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On October 10, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation announcing further action to safeguard domestic production of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells (i.e., solar cells). In June 2018, the president implemented tariffs on imports of certain solar cells (see Update of January 23, 2018) under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 for a four-year period. The tariffs started at 30 percent the first year but were set to decrease 5 percent annually. The remedy implemented in 2018 excluded certain types of solar cells, such as 2.5 gigawatts (GW) CSPV cells.
In March 2020, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) issued a report addressing the probable economic effect on the domestic solar cell manufacturing industry of modifying the Section 201 safeguard measure to increase the level of the tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on CSPV cells from the current 2.5 GW to 4.0, 5.0, or 6.0 GW. The USITC advised that increasing the TRQ “would help to continue growth in solar module production but that expanded access to imported cells not subject to safeguard duties would put downward pressure on prices for United States cells.” The report concluded that “the exclusion of bifacial modules from the safeguard measure will likely result in substantial increases in imports of bifacial modules if such exclusion remains in effect” and that these bifacial modules would compete with domestically produced CSPV products and “apply significant downward pressure on prices of domestically produced CSPV modules.”
Accordingly, the Presidential Proclamation announced that while the domestic industry “has begun to make positive adjustment to import competition,” modifications to the safeguards are necessary for imports of CSPV cells under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading 8541.40.6025 and other CSPV products, such as modules under HTS subheading 8541.40.6015. The proclamation revokes the exemption from the tariffs for bifacial modules and adjusts the duty rate of the safeguard tariff for the fourth year of the safeguard measure to 18 percent instead of the previously scheduled rate of 15 percent.


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Burger bling: McDonald’s debuts wearable Big Mac
[gtxvideo vid=’h1vIECxF’ thumb=’http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/h1vIECxF.jpg’ vtitle=’bling burger ring’]
CHICAGO, IL (WOLO) – McDonald’s is recognizing Valentine’s Day with a big sparkle.
The company has debuted the “Bling mac”, an 18-karat gold, stackable ring set.
The food chain is actually giving one – worth around $12,000 – away. All you have to do is Tweet some Big Mac vows to @McDonald’s using the hashtag #BlingMacContest, until February 14. McDonald’s will choose the most interesting Tweet and give the ring set to a winner.

domain: news


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JD Sports is on course to boost its footprint in the Netherlands with the acquisition of 189 shops from Unlimited Sports Group (USG).
The Bury-headquartered group, which has more than 800 stores across the UK and Europe, confirmed today it is in “advanced” talks with USG.
JD has been eyeing European expansion and last year boss Peter Cowgill vowed to have a store in every major European city.
The sports retailer is looking to acquire 58 Perry Sport and 131 Aktiesport stores, which are part of USG. Both Perry Sport and Aktiesport went bust earlier this year.
Nine different companies have been targeting the stores, according to Dutch media, but JD is now in “exclusive” discussions.
JD’s discussions with USG has meant it has to seek approval from the Dutch competition authorities.
In a statement the retailer said: “We will release a further update at the appropriate time.”
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As part of our CEO Secrets series, which invites entrepreneurs to share their advice, we are focusing on businesses that have launched during lockdown. Each week we will look at a different type of lockdown entrepreneur. We begin with recent graduates.
Student friends Joshua Barley, Sonny Drinkwater and Kieran Fitzgerald, all aged 22, realised the job market would be tough for new graduates, as the huge impact of coronavirus became clear in March and April.
Joshua and Sonny are old school friends. Joshua met Kieran at the University of Birmingham, introducing him to Sonny, who studied at Bristol.
The three final-year students saw work placements and graduate scheme opportunities disappear in the spring. Job interview processes would draw to an early close, says Sonny.
So they decided to take matters into their own hands and started a company, pooling their abilities and expertise. Both Joshua and Sonny had studied nutrition, while Kieran had been working on the benefits of gift exchange in the workplace as part of his end-of-year project.
They combined these interests to focus on what was clearly becoming an important new fact of life: working from home.
The trio created the company Snackcess, to provide gift boxes of healthy snacks for businesses to post to employees working at home.
The box contains high-end, healthy, branded snacks, the kind that you might find in organic food stores.
The team negotiate lower prices by buying directly from the manufacturers.
When they started in July they sold five boxes. That increased tenfold in August and in September they sold 800 boxes, with a turnover of more than £9,000.
Originally they did the packing themselves in Sonny’s parents’ garage in Kent. They have now hired their first employee, a “chief packer”.
Large corporate clients include HSBC, Iress and Lululemon.
Do something every day that can make your idea seem a bit more real
The success has resulted in a dilemma for the team.
It was never meant to be a permanent venture, rather they thought of it as a stop-gap, until the economy picked up again and they could find other jobs, explains Sonny.
“That’s all changed now,” he says. “We’ve had such a big growth, we’re going to try and see this through.”
Joshua adds: “We see this as a long-term opportunity for us now.”
Kieran, meanwhile, has found a graduate placement with HSBC – but reluctant to completely leave the company he helped to found, he is remaining involved in a lesser capacity.
For all three, it’s been a massive learning curve.
“My advice is just do one small thing every day that makes your business idea more real, whether that’s setting up a meeting, or building a prototype,” says Sonny.
“And don’t be afraid to network,” adds Kieran. “Just message people on LinkedIn, you’ll be surprised who gets back to you.”
Despite the uncertainty of lockdown, many people have taken the opportunity to start their own company.
Almost 50% more businesses were created in June 2020 than in June 2019, according to the Centre for Entrepreneurs. July set a new record with more than 81,000 businesses registered.
There is no hard data on how many of these companies have been started by new graduates. But anecdotally, many final-year students faced with fewer opportunities like entry schemes and internships, have decided to be their own boss instead.
Josephine Philips, 23, says she always had “an entrepreneurial gene”.
She showed it from her first year of university, studying physics and philosophy at King’s College London. She made a tidy sum selling second-hand clothes on the popular Depop app.
But while doing that she nurtured the idea of creating her very own digital fashion platform. She envisioned a “Deliveroo-like service, but for altering vintage clothes”. The concept stemmed from her own experience.
She would often spy a piece of clothing she adored in a vintage shop, but wished it could have a small alteration either to mend it, or give it a more fashionable twist, and didn’t have good enough sewing skills to do this herself.
When lockdown struck in March, she initially put her business idea on hold – but then she realised something.
“All the restaurants were shutting down, but the thing that was keeping them alive was Deliveroo. What I proposed would allow seamsters to keep getting orders in a contact-free way.”
Her business is called Sojo and employs a team of cyclists to collect clothes from people’s homes and take them to and from sewing shops for alterations. It is focusing on west London for now. Judging by beta testing and a huge social media response, Josephine believes the demand is there.
However, getting all the interested parties on board has not been easy, Josephine says, because there are credibility problems for young graduates.
“I remember my first pitch. I wore a suit and everything, but [the tailor’s] reaction was: ‘How old are you? You look like my 14-year-old daughter.’”
She won him over by using him for a trial period and bringing him 20 new customers and hundreds of pounds in work, she says.
Her business officially launches this month and Josephine says she is not anxious, “just incredibly overwhelmed” with optimism.
She thought she would struggle to recruit the cyclists to collect the clothes, but more than 60 applied for 20 positions.
Her advice to other budding entrepreneurs is this: “Young females like me can struggle with confidence, but you just need to educate yourself in your market. I went to lots of events both online and in person, about things like marketing and pitching to investors, which really helped me.”
“If it really took off I would pursue it full-time,” says Sehrish Ahmed, 22. “I’ve always wanted to be a business owner.”
The entrepreneurial graduate is now running an online jewellery business called Rose Eclipse, but this wasn’t the original plan.
While studying international fashion branding at Glasgow Caledonian University for the past three years, Sehrish’s mind was set on a career in fashion retail.
To earn some money while studying, and gain experience, she worked on a diverse range of shop floors, including Oxfam, Gap, Mothercare and Victoria’s Secret – in the latter dressing mannequins.
But then Covid struck. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I wouldn’t have a graduation, I wouldn’t walk on that stage, that’s the thing I’d been looking forward to,” says Sehrish.
Then the implications for her future career became clear. Her graduate placements and internships were cancelled.
So she decided to start her jewellery business, which until then had been just a pipe dream.
After looking through samples, she sources her products from China, which are then posted to Glasgow.
Sehrish’s advice to others in her situation is this: “I think with the majority of graduates being Gen Z, we are very aware of how social media works and we need to use that to our advantage.”
Her sales have been driven by her Instagram and TikTok accounts. She used her knowledge of the platforms to create compelling posts and plug into the latest trends.
“What surprised me was when I started to get sales from people who weren’t just friends and family,” says Sehrish.
She’s now getting dozens of sales a month – not enough to make a living yet, but she wants to see if she can grow the business beyond a side hustle, something she hadn’t considered before.
The coronavirus has thrown many graduates’ plans for the future up in the air. By starting their own businesses, some feel they are taking back control.
You can follow CEO Secrets series producer Dougal on Twitter: @dougalshawbbc


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Victoria’s startup sector has the foundations to support high-value jobs growth in the thousands every year, according to the annual Victorian Startup Ecosystem Mapping report which identifies a growing network of almost 1,900 local startups in the State employing almost 37,000 people in early 2020.
Victorian startup agency LaunchVic has unveiled a free, open-source database for Victorian start-ups aimed at driving investment and to showcase the State’s talent.
The Girl Geek Academy’s flagship program #SheHacks, which launched as a global first in 2014, is now running statewide across Victoria in 2020 from February to April.
So the battery is not part of the phone?
The iPhone didn’t “catch” fire. It was accidentally snapped in two and the lithium battery contents mixed and caught fire.
I recently acquired a 5G modem from Telstra. It’s made by ZTE - a Chinese partly state-owned technology company. Go[…]
Sock it to 'em, Sam!
Warthunder is the most despicable game for banning. they introduced "easy anticheat" to all game modes EXCEPT the most popular[…]


