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A man was arrested after allegedly reselling stolen goods online. Officers found over $80,000 of stolen merchandise. (Utah Attorney General’s Office)
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man was arrested after allegedly selling “large amounts” of stolen merchandise online that police say he had others steal for him, according to a press release from the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
For over a year, Oscar Martinez, 45, of West Valley City, “arranged for people who are addicted to drugs” to steal from stores like Home Depot before he would then resell the merchandise online, according to the release.
Officers with the Utah Attorney General Office’s economic crimes unit — the Crimes Against Statewide Economy unit — recovered over $80,000 worth of stolen goods including “brand-name power tools, home goods and sporting equipment,” state officials said in the Saturday release.
“Organized retail crime is a very serious problem in Utah, and is also a national trend,” said unit commander Christopher Walden. “It’s become an epidemic and is driving up the costs of these items so that the stores can cover their losses.”
Martinez was arrested for investigation of possession of stolen property, acquiring stolen property and money laundering. Information about his arrest was not released.


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Apple Supplier Battle Ends in Defeat for Foxconn as Vote Failsby
Shareholders rejected Siliconware's plan to issue more shares
Rival ASE campaigned against deal after taking 25% stake
Siliconware Precision Industries Co. shareholders Thursday rejected two resolutions that would have paved the way for billionaire Terry Gou’s empire to become its biggest shareholder. Rival Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. had campaigned against the move after failing to get a court to block the deal.
ASE, already a supplier of components used in Apple’s smartphones and watches, last month won a tender for Siliconware shares that gave it a 25 percent stake. Siliconware then sought to outflank ASE by turning to Gou, betting that teaming with the assembler of iPads and iPhones would help it win orders from Apple. Under the plan, Siliconware would have received shares in Foxconn’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
ASE had said the planned sale of new shares in Siliconware, or SPIL, at a discount would dilute the stock’s value too much. Shareholder advisers Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. weighed in on ASE’s side.
“The company fails to make a compelling case regarding necessity of the share swap for SPIL’s strategic alliance with Hon Hai,” ISS wrote in a report.
ASE’s shares climbed as much as 8.3 percent to NT$37.90. SPIL’s stock climbed 5 percent to NT$42.80, its biggest gain since August.
Thursday’s extraordinary general meeting failed to pass the proposals, which required two-thirds of votes cast, SPIL spokesman Byron Chiang said by phone. The plan to boost shares garnered 46.6 percent support, while 32 percent rejected it and 21 percent abstained. The proposal to widen the band on asset transaction also failed by a similar margin.
Passage of both amendments would have meant that Foxconn could proceed with plans to take 21.2 percent of SPIL through the issuance of new shares, with the semiconductor company itself getting 2.2 percent of Foxconn’s Hon Hai unit. ASE’s ownership would drop below 20 percent.
To make the Foxconn deal happen, SPIL’s board needed approval to issue 39 percent more shares to accommodate the new stock to be sold to Hon Hai. Shareholders were also asked to allow SPIL’s board to widen the limit on acquisitions and divestitures threefold to 60 percent of its total assets.
ASE couldn’t vote because it purchased its stake after the deadline for becoming a registered shareholder for this meeting.
With Thursday’s failure, Foxconn and SPIL would potentially need to renegotiate the terms of any deal at a lower shareholding if they were to proceed with a share swap.
“SPIL and Hon Hai will create synergies by realizing additional growth from new market opportunities and improving cost efficiencies operationally,” Taichung, Taiwan-based SPIL said in a Sept. 28 statement outlining the share swap. “The value to shareholders derived from the strategic alliance will far exceed the short-term dilution.”
Announcement of Foxconn’s deal came just a week after ASE made an unsolicited tender offer to buy a stake in SPIL at NT$45 per share. SPIL said that’s too low with its shares worth at least NT$48.91 apiece.
Hon Hai’s offer valued SPIL shares at NT$37.8 each based on its closing price the day of the announcement. Janet Chen, an investor relations spokeswoman for SPIL, denied that price calculation while declining to provide the company’s own valuation for the share swap.
Hon Hai gets half its revenue from Apple and is the biggest maker of iPhones and iPads. ASE, which packages and tests chips, also supplies to Apple and provides a key electronics module for the Apple Watch. SPIL is not among the companies on Apple’s supplier list.

domain: news


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Nokia 8, which has been in the news for past several months as the next flagship smartphone from Nokia, has presently witnessed another leak of images. This time, the leak involves live images of the Copper Gold Variant of the upcoming Nokia phone which is expected to be officially launched on August 16. This is not the first leak of Nokia 8, and by now, we have a pretty good idea of how this phone is going to look like. The most recent leak also hint towards a price tag for the smartphone.
The latest leaked renders of the Nokia 8 Copper Gold variant were originated from the Chinese site Baidu, with live screen actions. The images confirm most of the past leaks about design and specifications that include capacitive buttons for navigation, the presence of bezel, a home button with the fingerprint scanner underneath it, a dual-camera setup on the back, etc. The phone is seemed to feature an all metallic body. The fingerprint sensor, though, is not visible in the design. The real camera setup, designed by Carl Zeiss optics, comes with four holes, two for dual-sensors, one for flash, and one probably for laser autofocus.
According to a news report published on Romanian site mobilissimo.ro, the Nokia 8 phone has already been listed by Vodafone for EUR 517.42 (roughly Rs. 38,900) for sale in the country. This, however, contradicts with the previously rumoured price tag of EUR 589 (roughly Rs. 43,400). The smartphone is expected to cost at around Rs. 44,999 in India.
The latest renders also show a 3.5mm audio jack present on the top edge. The phone will have both the volume and power keys available on the right edge. A Micro USB port is present at the bottom edge, so no fast charging for this phone. Apart from the leaked Copper Gold variant, the phone is likely to be launched in three other colour options - Blue, Gold/Blue, and Steel.
Also, the news of an entry-level smartphone Nokia 2 has surfaced the internet. The images and specs leaked at Weibo hint at a basic smartphone with a 4.5-inch HD screen, an 8MP back camera with flash, 8GB internal storage, a Snapdragon 212 processor, 5MP front camera, and Android 7.1 Nougat OS. The leaked images show the absence of the home button, onscreen navigation keys, and fingerprint sensor. The power and volume keys are given at the right edge. The phone is also expected to be launched on August 16 alongside the Nokia 8.
Must Visit Our Google+ Community Page For Latest And Updated Smartphone News Of The Globe.


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A class-action lawsuit has been filed in California, alleging that Apple schemed to force iPhone users to upgrade to iOS 7 in a bid to save money on a data services deal with Akamai, a move that rendered older hardware like iPhone 4 and 4S unusable, reports AppleInsider.
Citing internal emails and sworn testimony from a VirnetX trial, the lawsuit alleges Apple devised a plan to “break” FaceTime on iOS 6 or earlier by causing a vital digital certificate to prematurely expire. Apple supposedly implemented the “FaceTime Break” on April 16, 2014, then blamed the sudden incompatibility on a bug, the lawsuit claims.
The complaint goes on to cite an email chain from Apple engineers as evidence that rising Akamai fees spurred the company’s actions. Last year Apple ditched Akamai (which the company had used for 15 years for its content delivery system) for its own servers.
The class-action suit seeks to find Apple violated California’s unfair competition law and is liable for trespass to chattels, a tort in which one party intentionally interferes with another person’s possessions, notes AppleInsider. Undisclosed damages are being sought.


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Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home today instead of waiting. 1. Prices Will Continue to Rise CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index reports that home prices have appreciated by 7.0% over the last 12 months. The same report predicts that prices will continue to increase at a rate of 4.7% over the
5 Reasons Why You Should Not For Sale By Owner! In today’s market, with home prices rising and a lack of inventory, some homeowners may consider trying to sell their homes on their own, known in the industry as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). There are several reasons why this might not be a good idea for
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released the results of their latest Existing Home Sales Report which revealed that sales rose 0.7% month-over-month, but remain 1.5% lower than they were a year ago. Some may look at these numbers and think that now is not a good time to sell their house, but in fact, the opposite is true.
Each year, most homeowners wait until the spring to sell their houses because they believe that they can get a better deal during the normal spring buyer’s market. However, recently released datasuggests that a seller’s best deal may be available right now. The concept of ‘supply & demand’ reveals that the best price for an item will


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Apple removed a game from developer Slitherine because it portrays the Taliban as enemies (via TouchArcade).
[Soon Technology Could Have a Trust Label]
The game in question is called Afghanistan 11, and it’s supposed to be a historically accurate game that bases battles on real world scenarios. Slitherine took to Twitter to say that Apple recently removed it due to “People from a specific government or other real entity as the enemies.”
This isn’t the first time that Apple has done something like this. Back in 2015 when many people were removing Confederate flags from public spaces, Apple removed every app and game that featured a Confederate flag, including other historically accurate games featuring the Civil War.
3 thoughts on “Apple Removes Game Because It Uses The Taliban as Enemies”
Yea in mean time they still sell Nazi/Russian war games. So Apple is hypocritical even based on its own supposed standards. Nothing new there.
Apple is not a monopoly, so they can do this. That said, they are ridiculous for doing this.


