scrutiny of the $16-billion deal arguing that it would have greater ramifications on retail trade and the economy.
Traders' bodies, including the likes of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch, have opposed the deal and alleged that this could further hurt sellers' business.
The traders' body claimed that these steps will not only strengthen the domestic trade but also improve export performance of the country.
It further said the bill will certainly put an end to unfair practices and will also enable the creation of a powerful Central Consumer Protection Authority.
Restaurateurs and industry sources are also divided on whether or not a written order from the state government has come.


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Harley-Davidson will soon undergo a big change in its senior leadership. The well-known premium biker maker’s current CEO will be leaving his position, while the company will look to an external search firm to fill his place.
This development comes amid falling sales and rising concerns regarding the future of the American motorcycle manufacturer. Harley-Davidson is one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world and is currently the largest premium cruiser manufacturer in the world.
The firm is doing reasonably well in growing markets such as India and China and also a few other European and South-Asian markets. However, it is seeing a massive drop in sales in America, which is also Harley-Davidson’s largest market. The crisis faced by HD in America is fairly complicated.
Harley-Davidson has adopted a strategy that enables it to cater to its traditional buyers while also having products for the upcoming generation. It has on sale big-engined, old-school, low-riding cruisers and hard-tails for the traditional buyers while also having modern and futuristic products like the Pan America adventure bike and LiveWire electric motorcycle.
It seems like, this strategy is not sitting too well with the old, traditional buyers, who seem to be annoyed with the new generation. But Harley-Davidson as a manufacturer has no other choice but to cater to both groups, knowing well that it has to survive in the future too.
Well, this situation has visibly taken its toll on the senior management and Harley-Davidson’s CEO Matthew Leviach has decided to leave the struggling motorcycle manufacturer. Harley-Davidson has announced that he would leave his position as CEO and also his seat amongst the board of directors.
Jochen Zeitz, one of the board members will become the acting president and CEO until an external search firm can find a suitable replacement. Jochen Zeitz was quoted as saying, “The board and Matt mutually agree that now is the time for new leadership at Harley-Davidson.”
Well, only time can tell if the decisions of the senior leadership will yield good results at Harley-Davidson. Meanwhile, all we care about is the amazing bikes that HD makes, and we hope it continues to make them.


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Iconic whatever-the-hell-he-is Pyramid Head from Konami's horrific Silent Hill series is being immortalized in solid resin—along with a friend—for your video game statuette collection needs. But high quality Pyramid Heads don't come cheap.
Konami Style has released a 12.5" version of the grisly Pyramid Head for 25,200 yen (about $300 USD) and will soon release his Silent Hill 3 colleague Valtiel for slightly less, 23,100 yen (about $275 USD). Tomopop says these are Konami Style exclusives, meaning they're essentially for Japan only. You may want to hit up eBay, your favorite importer or proxy buyer Tokyo Hunter if you have the scratch to get one.


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Tesla is offering a one-month free trial of Full Self-Driving (FSD) for new vehicle purchases. Elon Musk extended the offer to existing Tesla owners, too.
The company has already updated its configurator page for the Tesla Model Y, Model X, and Model S. The Order Page for Model 3 does not state that new buyers will receive a one-month free trial of FSD.
Elon Musk followed up on the FSD free trial update with an announcement on X saying: “All US cars that are capable of FSD will be enabled for a one-month trial this week.”
Musk’s announcement means that even existing Tesla owners who haven’t purchased FSD will be able to try it out for a month. As of this writing, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving capability costs $12,000.
All US cars that are capable of FSD will be enabled for a one month trial this week— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2024
Tesla’s one-month free trial period of FSD hints that the company has significantly improved its autonomous software. Tesla is also taking precautions with version 12 of FSD. In a leaked email, Elon Musk updated Tesla’s delivery process, requiring employees to provide FSD V12.3.1 rides to new customers taking delivery.
Tesla’s recent moves to promote FSD V12 tease its capabilities and the company’s push toward autonomous vehicles. In a recent interview, CATL Chairman Robin Zeng discussed the Chinese battery supplier’s collaboration with Tesla.
Zeng mentioned Tesla’s $25,000 car and its batteries, teasing possible cell development for its robotaxi fleet. CATL will supply battery machinery for Tesla’s Giga Nevada expansion. Tesla plans to build two new facilities at Giga Nevada, one of which will be a dedicated 4680 production line.
Tesla FSD will be a pivotal component in the company’s next-generation vehicles, like the $25,000 car. By introducing FSD to more customers, Tesla may be laying the groundwork for future vehicles.
If you have any tips, contact me at firstname.lastname@example.org or via X @Writer_01001101.


