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24 February 2023
By Rayane Tamer, SBS News
Australia is working to combat what experts describe as a “vaping epidemic” as more studies reveal the dangerous impacts of e-cigarettes on young teenagers.
But health experts are pleading with Australian regulators not to follow New Zealand’s model which has resulted in record-low smoking rates, but a worrying surge in vaping.
With a booming black market to purchase vapes, colourful packaging and soft regulations that are difficult to enforce, Health Minister Mark Butler said the vaping problem has spiralled “out of control”.
In Australia, it’s only legal to buy a vape with a prescription – a practice young people are easily flouting.
“School principals now – primary school principals, as well as high school – say that vaping is now the number one behavioural issue in their schools, which is just extraordinary,” he told the ABC on Friday.
On Friday Mr Butler met with state, territory, and federal leaders to consider implementing better reforms to crack down on the illegal selling and buying of vapes.
Policing measures and border controls were on the agenda to discuss, he said, to combat what he described as a problem that has run “rampant through the community”.
But as authorities consider ways to better regulate vaping, health experts are pleading not to look to New Zealand for a model worth imitating.
How common is vaping among young Australians?
Health experts are growing increasingly concerned as more studies on vaping are conducted because they are seeing a clear link between vaping, addiction, and a likely path to smoking.
A 2022 study led by Becky Freeman, an associate professor of health at the University of Sydney, called
The survey, capturing 700 participants in 2019, showed that one in five non-smoking tried vaping. In 2021 just under a third of people in NSW aged between 16 and 24 vaped at least once.
And a Victorian Cancer Council report earlier this month revealed that 80 per cent of Australians believe e-cigarettes are highly addictive.
The addictive consequences of vaping are alarming, said Janet Hoek, a professor of health at the University of Otago.
“Sometimes the cravings are so intense that young people talk about not being able to concentrate in school or through a school period, they’d have to go into the bathrooms and vape,” she said.
“What seemed like a pleasurable casual experience quickly become something that they have to organise their lives around, and that’s a very unwelcome surprise for many of them.”
What are the current rules around vaping in Australia?
Associate Professor Freeman explained that on paper, Australia has some of the most “effective legislation in the world”.
Australians can only legally obtain a nicotine-containing vape with a prescription. Only those who have tried and failed to quit smoking and have consulted with a doctor should be able to receive a vape from a pharmacy.
“That sounds like we would have really controlled access … unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening,” she said.
Vapes come in various flavours and are often marketed towards young children. Credit: The New York Times
“What we have here is a whole bunch of retailers selling nicotine-containing products that are masquerading as non-nicotine products,” Associate Professor Freeman said.
There should also be child-resistant packaging and warning labels on products, but they’re measures that are not being adopted, with colourful and child-friendly flavours being used to attract a younger market.
“[Vapes are] often marketed with pink unicorns on them and bubble gum flavour, these aren’t being marketed to adults these are directly targeted to kids, and I’m determined to stamp that out,” Mr Butler said.
So, what’s on the cards?
In a consultation paper prepared by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in November last year, several possible reform proposals have been raised.
Banning all nicotine vaping products is on the table, as well as implementing import permits for medical practitioners who want to get e-cigarettes through border controls.
Mr Butler said it’s likely that a ban on imports is inevitable to tighten the distribution among teenage vapers.
“At the end of the day the Commonwealth will have to act, including potentially on the borders,” he said.
“I know my state and territory colleagues realise there’s going to have to be some policing resources put into this as well because it is just rampant through the community.”
Associate Professor Freeman is calling for an absolute ban on non-nicotine products being sold in convenience stores and encouraged the government to impose a total import ban.
That way, it can eliminate any possibility of e-cigarettes containing nicotine being sold covertly to children easily.
“What we need to do in Australia is strengthen our laws, remove this ridiculous loophole that we have and prevent young people from so readily accessing these products,” she said.
“We will be going a really long way in preventing this vaping epidemic that we have on our hands.”
Can we take lessons from New Zealand?
New Zealand has taken a much more relaxed approach to vaping, and it’s a model that Australia is being urged not to follow.
In New Zealand, people don’t need a prescription to get their hands on an e-cigarette with nicotine. Instead, people aged 18 and over can buy them at local convenience stores.
Corner shops and petrol stations can offer a limited variety of flavours, and specialty stores are allowed to sell a greater range.
The latest data from New Zealand’s Ministry of Health shows 8.3 per cent of New Zealand adults have taken to vaping – more than the annual smoking rate of eight per cent.
While some health officials have praised New Zealand’s dramatic drop in smokers, attributed to its
“Nobody can look at those figures and say, here’s a successful strategy,” Professor Hoek said.
“It does concern me that there are people in Australia, looking at us and saying, ‘gosh, why don’t we do what they’re doing?’.”
Associate Professor Freeman said Australia should not be looking across the Tasman for guidance on how to protect teenagers from harm.
“What we can learn from the New Zealand experience is that making these products readily available even more readily available is not the solution,” Associate Professor Freeman said.
“This is not a model we want to import. It’s not something that’s preventing youth uptake or assisting in limiting access by young people.”


