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Because the App Store is the only way for most people to install software on their iPhones, Apple's new rule also suggests that there may not be any purpose-built apps to mine cryptocurrency either - not that any of these apps would really make any money for users. Apps also can not offer cryptocurrencies as a reward for performing certain tasks such as downloading certain apps, or posting messages on social media. However, apps can provide cloud-based mining services. The move comes at a time when 'cryptojacking', a malware attack wherein malicious attackers scrumptiously hijack a computer or a phone's computing power to mine cryptocurrencies, is a growing menace.
Apple has a clear message for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Don't mine it on our devices. The section also bans apps and any third-party ads from running "unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining".
Apple additionally wants to ensure the seriousness of Initial Coin Offerings, cryptocurrency futures trading, and other crypto-securities or quasi-securities trading. The technology giant reversed its stance soon after, despite pulling moves like removing multi-cryptocurrency wallet Jaxx after its disapproval of Dash in 2016.
Apple has previously blocked apps for supporting cryptocurrencies it disapproves of. Apple allows apps like Coinbase and Robinhood to enable users to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies, so it's not a complete ban on mobile crypto. In a dedicated cryptocurrency section, the company goes on to break down in more detail what is - and, crucially, is not - permissible.
The guidelines do allow apps that facilitate ICOs, as long as they work with established banks and follow all applicable compliance laws. Finally, cryptocurrency apps can't offer currency as a reward for downloading other apps, posting to social networks or encouraging other users to download apps.
After all, the rules on net neutrality have changed multiple times already - six times in the last 10 years, in fact. And while net neutrality is polarizing, it is an example of a regulation that both companies and consumers agree on.
Fans immediately expressed their disapproval over the sound effects, but Eminem denied ever using gunshot effects in any show . In one video taken during the performance, a fan drops their phone as soon as a loud noise is heard.
Anthony Bourdain's 11-year-old daughter performed in a concert just days after her father died of an apparent suicide in France . McGowan also opened up about Bourdain's relationship with her close friend and fellow #MeToo advocate Asia Argento.
Ariana Grande is tweeting about how happy and in love she is after news broke that she is engaged to Pete Davidson . They went public with their relationship with a Harry Potter-inspired social media post on May 30.
The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted may have in USA jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. Hacks in the runup to the U.S. presidential election in 2016 are also linked to Russian Federation .
The annual G-7 summit appeared to have weathered tensions over President Donald Trump's threats of a trade war. MarketWatch has pointed out that Trump has significantly overstated the US trade deficit with the EU.
When President Sisi took office in 2014, he showed understanding of Ethiopia's aspiration for development through the new dam. Diplomatic tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia have seen on the rise since the dam project started in 2011.
The Boring Company is a tunnel construction business founded in 2016 to provide the infrastructure for an underground Hyperloop. The devices - priced at $500 - generated $10 million in sales for the company during its pre-sales earlier this year.
Trump is expected to arrive at 8pm local time (2200 AEST) and go straight to his hotel, the Shangri-La, the White House said. US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are in Singapore ahead of their critical meet on June 12.
If convicted, he might face maximum penalties of dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and confinement of five years. He was working at the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center at the Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.
Sessions' finding followed his unusual move to intervene personally in the case known as the " Matter of A-B-". They said Sessions' decision overturns decades of legal efforts to protect abused women .
Trump has already kick-started an investigation into auto imports , which could result in tariffs on foreign vehicles. Mrs May paid tribute to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's leadership at the summit in the face of Mr Trump's criticisms.
Nadal, Thiem ready for tough final showdown
After holding there, Nadal broke del Potro to take that set and was on his way, taking 14 of the past 17 games. He appeared to be in near peak form against del Potro - once the all important first set went in his favor.
After teasing a name change, IHOP says "b" is for burgers
After lots of speculation that the new "B" stood for "breakfast", the chain has announced that "B" stands for " burgers ". With this move, IHOP follows a recent trend of restaurant chains tapping into markets outside of their specialties.
New Anthem cinematic trailer is here to blow your minds!
E3 2018 is finally here! There will be cosmetics and vanity items available for purchase, but there will be no loot boxes . This Indie game Sea of Solitude , which has been in development for the past three years, got a new trailer at E3.
The most exciting games from Square Enix's E3 showcase
The video talks us through the new additions to Just Cause 4 , the most prominent of these being the extreme weather system. Being published by Square Enix , Babylon's Fall is heading for PC and PlayStation 4 sometime in 2019.
PICTURE: Trump sits defiant against G7 leaders
She also said the U.S. president wasn't entirely wrong in pressing Germany to increase defence spending. We can't pose a security threat to the United States, and I know that Americans understand that.


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Four different figures will be available starting in May. Funko's Overwatch line will feature the time-altering pilot Tracer, the merciless mercenary Reaper and the French assassin Widowmaker. The company is also producing a super-sized 6-inch figure for Winston, the genetically engineered gorilla scientist. You can see all four of them below.
Overwatch is scheduled to be released this spring on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.

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Defense Distributed, an organization offering designs for guns that can be manufactured at home using increasingly cheap devices known as 3D printers, will likely start testing prototypes before the end of the year.
The Texas-based group, which has applied for nonprofit status and describes itself as "organized for charitable and literary purposes," has already created three designs for printable guns.
The plan is for everyday people to be able to download those schematics and then print their own gun using a 3D printer.
3D printers work in different ways, but the most common kinds apply layers of plastic resin to create a fully formed, three-dimensional object.
All the group needs is a federal firearms license, which its cofounder Cody Wilson expects to obtain within the next two or three weeks.
"We're sitting on the logistics, time, resources and money," Wilson told Alexander Hotz of The Guardian. "We're just waiting on a little piece of paper."
But it hasn't been an easy journey for the organization.
Back in September, Indiegogo, a fundraising website, froze the group's Wiki Weapon project and forced them to return the nearly $2,000 raised to the donors. But that didn't stop them from taking contributions.
The group secured the funding it needed by taking donations through Bitcoins, a digital currency. But it hit another snafu in October when 3D printing company Stratasys took back the 3D printer it had leased to Defense Distributed, citing the group's lack of a license to manufacture firearms.
But something doesn't sound right about that.
The whole point of 3D printing is that anyone can become a manufacturer.
So will everyone who downloads Defense Distributed's designs need to apply for a federal license?
Don't Miss: 3D Printing Is The New Personal Computing >