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I don’t know what it is, but I love watching Escalator fails! This one looks like it’s in slow motion…but it isn’t. Just a really slow progression to epic escalator failure. Source – JJ.am Pin It
Apple has put out the word Wednesday Morning April 25th, that their Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be held June 11th – 15th 2012 in San Francisco’s Moscone West. The conference will focus heavily on iOS and OS X app development and give developers a five day workshop on development in relation to Apple products. In addition to the sessions offered will be a scholarship program where students creating apps can apply to attend WWDC at Apple’s expense.
The conference will also showcase the best apps over the last year for iOS and OS X in the Apple Design Awards. The winners last year received a MacBook Air, iPad 2, iPod touch and a trophy. Adding to the perks, publicity for their award winning apps helps the downloads as well. 2011 saw apps like Infinity Blade, Cut The Rope and Pulse News Reader among many others as winners.
If you were planning on attending, you may be saddened to hear that tickets are already sold out at $1600 per ticket. If you’re a student developer however, you can apply for the Apple scholarship program to try and get a seat. The rest of us will have to wait for the sessions videos to pop up online from the event. Maybe we’ll even see a little spot near the end about the sixth generation iPhone as well.
Source – Apple
Article first published as Apple WWDC 2012 Announced for June 11 – iPhone 5 Cometh? on Technorati.
There’s no denying that Apple is on a serious roll when it comes to product launches over the past decade. With Apple (AAPL) trading well over $630 on the NYSE, and the 3rd generation new iPad out on the market for the last month, the next big launch will keep the ball rolling.
Many are questioning what the next iPhone will have in store when it launches later this year. There have been rumors that the next iPhone will sport a much larger screen (some say 4.6inches), but anyone that knows Apple or read the Steve Jobs biography for that matter, knows that Jobs was against a larger screen on the iphone. Steve Jobs was also still very involved with the overall planning of the iPhone 5 just prior to his untimely passing in 2011, so what the iPhone 5 will have in it will be nothing short of another amazing product.
An analyst for Topeka Capitol Markets reported on Monday what he believes Apple will be including with the next generation iPhone to investors. Brian White stated that Apple’s stock price could go over $1000 as well. Regarding the next iPhone, White said it is expected to have a 4inch touchscreen display and a “new, sleek look” pointing towards a unibody case. Apple is known for its ability to create unibody casings for many f its other products including the MacBook line, Man Mini, and Apple TV.
The timing of the launch is one of the many other reasons for rumors around the iPhone 5, and one Foxconn employee went on record stating that the 6th generation iPhone will launch in October 2012. The Foxconn executive stated;
We just got the order,[The release] will be around October.
Other details in specs for the new iPhone include 4G/LTE, 1GB RAM, and the latest Apple dual-core A5X processor.
Article first published as iPhone 5 Reportedly Coming In Fall 2012 With ‘Sleek Look’ on Technorati.


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The Offspring has officially released “Huck It” on streaming platforms.
The song originally debuted in The Offspring’s 2000 DVD, Huck It, and was also included as a bonus track on certain international versions of the band’s 2000 album, Conspiracy of One. Now, it’s available wherever you stream your music.
The release of “Huck It” coincides with the 20th anniversary celebration of Conspiracy of One. An expanded reissue of the record will be released December 11.
Earlier this month, The Offspring released a cover of the holiday classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” They’re also working on their next album, the follow-up to 2012’s Days Go By.
(Video contains uncensored profanity.)
By Josh Johnson
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.