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Live Green CT is held at Taylor Farm Park by the beach in Norwalk, CT... still on tomorrow, Sunday.
Raised beds by ...
In 1999, Frito-Lay asked its suppliers not to use genetically engineered corn. As of 2013 they still cannot guarantee their product is GMO free. According to Food Babe, Fritos is not GMO free, except in countries where GMOs are against the law. Frito-Lay is being sued in court for misleading its US customers. Substitute Trader Joe's Organic Corn Dippers.
Catching a few winks...
Kevin Feighery of Spanking Clean Auto Sound & Security.
Leo Cirino, President of the Westport Electric Car Club.

domain: news


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UNITED STATES – Every day, more than 50 million Americans are at risk of going hungry—many of them just little children, like two-year-old Kenzii.
With your help we can change that heartbreaking statistic. For the 16th consecutive year, the Feinstein Foundation is giving away $1 million among hunger fighting agencies nationwide.
If you give a gift of $25, $50 or $100 toward the “Feinstein Challenge” before April 30th, you will help us earn a higher percentage of the $1 million grant so we can reach more families in need with food and groceries!
Thanks to the help they received from an Operation Blessing-supported food distribution, Kenzii’s family was able to bring home bags of canned goods and food to fill their cupboards and their stomachs.
Will you partner with us during this special opportunity with the Feinstein Challenge to fight hunger in America so that more children like Kenzii won’t have to go to bed hungry?