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The painting is everyday. Attached to schools, offices, bus stations, taxi stands or markets in any Senegalese city, every day around seven in the morning small food stalls begin to be set up to satisfy the early needs of passers-by. Sandwiches of egg, peas, niebe (local legume) with onion and chips accompany the piping hot glasses of Nescafé or Touba coffee, a traditional spicy drink.
“I leave home at six in the morning and I don’t have time to have breakfast,” says Habibatou Diallo, at a small stall on Dakar’s Avenida de la Independencia. Despite the difficulty of putting figures on this mostly informal sector, experts estimate that millions of Senegalese eat one of the three main meals of the day outside their homes. According to the FAO, the street food sector (street food) has acquired an important dimension in recent years in African urban centers, where rapid urbanization and economic difficulties have encouraged an increase in the number of street food vendors.
The chef, “great consumer” and organizer of the Dakar Street Food Festival, Tamsir Ndir understands this phenomenon as “an art”. “People meet and exchange at these street stalls. They are benchmarks in cities, part of the urban landscape and a sector of infinite creativity and resilience”, he explains.
At the beginning of December, the second edition of the event was held, of a mobile nature and which this year is installed in the garden of the Theodore Monod Museum (Ifan), in the Plateau district, in the capital. In it, the different aromas of the meals of the day merge: first thing in the morning, breakfast, the mythical La Grotte stall in the Sandaga market guarantees meat skewers for 100 CFA francs (one and a half euros).
Around noon, several women from the Kermel market area begin to arrive, with the so-called “pension dishes”: traditional Senegalese recipes, such as ceebu jën (recently included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO), the mbaxalu saalumthe keebu kethiakh… It is now rare for families in urban areas to prepare these dishes on a daily basis, as is still done in rural areas, so buying it prepared is an irresistible option for many people, who eat with limited time. “It had been a long time since I had eaten such good rice with dried fish,” Ibrahima does not hesitate to say, passing through the culinary festival, in which about a thousand people participated in 2021.
In a shaded area, the local nuts and juices made from hibiscus (bissap), fruit of the baobab (oops) or ditakh They are combined with board games, which are usually played outdoors also in urban centers, sheltered from the heat under any tree, on any sidewalk.
For Ndir, this event is a moment of “tribute to street food”, since he considers that many people “minimize its significant role both economically and nutritionally”. The kitchen manager of the well-known Bideew Bi restaurant works with some of Dakar’s vendors to organize his work and invites them to invest a little in their stalls to make them more welcoming and pleasant. “For example, I advise them to change the paint for tiles to facilitate cleaning,” he explains, acknowledging that the lack of hygiene controls is one of the barriers that stops the social recognition of the street food.
Imperialism at the table
Yoro Sow sells grilled meat in Saint Louis, Senegal. It comes from the Fuuta (interior region of the country, on the banks of the Senegal River). These vendors are known as forox caaya (in Wolof, literally dirty pants). “The hygiene issue is not an easy one to address among vendors, and humorous terms are sometimes used to address it. Forumx is a Wolof word that means rotten, poorly preserved, but also spicy, or delicious. “Forox ciaya neex dibi“, It is said that. And it means: even if the pants are dirty, the meat is good. People love to eat at street stalls, but hygiene is always in question.” This is explained by Bruno Faye, a member of the Saint Louis Action and Critical Studies Group (GAEC), a group made up of professors and students from Gaston Berger University, as well as residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the university campus.
In mid-December, the group organized the Saint Louis Pan-African Street Food Festival, whose title for this first edition was Food as a decolonial weapon. To introduce the event, they paraphrase Thomas Sankara, when someone asked him what imperialism is. “Look at your plates when you eat: imported grains of rice, corn and millet: that is imperialism,” the Burkinabe leader declared in a mythical speech that now serves as the collective’s motto.
“Street food is a metaphor for our times and an invisible door to work on many topics such as history, economics, nutrition, sociology…”, says Faye. For the GAEC, this topic has been serving, for five years, to test new pedagogies based, not so much on books, but on other tools such as objects or places to learn. “The goal is to reconstruct a complex story through something concrete like food, which can be used to do science, to understand how a neighborhood is configured or to analyze the structuring of care,” adds Gaston Berger University professor and member of the group, Abdourrakhmane Seck.
The festival is the culmination of this process and groups from more than 10 African countries have participated in it, as well as friendly groups from different regions of Senegal, which in turn represent different ethnic groups. “Memory is very important in life. street food: There are stalls that present the cuisines of different territories, testimonies of the miscegenation of the population and where people meet their flavors again, ”he explains.
The event also brought together experts from different disciplines, interested in the link with street food. The nutritionist Dr. Saer Ba Diallo explained to an audience basically made up of university students, the relationship between a poor diet and “chronic non-communicable diseases”. “The excess of salt, sugar, oil and spicy, culturally very accepted and even demanded, causes hypertension and diabetes, whose prevalence rate in the Saint Louis region, 40%, is the highest in the country”, According to the doctor.
The geography professor at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Salimata Wade, also feels challenged by the subject. “Food is closely linked to urbanization, to the bridges between city and countryside, to the supply of cities, to the insertion of women in the market economy, to the management of public spaces, to whom does the street belong? ?” he wonders. For her, a key issue is time: “Cooking is a physical-chemical process that takes time. If women are not helped to have it, they will use chemical flavor enhancers because they save money and minutes. Likewise, to reduce the duration in the kitchen, it is important to support the mechanization of the transformation and preservation of food”.
“Eating yourself has to do with the project of society that you want,” reflects Wade. “And for this the key is education, so that people can complain to the authorities that regulate the food market.”
“Let’s strengthen the local production chain!” invites the transformative businesswoman Bate Boye, presenting the work already carried out by hundreds of women’s groups in the creation of natural products “and healthier than the commercial ones”, such as homemade ketchup, cubes of organic broth, cactus fruit juice or products extracted from moringa (known as nebeday), and that, “with help, they could promote and reach more consumers,” he says.
More than 40% of family expenses in Senegal are used for food; and of these, almost 95% go to the informal sector
Mohamed Ba, an economist and professor at Gaston Berger University in Saint Louis, for his part, is interested in the issue of food. “Changing the way we eat would improve the country’s economic situation: economic sovereignty is linked to food sovereignty,” he says. The professor insists on promoting the consumption of local products, and complains that the food habits inculcated since colonial times are maintained: “The colonial economy introduced rice as a substitute for millet and other imported products that have been changing habits and tastes. of consumers. As much as they value it, the ceebu jën It is not a national dish! Of the 1,000 CFA francs (one and a half euros) that a plate of rice with fish costs, 800 go abroad. To eat ceebu jën it is a deficit!”
Senegal has just gone through three days of strike in the bakery sector, which highlighted the social anchorage of wheat bread, also imported, as opposed to local cover, made from cereals of the country. “Without prior awareness and social deconstruction, any public policy that promotes another way of eating will fail,” says Ba.
Street food is closely linked to the economy of families. According to the Senegalese Ministry of Economy and Finance, more than 40% of family expenses are allocated to food and of these, almost 95% go to the informal sector, which is closer and has modest prices. “Street food in these countries is food for the disinherited,” says Abdourrakhmane Seck. “We are not in societies of abundance in which the fact of eating out represents a small luxury or breaking the routine, we eat out out of necessity. When I was little, those who ate in the street were those who were not from the neighborhood and could not return home or did not have family ties, today it is still cheaper to eat out,” he says, alluding to the fact that, among other reasons, Senegalese society took to the streets in March 2021 to protest the high cost of living.
Canteens as places of popular education
“The intervention and even the study of the eating habits of families is complicated, as it enters the private sphere,” explains Bruno Faye. “This is why street food is so interesting: because it concerns us all. Introducing its improvement in the political and citizen agenda is the way to reappropriate food, and through it, work on other issues”.
“As barbershops were spaces of popular education for the black population in the United States in the 1960s, here too canteens could be, transforming a problem into a factor of social transformation,” explains Abdourrakhmane Seck, from the GAEC.
The sociologist proposes, for this, a change of perspective: the street vendor “as a sort of pharmacist or dietician”, who analyzes the needs of his potential clients and presents solutions. “When a construction site begins in a neighborhood, there is immediately someone who sets up a canteen. This person should be able to understand that a breakfast of fog (legume) can be a good option for workers, who expend a lot of physical energy. Instead of accepting the invisible condition that is given to them, the challenge is to train them to be able to transform their gaze and their job”, explains Seck, who has promoted a mapping of street vendors in Saint Louis, identified by the population, and with which are already working in network.
You can follow PLANETA FUTURO at Twitter, Facebook and Instagramand subscribe here to our ‘newsletter’.
George Holan is chief editor at Plainsmen Post and has articles published in many notable publications in the last decade.


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Meg Urie, owner of SmallPond, recently sat down with Holistic Marketing Concepts for Business' Tiffany Brown to discuss what she likes best about working with her clients, why a CMS website pla
SmallPond Studio is pleased to welcome Will Porter as graphic
We're excited to announce that SmallPond has moved into a larger and more convenient office space at 10116 Jibboom St (between Urban Angels and Sierra Mountain Mortgage, across the street from the Pour House) in Downtown Truckee.
We also have an exciting new printing business... PondPrints! SmallPond will continue to create the same beautiful graphic design and dynamic websites as always, only now we can also handle ALL of your printing needs. Keep an eye out for more information about PondPrints in the coming weeks.
SmallPond Studio was tapped as the top Marketing Company in the Sierra Sun's Best Of poll. Thanks to all who voted for us!
Find out who else won in the Best Of insert in the Friday, Aug. 14 issue.
Blue Sky Home Center has been awarded for its renovation of several buildings in Brickelltown, on the west side of downtown Truckee.
A panel of eight building and design professionals selected the project as the top historical renovation for Tahoe Quarterly’s Mountain Home Awards (article). Judges said the project, which was six years in the making, “breathes new life into Truckee’s west end.”
We've grown and moved to a new office in Brickelltown.
Renee Shadforth Deinken joined SmallPond as director of Web development. Deinken will oversee all Web design and development projects, as well as assist in various areas of marketing and public relations for the company.
“We are thrilled to have Renee join our team,” said SmallPond Owner Meg Raymore. “She brings exceptional design talent and an extensive business background that will allow us to fully serve all of our clients’ design, marketing, and advertising needs.”


