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This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, September 30, 2019:
Just as Adolf Hitler turned the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games into a propaganda spectacle, highlighting his “new Germany,” it appears that China’s extravagant display of military hardware starting tomorrow is meant to have a similar impact. And just in time, too, as more numbers showing China’s faltering economy are being released.
Those Olympic Games “provided Hitler with a showcase,” wrote University of Pittsburgh history professor Barbara Burstin on the 80th anniversary of those games. “It was a propaganda bonanza for him.” She added:
[They] … dulled the opposition to [Hitler] that clearly had been quite evident up to 1936. A lot of people felt he was clearly heading in the wrong direction, and by going to the Olympics [the West] gave [him] the opportunity to appear sane, rational and tolerant.
Starting Tuesday, October 1, the celebration of 70 years of communist oppression of the Chinese people will begin in earnest. The sheer enormity of the celebration is likely to mask any concerns about the country’s faltering economy. According to the BBC,15,000 military personnel will be taking part, along with a rolling display of 580 pieces of military hardware and 160 aircraft flying over Tiananmen Square.
Two weeks ago The New American reported on China’s faltering economy, noting that the nation’s industrial production hit its lowest level in more than 17 years, while retail sales, auto sales, and capital expenditures worsened as well.
On Monday additional confirmation of China’s faltering economy was released, showing that both manufacturing activity and sentiment contracted in September for the fifth straight month. After reviewing the numbers released by the government’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), along with more reliable sources outside communist control, Martin Lynge Rasmussen, an economist from Capital Economics, wrote, “We remain downbeat on the outlook [for China]. Not only is global demand set to weaken further, but the long-overdue pull-back in property construction is getting underway.”
Economic commentators from the South China Morning Post agree:
While there was a slight uptick on August’s official reading, the fact that manufacturing PMI remains in negative territory is indicative of the weak sentiment among producers, in a month when the trade war with the US escalated significantly. On September 1, new tariffs of 15 per cent on more than US$125 billion of Chinese goods went into effect.
With a tariff increase on US$250 billion of Chinese goods set to happen on October 15, prospects for the month ahead remain gloomy.
Reality will emerge in Washington when a Chinese delegation, headed by Vice Premier Liu He, will meet again with Trump negotiators in another attempt to hammer out an enforceable agreement to rein in China’s theft of intellectual property from U.S. technology companies. The initial meeting is scheduled for October 10, long after the spectacle of the Chinese government’s celebration of 70 years of its communist oppression of the Chinese people has been forgotten.


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FreeWheel is excited to attend MENA Digital Awards!
March 22, 2017
The MENA Digital Awards (MDA) are a bespoke awards show whose purpose is promote digital innovation and media in the MENA region. It is the first awards show to honor digital efforts in the region. Coupled with the Digital Media Forum (DMF), the MDA offers the ideal platform recognize excellence in the use of digital technologies and media and honor the people and brands behind this progress that takes the communication industry to the future.

domain: news


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Growing interest among local firms
Banks in Singapore have seen a sharp rise in yuan-related business in the year since the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was launched to test trade and currency reforms.
Yuan activity has also been given an added boost with the more recent introduction of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) where firms can operate under liberalised currency rules.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore released data last Friday showing that yuan deposits here reached 254 billion yuan (S$52 billion) in June this year, up 84 per cent from a year earlier.
An increasing number of Singapore banking clients are also taking up a wider range of yuan-related services, banks said.
Last September, China launched the Shanghai FTZ, announcing that firms operating there can borrow money directly from outside China and conduct cross-border yuan transactions.
This means that banks in Singapore can conduct yuan lending to companies in the FTZ, while companies in the park can issue bonds in Singapore and elsewhere.
Companies in the FTZ can also "sweep" their funds offshore - that is, out of China - to manage their cash more efficiently.
"Say you have surplus funds onshore in China, but offshore you have an entity, say a subsidiary, that is borrowing money.
"The bank can now act as an intermediary to bring funds out of China and pump it into your external unit," said Standard Chartered Singapore's head of financial markets, Mr Gary Tan.
Some of these reforms have been replicated in a few other special trade zones around China, including the SIP, launched in June this year.
Firms in the SIP, for example, can borrow money offshore and transfer it back to China.
"So companies with units in Singapore can raise funding in Singapore and then pass the loan into the SIP for further business development there," said HSBC China's head of payments and cash management, Mr Wong Kee Joo. "And companies want to do this because borrowing yuan in China is more expensive."
As a result of these developments, HSBC Singapore's trade finance business has doubled over the past year, he said.
StanChart said its yuan deposits in Singapore have tripled since June last year, while its yuan assets, such as trade loans and working capital loans, have doubled in the same period.
Furthermore, the range of yuan-related activities that companies are conducting has opened up, Mr Tan said.
"Initially yuan activity was very trade-related, then it become more about yield enhancement, and then now with the latest initiatives, it has more to do with cross-border financing and two-way sweeps."
Chinese banks with branches here have witnessed similar trends.
Bank of China Singapore said clients have started using yuan standby letters of credit to obtain Singdollar or United States dollar loans, altogether to the tune of US$2.5 billion (S$3.1 billion) outstanding.
"There are also some companies beginning to use our yuan letter of credit to purchase oil, with about 200 million yuan of such loans outstanding," a bank spokesman said.
ICBC Singapore, meanwhile, has completed 800 million yuan of direct cross-border lending from Singapore to the two pilot areas and the Tianjin Eco-City.
"So far, we have established several two-way yuan cash pools for Singapore firms to connect with their affiliate companies and we have conducted lots of intra-group lending for some well-known enterprises in Singapore," a spokesman added.
The uptake in yuan activity has also been a boon to Singapore's home-grown lenders.
At the end of the second quarter, DBS Bank's yuan deposits, both in Singapore and elsewhere, had risen 46 per cent from a year ago.
The bank has also been a big player in underwriting yuan-denominated bonds - it is the fourth largest underwriter of such bonds globally so far this year.
And as Chinese regulators continue to liberalise the currency, the bank is following suit with new products and services at every step of the way.
"When they said we could do trade settlements, we pushed out trade products. When they said we could set up accounts allowing foreign exchange convertibility, we created them," said the head of DBS China's institutional banking group, Mr Tan Teck Long.
"Every month there are some new developments and relaxation of rules.
"For example, in the FTZ, one of the latest is around nailing down the nuts and bolts to facilitate the conversion of yuan to other currencies via FTZ accounts so we will be watching that closely."
OCBC Bank did not share how much its yuan deposits and assets have grown, but said that it has seen a broadening in the scope of its yuan services.
"In the past, yuan-related activities were mostly current account-related business, such as trade settlement, which involves domestic trade payment and collections, and cross-border yuan settlement," said OCBC China's head of business banking, Mr Roy Tan.
"However, since the introduction of the SIP and the Shanghai FTZ, we have seen more business relating to capital account items, as companies are now able to manage their liquidity across the globe through yuan offshore loans, yuan cross-border cash pooling and free trade accounts."
But much of this activity is still being driven by Chinese companies and multinationals that have bases in Singapore and China, the banks said, though a rising number of home-grown firms are also starting to ask more questions about how to get in on the action.
"Some local firms have even shifted all their invoicing to yuan," HSBC's Mr Wong said, adding that take-up of the currency will only surge from here.
"When you look back at how Hong Kong first started as an offshore yuan centre versus where it is today, the amount of yuan products and services have grown exponentially.
"I expect the same here. I would envision more sophisticated levels of yuan products and services, and acceptance of the yuan among Singaporean companies will drive this."
StanChart's Mr Tan added that the bank has seen growing interest among local firms, even small and medium-sized enterprises, in how to use the yuan in their business.
One interesting development, he said, is that tourism-related companies are starting to seek information on how they could use the yuan to cater to Chinese tourists.


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🚙 Mercedes promises to introduce self-driving taxi cabs in three years time. Three years! This means that it might be worth deferring the purchase of a new car for three years, because the market will likely have changed dramatically by then. The inspiring cases of the innovative Silicon Valley companies have definitely spurred rapid progress in the automotive industry
🙊 At F8, Facebook presented and announced a few new products. Apart from aping Snapchat's strategy, Facebook also showed their VR product, Facebook Spaces. Facebook would like to see us wear a VR helmet rather than just FaceTime with our friends. Most peculiar.
👻 In March, WikiLeaks published a list of exploits of popular apps and operating systems put together by the NSA. In May, thousands of individuals and many institutions have suffered cyberattacks. You can't really blame the NSA from compiling such lists – it would be daft not to do it. Neither you can blame tech companies for the fact that software has vulnerabilities. Finally, you can't blame users for not updating their software, because updates often break a perfectly working thing, and people don't like it. The only thing that is certain at the moment is that an effective cyber-security policy in an organisation can be a competitive advantage.
👁 Unroll.me, the popular free-of-charge service enabling users to unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters, sells users' e-mails to their business clients. Thanks to Unroll.me, Uber could estimate Lyft's revenue based on the receipts that people receive after a trip with Lyft. If a product is "free", it means that your data will also become a product.
🚨 It appears that Russian trolls' activity in social media is quite sophisticated. For instance, they take advantage of "gaslighting", a technique in which you influence the behaviour of a victim through lies, manipulation and partial truths. This makes the victim feel as if they had lost touch with reality. Techniques such as gaslighting, when used on a massive scale in social media, can become a powerful psychological weapon.