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The fashion industry has a long, complicated history with body positivity. While many designers have begun to make steps in the right direction, as seen earlier this month at New York Fashion Week, plus-size celebrities and models still have a difficult time finding designers to dress them for events and red carpets.
Most recently, Rachel Bloom, star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, purchased her own dress for the Emmy Awards’ red carpet because she was unable to find a designer to dress a body that was not a size zero. Even Ashley Graham, an internationally praised plus-size model, has spoken out about experiencing this exact same situation.
One thing is clear: many designers have not caught up with the times.
Thankfully, some creative minds have made strides and are fighting for body inclusion and self-love in the industry. Rachel Bloom, take note! We’ve compiled a list of our favorite body positive designers, ready to dress you as glamorously as you can imagine.
1. Christian Siriano
Christian Siriano has never been afraid to share his thoughts about the lack of body positivity in the fashion industry. In an open letter published in Teen Vogue, Siriano writes, “There are still designers who balk at the idea of dressing a larger woman, or a woman from a background deemed unworthy. These are designers for whom restrictions have been placed upon themselves, by themselves, and to me, restrictions are the antithesis of art.”
In an interview with Elle, Siriano explained that his mother was a size 16 while his sister was a size zero. This inspired him to dress for all women, regardless of size. In his 2016 runway show, Siriano featured five plus-size models, something that was almost entirely unheard of. He has consistently stepped up to the plate to break the stigma when other designers would not, dressing Leslie Jones, Michelle Obama, Ashley Graham and more: all of whom do not fit the flawed “ideal.”
Thank you, Christian, for being an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes.
2. Ashley Nell Tipton
It seems that Project Runway is bringing us the best designers possible. While Siriano won season four of the competition show, Ashley Nell Tipton took home the title in season 14. Throughout the show, she was praised for always dressing for the average woman. It’s not surprising then that since winning, she’s gone on to become one of the most celebrated designers in the business.
A plus-size woman herself, Tipton knows exactly how to make women who are not a size zero look stunning. In September of 2016, her plus-size fashion line released with JCPenney received rave reviews and was praised for being a collection aimed at normal women as opposed to stereotypical models. While Tipton’s career is still fresh, we are dying to see where it will her in the upcoming years as she is sure to be an influential voice in the industry.
3. Mallorie Dunn
You may have never heard the name Mallorie Dunn before. She hasn’t had as much success as Siriano and Tipton. But trust us when we say that she will soon be a household name.
Dunn, who has been designing for over 15 years, is determined to break the stigma on plus-size fashion. The reality is that many women who are considered to be plus-size are actually average. It is the size zero women who are the small percentage. Dunn has made it her mission to dress women of the norm.
Her clothing line, Smart Glamour, sells clothing in every size from XXS to 6X and beyond. According to the line’s website, it is described as “affordable, fashionable, and customizable ethical clothing line for people of all shapes, sizes, heights, ages, identities, and styles. We make plus size clothing, straight size clothing, petite clothing, tall clothing, and everything in between and beyond.”
As a plus-size fashion aficionado myself, seeing Siriano, Tipton, Dunn and other designers fighting for inclusion of people like me in the fashion industry is remarkable. No matter size or shape, height, or color, every single person should be able to find clothing that makes them feel as fabulous as they look. For all the body positive designers out there, thank you for fighting for inclusion and thank you for fighting for me.


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As the earliest medical device in the field of intelligent medicine, there have been star products such as Da Finch operation system of Intuitive Surgery, ReWalk rehabilitation exoskeleton system in Israel. Safe, stable, and not easily disturbed by external environment, and more precise medical robots play a very important role in operation, rehabilitation treatment and medical services, and have huge market potential.
According to the consultation of Boston, the annual revenue of medical robots is 4 billion dollars, and it will reach 11 billion 400 million dollars in 2020. Among them, the most famous medical robotic company intuitive surgery has reached 2 billion 100 million dollars in 2014.
In mid May 2017, the world medical (surgery) robot innovation and Development Summit Forum, many experts said that the global medical robot industry is at the initial stage, and China, the United States and Europe are all in the “infancy”.
In addition to the technical problems facing the industry, the other is the problem of capital. The medical robot industry needs a lot of capital investment, the investment cycle is long, and it takes more than ten years for the clinical application from technology to product.
Another important part of the medical robot technology is the rehabilitation robot. In fact, 500 thousand people in the world are affected by spinal cord injury (SCI) every year, as well as patients with stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. They can benefit from rehabilitation robot technology. Power exoskeleton, rehabilitative robots and orthopedics, artificial limbs: the whole market is huge and will gradually increase market penetration.
At present, the medical robots are mainly concentrated in the North American market. The domestic market has just started, and the market penetration is less than 5%. There is huge market space and potential for development. Foreign enterprises regard the Chinese market as the key point to enhance their business. According to the forecast of GrandViewResearch, an exoskeleton robot and an auxiliary rehabilitation robot from 2012 to 2022, the market ratio will be significantly improved.
China has a population of 1 billion 300 million. Compared to the United States, the demand for medical robots is very large. Independent research and development is undoubtedly the most direct way to reduce the price of medical robots. In response to expensive equipment purchase prices and scarce purchasing indicators, some agencies have started the autonomous development of the operating robot system.
Therefore, in China, the country with the largest population and hospitals in the world is developing the world’s largest market for consumption and competition of digital medical devices. The future of medical robots is immeasurable.
But now, due to the late start, although the number of medical robot enterprises in China is increasing, the technology content is relatively low, and the products are mostly concentrated in the middle and low end medical devices.
There are not many players in the domestic medical robot, but the utilization rate and popularity rate are relatively low, but these shortcomings just indicate that our medical robot market has huge development space. As early as April 2016, the Ministry of industry, development and Reform Commission and other three ministries jointly issued the “robot industry development plan (2016 – 2020)”, proposed that by 2020, China’s service robot annual sales income of more than 30 billion yuan, realize the production and application of small batch of students in the medical rehabilitation and the elderly and the disabled.
In 2017, medical robotics became the biggest investment in the service robot industry, and in 2018 it was expected to become a new opportunity for emerging industry investors. With the progress of science and technology, we believe that the future medical robots will be more intelligent, have the ability to handle big data and deep learning, and have a good human-machine interaction experience, which is more dexterous and convenient. We will use “intelligence and intelligence” to escort the health of human beings.
About AI Digital:
AI Digital is an award winning China digital marketing agency based in Shanghai and Sydney.Working across all aspects of the marketing solutions like Baidu SEM,Wechat marketing,Weibo marketing,Soft marketing , China PPC and so on, we will ensure you have a solid marketing strategy together with perfectly delivered campaigns. AI Digital will transform your digital marketing in China to increase your lead generation, brand awareness and market engagement.