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Researchers reported on Monday that hackers are now exploiting Google’s Analytics service to stealthily pilfer credit card information from infected e-commerce sites.
According to several independent reports from PerimeterX, Kaspersky, and Sansec, threat actors are now injecting data-stealing code on the compromised websites in combination with tracking code generated by Google Analytics for their own account, letting them exfiltrate payment information entered by users even in conditions where content security policies are enforced for maximum web security.
“Attackers injected malicious code into sites, which collected all the data entered by users and then sent it via Analytics,” Kaspersky said in a report published yesterday. “As a result, the attackers could access the stolen data in their Google Analytics account.”
The cybersecurity firm said it found about two dozen infected websites across Europe and North and South America that specialized in selling digital equipment, cosmetics, food products, and spare parts.
Bypassing Content Security Policy
The attack hinges on the premise that e-commerce websites using Google’s web analytics service for tracking visitors have whitelisted the associated domains in their content security policy (CSP).
CSP is an added security measure that helps detect and mitigate threats stemming from cross-site scripting vulnerabilities and other forms of code injection attacks, including those embraced by various Magecart groups.
The security feature allows webmasters to define a set of domains the web browser should be allowed to interact with for a specific URL, thereby preventing the execution of untrusted code.
“Administrators write *.google-analytics.com into the Content-Security-Policy header (used for listing resources from which third-party code can be downloaded), allowing the service to collect data. What’s more, the attack can be implemented without downloading code from external sources,” Kaspersky noted.
To make the attacks more covert, the attackers also ascertain if developer mode — a feature that’s often used to spot network requests and security errors, among other things — is enabled in the visitor’s browser, and proceed only if the result of that check is negative.
See more details


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Guess who’s back, back again? Jones Turkey and Gravy soda is back! Just like last year, supply is limited make sure to order yours before they are out. Make Thanksgiving interesting this year.
Turkey and Gravy Soda – Jones‘ most discussed and flavorfully debated release since its 2003 debut – is back again for the holidays, and this year it’s available in 4-packs so the whole family can share in the fun. Adding a new twist to the tradition, fans are invited to post videos of friends and family chugging the holiday “favorite” on their socials in exchange for a chance to win a limited-edition “Turkey and Gravy Challenge” t-shirt.
To complement the fun of Turkey and Gravy (and perhaps to help wash it down), Jones is also introducing a Sugar Cookie Soda that tastes just like the classic holiday treat. The Jones culinary team has also created recipes featuring the new flavor as an ingredient, taking this year’s holiday baking to another level.
Previous Special Release flavors have included Birthday Cake, Pineapple Cream, and Crushed Melon, three fan favorites from the brand’s archives that have contributed to new retail distribution gains and helped address consumer demand for wider access to the flavor innovation for which Jones is known. Three Special Release installments will be released in 2023, including one grocery retailer’s top flavor request. More details will be announced next quarter.


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RMIT Vietnam’s Business Plan Competition winners achieved a historic one-two-finish in 2014, and they plan to take their concepts to the next level.
The winner and runner-up of the $100,000 RMIT international business plan competition both address the needs of Vietnam's growing ranks of busy professional working mothers.
The winning Nutrimens team and their UChef ready to eat meals took out first place and aim at providing a healthy, convenient alternative to fast food.
Meanwhile, DreamKids, an extension of the already existing DreamHouse kindergarten chain, proposes to bring educational and affordable after-school care to children of the country's growing demographic of working women.
Using quality ingredients and with simple and fast preparation, Nutrimens' UChef kits cater to busy professional who still want to prepare a healthy and nutritious meal for themselves and their family.
Customers will also be able to sign up for a three-day meal plan, and the product is also supported by a website and mobile app to assist with cooking tips and nutrition advice. The team plans to make their meals available through major retailers and by delivery.
Bachelor of Commerce (Entrepreneurship) student and Nutrimens team leader Nguyen Thanh Tu says the meals are pre-prepared for greater convenience, and all consumers have to do is combine and cook the ingredients.
"Another problem is many people also do not know how to cook, so this makes it easy," he says.
Nguyen and the team are currently on the hunt for further financial backing, but they are hopeful they will be able to launch UChef sometime next year.
DreamKids is looking to fill a gap in the market for parents who need after-school care for their young ones. However, they are looking to provide additional benefits with a program of educational activities such as language classes, art and crafts, music and drama.
The DreamHouse kindergartens are all located in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City, and this is where the after-school programs will be hosted. Parents will have the option of signing up for two packages of five or ten sessions per week.
The owner of DreamHouse and a member of the DreamKids team, MBA student Jacy Nguyen says the percentage of Vietnamese women in full-time work is higher than in the US and China, and that the reduction of multi-generational households has increased demand for after-school care.
"With working hours generally extending to 6 or 7pm, and schools finishing around 3pm, picking up the kids becomes more difficult for working couples," she says.
The groundwork for DreamKids is currently underway, and Nguyen says she hopes to launch the business in May 2015.


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December 08, 2016 05:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a leading global technology distributor, today announced the promotion of Graham McBeth to the role of president of Premier Farnell Plc, effective immediately. McBeth will report directly to Gerry Fay, president, global business units, Avnet. In his new role, McBeth will be responsible for the strategic direction, day-to-day operations and performance of Premier Farnell.
McBeth, who most recently served as President of Avnet Abacus, the Avnet business specializing in interconnect, passive and electromechanical (IP&E) products throughout Europe, replaces Premier Farnell’s interim President Steven Webb. Webb, a 16-year veteran of Premier Farnell, has played an integral role during the last several months in overseeing Premier Farnell’s integration into the Avnet organization. He will remain with the company until January 31, 2017, to assist in the leadership transition.
“Graham is an accomplished leader who knows how to win in the market. With his strong commitment to team building, Graham grew the Avnet Abacus division into one of the most well-respected IP&E businesses in Europe,” said Fay. “His deep understanding of Avnet’s global business will enable Graham to serve as a great bridge for the Premier Farnell team, its customers and suppliers.”
“Since Avnet first announced its intent to acquire Premier Farnell, I recognized what a tremendous opportunity this would be to advance Avnet’s strategy of providing customers with a differentiated digital experience throughout the entire product lifecycle,” said McBeth. “This is the start of an exciting new chapter for both Avnet and Premier Farnell, and I am thrilled to have the chance to help drive further success for our organization and our design and supply chain partners.”
A native of Scotland, McBeth is a results-oriented leader with extensive industry experience. He graduated from Glasgow University in 1984 and spent 11 years at National Semiconductor in a variety of roles, from product marketing to distribution and sales management. McBeth joined Abacus Group Plc in 1995, was appointed to the main board as technical director in 1997, and later became group managing director of Abacus with responsibility for the company’s sales and marketing strategy. In 2009, following the acquisition of Abacus Group by Avnet, McBeth became president of Avnet Abacus and led the IP&E specialist to a top position in the European market.
Headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom, Premier Farnell is a global distributor of electronic components that utilizes a digital platform to provide innovators and engineers with the latest products, services and development software. Avnet offered to acquire Premier Farnell in July 2016 and completed the acquisition in October 2016.
About Avnet, Inc.
From components to cloud and design to disposal, Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) accelerates the success of customers who build, sell and use technology globally by providing them with a comprehensive portfolio of innovative products, services and solutions. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.
Avnet Electronics Marketing
Sean Fanning, 480-643-7824
Senior VP, Marketing and Communications
Maureen O’Leary, 480-643-7499


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Audi has managed to buy one of the five original Auto Union racing cars still in existence from the pre-war era.
Along with two others, the car had been taken by the Soviet Union in 1945 and shipped to Russia. In the 1980s, Paul Karassik, an American collector of part-Russian extraction, managed to track down two of the now-dismantled cars and shipped them back to America – piece by piece.
The mechanicals were assembled by Crosthwaite & Gardiner, while new bodies had to be built by Rod Jolley Coachbuilding. It is a testament to the skills of British specialists that both jobs were done in the UK. Audi supported the project throughout, and in 1998 was able to buy the first of the two cars, a Type D single-supercharger racing car rebuilt to 1938 specification.
The second car, a twin-supercharger model was rebuilt to 1939 specification. Sadly Karassik sold the twin-supercharger car in 2000 to another collector after his original dream proved unachievable. He had been born in Belgrade and wanted to see the car return to Belgrade in 1999, the 60th anniversary of the Belgrade Grand Prix, which he has watched as a child. However, the war in Former Yugoslavia made that impossible.
The twin-supercharger car will make its first appearance under Audi ownership at the Goodwood Revival, from September 14 to 16.


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The 2010 Veritas Awards welcome brandy into the fold – the first time in the Awards’ 20 year history. This new class to Veritas provides the South African brandy industry - which up to now had to compete mostly in international competitions - with a major local platform to show its mettle.
One of the world’s most authoritative wine experts and the first South African chairperson of the international Institute of Masters of Wine, Lynne Sheriff, will once again share her imposing knowledge and 30-year long experience as judge during this year’s Veritas. Sheriff, a South African wine consultant based in Britain, has just taken over the lead of this prominent wine organisation with its head office in England.
In this second article on Veritas adjudication, South African National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) chairman Duimpie Bayly explains how the system works and how the panels and his organisation cope with intricacies behind the scenes
You don’t have to empty your pockets or purchase all the Veritas winners in order to have a taste of this star studded selection of South African wines. With various nationwide public tastings Veritas Awards bring the acclaimed wines, and now also brandies, right to your door.