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In March, Google announced the first developer preview for the upcoming Android 9 P and from there, we also saw the timeline for development till the time the software will fully hit the market.
As at the rollout of the first preview, it was available for testing only to those users who had the Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. However, we now know that the testing will be allowed on another device which is not owned by Google – the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2s.
Over the weekend, Xiaomi made the announcement that this developer preview will be available to their own unit too. In fact, it would come complete with all the features of Android 9 P to give its users a very early peek into what the entire market is to expect in the nearest future.
The post has since been pulled down but not before we got from it that the rollout to this preview will begin on the 8th of May. With the thread having been deleted now, we don’t see that date as being feasible anymore. What we know is feasible though is the coming of this preview to the said unit.
Supposed to prevent secret call recording and camera use, pack support for iPhone X-like notch and bring on added security, among other things, anyone would be happy to preview this software right now.


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(CINCINNATI, OH) June 27, 2019 — FASTSIGNS ® of Cincinnati - Highland Avenue was recently named as a 2019 Top Rated Local® award winner for sign companies in Ohio.
“We are truly honored to receive this award by Top Rated Local,” said Lane Pence, franchisee at FASTSIGNS of Cincinnati - Highland Avenue. “This recognition reflects our team’s dedication to helping local businesses and organizations thrive.”
Pence purchased the center in 2017 and has continued to build business relationships and expand their offerings. With a firm commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes, FASTSIGNS of Cincinnati - Highland Avenue recently introduced the HP Latex 500 series wide format printer into their workflow, no longer utilizing traditional solvent-based print technologies that emit VOCs.
FASTSIGNS of Cincinnati - Highland Avenue provides comprehensive visual communications solutions including wall, window and floor graphics, trade show displays, wayfinding solutions, vehicle wraps, digital signage and more.
To read the Top Rated Local article in its entirety that highlights the interview with Lane Pence, visit the link here.
FASTSIGNS® of Cincinnati is a locally and independently owned and operated sign, graphics and visual communications company that provides comprehensive visual marketing solutions to customers of all sizes—across all industries—to help them attract more attention, communicate their message, sell more products, help visitors find their way and extend their branding across all of their customer touch points including décor, events, wearables, digital signage and marketing materials. To learn more, visit fastsigns.com/352 or call (513) 396-7446.


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16 Jan Jury’s Out: January 15, 2014
Dan held a segment of Jury’s Out on Good Morning America, Wednesday, January 15th. The first topic up on the docket was about photoshopping in magazines. An editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine, admitted that they were guilty of using photoshop to make skinny models look fuller and healthier. Is it okay to use photoshop to change the appearance of models? Dan’s take? Why not. The next controversial topic up for discussion sprouted from a mother who, to punish her daughter for cyber bullying, made her post a photo of herself holding a sign on the internet apologizing and stating she is selling her Ipod and donating the money to charity. Has this mother gone too far? Some say the mother is now cyber bullying her daughter. The final topic was about the Seattle Seahawks decision to not sell NFC Championship tickets to any one with a California address, as the Seahawks are playing the 49ers. What do you think about this? Watch the full clip here.


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A few days ago Google signed an agreement with the publisher Hachette Livre under which tens of thousands of French-language books will be pulled out of ink-on-paper purgatory and provided with a digital afterlife.
Hachette and Google reached a preliminary deal last year, but it was overshadowed by a far broader agreement between Google and U.S. authors and publishers that would have settled longstanding litigation. Like the deal with Hachette, the U.S. agreement involved books that were out of print but still protected by copyright, a category that accounts for the vast majority of the world’s books.
3:14 pm on Aug 8, 2011 (gmt 0)
This is a deal betwen Google and one single French publishing group about it's own titles..French copyright law gives writers copyright control for considerably longer periods than in most of the rest of the world, and has some unusual variants ( such as items written by those who were in the French military and served in WW1 or WW2 have additional copyright protection periods added onto the usual French ones ) ..Hachette can be expected to be sued by both some of their own authors and some of their authors descendants and other publishers ( BTW here publishers are actually called "editeurs"..just to add to any confusion..:) over this..
To compare ( as the NYT .. doubtless with the help of Google's PR machine, has done ) this with Google's attempt at a US "deal" ..is to compare apples and giraffes ..


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Historical Stock Chart
2 Months : From Feb 2020 to Apr 2020
By Yoree Koh
This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (February 21, 2020).
New Mexico sued Alphabet Inc.'s Google, alleging that the internet giant knowingly spies on students and their families through its Google Education platform.
The state says Google has used the platform to circumvent privacy laws and gain access to children's personal data and movements online, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Albuquerque.
According to the lawsuit, Google collected troves of personal information including students' physical locations, visits to websites, internet searches, videos viewed on YouTube, contact lists, voice recordings and saved passwords, among other details.
"These claims are factually wrong," Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said in an emailed statement. "G Suite for Education allows schools to control account access and requires that schools obtain parental consent when necessary. We do not use personal information from users in primary and secondary schools to target ads," he said.
The lawsuit is the latest challenge to Google's data-collection practices amid broader criticism by lawmakers, regulators and others of the company's efforts to protect user privacy, particularly regarding children. Federal law prohibits companies from collecting data on children under 13 without parental consent.
In September, YouTube, also owned by Alphabet, agreed to pay a $170 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission, without admitting wrongdoing, to settle allegations that it tracked internet activity for children to sell ads for products.
Google has captured about 60% of the school device market, according to Futuresource Consulting, by distributing its low-cost Chromebooks. The budget laptops are a gateway to a Google world: They house its education platform, run on its Chrome operating system and are loaded with the Chrome web browser. The laptops introduce students to the company's products starting as early as kindergarten. The Google Education platform is a suite of free tools for schools that include Google-powered email, cloud storage and calendars.
"Student safety should be the number-one priority of any company providing services to our children, particularly in schools," New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges that while Google has positioned its education platform "as a benign tool that is an answer to resource-deprived schools nationwide," the company secretly uses it to monitor children's online activity even at home and on their personal devices.
The state says in its complaint that Google violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by not allowing parents to review or limit what data the platform collects and uses and that the company "conditions use of its product" through far-reaching data collection.
Google allegedly does this by encouraging students to use their Google Education login information to access their Google accounts -- including on personal computers, mobile devices and school-issued Chromebooks -- the state says in the complaint. Once students are logged in, a function called Chrome Sync turns on automatically, letting Google collect students' Chrome usage data -- from web searches to passwords -- in its servers, the complaint says.
The state worked with an analytics team that has conducted forensic testing and "identified this data being transmitted," said Brian McMath, an assistant attorney general in the state's consumer and environmental protection division.
Students and parents can opt out of allowing Google to read the data, but the lawsuit alleges that option is buried in settings where parents likely never see it.
Common Sense Media, a San-Francisco based children's advocacy group, applauded the move.
"Students and parents are a vulnerable audience who have little say in what products kids must use, and companies are taking advantage of them, " said James P. Steyer, chief executive and founder of the nonprofit organization. "We have long had a law in place, COPPA, to protect kids' data, and it is important that state leaders like AG Balderas step up to protect children," he said.
This isn't Mr. Balderas's first legal tussle with Google. In September 2018, his office filed a similar lawsuit against Google and other tech companies for allegedly collecting data from child-directed mobile apps. The companies have denied wrongdoing and the case is pending.
Write to Yoree Koh at email@example.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 21, 2020 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


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Check out Lan Di in Shenmue III
This year is finally the year where we get to see Shenmue III. Last year, Yu Suzuki announced that Shenmue III would be officially release on August 27th, 2019 for PlayStation 4 and PC.
We have been getting some tiny glimpses of the game in the form of screenshots and cinematic trailers, but we’ll more of a reveal on March 9th. In the meantime, the team has revealed a first look at Lan Di in Shenmue III, which you can check out below.
Good afternoon from the one and only….Lan Di !
I hope you will appreciate this world exclusive screenshot from #Shenmue3
Thanks Yu san 🙂
So much more to come at @MagicMonaco next 9th of March !
Please follow @ShibuyaProd for more 😉#MAGICMONACO #MAGIC2019 #Monaco #Shenmue pic.twitter.com/Iq0lAb1udn— Cedric Biscay (@CedricBiscay) February 19, 2019


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Heavily-shorted shares of Supervalu
surged 39% to $3.04 Monday afternoon on heavy volume following news reports that Cerberus Capital was trying to line up debt financing to buy the troubled supermarket chain.
Also Monday, J.P. Morgan upped its credit rating on Supervalu to neutral from underweight, further fueling gains in the stock. .
Supervalu’s bonds are rising in value too, suggesting investors are more comfortable holding the troubled grocer’s debt. The price on Supervalu’s 8% bonds maturing in 2016 has risen to 97 cents on the dollar, according to Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at National Alliance Securities.
That’s up from 90 cents on Friday and 84 cents in the middle of last week, he said.
In its upgrade, J.P. Morgan cited a growing belief that private equity is taking a close look at Supervalu. The hobbled grocery chain indicated Oct. 18 it was in active dialogue with several interested buyers. Debtwire and Reuters both reported Cerberus was keen to get financing to pursue Supervalu.