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Apple has finally announced the October 18th event, following months of speculations about the upcoming launch of a new MacBook and other devices.
It is not long ago that Apple conducted their iPhone 13 launch event, introducing different variants of the new iPhone along with a host of other new devices, including iPad Mini and even a new Apple watch design and configuration.
The new hardware event from Apple has been officially announced to be on October 18, 2021. The invites have been sent out to varying tech leaders, users and attendees. The company’s second fall event is expected to witness the launch of a new range of MacBooks, new and redefined Mac Mini along with the newer third-generation AirPods.
The invite video from Apple probes on one word, “Unleashed”, which has left the audience speculating as to what they can expect from this official launch.
While users are scrounging for more information, a tweet from Greg Joswiak, who is Apple’s marketing executive highlighted a dotted font that could indicate the launch of a redesigned higher end mini–Mac Mini with the mini-LED tech. However, all of these are speculations and won’t be confirmed until the official event is done with.
— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 12, 2021
The event will be streamed live on Apple.com at 1PM ET / 10AM PT for the world to witness the launch of new devices and elements from the brand.
With the floating rumors of Apple finally coming out with two variants of the MacBook Pro models, including the 14- and 16-inch variants, we’d have to wait to see if the same happens during this event or not. These new MacBooks will mark the final transition of Apple from the Intel chip series and replacing them with the in-house Arm-based processor, the M1X chipset.
The new chipset, the M1X is expected to be better than the previously launched M1 chipset and boost performance with ten cores as compared to eight cores that the M1 chipset has. Even the graphics cores are improved in the newer processors with 16 or 32 cores.
Besides the upgrade to the processor, users can also expect a few other changes to their future MacBooks. They are set to bring back the much-anticipated magnetic MagSafe charging, HDMI port and an SD card slot for superior multipurpose usage.
Rumors also suggest that the new M1X chip is also going to be integrated in the higher-end Mac Mini that the users are awaiting the launch of. Compared to the M1 model, the redesigned version is expected to feature a host of new ports, including Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-C and Type-A ports too.
Lastly, the users can expect a possible launch of a new pair of Airpods, representing the third-generation choice in the TWS range from Apple. Although there are reports that the upcoming Airpods will mold the design like the Airpods Pro, there are going to be some differences with shorter stems and a totally redesigned charging case.


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Your Hometown Radio Stations – 93.1 KMKT, 97.5 KLAK and Mad Rock 102.5 – are excited to bring you our 20th Annual Bob Skaggs Memorial Food Drive – presented by Tyson Foods, Serenity Best Home Health & Lankford Roofing – Monday, November 21st through Wednesday, November 23rd!
This year marks a HUGE milestone as we celebrate 20 years of helping local families have enough to eat through the Salvation Army of Grayson County’s food pantry. What started as a small KLAK and KMKT event (that barely filled up a tiny trailer with food) in 1997, has grown into the largest food drive (benefiting the Salvation Army) in the entire state of Texas! But, all that credit goes to YOU!
Last year, in 2015, your donations filled up 6 U-Haul trucks, an ambulance and a Salvation Army truck full of non-perishable food items and other supplies for local families. We’re talking nearly 100,000 items! Amazing, right?!?!
Well, in 2016, as we celebrate 20 years of helping local families, we hope to break last year’s record. Not only that, but our goal is to DOUBLE last year’s donations and hand over at least 200,000 items to the Salvation Army this year. We know, with your help, we can accomplish this monster goal! 20 years – 200,000 items! Just has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?!?!
So, get with your family, neighbors & co-workers now and start collecting your canned goods, other non-perishable items & cash donations. That way you can bring them all to us as we broadcast LIVE from the Wal-Mart Super Center in Sherman (Hwys 75 & 82) for the two & a half days before Thanksgiving. We’re even EXTENDING our hours this year to give you more time to bring your donations to us. We’ll accept your donations from 6am-8pm on Monday, November 21st & Tuesday, November 22nd and from 6am-Noon on Wednesday, November 23rd.
The 20th Annual Bob Skaggs Memorial Food Drive is also brought to you in part by:


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Hundreds of employees of the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain protested against the closure of their branches across North Rhine-Westphalia, according to the union.
In Düsseldorf, thanks to the support of the well-known carnival wagon maker Jacques Tilly, they were able to vent their displeasure in a particularly striking way: Employees used boxing gloves to hit a larger than life cardboard figure that the company owner René Benko represented until the sculpture fell apart.
Parts of the workforce wore black T-shirts or mourning stickers and symbolically carried the store to their grave. By the end of the month, around 35 Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt branches are to close nationwide. According to the Verdi union, Saturday was the last day for most of them. In Bonn and Essen the lights went out earlier after the shelves had been bought empty. Six more closings are to follow in January.
Video: Verdi warning strikes in the public service in the Recklinghausen district (glomex)
Especially for small towns, including Gummersbach, Neumünster and Witten, the branch closings are a major setback in the battle for public traffic in their inner cities. With around 130 department stores remaining, the ailing group hopes to quickly return to the black.
The Verdi union accused the management of mismanagement. “Many are not only infinitely sad about their job loss, they also feel justified anger at the current management,” said Union Secretary Miriam Juergens. According to Verdi, around 2500 employees are losing their jobs nationwide.


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Target Corp. stores this week will begin selling Sony Corp.’s Playstation Vita with a free 4GB Memory Card in a new launch promotion.
Beginning Feb. 22, customers who purchase the PS Vita Wi-Fi SKU will receive a 4GB Memory Card at no additional cost.
The 4GB Memory Card typically sells separately at $19.99.
The PS Vita will be sold in the U.S Feb. 22.
The handheld will launch simultaneously in Europe, Canada and Latin America the same day.
The Wi-Fi only model will sell at $249.99. The 3G model will sell at $299.99.


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The xx already show signs of a major Mercury "bump", with the London trio topping online charts within hours of their prize win. The group's self-titled debut is expected to reach No 8 or higher in this week's charts, marking an all-time high for a Mercury winner.
On Tuesday night the xx scooped the coveted award, and by Wednesday afternoon they were already sitting atop the UK Amazon and iTunes album charts. At the time of writing, the xx had also leapt on to iTunes charts in Finland, Portugal and Switzerland. HMV said the album, originally released in August 2009, will likely crack its top three. "Of all the albums nominated, this is the one that probably has the most scope to sell a load more if it won, so retailers and the band's label are likely to be very happy," a HMV spokesman told Billboard.
The official charts company said the xx album has already climbed from No 16, its position last week, to No 8. As Mercury watchers flock to shops to buy physical copies of the album, it could soar higher still. The record previously peaked at No 10 in July when its Mercury nomination was announced. The album has sold about 200,000 copies in the UK.
This is all a marked improvement on the sales of last year's Mercury prize winner, Speech Therapy by Speech Debelle. The rapper's debut album shifted just 15,000 copies after winning the award, and Debelle quit her label in protest. Previous winners such as Elbow, Badly Drawn Boy and Antony and the Johnsons received a significant sales boost from winning the music prize.
But money is probably not the top thing on the xx's mind after taking home the £20,000 award. "It has felt just like a haze," the band's Oliver Sim said Tuesday. "We've had the most incredible year and it has just felt like every day we've woken up to something incredible we weren't expecting."