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Top 10 Leading Virtual Reality Companies
People are saying Virtual Reality is going to change the world completely. Dozens of hardware and software companies are spending hundreds of millions on R&D into virtual reality and the virtual reality companies are certainly enjoying a hot market. Let’s have a quick look on the TOP 10 VIRTUAL REALITY COMPANIES shaping the future of VR.
Top 10 Virtual Reality Companies
1. Facebook/Oculus VR
Facebook shelled out $2 billion for Oculus even before the device shipped, which should indicate its potential. Unfortunately, it’s been a rough ride for Oculus, with lawsuits over contributions made by John Carmack, the highly respected gaming developer who left his game company to join Oculus. The game company’s parent company alleged his contributions were made while still an employee of his former employer. Plus, a plan to sell headsets in Best Buy fizzled, there were problems with early shipments of headsets and the company was dinged for locking games behind exclusive deals.
Google started out in VR with a $15 headset made of cardboard called, what else, Google Cardboard. Cardboard is designed specifically for using VR apps on Android smartphones. It has since come out with a sturdier headset called Google Daydream View, which is similar to Google Cardboard in concept and will run you $79. You still put your phone in the headset and it functions as your display. The headset is primarily a pair of lenses that separate the screen into two images.
3. Microsoft HoloLens
Microsoft’s virtual reality headset is still in development but already expanding to include mixed reality, or augmented reality, where virtual images are superimposed over real world objects. While HoloLens is still in development, Microsoft is showcasing an increasing number of both games and practical applications for the headset, such as architectural engineering and CAD design.
4. Magic Leap
Magic Leap is a very secretive startup that has raised over $1.5 billion in funding, so it has a lot to deliver. Its head-mounted virtual retinal display superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects by projecting a digital light field into the user’s eye. This allows for placing 3D objects in the user’s field of vision of the real world instead of a 100% virtual vision like other headsets. It still has yet to ship its product as of June 2017.
5. HTC Vive
Currently selling for a hefty $799, Vive is a complex system of a headset, two hand-held devices and sensors you place around your room so it can track your movements. HTC partnered with Valve to create “room-scale” games, so you don’t just sit on the couch to play the game, you get up and move around. The box comes with 16 different components, making setup a little daunting.
6. Samsung Gear VR
Samsung’s Gear VR was designed with Oculus as a consumer device for $199, and it works just with the newest generation of Samsung phones. In fact, you slide a Samsung phone into the headset holder and it acts as the compute device. The headset is meant for consumers and the only apps on it so far are games from third-tier developers.
WorldViz is a virtual reality company that makes 3D interactive and immersive visualization and simulation solutions aimed at universities, government institutions, and private business alike. Its software allows customers to build 3D models for product visualization, safety training, and architecture visualization. The company claims customers save about 90 percent of the costs involved in making real physical models by making full sized virtual displays for layouts of buildings instead.
People are saying that if there’s one company which can truly place Virtual Reality at the desired position then it can be none other than the Great Apple. When Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 then people were buzzing that Apple has missed the boat. You may find Apple’s name in this list of Leading Virtual Reality Companies to be a bit fictitious.
9. Magic Leap
Leaving apart some big names like Google, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung, the entire VR market is being driven by Startups. Magic Leap is the most secretive one out of all Virtual Reality Companies! It has already grabbed millions of dollars investments from Google, Alibaba and Qualcomm. Though not much information is available about its future business plans but insider reports says it is involved in Mixed Reality.
10. Unity Technology
Unity Technologies is a San-Francisco based company, founded in
2004. It’s a leading developer of 3D Game technology. It provides an ultimate development platform for developing VR Games. Unity Technologies is the developer of Unity which is regarded as one of the most popular game engines till yet. As per Gartner, worldwide video game market is projected to reach $128 billion by 2017. More than 31% out of the 1000 grossing top mobile games use Unity. More than 600 million gaming aficionados throughout the world are playing games developed in Unity. It has over more than 4 million registered users.
Leading Sharing Platform of 360/VR Videos–VeeR VR
Except for the big virtual reality companies, there are also many startups in the industry. VeeR VR is a leading sharing platform for 360/VR videos. Founded in 2016, VeeR has been an industry leader serving millions of users from over 150 countries by developing a cross-platform accessible VR-streaming application. Currently, VeeR has launched on multiple platforms including Apple App Store, Google Play, and Oculus Rift, etc; on November 14, along with the launch of Vive Focus, HTC also announced a range of top-tier applications and platforms to be the first to release its product, among which VeeR was honored to be a selection. And recently VeeR has also updated the new app VeeR Editor for 360 photo mobile upload, to empower users to upload their panoramic photos on the go.!
VeeR Virtual Reality/VR Headsets to Enjoy the Immersive Experience
In order to better enjoy the immersive 360 videos or films, you still need a good VR headset, VeeR VR has launched a fabric one equipped with the controller. Go to BUY on Amazon with Price: $25.99 & FREE Shipping!
360, VeeR, Virtual Reality, VR videos


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Mavason Limited, a subsidiary of the Abris CEE Mid-Market III LP fund, managed by Abris Capital Partners Ltd., has signed an agreement with the fund 21 Concordia and its founders to purchase the majority of shares in R2G Polska Sp. z o. o., operating under the Apaczka brand – an e-commerce delivery solutions provider in Poland.
The transaction is subject to the standard approval procedure of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).
Headquartered in Warsaw, Apaczka functions as a technology platform and an integrator, offering comprehensive shipment services for e-commerce stores, SMEs and SOHO (small office / home office) clients. It supports companies in the development of their business, providing professional tools to facilitate daily logistics, and over the past decade has made close to 30 million shipments for more than 160,000 customers.
The company has achieved increased revenues over recent years, exceeding €30m in 2019.


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PTI 18 Apr 2014, 19:47
It said a slew of factors, including question marks over demand, led it to redraw the strategies and stop the capacity expansion on the bulk cargo handling front.
Gujarat Pipavav drops container berth plan
Gujarat Pipavav has dropped its plan to build a new container berth at its port and put its plan to increase bulk cargo handling capacity on hold thus slashing the cost of expansion.
Air France-KLM to add capacity in cargo business in India
Air France-KLM group would soon add capacity in their cargo business in India, increasing number of weekly freighter flights from Chennai and Mumbai.
Japanese trading houses put ports’ expansion on hold in India
Japan’s trading houses were interested in picking up a minority stake or in taking up operational control of a terminal to support their trading volumes.
India must accelerate port development: Experts
"Indian port expansion is on the way, investment is going in (and) infrastructure is being planned. But it is a big challenge for India."
Court stays termination of Gammon Infrastructure’s Goa Port project
Gammon Infra Projs got a stay on Mormugao Port Trust’s decision to terminate its Rs 204-cr proj following refusal of Goa’s state pollution control board to grant environ clearance.
Deloitte calls for integrated approach to develop ports
Deloitte called for an urgent need on a holistic approach while developing such terminals, saying support infra like road & rail connectivity also needs to be focused.
Arbitrator seeks KoPT's view on taking over HBT's assets
The Kolkata Port Trust is evaluating a proposal as part of arbitration for the equipment of Haldia Bulk Terminal lying at Haldia Dock Complex.
DTDC seeks IBM help to take logistics leap
DTDC roped in former TNT India director Sanjiv Kathuria to head the e-commerce logistics business division which began operations last June.
Shipping industry may confront another deluge of overcapacity
However, a slight pick up on the back of recovery in global trade and economy recently have lifted hopes and freight rates in the shipping industry.
» More from ET Cetera
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Teens: Going Gaga for the iPhone
While their parents are slashing their spending in the face of the economic downturn, U.S. teens are buying iPhones. That’s according to Piper Jaffray, which released results of its bi-annual teen survey yesterday.
According to Piper’s survey of 769 students conducted in several U.S. schools in the past few weeks, 8% of teens already own iPhones, up from 6% this spring. And 22% of the students say they will buy an iPhone in the next six months, up from 9% this spring.
Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that students are adopting the iPhone in greater numbers than their parents. Partly, that may be because the iPhone has been making its way into more classrooms, where teachers have begun incorporating the device into their curriculum.
Another reason: Teens have long been first adopters of wireless services, such as SMS and wireless music. iPhone’s cutting-edge image appeals to this demographics. I am surprised, though, that kids have so much money at their disposal to spend on wireless services (around $90 a month for an iPhone, on average).
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The Institute of the Motor Industry has launched a new apprentice return on investment (ROI) calculator which will help employers and training providers make a strong business case for hiring an apprentice.
The calculator makes use of recent data from the IMI’s ROI studies to allow businesses to measure the costs of hiring an apprentice against their own unique business requirements.
2013 saw the first rise in apprenticeship starts since 2010 and the IMI is aiming to use the calculator to drive continued growth in this area.
The IMI’s study found that businesses can expect up to 300% return on investment from hiring an apprentice over a three year period. Furthermore, apprentices who start with no experience typically generated profit within 18 to 24 months– much earlier than was previously assumed. Businesses can now access their own unique forecast for free online and via mobile.
IMI CEO Steve Nash said: “Automotive employers must overcome doubts about the financial costs of employing young people if we are to secure a successful future for our sector.
"IMI’s recent ROI research broke the myth that apprentices cost firms money and overwhelmingly demonstrated that there is a clear and significant financial return. The new calculator allows us to take our research into a business and demonstrate exactly how this relates to their unique situation.
"Apprenticeships are currently a hot topic within government, with parties competing to develop viable alternatives to university. The motor industry is in a unique position to benefit from any positive developments.
"We must not miss the opportunity to draw high quality candidates into automotive careers because of myths about employing young people.”
The calculator is now available through online and via mobile.
Managers need only put in a few details from their business and the app instantly tells them how much profit they could generate from each apprentice.
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A northern California district court has recently approved a legal settlement with Netflix worth $9 million. The settlement, which made its first rounds in the news in February, is the outcome of a privacy class action lawsuit claiming that Netflix violated the privacy of its former customers.
The online content streaming service allegedly kept information about unsubscribed customers for longer than the legal duration and shared this information with third parties without any consent from the customers. Former customers caught on to Netflix’s practices when they noticed that their preferences and history from a previous subscription were still there, despite the lengthy period between their un-subscription from and re-subscription to the service.
The streaming customer’s privacy is protected under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a law passed in 1988 during the time of VHS. The VPPA came into law because of an incident where the video rental history of a Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork, was made public without his consent. Even though, the law then only specified VHS technology, present interpretation of it extends the law’s realm into the digital area, which includes streaming services like Netflix.
Despite the $9 million legal settlement, Netflix still claims that it had not violated the VPPA. The content streaming site is currently trying to get the VPPA amended in order to fully integrate its service into Facebook. As of now, the law prevents Netflix from automatically publishing its US customers’ viewing histories on Facebook, since it interprets that act as a disclosure of video rental history. It’s a particularly frustrating situation for Netflix, especially since it doesn’t have to deal with a similar legal conflict in 46 countries where it offers its services.
Until it can get the VPPA amended, Netflix is, in the meantime, trying to get into the good graces of the public. The online service has promised to alter its data retention policy; information about subscribers is now separated from their viewing history if the account is less than a year old.
Furthermore, Netflix’s $9 million settlement will be put into a fund that will give donations to a list of court-approved not-for-profit organizations, institutions, or programs, so long as these programs aim to inform people about consumer privacy, identity, and information.
What do you think of this breaking news? Don’t forget to share your thoughts!