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Many a great sportsman, once they have lost half a yard in pace or feel the chill of approaching middle age, swap the training ground for the boardroom.
Retired World Championship hurdling silver medallist Jon Ridgeon is now a director of sports marketing agency Fast Track, for example, while Sebastian Coe's career has jumped from middle-distance runner to MP to peer and chairman of LOCOG.
James O'Shea, marketing director for Maxinutrition, the company behind sports-nutrition brand Maximuscle, was also something of a sporting wunderkind: his ranking as a top 20 national squash player and a top hockey player in his teens meant he could have tried to make a career as a sportsman.
Of his choice not to, he admits he has regrets. 'I stopped playing squash in my gap year, so I fell a year behind everyone else and there was not a huge amount of money in the sport as there is today.'
While he did not reach the sporting heights of Coe and Ridgeon, he is on track to make a name for himself as an eminent sports marketer.
O'Shea still has an athletic physique, but a couple of kids and a move up the corporate ladder have forced him to swap squash for the more sedate game of golf - and even that is starting to fall by the wayside.
When he joined Maxinutrition, O'Shea was continuing a sporting theme that has dominated his career to date. Having gained a 'fantastic overview of marketing' working on accounts such as NBA and Carlsberg at agency Prospective Marketing, O'Shea jumped ship to Nestle and General Mills' joint venture Cereal Partners, where he worked on brands such as Shredded Wheat.
This afforded him the chance to meet brand frontman, former England cricketer Ian Botham ('a pretty straight-down-the-line bloke'), as well as play a leading role in Cereal Partners' 'Good for your heart' campaign, which involved complex negotiations with TV regulator Clearcast.
After three years, he moved into the world of brewing, joining Carlsberg as brand manager for Tetley's Bitter, helping launch a TV campaign and exploiting its England rugby sponsorship.
O'Shea describes his time at Carlsberg as putting him right at the coal face. 'I took the product to the pubs as well as the supermarkets,' he says. 'However, it was difficult to "own" projects, which became frustrating and was a key reason why I left.'
While owning projects has been part of O'Shea's remit to date at Maxinutrition, the game changed last December when pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare products company GlaxoSmithKline bought the firm for £162m.
In Maximuscle, GSK is getting a proven product, a useful asset in a sector it has hitherto failed to crack after trying to launch protein drinks under its Lucozade brand.
The backing of GSK has given a fillip to a sports-nutrition industry that, to an extent, remains misunderstood and mistrusted. Some still believe protein supplements are no more efficacious or health-enhancing than a balanced diet and a good night's sleep. Others still harbour misgivings because the industry has been hit by rogue operators looking to earn a quick buck.
However, none of these accusations has been levelled at Maxinutrition, which has railed against the rogues and sought to bring credibility to the sports-nutrition industry. The brand can now be found even on Tesco's store shelves.
'Argos came first,' says O'Shea. 'It took us a while to get Tesco on board. Now it is stocked in Morrisons and Boots, and this has helped normalise the product.'
The support of brand ambassadors such as cricketer Stuart Broad and footballer Jermaine Jenas have also helped enhance its appeal. Now, O'Shea and his 15-strong team want to take it beyond elite sportsmen and gym rats to the mainstream.
'The questions about the benefits of protein are still in the market place, and our marketing is about addressing these concerns,' he says. To this end, Maxinutrition's marketing now features its star players alongside amateur sports enthusiasts.
The selling point for the portfolio, which includes Maximuscle as well as the Maxifuel and Maxitone brands, is that they help repair and rebuild muscles following exercise. Conveying the science behind the brands in their marketing is a challenge.
'It comes back to education, which is at the heart of our marketing,' says O'Shea. 'It is about explaining the power of protein. It is not going to happen overnight, but our role is to continue to educate.'
A boost to its ad budget is intended to help solve this issue, while raising awareness of the brand with the wider public.
Along with increased ad investment, overseas expansion and improved distribution are now on the cards. The additional possibility of cross-promotion is an interesting one, with Lucozade an intriguing fit.
Another key growth area is ready-to-drink. 'GSK has about 80,000 chillers and vending machines,' he explains. 'RTD is currently only a small part of our business, so this could prove massive for us. GSK is also first-class at research supporting its products; that could be another advantage.'
According to O'Shea, the relationship with GSK is arm's length and, hitherto, rosy. 'Maximucle is staying as an independent business,' he says. 'This is part of the beauty of the deal.' Executives from GSK and Maxinutrition meet once a week to discuss how to maximise what the parent company now calls the 'Maximagic'.
Having first taken the brand on to TV last year, O'Shea is gearing up for a major TV ad burst next month, as he looks to raise awareness ahead of London 2012. O'Shea describes this period as a potential 'game-changer' for the brand.
He brims with enthusiasm for London 2012, with good reason. Having initially rejected a deal with Maxinutrition, UK Sport, the government-backed body that oversees the country's development of high-performance sport, performed a U-turn and signed a deal for Maxinutrition to develop products that British athletes will use in the run-up to the Olympics.
O'Shea is lively and talkative, and one gets the impression he likes the limelight - an opportunity his previous roles did not afford him. With hindsight, he says his biggest regret was that he did not trust his instincts and leave Carlsberg earlier. But that said, he is still only 35, and happy, for the foreseeable future, at Maximuscle.
Even so, he does harbour ambitions to take his sport-themed career to a new level.
'My dream job would be to work at Nike, but this is pretty close to it. I'm living the brand inside and outside work.'
2000-2003: Assistant brand manager, rising to brand manager of Shredded Wheat, Cereal Partners
2003-2005: Brand manager for Tetley's Bitter, Carlsberg
2005-present: Marketing controller, rising to marketing director, Maxinutrition
Favourite sportsman: Michael Jordan
Favourite ad: Honda's 'Cog'
Most-admired person in business: Philip Knight (Nike co-founder and chairman).


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Rockstar Games has announced plans to launch Grand Theft Auto III for Android and iOS. It’s been 10 years since the crazy popular video game hit the scene, but it still offers more depth than an awful lot of games available for mobile platforms today. It should be interesting to see how Rockster revamps the classic to work on mobile devices with touchscreen displays.
The list of officially supported devices isn’t all that large. It looks like you’ll need some serious processing power to handle the game. The iOS app will only support the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.
The Android list is a little longer, with the Motorola Atrix 4G, Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, and Samsung Galaxy S2 phones and the Acer Iconia Tab, Asus Eeee Pad, Motorola XOOM, and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets.
Rockstar says the new games will be available this fall. There’s no word on how much they’ll cost.


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Every year, we try and be prepared for Christmas. Shopping done in November, turkey in the freezer, you can relax.
But, as much as we try to be organised for Christmas, it is inevitable that something will be forgotten, and it’s always something small like milk for the post dinner coffee or cranberry sauce for that one relative that can’t have dinner without it.
As we are slowly creeping towards Christmas, supermarket chains differ their hours to accommodate to the late Christmas shopping frenzy that usually occurs when Christmas is very close.
With that said, here’s all the major supermarkets, and when they’re open around the Christmas period.
Aldi will open stores from 7am till 10pm from Monday 20th December to 23rd December.
Christmas Eve stores will be open from the usual 7am, but close earlier at 6pm to give staff the chance to spend the evening before Christmas not working.
Aldi is usually open from 8am - 10pm.
In a move that has been well recieved, Aldi will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
When Christmas is over, but the New Year is approaching, between December 27th, to December 30th the stores will open from 8am to 8pm.
New Year’s Eve will see Aldi open their doors at 8am, before closing at 6pm, reverting to usual hours from then onwards.
The times given are not a representative of all Aldi stores, as store to store, times may well differ.
In the run up to Christmas Sainsburys will be opening from 6am to 11pm across most stores. On Christmas Eve bigger Sainsburys stores will be open from 7am to 7pm.
The smaller Sainsbury’s stores will be opening on shorter hours, and will remain open until 9pm.
Sainsbury’s have announced that all of their stores will not be open for trading on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
On New Year’s Eve super-stores will be opening 7am to 7pm. But, the Sainsbury’s convenience stores will remain open until 9pm.
Most stores will be open from 8am-8pm on New Year’s Day.
The Birmingham New Street express store have released their Christmas and New Year’s hours. On Christmas Eve, they will open at their usual time of 6am, but will shut at the slightly earlier 7pm, in order to allow workers to spend at least some of Christmas Eve surrounded by their nearest and dearest.
Tesco will open on Boxing Day, opening at 12pm and then closing at 6am.
Tesco is also open on New Year’s Eve, operating from 6am - 7pm, and the times are slightly tweaked for New Year’s Day, where they open at 8am and then close at 6pm.
Morrison’s opening times, as found on their website have been released.
On Christmas Eve, they open at 6am, and close at 6pm.
Between December 27 and December 30, they will operate at slightly different times, opening at 7am and closing at 10pm.
Morrison’s are open at 7am and close at 6pm on New Year’s day.
Morrison’s is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
ASDA have finally released their opening and closing times for the festive season, with stores across the city open briefly for Boxing Day.
However, hours across the board are not the same so make sure to check your local store on the official Asda website here.
The Asda store in Cape Hill will operate between 6am and 7pm on Christmas Eve and will shut its doors on Christmas Day.
You can nip out for a quick dash of milk or loaf of bread on Boxing Day as the shop will be open from 11am to 5pm - whilst the store in Kings Heath will operate at slightly different hours, opening at 10am and closing at 4pm.
The days heading into the New Year (27th and 28th) will see opening and closing times of 8am to 8pm.
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Manufacturers in Europe fear chronic chip shortages now that the US is luring manufacturers with billions of dollars in subsidies and there is still disagreement within Europe over the right strategy. So Germany and France are discussing a new industrial policy.
“Germany recently acquired a beautiful chip factory in Saxony,” says Germany correspondent Dirk Marseille. German electronics company Infineon will build this plant. “Intel will also build a large factory in Germany and that makes us want more.”
Consultations between Germany and France are separate from the European Union. First the two countries want an agreement and then the rest of Europe can join. Marseille believes that politicians in The Hague may think differently about this. “There they are trying to capture what is being discussed between the two countries, to see how the files are put together and how the cards are shuffled.”
European manufacturers say dozens of factories still need to be built in Europe to reduce the independence of the rest of the world when it comes to chip production. This requires investment. Either from the government or from the business community. Often companies only set up their factories when there are strong subsidy programs from the European Union or from the countries themselves. Manufacturers find €23 billion in EU support too little. “They say dependence on the US and Asia will remain high.”
Read also | The United States invests 50 billion in its chip sector
Plans from the European Union are to quadruple current chip production capacity by 2030. Manufacturers say more money really needs to come from governments to promote this, to attract companies as well as to develop capacity.
The relationship between France and Germany has suffered some setbacks recently. “For example, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who went to China alone and French President Emmanuel Macron who made a public comment about it.” But according to Marseille, there is some hope on the horizon. It’s about shuttle diplomacy. German Foreign Minister Analina Berbock was in Paris. Just like Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck. Today, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne visits Chancellor Schulz in Berlin.
Key technologies, including chips, are on the agenda in all conversations. Marseille sees them working until January 22, 2023, on that day there will be 60 years of friendship between the two countries. “But it is not yet known whether this will also be celebrated,” he added. According to Marseille, the talks on the new industrial policy are not yet a race. “It will take some time before they reach an agreement.”
Avid music fanatic. Communicator. Social media expert. Award-winning bacon scholar. Alcohol fan.