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NH Hotel Group’s most exclusive brand, NH Collection, continues to expand its presence in major cities around the world with the opening of two unique five-star hotels in the two most important cities in Spain: NH Collection Gran Hotel Calderón, in Barcelona, and NH Collection Suecia, in Madrid. With the addition of these new properties, NH Hotel Group consolidates the presence of its upper-upscale brand in Spain, where it has 22 of the 67 NH Collection hotels that the company operates throughout the world.
NH Hotel Group has officially celebrated the launch of its premium brand, NH Collection, in America, coinciding with the inauguration of the NH Collection Mexico City Reforma. The launch reaffirms the Group’s commitment to the international expansion of its upper-upscale brand, which currently comprises 66 hotels in 13 countries in Europe and Latin America.
With the successful opening of its first four German hotels in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Dresden, NH Hotel Group has officially launched its upper-upscale brand NH Collection in Germany. In line with its strategic five-year business plan, the Company is strongly committed to its most exclusive brand, further strengthening segmentation of its portfolio under the new brand architecture, with the aim of increasing guest satisfaction.
HNA Tourism Group’s hospitality branch HNA Hospitality Group and NH Hotel Group announced the launch of the joint venture NH China and the Chinese hospitality brand “Nuo Han”. The brand represents a promise to meet the guest expectations and bring them a brilliant future. Also announced its ambitious development plans including two new hotels under NH Hotels branding to enter in the China market before the end of the year.
NH Hotel Group will bring its nhow brand to the UK capital in a new development from internationally acclaimed studio Foster + Partners, located within Shoreditch and the City of London. The area, known as ‘Tech City’ is the heart of the Capital’s technology and digital sector and widely recognised as the most rapidly growing commercial centre in the UK.
NH Hotel Group, a global hotel chain with over 400 hotels and 60,000 rooms in 29 countries across Europe, America and Africa, is celebrating its arrival in Colombia by launching 15 hotels in the country’s main cities. The group has also strengthened its presence in Chile and entered a new market in Ecuador. NH Hotel Group’s expansion in Colombia follows its acquisition of Hoteles Royal, a Latin American chain with 20 hotels in Colombia, Chile and Ecuador, earlier this year.
NH Hotel Group has signed a new deal to open its sixth hotel in the Italian capital city of Rome. The new hotel will be operated under the group’s premium brand, NH Collection, and will have 180 rooms, as well as dedicated meeting and event rooms. Due to open at the end of 2015, it will be the company’s third NH Collection-branded hotel in the city and its tenth in Italy.
NH Hotel Group has added the NH Brussels Carrefour de l’Europe to its portfolio in Europe. This latest acquisition brings the total amount of NH Hotels in Brussels to seven and is in line with the company’s five-year business plan which was announced in 2014 with expansion outlined as one of the group’s primary goals. The elegant, four-star NH Brussels de l’Europe is located in an enviable setting at the Grass Market in the historic heart of Brussels.
The NH Collection Eurobuilding has opened its doors as one of Madrid’s most emblematic hotels and NH Collection’s flagship property in Spain, following three months of intense refurbishment and a multi-million pound investment. Located just ten minutes from Madrid’s city centre and historical sites, the 431-room, four star hotel offers an unmatched culinary experience in the Spanish capital, with four areas dedicated to haute cuisine, as well as pioneering tourism technology, thanks to the trail-blazing decision to turn the hotel into the first “Living Lab” in the industry.
NH Hotel Group has unveiled a new premium brand as part of a strategic five-year plan announced by the group earlier this year. Officially unveiled earlier, the NH Collection will house the company’s upper-upscale hotels and aims to fulfil the demands of the discerning leisure and business traveller looking for top-quality products and services in strategic city locations.
The opening of the NH Prague consolidates the Group’s growth strategy in Central and Eastern Europe, where it currently operates 76 hotels.


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This year, Small Business Saturday takes place on Nov. 28 – between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year is the perfect opportunity to drive sales and recover from losses you’ve experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the Groupon study shows, more consumers are willing to shop local and support small businesses this year. As a business owner, you likely know firsthand that smaller companies took the biggest hit when COVID-19 first became an issue. Thankfully, you can take advantage of this day by ramping up your marketing efforts and reaching out to your loyal audience. You’d be surprised how many people are in the spirit of giving this time of the year – especially in 2020.
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Key takeaway: Small Business Saturday 2020 falls on Nov. 28. Do something special. Small Business Saturday is a big day, so you should do something to mark the occasion and entice more customers to stop by. You can offer special promotions, host an event (like a kid-friendly activity, a shop-and-sip or a food tasting), bring in local performers or artisans, or add an extra incentive to shop, like offering discounts or donating a portion of the day’s proceeds to a local charity.


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A 44-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of voyeurism after allegedly reaching under a 14-year-old’s skirt to take a photograph at a shopping centre in Grantham.
The girl was looking at clothes at a charity shop in the Isaac Newton Shopping Centre when the reported incident took place at 9.40am on Monday, October 25.
She was then approached from behind by a man who placed his phone underneath her skirt to take a picture. After being challenged, the man turned and ran away from the shop.
Police previously released a CCTV image of a man who they were trying to locate, who they later identified.
A 44-year-old man was later arrested in connection with the incident and police said on Friday, October 29 that the investigation is ongoing.


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2018 Mercedes-Benz C-Class recalled due to faulty headlight adjustment
According to the notice, incorrect adjustment of the headlight system increases the risk of an accident for both the driver and oncoming traffic.
The affected vehicles are all Model Year 2018, and were sold between May 1 and August 30 of that year.
The recall notice, lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), says “a deviation in the headlight adjustment may lead to a reduction or an enlargement of the illumination.
“In the case of headlights that are adjusted too low, the visual range during driving would be reduced – In the case of headlights that are adjusted too high, oncoming traffic could be dazzled.
“Incorrect adjustment of the headlights may increase the risk of an accident, which could result in injury or death of vehicle occupants or other road users.”
CarAdvice has contact Mercedes-Benz Australia to check if it has reported any incidents locally. We will update this story with its response.
A full list of vehicle identification numbers for the 291 cars involved in the recall can be found here.
To have your vehicle checked, find your closest Mercedes-Benz dealership by clicking here.


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Billie Eilish Has Rich Brown Hair Now
In the last year alone, Billie Eilish has had quite a hair journey. Second only to her popular music, the "Bad Guy" singer arguably became best known for her bright neon green roots that faded into a jet black shade. But in March 2021, her black and neon green ‘do was no more: she ushered in a new era with bright blonde hair. As we're all preparing to leave 2021 behind us, Eilish came through with another switcharoo when, on December 2, she revealed that her hair is now a deep, chocolate brown color.
Eilish shared a selfie of the new chocolate brown hairdo with her almost 97 million fans on Instagram. Folks rushed to the comments to share their excitement with multiple users commenting "omg" and "yes." The new color looks gorgeous on the star, and it's so dark that it looks like it's only a shade or two from a deep black hue. Her eye-grazing bangs look as if they have been freshly cut and that choppy short cut that she has been rocking since August 2021 is still here and going strong.
View on Instagram
Towards the end of 2020, Eilish promised fans that she would change her hair after her Apple TV+ documentary was released, and she's more than delivered. We're not too sure what inspired this new hair color change. Perhaps she chose to change the color again in anticipation of her upcoming birthday on December 18? Maybe she just wanted something different, and was inspired by our prediction that "rich brown" will be one of the biggest hair color trends in 2022? It may take a bit for folks to adjust to the Sagitarrius singer having a hair color other than neon green or blonde, but if the comments on her post are any indication, fans are thrilled.
Source: Read Full Article


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A ministerial meeting to negotiate the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which is joined by a total of 16 nations, including Japan, China, India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, will be held in Tokyo on July 1 for the first time outside the ASEAN. Japan is looking to lead negotiations with an eye on concluding the talks within the year. Whether to clinch a deal with China on rule-making over e-commerce and other fields, which Japan prioritizes, will become the key.
The RCEP negotiations began in May 2013. Of the 18 fields that have been thus far negotiated, the 16 countries agreed on only two fields concerning smaller businesses and economic technical cooperation. The ASEAN sought to conclude the talks within last year, but gave up.
In March, Japan announced its support for ASEAN’s goal of reaching an agreement within the year at a ministerial meeting held in Singapore on the condition that a certain level of quality will be secured for fields concerning market entry and rule-making.
Japan’s shift to accelerate the RCEP negotiations is driven by the U.S. Trump administration, which has been introducing protectionist policies, including import restrictions on steel and aluminum. There are concerns that Japan may be pressed to face further assertiveness by the U.S. as a Japan-U.S. new trade talk mechanism will be put into action in July. Japan wants to check the U.S. by taking the lead in the early conclusion of the RCEP negotiations and the early effectuation of the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact.
But negotiations on fields that Japan prioritizes may not go smoothly. With an eye on China, Japan demands the stronger protection of intellectual property rights and the free distribution of data across the borders as huge amounts of personal information that can be obtained through e-commerce and electric payment may affect companies’ competitiveness. But China is stepping up efforts to contain data as its IT firms are burgeoning thanks to e-commerce and e-payment. The division runs deep.
Japan hopes that its improved ties with China will help move forward the RCEP negotiations. “With trade friction intensifying between the U.S. and China, China wants to show the world that it is an advocate of free trade,” a Japanese government official said. (Abridged)