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Free maps drop tomorrow, Vietnam arrives in time for Christmas.
Two fan favorite maps from the original Bad Company rejiggered for Bad Company 2.
Four new maps, new weapons, and vehicles in time for Christmas.
Bad Company 2, Red Dead Redemption Co-Op packs launch tomorrow.
Authentic weapons, vehicles, environments from the Vietnam conflict.
Up to four players will be able to form a squad and take on hordes of enemy AI on four updated maps.
Consultant reports on the time commitment required to hit 50 as a new update takes effect.
DICE answers our questions about the past and future of the hit series.
Fine print states some gamers may already be paying for Battlefied DLC.
Market research firm DFC Intelligence crunches the online numbers.
Record March sales for DICE's shooter.
Server capacity issues should be a thing of the past.
Excessive demand for Bad Company 2 crashes EA's servers.
The kind of company you should keep.
Buying new versus used is no longer cut-and-dry.
DICE announces that its new playable demo is up on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
New multiplayer mode temporarily restricted to pre-orderers only.
Instead of pre-ordering the game, PS3 owners can get in on the Bad Company 2 beta through FilePlanet.
PS3 gets beta this month, demo to follow on all platforms next year.
At no extra cost, Bad Company 2 LE grants multiplayer unlocks.
DICE shows first glimpse of its latest Battlefield multiplayer game.
An evolution of Battlefield multiplayer.
EA's Battlefield Bad Company 2 unleashes new media in time for the weekend.
Sequel to last year's Battlefield: Bad Company coming to PC with new environments.
EA lets news of a sequel to DICE's modern-era FPS slip during conference call.


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Digital TV News: DIGITALB
ALBtelecom chooses Anevia to launch new OTT services
Jul 30, 2018 – Anevia has supported the launch of IPTV services for ALBtelecom. ALBtelecom is using Anevia’s TV and video delivery software to provide live and non-linear content in broadcast quality and to multiple screens.
News categories: Anevia, ALBtelecom, Damien Lucas, Albania, Content Distribution, Digital TV, IPTV
Cubiware’s CubiGO brings multiscreen OTT to Digitalb customers
Sep 11, 2016 – Cubiware (NASDAQ: TIVO) has announced that Digitalb has launched Cubiware’s CubiGO, an over the top (OTT) multiscreen solution that allows operators to offer customers mobile access to their entertainment with a consistent experience across mobile devices.
News categories: Cubiware, Digitalb, Jakub Gorski, Altin Petre, Albania, Digital TV, IBC2019, Middleware, Mobile, OTT
Dune HD and Quadrille partner to bring satellite-based push-VoD to developing regions
Nov 12, 2013 – Dune HD has partnered with French VOD technology provider Quadrille to create a receiver able to download content by means of 'Push VOD', giving operators in developing regions the means to offer content choice even where broadband access is limited.
News categories: Dune HD, Quadrille, Konstantin Dyshlevoy, Xavier Battas, Jean-Philippe Plantevin, Content Distribution, Digital TV, DVR, Satellite, Set Top Box
DIGITALB selects Quadrille for its Push VOD services
Apr 16, 2013 – DIGITALB has chosen Quadrille's QuadriFast™ solution to deploy Video On Demand (VOD) and Catch-Up-TV services in Albania. QuadriFast allows video content to be pushed over the satellite or terrestrial network to a set-top box to be then offered on demand to subscribers.
News categories: Quadrille, DIGITALB, Albania, Content Distribution, DVR, Satellite, Terrestrial
Albania's DigitAlb Pay-TV Platform Extends to 2020 its Eutelsat Satellite Capacity
Jan 6, 2011 – DigitAlb has announced that it has secured its satellite resources for digital broadcasting with Eutelsat (Paris: ETL) to June 2020. The company has extended for an extra three years its contract with Eutelsat for transponders at 16degrees East.
News categories: Eutelsat, DigitAlb, Albania, Satellite
Albania - Tring DTH starts test broadcasting
Sep 7, 2008 – Broadcasts began a few days ago on Eutelsat W2 16°E to test the new Albanian digital satellite platform Tring. The service is owned by Albanian Satellite Communications (ASC).
News categories: Albanian Satellite Communications, Albania, Digital TV, Satellite
Thomson Delivers DVB-H Infrastructure for DigitALB Mobile Television
Apr 14, 2007 – DigitALB, the leading commercial media enterprise in Albania, has launched a 14 channel mobile television service based on a fully redundant Grass Valley's Mobile TV system from Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS).
News categories: Grass Valley, DigitALB, Albania, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Mobile, NABShow
- Imagine Communications agrees ad insertion deal with the NCTC
- DISH Network pay TV subscribers down 194,000 in 4Q 2019
- One third of Taiwanese online consumers have accessed TV piracy sites
- Redbox launch Redbox Free Live TV across the U.S.
- Cisco releases Annual Internet Report
- Pixelworks and Qualcomm integrate Live Local TV with 5G broadband
- Kantar to measure TV audiences for MINTIC in Colombia
- NCTC to offer discounted Amazon Fire TV devices to members
- Viu reaches 41.4 million monthly active users
- Roku ends 2019 with 36.9 million active accounts
- Online viewing continues to gain ground on traditional broadcast TV
- Vianeos provides revamped UX for Batelco TV in Bahrain
- VUALTO partners with ATEME for automated encoder integration
- STV selects Arqiva Hybrid TV Service for HD restart feature
- AfricaXP adds DTH capacity from Eutelsat for Sub-Saharan Africa
- Altice USA residential video RGUs down 44k in 4Q 2019
- 'Tapering subscriber acquisitions' for Dish TV India in 4Q 2019
- Movistar Spain launches new voice remote control
- Irdeto confirmed as security partner for Mitele Plus
- Swedish streaming market saturating


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Choosing & Cutting Christmas Tree A Tradition For Many
By: GFB News
11/26/2012 9:45:58 AM
Selecting the perfect tree to take home for the holidays is just part of the experience offered at Christmas tree farms across the state.
A visit to a Christmas tree farm for many has become a family tradition which includes the aroma of evergreens, refreshments and happy children running about.
And, of course, the main event is finding that perfect tree to decorate this year.
"The big advantage is just knowing when it's cut," said Chuck Berry, who serves as Georgia director of the National Christmas Tree Association. "You actually get to pick out your own tree, in your own size and most farms have several varieties to choose from. So you get to customize it for your needs at your home."
Some of Georgia's farms offer pictures with Santa and many participate in the Trees for Troops program which provides Christmas trees to families of service members deployed overseas.
Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said the on-farm experience families get when selecting their tree is an added bonus.
"Christmas is a special time of year ad many families cherish the tradition of choosing and cutting their own tree," Duvall said. "At the same time, we hope those visits generate an appreciation for farming."
To find one of the nine GFB Certified Farm Markets that grow and sell Christmas trees, visit this website.
For more on this story:


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Dozens of Amazon and eBay store operators were caught selling counterfeit Fendi products.
Lions claims DNA, with the help of Aboah’s fashionably connected mother, poached the popular model.
The Italian luxury brand will create the Caravaggio Research Institute with the storied Rome-based art museum and support its exhibitions for the next three years.
“I never told anybody I wanted [Brie] to play me because it was too diva-ish,” revealed author Jeannette Walls.
Fashion house-branded residential towers are springing up in Miami faster than anywhere else in the world.
The two brands threw parties targeting an Asian audience, who make up 60 percent of the world’s Millennials.
The Fendi for TaeYang collection will debut concurrently to the reopening of the label’s men’s flagship at Landmark shopping mall in Hong Kong.
Fendi has designed site-specific limited collections for the venues in London, Tokyo and New York.