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- What is Google’s 2020 worth?
- Is Samsung a trillion dollar company?
- Is Netflix worth 2020?
- Is anyone a trillionaire?
- Is Google richer than Amazon?
- Who is a zillionaire?
- Is Jeff Bezos a trillionaire 2020?
- Who is No 1 richest person in the world?
- Who will be the richest person in 2030?
- Are there secret Trillionaires?
- Who will be the first trillionaire?
- Who’s richer Apple or Amazon?
- What is the next trillion dollar company?
- Who is the richest black person in America?
- Is Netflix richer than Disney?
- Who really owns Netflix?
- Who is richer Google or Microsoft?
- Is Google richer than Facebook?
- Who are the trillion dollar companies?
- What are the 4 trillion dollar companies?
- Is there a company worth a trillion dollars?
- Who is a trillionaire?
- What company just hits $1 trillion Google?
- Who is Netflix CEO?
What is Google’s 2020 worth?
Thanks to its stock hitting new records, returning over 51% in 2019 and up almost 6% so far in 2020, the company is now worth $632 billion.
Key background: On Monday, the Financial Times first reported that Google’s market cap was within 1% of the $1 trillion threshold..
Is Samsung a trillion dollar company?
South Korea-based Samsung took second place yet again, and also ranked as the 14th largest company in the world in 2018. It saw $225 billion in sales, $41 billion in profit, $293 billion in assets and a market cap of $326 billion.
Is Netflix worth 2020?
Despite that, Netflix claims that this is a positive year for them and that the results were going to be better. Netflix has today an estimated net worth of astonishing $125 billion.
Is anyone a trillionaire?
“Despite losing an estimated $38 billion as part of his recent divorce, Jeff Bezos is still by far the world’s richest person and his net worth has grown by 34 percent on average over the last five years, which could potentially see him become the world’s first trillionaire as early as 2026,” the report reads.
Is Google richer than Amazon?
Amazon beats Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand. Amazon has overtaken Google and Apple to become the world’s most valuable brand at $315.5 billion. Google is in third place, at $309 billion.
Who is a zillionaire?
: an immeasurably wealthy person.
Is Jeff Bezos a trillionaire 2020?
Jeff Bezos is on track to become a trillionaire by 2026 — despite an economy-killing pandemic and losing $38 billion in his recent divorce. … Bezos is worth an estimated $143 billion, thanks to a $28 billion bump in 2020, according to Bloomberg.
Who is No 1 richest person in the world?
Jeff BezosNo. 1 Jeff Bezos Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world’s wealthiest person for the third year in a row, worth $113 billion.
Who will be the richest person in 2030?
Jack Ma. Former chairman of Alibaba, Jack Ma, will be the third man to hit one trillion Dollars net worth in 2030, at the age of 65. He is currently one of China’s richest men with a net worth of $35.6 billion.
Are there secret Trillionaires?
Not yet. The richest person is Bill Gates, with an oustanding 86 billion dollars! Trillionaires have not made their appereance yet.
Who will be the first trillionaire?
Jeff BezosEven as the coronavirus pandemic rages across the world, the world’s richest are estimated to grow their wealth in the coming years. According to a report, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos could potentially become the world’s first trillionaire as early as 2026, at which point he will be aged 62, says a study.
Who’s richer Apple or Amazon?
As of Tuesday morning, Apple has a market capitalization of $1.7 trillion, while Amazon and Microsoft are each worth around $1.6 trillion. … The Google parent company’s valuation, as of Tuesday, is “only” $1.06 trillion.
What is the next trillion dollar company?
Here we examine how many trillion-dollar companies there are in the world today, and which are likely to join the four-comma club next….List of the world’s trillion-dollar companies.Date $1 trillion valuation first achievedMarket capitalisation*Microsoft7 June 2019$1.36 trillion4 more rows•Mar 31, 2020
Who is the richest black person in America?
Robert F. Smith1. Investor Robert F. Smith is the richest black man in the country. A Cornell graduate and former Goldman Sachs executive, Smith built his multibillion-dollar fortune running private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, Business Insider previously reported.
Is Netflix richer than Disney?
That gives Netflix a current market capitalization of $187.3 billion, putting it just over Disney’s $186.6 billion, after the media conglomerate’s stock finished down 2.5% amid a broader market decline Wednesday.
Who really owns Netflix?
Meet Netflix billionaire Reed Hastings, who has spent millions on education reform, takes 6 weeks of vacation every year, and says he has no hobbies outside of work. After racking up $40 in late fees at a traditional video rental store, Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix and made $5 billion in the process.
Who is richer Google or Microsoft?
After Apple, Google too soared past Microsoft in terms of market value on Monday to become the second-richest firm in the tech world. … While Google has now officially passed Microsoft, their value is still less than half of Apple’s $627 billion.
Is Google richer than Facebook?
Google-parent Alphabet on Thursday became the fourth US company to reach a $1 trillion market valuation, pushing the total value of the five biggest tech companies to a record $5 trillion. … Including Facebook in the group drives Big Tech’s collective value above $5.2 trillion.
Who are the trillion dollar companies?
Lessons of success from the world’s trillion-dollar companiesAlphabet. For the first time, the umbrella to Google became the newest US company to hit a market cap of US$1 trillion on 16 January 2020. … Apple. … Microsoft. … Amazon. … PetroChina.
What are the 4 trillion dollar companies?
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet now worth combined $4 trillion — Quartz.
Is there a company worth a trillion dollars?
The stock market now has two $1 trillion companies: Amazon and Microsoft.
Who is a trillionaire?
A trillionaire is someone whose wealth is greater than one trillion dollars (or other currency).
What company just hits $1 trillion Google?
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, hits trillion-dollar market cap for first time. Alphabet hit the $1 trillion market capitalization, making it the fourth U.S. company to hit the milestone after Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. Despite the company’s seemingly perpetual cultural clashes, Wall Street sees more dollar signs.
Who is Netflix CEO?
Ted Sarandos (Jul 16, 2020–)Reed Hastings (Sep 1998–)Netflix/CEO


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North-east accountancy firm SBP Accountants & Tax Advisers has posted record turnover of £2.5 million on the back of new business wins and client retention.
The firm, which has offices in Aberdeen, Banff, Fraserburgh and Peterhead, works with businesses in the region ranging from sole traders to larger corporate concerns.
The 20 per cent year-on-year hike in revenues was boosted by the 2015 merger with Aberdeen’s Andrew Philip.
SBP managing partner John Hannah said: “2016 has continued to be a busy year for the business across the North-east. Our operations in Aberdeen have continued to grow.
“Although it has been a tough market, our competitiveness, along with valuing our current client base has enabled SBP to continue its growth.
“2017 is looking very promising for us as we are currently investigating ways to enhance our offering and tap into a slightly different market. If all goes well we should have some exciting news to reveal in the coming months.”