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When it comes to protecting the Earth’s environment, one thing that scientists warn about is carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Currently, it’s estimated that the global average of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 0.04 percent, which has been blamed for some of the effects of global warming. One company is trying to reverse the growing numbers, however, and they’re doing it by sucking CO2 directly from the air.
Climeworks is a company in Switzerland founded in 2010 that has developed a facility that’s able to extract CO2, though it’s proven to be very expensive. At their facility, Climeworks has a total of 18 giant metal fans stacked up high that pull in air, using filters that absorb the air’s CO2. After a few hours, the CO2 becomes saturated once heated up and then pure CO2 gas is collected.
All in all, Climeworks is able to extract nearly 1,000 tons of CO2, and they’re using it to help grow vegetables within a nearby greenhouse. Due to the success of the operation, Climeworks says that similar practices can be used around the world, but it’s a costly procedure. Climeworks co-founder Jan Wurzbacher said “This is the first time we are commercially selling CO2; this is the first of its kind…It has to be for business; CO2 capture can’t work for free.”
So how much does it cost vegetable growers to purchase CO2? Right now, the price is listed at just under $600 for a ton, though Climeworks is hoping that’s a temporary number. The wishful thinking for the future is that an increase in production and technology can cause the price to drop significantly.
“The magic number we always say is $100 per ton,” Wurzbacher said. “We have drawn a road down to the region of $100 and that is something we think is feasible. We can do it by scaling up the mass production of our components. I’d say half of the way to go there – we know what to do.”
Another goal that Climeworks has as they expand on a global basis is producing an overall benefit for the environment. Over the course of the next few years, Climeworks wants to be able to extract one percent of global emissions. This will also have a positive effect on vegetation, as the CO2 is used to fertilize vegetables, increasing production by around 20 percent, all while cutting down on the use of trucks to deliver the collected CO2.
As of right now, even the small-scale production that Climeworks has is showing a difference, and is offsetting the carbon footprint of nearly 400 people. Other companies are taking notice around the world and setting up similar procedures in countries like the United States where emissions are high. Even in early returns, the numbers have been better than expected, and it could end up having long-term benefits on global temperatures.
Climeworks spokesman Martin Jendrischik says the US is certainly an area where they want to expand toward. “There are many other good basaltic systems around the world, including in the US, which could stores tens of billions of tons of carbon dioxide,” he said.
A similar US-based company named Global Thermostat is trying to get ahead in the United States, saying that they can already get prices to around $50 per ton of CO2. Graciela Chichilnisky is the CEO of Global Thermostat, saying that “The cost is sufficiently low that it’s already profitable to ‘mine the atmosphere’ and sell CO2 for beverages, water desalination, polymers and other industrial uses.”
It would take around 300,000 of these plants to get one percent of the global emissions out of the atmosphere in a project that’s expected to cost more than $1 trillion. However, after the initial investment, production becomes incredibly cheap to the point where it costs almost nothing while still making money from CO2 sales. They’ve also flirted with the idea of using these facilities near plants that have high emissions such as coal plants, offsetting their emissions.
Some scientists warn that expectations need to be reeled in, with Christopher Field from Stanford University saying “This is an unacceptable gamble with the planet’s future…To the extent we can deploy carbon capture in the short term, we decrease the need to deploy massive amounts in the long term.”
Others, such as Dr. Glen Peters, though, see this as the way of the future. “We need to focus on getting things deployed that we know already work and at the same time we also need to focus on developing new technologies that will help us go the last part of the journey.” Either way, it looks like CO2 extraction is opening up a lot of new doors, both in business and in helping the environment.


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The Yankees unveiled their 2011 ticket prices this afternoon, and while most prices will not go up, the team announced increases for six price points including the bleachers. While most tickets that are witnessing an increase will go up by $5, the $12 bleacher seats will now cost $15 for both season-ticket packages and single-game sales. The $5 obstructed-view seats will remain as such, and the Yankees are not cutting any ticket prices this year.
Yankees’ COO Lonn Trost spoke this afternoon with Mike Francesa about the rationale behind the ticket increases, and he explained how the team used the secondary market to gauge demand. Since the Yanks routinely saw bleacher seats sold at 175 percent mark-ups, the team determined they could raise the prices and opted for a 25-percent mark-up. The 2011 ticket prices are listed at the Yankees’ website, and I’ll try to summarize the key increases.
While 54 percent of Yankee Stadium seats will still be priced at $50 or less, a good portion of the seats in the lower levels will see increases. In the Main Level, Sections 205-209 and 231-234, prices are increasing by $5 from $45 to $50 for a full season and $50 to $55 for partial ticket holders. Seats in sections 210-212 and 228-230 will rise from $60-$65 for full packages, but partials will stay at $70. Main level seats in sections 213-214b and 226-227b will increase from $75 to $80.
At the field level, rows 12-30 in sections 116-124 will increase to $260 full plan holders. Game-day ticket prices for these seats will increase from $300 to $325. Season tickets for the field level, rows 15-30 in sections 112-113 and 127b-128 and rows 1-14 in sections 108-11 and 129-131 will now cost $110 for a full plan holders and $115 for partial plan holders. Rows 15-30 in sections 108-111 and 129-131 will now cost $80 for full plans.
In addition to the prices that are going up, Trost mentioned that the team will soon be selling ticket packages for multiple seasons that are locked in at the purchase price. For example, fans who buy tickets for three years at the 2011 price point won’t have to pay for price increases in the years that covered by the initial purchase contract.
Of course, no one wants to see ticket prices increase, but Trost’s claims bear out the increase. He says that the Yanks are constantly playing to 95 percent capacity, and even when the seats appear empty on TV, the tickets have been sold. Either fans are no-shows — which happens a small percentage of the time — or they are wandering the stadium. The Yankee Museum, Trost said, has been a very popular in-game destination, and the various bars and restaurants have drawn fans away from their seats as well.
Essentially, the increases are a prime example of ticket economics at work. The Yankees might be increasing their payroll and know that the secondary market supports higher prices. The team wants to and can capture that revenue. Thus, many people will be paying more for their tickets come 2011.
Yanks “expecting a sell-out” for Saturday’s Army/Notre Dame game
During his interview with Francesa, Trost spoke about the debut of college football at Yankee Stadium. Because the new stadium cost so much to build, the Yankees need it to become a year-round venue, and Trost has spent a lot of time working to ensure a smooth game on Saturday. If ticket sales are any indication, he will succeed.
The team has sold 51,000 tickets for the game, and while a few seats remain, the club is “expecting a sell-out.” Astute readers will note that Yankee Stadium’s baseball capacity is under that 51,000 mark, and Trost says they’ve added seats by installing temporary bleachers in the bullpens and on the field. For those heading to the game, Metro-North is running extra trains as well.


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Chinese billionaire's $71m bid for NZ farm rejected
NEW Zealand Government ministers Paula Bennett and Louise Upston have turned down a $71 million bid by Chinese billionaire Jiang Zhaobai's flagship firm to buy the Lochinver Station.
The ministers are expected to announce their move publicly in the near future. Bennett is the Associate Finance Minister and Upston the Minister of Land Information.
Because the farm near Taupo was set to change to foreign ownership, the application to the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) for approval had to show that the new owner could add more value to the assets than a hypothetical local buyer.
It is understood the ministers have rejected the application on this issue.
During the election campaign, the planned sale of Lochinver to interests led by the Shanghai Pengxin company reignited concerns about foreigners buying NZ farms.
The OIO referred its recommendation on the Lochinver proposal - which was made via wholly owned Pengxin subsidiary Pure 100 Farm - to the two ministers just before Easter.
The process was complicated by a significant rearrangement of Pengxin-related corporate structures which would ultimately have resulted in Hunan Dakang Pastoral Farming being the ownership vehicle for all the Chinese firm's New Zealand farming interests.
While the Lochinver application was made under the Pure 100 umbrella, the ultimate aim was for Dakang to acquire it along with other Pengxin assets such as the 16 former Crafar farms, which were bought in 2012, and other farms waiting OIO approval. As a result, the OIO also had to ensure the other directors and shareholders in Dakang passed a good character test.
The Stevenson Group, which was set to sell the 13,843ha station to the Chinese, had extended the deadline for the deal a number of times. It wanted to complete the sale to free up capital to reinvest in other businesses, such as expanding its quarry in Drury and investing in a West Coast coal mine.
Earlier this year, NZ-China Trade Association chairman Martin Thomson spoke of the benefits of direct investment by China. "Investment tends to follow trade, and more trade still results from direct investment. New Zealand's largest foreign investor is Australia, which was also our first free-trade partner.
"It stands to reason, then, that China - which is now number one or two trade partner - will invest more and more in New Zealand."
Earlier this year, another Pengxin-controlled company - Milk NZ Holding - was named supreme winner at the 2015 HSBC NZCTA New Zealand China Business Awards replicating its success at the BNZ NZ China Business Awards.
New Zealand China Trade Association Chairman Martin Thomson said the winner proved the benefits of direct investment by China in New Zealand.
"Investment tends to follow trade, and more trade still results from direct investment," Thomson said. "New Zealand's largest foreign investor is Australia, which was also our first free trade partner.
"It stands to reason, then, that China - which is now our number one or two trade partner, will invest more and more in New Zealand. On the basis of Milk New Zealand Holding further investment is a good thing."
Milk NZ is owned by Shanghai Pengxin, the investor in Crafar Farms.
The company has turned around Crafar's less productive farms, using New Zealand management, labour and skills, and creating jobs in the process, Thomson said.
"Chinese investment has created New Zealand opportunity, at the same time providing a Chinese company with returns."


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According to Mydrivers, in China, the iPhone 12 series has the biggest discount since its launch last fall. For example, the popular Jingdong store offers to purchase the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini at a $ 92 discount.
At that discount, the 64GB version of the iPhone 12 is on sale for $ 870. At the same time, JD.com is also offering fully wireless AirPods at a discounted price ($ 120 instead of $ 190). Customers also get 4 months of free use of Apple Music.
Yesterday it became known that preparations for the production of the iPhone 13 are ahead of schedule. TSMC will begin mass deliveries of Apple A15 SoCs for iPhone 13 smartphones in May this year.