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It is 25 years since Avianca Cargo general director Kurt Schosinsky first sold space on an aircraft, when he worked as an airfreight sales rep for DHL Global Forwarding — a company he worked at until earlier this year.
In the intervening years Schosinsky held several positions at the forwarding giant, including country manager for Colombia, Panama and the Caribbean, and managing director in Latin America for warehousing and distribution. He took up his current position at Avianca Cargo in February.
Schosinsky says that his background in forwarding gives him the advantage of understanding the market from the customers’ point of view.
“I have returned to airfreight, but from another perspective,” he tells Air Cargo News. “From my point of view, it is interesting because I understand very well what the customer of the airline needs and how we can improve the service and value proposition.”
Schosinsky joins Avianca Cargo at an interesting time — IATA statistics show that the Latin America region is one of only two to post a year-on-year demand increase over the first eight months of the year.
IATA stats show that cargo volumes at the region’s carriers are up by 1.2% during the January-August period, while the total market is down by 3.3%. The only other region to record growth is Africa.
However, this only tells half the story. Many countries in the region face ongoing political and economic uncertainty — even the normally stable Chile has seen protesters take to the streets of the capital this year to vent their frustration at inequality and the increased cost of living.
Also, Schosinsky says that the weak cargo market in other areas of the world has resulted in airlines moving capacity to the region to capitalise on the growth. This has led to lower cargo load factors at carriers across the region and has therefore put pressure on rates and revenues.
This trend is again reflected in IATA’s August figures: cargo capacity at airlines based in the region over the first eight months of the year has increased by 7%, while the average cargo load factor for the period is down by 2.5 percentage points to 35%.
“Due to the coverage and solutions that we provide to our customers, our volumes have increased a little bit, which means that we are not suffering this year in terms of demand,” he says.
“However, in terms of rates there is a little pressure because the number of airlines and [capacity] has grown as carriers have increased their presence in the region to try to recover volumes that they have lost in other markets.”
This claim is borne out by Avianca’s second-quarter performance — the ‘cargo and other’ business saw revenues for the period decrease by 11.8% to $182m, although other one- off factors played a major role in the revenue decrease.
Meanwhile, volumes for the period are stable compared with its 2018 performance.
The airline has been busy developing services targeting specific sectors, such as perishables and pharmaceuticals, and that has helped protect Avianca Cargo from the effect of lower load factors.
“Volumes are doing well for us because our value proposition is that we connect Latin America like no one else, we are a regular line, we are a scheduled line, and we provide a very good on-time performance,” Schosinsky says.
“Our customers, for example, from the perishable sector, prefer this regular service to having lower rates because I understand they have had some issues when they have tried to experiment with other airlines. This is one of our key assets and strengths: consistency, on-time performance and a good service at origin and destination.”
On the pharma front, Avianca Cargo last year launched a three-tiered product offering: PharmaCare, PharmaCoolCare and Pharma Must-Go.
PharmaCare is designed to transport pharmaceuticals that require passive packaging to maintain their temperature and it has specific procedures in line with IATA’s Temperature Control Regulations.
PharmaCoolCare also conforms to IATA regulations and is aimed at time and temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals that require transportation in active containers.
Finally, Pharma Must-Go is designed to transport pharmaceuticals that do not require temperature control but need to reach their final destination in the shortest time possible.
The carrier is also investing in its cool room facilities in Miami, Bogota and Medellin, Schosinsky says.
Other sectors the carrier is targeting include e-commerce, high value and live animals — Avianca Cargo recently moved close to 200 horses for the Pan American Games in Lima.
Schosinsky says that its e-commerce services are helped by its wide network in Latin America. Also, last-mile delivery firm Deprisa is part of the Avianca group.
E-commerce volumes, says Schosinsky, have the benefit of helping to improve southbound aircraft load factors, which is the weaker of the two directions.
“In terms of [e-commerce] solutions and developments, with our sister company Deprisa, we are investing in IT tools to provide real-time visibility to customers in terms of track and trace and the status of shipments,” he says.
“This information is key to the customers, so we are investing in tools to integrate not only the first mile, not only the airport-to-airport, but the last mile as well.”
Another area of development at the airline over the last couple of years has been its freighter network.
Earlier this year the carrier ended a four-year partnership with Etihad on flights to Europe as it decided to go it alone with a service between Bogotá and Brussels, via Miami.
Avianca Cargo feeds in perishable volumes from Peru and Ecuador to fill the aircraft.
The location of Brussels makes it easy to connect cargo to the flower auction in Amsterdam, the main operation and consolidation centre in the continent for the flower industry.
In the other direction, exports include general cargo, automotive parts and pharmaceuticals.
Today, the service operates twice per week on a rotation of Bogotá-San Juan-Brussels-Miami-Bogotá.
Schosinsky explains the reasons for adding a stop in Puerto Rico: “The pharma industry out of San Juan is very interesting. The change allows us to send products to Brussels, which is a pharma logistics centre in Europe.”
This is not the only change the carrier has made to its freighter network this year.
In July, Avianca Cargo added a twice-per-week service operating Miami-Santo Domingo-Bogotá and in October it started flying twice per week Bogotá-Dallas Fort Worth.
The service to the Dominican Republic was launched after a passenger operation to the country came to an end while there were a number of reasons for adding A330-200F flights to Dallas.
Schosinsky says: “Normally when you think of Dallas, you think of oil and gas and this is one of the sectors we are trying to support — Colombia, Ecuador and the south of Chile have companies in the oil and gas, and mining industries.
“In the northbound direction we connect the Latin American perishable business with another point in the US.
“Also, our services and the interline agreements we have from the US give us the opportunity to provide additional solutions to send products to Asia, for example, using Dallas.
“It gives us the opportunity to provide additional solutions to the customers not only through Miami — a normal entry and exit point out of the US for Latin America — but also Dallas.”
To Asia, the airline mainly interlines with partners Qatar, Japan Airlines and China Airlines, Schosinsky says.
The northbound flights are expected to carry perishable cargo such as salmon and red fruits from Chile, flowers from Colombia, asparagus and mangoes from Peru and flowers and fruits from Ecuador.
In total, Avianca Cargo has access to 13 freighters: its own six A330-200Fs and seven operated by partner AeroUnion — five A300Fs and two B767Fs.
“In terms of new freighters, in the coming months we will keep our fleet stable because the market conditions are not the best at the moment,” he says.
“We have decided to delay making any decisions for the next six months and see how the market progresses.”
This is a reflection of the strategy of the wider Avianca group, which is having a tough time financially.
“The company has decided to change the business model a little bit,” Schosinsky says. “The new approach is to focus on profitable routes and on profitability in general rather than growth.”
During the second quarter, Avianca Holdings reported an adjusted loss of $122.5m. In response, the company has implemented its Avianca 2021 plan to improve operational efficiency, strengthen the company’s financial position and improve liquidity.
In line with the plan, Avianca’s management took the decision to sell 24 aircraft: 10 Embraer E190s, 10 A318s and four A320s.
Schosinsky says that this change in approach has seen the passenger side of the business reduce services to certain locations. For instance, Avianca Peru has pulled out of most domestic markets.
However, the impact on cargo operations has been limited.
“In terms of the cargo perspective, the tonnage we use in these aircraft is limited and it did not really impact our connectivity or capacity.
“The widebody capacity remains stable and in some lanes we are creating additional frequencies, for example New York and an [unnamed] European destination will increase with one additional flight.”
While the partnership with Etihad has come to an end, a new tie-up with Emirates SkyCargo was announced earlier this year.
Schosinsky explains that the Emirates partnership utilised a B777F to fly shipments from Bogotá to Maastricht during the perishables peak season.
“Between January and April we used the Emirates’ flight to support the additional volumes that we could not support with our own aircraft,” he says.
Conversations with Emirates about running a similar operation next year are ongoing, he adds.
Overall, Schosinsky says has enjoyed his move from freight forwarding to a cargo airline.
“I made a decision [to leave DHL after almost 25 years] and I am very happy,” he says.
“I feel very passionate and I love the airfreight industry. DHL is one of the largest freight forwarders in the airfreight industry and at Avianca I am at the airline leader in the Latin America market.”