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The current development of the financial market at the beginning of the new business week, which is marked in the 2023 calendar as the fiftieth in a row, is largely influenced by investment sentiment regarding the meeting of the central bank of the US Federal Reserve System in relation to the level of interest rates. Currently, during the European morning on Monday, December 11, 2023, at approximately 8:48 CET, the US dollar (USD) has so far maintained a trading trend of increasing its exchange value against other major world currencies and the single European currency, the euro (EUR) against the USD so far weakened.
On the indicated day and time, this so-called global currency pair of the single European currency euro (EUR) and the US dollar (USD), as the world’s reserve currency, was traded within the forex operations of the foreign exchange market at the exchange rate at a value of 1.076 USD per EUR with the EUR down by -0.028% against the USD so far. According to analysts, this strengthening trade trend of the USD should last until Wednesday evening, when the members of the FOMC FED will publish their decision on rates, and according to the result of their decision, the reaction of the financial market is expected.
Investors, traders and other participants in this 50th week of 2023 expect, among others, the following events:
CPI US Consumer Price Index – monthly
The monthly Consumer Price Index reflects changes in the prices of consumer goods and services in a given month compared to the previous one. The index shows price changes from the consumer’s perspective. The consumer price index characterizes inflationary dynamics. Its growth can have a positive effect on dollar quotes. The value of the index will be published on Tuesday 12/12/2023 at 14:30 CET and is expected to increase by 0.3% compared to last month.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Britain – monthly
This data is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in a country. GDP is the most comprehensive indicator of economic performance and provides key insight into the driving forces of the economy. This data will be published on Wednesday 13/12/2023 at 08:00 CET. According to economic correspondents, following economic analysts, a drop in the value of GDP by 0.1% is expected.
FED (Federal Reserve System) interest rate change decision
The FED decides on interest rates on a predetermined date during a vote among the members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regarding the Federal Reserve’s short-term interest rates to be charged on loans and commercial bank loans. A rising rate can have a positive effect on the USD, while a falling rate can have a negative effect on it. If the rate remains unchanged, analysts will evaluate the number of votes “for” and “against” and discuss the statements of voters after the minutes of the meeting are published to predict the results of the next meeting. The members of the FOMC FED will meet at a traditional two-day meeting on 12 and 13 December 2023 and on Wednesday 13 December 2023 at approximately 20:00 CET they will announce the results of their decision, and subsequently the head of the FED, Mr. Jerome Powel, will comment on these decisions in a press conference. According to analysts, the interest rate is expected to remain at the current level of 5.25 – 5.5% per year.
US Producer Price Index – monthly
These data are showing changes in the prices of finished goods and services sold by manufacturers. This is a leading indicator of consumer inflation – when producers charge more for their goods and services, higher costs are usually passed on to consumers. This data will be published on Wednesday 13/12/2023 at 14:30 CET and is expected to increase by 0.2% compared to the previous results.
Retail sales in the US – monthly
Retail sales reflect the change in U.S. retail wages in the month under review compared to the previous month. The calculation is adjusted for inflation. The index is often called an indicator of consumer spending and allows for an assessment of inflation in the country. The growth of the indicator can have a positive effect on the dollar quotes. The information will be published on Thursday 14/12/2023 at 14:30 CET and is expected to decrease by 0.1% compared to last month.


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National Post (National Edition)
Many tourists who have visited Iceland have returned with a “lopapeysa,” (pronounced lo-pa-PAY-sa) a sweater made from unspun wool with a yoked design so distinctively Icelandic it has become almost a national symbol. They probably would have bought theirs in one of the Handknitting Association of Iceland's two Reykjavík with sweater-buyers around the world.
In Reykjavík, locals have become more frequent visitors to the stores, shopping for wool to knit their own creations, said the association's board president, Thuridur Einarsdottir. “We are staying home more and are told to use and buy Icelandic” products, she said.
The recent increased regard for the cozy and comforting sweater continues an interesting line in the history of lopapeysa: It seems to be particularly popular in times of upheaval. The sweater, whose yoke is believed to be inspired by the Swedish Bohus tradition and Greenlandic national costume, was developed in the early- to mid-20th century as people moved from rural farms to towns and villages, leaving women with less time to spin yarn. It first came into vogue during Iceland's period of nation building following independence from Denmark in 1944. It resurged in popularity following the 2008 financial crisis, marking a return to tradition and heritage in an era of globalization
The tourism boom that followed the crash saw hugely increased sales of lopapeysa — this time due to the swelling tourist crowds — but also an increase in knockoff and foreign-made versions. This year, to ensure authenticity, the lopapeysa received protected designation of origin status. Now for a sweater to be called an “Icelandic lopapeysa” it must be hand-knit in Iceland with wool from Icelandic sheep. To purchase a sweater or wool, visit handknitted.is. For patterns and kits: icelandicknitter.com.


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Bill Ludwig and his business partners, a group of avid fishers, boaters, and golfers, noticed something as they were walking around ICAST, an annual fishing trade show. In terms of apparel, the fishing and resort apparel industry had grown complacent. While there was plenty to choose from, the offerings were leaving the group unimpressed.
"We walked through and started discussing starting our own brand," says Ludwig. "One of my partners lamented that there was no need for another performance brand. But I said, yeah, but look at the labels. There isn't one manufacturer here with a label that says Made in USA."
So they started one.
American Made Performance
is a fishing and resort apparel company based in downtown Pontiac. Ludwig, the CEO of the company, says that all of its products are 100 percent made in the United States. The cotton is grown here, and the fabrics are woven and sewn here. He contends that they're the only ones in the fishing and resort apparel industry to be able to make that claim.
The notion that people want 100 percent American-made products seems to have so far worked out for AMP. The company employs two dozen people at its downtown Pontiac manufacturing facility, an old bank at the corner of Saginaw and Huron streets. And Ludwig says that current revenue projections indicate that AMP will double that number within the next twelve months.
The company has partnered with Ryan Keene as its exclusive artist, which is another selling point for the brand, says Ludwig. Absent are the muted browns and greens one might expect to find in fishing apparel, instead replaced with bright colors and lively illustrations.
"It's rare for a company to have unique selling propositions," says Ludwig. "We have two. The United States and Ryan Keene."
Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith.


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Over 75 million domestic and automotive DAB digital radios had been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific by the end of 2018, up from 65 million in Q4 2017, according to the latest international market report published by WorldDAB, the organisation responsible for furthering the international take up of DAB and DAB+.
Available to download as an infographic here, the new data draws on multiple sources to give a comprehensive overview of the latest statistics on DAB receiver sales, road and population coverage, household penetration, and the number of national stations on DAB/DAB+. The report covers Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.
In the UK, digital listening has reached a new record share of 56.4%, with over two thirds (71.6%) of all digital listening attributed to DAB, and the Government has recently announced the launch of a review to ensure a healthy and vibrant digital future for UK radio, expected to be concluded in 2020.
DAB/DAB+ is now established as the primary future radio broadcast platform for radio in Europe – a position underlined by a number of recent regulatory interventions.
On a pan-European level, the EECC directive adopted by the EU in December 2018 requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio by the end of 2020. Italy has already put legislation in place to ensure that it complies with the directive by the start of 2020, while France – whose aggressive rollout of DAB continues to sweep across the country – has also triggered a receiver law requiring all new car radios released from June 2020 to include DAB+ digital radio capabilities.
Key findings from the WorldDAB report include:
• In the UK, 67% of households have at least one DAB radio
• Over 11 million receivers have been sold in Germany
• In Switzerland, 64% of all radio listening is via digital platforms
• In Italy, 46% of new cars are now sold with DAB+, up from 32% in 2017
• 6 million receivers have been sold in Norway
• In Australia, 69% of new cars are now sold with DAB+, up from 47% in 2017
DAB is also seeing significant activity across Asia, Middle East, and Africa, and the infographic details the rollout status in 21 emerging markets including information on trials and population coverage.
Following the launch of the findings, WorldDAB president, Patrick Hannon, commented:
“The last 12 months have been an exceptional period for DAB radio. The EU has adopted a directive requiring all new car radios to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial broadcasts; new markets such as France, Belgium and Austria are launching national DAB+ services and established markets including Germany, the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Australia are reporting record levels of digital listening. In 2018, 10 million DAB receivers were sold worldwide. We expect this figure to be easily surpassed in the years ahead.”


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By Neha Prakash
The company announced that its Touch ID fingerprint sensor would read fingerprints at a highly detailed level, boasting a capacitive sensor at 170 microns thin and a 500 ppi resolution. It’s James Bond-level technology that could revolutionize lock screens.
While some rejoiced at the advancement in phone security, one Reddit user’s clever daughter knew there was a simple flaw in this new tech.
Redditor iZeeHunter posted the image Wednesday, along with the caption: “The new iPhone 5S provides unmatched security with its new Fingerprint lock, which makes your personal data even harder to reach!”
Apple should probably hire the little girl pictured, who is wearing a mischievously adorable grin, to examine future products for security breaches.


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Right from the owners mouth!! Ted Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. has issued the following statement: “We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it right
now, but stay tuned.”
This is incredible news (but expected) as we are thinking that the latest rumour is the launch will be on May 21st, 2008. See our past post about the iPhone.


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Panic ! Hundreds of thousands of routers, cameras and other IoT devices have security holes
Smart home tech has been labelled a security disaster in a huge test which found gaping holes in hundreds of thousands of connected devices.
Researchers in France found more than 140,000 Internet of Things (IoT) devices, from routers to CCTV systems can be hacked, allowing criminals to find out information about you and your network.
Eurecom also found problems in the apps that control the hardware, with one major vendor's application giving hackers 'back-door' access to your smart home system - it's available on Google Playand has half a million users.


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Home computer users can save more than £1,000 by taking advantage of the swathes of free software in cyberspace.
From listening to music online to watching TV, making phone calls, sharing photographs and protecting your files, if you know where to look can, you can do it all for free, claimed consumer champion Which?.
It said most free software was often on a par with paid-for equivalents. Which? Computing highlighted:
* Photo-editing Gimp, a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop which cost £615.
* Using OpenOffice.org to set up a home office instead of Microsoft Office, saving £400.
* Once registered for a free account, legally listening to music is simple with Spotify. Buying two albums on iTunes cost £16.
Certain costs couldn’t be avoided, such as a monthly broadband subscription. And some free services weren’t up to standard, such as viewing TV content online. ‘It’s amazing just how much free treasure you can dig up online,’ said Which? Computing editor Sarah Kidner.