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Microsoft Corp. this week released the trailer for the Xbox One S 2TB SKU.
The trailer previews the updated console.
The Xbox One S is a console 40 percent smaller than the current Xbox One and includes a 2TB hard drive, 4K Ultra HD video, High Dynamic Range, a streamlined controller and vertical stand.
It will be sold starting at $299 Aug. 2.
Xbox hardware revenue declined 17 percent in the first quarter due to lower Xbox 360 sales volume.
Xbox Live users increased 28 percent in the period to 39 million users.


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The apparel chain filed for bankruptcy in January and closed its e-commerce site and stores.
Sony has announced a three-year corporate plan that includes an initiative to link all hardware devices and content via network or wireless connectivity.
Sony has announced a three-year corporate plan that includes an initiative to link all hardware devices and content via network or wireless connectivity. The company plans to build a service platform to provide a seamless user experience across all key devices and content.
The initiative will expand services enabling customers to access movies and TV programming through the network on a variety of Sony products including LCD TVs, PlayStation Portable and Walkman video music players.
For example, in November Sony Pictures Entertainment will offer the recently released film “Hancock” exclusively to all Internet-connected Bravia LCD TVs in the U.S. before it’s available on DVD. The film will be distributed to Sony customers directly to their televisions without the need for a set-top box.
Aside from selling the devices on its e-commerce site, SonyStyle.com’s fit in the new three-year strategy isn’t yet clear, a spokeswoman says. SonyStyle.com is No. 13 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
Sony aims to have 90% of its electronics product categories network-enabled and wireless-capable by the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011. The company plans to launch video services on the Playstation video game network this summer, and remaining products by fiscal 2010.
Sony also intends to maintain a leading position in its “trillion yen businesses,” such as LCD TVs, digital imaging, game and mobile phones, and will focus on expanding its PC, Blu-ray Disc-related products and component/semiconductor businesses into “trillion yen businesses” by the end of FY2010.


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In simply a couple of brief years, NFTs have actually gone from a dry technical requirement for non-fungible tokens to a $23 billion market. But as quick as interest in NFTs broadens, so it appears that the volume of unfavorable headings around the area grows.
A crypto gold rush has actually undervalued the credibility of NFTs in the mainstream media. Once a transformative innovation that might renew the worlds of art and service, they’re now painted as something to be prevented for worry of falling nasty of authorities– or fraudsters wanting to make a fast dollar off your back.
From carpet pulls to fart containers with questionable backstories, the world of NFTs has actually concerned encapsulate the worst of the Wild West at present. News that Crypto’s own constable– the SEC under Gary Gensler– has NFT artists and markets in its crosshairs has, for lots of, verified the credibility of NFTs as a treasure trove for crypto criminals.
In some circumstances, stated Andres Guadamuz, a reader in copyright law at the University of Sussex, that credibility is well-deserved.
“You see every other week that there’s headline after headline about scams, frauds, rug pulls, exchanges dropping down, tax, stolen apes, all sorts of things,” he informedDecrypt It all has a collecting result on the wider credibility of NFTs, poisoning the well for those who may think about going into the marketplace.
“The potted history of NFTs’ standing has been up and down,” stated Catherine Flick, a reader in computing and social obligation atDe Montfort University “There’s the legitimacy that platforms such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s gave to NFTs in terms of auctioning them off through a legitimate place, rather than some random website.”
Having the imprimatur of both conventional auction homes– which integrated have a 532-year history– positioned onto the world of NFTs did a good deal to legitimize them in the eyes of the typical individual. Big- ticket sales, such as Beeple’s NFT sale through Sotheby’s for $69 million, and prominent recommendations from stars consisting of Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton, have actually assisted boost their credibility.
My kid might paint that
And yet for every single favorable discussion of NFTs in the media, there has actually been an equivalent– and opposite– unfavorable response. For something, individuals take a look at the variation in between the quality of art work being offered and the quantity they get, and scratch their heads. “Members of the public that are generally not in the world of NFTs look at it and say: ‘This is not worth $69 million—there’s something wrong here.’ That’s the effect it’s created.”
Then there are the rip-offs. “Over the last year or so, the number of rug pulls and fraud, and a lot of this overpromising and underdelivering in terms of what these NFTs are going to be doing have harmed their reputation,” statedFlick That credibility has actually been even more stained by reports of “significant” proof of wash trading and cash laundering in the NFT market.
NFT sellers by variety of sales to self-financed addresses. Image: Chainalysis
“Normal people start looking at this and start getting an impression that it’s mostly fraud,” statedGuadamuz He indicate an example of public understanding: He just recently taught a class of 20 trainees who are practicing legal representatives well-informed on the planet of copyright. “Almost every single one thought that these were either a scam or fraud, or some form of money laundering.” That’s substantiated in wider study information, too: Less than half of Americans, and simply one in 5 Britons, believe NFTs are a safe and great financial investment.
Flick reckons that part of the obstacle is that those who have actually totally purchased in to the guarantee of NFTs have the most to lose, needs to the innovation not measure up to expectations. Given that the volume of cryptocurrency sent out to NFT-tied wise agreements has actually increased from $106 million in 2020 to $44.2 billion in 2021 according to Chainalysis, there’s a lot at stake.
“There’s this kind of pressure for them to keep up the hype train,” Flick stated. That implies that while there is a little minority of NFT collectors and collection developers who are out there to take the cash and attempt and run, even most of those who are investing from a sincere perspective are likewise vulnerable to overhyping their guarantee in order to ensure their financial investments remain safe. “That’s a real issue,” stated Flick, “because there’s only so far that’s going to go before it all catches up with them.”
Self- doxxing and policing
Flick informed Decrypt that while she thinks that the world of NFTs will still exist in years to come, it will need to winnow out a great deal of the jobs that are presently riding on the coattails of the buzz around larger, more traditional jobs. And self-policing amongst NFT jobs is “already happening,” stated Guadamuz, as the neighborhood actions in to “promote good projects and highlight when something doesn’t add up.”
At present, Flick relates the understanding of NFTs to that of genetically customized food in its early days. “There was a kind of acceptability problem where people were like: ‘Yeah, I’m not so keen on that’,” she stated. “If people don’t trust the people who create them, there’s a trust problem there.”
In current weeks, the NFT area was shaken by Buzzfeed‘s getaway of the confidential developers of Bored Ape Yacht Club, among the leading NFT jobs. While the crypto world argued amongst itself over whether doxxing NFT developers was genuine journalism, Flick thinks that calling the genuine individuals behind leading NFT jobs will be advantageous in the long run.
The pseudonymous nature of NFTs, she argued, is an obstacle to mainstream adoption– especially when paired with unfavorable headings about carpet pulls, wash trades and basic rip-offs. “Project owners will essentially have to have a bit more of a background so that people will trust them not to pull the rug,” statedFlick “We’re already starting to see that a bit.”
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By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
The first day of the public hearing on the U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) rule starts today at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Canada and Mexico, who brought the dispute to WTO, will argue that the U.S. farm legislation violates trade commitments, and discriminates against foreign livestock.
The countries bringing the case forward will attempt to get a prior 2009 WTO ruling that backed their position against the U.S. labelling law to stick.
First introduced in the 2002 farm bill, COOL was amended in 2008, and took effect in 2009.The WTO ordered the U.S. to change its legislation to meet compliance with international law in July 2012.
While Congress amended COOL in May 2013, Canada and Mexico argue that the changes made COOL worse. Stricter requirements were added, including forbidding the common industry practice of ‘comingling’ meat muscle cuts.
Canada had hoped that there would have been a fix to COOL in the 2014 farm bill, but Congress left it intact; despite vocal opposition from American livestock producers and processors, who fear trade retaliation.
Canadian Federal Agriculture Minister, Gerry Ritz is on record saying that he is disappointed that U.S. legislators choose not to address COOL in the farm bill. He said the government would support the livestock industry at the WTO hearing.
The two-day hearing will determine the fate of COOL If Canada and Mexico succeed, the countries will be one step closer to retaliation. This step could take up to six months to complete.
Canadian pork and beef farmers estimate that COOL is costing the livestock industry an estimated $1.1 billion per year.