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Mobile tower defense game stats
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by Richard Harris
One of the most popular genres in mobile gaming is tower defense games. The mobile tower defense games market is especially popular on smartphones and tablets, where gamers can easily take them with them wherever they go. In addition, tower defense games are great for keeping people occupied on long road trips or flights, as they require little to no interaction from th...
Global gaming revenue to cross $200B
Friday, May 27, 2022 by Freeman Lightner
The video gaming industry is set to cross a significant landmark in 2022. According to the numbers presented here by SafeBettingSites.com, the gaming industry will bring in more than $200 billion in revenues for the first time in 2022. The United States and China would continue to be the biggest gaming markets and account for half of the global revenue.
Blockchain platform aims to avoid environmental destruction
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
Nature’s Vault, a GreenTech platform designed to accelerate the funding of impact investments combating climate change and ecosystem damage, today announced its seed funding round, Board and Advisors, and an expected first tokenization project to monetize the preservation of in-ground gold deposits avoiding the environmental impact of physical mining.
Send us your NFTs
Monday, February 14, 2022 by Richard Harris
The Metaverse is coming, and to show our support we’ve launched our own NFT collection wallet on OpenSea! You can send us any NFT you want by simply transferring them to our wallet address of 0x9c25562b512650259f2f3b6c6e79754ffbb995cf
What does it give you?
For you as an NFT creator, designer, or programmer, it will give you free exposure! The NFTs we collec...
GDC 2022 Supercell talks
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 by Richard Harris
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) has announced that Supercell will return to GDC 2022 with two talks surrounding its popular title Clash of Clans. The studio will give an in-depth look into the creation and expansion of the Clash Universe, along with its move into social gaming with Everdale.
GDC 2022 Supercell talks about Expanding an IP: Case Study Cl...
Automated testing in 2022
Friday, January 14, 2022 by Richard Harris
Ajay Dawar, Alok Kulkarni, James Isaacs, and Linda Chen from Cyara discuss their 2022 predictions about real-time quality assurance, adopting automated testing, balancing employee experience and innovation, how to deliver innovative customer experiences, why AI won't displace humans for customer support, how enterprises can achieve digital transformation success, an...
Salary payments in Bitcoin could become the new norm
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 by Russ Scritchfield
More than a third of millennials and half of Generation Z would be happy to receive 50% of their salary in Bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrencies, reveals a new survey.
The findings from a global poll carried out by deVere Group, one of the world's largest financial advisory, asset management, and fintech organizations, show that 36% of those born between 1980 and...
Huawei and Bitrise partner to enable App Developers
Friday, November 5, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
Bitrise, the Mobile DevOps company that organizations use to get mobile apps to market faster, has announced its work with Huawei. The global smart device provider has tapped Bitrise as part of its mission to attract the world’s best mobile apps into its 530M+ user AppGallery, in turn enabling app creators to more easily enter the restrictive Chinese market.
Oxeye closes a $5.3 Million seed financing round
Thursday, November 4, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Oxeye announced the closing of a $5.3 Million seed financing round led by MoreVC, a seed-stage venture capital fund in Israel. The latest round includes support from i3 Equity Partners, and other cybersecurity focused investors as the company prepares to protect the world’s most popular Web applications with next-generation cloud-native Application Security Testin...
App economy insights from Adjust
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 by Richard Harris
Mobile marketing analytics platform Adjust has announced the results of a global interactive Partner Benchmarks report that shows the app economy is expanding worldwide, even as growth drivers vary by geography. The global study analyzed over 270 advertising networks with 6 billion paid installs from more than 5,000 apps, across nearly 250 countries and 12 verticals.
Protecting source code
Wednesday, October 6, 2021 by Nigel Thorpe
Earlier this year, EA (Electronic Arts), reported a cyberattack and the theft of some 780GB of source code for games such as FIFA 21 and the proprietary Frostbite game engine used for many other high-profile games such as Battlefield. The threat actors responsible for the EA data breach put the stolen data up for sale on an underground hacking forum for $28 million, pro...
Gaming industry continues to rise
Thursday, September 16, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
The global gaming industry continues thriving in 2021, with 2.6 billion users and over $156bn in revenue as of this year. One of the biggest driving forces behind this remarkable growth has been a surge in mobile gaming, the largest revenue stream of the entire market. However, the past two years have also seen impressive growth in the console gaming segment, with profi...
Female Esports initiative from Challengermode
Friday, September 10, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
Esports platform Challengermode has announced its partnership with the Super Girl Gamer Series to host tournaments across a range of Esports. This forms part of Challengermode’s initiative to support more female-led Esports initiatives to its grassroots Esports platform.
Challengermode and Super Girl Gamer series partner to support a female Esports initiative
How to earn crypto and NFTs for playing your favorite games
Wednesday, August 25, 2021 by Christian Hargrave
Gamers have always dreamed of earning real money by playing their favorite video games. That dream is increasingly becoming a reality with the rise of NFT play-to-earn gaming gaining significance within popular culture, even quickly conforming full-time jobs among many younger demographics who are incentivized with crypto rewards. According to Blockchain Game Report, th...
Asia mobile gamers outweigh Europe and America combined
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
As the fastest-growing segment of the gaming industry, mobile games continue breaking records and making billions in revenue each year. The most significant part of mobile gaming profits comes from Asian countries, home to nearly half of all mobile gamers globally.
There are nearly 1.3B Asia mobile gamers
According to data presented by MejoresApuestas.com, the num...
Amazon location service launches
Monday, August 23, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
Amazon Web Services, Inc. announced the general availability of Amazon Location Service, a new service that makes it easier and more cost-effective for customers to add location functionality to their applications without compromising on user privacy or data security. With Amazon Location Service, customers can embed location functionality in their applications usi...
Productivity APIs from Nylas get more funding
Thursday, June 17, 2021 by Freeman Lightner
Nylas, the communications API platform for modern email, scheduling, and work automation tools for developers and enterprises, announced it has raised $120 million in Series C funding. The investment brings Nylas’ total funding to $175 million, further accelerating the growth of both Nylas and the API economy.
The round was led by Tiger Global Management with p...
Uptodown: An alternative to Google Play
Wednesday, June 2, 2021 by Richard Harris
The Uptodown app market has more than 130 million active users per month, and more than 450 monthly downloads of their more than 4 million APKs available. The company operates worldwide and it is localized to 15 different languages. The Spanish-based company was born in 2020 in Málaga and founded as a University Project in 2002. Recently we intervi...
Bitcoin tops $60k for the first time
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 by Brittany Hainzinger
With Bitcoin hitting a record high over the weekend, topping $60k for the first time, please find the below commentary from Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com
"It’s been a blockbuster year so far for Bitcoin, whose gains have left other assets in the dust. Bitcoin has seen its price more than double already through the first three months of ...
Latin America loves business and finance apps Adjust study finds
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
Adjust global app benchmarks data for Q4 2019 reveals that Latin America has the highest average retention rate (9.36%) for Business & Finance apps after the first day a user installs the app.
This strong app loyalty is noteworthy as financial technology in the region continues to evolve and expand. Consumers continue to embrace the convenience of payment apps li...
StrandHogg Android vulnerability identified
Thursday, December 5, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
Promon, a Norwegian app security company, has identified tangible evidence of a dangerous Android vulnerability that allows malware to pose as any legitimate app, granting hackers access to private SMS’ and photos, steal victims’ log-in credentials, track movements, make and/or record phone conversations, and spy through a phone’s camera and microphone...
Quras is now listed on BiKi
Monday, November 18, 2019 by Christian Hargrave
Quras has announced a partnership with BiKi. As of November 1st, Quras' native token (XQC) is listed and active on BiKi's trading platform. This strategic partnership strengthens Quras' position in the Asian market, expanding its market share through BiKi's large and growing user base of over 2 million people globally. Together, Quras and BiKi look to br...
Experience Center worldwide launches from Microsoft
Monday, November 18, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
Microsoft has also reimagined the future of work by creating a blueprint for productivity, efficiency, accessibility, flexibility, and collaboration for organizations in the region.
In a world where we can expect more than 40 billion devices generating nearly 80 zettabytes (ZB) of data by 2025, organizations and industries will need to quickly adopt new tec...
Why developers want to reduce complexity
Thursday, October 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
As enterprise IT and cloud environments become more complex, developers are taking enterprise development strategies into their own hands, adding levels of abstraction and decreasing complexity, according to the newest Cloud Foundry Foundation Global Perception Study.
As more large enterprises (60 percent) report hosting their IT infrastructure in an increasingly com...
Facebook remains the top media source for app installs
Monday, September 30, 2019 by Richard Harris
AppsFlyer released the ninth edition of the Performance Index. For the very first time, Google has surpassed Facebook in the total number of attributed installs, increasing its share of the app install pie eightfold in the last five years.
Importantly, Facebook remains the top media source in the Index's global power rankings, delivering high-quality users in mos...
Speakers and agenda for DevOps Enterprise Summit 2019
Wednesday, August 28, 2019 by Richard Harris
IT Revolution released its full conference agenda, and next round of business and technology leaders presenting at DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas 2019. Hosted at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas from October 28-30, DevOps Enterprise Summit is an industry conference for business and technology leaders to learn how to develop and deploy software faster and to win in...
More AI tools to come from Near's $100M raise
Friday, August 2, 2019 by Richard Harris
Near, the platform that leverages AI to make real-world data actionable, has announced that it has raised $100 million in a new round of funding. The investment comes from London headquartered private equity firm Greater Pacific Capital (GPC). With this fresh investment, Near has raised a total of $134 million to date, including from Sequoia Capital and JP Morgan.
Blockchain service provider Rockside launched cloudmanaged version
Friday, July 12, 2019 by Richard Harris
Rockside, a blockchain service provider that helps companies build decentralized apps (dApps), has announced the release of the cloud-managed version of its tool.
Although Rockside’s current on-premises model enables the deployment and management of blockchain infrastructure on enterprise infrastructure or private clouds (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure), the new clou...
Using any app or device to do your job is a growing trend
Tuesday, June 11, 2019 by Richard Harris
The majority of global workers are going rogue with work devices, software and applications despite being aware of the potential business risks involved, according to new research released by Snow Software. The study, which polled 3,000 professionals in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific, finds stark contrasts between the mindset of today’s workers and th...
SendBird chat platform for developers adds $50M to their raise
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 by Brittany Hainzinger
SendBird has announced that it has raised an additional $50 million, bringing its total Series B funding round to $102 million. The company extended the round in order to meet the rapidly growing global demand for in-app user-to-user messaging. Tiger Global Management led the extension, with significant participation from the initial Series B lead, ICONIQ Capital. ...
Women are using financial apps more than men says Liftoff report
Friday, April 12, 2019 by Brittany Hainzinger
Liftoff released a new report in partnership with Leanplum uncovering new insights into the world of mobile finance. Specifically, it found that women are more engaged than ever with finance apps, meaning it’s prime time for marketers to double-down on investments in the traditionally underserved demographic. The report also shows the Asia-Pacific region (APAC) co...
Dapps compared to apps
Monday, February 4, 2019 by Richard Harris
Dapps, or "decentralized app" development is still in the gestational stage, but one company has seen growth spurts in the number of active dapps throughout 2018. Dapp.com recently compiled their latest quarterly report providing a snapshot of what's happening in the market
Some key takeaways from their report included:
Over 900 dapps had la...
Game developer tips and insight for 2019
Thursday, January 24, 2019 by Richard Harris
2019 offers promising new opportunities for game developers to reach new markets. But how can developers best capture diverse users’ attention and loyalty? Webpals Mobile, a performance-driven mobile-app user acquisition company, recently conducted a study comparing advertising driving gaming app downloads in the United States and Asia. Drawing on insights from th...
Tech consumer goods market reaches $1.01 trillion worldwide
Tuesday, January 8, 2019 by Richard Harris
The global market for technical consumer goods (TCG) exceeded the one-trillion mark for the first time in 2018 with sales of €1.01 trillion*. This is a four percent increase on the previous year. The product segments of telecommunications (+7 percent), small domestic appliances (+7 percent), consumer electronics/photo (+6 percent), and information technology/office...
The state of microservices maturity according to O'Reilly
Monday, December 10, 2018 by Richard Harris
O’Reilly announced its latest survey findings in the report, “The State of Microservices Maturity.” The report confirms that microservices - a software development technique where an application is created by combining numerous smaller services - have evolved from a fad to a trend, becoming an architectural style of choice for new application developme...