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improve handling 6-speed EDC dual-clutch automatic available TC Euro Cars, the official distributor of Renault
TC Euro Cars (TCEC) has had the Renault Subscription in place offering an alternative to traditional
TC Euro Cars (TCEC) has launched the facelifted 2021 Renault Megane RS 300 Trophy, priced at RM 326,476
Although all Renault showrooms will be closed during the nationwide movement control order from 18 to
family of three models – Captur, Koleos and Megane RS covering seven variants.
TC Euro Cars (TCEC) the official distributor of Renault Vehicles in Malaysia, is running a 15-day Renault
TC Euro Cars (TCEC) announced today adjustments to their successful Renault Subscription plans with the
** This article is the personal experience of a 2017 Renault Fluence owner and does not necessarily reflect
TC Euro Cars (TCEC), the sole franchise holder of Renault vehicles in Malaysia, has announced a clearance
The Renault Captur is now sportier than ever with the introduction of a new Limited Edition Captur Trophy
The lucky car to get this honour is this strikingly-orange Mitsubishi Triton Athlete.Mr.
2016 was the year Harambe got shot, the Brexit referendum happened, and the last pre-COVID-19 Olympics
competing with the Daihatsu Rocky/Toyota Raize in Japan, the upcoming Honda ZR-V will also compete with the Renault
-speed dual-clutch automatic.Segment rivals of the Hyundai Kona include the Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3, Renault
The latest plan allows customers to subscribe to a car for one month with the Renault Subscription 1-
A few days ago, Renault Group officially released its sales report for the first half of 2019.
The annoucenment came after the distributor expanded the Renault Subscription Trial Plan to offer unlimited
going mainstream with Renault Captur.
Facebook page, hinting the arrival of the Kia Seltos.Set to compete against the Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3, Renault
TC Euro Cars, the sole franchise holder of Renault vehicles in Malaysia today announced that Renault
vehicles in Malaysia, has revised the retail prices for its Renault models.
To offer Renault customers an extra peace of mind, TC Euro Cars (TCEC) has introduced the Renault Relax
TC Euro Cars (TCEC), distributor of Renault vehicles in Malaysia, introduced Renault Subscription in
normal where sanitisation and disinfection is the norm, TC Euro Cars (TCEC) has introduced the special Renault
it seems like the next manufacturer to follow that move is Renault.During a recent general meeting, Renault
According to Jato Dynamic’s monthly report, the Renault Clio, with 24,915 units registered, has
maintenance or insurance cost – all covered Return the car after 1 or 2 years Switch between a 5-seater Captur
Hoe Mun revealed that the distributor is in the process of building a new mobile application for all Renault
TC Euro Cars (TCEC) has launched the new 2021 Renault Koleos facelift without much fanfare.
on limited units of the Renault Captur lifestyle crossover for brand-new and pre-owned units starting
RENAULT CAPTUR Model: 2016 Exterior: Orange Interior: Black Mileage:39000 km Bahrain agency Service Agency Screen,parking sensors,keyless entry ,clean and neat car PRICE: 2850/- negotiable feel free to contact 33660067 whatsapp https://t.co/NHD4MMQ4Vf
رينو كابتور 2016 (برتقالي) المسافة: 19200 كم ، خيار MId ، عجلة ألمنيوم ، بلوتوث ، 4 سلندر ، محرك 1.2 لتر ، 5 مقاعد السعر: 2500 دينار (قابل للتفاوض) التأمين حتى أكتوبر 2020 ——— Renault Captur 2016 (Orange) Mileage:… https://t.co/U9m2wn05nh
Renault Captur 2016 (Orange) Mileage: 19200 Km, MId Option, Alloy Wheel, Bluetooth, 4 Cylinders, 1.2L Engine, 5 Seats Price : 2600 BD (Negotiable ) Insurance Till :… https://t.co/oT7KXMFu3a
Yes, Renault Captur has Taillamps, which are: 2017 Renault Captur TCe 120 EDC (CKD).Read More
Here are the ASEAN NCAP Rating and variants of Renault Captur:Read More
Here are the Torque(Nm) and variants of Renault Captur:Read More


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Entrepreneurs who are just starting to discover the Danish business culture might find that some things are different from the business etiquette in their own country and that other issues are not approached quite as they would have expected. Foreign investors looking to open a company in Denmark can read this short article on some of the main things to remember about the Danish business etiquette.
Denmark is and should remain one of the top digital hubs in Europe. This is the motivation behind the Government’s new Digital Growth Strategy which was recently presented to the public and includes more than 30 initiatives to encourage digitalization and companies operating in this business field. Investors who open a company in Denmark and are involved in the new technology sector as well as in other fields can benefit from this Strategy.
Denmark is one of the top ten countries in the Global Connectivity Index 2017, as released by Huawei. The country managed to surpass other European countries in all five pillars: broadband, cloud, internet of things (IoT), data centers, cloud and big data. Investors who are interested in company formation in Denmark have access to a well-developed ICT infrastructure and technology adoption.
Copenhagen was ranked the world’s best city for attracting talent. The Global Talent Competitiveness Index puts the Danish capital ahead of other big European cities like Zurich or Helsinki but also ahead of other business centers. Copenhagen outpaces other cities because it is able to maintain a holistic strategy for attracting and maintaining talent – an important attribute for investors who want to open a company in Denmark and are interested in hiring foreign talent.
The indexes for consumer confidence and business confidence recorded by Statistics Denmark both had higher values for the month of February. Consumer confidence grew by 4.5 percent compared to the first month of 2017 while business confidence rose one point above the value for the previous month. This business sentiment index indicates a more positive outlook for those who wish to open a Danish company.