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August 11, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: The Centre intends to provide more incentives to states which are doing good work in the area of financial inclusion, a senior Finance ministry official has said. "More benefits will be given to the states doing good work, in which also Madhya Pradesh will be a pioneer," a statement issued by Madhya Pradesh government said, quoting Additional Secretary in Union Finance Ministry, Snehlata Shrivastava. Expansion of banking service is not a favour to the people but is giving them their right, she said at a function in Bhopal last week.
August 7, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: The Centre is planning to set up an incentive fund for healthcare with a likely corpus of more than Rs 10,000 crore to provide additional assistance to state governments for measures such as making available free medicines, creation of a public health cadre and intersectoral convergence. The National Advisory Council is yet to finalise the corpus of the fund aimed at universal health care across the country, a senior official said, adding that the fund would be partly financed as grant-in-aid and partly as a proportion of all the flagship central schemes for healthcare, including the National Rural Healthcare Mission.
August 6, 2013 |
KOLKATA: In a bid to promote travel and tourism and attract investment to the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced special incentives to airlines to increase flights to Kolkata, Bagdogra and Coochbehar airports . The existing sales tax rate on Aviation Turbine Fuel in West Bengal was 25 per cent. An additional sales tax of 20 per cent on sales tax was also levied. Thus the effective sales tax rate on ATF in the state was 30 per cent.
August 2, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: The Centre will soon put to test a bouquet of sops, including sponsored foreign education and free insurance cover, aimed at incentivising government service in areas affected by Left-wing extremism. Large swathes of forestland in central and eastern India have remained disconnected from social welfare schemes largely because of Left-wing extremism. The fear of attacks by Maoist rebels has also pushed up the vacancy level in government jobs there. Under a plan chalked out by the National Advisory Council, government employees willing to serve for at least three years in such areas will be offered the chance to pursue higher studies either in Cambridge or Oxford, besides incentives like free education for children, health insurance cover and higher salary.
July 15, 2013 |
MUMBAI: Foreign lender Deutsche Bank today launched a loyalty programme through which account holders stand to get cash-backs into their bank accounts for conducting transactions. Under 'Express Rewards', customers will earn reward points for conducting transactions like online utility bill payments, purchases made using debit cards and also auto debit transactions for home loan or personal loan EMIs, the bank said in a statement. The reward points can be later redeemed into cash in the customer's account, it added.
July 11, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: The Textiles Ministry is contemplating offering sops to the sector and initiating measures to boost outbound shipments by a targeted 30 per cent in 2013-14 as set by a PM-led panel. "We told the panel about some of the amendments in the legislations which are required and some incentives to be given to the industry because this industry has high potential and employs about 45 million workers," Textiles Minister K Sambasiva Rao told PTI in an interview. He said measures like flexible labour laws, availability of raw-material at reasonable prices, better quality of products and improved marketing and branding techniques will make the industry more competitive.
July 10, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: The government is considering incentives for gold jewellery exporters hit by restrictions imposed on import of the metal to contain current account deficit (CAD). "Government is looking at the demands of gold jewellery exporters for hiking duty drawback rate to 8 per cent and removal of restrictions on sale of gold in the domestic market," a government official said. Although the government has increased the duty drawback rate to 6 per cent from 4 per cent, the exporters are saying that it was not enough and the rate should be increased to at least 8 per cent.
July 4, 2013 |
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday warned the Centre of "serious political and law and order implications" if it fails to give the state industrial concessions like the ones being given to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Badal said the earlier package of concessions given to these states "had played havoc with Punjab's economy and a repetition of this ruinous decision...can have serious political and law and order implications.
July 1, 2013 |
BARIPADA(ODISHA): In a bid to bring more girls to schools, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today launched the Odisha Girls Incentive Programme for tribal and dalit girls studying in standards nine and ten. The scheme, funded by the state government, Centre and DFID, would benefit 2.5 lakh girl students belonging to scheduled tribe and scheduled caste communities. "We are committed to empower girls and women ," Patnaik said after launching the scheme in Odisha's tribal-dominated Mayrubhanj district.
June 28, 2013 |
KOLKATA: Reserve Bank of India is planning to put a blanket ban on the practice of earning incentives by bank officials for selling third party products, as such practices led to rampant mis-selling and allegedly encourage them to got involved in structuring transactions to aid tax evasion and fraudulent transfer of funds. The banking regulator has also banned cash payment for any transactions above Rs 50000 for third party insurance or mutual fund products. It said the payment should be directly debited from the customers account with the concerned bank and cannot be done using other bank cheques.


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U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday the United States has reached agreement with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to eliminate tariffs on multi-chip integrated circuits _ the semiconductor devices used in computers, cell phones and other high-technology products.
U.S. companies are the world's principal suppliers of multi-chip integrated circuits, accounting for about half of the $4.2 billion (Ђ3.6 billion) in global sales of the devices last year, the White House said.
The agreement calls for zero duties on these products at an agreed upon date. The target date is Jan.1, 2006. Japan already applies zero duties on these products and expects to ratify the agreement in 2006, the White House said.
The agreement was announced here as Bush opened a weeklong Asian trip, AP reported. V.A.
The West must be prepared for discussions of the unconditional surrender of Ukraine already in the near future, Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said


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Goody’s is closing all of its stores
Published: Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 11:47 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 11:54 a.m.
Lexington will soon lose one of its major clothing retailers as Goody’s Family Clothing announced Thursday it will begin liquidation of its 287 stores nationwide Friday.
A Lexington Goody’s employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said about 30 full-time and part-time associates work at the store at the Lexington Plaza off N.C. Highway 8 at Interstate 85. The 27,000-square-foot store has been a fixture at the retail center for about 19 years.
Employees were told this week the stores will close. The Lexington employee was not sure when the going out of business sale will begin here, or when the store will close.
The move, which comes less than four months after the privately held retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, affects the Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain’s 287 stores scattered throughout 20 Midwestern and Southern states, said Cathy Hershcopf, a partner at Cooley Godward Kronish.
The firm is working with Goody’s vendors and its parent, PGDYS Lending.
It’s uncertain what will happen to the company’s 9,800 workers after the liquidation — being handled by a joint venture between Gordon Brothers Retail Partners and Hilco Merchant Resources — is completed by the end of March. But without a last-minute buyer or an investor to purchase high-performing stores, their job outlook is grim.
Goody’s filed for bankruptcy protection in June, saying at the time that the move would help it address “pressures from tightening credit markets, strain on merchandise flow and a sizable but isolated number of underperforming stores in the chain.”
As part of its reorganization plan, the company closed and liquidated dozens of underperforming stores, shuttered a distribution center in Arkansas and a corporate office in New York. It also cut operating and corporate costs, ended its e-commerce business and an associated distribution center in Tennessee.
But that proved to be inadequate as shoppers tightened their belts amid the ongoing recession, causing a downright dismal holiday shopping period for retailers that usually bank on the Christmas spending to boost profits.
Jill Doss-Raines can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 219, or at firstname.lastname@example.org. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.
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Refereum announces new community, product and finance hires
Building the perfect beast
US blockchain game community effort Refereum is growing.
The company prides itself on the talent that comprises its team and it’s added three new members.
Refereum’s new kids on the block
New VP of finance – Cheng Wang
Previously working for major investment banking firms in New York for over eight years. Wang’s last role was working with Goldman Sachs before moving into gaming and livestream entertaining professionally.
New Head of Product – Jeanette Suh
Having worked for Expedia most recently, Jeanette has been involved in the production and marketing of their travel app which grossed billions in revenue. She brings over ten years worth of tech and product marketing experience with her.
New Head of Community – Philippe Beaudette
Beaudette brings with him, over 20 years of experience in community management, with companies such as the Wikimedia Foundation and Atlassian Software.
You can also check out Refereum CEO Dylan Jones talking at Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco 2018 below.