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At a time where the cost of living remains stubbornly high, businesses are feeling the pinch more than ever. To hedge against this, many are adopting surcharges and forwarding those card processing fees onto consumers—putting more pressure on everyday Australians. It’s a ripple effect that only hurts the consumer in the end.
We’re seeing this in the hospitality sector, where 40% of cafes and restaurants levied surcharges, compared to 25% in May 2022 when inflation started to rise. Meanwhile, 41% of pubs and bars surcharged compared to 29% a year earlier. Online retailers face the same challenge with traditional card processing fees but are only a few short clicks away from being replaced by a competitor who doesn’t surcharge.
The increase in these surcharges is, in part, a symptom of a complex and costly ecosystem of organisations who facilitate—and take a cut from—payments. In fact, fees from this ecosystem make up a significant contribution to payments costs, with net fees across the major card networks amounting to around $1.2 billion in 2021/22, according to the Reserve Bank.
PayTo, built on the New Payments Platform (NPP), provides a viable alternative to this growing pain. It’s providing real-time settlement for transactions, greater cash flow for businesses, and leverages a consumer’s bank’s digital banking security and biometrics—all at a fraction of the cost of traditional card payments.
Changing consumer priorities
Consumers are becoming increasingly selective over who they shop with online as cost of living pressures continue to bite at their wallets—something ecommerce players should not take lightly.
The online shopping experience lends itself naturally to the convenience of competition. Consumers have largely (and perhaps begrudgingly) accepted paying a surcharge at the point of sale in-person at bricks and mortar establishments as the convenience of tapping a card or phone has overtaken the place of cash, particularly for small value purchases. Plus backing out of the shop and walking down the street to a competitor is a whole effort in itself. But in the world of ecommerce, people simply click a back button and they can be on a competitor’s website buying the same product for cheaper in mere seconds.
Not only this, but not using real-time payment mechanisms like PayTo is eroding your margins. For example, say you’re an online retailer and in the weeks leading up to Christmas you clear $1 million worth of sales. Without PayTo, your business may pay up to $15,000 in card processing fees.
Moreover, for retailers who average a basket size between $50 and $150, they could be saving between 60 and 90 per cent on transaction fees by switching to PayTo—for higher value purchases the savings continue to grow. That’s immense cost savings waiting to be tapped into, yet many of the major online retailers are yet to embrace the benefits of the NPP.
Safe and trusted payments are now table stakes
Beyond cost, the increasing prevalence of fraud and scams has put consumers on high alert, with almost three quarters (73%) of Aussies saying they have become more concerned about scams over the last 12 months—representing a 16% increase in awareness since 2022. And rightly so, with data published by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealing financial losses via scams rose by 80% to $3.1 billion in 2022.
The threat of fraud and scams has never been greater, and businesses need to factor this into the payment methods they make available to their customers. Ultimately, consumers want to be able to trust the merchant they’re doing business with.
This is only going to get worse for businesses and consumers in 2024 as bad actors become more sophisticated with open source generative AI (GenAI) tools. GenAI presents an extraordinary threat because it has the potential to scale and accelerate the design and dissemination of payments scams by an order of magnitude.
Adopting PayTo provides an immediate layer of protection for you and your customers. This is because it operates based on a pre-authorised agreement between your business and the customer via their bank. Not only does this mitigate the risk of fraud, but it also creates a streamlined payments experience for the customer, whilst significantly reducing transaction fees for the merchant.
Another benefit of PayTo is that no sensitive customer payment details are stored with the merchant, giving consumers confidence that their data is safe with their bank, whilst reducing PCI compliance risk for merchants.
A new world awaits
As we approach 2024, retailers face a dual challenge of rising costs and declining consumer trust. The way value flows through the economy is changing, and without evolving with that change, retailers risk falling behind.
The silver lining is that we’re starting to see adoption of PayTo kick off, and earlier this year, Zepto partnered with Wpay to launch its PayTo offering. Forward-thinking businesses who think innovatively about the application of PayTo beyond a modern and cost-effective direct debit to new use cases across eCommerce, loyalty programs, and more, will unlock value by tapping into this emerging payment solution. We’re seeing immense interest in (and excitement for) new and innovative use cases across the industry—use cases that will only bring mutual benefits to both businesses and consumers.
The macroeconomic environment presents an urgency for retailers to manage their underlying costs accordingly. PayTo represents this solution and can help retailers relieve cost pressures, and it benefits both sides of the transaction. After all, retail is a margin game, and those who can manage and grow their margin whilst driving customer loyalty will ultimately survive and thrive.
Chris Ponton Dwyer is senior enterprise sales executive at Zepto.


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Virtual reality isn't happening yet, folks. Not for video games, at least.
The latest "State of the Industry" results are in, and a declining interest in VR is one of the key takeaways from the annual survey administered by the Game Developer's Conference.
It's OK to feel a bit of whiplash here. The widely hyped technology seemed like it was about to break through and dominate everything back in 2015 and 2016, between Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR and the subsequent launches of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR (as well as mobile alternatives like Gear VR and Cardboard). But a slow rate of adoption among consumers across 2016 and 2017 amounted to a big, bright reality check.
Of the roughly 4,000 individuals polled -- representing a cross-section of creators at all levels of the industry -- 29 percent expressed the belief that developing for VR and alternate reality (AR) isn't a long-term, sustainable business in the gaming world at this point. It's the third year GDC's annual survey has asked the question and the first time that number has gone down.
It's not a huge drop, to be clear. In both the 2016 and 2017 surveys, 25 percent of respondents expressed doubt about AR/VR's long-term potential. But the 2018 survey digs deeper, and the details matter here.
It's interest in VR specifically that's waning. The number of developers working on AR games remains "steady," but those who are already in the business of creating VR games don't expect to be doing it much longer.
"I just don't think the install base has been quite there for [VCs] to make their investments back."
"Just on the consumer game side of VR, what we've noticed is there was a lot of [venture capital] funding for games, but a lot of those games have shipped in the last 12 months," said Simon Carless, executive vice president at UBM and one of GDC's organizers, in a recent interview.
"I just don't think the install base in most cases has been quite there for them to make their investments back, unfortunately. People will continue to work in VR, I just think it will potentially be more indie studios, or maybe more things funded by hardware companies who want examples of the games to showcase."
AR is more attractive because there's much less of a buy-in at the consumer level for these types of experiences. A typical VR setup requires either a relatively powerful PC or a PlayStation 4, plus whatever VR headset is supported by each platform (Oculus Rift/HTC Vive for the former, PSVR for the latter).
There are mobile VR rigs, such as Google Cardboard, Gear VR, or the upcoming Oculus Go, but they're all a significant step down in terms of the types of experiences they can deliver compared to the more expensive options. AR has proven to be a much better fit for mobile because pricey headsets aren't a requirement and most modern smartphones are up to the task.
Just look at Pokémon Go, undoubtedly the most popular AR release to date. Everything in that game happens on your smartphone screen. More than that, it's a "play anywhere" type of experience, no tethered headset required. No one's managed to replicate Pokémon Go's impact yet, but that success did prove there's a market for what it offers.
Headsets are the real sticking point in the eyes of many developers. Of those surveyed, 31 percent don't see VR/AR headsets being a common sight in more than one-tenth of households until 2021-2022, and another 15 percent think that won't be the case until 2023-2024. Only 17 percent expect to see a significant increase in headset ownership over the next two years.
It's the same cost issue would-be VR adopters face now. Close to half of the developers surveyed -- 41 percent -- think mobile platforms will be the dominant ones for "immersive reality" experiences in five years.
None of this is new or surprising. On the 2017 survey, one respondent wrote: "At the moment, the hardware is still too expensive. Software is only coming because of first-party funding; once that dries up, I am concerned that there won't be a large enough install base."
What we're seeing in the GDC "State of the Industry" survey's results is reality setting in.
Fast-forward to one year later and the 2018 survey results bear that observation out. People aren't buying into VR and, as Carless observed, the outside funding sources that help drive game development are disappearing.
What we're seeing in the GDC "State of the Industry" survey's results is reality setting in. The early Kickstarter success of Oculus Rift back in 2012 thrust VR into the spotlight before it was really ready. It took almost four years after the Kickstarter's launch for Rift's consumer release to happen, in March 2016.
Even then, VR wasn't quite there. First-generation Rift and Vive experiences are hindered by the need for headsets to be wired in. What's more, many users -- and city-dwellers especially -- don't have the space in their homes to take full advantage of VR.
All of the early excitement around Oculus Rift's Kickstarter success and subsequent $2 billion Facebook acquisition came with a cost: Analysts all throughout the industry started speculating a bright future for the technology based on early signs.
One 2015 report from CCS Insight foresaw a $4 billion market for VR by 2018, with an expectation that 24 million devices would be sold this year. Another report from the same year, by Tractica, predicted a $21.8 billion hardware and software market for VR by 2020.
It's clear now in hindsight that those were ambitious estimates. But all of this isn't to say VR is on its way out. The tech is still in its infancy, and it continues to improve every year. The majority of consumers haven't embraced VR gaming, and it's looking like they won't anytime soon, but the tech itself has already proven its worth outside of entertainment.
"What we're seeing in VR ... is other applications," said Katie Stern, general manager of GDC. "So we're seeing it get more traction in things like training, or education-based things, healthcare has taken to it pretty well. So I think in [those spaces] we'll see more growth in that area than we will in the entertainment and games spaces."