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Google's Android OS has been the focus of new platform work, though the company will continue to support Symbian phones.
(click image for larger view)
Top 20 Android Productivity Apps
In the latest sea change in mobile phone operating systems, Sony Ericsson said it will likely drop Symbian from its list of operating systems in future phone designs, although it plans to continue to support the platform, which is still the world's leading smartphone platform.
The company -- a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson -- has been focusing most of its new platform work on Google's Android platform. The company has some phones that operate on Windows Mobile platform. Microsoft is scheduled to unveil new Windows Phone 7 devices next month.
"We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products to the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system," Sony Ericsson spokesperson Aldo Liguori told the Bloomberg news service, and added that Symbian will continue to be "an important platform" for Sony Ericsson.
Nokia established the Symbian Foundation to share Symbian source code and in recent months has teamed up with Intel to create a more robust open source operating system called Meego aimed at high-end smartphone designs. Symbian has remained the world's leading mobile operating system and is used in billions of phones and accounts for most of Nokia's nearly 40% cell phone market share.
Sony Ericsson utilizes Symbian in its Vivaz phones and there are indications that that family will have more models in the future.
The world's mobile phone platforms are undergoing rapid market share shifts as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platforms are rapidly powering to the vanguard of the smartphone universe.
The major question now centers on Nokia and whether its new CEO, ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, will team up in a small or big way with Microsoft in cell phones.
How Enterprises Are Attacking the IT Security EnterpriseTo learn more about what organizations are doing to tackle attacks and threats we surveyed a group of 300 IT and infosec professionals to find out what their biggest IT security challenges are and what they're doing to defend against today's threats. Download the report to see what they're saying.
Digital Transformation Myths & TruthsTransformation is on every IT organization's to-do list, but effectively transforming IT means a major shift in technology as well as business models and culture. In this IT Trend Report, we examine some of the misconceptions of digital transformation and look at steps you can take to succeed technically and culturally.


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WE ARE CURRENTLY OPEN DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS
During the current pandemic, the health & safety of our staff and customers is of paramount importance.
For information regarding our progressive response to this health crisis, please read below:
* Effective immediately, Stage 3 restrictions are being re-introduced across Victoria with the Melbourne metro area entering into
Stage 4 effecting our Laverton North, Clyde, Monbulk, and Werribee South locations.
Saturday trading is still postponed until further notice
*As of Thursday 9th July, Stage 3 restrictions are being re-introduced to metro Melbourne effecting our
Laverton North, Clyde, Monbulk & Werribee South branches.
Saturday trading will be postponed & Stage 3 Social Distancing will be re-introduced to these stores only
*As of Monday 11th May our gates & shopfront doors will now be open for foot traffic entry. Coupled with this announcement, Saturday trading will also be re-introduced as of May 16th. *
*As Agriculture has now been deemed an “Essential Services” industry, all our staff & stores will remain operative with some logistical changes to our services offered. As part of this change, our Saturday trading will be postponed in this current environment.*
*Government Press Release-Agricultural Minister David Littleproud says Australia's food production and supply chain will not be affected by the coronavirus shutdowns*
*Updated social distancing protocol distributed to branches*Currently lobbing the Victorian Minister for Agriculture for E.E. Muir & Sons and Serve-Ag to be classified as an essential service*


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Get our introductory offer at only
*$0.99/month for first 3 months
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ALPHABET INC reported a 21 per cent jump in quarterly revenue on Monday, maintaining a growth rate that is rarely seen among companies its size and suggesting that the big sales gains enjoyed recently by the other Internet firms are not done yet.
Alphabet, the owner...


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Just when you thought it could not get any worse for AMD,
someone throws another gallon of gasoline on the fire to stoke the flames.
Earlier this week, DailyTech reported
that AMD intends to cut
1,600 jobs by year's end to improve its financials.
AMD, which has yet to release its first quarter earnings, issued
guidance suggesting that its Q1 revenues will come in 15% lower than the year ago
period at about $1.5B USD. AMD experienced losses in every sector of its
business and we'll be able to see the full damage report once the official
tally is brought down from Sunnyvale, CA.
In the mean time, the company today lost its Chief
Technology Officer (CTO) and Senior Vice President, Phil Hester. According to
AMD's bio on Hester, which has since been removed from the site, he was
"responsible for setting the architectural and product strategies and
plans for AMD’s microprocessor business." Hester also chaired AMD's
According to MarketWatch,
Hester wishes to "pursue other opportunities" in his absence from
AMD. Strangely, AMD says that there will be no replacement for Hester at the CTO position.
Hester's departure couldn't have come at a worse time for
AMD. AMD is just now trying to gain some traction after shipping B3
Opterons sans the TLB
bug that made the news circuits in December 2007.
AMD hopes to push its Opteron and Phenom processors based on
a 65nm manufacturing to 2.6GHz by the fall of 2008. 45nm Shanghai
processors will have to wait until early 2009 if all things go according to
schedule for AMD.