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In response to community feedback regarding a lack of diversity, Sotheby’s has announced that its upcoming digital art sale, “Glitch: Beyond Binary,” will place a focus on inclusivity. This comes after criticism of last month’s “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” auction, which was temporarily paused due to the lack of diversity. Sotheby’s emphasizes that the sale will represent people from all backgrounds and identities, stating that it is committed to highlighting the diverse artist communities that make up Glitch Art.
On the other hand, a newcomer to the online game Illuvium: Beyond has made a staggering profit by finding the rarest character yet, the “Holo Blazing Rhamphyre.” The player found the character in a “D1SK,” a type of digital loot box containing random characters and accessories. The player purchased the loot box for only $32 and sold the character for $49,128.85, netting a profit of approximately 140,525%.
In other NFT news, the Ukrainian President has signed the country’s first NFT, a collection called “UACatsDivision,” featuring cats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with all funds donated to the Ukrainian military services. At the time of writing, 3,026 NFT cats had already been purchased out of the 10,000 available.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners have made over $5 million from creating NFT inscriptions using the Ordinals protocol, according to Dune Analytics data. Transaction fees for Ordinals transactions exploded from $1.5 million on March 10 to $5.2 million by April 12. Nearly 1.1 million Ordinals had been inscribed on the Bitcoin network, consisting mainly of jpeg images and text but also PDFs, video, and audio formats.
However, an NFT collector made a costly mistake by bidding 100 Ether (ETH), worth around $192,000 at the time of writing, for an NFT from the Gemesis NFT collection, which was intended to be free to celebrate the launch of OpenSea Pro. Some community members believe the transaction was a wash trade, while others argue that the trader simply made a mistake bidding 100 ETH instead of $100. However, another community member argued against theories that it was a wash trade since it was too risky.
Overall, the world of NFTs continues to grow and evolve, with new developments and opportunities for profit emerging regularly.
The Avalanche Foundation has launched Avaissance, an initiative aimed at supporting digital artists and boosting the growth of the Avalanche NFT ecosystem. Avaissance includes two main components: the Artist in Resident program (AIR) for over 50 artists and the Mona Lisa Initiative (MLI) to curate digital art and expand the collections of art-focused DAOs. The AIR program will provide funding, mentorship, and virtual workshops for six months to artists of any skill level. Meanwhile, the MLI will collaborate with DAOs’ curatorial teams to promote emerging Avalanche NFT artists and establish an “Avalanche Permanent Collection.”
In other NFT news, Ticketmaster has announced a new feature called token-gated ticket sales, which allows artists to reward NFT holders with exclusive benefits such as special presales, prime seats, custom travel packages, and access to unique concert experiences. This functionality was developed after American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) approached Ticketmaster and its Web3 team, Bitflips, for help implementing a service that would allow holders of its NFTs – Deathbats Club, a collection of 10,000 unique Deathbat NFTs – to unlock perks and access to events. The feature works with tokens minted on Ethereum and stored in decentralized application (DApp) wallets like MetaMask or Coinbase.
Patrick Amadon, a popular NFT artist, recently withdrew his work from a major auction house, Sotheby’s upcoming “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” art sale, to protest a lack of female representation. He shared his decision with his 142,400 Twitter followers, and Sotheby’s responded the next day by announcing that it would pause the sale to “redress the imbalance in representation within the sale” and relaunch later with a “more equitable and diverse group of artists.”
Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, recently shared a video with his Twitter followers, revealing his new 50,000-square-foot studio in South Carolina. According to Beeple’s website, he will use the space to create his artwork and host events to “showcase the very best art and communities.” The website stated that they are looking to partner with the most cutting-edge artists and communities to put on events that are not possible at any other venue.
On March 25, an NFT from the popular CryptoPunks collection valued at approximately $135,000 was accidentally burned by an investor attempting the process of NFT wrapping to potentially borrow liquidity from it. While the loss was unfortunate, it highlights the importance of proper education and caution when dealing with NFTs.
Digital artist Bleeple cemented his place in the history books with this one. Auction house Christie’s sold his human-size 3D video sculpture and NFT hybrid in their first live event since the pandemic. The piece exceeded expectations, the projections had “Human One” selling for $15M and it almost doubled that. Does this hybrid format open a new chapter for NFT art? We wouldn’t know, but Bleeple’s piece sold alongside works from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy, and Peter Doig.
Related Reading | NFTs And Play-To-Earn Are The Future Of Gaming, States EA CEO
A better question might be, are NFT artists willing to put this much effort into their pieces?
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What Do We Know About “Human One” By Bleeple?
The real-life installation is almost 7 Ft. high and consists of four screens. It has a computer at the base. The environment the astronaut-like figure walks through is ever-changing. According to Christie’s “it’s drawn at random from a data pool of the artist’s visual creations that is accessed via the Ethereum blockchain.” Not only that,Barrons.com informs usthat “Beeple’s plan is to shift the generative art images over time “in response to current events,” Christie’s said. The result will be “an eternally contemporary work of art.”
— beeple (@beeple) November 10, 2021
But wait, why would they use the Ethereum blockchain where a normal database would suffice? We hope that the owner doesn’t have to pay gas fees for that. The clips are one minute long and the piece keeps changing 24 hours a day. In any case, Ethereum hosts the NFT attached to “Human One.” A crucial piece of the pie, since Bleeple is known for his record-breaking “Everydays – The First 5000 Days.” It was the first NFT Christie’s auctioned and it went for $69M.
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In any case, Mike Winkelmann AKA Bleeple described “Human One” as “the first portrait of a human born in the metaverse.” He told Christie’s, “I want to make something that people can continue to come back to and find new meaning in. And the meaning will continue to evolve. That to me is super-exciting. It feels like I now have this whole other canvas.”
ETH price chart for 11/10/2021 on Kraken | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
What Do We Know About The Auction And The New Owner?
According toBarrons again, “the auction focused on art created since 1980.” The event was“live-streamed to the world with specialists in London and Hong Kong manning the phones and projected on video screens in New York.“ The following videos capture all the action. In the first one, Bleeple himself gives us a backstage tour to Christie’s headquarters. In the second one, a fan screen-captured the moment in which the auctioneer sells Bleeple’s piece.
— Alex Roman (@3rd7th) November 10, 2021
Related Reading | Why Chainlink Labs Is Collabing With Palm Network NFT Space’s Development
Why do they say $25M in the video butthe official Christie’s pagesays $28.9M? That information is above our paygrade. We did find who the lucky new owner is, though. Crypto-focused family office Dialectic’s Managing Director, Ryan Zurrer. A notorious NFT collector that used to be the Web3 Foundation’s director. In his announcement tweet, Zurrer thanked Bleeple “for the visionary innovation, amazing new energy and hilarious positive vibes that you’ve brought to both crypto and art.”
Secured the ONE. Thank you @beeple for the visionary innovation, amazing new energy and hilarious positive vibes that you’ve brought to both crypto and art. gn pic.twitter.com/XfhmxM9Luj
— Ryan Zurrer (@kukulabanze) November 10, 2021
Inhis response tweet, Bleeple said “INSANELY HONORED to be in this collection.”
That’s the “Human One” story so far.
Featured Image: "Human One" screenshot | Charts by TradingView
Leading contemporary artist Damien Hirst’s NFT drop dubbed “The Currency” has been oversubscribed by more than six times.
The Currency drop consists of 10,000 unique colorful dot pattern artworks with a corresponding NFT for each piece. Applications for the NFT drop closed on July 22, and Heni Group, who hosted the sale, revealed that 32,472 people applied for a total of 67,023 NFTs. That means that many applications will either be scaled back or unsuccessful given there are only 10,000 NFTs available.
Many collectors will now have to seek out the NFTs on secondary markets.
Applications have closed for @hirst_official’s The Currency. Thanks to all who applied. 32,472 people applied for a total of 67,023 NFTs. Due to the large number of applicants, allocations will take some time & applicants may not be notified until 28 July. Stay tuned for Phase 2! pic.twitter.com/BGDHTnPO2G
— HENI (@HENIGroup) July 21, 2021
The NFTs were priced at $2,000 each and the drop includes an interesting feature, as the artist is giving collectors one year to decide if they would like to burn the NFT in exchange for the original artwork, or keep the NFT and destroy the original artwork.
The world-renowned artist first entered the crypto space back in February this year after he started accepting payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum for artworks from a collection of cherry blossom-themed paintings.
In his new NFT venture, the artist is exploring the concept of value behind money and art, in which he asserts their value is determined by social phenomena such as faith and trust.
To loosely depict money in the artworks, there is a holographic image of Hirst in each piece, and a signature on the back, along with small individual messages to represent a serial number.
“I’ve never really understood money, it’s like you look at money, in its basic form […] all these things, art, money commerce, they’re all ethereal,” Hirst said in a video discussing the drop.
Check out this video of @stephenfry & I discussing ‘The Currency’: what is art, money, truth? how does it tie into belief? Maybe more importantly, what will people do with the Tenders? Nearing the end of the beginning. Applications close tomorrow 3pm BST. https://t.co/zync3gt29d pic.twitter.com/y9lnY1KY26
— Damien Hirst (@hirst_official) July 20, 2021
Related:Record network activity and a second NFT boom send WAX price higher
Each individual artwork is called a “Tender” and the artist recently told Cointelegraph that he would “love it” if a collector was able to use the artwork as actual currency due to its value as an NFT. However, he thinks that most people will choose to keep the artwork.
Speaking with CNBC’s Squawk Box on July 21, Hirst stated that he thinks digital art forms such as NFTs will outlive physical art galleries, as he noted that NFTs depicting “good artwork” can be easily experienced anywhere:
“I think that digital art is probably going to last a lot longer than galleries. I mean, you probably won’t be going into galleries. We’ll be sitting in bars showing each other what we’ve recently bought on our phones, and that’s kind of what we do now.”
dCanvas, the world’s largest collaborative art project, is set to make its limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs) accessible to the public. The company would release 256 limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFT) to in May 2021.
dCanvas Offers 256 NFTs for Sale
In collaboration with NFT marketplace site OpenSea, dCanvas is making it possible for the public to access its works. Each of the 256 NFTs consists of 16 pixels, which enables the owner to fill in with his artistic vision.
What makes these NFTs unique is that the owner of each NFT is the only person that can determine the colour of each of the 16 pixels, as they truly own the block and they can also reauction it at any time. According to an excerpt from dCanvaswhitepaper:
“Each individual NFT in the dCanvas contract represents a specific 4 x 4 pixel block on an overall 1024 x 1024 pixel canvas board. Ownership of a block allows you to set the color of each of the 16 pixels, using a 32-color palette that is available to everyone and set as metadata in the Solidity smart contract.”
Also, the NFT holders can access an independent DAO that enables the community govern the dCanvas art commissions. The limited allocation of the NFTs would commence on Thursday, May 6, 2021.
Furthermore, users can get the NFTs via the dCanvas app, while transactions would carried out using OpenSea. The partnership with OpenSea means gas fees would be reduced. Users who have previously accessed OpenSea would to only need to pay gas fee to buy the dCanvas NFT. Meanwhile, future bids, purchases, and offers would be conducted on OpenSea without paying for gas fees.
dCanvas has distributed NFTs worth $500,000 to early adopters, various investors, and brands. Some of the private investors include Kyle from NeptuneDAO, Queen Mei, Quidd’s number one NFT collector, Leia from Unic.ly, and Joyce of Global Coin Research.
NFT Fever Still High
This is not the first time that dCanvas is releasing its NFTs to the the public. The collaborative NFT art project earlier opened its NFT sale to the public, with 1024 NFTs. These were sold out under five days. With the company now allocating a smaller number of NFTs, the pieces might sell out quicker.
Individuals who have purchased the dCanvas NFTs can create a profile to showcase their ownership, while also communicating and collaborating with one another.
The NFT market has seen increased adoption in 2021. The first quarter of 2021 has been impressive for the sector, with over $2 billion spent on NFTs. AsreportedbyBTCManagerback in April, popular American rapper Eminem, launched his NFTs.
Even Mattel, parent company of popular toy brands Barbie and Hot Wheels, wascontemplatingjoining the NFT bandwagon. The Beeple NFT, which was sold for almost $70 million, remains the most expensive digital art piece sold till date. In late April, major crypto exchange Binance, announced that it wouldlaunchan NFT marketplace in June 2021.
StarColl, an NFT marketplace and collection exclusively dedicated to one of the largest private Star Wars memorabilia collections, is set to list digital twins of its catalog.
According to an announcement on Tuesday, early registration will begin on May 4 — “Star Wars Day.”
The Star Wars collection will feature over 800 limited edition collectibles from the iconic sci-fi movie franchise released as nonfungible tokens on the StarColl marketplace.
Each StarColl NFT is a digital twin of an actual physical item from the massive Star Wars collection. Owners of each NFT will also reportedly have the chance to include their names in the NFT metadata, which will appear in all future StarColl traveling exhibitions.
Ownership of NFTs from the listing will also grant free lifetime passes to the StarColl global traveling exhibition.
The announcement also revealed that all metadata and ownership information is secured on the QAN blockchain platform, a decentralized network that is reportedly resistant to quantum search algorithm attack vectors.
Commenting on the robust security of the StarColl NFT collection, Johann Polecsak, chief technology officer of QANplatform, said:
“NFT security is a neglected topic today. Nobody speaks about cybersecurity issues and pain points behind the NFT ecosystem. Source files of NFTs sold for thousands of dollars can be easily changed to memes by hackers. StarColl NFTs will be secured by the Quantum-resistant QAN blockchain, where metadata and ownership information is stored.”
NFTs based on pop culture references are quite common, with artists and creators minting digital twins based on popular movies, songs and other works of art.
Back in March, decentralized movie financing platform Mogul Productions announced plans to release NFTs in collaboration with comic book artist Rob Prior.
Celebrity NFTs are also becoming a regular occurrence at the intersection of blockchain art and pop culture. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the likes of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and rap-rock icon Mike Shinoda have also released their own NFTs.
Copyright infringement in the online world has been an issue ever since the internet entered our lives — with a copy-and-paste culture, it’s never been easier to pass off a funny tweet as one’s own, upload unauthorized versions of chart-topping songs, and repurpose jaw-dropping photographs and videos.
Now nonfungible tokens have entered into the arena, a whole host of new issues have emerged. Opportunists are now tokenizing artwork without consent — and in some cases, artists haven’t realized their pieces have been plagiarized until the NFTs have been bought and sold. One attorney recently told Vice that, while creators do have protection under U.S. copyright law if their work is tokenized without consent, getting compensation could be made harder by the fact that some NFT marketplaces are less transparent than others.
There are NFT platforms that have introduced mechanisms that allow pirated art to be removed. But according to experts, taking action once unprotected digital files have been copied or downloaded is “like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube.” And to compound the problem, certain precautions that can be taken to tackle copyright infringement can have unintended consequences — censoring small creators who may be unable to prove they created an artwork because they lack an established online presence.
None of this is to say that NFT technology is inherently flawed. These hurdles are common when new concepts suddenly go mainstream. As time goes on, the industry will get better at protecting talented individuals and their works. But there’s one thing that artists can do straight away: Take a few simple steps to protect themselves from copyright infringement.
Protecting work in a digital realm
According to Unique.One, a decentralized NFT marketplace, most of the copyright infringement issues that have been brought to its attention stem back to artwork that was unprotected in the first place. A number of artists share original works with their large followers on Instagram, but these files lack the digital protection that prevent them from being copied and used in infinite ways without consent.
A strongly worded copyright notice often isn’t enough to deter bad actors — nor prove that artwork is authentic if their claims are challenged. However, there are some simple steps that are worth taking when building an online presence, and it all begins when original files are being uploaded in the first place.
Adding a visible watermark to art before sharing digital images anywhere can prove worthwhile, irrespective of whether this is on Instagram, Facebook or on your own website. If you’re especially sophisticated, you may opt for an invisible watermark at the pixel level — something that can give you an upper hand in a dispute, especially among plagiarists who may not have noticed it.
It is also possible to mint NFTs with a watermark — and add unlockable content with a high-resolution, watermark-free copy that the buyer can receive upon purchasing a token. You can also set out licensing terms in the description for your nonfungible token. A good example of this was seen when The New York Times sold a tokenized version of an article written by one of its journalists — with the newspaper clearly specifying that this NFT doesn’t purchase the copyright for the feature in question.
Keeping a digital archive of original work, along with the date it was created, can also be a powerful way of proving ownership. And, if art is published for the first time in the form of an NFT, the blockchain itself can serve as an immutable record that offers protection.
A particularly vexing issue
Unique.One is a decentralized nonprofit platform that is owned and managed by a community of passionate digital artists. They said: “It’s a sad fact that the very freedom and flexibility provided to creators by decentralized, permissionless NFT platforms can also attract abuse by bad actors. But innovation also breeds solutions. Technology can be leveraged to help creators keep control of their work.”
They stress that NFTs can also help protect artwork — especially if pieces are minted on-chain before they are distributed through other online channels. Creating an archive of provenance is essential.
While Unique.One predicts that regulatory measures and licensing regimes will evolve as the NFT space grows and matures, the platform warns that this could introduce “additional barriers and censorship hurdles for creators” — and great care should be taken to ensure that the industry doesn’t lose the distinctive attributes that made it popular in the first place.
“As with all innovative technological breakthroughs, NFTs offer exciting opportunities for creators, but along with this freedom of opportunity comes the potential for abuse by malicious actors — it’s simply the world we live in,” the project’s founders said. “Unique.One hopes that artists lean into proactivity and take steps to address the challenges brought on by innovation while enjoying the opportunity it brings.”
Learn more about Unique.One
Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content of product on this page. While we aim at providing you all important information that we could obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor this article can be considered as an investment advice.
In partnership with Ethernity Chain, James Heuser will be minting limited edition authenticated NFTs for his signature works “Welcome to the Internet,” the artist confirmed on Apr 7.
Authenticated NFTs on Ethernity Chain
To celebrate, he added, he will be launching the 3D edition of his popular work. Also, this will be the first launch of Ethernity Chain.
Ethernity Chain is looking at how their authenticated NFT model will matter across multiple disciplines and sectors.
In their view, the internet is flawed.
It is designed more to help spread information and improve connectivity. However, beyond the internet being a publishing gem, it isn’t rewarding content creators, the true originators of all information.
Looking back, there are gifted artists like James, whose work has made them famous but with nothing big to show off.
In reality, while their gifts and expression talent is there for all to see, the current arrangement of internet monetization doesn’t recognize and reward them accordingly.
That’s why the merger between digital art and NFTs and creating an authenticated model right off custom art marketplace with NFT in mind right from the very beginning is a game-changer.
By partnering with James, Ethernity Chain is looking back to “right the wrong” and to “pave the way for our disruptive entrance to the NFT space.”
“This is Web 3.0 truly realized, and this is why we’re launching with this meme meets NFT to look back at the past where things went wrong and pave the way for our disruptive entrance to the NFT space; space whose very creations are just beginning. Wait to see what we have in store for the future.”
How NFTs minting work in Ethernity Chain: ERN Staking and STONE Farming
Ethernity Chain’s solutions will directly benefit the artist. It would block off hallways through which precious digital art can be duplicated and stolen.
From the NFTs platform, an artist will produce his/her limited-edition work, which then gets authenticated using icons.
After that, work will be availed to an auction where winners get approval to mint these NFTs. Participants of these auctions must first stake ERN coins—Ethernity Chain’s native currency, subsequently farming STONE whenever they win and mint an NFT.
They can then put auction their work, flipping them for profits. However, Ethernity Chain clarifies that a small portion of the revenue generated from the auction and sales will be sent to charities.
A non-fungible token (NFT) based on artwork has been auctioned for approximately $69.3 million on Thursday by an unidentified collector.
The auction which took place at Christie’s auction house is the biggest for a digital-based artwork and had about 33 bidders, one of whom is Tron’s Founder, Justin Sun.
The auctioned NFT was an artwork by Mike Winkelmann popular known as Beeple. The artwork, called “The First 5,000 Days” takes its origin back to 2007 when Beeple discovered digital art and he set out to create a piece per day, an exercise he has never missed a day on since then. The collection of the first 5000 pieces of creations was collated and turned into the NFT that now ranks as the biggest sale to date.
NFTs are pulling mind-blowing numbers in terms of selling prices today. Prior to this current record-breaking sale, the highest-auctioned NFT was Beeple’s own work which with the parting sum coming in at $6.6 million.
“As soon as I saw it, I saw it as this massive, massive potential for this as a platform for digital ownership of a bunch of different things, not just art,” Beeple said of the burgeoning NFT marketplace. “Moving forward, I think this will be seen as an alternate form of asset class.”
NFTs despite the hype they are generating in terms of their selling figures, have real-world use cases as they can help to register the ownership of any item on the blockchain. With NFTs, works of art cannot be counterfeited, creative contents will no longer be pirated as all ownership and authentication processes take place on a public blockchain that can be verified by anyone, anywhere.
With the pace NFT has set since the beginning of the year, this year may eventually turn out to be for NFTs, what 2020 was for decentralized finance.
Crypto arthas seen explosive growth of late, with many content creators tapping into the space to get compensated for their creative work shared online.
The Growing Demand for Digital Art
Essentially, pieces of crypto art are sold vianon-fungible tokens(NFTs), which are distinctive digital tokens on a blockchain that can verify ownership of any collectible such as music, art or animation.
The rise of crypto art came from the need to make digital art, which is very easy to replicate, unique and verifiable on a public ledger. Transforming art into non-fungible digital tokens integrates more scarcity value into the piece while giving the artist creator greater autonomy and recognition.
NFT art also ensures that the creator receives their fair share of the value, as there is no scope to cheat the artist out of their rightful royalties on a publicly viewable and traceable blockchain.
These one-of-a-kind digital tokens have offered anew lifeline to digital artistsand creators by introducing a convincingly identifiable carrier of value for digital artwork.
Furthermore, Immutable digital artwork introduces a new model of interdependence for content creators by enabling them to control the distribution and sale of their work. Artists can also embed conditions of their work and practice into their work’s expression.
Therefore, NFTs have the potential to disrupt art marketplaces set by monopolizing big tech companies by giving the actual content creators control over their work and its distribution.
Heralding the Era of Fractional Ownership
Perhaps the biggest appeal of crypto art is the ability to facilitate content creators to program pre-determined ownership conditions into its very metadata.
The new form oftokenized artworkenables the content creator to broker their own smart contracts that determine how the crypto art is displayed, shared, editioned.
This feature promises to help artists carve out a new model of equity where they can sell out fractions of new and rare digital art to multiple art enthusiasts.
According toAmy Whitaker, a longtime blockchain researcher who has studied the proposition for NFTs artwork in equity ownership, fractional ownership of crypto art is a powerful tool.
“What’s beautiful about equity is that you’re designating a fraction as opposed to a dollar amount. That fraction can move. So if you own 10% of an artwork, and you sold it for a hundred dollars or a million dollars, you’re going to own something proportionately,” Amy explained.
Ramani Ramachandran, CEO of Router Protocol, sees NFT art as an investment where one buyer can resell their rare collectible for a profit. The original creator can also earn royalties on the resale as the unique artwork increases in value over time.
The Buzzing Crypto Art Market
According to the latest estimate fromNonfungible.com, the NFTs market has grown 705% in three years to hit $338M in value by the end of 2020.
Digital artists like Justin Roiland, co-creator of the popular Rick and Morty animated series, areflooding NFT marketplaceslike OpenSea with their creations, and fetching huge profits from their work.
As demand for digital collectibles continues to grow, the nascent digital art marketplace dynamics could explode in the coming months.