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If you found yourself struggling to pay off your credit cards in full at the end of 2022 and into the first few months of 2023, you’re not alone.
Between inflation and rising interest rates, a majority of Americans have found themselves leaning on credit cards to make ends meet, especially to pay for necessary items such as food, gas, and rent. As a result, total credit card debt in the United States has reached a record high.
As of the fourth quarter of 2022, the total outstanding balance on credit cards reached $986 billion, according to consumer debt data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
To put that $986 billion debt number in perspective, it’s the highest amount of credit card debt on record since the New York Fed began tracking Americans’ outstanding credit card debt in 1999. It also shows a $61 billion increase in credit card debt from the third quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter, which set a record for the largest quarterly increase in the history of the New York Fed’s report.
This puts credit card debt at the end of 2022 nearly 20 percent higher than it was at the end of 2021, according to the latest quarterly report by TransUnion.
According to Lending Tree, the national average credit card debt as of December 2022 was around $7,279 per person. That includes debt from bank cards and retail credit cards. In other words, a majority of Americans are dealing with thousands of dollars of debt, much more than they had in early 2022. According to data from Experian, the average American had $5,589 in credit card debt in Q1 2022.
This debt does not include mortgages, auto loans, and student loans, which are also rising.
To make paying off this credit card debt even more complicated, interest rates are climbing with no clear end in sight.
At the end of 2022, the average credit card interest rate was 20 percent. Given that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue to raise interest rates to combat inflation, that number is expected to increase, making it even harder for Americans to pay off credit card debt as more and more of their payment will likely go toward interest payments and not their principal debt.
Already in the first quarter of 2023, the average interest rate for new credit card offers averages around 23.55 percent, which is the highest rate Lending Tree has seen since they started tracking monthly interest rates in 2019.
The growing number of Americans with debt, plus the growing debt balances, have caught the attention of many, including the credit bureaus and credit card companies.
“Whether it’s shopping for a new car or buying eggs in the grocery store, consumers continue to be impacted in ways big and small by both high inflation and the interest rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve,” said Michele Raneri, vice president of U.S. research and consulting at TransUnion.
US Kicks Off 2023 with Record-High Credit Card Debt
Many Americans have credit card debt, and there’s no shame in having racked up credit card debt balances in the past. However, a January 2023 Bankrate survey of 2,458 U.S. adults found that 35 percent of Americans carry credit card debt from month to month, an increase of 6 percent from 2022. Credit experts cite too much of a focus on earning credit card rewards rather than controlling and paying off debt as a factor for this shift.
Additionally, the Bankrate survey found 43 percent of Americans don’t know the interest rate they’re being charged on their credit card debt. When the average credit card interest rate is nearly 20 percent, that can be a costly mistake.
Similarly, a November 2022 LendingTree survey found that just 35 percent of cardholders say they always pay their credit card balance in full every month, while 65 percent say they carry a balance at least some of the time. Nearly half (46 percent) of cardholders with card debt say it would take them at least a year to pay it off.
Credit Card Debt State-by-State
According to LendingTree data, credit cardholders in Connecticut have the highest average credit card debt of any state, while those in Kentucky have the lowest. Connecticut cardholders owe an average of $9,408, while those in Kentucky owe an average of $5,408. That means the average Connecticut balance is 74.0 percent higher than the average balance in Kentucky.
Another interesting observation from LendingTree’s debt data found that the four states with the highest debt are in the Northeast, while three of the four with the lowest are in the South. Additionally, LendingTree found that 25 of the 50 states saw their average credit card debt grow by 10 percent or more during the last year, while two states’ average debt grew by more than 20 percent — Mississippi at 25.2 percent and North Dakota at 24.4 percent.
Some good news for Colorado, California, and Virginia residents – the average credit card debt actually decreased. Colorado residents saw a 0.3 percent decline, California residents saw a 1.7 percent decline, and those in Virginia experienced a 2.5 percent decrease in credit card debt averages.
How does your state’s average credit card debt load compare?
- Connecticut | $9,408
- New York | $9,165
- New Jersey | $9,044
- Rhode Island | $8,728
- Texas | $8,701
- Florida | $8,573
- Hawaii | $8,556
- Maryland | $8,463
- Massachusetts | $8,405
- Alaska | $8,185
- Colorado | $8,011
- Delaware | $7,993
- Nevada | $7,905
- Georgia | $7,790
- California | $7,758
- Illinois | $7,756
- North Dakota | $7,714
- Virginia | $7,663
- Maine | $7,518
- Utah | $7,489
- New Hampshire | $7,415
- Vermont | $7,368
- Washington | $7,365
- Minnesota | $7,217
- Arizona | $7,213
- Wyoming | $7,098
- South Carolina | $7,063
- North Carolina | $6,955
- Nebraska | $6,900
- Kansas | $6,762
- Michigan | $6,744
- Oregon | $6,682
- Pennsylvania | $6,620
- Missouri | $6,599
- Louisiana | $6,475
- Alabama | $6,453
- Oklahoma | $6,401
- Ohio | $6,394
- South Dakota | $6,367
- New Mexico | $6,355
- Iowa | $6,315
- Tennessee | $6,240
- Montana | $6,160
- Arkansas | $6,117
- Wisconsin | $6,090
- Idaho | $6,073
- Mississippi | $6,035
- West Virginia | $6,008
- Indiana | $5,642
- Kentucky | $5,408
Help with Credit Card Debt
“If you struggle with personal finance and serious debt, it can be hard to make the minimum required payments and can lead to bad credit. In that case, you may want to consider credit counseling to learn more about debt relief options,” according to a recommendation from Discover.
Credit counseling is a free service offered by nonprofit credit counseling service providers like DebtWave Credit Counseling. Credit counseling is designed to help consumers of all financial backgrounds avoid bankruptcy and stop living paycheck-to-paycheck.
When you call DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc. for a free credit counseling session, you’ll speak one-on-one with a certified credit counselor about your finances for about 60 minutes.
At DebtWave Credit Counseling, Inc., our team of certified credit counselors focus not only on helping you get out of debt, we teach you how to properly manage your finances, reducing the likelihood you fall into debt again.
In addition to our debt management program, our community outreach team, D.B.A. the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, provides free educational workshops to youth, military, and low-to-moderate income families.


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This October, Leamington Comic Convention 2015 returns to the Warwickshire Spa town with a great line-up featuring big names like David Lloyd and Simon Furman, and a new larger venue. After the huge success of it’s debut year in 2014, we caught up with founder Dan Mallier to find out how he’s been spending the last 12 months and what we can look forward to at this year’s event.
We talk to the biggest names in digital comics about their work.
Dan Butcher’s Vanguard started life as a twice-weekly webcomic about a team of British superheros. But in recent months it has morphed into a devastatingly bleak, highly self aware, post-modern take on the superhero genre that is a million miles away from where it began. With a lot fewer characters too! We caught up with Dan to discuss his influences, self-publishing, and how Vanguard has evolved into the book it is today and how it has turned into the book Dan always wanted it to be.
(SPOILERS AHEAD! Be warned this interview contains HUGE spoilers for any new readers!)
This week sees the latest instalment of Joe Benitez’s Submit series Lady Mechanicka: Tablet of Destinies hit ComiXolgy. Mixing 90s bad-girl attitude with stunning steam-punk style and oh, so many cogs, we caught up with the former Witchblade and The Darkness artist to find out more his sultry cybernetic sleuth.
It’s been a bumper year for high-class pulp comics, with Brett Harris’s Adventures in Pulp getting rave reviews and now Steven Hudkins’ excellent The Warden series being collected together into one volume. With a Kickstarter launching to create a printed hardcover we caught up with the master of ‘swamp magic’ to find out more about the meaning of pulp.
Leo Johnson saw a gap in the market for a digital comics magazine than combined comic strips and articles. So rather than just moan about it on Twitter, he decided to create his own, and so Stuck in the Gutters was born. With a a Pay What You Want business model, the first issue is now available via Gumroad and we caught up with Leo to find out more about just what Stuck In The Gutters is all about.
In the weird and wonderful world of Strange Nation, investigative journalist Norma Parker gets caught up in the middle of an alien invasion, is chased by killer sasquatches and is the victim of a global conspiracy involving her entire family. Originally released as a digital-first series from MonkeyBrain Comics, it has now been collected together by IDW Publishing and released as a printed edition so we caught up with writer Paul Allor to find out if he is right to be paranoid about the world we live in!