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The art world is abuzz with excitement as the Babylon Art Exhibition is set to take New York City by storm, showcasing a breathtaking fusion of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and traditional art forms. This revolutionary event, slated for later this month, will take place at the prestigious XYZ Gallery in Manhattan and will feature renowned artists from around the world. 🌍
The Babylon Art Exhibition aims to bridge the gap between the digital and traditional art worlds, bringing together a diverse array of artists and collectors to celebrate creativity in all its forms. It will display a mesmerizing combination of traditional paintings, sculptures, installations, and digital art represented through NFTs, providing a unique opportunity for both established and emerging artists to showcase their work to a global audience.
NFTs have taken the art world by storm in recent years, allowing creators to tokenize their digital artwork on blockchain platforms, ensuring that each piece has a unique identifier and owner. This technology has introduced a new way for artists to monetize their creations, while giving collectors the ability to own and trade digital artwork in a secure and transparent manner.
The Babylon Art Exhibition will feature several notable artists from both the digital and traditional realms. Among the traditional artists, attendees can expect to see works from the likes of contemporary painters Jane Smith and Carlos Rodriguez, as well as sculptures from world-renowned artist, Yang Li. On the digital front, NFT trailblazers such as CryptoCraze and PixelPioneer will showcase their captivating digital art pieces, which have already garnered significant attention from collectors worldwide.
In addition to the exhibitions, the event will also host a series of engaging panel discussions and workshops that will delve into the intricacies of NFTs, the potential impact on the traditional art market, and the future of art and technology. Art enthusiasts, collectors, and creators alike will have the opportunity to network and discuss the potential synergies between these two worlds, forging connections that could potentially redefine the art landscape.
The Babylon Art Exhibition is a testament to the rapid evolution of the art world, with digital and traditional artists coming together to push the boundaries of creativity. As the world continues to embrace NFTs and their potential applications, it is only a matter of time before we see even more groundbreaking exhibitions that celebrate the convergence of art and technology.
Don’t miss the chance to be part of this extraordinary event. The Babylon Art Exhibition is set to become a milestone in the history of art, marking a new era of collaboration and innovation. Secure your tickets now and witness the future of art unfold before your eyes.


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Channel 2 Group, promoted by Dubai-based Ajay Sethi, which has the exclusive radio rights to the ICC World Cup, has launched their Internet radio service, CricketFreeq.com. The group also has the exclusive rights to other sports properties like the English Premier League, US Open and Wimbledon, and intends to launch similar platforms to other sports once they establish CricketFreeq fully.
The company launched their Internet radio website with Kapil Dev in Mumbai, who will also be featured along with Sunil Gavaskar and Clive Lloyd as commentators.
Sethi, Chairman, Channel 2 Group, said, “We plan to emerge as the largest sports Internet radio player globally by 2015. Initially, we plan to build a global audience for cricket and then subsequently launch platforms for other sports. The power of Internet radio is that it allows the broadcast to capture audiences of common diaspora across geographies. Radio has traditionally been a local medium, but with the advent of 3G and high broadband speeds there is a potential to transform radio into a glocal media with seamless integration across devices and platforms, including terrestrial radio.”
“In addition to creating multi-engagement platforms using a mix of radio and other interactive content, we will work with legends in different sports to add the expert edge. We will look for strategic investors in different markets or verticals as we grow,” Amit Tripathi, Director, CricketFreeq.com, added.
Stuart Bowden talks about purchase journey, the revised version of Cannes Lions, Wavemaker Indiaâ€™s performance and a lot more
Emery says everything that Unilever CMO Keith Weed says has a touch of genius. He also talks about his expectations from Cannes, WPP without Sir Martin Sorrell and his love for Mindshare India.
In an interaction with exchange4media, PC Musthafa, CEO & Co-Founder iD Fresh Food shares how the brand deals with competition and marketing strategies followed by them.
Varun Raina, Marketing Manager, Airbnb India speaks to exchange4media about the successful #LiveThere campaign and how Bollywood helps them connect with its young consumer
He is the man behind India's most rewarded and talked about campaign at Cannes 2018, 'Blink to Speak. Read on to find out how he conceptualised the idea and led the team that created the campaign.
Facebook-owned Instagram introduces IGTV, a new app to upload long-form vertical videos, intensifies competition with YouTube.
Piyush and Prasoon Pandey will be the first Asians and first from WPP to be deemed with this honour tonight at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity


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April 13, 2006 at 9:34 PM CDT - Updated July 26 at 2:05 PM
Ford is recalling the 2005 Escape and Mercury Mariner. Ford wants to adjust the padding on the driver's side of both vehicles to help prevent injuries during a collision. About a 150,000 vehicles are affected. Owners will be notified about the recall by mail in late May.