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Hot on the heels of Volvo’s announcement of a new Android-based infotainment system, Audi showed its own version of Android integration at Google I/O.
The German automaker’s Q8 Sport concept (a derivation of a recent Audi SUV concept) has Android built into its infotainment system. Like the Volvo system, it represents much more extensive integration than Android Auto, which merely adds a layer of Android-specific features on top of automaker-developed infotainment operating systems.
The concept Audi system includes Spotify, Google Play Music, and Google Assistant, all of which are accessible through the main central touchscreen display, known as Audi’s “Virtual Cockpit.” The latter replaces the traditional gauge cluster with a second digital display that can be reconfigured to show everything from a speedometer to navigation maps. It’s already available on several Audi models.
Audi says this is the first time these branded services have been integrated with its own infotainment system, known as MMI. The concept system also features Google Maps, although Audi continues to rely on the map database from Here, the former Nokia division it owns jointly with BMW and Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz and Smart.
Audi’s experimentation with Android is more than just a potential perk for Google acolytes. Thanks to the popularity of smartphones and their attendant apps, infotainment is viewed as a major potential market by both automakers and tech companies. So far, automakers have preferred to develop infotainment systems on their own. But the people running those automakers know their customers really like the branded services tech companies provide.
“New apps can quickly find their way into the cars as additional connected services, for example, if they fulfill the requirements of Google and Audi. The foundation for this is the Android platform,” an Audi press release said. Customers will get broader app availability and speedier updates, the automaker said.
Audi did not discuss a production timeline for its Android-based infotainment system, but the Q8 nameplate from its Google I/O demonstration platform will be applied to a new SUV, expected to debut next year as a 2019 model.
- Kia makes one of the best car infotainment systems out there. Here’s why it works
- Sporty Polestar 3 SUV is an EV guiding star
- Google Chromecast tips and tricks to make you a master caster
- You can finally move your WhatsApp chats from Android to iOS
- Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class takes a subtle approach to tech


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Destiny The Taken King is coming on September 15 across all platforms. It contains some exciting new content but on day-one, it will be missing the most wanted feature, raid.
As previously mentioned, King’s Fall raid won’t be a part of the new expansion on day-one. At the time Bungie didn’t say when we’ll get to see King’s Fall, but that has now changed.
During a recent livestream held by the developer, Luke Smith revealed that Destiny The Taken King, King’s Fall raid will release on three days after The Taken King comes out.
Meaning we are looking at a September 18 release date.
King’s Fall raid will put players up against Oryx, the father of Crota. You may remember Crota from another Destiny expansion called The Dark Below.
Crota was introduced as a raid boss in The Dark Below.
As for Oryx, he is the leader of Taken, a new enemy class you’ll face on September 15. Apart from King’s Fall, The Taken King will land you new abilities, new campaign, new locations, new level-cap and much more.
You can pre-order The Taken King on Xbox Live, PSN or third party retailers like Amazon.
Does The Taken King interests you? Or do you think there are enough expansions out already?