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Today, Monday 20th June, sees the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands and the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) launch of a new cyber support hub for its members. Bira is the leading trade association for independent retailers in the UK, whose mission is to support, protect and grow the business of British retailers.
The retail industry is responsible for around 16% of the West Midlands economy which makes it the largest in the region. Birmingham is the leading centre in the county and one of the strongest centres in the whole of the UK with the Bullring in particular being of retail acclaim.
A report published by PwC revealed that cyber-attacks on retail clients had increased by over 30%, and with the opening of retail businesses having increased by 8% in the last two years, the industry is becoming more and more appealing to cybercriminals. There have been further reports that suggest cyber-attacks on retailers occurred roughly 1 in every 8 days in 2021.
To help retailers across the whole country to strengthen their cyber security and adopt basic practices, the newly launched cyber support hub will host a surplus of content that includes easy-to-follow and simple top tips on key topics such as two-factor authentication, the use of passwords, application and software updates.
Whilst the launch is happening as a result of the collaboration between Bira and the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands, the new support hub is available to retail businesses across the country. The WMCRC is one of 9 cyber resilience centres that have been stood up as a network to support businesses across England and Wales, giving every region its own cyber resilience centre. All members and visitors of the centres on the network are encouraged to make full use of the support hub. To find your local centre, visit www.wmcrc.co.uk/crcnetwork.
Project Lead, Detective Inspector Michelle Ohren, Head of Cyber and Innovation at the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands commented:
“I’m thrilled to be able to announce the launch of our new cyber support hub for Bira’s members, as I’ve seen first-hand through my policing career the devastation that cyber-attacks can cause.”
“Cyber security is not just for large companies; I can’t state that enough. We see many businesses regularly suffer cyber-attacks that can take them offline for days, weeks and sometimes permanently. It may be as simple as hackers gaining unauthorised access to your store’s social media account, and revoking your access, leaving you unable to access the account. During which time the hackers are able to post content with dangerous links.”
“This would be unknown to your customers, who would then potentially buy through your platform, with the money being deposited in fraudulent bank accounts. This leads to your customer being left with no product or service. Whilst this may seem unlikely, it’s quite the opposite, and sadly just one of the ways cybercriminals can launch an attack on your business.”
Andrew Goodacre, Bira CEO added:
“With increased levels of on-line shopping it is vital for retailers to have good cyber security in place. Shoppers expect their details to be secure and good security will retain consumer confidence. This Hub is an excellent way of informing and helping independent retailers.”
Improve your business’s cyber security with free membership at the Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands
With this membership, you will receive regular tips and guidance on how to firm up your business’s cyber security. We have already produced checklists for you to follow to help you develop best practices, short and easy to follow videos that highlight how to spot the signs of a phishing attack and many other resources.
Receive your digestible welcome pack when signing up today and start protecting your business today.


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Country of Origin Labelling approved
The states and territories have signed off on the Federal Government’s plans for new country of origin labels, which will start appearing from July 1.
The new labels make clear the percentage of a product that is grown or manufactured in Australia and will be phased in over two years.
Products on Australian shelves with food made, produced or grown in Australia will be required to include the Australian Made logo. The new system will also include a bar chart indicating the proportion of Australian ingredients.
CEO Judith Damiani said Citrus Australia has called for an effective country-of-origin system for years and is pleased with the new version.
“Finally we have a simple logo which should help consumers understand where their food comes from. It should assist particularly with the sales of Australian juice.”
Judith said the new system will not mandate the disclosure of the actual country of origin from the imported ingredients.
“Companies can only be encouraged to provide this additional information,” she said.
“Consumers have a right to know where their food comes from so I can only encourage everyone to continue to demand this information” she concluded.


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Unpacking the TFTA in Africa
The recent momentous occasion where members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the East African Community (EAC) signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) could be the impetus to driving intra Africa trade.
African countries viewed worldwide as the producers of raw materials for European industries had failed to come up with a working formula that encourages trading among member states, but jostled for that opportunity to trade with either the European Union and the emerging Asian market where they eventually got subjected to unfair pricing.
Ironically in most cases African countries failed to get a better bargain for their raw materials which developed the world’s industries and created jobs for other continents in the world while the mother continent suffered with rampant famine and runaway unemployment.
While Intra African trade constitutes only two percent of global trade the initialling of a formal agreement that took five years to agree on could push more African countries to join the grandiose trade engagement and boost trade relations on the African front.
Currently the agreement has 26 members which constitutes about half of the countries in the continent.
The game of numbers
Research shows that between 2004 and 2014 trade within the Comesa region grew from US$8 billion(approximately N$80b) to US$22 billion (approximately N$220b). Over the same period trade within Sadc grew from US$20 billion (approximately N$200b) to US$72b (approximately N$720b) and for EAC it rose from US$2.6 to 8.6 billion. The overall trade between the three areas rose from US$30.6 billion to US$102.6 billion over the same period.
Despite the growth, only about 12% of Africa’s trade is intra-regional. It is 22% for South America, 40% for North America, 50% for Asia and 70% for Western Europe. The tariff liberation of 60–85% will have a significant impact in facilitate the cross-border flow of goods and services.
The TFTA will benefit Africa in at least six mutually reinforcing ways. The TFTA will generate the impetus for the creation of similar arrangements in western Africa, bringing economic powerhouses such as Nigeria into a continental free trade area. In fact, negotiations for an overarching agreement will be launched in 2015, with the projected creation of an Africa-wide free market in 2017.
While many will wait to see the advantages of such an engagement the reality is that the signing of the document sets in motion the wheels of creating a borderless economy for the continent and also pushes the member states who are signatories to the agreement to look at their import and export duties which need to be done away with if a reasonably dormant continent like Africa is to accrue results.
The deal will have a combined gross domestic product of more than $1 trillion (885 billion euros).
Unpacking the significance of the TFTA, Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa, Francis Mangeni in their publication, The benefits of Africa’s New Free Trade Area argued that, “The creation in June 2015 of a free trade area from Cape Town to Cairo is possibly the most significant event in Africa since the formation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963. It is a grand move to merge existing regional organization into a single African Economic Community.”
They added that, “The TFTA covers a population of 632 million and a combined GDP of $1.3 trillion. The area spans 17.3 million square kilometres, which is nearly twice the size of China or the United States.
“Critics argue a single trading bloc will not work where individual sub-regional ones have failed. To the contrary, consolidation of the three trading blocs will build on previous trade gains and will result in the whole being larger than the sum of its parts.”
Commenting on the signing of the agreement Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quoted by international media saying “We have told the word today... of our desire to adopt practices that are necessary to increase trade among ourselves... We will do whatever is possible to activate this agreement,” WHILE World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that with the launch of the TFTA “Africa has made it clear that it is open for business.”
One of the benefits of the agreement is that it has managed to attract attention from Africa’s strongest economies including South Africa which is rapidly growing and Nigeria which has the biggest Gross Domestic Product in the continent.
A cemented launch pad like that will ensure that the small economies in the continent will have to falter to the pull factor as they have no option than to go where the big guns are.
There is also an advantage on making such a move work in that the bulk of the African continent agrees that very little has been done to foster intra African trade and perhaps that notion see the drive in all of the leaders to make this work.
There is also that obvious push that African believe that if trade among themselves flourishes it is most likely to do so if it’s carried through favourable conditions for all participating countries. This subsequently pushes away the bullying mentality that has been the order of the day when dealing with other trading bloc’s worldwide.
Impediment to the TFTA
There is obviously that general impediment that point to exactly what the African economies will trade among each other as they are all stuck in the preproduction phase and have not done enough to boost manufacturing. Manufacturing is the backbone of driving trade as in most cases it allows countries to trade in finished products.
Africa’s economies are hinged on raw material exports (mostly production of minerals, and oil). This is where it will be very difficult for the countries to need each other’s products as they have pretty much the same products that cannot be interchanged.
One would have expected that at the same time that the continent was pushing towards a grandiose trading agreement they would also have been pushing favourable industrial policies that grow the manufacturing industry.
A few economies in Africa are at an advantaged stage of manufacturing. These are probably South Africa, Egypt and probably Morocco while the bulk of them including Namibia, Zambia and probably the rest of the Sadc region is still stuck in the infancy of manufacturing and cannot stomach the challenge of supplying a vast market as they do not even cater for their domestic needs.


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But in case you haven’t, part of it saw the producers set up an undercover ‘sting’, namely a fake event offering freebies of bracelets, tonics, creams and other products to soap stars at a special gifting retreat – in exchange for tweet endorsements.
No one wants to see consumers being hoodwinked, of course. But brands encouraging celebrities to be seen with or use their products is nothing new. Whether it’s David Beckham advertising H&M underwear on billboard ads, or former Guns N Roses axeman Slash only ever playing Gibson Les Paul guitars, celebrity endorsements are the Holy Grail of brand marketing.
And, over the past couple of years, social media channels have widened this field further. The problem is that, unless all parties involved are very transparent, it is much more difficult for consumers to judge whether a celebrity is genuinely endorsing a product that they like – or whether they are actually being paid (either in cash or in products) to Tweet.
The Advertising Standards Authority states that celebrities endorsing a product should use the #ad or #spon, to provide that transparency. And most brands will, of course, behave responsibly and ethically in this respect.
But, unlike ‘above the line’ endorsements, it’s difficult for those brands to police the individuals on Twitter.
Which is why it must have been incredibly frustrating for Bananagrams to be caught up in the Channel 4 expose. The firm has a healthy social media presence (@bananagrams_uk has over 1,700 Twitter followers which it engages with on a daily basis). Crucially, it has always been transparent in its dealings on social media.
Bananagrams’ official statement to Dispatches read: "Bananagrams is a small family-run business which prides itself on being open and honest. Bananagrams was approached by Dynasty/Rhino to take part in a gifting event they were organising as one of a series of such ‘retreats’. Bananagrams has had no prior experience of such events. We also had no direct contact or communication with the attendees before it took place. Because of this, it did not occur to us that we might have responsibility for dealing with any legalities associated with attendees’ tweets around the event. We are currently reviewing our social media marketing activity and policies and adjusting accordingly."
Social media is an incredibly important part of today’s marketing mix – the traction that a small brand can achieve via Twitter or Facebook simply by word of mouth among consumers is worth an absolute fortune. Real value can be achieved here.
But clearly there are pitfalls in this still relatively new promotional discipline.
It’s been a difficult few weeks for Bananagrams (the news about the Coronation Street actors being involved in these practices originally hit the tabloids at the beginning of July), but I hope that they – and other small firms like them – continue to use social media.
As an emerging media, there is still a lack of understanding in certain quarters and there are still too many rogue ‘social media gurus’ offering advice, but when used properly it is an incredible tool. Certainly, transparency is key. Avoiding Coronation Street actors for Twitter endorsements may be advisable, too…