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…of the extra work necessary to remove a deadly product from its sales platform?
It was reported that Amazon has failed to remove from its platform a food preservative that was traced to at least 10 deaths by suicide, and that its algorithm has begun suggesting other products frequently purchased along with the chemical to prospective buyers; the company announced that its Prime yearly/annual membership price would be increased 17 percent.
I do note, though, this item from Harper’s Weekly Review does not say Amazon did indeed remove the stuff.
P.S. I continue my near-perfect record of boycotting Amazon.


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I always like a good crystal ball and this is an interesting summary that is worth sharing looking at the economic growth issues in 2018.
The article predicts a solid growth rate of 2.9% so this should be good news for most Australian businesses.
What is the outlook for the Australian economy for 2018 when consumer confidence is up but household budgets are under pressure?
“Boring” with a side serving of moderate growth finished off with an interest rate rise or two. That’s the outlook for the Australian economy for 2018 as experts weigh up how yo-yoing consumer confidence, a tighter jobs market and falling house prices will impact the year ahead.
Alan Oster, chief economist for National Australia Bank, predicts GDP growth will be about 2.9 per cent in 2018.
Source: In the Black 25.1.2018


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Icon Heroes sent along a press release of the second San Diego Comic-Con 2018 exclusive, which is their upcoming Dark Flash Statue. Dark Flash is based on his appearance as seen on The CW’s The Flash television series. Icon Heroes will once again be attending San Diego Comic-Con and will have many new products to show off once more. A press release is below.
Icon Heroes previously announced their Arrow TV Crisis On Earth X Dark Arrow 1/9th Scale Polystone Statue.
Icon Heroes will be back at San Diego Comic Con International (July 18-22) booth #3345 with amazing limited edition exclusives! Stop by and check out all our products on display, including all-new never before seen upcoming products! We’ll be showcasing products from DC Comics, Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, Star Trek, Once Upon a Time, and exciting new properties that will be announced at the show! Check back for updates as we announce more exclusives!
DC Comics Flash TV Crisis on Earth X Dark Flash 1/9 Scale Polystone Statue
An Icon Heroes San Diego Comic Con Exclusive! From the latest DC TV epic crossover event, Crisis on Earth X, comes the Dark Flash statue! On Earth X, Eobard Thawne teams up with its dictator, Dark Arrow, the Führer of the New Reich, who leads an attack on the heroes of Earth One. This collectible polystone statue stands 7.1 inches tall, is hand painted, individually numbered, and includes a Certificate of Authenticity.
Limited Edition of 250


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The takeout coffee shop is becoming a destination for locals and visitors.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new location.
You can win thousands of dollars in gift cards by simply supporting one of 101 businesses taking part in the event
A Kimberton-based grocery chain is expanding its footprint further into the Reading, PA, area.
If you’re looking for a quaint spot to stop and get into the spirit, check out this market for fall activities
Quinn along with comedian Joe DeRosa–who also has a podcast with Impractical Jokers member Sal Vulcano called Taste Buds–stopped into the store with the production crew from Bad Woods Entertainment
Find your zen with these small businesses
Every year, August is recognized as Black Business Month. It’s an uplifting message to empower black business owners and spread awareness of the challenges faced by minority business owners.
A store dedicated to looking good and feeling good
Even Small Businesses are feeling the impact of rising inflation, so what can you do to help?


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If you've never eaten baked double brie topped with oven-roasted strawberries tossed in balsamic vinegar — or if you've never added fresh strawberries to your garden salad — now is the time to give it a go.
- The price of strawberry punnets has dropped after a spike in June caused by flooding in growing areas
- With an increase in supply, farmers are asking consumers to buy extra punnets to help move them off shelves
- Growers are battling to recover after flooding, rain and rising production costs
From a record high of $11.99 for a 250-gram punnet in June, strawberry supply has now increased with the onset of spring, and Queensland-grown varieties are selling for as low as $2.30 a punnet.
Farmers who are still trying to recoup crippling losses caused by the combination of flooding and spiralling freight, fuel, fertiliser, plastic punnet and labour costs, are asking consumers for help by taking advantage of cheaper prices — and by moving fruit off shelves in stores.
"Spring has started. It's time to get healthy, they're high in vitamin C. It's a great time to do anything with strawberries," Suncoast Harvest owner Di West said.
She said suggested "smashing" strawberries into smoothies and juices, freezing them, making jams and sauces or mashing them into pink pancakes.
Queensland Strawberries has provided inspiration with recipes on its website including moreish baked brie topped with strawberries tossed in balsamic vinegar.
With just weeks left in coastal Queensland's season, Ms West, an experienced Sunshine Coast grower, has already started taking out fields of strawberries as prices drop.
She said she was only three-quarters of the way towards recouping over $1 million from planting 1 million strawberry runners this year.
"The weather has been a disaster. There's a black hole," Ms West said.
"I've already got a massive loss — we're looking at a lot of zeros for the year because of the production we'd lost because of the rain and disease.
"And then we're meant to be able to generate enough profit to grow next year's crop as well and we'll have a lot of groundwork to do after all the flooding.
"There's a lot of repair work to be done to paddocks this year and we're expecting a wet summer."
Ms West said she was reducing the number of strawberries in her field to avoid overproduction as prices dropped.
"We didn't think we would go below $2.50 [a punnet] in sales this year but prices are already dropping," she said.
"There are some big operators that are overproducing and flooding the market and they're just pushing that price down way lower than it needs to be.
"I've already taken out 100,000 plants and in two weeks I'm going to take out another 300,000."
Queensland Strawberry Growers president Adrian Schultz said after delays caused by weather, beautiful Queensland strawberries were now in good supply and he hoped consumers would help to move them on.
"We need people to get out and buy a few extra punnets while they're at a really good price," he said.
"They're a perishable item that needs to move reasonably quickly.
"So by people going out there and whacking three or four punnets in the shopping basket, it makes a massive difference to what the supermarkets are forced to do in regards to discounts and, ultimately, in returns to the grower."
Mr Schultz said the combination of school holidays and the peak of Queensland's strawberry production was a terrible combination for farmers.
"For some reason, and we've never been able to fathom it, sales of fresh fruit and vegetables always decrease over school holidays and that includes strawberries," he said.
"We really need to encourage people over the school holidays to buy as many strawberries as you can."
Mr Schultz said predictions of another wet growing season were affecting growers' planning.
"They're predicting another La Niña, the weather pattern occurring over summer and into winter next year, so we need to look at the plants that did well, or better than the other varieties," he said.
"We need to choose those varieties that are going to handle the weather conditions as best as we can.
"I know some people would have made the decision to grow less or are considering not growing at all next year."


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Bay of Plenty honey and health products company Comvita today announced a net profit after tax of $18.5 million on sales of $231 million.
This compares to the unaudited result of an NPAT of $17.2 million on sales of $202 million reported to the market in the 12 month period to March 2016. The company announced earlier this year that it was shifting to a June year balance date.
"It is important to note that as advised on 10 May 2016, we expected the 15 month operating result to 30 June 2016 to be similar to the result reported for the 12 months to 31 March 2016 of $17.2m, " said Comvita chairman Neil Craig.
"After adjusting our reported and audited NPAT to 30 June 2016 of $18.5 million for favourable non-operating changes in fair value of assets, primarily Derma Sciences and SeaDragon, it is pleasing to have delivered $17.1 million against this guidance."
Mr Craig said Comvita continued to be focused on growing earnings per share from the solid business base that had been established over the last 10 years.
EBITDA margin for the 15 month period was 17.1 per cent and return on capital employed was 14.3 per cent, which represented good performance growth compared to the prior year's figures of 15 percent and 12 per cent respectively, he said.
Comvita paid a fully imputed second interim dividend of 10 cents per share on 24 June 2016, for those shares registered on 17 June 2016. This brought the total interim dividend for the 12 month period to 16 cents per share (compared with 13 cents per share in 2015). With the change in balance date to 30 June, a final dividend of two cents per share will be paid on 23 September 2016, bringing the total payment to 18 cents per share for those shares registered on 16 September 2016.
The payout ratio for the 15 month period is approximately 42 per cent of operating profit. This is lower than Comvita's previously adopted 50 per cent of after tax operating profits.
With the growth opportunities being presented to Comvita on an ongoing basis, the board had decided to change the dividend payment policy to 40-45 per cent of after tax operating profits, the company said.
Comvita chief executive Scott Coulter said sales of $130 million were recorded in Australia and New Zealand over the last 15 months, driven by the re-export market to China.
"Australia is now our largest market with sales of $74 million over the last 15 months and has contributed significantly to our result."
China sales grew strongly and in particular sales through the various e-commerce platforms and the 400 branded retail outlets operated by our dedicated Chinese distribution partner. Comvita supplies all of the major E-commerce platforms in China.
"We are focused on the delivery of $400 million of sales in five years' time and solid growth in earnings per share over this period," said Mr Coulter.
The two key building blocks of our strategy were security of supply and new product innovation, he added.