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Players Think They've Discovered Deathloop's Xbox Release Date
If you haven't planned your next holiday for Blackreef, why not? If you can ignore the flying bullets and having a bounty on your head, kicking back in this 60s-inspired paradise is a getaway like nothing you've ever experienced before. Better yet, you can't die. Well, most of the time.
As one of 2021's best games, the PlayStation-exclusive Deathloop was the brilliant brainchild of Arkane Studios. Known for Prey and the Dishonored games, Deathloop was something very different. Now, players think they've figured out when Deathloop will lose its PS5 exclusivity.
NOTE: This guide has been updated since its original publication with this note. Deathloop came to Xbox on September 20, 2022
When Is Deathloop Coming To Xbox?
The latest scoop comes courtesy of a Deathloop advert celebrating its end-of-year sale. While Sony was promoting Deathloop with 50% off until January 5, players noted the small print at the end. Here, the snippet revealed that the console exclusivity will end on September 14, 2022.
Although Microsoft is yet to confirm when we'll be able to play Deathloop on the PlayStation rival, the general consensus is that September 14 or very soon after will be the magic date. We're fully expecting Deathloop to arrive on Game Pass as one of next year's big pulls for the subscription service. Well, it will save you a tonne of money.
Is The Deathloop Release Date Accurate?
We'd mark the date in our diary in pencil if we were you. Note that the excerpt says "not available on other consoles until at least September 14, 2022." September 14 is a Wednesday, which isn't exactly a common day for release in the gaming world.
Still, it's great news for fans that Deathloop is finally finding a new platform. The PS5 exclusivity has made it a huge hit for the new-gen console but locked a lot of us out. As well as alienating the ever-growing Xbox crowd, PS4 owners have been unable to enjoy Colt Vahn's story. It's no secret that acquiring a PS5 has been hard enough in 2021.
September 2022 might be a long way off, but with Deathloop having almost universal praise, this time-bending caper is one to look out for on Xbox. Game Pass is already looking tasty in 2022, with Bethesda's Starfield and Arkane's next release in Redfall hopefully going hand in hand with Deathloop. We'll set our watches.


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Tesla under spotlight, this time in South Korea, over tragic wall smash
Tesla may be the biggest electric vehicle (EV) maker in the world but it is also having to fight concerns over safety in its offerings in many key markets. While some of its technologies are awaiting a green signal from authorities, its EVs are also being scrutinized in many countries after these were involved in crashes, some tragic. The latest is the spotlight on the company after a Tesla crashed into a wall.
The said incident took place around two years ago and resulted in the death of a well-known lawyer who also happened to be a friend of the South Korean President. Initial reports had highlighted that the Model X belonging to a Choi Woan-jong gathered momentum without any throttle input and even the brakes failed to work. While he was charged with manslaughter, Choi blamed the EV.
While Choi has reportedly been unable to find work since the December 2020 accident, he also says that he suffers from depression. But is there any credibility to his claim that it was the Tesla Model X that accelerated on its own accord before crashing into a wall? His legal team claims there was an electric systems failure.
Also check these Vehicles
Tesla has not officially responded in the matter as yet but there are reports of increased scrutiny of its EVs in the aftermath of the accident. The US-based EV maker sold close to 18,000 EVs in South Korea in 2021 even though it has no manufacturing base here. In the country, it has to compete against the likes of Kia and Hyundai in an intense EV battle.
But such crashes are not going to do much for credibility of Tesla which is also facing investigations in neighboring China over several incidents in which the drivers have blamed mechanical failures. China is the world's largest EV market and crucial to the fate of Tesla's dominance in the world of EVs.
(With inputs from Reuters)


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The Lord’s Bounty Food Bank is facing a shortage of food. Food Distribution Chair Dennis Hydamaka says their shelves are barer than they have been in many years. He explained their food intake from donations has decreased by about 90 percent over the last year, food drives have disappeared and corporate sponsors have all but disappeared. He says they have one corporate sponsor left and one businessman on Main Street who contributes and a handful of individuals who contribute on a regular basis.
Hydamaka adds for the past several months they have been purchasing 95 percent of the food they need and are keeping to the basics and reducing the quantity of food that goes into a hamper. He says they are also dipping into their reserves as they have already over spent the donations that have come in this season.
To donate you can use the drop off box in the Co-op store, at the Food Bank Tuesdays from 9 to 1 or call Dennis at 204-687-7242.