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Google Chrome is now the No. 2 go-to Browser online, recently surpassing Mozilla Firefox as per the note by fellow blogger Kelroy in Chrome overtakes Firefox to Become World’s 2nd most Popular Browser. So what’s a browser to do, now that they are slowly cruising to ward the inevitable No. 1 spot, currently held by Internet Explorer according to Ireland-based research firm StatCounter ?
How’s about Console Gaming, with titles exclusively launched on the Google Chrome browser!! Sounds no different from the regular fare, you snort, thinking of Facebook Games like FarmVille or even Plants vs Zombies. Or even of Minecraft, of which I did my homage in the article MineCraft – Indie hit is Social Gaming’s Cinderella.
Already Steam and Onlive have made their indelible mark in this arena since 2010AD, bringing classic Console games with the same level of graphics and experience to browsers all over the world and heralded as the future of Console Gaming via the cloud emulated in all its fulsome glory on a PC.
But though they [Steam and OnLive] are first to the Cloud Gaming arena, these foreshadowers of the future of Console Gaming lack a full integration and playability of games in the browsers and PC’s upon which they are ported.
And EA Games has been fighting back since June 2011AD by launching its answer to the Steam (and should I say Cloud Gaming?) threat in the form of Origins, their answer to Steam’s Cloud Gaming and PC Game Downloading service model to which many Game Developers are flocking, now threatening the very existence of Console Gaming.
At the same time, EA Games, a heavy-hitter in the Game Development arena for Consoles and Handhelds, have already dipped their toes into the Casual Gaming world. Their latest move: making a US$30 a year subscription Freemium version of the classic Tetris by Russian Game developer Alexi Pashitnov available on Apple iOS and Google Android OS for Apple iPhones, smartphones and Tablets as noted in my article EA’s Tetris on a US$30 yearly subscription: VIP for Casual & Smartphone Gaming Addicts.
Thus with EA’s troubles, Google saw an opportunity with their Google Chrome Browser and decided to jump into the Console Gaming melee like a screaming banshee.
Announcing the upgrade to the Google Chrome Browser recently at their Mountain View Headquarters in California, they also made it known that they have made partnerships with Console game makers such as Square Enix, Bungie and Unity Technologies for the exclusive release of Console Games playable in all their intense graphics glory via their Google Chrome Browser.
In essence, Google is now a Cloud Gaming platform like Steam and OnLive. But unlike these two 92), they have both the gaming Developer partnerships as well as the Platform, that being their now No. 2 Browser, Google Chrome.
And just as I had said, a lot like Steam and more a like OnLive, but with support at BOTH ends of the Cloud Gaming platform i.e. at the Browsers or Client End and at the Cloud Gaming Server end!
How sweet is that, Google Ice Cream Sandwich Style!
Square Enix CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Yoichi Wada during the Native Client Event at Google Headquarters gushes with the strength of conviction on the announcement by Google Chrome’s 14’s inclusion of Native Client, quote: “Gaming in the browser greatly expands the video game market to new consumers, devices and platforms. Native Client enables the same consumer experience in the browser as in a native application. With the power of this technology, Square Enix is pushing the boundaries of the browser Gaming market to include high quality games in addition to our popular portfolio of casual games.”
For those with their heads stuck in the Clouds, Square Enix, the creative geniuses behind Dragonquest and Final Fantasy series, plans to debut Mini Ninjas RPG, a 2009AD release on Consoles now coming on the Google Chrome 14 with Native Client support.
Thus if you PC is Quad-Core and is up to snuff, it can run these Cloud Based Console Games with little effort, making you wonder why would you want to buy a Gaming Console in the first place.
With more titles in the pipeline from Square Enix for this new platform sometime in 2012, one wonders how long this will be before Consoles are extinct, as appears to be the case with Portable Games the musing of my article Nintendo and Sony vs Smartphones and Tablets: Post – Portable Gaming Era, proving Hideo Kojima, a developer of video games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) for the last twenty five (25) years and the Creator of the Metal Gear Solid series (1987) to be spot on in his prediction of Gaming anytime, anyplace.
But with Google Chrome OS on ChromeBooks, could the next major evolution of the Cloud Based NC (Networking Computers) that have the finish of expensive plastic toys, now celebrating their one year anniversary be as a Cloud Gaming Console?
And with Digicel Cloud Service now active in Jamaica, set to make Landline and PBX (Private Branch Exchange) extinct as per my article Digicel Cloud Telephony to Make Switched Voice Extinct, could Cloud Gaming be the next low hanging fruit for Digicel to port over their lackluster 10MBps 4G Broadband Network?
More reason why I dream of a Google ChromeBook this Christmas as note in my Christmas List article Yapper Zapper is the illegal must-have gift for the New Year, as the Gaming’s gonna be sweet on a device that can be both a work Laptop and a Cloud Gaming Platform. And there is already word of the coming of Google Chrome OS Tablets……but that is speculation for yet another article……
Stay tuned to the Geezam Blog and find out as the Chrome Browser is now No. 2 and the Chromebook celebrates is 1st anniversary since launch in December of 2010AD !!
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