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It’s April Fools’ Day, and it’s Friday. This could get dangerous.
Social media is a huge part of our lives and is responsible for how we consume just about everything. That’s usually a good thing, but on April Fools’ Day, it gives companies and brands a chance to get some viral traction by playing (usually) lame jokes on their followers.
The sports world, of course, is no different. Here’s a look at how some teams and brands are going for the big laughs on April Fools’ Day. Be careful out there, folks.
As far as April Fools’ pranks go, this one is actually pretty good. It’s not lame, it’s not over the top, and most importantly, it’s actually kind of believable.
University of Oregon football
Here’s another one that’s not horrible because again, it’s kind of believable. Would anyone be that surprised if the Ducks did something like this? After all, it fits right in with their “innovative” uniform designs.
Sports Illustrated’s The Cauldron
The Cauldron went all in with their April Fools’ Day joking, doing a lot of work for a fairly unbelievable story. Fear not, ‘Nova fans. The Wildcats will still take the court Saturday in Houston.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ star running back checked in Friday morning with the go-to move for players: the “I’m no longer on the team” joke. Classic.
This doesn’t really count, but it made us laugh.
New Jersey “Angels”
The New Jersey Devils opted for a clever little ruse, creating a whole new Twitter handle for the team’s branding “overhaul.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@WinTheDay


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The chief of Amazon's TV and movie division was suspended with immediate effect Thursday after a producer accused him of "shocking and surreal" sexual harassment. Isa Hackett, a producer of The Man in the High Castle, told the Hollywood Reporter that Amazon Studios chief Roy Price made lewd advances to her at an Amazon staff party in 2015. Hackett said Price, who had met her for the first time that night, repeatedly propositioned her in a taxi on the way to the event, telling her that she would love his penis. She said she made it very clear that she was not interested but he continued to harass her at the party and shouted "Anal sex!" in her ear as she talked with other Amazon execs.
Amazon says Price "is on a leave of absence effective immediately," the New York Times reports. Hackett, daughter of Man in the High Castle author Philip K. Dick, said she reported the harassment at the time, but she wasn't told what the result of the investigation was. She declined to discuss the incident when the Information tech site reported on it in August, but told the Reporter she decided to go public after other women shared their stories of being harassed or assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. "I feel inspired by the other women who have been far braver than I am, who have come forward," she said. "I hope we all continue to inspire each other and ultimately create change." (Rose McGowan said Thursday that Amazon execs knew "'HW' raped" her.)


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Samsung is indeed stuck in a unusually abnormal situation. While reviewers love the new Galaxy S6 siblings, they are not selling as expected. This is keeping in mind, that the Galaxy S6 is one of the few well thought of smartphones that has come out of Samsung’s stable in years.
While the Koreans figure out what went wrong? There is indeed no time to wait as the quarterly earnings were not too positive, which lead to Samsung announcing that price cuts were coming. These were expected to make up for lost margins driving more units out with their lower prices.
Well, those new low price tags have finally arrived. For now they have just gone official in the Netherlands, but we are expecting the same to show up globally in the coming days.
The price cuts are pretty large, and reduce the price of the smartphones by about EUR 100.
That translates to about Rs 7011 in Indian monies, which is quite a lot. Enough to drive sales at least.
Currently, the Samsung Galaxy S6 retails for Rs 39,790 for the 32 GB version while the edge variant sells for Rs 49,900 online. Putting the price cuts into place for the Indian smartphone market would result in Rs 32,790 for the S6 and Rs 42,990 for the edge version.
Clearly, this puts the Samsung Galaxy A8 that was announced yesterday, in a tight situation because the mid-range handset was announced with a high Rs 32,500 tag. So we could expect a price cut for that handset as well, provided Samsung reduces the prices of the flagships first.


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Update on the latest in business:
Technology shares lead market higher
NEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks are leading U.S. indexes broadly higher as the market claws back ground it lost a day earlier.
Microsoft climbed 1.2 percent Tuesday, and chipmaker Micron jumped 4.9 percent.
Apple, which got an exemption to new tariffs announced on imports of goods made in China, was up 0.8 percent.
Ferrari rose 3 percent after the sportscar maker announced a new lineup of models.
Tesla shares fall after report of criminal investigation
DETROIT (AP) — Shares of electric car maker Tesla Inc. fell more than 5 percent Tuesday after a report that it’s under criminal investigation over statements about taking the company private.
Bloomberg News reported that the Justice Department probe is running parallel to an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The news service cited two people familiar with the matter that it did not identify.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted last month that funding was secured to take the company private. The announcement raised the stock price 11 percent in one day, but it has since fallen.
Later the company admitted that funding wasn’t lined up and eventually Musk abandoned the idea.
Tesla shares fell 5.3 percent to $279.13 in midday trading. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SunTrust’s online banking outage enters third day
NEW YORK (AP) — Customers of the large regional bank SunTrust are experiencing a third day of outages and difficulties from its online banking services, a particular problem for its customers in North and South Carolina who are currently dealing with Hurricane Florence.
SunTrust’s online banking services went down on Sunday after a routine technical upgrade. As of Tuesday afternoon, the bank says some services have been restored but customers are still experiencing issues. The bank says it will refund any ATM or overdraft fees incurred by customers during the outage.
While online banking outages happen, it is uncommon for outages to last more than a day.
SunTrust is the 12th largest bank in the U.S., holding nearly $200 billion in assets and operating more than 1,200 branches, located almost entirely in the South.
Visa, Mastercard in new settlement of credit card fee suit
NEW YORK (AP) — Visa and Mastercard say they and several banks will pay $6.2 billion to settle part of a long-running lawsuit brought by merchants over fees on credit card transactions.
Visa says it’s paying $4.1 billion and Mastercard is paying about $900 million. The two companies say they’ve already set aside money to cover the payment.
A group of 19 merchants and trade groups alleged Visa and MasterCard conspired to fix fees that are charged to stores for handling credit card payments. Tuesday’s settlement covers the monetary claims in the lawsuit, but a lawsuit over their network rules is ongoing.
The parties agreed to a financial settlement in 2012, but some retailers and consumer groups objected and that settlement was ultimately thrown out by a federal appeals court.
ACLU says Facebook allows gender discrimination in ads
NEW YORK (AP) — The ACLU is accusing Facebook of discrimination, saying the company violated federal and state laws prohibiting businesses from excluding women from job ads.
In a complaint filed Tuesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the ACLU also lists 10 employers that it claims have placed discriminatory ads. The group says changes that Facebook made to its ads systems this year to prevent discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion and other characteristics didn’t extend to gender.
Facebook says there is no place for discrimination at the company and that it will defend its practices once it can review the complaint.
The complaint says Facebook allows those placing job ads to target potential applicants based on their gender, including women or those who do not identify as either men or women.
Papa John’s new ads: John’s out, diverse franchisees are in
NEW YORK (AP) — Papa John’s, which wants to distance itself from famous founder John Schnatter, is releasing new ads Tuesday that replaces him with a diverse group of franchisees.
The commercials show several franchisees looking into the camera and introducing themselves to viewers.
“You’ve heard one voice of Papa John’s for a long time,” one of them says, followed by another who says, “It’s time you heard from all of us.”
The pizza chain started to remove Schnatter from its logos, pizza boxes and restaurants this summer after a report said he used a racial slur during a media training session. Schnatter, who has apologized for the slur, says it was taken out of context. He remains the Louisville, Kentucky-based company’s biggest shareholder.
The new ads begin airing this week.
BMW moves annual shutdown to guard against Brexit disruption
LONDON (AP) — BMW says it is scheduling a weeks-long shutdown of its Mini plant in England to coincide with Brexit as insurance against supply hiccups from a disorderly British departure from the European Union.
The German automaker says annual maintenance at its Cowley factory will begin April 1 — the first working day after Brexit on March 29 — and last several weeks. The shutdown usually takes place in summer.
BMW said Tuesday that it had made the decision “to minimize the risk of any possible short-term parts-supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”
The company said it considered that “worst-case scenario” unlikely, but added “we have to plan for it.”
Britain and the EU have not yet finalized their divorce agreement, stirring fears among businesses of disruption to trade.


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Pair charged for stealing more than $2,000 worth of DVDS from Walmart
LOWVILLE, N.Y. (WKTV) - Two men from Utica are facing charges after authorities say they stole more than $2,000 worth of DVDs from the Walmart in Lowville. According to the Lewis County Sheriff's Office, John N. Markuch, 63, and Nathaniel Walker III, 39, both of Utica have been charged in the shoplifting incident, which authorities say occurred on January 15. The duo were previously charged for the theft of thousands of dollars worth of Gillette razors from the Walmart following a traffic stop in Remsen. Authorities say the DVDs allegedly stolen were from the same incident. Makuch is charged with third-degree burglary fourth-degree grand larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy. Authorities said he had previously been banned from Walmart for shoplifting. Walker was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny and fifth-degree conspiracy. The two men were arraigned in the Town of Lowville Court and sent to the Lewis County Jail on no bail.


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Snapchat seems to be doing very well for itself. It has experienced massive growth and is a major player in the mobile app market, despite Facebook's attempt to kill the app with Poke. The app boats 200 million "snaps" daily, meaning it's pushing quite a bit of data. For right now, the app doesn't seem to have a way to make money, so seed funding is important.
The company has confirmed that it raised $60 million in funding and saw itself garner an $800 million pre-money valuation. If you'll recall, Facebook bought Instagram for not much more than that. The company has raised a total of around $75 million since it debuted back in September 2011.
In order to continue scaling while developing the Snapchat experience, we needed to build a bigger engineering team and figure out how to pay our server bills. Long story short -- we're committed to building a big company around an innovative and fun product.
- > NEXT STORY: OUYA founder is 'pissed' that some original backers don't have their consoles - but what is she going to do about it?
- < PREVIOUS STORY: Sony's PlayStation blog releases Gran Turismo 6 pre-order details


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Citing fresh evidence of escalating credit card fees, consumer advocates on Thursday urged Congress to enact new protections for cardholders.
A Consumer Action survey in August and September of 117 cards from 74 banks found that most issuers have been increasing their use of penalty rates, raising late fees and over-the-limit charges, shortening grace periods, and lowering minimum monthly payments.
For instance, late fees at 39 of these banks that had also participated in a 1995 survey averaged $21.82-up from $12.53 three years ago. And 62 of the banks in the overall study charged customers more than $20 when they exceeded their credit limit, compared with only one in 1995.
"The rates we uncovered in our survey are far in excess of any added expense incurred by a bank," said Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action.
Catherine J. Cummings, vice president of consumer affairs for MasterCard International, said that overall, credit cards are cheaper because interest rates are dropping and annual fees are rarer. "Competition is driving prices down," she said.
The advocates urged Congress to revive a provision in the failed bankruptcy reform bill that would require issuers to disclose on statements how long it would take to pay off the balance if only the minimum monthly payments are made.