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Madurai, India: Cossetes have been a part of the Indian advertising landscape for decades, but now, with the advent of Cossettes, the ad platforms are making the business mainstream.
Cossettes are small, portable devices that sit inside of a Cossetter and are used to deliver personalized and targeted advertisements on smartphones, tablets and televisions.
“These devices have a great deal of potential and are very popular with marketers as a way to deliver their brand messages without spending time and money on advertising,” said Shri A.S. Raman, COO of COSSETES.
The startup was founded in 2012 by a group of entrepreneurs who were looking to take their product and make it available to consumers.
Raman said Cossets are used by more than a dozen companies, including Pepsi, Walmart, Adidas, and Nestlé, as well as government agencies.
Its also used by governments in India and in several other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Australia, Canada, and South Africa.
Raman said that the Cosses can be used in a variety of ways.
For example, the company said, it can be placed on billboards, banners, and even inside the body of a car, as an interactive billboard.
Other applications include an ad unit, which has a mobile app, a COSSette and a web portal.
According to Raman and COSSetes co-founder and CEO Rajendra Rajaraman, the COSSettes will be available in more than 100 countries.
Advertisers will be able to use the CASSETES for any number of different purposes, such as promoting specific products, promoting events, and creating campaigns for social, political and cultural messages, said Raman.
However, the most important application will be the COSETES, said Rajaram.
The COSSets are able to provide advertisers with customized content and will be used to provide targeted ads.
Once the COSTs are in place, advertising can begin, said the CODESC founder.
It is estimated that by 2022, about 10 million COSSETS will be sold, with around 70 percent of those being sold in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East, according to Ramasan.


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Edge computing specialist Fastly (FSLY -4.87%) has been one of 2020's hottest stocks. Leading up to the company's second-quarter earnings release on Wednesday afternoon, shares had risen more than 440% year to date. With such a monstrous run-up, it's safe to say that investor expectations were sky high for the company going into its quarterly update.
In fact, judging by the market's reaction on Thursday to Fastly's stellar second-quarter results, expectations for the company had arguably become too high.
As of 11:20 a.m. EDT today, Fastly shares are down about 20% for the day, even though the company's second-quarter revenue blew past analyst estimates. Furthermore, shares are down more than 25% from highs earlier this week. Is this sell-off an overreaction? More importantly for investors, is this a good buying opportunity?
Fastly's big second quarter
Without the perspective of Fastly's torrid run-up leading up to its second-quarter update, investors would have a difficult time understanding why shares of the growth stock are down so sharply on Thursday.
Fastly's second-quarter revenue rose 62% year over year to $74.7 million, a significant acceleration from 38% growth in the prior quarter. And the company's revenue easily beat analysts' consensus estimate for a top line of $71.4 million. Fastly also swung from an adjusted loss per share of $0.16 in the year-ago quarter to a surprise profit of $0.02. Analysts on average were modeling for an adjusted loss per share of $0.01.
Strong revenue growth also notably led to margin expansion. Adjusted gross margin expanded from 55.6% in the year-ago quarter to 61.7%.
Fueling the quarter was the company's biggest quarterly growth in customers since its initial public offering more than a year ago. Total customers increased from 1,837 in the first quarter of 2020 to 1,951.
Also driving revenue growth was a strong dollar-based net expansion rate (DBNER) of 137%. The metric, which measures spend from existing customers compared to a year ago, shows an acceleration in the rate of customer expansion compared to the previous quarter. DBNER was 133% in the first quarter of 2020.
"The need for a trustworthy and modern edge platform has never been more significant," CEO Joshua Bixby said in Fastly's second-quarter shareholder letter.
If the results were so good, why is the stock down so much on Thursday? It likely stems both from red-hot investor expectations that were above and beyond even what analysts were expecting, and a disclosure from Fastly that ByteDance, the operator of TikTok, was its largest customer during the quarter. Specifically, management said in its second-quarter earnings call that TikTok represented 12% of revenue in the six-month period ending June 30. But less than 50% of that revenue is in the U.S., where TikTok faces a potential ban if it does not find a domestic acquirer.
Citing national security concerns, President Donald Trump has threatened an executive order to ban TikTok, which is operated by Chinese parent company ByteDance. But after Microsoft said over the weekend that it was exploring a purchase of TikTok and that a deal could be closed by Sept. 15, President Trump said he would permit the potential acquisition.
A bullish outlook
While Fastly's exposure to TikTok certainly puts the spotlight on a key risk for the company, there's good reason to be excited about the future, too. Looking ahead, management was very bullish.
"Despite the current global economic uncertainty, we remain optimistic about the demand for our mission-critical services and the underlying growth of our business into Q3 and future periods," Fastly said in its second-quarter shareholder letter. To this end, the company guided for third-quarter revenue to grow about 50% year over year. In addition, Fastly raised its full-year revenue outlook to between $290 million and $300 million. Previously, management said it expected revenue to be between $280 million and $290 million.
A buying opportunity?
Though it's not surprising to see Fastly stock taking a breather here, there were plenty of reasons for long-term investors to get excited about the bigger picture, including huge revenue growth, expanding margins, management's optimistic outlook, and more. On sale for 25% off the price it was trading at earlier this week, the tech stock looks like a good buying opportunity.