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After speculation that Dell could go public again after just four years as a private company, reports are emerging that the compute giant plans to raise an IPO through a reverse-merger with VMware.
According to "people familiar with the matter", CNBC said the $60bn cloud computing company, which is already controlled by Dell, would actually buy the larger company, allowing Dell to be traded publicly without going through a formal listing.
If true, this would make it the biggest deal in tech industry history, giving investors who backed Dell's move to go private in 2013 a way to monetise their deal, while helping Dell pay down some of its $50bn debt.
While sources say Dell could still pursue a more traditional initial public offering (IPO), a reverse merger would allow the company to avoid a new public offering. However, CNBC's sources added that Dell hasn't decided on a strategic option and is also considering several other paths forward, including other acquisitions or buying the remaining stake of VMware that it doesn't already own.
Dell is unlikely to sell the company outright or sell its stake in VMware, one of the people said.
VMware's stock fell sharply soon after the rumours were reported on Monday, down 8.5 per cent.
The news comes after it was reported last week that after just four years of being a private company, Dell is looking to go public again. According to Bloomberg, Dell has been considering the move for some time, and plans to go public again in a bid to raise cash and reduce the company's substantial debt.
Following weeks of speculation, Dell announced it was going private back in February 2013 in a $24.4bn deal which was realised before the end of the second quarter.
The transaction was funded by Michael Dell himself, who decided to stay on as the firm's CEO, as well as Silver Lake, MSD Capital, and a $2bn loan from Microsoft. Under the terms of the deal, Dell stockholders received $13.65 in cash for each share of Dell common stock they hold.
Molybdenum ditelluride is a two-dimensional material that can be easily stacked into multiple layers to create a memory cell
New light-guiding nanoscale device can control and monitor a nanoparticle trapped in a laser beam with high sensitivity
Optical traps are scientific instruments in which a focused laser beam is used to exert an attractive or repulsive force on a microscopic object to hold it in place
Scientists estimate that the exoplanet has already lost up to 35 per cent of its mass over its lifetime
The observations were made using the Atacama Array in the Chilean desert


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Melinda Garvey, owner and publisher of AustinWoman magazine, has been named Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, a yearlong appointment that began Sept. 1.
“I’m delighted by the continuing evolution of our innovation and creativity studies at McCombs, as evidenced by Melinda Garvey’s appointment as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Kelleher Center,” said Thomas Gilligan, dean of the McCombs School. “She exemplifies a type of entrepreneurship of growing interest among business students, the small business owner. I foresee many productive conversations between Melinda and our students in the year ahead.”
Garvey, who follows Louise Epstein and Gary Hoover in the McCombs role, recently launched ATXMAN, a magazine about and for men in Central Texas. She founded AustinWoman magazine in 2002 after spending eight years at other publications. AustinWoman focuses on female entrepreneurship and women-run businesses, which Garvey says can often face more challenges than small businesses run by men.
“It’s frustrating because banks need to sit up and smell the coffee,” Garvey said. “Many of them not all are stuck in this ‘old boy network.’ They advertise to men and they target them.”
As a small business owner herself, Garvey recognizes the importance of businesses run by women and has spent time helping the Women’s Chamber of Commerce expand its member benefits. She is also a founding board member of Texas Women in Business, an organization that supports women business owners. She was named Office Depot’s 2006 Businesswoman of the Year.
As a guest lecturer at McCombs during the last five years, she has spoken about finding small business success, a topic she says she will focus on while Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
“The days of IPOs and big corporations are not over, but it is different now and small businesses are really the wave of the future,” she said. “It’s not only something you can be passionate about and something you can love, but you can make a great living.”
Garvey is planning to use her connections to help students meet entrepreneurs from a variety of companies.
“Students don’t have as much access and as much transparency into the small business world, and I always find they’re intrigued and often surprised at things I’m doing and how we’re doing them,” she said.
Meanwhile, she will continue to run the magazines with the help of her husband, Christopher.
“In every life cycle of an entrepreneur there is a time when you need to take a break,” she said. “This will allow me to put my head and my brain in a different place and regenerate.”


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Curvy cucumbers and knobbly carrots are to make a triumphant return to supermarket shelves following an EU vote hailed as "a victory for common sense".
Brussels bureaucrats yesterday scrapped red tape that banned all but perfect shapes and sizes of 26 varieties of fruit and veg including Brussels sprouts, peas and plums.
Eu Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer Boel said: "In these days of high food prices and economic difficulties, consumers should be able to choose from the widest range of products possible.
"It makes no sense to throw good products away because they're the 'wrong' shape." Ten fruit and veg still have to meet strict criteria, including apples, lettuces and tomatoes. But even they could be exempt if shops label them "intended for processing".
Rules on bananas haven't changed.
The European Commission last night said the relaxation cannot be implemented until July next year "for practical reasons".
But when mis-shapen produce does reach the shelves, retailers estimate it could be up to 40 per cent cheaper.
Scottish MEP Alyn Smith said: "It's a victory for common sense." Tory Neil Parish added: "People care about taste not looks."


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Microsoft testing `Google Glass-like` eyewear
Microsoft is reportedly testing a device similar to that of Google's much-anticipated Glass, in a bid to join the bandwagon of the wearable computing industry.gadgets Updated: Oct 24, 2013 11:21 IST
Microsoft is reportedly testing a device similar to that of Google's much-anticipated Glass, in a bid to join the bandwagon of the wearable computing industry.
The software giant is set to be testing eyewear prototypes that could potentially compete with Google Glass.
Sources have revealed that Microsoft has asked several component makers in Asia to supply cameras and other key components for eyewear prototypes, Wall Street Journal reports.
However, the source cautioned that the device might never reach mass production adding that the company is determined to take the lead in hardware manufacturing to make sure it doesn't miss out on the opportunities in the wearable gadget market.
With rivals like Google, Sony and Apple launching their own smart gadgets, it is speculated to be a tough move if Microsoft decides to enter the smartwear market with its OS and Nokia acquisition failing to make a hit amongst customers and investors alike.