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Guess it can be bad for your health ...
Researchers in the study, published last July in the journal Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, asked 32 women and 27 men to play the role of a customer-service employee dealing with a rude customer who was angry about purchasing a product that was broken.
The participants weren't allowed to promise a refund or to hand the customer off to someone else. Half of them were told "the customer is king" and were instructed to remain friendly and calm. The other half were told they could react naturally to customers, expressing annoyance or frustration.
The participants who were required to remain calm posted sharp increases in blood pressure; the increases were more marked among men than women, according to researchers at two German universities.
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Opinion: Battle of the Books
Editorial Board Member Joe Rago debunks the Department of Justice’s claim that antitrust regulation has increased competition in the publishing world. Photo credit: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... I ... the ... the looking Chow why Mary Kissel ... the Justice said last year that its decision to regulate e book publishers was and I quote ... him victory for millions of consumers what's this ... about editoral board member Joe rego joining me now Joe MNK for from your sent and follow this what the Department of Justice do Visa V this e e book industry what happened was ... Apple and when Apple created the I pad they entered the e book market ... and with the Justice Department alleged was that there was an antitrust conspiracy between the five major U S publishers and Apple ... and essentially convicted ... the e book about the skin the cat the Apple e book of being a conspiracy to ... conspiracy in restraint of trade it was anti competitive ... I mean ... really what happened here is ... the Justice Department ... as as are calmness home and Jenkins put it when after the point then and leaving a whale of Amazon which got at the time dominated ninety percent of the mark it ... up on the skate now what we're seeing now ... they they successfully settled with the publishers ... of their steel litigating against Apple which is decided to ... contest ... that everything in court order and our publisher Harper Collins read related news Corporation was off unit of News Corps ... but but what what's happened is ... they pay said ... Carol E ... all is well we've restored competition to be bookmarked it and now we're starting to say well ... hang on the SEC may be has it ... that it may be competition ... is not in fact as perfect as the Justice Department lot and I think when you're alluding to is a Amazon now coming out saying ... in our lives where not really going to to give you books from I checked another big publisher ... you have to wait a little while if you wanna bite books from them ... that when it comes to e books is that is an example of the show according to news reports they've they've been ... delistings certain books ... delaying times and there it there these are physical books but they're the kind of been a pricing war ... over over how ... I e book should be published in the kind of ... taking it out on on consumers know what what's interesting here is that ... Apple for for years has been ... totally consumer focused they don't care about their stock prices and that they care but not really ... they know they they they don't ... they're not making profits in investing everything back in the business end and they're really risking here that relationship where ... I think if I wanna get one of those books that that that kind of party getting ... I can ... so were were really saying no restriction on competition ... rather than the flourishing that the Justice Department promise well done Department of Justice


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● Beauty products maker Elizabeth Arden Inc. reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss, helped by improved sales and lower operating expenses. However, the company forecast fiscal 2007 profit below analysts’ target, due to an expected increase in marketing spending to support new products.
For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported a loss of $1.9 million versus a prior-year loss of $4.5 million. Revenue rose to $189.9 million from $187.1 million in the year earlier period, while operating expenses declined 2% to $81.3 million. Sales increased 4% to $954.6 million from $920.5 million last year.
Advertising and marketing expenses are forecast to increase 20% in fiscal 2007, as the company prepares to launch fragrances by celebrities Hillary Duff, Danielle Steele and Mariah Carey, among other new products


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The U.S. arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance is opening for registration and deposits on Wednesday.
The Korean arm of the exchange has dropped support for privacy-enhancing cryptocurrencies including monero, zcash and dash.
The "klay" cryptocurrency from messaging app giant Kakao is to make its first official exchange listing on Upbit later this month.
Coinbase's head of institutional sales in Asia alluded to a forthcoming IEO product from the crypto exchange at an Invest: Asia panel on Wednesday.
CoinGecko has upgraded its "Trust Score" metric in a bid to bring more transparency to the crypto trading environment.
CipherTrace has rolled out software for sharing sensitive customer information under the FATF’s new “travel rule” for global crypto exchanges.
The Gemini exchange is launching an institutional-grade crypto custody solution, with more digital assets now supported.
Max Boonen of crypto OTC firm B2C2 dives into the role, benefits and potential risks of high-frequency trading in crypto markets.
LINE, provider of Japan's most popular messaging app, has just been approved for a cryptocurrency business license in the country.
Savings bank Sparebanken Øst has just taken a stake in NBX, a crypto exchange set up by Norwegian Air founder Bjørn Kjos.


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BLASDELL, N.Y. (WKBW) — Arts and crafts store A.C. Moore will begin the process of closing its doors in Blasdell starting in February.
According to the New York Post, the company announced last year that it is closing all stores. Some of the stores will reopen as Michael's locations. It's unclear if the A.C. Moore location at the McKinley Plaza will reopen under a different name.
More than 30 employees who work at the arts and crafts store in Blasdell will lose their job. A.C. Moore will begin laying off employees between February 19, 2020 and March 4.


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Capcom legend Keiji Inafune has announced Kaio, an action-RPG for 3DS from his new studio Intercept.
Andriasang reports that Kaio - which translates as Sea King - has multiplayer support and a pirate setting, though the main character is a penguin. Its western name is King Of Pirates.
The game is being developed by Intercept in collaboration with Marvelous AQL, the newly formed company comprising Marvelous Entertainment, AQ Interactive and Liveware, and will be released in Japan next year. Kai-Oh is the first console game Inafune has announced since his departure from Capcom almost a year ago. In April, he announced he had started up two new companies: game developer Comcept, and cross-media studio Intercept. He announced The Island Of Dr Momo, a social game for the Gree platform, and JJ Rockets for Mobage, in July.
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The FIM Europe is pleased to announce the agreement reached with Honda Motor which aim is to improve the 150 cc. Motocross European Championship open to young riders from 11 to 14 years, which will start in Lausitzring (Germany) July 28. The Honda Motor Europe, has decided to invest more in this Championship giving the young people the possibility to use 21 bikes for free.
The riders of those motorcycles will be selected through a special training camp organized by the FIM Europe with its technical staff in Lausitzring July 23 and 24, days previous the first round of the Championship. It is with this kind of initiatives that Honda Motor Europe wishes to overcome the present European difficult economic moment and preventing many young riders to compete at international level. It trusts a lot on the success of that Championship and the winner will be recognized the participation in the 2014 EMX2 European Championship with Gariboldi Team Honda.
The initiative favorably impressed Youthstream and the FIM Europe, whose President Vincenzo Mazzi said: “The Honda Motor Europe has shown great sensitibility to the younger generation, coming to ensure to some of them the best conditions to participate in a Championship fitting their sporting development. The FIM Europe will play its part providing its technical staff, as it has already been able to prove on the occasion of previous similar initiatives“.


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China regulators are looking to bolster its e-commerce law amid a larger crackdown on big tech. On Tuesday, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released a draft version to amend the national e-commerce law, subject to a period of public comment, which includes new penalties for e-commerce operators, such as Alibaba and JD.com should they fail to address intellectual property violations on their platforms, adding the potential revocation of companies’ business licenses to the existing ability of the SAMR to slap bad actors with steep fines.
In addition to having the authority to levy monetary penalties of up to 2 million yuan ($309,400) on service providers that are found to have engaged in “less serious” intellectual property infringements, the proposed new rules seek to bolster the ramifications of wrongdoing by revoking the necessary licenses “if the platforms fail to take necessary measures against vendors who infringe intellectual property rights,” and also by extending the window of time that “an individual merchant’s business can be restricted while infringement claims are settled” to 20 business days, Reuters reports. Currently, the time frame is 15 business days.
Passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in August 2018 and formally enacted in January 2019, China’s e-commerce law – which defines electronic commerce as any “business activities related to selling goods and services via information networks, such as the Internet” – requires all covered entities to register as market entities. Because “e-commerce operator” is defined broadly, AmCham Shanghai states that the sweeping legislation “covers most online sellers and selling activities, including e-commerce platforms like Taobao and JD.com; any vendor on any of these platforms; and even individual daigou sellers, who operate on social media apps, such as WeChat.”
In addition to requiring registration with the government, the e-commerce law sets out standards for “taxation, electronic payment processing, and e-commerce dispute resolution” for e-commerce entities, as well as for the protection of intellectual property, according to a post by Hong Kong-based law firm Deacons. It also requires e-commerce operators to make various disclosures to consumers, including “procedures for refunding any deposits collected,” and notice if an e-commerce operator “voluntarily discontinues its e-commerce business,” among other things.
Maybe most importantly, though, the e-commerce law makes e-commerce platform operators and/or other service providers jointly liable along with third-party merchants for selling counterfeit and otherwise infringing products whenever that operator/service provider “knows or should have known that a party on the platform has infringed others’ intellectual property rights but fails to take the necessary preliminary measures.” At the same time, the law states that if a platform operator “knows or should have known that goods or services [offered up by a third party merchant] on the platform do not comply with the requirements for personal or property safety protection, or a [third party merchant] on the platform has otherwise infringed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers but fails to take any necessary measures, the platform operator is jointly and severally liable with the infringing [merchant].”
A Decade in the Making
The push to bulk up the e-commerce law comes amid the rapid development of China into the world’s largest e-commerce market, with Chinese online sales amounting to $1.53 trillion in 2020, estimates by research firm eMarketer show. It also follows from more than a decade of developments in Chinese tech regulation, including a flurry of legislation since 2020.
The first Anti-Monopoly Law came into effect in August 2008, “aiming to outlaw monopolistic practices, but authorities were hesitant to enforce the rules against tech companies in the heyday of China’s internet boom,” according to Mark Greeven, a Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the International Institute for Management Development. “Except for a few high-profile cases, China’s focus was on building digital capabilities and increasing consumption.” Next came the e-commerce law in 2018, which was characterized at the time as a significant development for the country, but a relatively “cautious” one in light of some of the board wording, which has left room for “detailed enforcement rules and cases to follow.”
Yet, in reality, it was not until 2020 that “China’s antitrust regime for big tech came into focus,” Greeven says, pointing to the State Council’s Anti-Monopoly Commission July 2020 investigation of Ant Group payments arm Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay, and the major data-protection legislation that came into play, including the Draft Data Security Law, which was issued for public comments in July 2020, followed by the Draft Personal Data Protection Law, which was formally passed on August 20. “Together with the Cybersecurity Law of 2016, it means that three fundamental pieces of legislation are now in place in this arena.”
The new proposed amendments to the e-commerce law further signify enduring attempts by the government to sure up its controls over internet businesses. Taken together, Greeven expects that these legislative moves and others, paired with those still in the pipeline, will mean that Chinese big tech – retail behemoths very much included – “will likely have to fundamentally rethink the way it does business in future.”
The period for public comment on the newly-published e-commerce rules runs until October 14.