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Intel's investment in Network Computing Devices came to fruition last week as NCD launched a thin client device based on Intel's Lean Client initiative.
The NCD ThinSTAR 300 is a series of Windows-based terminals running Windows CE and supporting both Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol and Citrix's Independent Computing Architecture.
In March this year, Intel took a 4.4% stake in NCD, despite the company's failure to make profits in the first half of this year, and announced that the companies would work together on the Lean Client guidelines.
The ThinSTAR 3000 series will consist of several Windows-based terminal models, all including 133MHz Pentium chips and features such as a Universal Serial Bus, multiple peripherals connectivity, 10/100Mb Ethernet connectivity and build in 16-bit audio.
NCD also collaborated with Microsoft to produce the Windows-CE based ThinSTAR Operating Software that comes pre-loaded with every NCD ThinSTAR 300 model. The series also incorporates a subset of Intel's Wired for Management technologies.
The ThinSTAR 3000 series is initially aimed at vertical markets, according to John de Santis, vice president of European Operation at NCD. "(These devices) will appeal to industries such as retail and banking where low-cost, high performance access to Windows and legacy applications is combined with industry specific peripheral connectivity," he said.
Claims to have "the most competitive logic density" in the industry
Dell's high-end mobile workstations upgraded with Intel Coffee Lake CPUs
Webstresser admins were also arrested in the UK, Croatia, Canada and Serbia
Security firm claims that 117,638 sites out of 135,035 analysed contain serious security flaws