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Massive rise in cash point theft
BANK customers have been day warned of a huge rise in cash machine fraud. Criminals are targeting people taking money from hole-in-the-wall machines ahead of the introduction of safer Chip and Pin cards.
Cash machine crime rose by 85% to £61m in the past year - making it by far the fastest growing form of card fraud.
Some fraudsters use sophisticated 'skimming' devices fitted over the slot where the card is inserted.
This records the details on the card's magnetic strip while a miniature camera records the Pin number. The criminals - believed mainly to be eastern European gangs - can then make replica cards and use them to take cash from the account.
Police said the £1,000 devices, often attached to cash machines in Tube stations, are the most advanced they have ever seen.
'It's as if these people have their own research and development labs,' said Detective Chief Inspector Tony Thomas, who heads a card-fraud squad of 22 officers.
'These are expensive devices and the gangs protect them. We've had cases of customers being intimidated when they have spotted a device and tried to pull it out of the machine.
'Instead people should just calmly cancel their transaction and call us.'
The problem is now so bad that Abbey National and Barclays have cut maximum daily withdrawal limits, while other banks have put up warnings.
Other common forms of cash-machine fraud include 'shoulder surfing' - where a thief loiters nearby to read customers' Pin numbers, while the 'Lebanese loop' fools victims into thinking the cash dispenser has swallowed their card.
Chip and Pin will make it harder for thieves to get away with scams such as surreptitiously noting a card's details when it is handed in at a bar or restaurant. With Chip and Pin, customers just tap in their number and there is no magnetic strip.
Association of Payment Clearance Services spokeswoman Sandra Quinn said cardholders should check their accounts regularly to spot bogus transactions. Customers are also advised to shield entry of their Pin number from view.
However, she added that fraud still accounts for only a tiny proportion of the £144bn withdrawn from cash machines in the UK every year.
The new device was initially spotted by Underground staff in Hammersmith, who reported it to the police and emailed pictures of the skimmer to all London Underground station managers.
Undergrounds and supermarkets are targeted because there are no bank staff nearby to perform checks.
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China Mobile Said to Buy into USTC Iflytek
HONG KONG, Aug 16, 2012 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) --
China Mobile Ltd. (SEHK: 0941 and NYSE: CHL), the nation's biggest mobile phone operator, is said to buy into Shenzhen-listed Anhui USTC Iflytek Co., Ltd. (SZSE: 002230).
People in the know disclosed recently that in order to strengthen ability in the Internet, China Mobile planned to launch external investments, apart from establishing an Internet firm on the base of an Internet base in Guangdong Province. It had almost completed auditing USTC Iflytek and according to a contract inked by both sides, it will buy into the latter as a strategic investor.
USTC Iflytek said on August 12 that it was busy making preparation for introducing a strategic investor via issuing shares in a private placement and would suspended trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from today. It forecasted that related information would be unveiled on August 17 and on the day, it would resume trading on the bourse. China Mobile is scheduled to release financial results for the first half of this year on August 17, thus industry observers believe that details related to the buy-into will be unveiled after release of the half-year financial results.
China Mobile has not made a response to the report. Xu Jingming, board secretary of USTC Iflytek, said in an interview that it had no information to unveil currently. Vice president of it declined to make a comment on the report on the grounds of having a meeting. So far, it has been unknown how much China Mobile will inject into USTC Iflytek and how much stake it will take in the latter in turn.
Established in 1999, USTC Iflytek is mainly engaged in the research of voice technology and artificial intelligence and development of software and chip products. It debuted on the Shenzhen stock market on 2008, with major shareholders including USTC Holdings Co., Ltd. and Legend Capital. It grew fast in the past few years and has had a sharp edge in the domestic voice software sector. In line with itself, share it seized in the Chinese-language voice industry has reached over 70 percent. And in line with financial results it released for the fiscal year 2011, the operating revenue hit CNY 557 million, up 27.74 percent from a year ago, with profit surging up by 31.13 percent to CNY 144 million.
Essence Securities Co., Ltd. said that China Mobile had cooperated with USTC Iflytek on intelligent voice prior to this and after the former became a strategic investor of the latter, more in-depth cooperation covering call center, color ring and mobile Internet would be launched undoubtedly.
(USD 1 = CNY 6.37)
Source: www.yicai.com (August 16, 2012)
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Perks of the job! Lily Aldridge soaks up the sun in a tiny string bikini as she takes a break during fashion shoot in Miami
Taking a break in most jobs involves heading to the canteen for a cup of mediocre coffee.
But for Lily Aldridge time out from work involves enjoying a spot of sunshine while conveniently already wearing a bikini.
And over the weekend that’s exactly what the 28-year-old did during a shoot for Glamour Paris in Miami as she was spotted reclining in a chair catching some rays.
Chilling out: Lily Aldridge was seen relaxing in her bikini during a shoot in Miami over the weekend
Fun in the sun: The model couldn't have looked happier about her 'office' for the day
The Sports Illustrated model couldn’t have looked happier as she relaxed while wearing a black string bikini and a pair of pale blue shorts.
During the day she tried on a variety of different ensembles, showing exactly why she is such a famous model.
At one point she wore a bronzed green swimsuit with a military style jacket draped over her shoulders.
All eyes on her: The mother-of-one is of course no stranger to posing in next to nothing
Turning up the heat: Lily wore a stunning bikini before slipping into a chic cover-up
Wild thing: The model displayed perfect beach hair during the shoot
While she does of course have a flawless and trim figure, her facial features are also extremely striking.
Another outfit saw the mother-of-one wear a pair of gingham bikini bottoms with a black crochet top and a fun pair of black and white cowboy boots.
For a more glamorous look she wore an orange rust coloured Grecian style cover-up while her hair was given plenty of sexy volume.
Country gal: Lily, who is married to Caleb from King's Of Leon wore cowboy boots with a crochet top
Following the shoot she tweeted: ‘Perfect Miami day shooting @glamourparis with @derekkettela.’
Since the shoot it seems Lily has been allowing herself a little indulgence as she tweeted a picture of a massive burger made by her husband – Kings Of Leon singer Caleb Followill.
She captioned the image: ‘Seriously no one makes a cheeseburger like Caleb #SweetPotatoeFries #DosPerros #Perfection’
Meanwhile it has just been revealed that this year the famous Victoria’s Secret catwalk show will take place in London.
Smouldering: Lily looked stunning with simple beach make-up and her gingham bikini
Adriana Lima and Candice Swanepoel announced the news that it will be held at Earls Court on December 2 on Tuesday from the Bond Street store.
Adriana said: 'We're very proud to announce that we're heading to London this year.
'The Victoria's Secret Show is the biggest fashion show in the world, for sure, so it will be amazing to bring the show to London. I love it here. Especially the shopping!'
Lily walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2009 and the following year she became a Victoria's Secret Angel and walked her second Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, in which she was given her wings for the first time.
Delicious: The slim model tweeted a picture of a burger which she said her husband Caleb had made
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With the start of the new season of the Regina Philatelic Club activities under way, it is time to inform the users of our website about the annual Stamp Show and Sale.
As usual, the show will be held on the third weekend in February. In 2020 it will fall on Saturday, Feb. 15th, and Sunday, Feb 16th. The expected contingent of stamp and coin dealers will be available to provide an opportunity to enhance people’s collections.
Further details about the event will be announced as they become available.
See you there…


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Up and coming fashion designer Bobby Egbele has just released his new collection Africalypso.
Check out some of the designs from the Mens Collection below….
Click HERE to view more of Bobby’s creations from his latest collection.
The womenswear collection will debut later on in the year.
Your thoughts please….
Categories: UK News


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- The Hermitage announced the start of NFT sales on the Binance NFT marketplace.
- The sale begins on August 31 at 15:00 (Moscow time) and ends on September 7 at 15:00 (Moscow time).
The Hermitage announced the start of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sales on the Binance NFT marketplace.
Based on the press release, the auction begins on August 31 at 15:00 (Moscow time). Plus, it says that it ends on September 7 at 15:00 (Moscow time). The collection is designed based on images of objects. More so, these are from the museum as part of the project “Your token is kept in the Hermitage”.
As per the reports, the starting price for each piece is $ 10,000 BUSD. Besides, the series comprises digital copies of paintings like “Madonna Litta” by Leonardo da Vinci, “Judith” by Giorgione. And also, “Lilac Bush” by Vincent Van Gogh, “Composition VI” by Wassily Kandinsky, and more.
The team said that the works were created twice. This means one would be kept in the Hermitage. However, the second will be exhibited on Binance NFT. Even more, the director of the museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, approved the authenticity of the arts.
In addition, the team stated that the date, time, and place of signing are fixed in the metadata. Further, all gains from the auction will go to the museum. Aside from this, the winners of the sale will receive a video in NFT format from the moment Piotrovsky signs the copy they bought.


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Markus Settele and his mechanical engineer friend Paul Haggenmüller from Allgäu have invented the so-called “Cocktailophant” – a mobile cocktail machine.
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Barry Callebaut AG has announced the successful placement of its first Schuldscheindarlehen.


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Yesterday’s announcement that Pandora switched out its CEO, replacing Brian McAndrews with Tim Westergren, was startling both in unexpectedness and lack of explanation. McAndrews, who was CEO from September, 2013 until yesterday, was evidently a competent executive leader with a resume taking him through The Walt Disney Company and Microsoft, and board seats in various companies including The New York Times.
Tim Westergren is Pandora’s founding visionary, a musician with technology chops who dreamed up the Music Genome Project as a way to deliver uncannily good next-song recommendations to listeners of all types. Westergren’s purpose was always shaped by a mandate to help musicians reach the right listeners.
Growing Up Twice
Is yesterday’s CEO change the latest growing-up moment for Pandora? Or, perhaps more exactly, a post-adult embrace of original purpose? Steve Jobs returned to Apple, but that re-installation of founder energy was comprehensively corrective of what was widely viewed as a disastrous mistake in expelling Jobs in the first place. A more pertinent example of a returning founder might be Larry Page at Google, replacing Eric Schmidt. Schmidt was the grown-up in the room who raised Google to maturity.
In Pandora’s case, Joe Kennedy was the first professional executive to take over the CEO role from Westergren’s founding leadership in 2004, staying with it for nine years. Kennedy marshalled the company through its first consumer-facing years, transitioning it from a technology experiment to the leading Internet radio brand. He also helmed Pandora through its IPO on Wall Street.
Viewing P’s market performance through the lens of changing leadership is interesting. The stock began its eye-popping rise as Kennedy was departing, reaching a pinnacle on February 28, 2014 — roughly matching Pandora’s surging audience growth. It has been an uneven trip downhill since, mainly attributed to Pandora’s flattening audience growth curve, about which investment analysts are obsessed.
A Good Moment for Change
Whatever the internal and board dynamics which drove Pandora’s decision, now is a plausible moment for returning to roots — and always part of the reason for pulling a founder back to the CEO desk (the CEO headphones?). McAndrews recently publicized a willingness, if not exactly a determined intent, to sell the company. Many observers yesterday viewed that pushing McAndrews aside for Westergren signaled a rejection by the board of Pandora’s potential courtship of buyers. Accordingly, the stock gave back much of the upward spike it had gained with McAndrews’ announcement, dropping about 12% yesterday, and more as of this writing today.
The acquisition question remains unanswered, but the moment is good for a leadership change in other ways. Pandora is facing the most crucial year in its history, marked by the first major change in its business plan since 2004. Building the promised on-demand service does more than merely bring Pandora to rough product equivalence with Spotify, its only meaningful independent competitor. At least, it’s more than that in the company’s public imaging and pronouncements.
“We are pursuing a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Westergren said yesterday. In the company’s view, as expressed by the new board chair Jim Feuille who replaced Westergren in that seat, “Tim carries the vision for how Pandora can transform the music industry.”
Pandora selects its words carefully — we know this well at RAIN News. The key words above are generation, transform, and music industry. Installing Tim Westergren as CEO makes the company about music through and through. Pandora never stopped talking about musicians, and McAndrews developed important new products for musicians, but Westergren brings native, organic music cred like neither McAndrews nor Kennedy did.
Every company uses grand words in important moments. Pandora has actually created something immense — valuable to listeners, disruptive to radio, influential in the entire audio ecosystem. That is credibility too, which, for the moment at least, justifies the grand vision. Now, onward into the future.