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BIA/Kelsey: SocMedia revenues to approach $10b by 2016
To date social media has been a consumer tool - staying in touch, sharing content and information and playing games. But over the past year some ads have begun showing up in the social space. A new forecast from BIA/Kelsey suggests social media ad revenues will skyrocket over the next four years - nearly doubling by 2016.
Social media ad revenues are expected to hit $4.6 billion this year; by 2016, the forecast suggests the revenues will reach $9.2 billion.
"The year 2012 can be viewed as social advertising's 'coming of age,'" said Jed Williams, program director, Social Local Media, BIA/Kelsey. "The continued development of native ads, such as Facebook's Sponsored Stories and Twitter's Promoted Tweets, and the acceleration of mobile monetization will be the primary drivers of social advertising growth through 2016."
The biggest revenue getter, researchers believe, will be social display, which should see a $3 billion spend in 2012, growing to more than $5.4 billion in 2016. However, 'native' social ads - branded content integrated with a newsfeed or stream - will see some of the highest growth rates (26%) during the forecast period. Native social ads currently account for about $1.5 billion of the social spend but by 2016 are expected to account for nearly $4 billion.
Meanwhile, expect mobile to make itself known in the social space as well. As mobile devices take over from PCs and laptops, more ad dollars will shift into the mobile social space. Researchers believe mobile-social will show a CAGR of 28% to reach $1.5 billion in 2016, up from $500 million in 2012.
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Ken Pillonel, a student completing his master's degree in robotics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, EPFL, was the first to equip an iPhone with a working USB-C port. He then followed that up by adding a Lightning port to an Android smartphone.
Pillonel has now applied his skills to AirPods, adding a USB-C port to the Apple charging case.
Ken Pillonel built the World's First AirPods with a Type-C port for charging. The mod is working on the first and second generation so far. After creating the first USB-C iPhone in the world, Ken decided he needs to bring his skills to the other Apple product he uses daily that is still missing this common sense port. This trailer shows the final result of the hack with some quick shots from the full-length video currently being edited. The whole project will be made open source.
Notably, the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee has voted in favor of adopting the revised Radio Equipment Directive which will require consumer electronics makers, including Apple, to adopt USB-C. However, it will likely take quite some time before legislation is in place that would compel Apple to introduce USB-C to iPhone and other accessories.
Take a look at the video below...


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Wall Street was a winner’s circle this quarter. The market surged on hopes that the US economy and corporate profits would keep growing and that the Federal Reserve wasn’t about to hike interest rates.
The Dow is up more than 11% this year while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have surged 13% and 16.5% respectively. It’s a stunning reversal from the doom and gloom fears that were pervasive in the fourth quarter of last year.
Tech stocks a safe haven in ‘earnings drought’
Tech stocks should continue to do well, because profits could keep growing at a time when investors are worried about a potential “earnings drought” for other sectors, said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager with Synovus Trust Company.
He thinks investors need to be cautious and not make bets just on FAANG. He said companies with significant exposure to cloud computing will probably outperform the rest of tech.
“There are pockets of strength in tech,” Morgan said, adding that he likes Amazon (thanks to its AWS business), Microsoft (MSFT), Salesforce (CRM) and HR cloud software firm Workday (WDAY) more than techs with a bigger focus on consumer spending and advertising.
But not everyone enjoyed 2019’s early rebound. Even though it was pretty hard to lose money in the first three months of 2019, 47 companies in the S&P 500 were in the red for the year as of Thursday’s market close. Several are very familiar names.
Changing consumer behavior hurting retail and staples companies
Look closely and you’ll find that many of these market losers share some things in common. They all have been hurt by the rise of Amazon, Walmart (WMT) and other giant retailers like Target (TGT) and Costco (COST), as well as a shift in consumer tastes.
Concerns about the retail competitive landscape have clearly hurt CVS, Kroger and Macy’s. Shares of Walgreens (WBA), Nordstrom (JWN), Coach owner Tapestry (TPR) and Gap (GPS) have also missed out on the market rally this year.
And the move towards healthier eating has been bad news for Kraft Heinz as well as market laggards Coca-Cola (KO).
The problems plaguing Kraft Heinz and Coke are also a contributing factor in the drop in price of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) as well.
Berkshire Hathaway is the largest shareholder in Kraft Heinz and Coke. Buffett’s firm also owns Dairy Queen and See’s Candies.
Playing defense with dividends
Still, some investors think that investors should be looking more closely at boring, defensive consumer companies, especially with fears rising about a global economic slowdown eventually leading to sluggishness in the United States.
Mike Morey, chief investment officer at Integrity Viking Funds, said investors should be looking for safety. And that means companies that pay solid dividends which can hold up better if the economy does lose steam.
Morey told CNN Business his firm owns Procter & Gamble (PG), which he dubbed as a recession proof stock. He also likes tobacco company Altria (MO), pointing to the company’s recent investments in vaping giant Juul as well as cannabis company Cronos (CRON).
He even likes some tech stocks too, but only the ones that are financially healthy enough to pay dividends. Morey said his funds own IBM (IBM) and chip companies Broadcom (AVGO) and Texas Instruments (TXN).
“This is a stock picker’s market. And dividend payers should outperform,” Morey said.


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Post offices and shops see surge in stamp panic buying
SHOPS and post offices across Comet country have seen a surge in people panic buying stamps, as a 30 per cent price increase looms.
From April 30, a first-class stamp will cost 60p, up from 46p, and a second-class stamp will cost 50p, up from 36p.
Shops in Comet country have said that people have been panic buying, with some places even selling out.
Stevenage Waitrose said that it had ran out of stamps, and that people were “panic buying”.
And Stevenage Wilkinsons has not sold out yet, although it has “a very limited amount left”. A manager at the store told the Comet that people were stocking up.
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Norma Fears, owner of Whitwell Post Office, has had to order extra stock.
“We have not run out, but people are certainly buying more,” she told the Comet.
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“We have had one customer who has bought his Christmas stamps. Normally, when there’s an increase each year we have the business customers stock up, but this year we’ve had non-business customers buying as well. We have just ordered extra.”
Another post office also said that it had seen people buying stamps for Christmas.
An employee at Jackmans Post Office in Letchworth GC said: “We have been busy, but have not sold out. People have been telling us they’re buying them for Christmas. We’ve had a few people buy a couple of hundred, and a lady yesterday bought 400.”
It’s been a similar situation at Highbury Post Office in Hitchin. Manager Gurmit Cheema said lots of people had been stocking up, and that he had seen 10,000 stamps fly off the shelves. But he added that he had plenty of them left.
However, not all shops in the area believe the price increase has made a difference to customers.
Baldock Post Office reported that it had not seen a change.
“Our customers are used to it,” said a spokesman.
“Normally they order stamps and we pre-order for them.”


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The MoA was signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the Rwanda Development Board Clare Akamanzi and C&H garments company owners Helen Hai and Candy Ma.
Under the MoU, C&H Garments company is expected to invest in equipment in a Rwanda training base and to employ at least 200 workers at start-up. This in turn will spur the process of creating a garments manufacturing sector that would have significant job creation and export impacts for Rwanda. If successful, this investment will serve as a ‘proof of concept’ that will bring further investment to Rwanda as has been the case in Ethiopia on the back of the Hua Jian success.
Clare Akamanzi said, “This investment will boost the local manufacturing sector, in terms of diversification of our export base, provision of a new skill sets and creation of jobs for Rwandans. We look forward to seeing Rwanda create ‘home made’ garments that will be commercially successful in both domestic and export markets.”
She further welcomed the fact that C&H garments is taking advantage of Rwanda’s highly ranked business environment and pledged that the Government will continue to support new investors in the manufacturing sector and that this investment is the first of many.
Helen Hai said, “C&H Garments is very pleased to be starting a new manufacturing unit in the Kigali Special Economic Zone and are pleased to acknowledge the extensive support provided by RDB in developing our plans. We will shortly be shipping new equipment from China and plan to recruit our initial 200 workers in September 2014. We believe that Rwanda can offer a strong and disciplined workforce that will ensure we develop a successful business exporting garments to both Europe and the US.”
C&H garments Company owners are highly experienced in the manufacturing sector. Helen Hai has successfully set up and managed the fast growth of Hua Jian, a Chinese shoe producer. In the two years between 2010 and 2012, the factory trained and employed 2,000 workers and exports to the US and Europe rose to $12 million per year making Hua Jian the largest shoe exporter in Ethiopia.
Candy Ma is a highly experienced industrial garment manufacturer with 17 years experience of working and managing factories in Africa. From 2009 to 2013 she was MD and owner of Future Garments Ltd based in Nairobi. Future Garments employed 5,000 workers and exported garments under AGOA to companies such as Walmart and Target.
Rwanda Development Board
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