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Cablevision and Viacom Resolve Litigation
Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) and Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) announced today that the two companies have resolved the antitrust litigation between them related to a 2012 carriage agreement between the companies, and that they are simultaneously entering into mutually beneficial business arrangements. Details of the settlement and arrangements were not disclosed.
The companies issued the following statement:
“We are pleased to have put these matters behind us in ways that benefit both of our companies and look forward to working together to benefit Cablevision’s customers.”
# # #
About Cablevision Systems Corporation
Cablevision Systems Corporation is a leading media and telecommunications company, serving millions of households and businesses throughout the greater New York area. Providing quality products that keep customers connected, Cablevision offers Optimum-branded digital cable television, high-speed Internet and voice services as well as Optimum WiFi, the nation's most robust WiFi network. The company recently introduced Freewheel, a new low-cost WiFi-exclusive phone service that provides unlimited data, talk and text. Cablevision’s Lightpath subsidiary is a premier provider of integrated business communications solutions for larger companies. Through its local media and programming properties – News 12 Networks and Newsday Media Group – Cablevision also delivers news and information created specifically for the communities it serves. Additional information about Cablevision is available at www.cablevision.com.
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT,TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick and Paramount Channel, reach a cumulative 3.4 billion television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.


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June 2020 lovely to welcome new faces at our third virtual breakfast
There was a full house again at our third virtual networking breakfast in June 2020.
Could it be our fame is spreading?
Many businesses have offered extra help and support during the Coronavirus lockdown and you can find some of them here.
Our ten-minute slot this month was a quick gallop through the long history of AkzoNobel with Andrew Dawson.
From gun cotton and cordite to paint
There has been industrial activity on the site since 1855, when the factory produced gun cotton and cordite for explosives, Andrew told us. Its latest reincarnation has been the manufacture of Dulux paint and Cuprinol. The business was acquired from ICI by AkzoNobel in 2008.
Andrew, himself, joined the company after 30 years with the Royal Mail, by way of a trip to Everest.
The company produces around 100 million litres of paint per year, employing approximately 80 people. Some of the employees are the fourth generation of their families to work there. Last year, the company created an additional 12 shop floor jobs.
The factory also makes extensive use of robotics, from laser-guided forklifts to robotic arms and automated conveyors.
AkzoNobel has been one of those companies that have benefited from the Covid-19 lockdown with an exceptional demand in May, when virtually all its stock had been ordered online.
The company also supplies decorative paints to both Wales and France, but also coatings for high-speed trains, F1 cars, coatings for wind farms and also has drones for spraying buildings.
Currently partnered with the Stowmarket Museum of East Anglian Life, Andrew said the company was very proud of its recycling efforts and of producing “green” paint.
Sadly, Andrew did not bring the company’s well-known and popular pet Dulux Dog, which is now how people refer to the Old-English Sheepdog – a measure of the brand’s success!
For the time being, meetings will be on the usual dates but via Zoom. You will receive emails in advance to book and give you the log-in details and passwords. For both the breakfast and the coffee sessions, pre-booking is essential.
Chairman Allan is always happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your wish lists) to email@example.com
Dates for your diary:
|July Coffee||July Breakfast|
|Online with Zoom||Online with Zoom|
|Friday, July 3||Friday, July 17|
For more information contact Keely Taylor
phone: 01449 770965 e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org.
Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact marketing officer Alison Withers: email@example.com