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Enjoy sessions from past events like Code/Media and the renowned Code Conference, along with other interviews hosted by Re/code journalists. Featured episodes include candid conversations with comedian Chelsea Handler, entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Uber Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Johana Bhuiyan about what her newly created job entails. Hired by now-ousted CEO Travis Kalanick, Saint John said the company’s culture is strong and healthy, even as it continues to wrestle with a parade of public mistakes and scandals. Uber's brand today, she says, is that of a utility, but it’s missing “love” — an emotional connection between the user and the product. She also talks about the importance of hiring more women and people of color, and why Uber’s diversity problems are not unique.
Sweetgreen co-CEO Jonathan Neman and Glossier CEO Emily Weiss talk with Recode’s Dan Frommer and Racked’s Cheryl Wischhover about how they use digital channels to market food and beauty products, respectively. Weiss says Glossier’s No. 1 outlet is the blog Into the Gloss, and argues that it’s a two-way conversation, rather than a one-way publishing outlet. Neman says Sweetgreen is a “product company, not a restaurant company,” because tech enables a completely different way of thinking about who its customers are and how its stores should be designed. They agree that creating a sense of community and experience for customers is not a choice — to survive, it’s a requirement.
Lumi CEO Jesse Genet talks about how an ordinary cardboard box gets made — and how those boxes are taking on a new life in e-commerce. For companies that no longer operate physical stores, packaging has become the “modern storefront,” Genet says, and what a box looks like and what is printed on it has a huge impact on the customer’s experience.
Theory founder Andrew Rosen and Reformation CEO Yael Aflalo talk with Recode’s Jason Del Rey about the future of direct-to-consumer fashion. Rosen says one of his roles at Theory is actively working to make sure that consumers’ needs come before its brand’s vision, even if that means outsourcing some roles to partners like Amazon and Stitch Fix. They also discuss the value of opening physical stores for digital-first retailers like Reformation; Aflalo says that new customers who come through retail seem to be more valuable than those the company finds online.
Snarkitecture partner Benjamin Porto and Allbirds co-founder Joey Zwillinger talk with Recode’s Edmund Lee about designing architecture and shoes for Silicon Valley, respectively. Brick-and-mortar spaces continue to be important as storytelling vehicles for brands, they say, even as the numbers point to e-commerce growing and retail shrinking. Physical stores are actually thriving, Zwillinger says, because Amazon’s speediness has forced them to up their standards and unique offerings.
Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey and Kara Swisher about how the retailer is going beyond the retail store. Alber says most purchases are made on an emotional basis, so it's still vital for retailers to connect with their customers, whether that means making better predictions about what people want to buy or flipping the script and sending an adviser to visit customers' homes. Alber also talks about how WIlliams-Sonoma-owned Pottery Barn is working with Google on an augmented reality experience for decorating one's house.
Boxed CEO Chieh Huang talks about competing with warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club, offering customers the ability to buy in bulk without needing to drive to a physical location. He touches on changes in what consumers value, how Boxed treats its warehouse employees and how certain products are taxed.
Blue Apron CEO Matt Salzberg talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey about how the meal-delivery company is changing now that it's publicly traded and how it is reacting to Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods. Over the past five years, Blue Apron has sought to grow as fast as possible and is now moving to think about broadening its offerings to customers with new types of products. It plans to do more a la carte sales of kitchen and pantry items, but Salzberg says he has no plans to compete head to head with mass-market grocers like Whole Foods. Plus: After a rocky IPO, why should Blue Apron remain independent?
Rachel Roy's eponymous founder and Dia&Co CEO Nadia Boujarwah talk with Recode's Edmund Lee and Racked's Tiffany Yannetta about designing and selling clothes for plus-sized women, an addressable market of 100 million. To reach modern consumers, they match their companies' clothes with social media tastemakers who have big followings and a unique point of view. Plus-size consumers were among the first to make the jump to the internet, Roy and Boujarwah say, because they weren't served well by most brick-and-mortar stores.
Nike Direct President Heidi O'Neill talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey about how the sports apparel company is working to connect with consumers digitally. Nike products can be found both in stores and across the web, but the company has created a membership program for people who go to its website and apps directly, rewarding them with personalized shopping recommendations and first dibs on new products. In return, Nike gets clearer data about what its customers will want in the future.
Clarifai CEO Matt Zeiler talks about how artificial intelligence and neural networks are getting smarter, learning how to automatically recognize images more quickly and accurately. AI companies should build their own neural networks in-house, but everyone else should borrow the expertise of outside firms like Clarifai, Zeiler says. He explains the potential of "visual search" for shopping, helping customers find and buy things that they can't quite describe in words.
Pinterest President Tim Kendall talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about how the company is partnering with brands and advertisers, including a new mobile product that helps people search for items by taking pictures of something similar. The goal is to help Pinners discover things they may want to buy — even though almost all searches on the platform are for generic terms like "red couch" rather than specific brands. While Google and Amazon are good for targeted searches, Kendall says, Pinterest can capture a lot of value among people who don't know yet what they want.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Fanatics Executive Chairman Michael Rubin talk with Recode's Kurt Wagner and Jason Del Rey about the fast-moving world of official sports merchandise. Rubin says Amazon and the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba are good businesses, but not good for brands like NBA teams that want to profit from their own names. Silver also talks about how sports themselves will change as technology gets more sophisticated and how the NBA is working with digital platforms on streaming sports games around the world.
Venmo COO Mike Vaughan talks with Recode’s Dan Frommer about how his company is turning a popular payments app into a real business. Venmo, which is owned by PayPal, processed more than $25 billion in the past four quarters, and Vaughan said it captures the essence of real-world interactions: Friends pooling their money for a gift, roommates paying each other back or parents collecting dues for their kids' soccer teams. The next step for the company is integrating the app with the services that people commonly use it for, as well as turning users' Venmo balance into a debit account they can access via a physical card. Plus: With peer-to-peer payments launching natively in iOS 11, is Venmo under threat from Apple?
Peloton CEO John Foley talks about building a boutique fitness class program that can be accessed from the home. Peloton's exercise bike has tripled in sales in the past year, but the more important thing for its business is its monthly subscription to online spinning classes. Foley examines the social, economic and even religious forces that are driving people to other fitness programs like SoulCycle, CrossFit and Orange Theory.
Celebrity chef Mario Batali talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the future of restaurants, including how technology helps him do his job and whether he can envision a future where a restaurant's food is prepared without human hands. Batali evaluates food/tech companies such as Blue Apron, Juicero and Soylent, as well as food for people who think they are too busy to eat. He also talks about how he uses several social media platforms: Twitter (good for picking fights), Instagram (good for "what I'm doing") and YouTube (good for entertaining Batali's teenage son).
David Perpich, the president of the New York Times-owned site The Wirecutter, and Ben Kaufman, the head of BuzzFeed Product Labs, talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about running and building media businesses on top of affiliate links. Perpich says Amazon, Google, Facebook and their peers are "setting the rules" in the digital commerce world, so the NYT has to navigate relationships with all of them. Kaufman says BuzzFeed is moving beyond links to other ways of making money, such as selling a cookbook and hot plate bearing its food brand, Tasty, and partnering with brick-and-mortar retailers.
Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey about starting a digital-first clothing brand, selling it to Walmart and continuing to run it along with another company Walmart acquired, ModCloth. Dunn says the deal makes sense even though Bonobos won't be selling in Walmart stores; as an institution for "the vast majority of Americans," the company will help Bonobos access a much larger customer base online. Dunn talks about the calculus that led him to make a deal with Walmart, as opposed to an IPO, another acquirer or a private equity firm.
Forerunner Ventures founder Kirsten Green talks about the blurring line between brands and retailers. She traces the history of shopping stores, malls and online, arguing that consumers today want to know more about brands, inviting them to enter their lives like a human relationship. Green also notes that the era of "you are what you own" is over and we've now entered the era of "you are what you experience."
Revolution CEO and America Online co-founder Steve Case talks with The Verge's Walt Mossberg about the "chasm" between startups in tech hubs and the rest of the country. The author of a 2016 book called "The Third Wave," Case says 75 percent of all venture capital goes to three states, 90 percent went to men and less than 1 percent went to African-Americans. Entrepreneurship is now global, and he argues that America can't lead in that field if its investments are constrained by geography, gender and race. Case believes his "rise of the rest" campaign will be supported by President Trump and his allies once they understand the opportunity it provides for American jobs.