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Nvidia and Samsung have jointly agreed to stop suing each other over alleged patent and intellectual property infringement, though neither company has released details of the terms relating to the settlement.
Nvidia fired the first salvo of the now-ended IP war with Samsung in September 2014, alleging patent infringement
in technologies relating to mobile GPU design, programmable shaders, unified shader hardware, and multithreaded parallel processing - the first time in Nvidia's history that the company had actually sued over its 7,000-strong patent portfolio. In November Samsung sued Nvidia
over claimed infringement of six of its own patents with a side helping of publishing misleading benchmark results, and the two companies have been fighting it out in the courts ever since.
This week, that ends: the two companies have agreed a settlement which will see all pending and ongoing patent and intellectual property disputes between the two companies ended. Financial terms have not be been disclosed, but Nvidia has confirmed that it includes license agreements for the contentious patents but does not introduce any broad cross-licensing agreement for either company's overall portfolio nor 'other compensation
The settlement means that both companies should be able to go on using the technologies in their existing products without threat of a sales ban or other injunctive relief enforced by the courts, and neatly sidesteps any investigation into the validity of the patents in question which could result in their cancellation.


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LONDON, August 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Leading Binary Options platform providers, SpotOption, will be the official sponsors of the China International Online Trading Expo, from the 13-14th of September, in Shenzhen. Besides exhibiting their latest products and solutions at their 54 square metered booth, SpotOption will be reaching out to new strategic partners, affiliates, and white labels.
SpotOption today has over 170 white labels, and are clearly dominating the industry by providing a regulated binary options complete solution, as well as integrated product and MT4 Plug-In. As part of their on-going efforts to secure their labels' position as the leading trading platforms, each label is invited to join SpotOption at the show for support and assistance in recruiting more affiliates and traders to their platform.
As the Chinese market is as ready as ever for Binary Options, SpotOption will be paving the way by introducing their most advanced platform and simple integration solution for those looking to offer the latest and most popular online trading instrument. SpotOption has recently upgraded its platform, Spot2, and has taken great measures to perfect the binary trader experience.
"SpotOption has already entered the Chinese market," says Pini Peter, Founder of SpotOption, "but the CIOTEXPO is a great place to display the new Spot2, and with our local representation, we're welcoming new partnerships with Chinese entrepreneurs, IBs, and financial institutions."
SOURCE SpotOption Ltd.


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A new research report from Berg Insight says the market for mobile machine-to-machine (M2M) communications has begun to move from the 2G to 3G and 4G technologies.
Although cellular M2M devices on HSPA and LTE networks are expected to account for under 20% of the global market by the end of 2014, they’re forecast to dominate with more than 50% by 2018. Meanwhile, shipments of 3G/4G M2M devices are expected to overtake 2G M2M in 2017.
Some of this move towards newer technology has been driven by networks phasing out older services. In the USA, AT&T’s plans to shut down its 2G network are said to have “profoundly changed” the M2M hardware market, with most M2M devices shipped in North America expected to use 3G technology this year. However, Europe has a slower rate of adoption because 2G networks are expected to operate beyond 2020 in most countries.
Berg Insight says the main catalyst for the increased move towards 3G and 4G M2M is the growing data requirement of many applications.
Tobias Ryberg, Senior Analyst at Berg Insight and author of the report, said “Firstly, there is a general trend towards higher data consumption for most traditional M2M applications. Secondly, the automotive industry is getting very serious about realizing the vision of connected cars, which require mobile broadband connectivity. Early adopters such as GM and Audi recently introduced their first car models with embedded LTE in the US.”
[Berg Insight brochure: The Global Wireless M2M Market (pdf)]


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https://www.applesecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/AppleSecrets.png 0 0 https://www.applesecrets.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/AppleSecrets.png 2011-07-07 12:03:052011-07-07 12:03:05Amazon takes on Apple: Cloud Player updates, use of 'App Store' – ConsumerReports.org
Amazon takes on Apple: Cloud Player updates, use of 'App Store'
And in other news, the online retailer might have just scored an early hit against the iconic computer company in the right to use "app store" as a name. For a limited time, Amazon is offering unlimited storage space for music files to customers who …
Amazon Can Finally Respond to Apple iCloud's Popularity: Here are ReasonsInternational Business Times
Amazon ups the ante in the cloud music warsiPad app, unlimited music storageHouston Chronicle (blog)
Who'll Win Licensing Battle Between Amazon and Major Music Labels?Rapid News Network
Mobiputing –Mac Rumors –CNET (blog)
all 103 news articles »


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As the crypto industry continues to evolve, one analyst is reassessing his initial doubts about Coinbase. Patrick O'Shaughnessy, an analyst at Raymond James, has acknowledged the significant changes in the crypto landscape since Coinbase's mid-2021 IPO. Despite this recognition, he continues to maintain his Underperform rating on the stock.
At the heart of Raymond James' original thesis was the expectation that Coinbase would experience pricing compression over time due to increased competition. However, recent data indicates that Coinbase's average retail take rate has actually increased from 1.2% to 1.3% in June 2021 to 2.5% in the most recent quarter.
This unexpected shift in pricing can be attributed to a positive change in Coinbase's customer base. While many traders have withdrawn from the crypto market amidst the 2022 bear market, Coinbase has managed to retain its retail customers who are willing to pay higher fees. Despite facing competition from brokers like Robinhood Markets, several rivals within the crypto industry have fallen, including FTX.
O'Shaughnessy speculates that this favorable competitive environment has allowed Coinbase to raise its pricing on the retail platform instead of resorting to price reductions in order to maintain market share.
It's important to note that the crypto industry is highly dynamic and subject to constant changes. As such, analysts like O'Shaughnessy must regularly reassess their perspectives and adapt to new developments. Although unexpected, Coinbase's ability to increase retail pricing demonstrates its resilience in a challenging market environment.
By leveraging its strong customer base and adapting to shifting industry dynamics, Coinbase has defied initial expectations and emerged as a potential leader in the crypto brokerage space. As investors continue to monitor the evolving landscape, it will be interesting to see how Coinbase navigates future challenges and capitalizes on emerging opportunities.
Another thing Raymond James says it got wrong—at least so far—was the risk that the stablecoin Tether—the most dominant dollar-pegged token—posed to the crypto ecosystem. Given the systemic role of stablecoins in the digital asset economy and Tether’s mixed record of transparency, there was a concern that a failure at Tether could damage the whole space.
Despite concerns over asset backing, Tether has remained largely resilient over the past few years, according to O’Shaughnessy.
Raymond James wasn’t bearish on everything in 2021—in fact, they were positive about the broker’s opportunities in subscriptions and services. Coinbase has experienced tailwinds in this business, but from an unexpected place: Holdings of the dollar-pegged USDC stablecoin has seen interest income surge in step with rising interest rates.
The success of Coinbase’s interest income line has offset a lot of the pressures the firm has seen in other areas of its business such as lower transaction volumes, states O’Shaughnessy. That makes Coinbase “look more like a bank,” with 30% of its revenue generated from interest income, he added.
But Raymond James wasn’t all wrong on all aspects of its bearish stance and continues to double down on it. O’Shaughnessy still views the regulatory backdrop as unfavorable for Coinbase. That backdrop has shifted from patchwork guidance in 2021 to more aggressive enforcement actions against crypto firms from the Securities and Exchange Commission—which targeted Coinbase this year—and other agencies.
The Future of Coinbase Hangs in the Balance
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is intensifying its crackdown on potential securities violations in the cryptocurrency industry. This has put Coinbase, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, in a precarious position. The SEC alleges that Coinbase is operating as an unregistered securities exchange. However, Coinbase vehemently denies these allegations and is determined to fight them in court. Despite this ongoing legal battle, Coinbase has managed to establish itself as a resilient player in the volatile crypto market, earning a reputation as a top-tier investment opportunity. This has undoubtedly contributed to its remarkable surge in stock price throughout 2023.
However, there are valid reasons to consider selling Coinbase stock, particularly at its current sky-high valuation. One such reason is the philosophical pessimism shared by Raymond James. They contend that the ultimate utility of cryptocurrencies remains largely elusive, posing a potential obstacle to Coinbase's long-term success.
"While countless individuals have dedicated their efforts over the past 15 years, we still struggle to identify truly meaningful use cases for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology," stated O'Shaughnessy.
Nonetheless, investors who have reaped significant profits from Coinbase's performance this year likely remain unfazed by these concerns.


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Jun 7, 2013 New revelations show the federal government’s spying program isn’t contained to just telecommunications giant Verizon.
Jun 7, 2013 Their governments may not want to publicize the cost of President Obama's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Sunnylands, but local business owners are looking forward to a mini-economic boom.
Jun 6, 2013 The NSA order for Verizon's customer data highlights how much the private sector knows about their customers, and the restrictions on how they use it.
Jun 6, 2013 When it comes to pleading the fifth, the digital age is making things complicated.
Jun 6, 2013 The National Security Agency has reportedly been collecting phone records of not the few, but the many.
Jun 6, 2013 Did the government of Tajikistan ban YouTube over an embarrassing karaoke performance?
Stacey Vanek Smith
Jun 3, 2013 According to the Chamber of Commerce, 90 percent of the world's data has been produced in the last two years. And that means, of course, that companies need a place to store it.
May 31, 2013 Samsung has chosen to use Intel chips in one of their tablet devices, marking the chipmaker's first major foray into the mobile arena.
May 29, 2013 Freakonomics takes a ride in a driverless car and looks at how they'll change technology on the outside.
May 27, 2013 The European Commission is looking into whether Apple uses unfair tactics that hurt competition, according to the Financial Times.