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Expo Riva Schuh: a workshop full of ideas and new trends for the market
Expo Riva Schuh closes its 80th edition with 10,850 visitors, +1.5% compared to June 2012. “Expo Riva Schuh is an ever-evolving workshop which celebrates its 80 years looking forward to the future – states Giovanni Laezza, Managing Director of Riva del Garda Fierecongressi. At every single edition, around 3 billion pairs of shoes are sold and concrete business opportunities continue to multiply. As far as we are concerned, we can only continue to enable this enormous potential to grow, a force that has been built up over the years offering new spaces and new services: for example, this time round we have added 1,500 square metres of exhibition space, involving new countries such as Ethiopia, Greece and Singapore”.
During the four days of the event, the halls were filled with people from all over the footwear world. Interesting to note the strong presence from countries outside of Europe, and especially Canada, the United States, Japan China, Mexico and Chile, as well as the operators present from Kenya, South Africa and Egypt.
From this very international workshop, new guidelines emerge regarding the trends for the 2014 Spring/Summer collections: for women, a very open kind of footwear, with ankle boots that wrap around the foot up to the ankle and hand-made thong sandals; for men, the British style evolution shines through along with the used look and shoes made of natural leather. While for children, as well a fluorescent colours, a trend inspired by comics is much in evidence.
“Expo Riva Schuh is a real melting pot of ideas and trends - explains Carla Costa, Manager of the Fairs Unit of Riva del Garda Fierecongressi. Our event continues more and more to know how to ‘move and shake’ new trends and new ideas for footwear in terms of innovation and research, offering just the right mix between the quality brands and the lower priced production from southern Europe, Asia and Latin-America.”
Expo Riva Schuh celebrated its historic birthday with 1,297 exhibitors (of whom 954 were foreign)starting off with numerous, young, new brands which came from emerging markets such as India and the Far East: a truly great glocal project which succeeded in bringing all the stars of the international footwear market to this Trentino town.
Thanks to its early position in the exhibition calendar, the event represents an important moment for the sector to meet and a privileged showroom for worldwide production. The big volumes of shoes sold in Europe pass through Riva del Garda: the event has established its strategic position as the appointment from which the big distribution chains build their sample collections, as well as being a meeting point for a confirmed presence of retailers.
Expo Riva Schuh confirms the dates for the next edition which will run from January 11th to 14th 2014.
Riva del Garda, June 19th 2013


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Should employers be expected to give their employees a paid vacation on Christmas, or does it potentially violate his right to make money and his violate his own religious beliefs, as well? While most employers close down on that day (excluding many restaurants and some retail facilities), and while the majority of employees are given the day off with pay, it is entirely conceiveable that this practice may not last much longer. Many restaurants and chain stores stayed open on Thanksgiving - including Walmart and Target - two of the nation's largest retailers. Once companies realize that more and more customers are willing to shop on that day, they are sure to follow suit by staying open on Christmas. Already many restaurants and some retail facilities such as Walgreen's and CVS are open on Christmas day; once it becomes clear that there IS money to be made on Christmas and that many Christians are out shopping on that day instead of worshipping, the practice of giving employees a free ride on Christmas is sure to die off. After all, closing down costs employers a lot of money in lost productivity, sales and salary.
In light of all of the businesses that have already begun staying open on Thanksgiving and even on Christmas, do you think that employers should stay open on Christmas? Should they switch to a system where they allow someone to take the day off, without pay, if they wish to? If you are against this idea, can you explain why an employer should be expected to pay their employees to worship - or, let's be realistic - even to hang out at Walmart and shop? If it is wrong to expect an employer to allow employees to use their own healthplans for contraception, it is certainly wrong to expect employers to finance employees' religious observances - especially if that holiday is against the employers' own beliefs. Finally, isn't expecting to be paid for not working just another form of entitlement, as well as an anti-business philosophy?


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OCI comments on Government’s response to proposals on yellowtail and redfish; says change in fishing industry still required
February 9, 2012
Martin Sullivan, President and CEO of Ocean Choice International (OCI), responded to Government’s decision on the company’s proposals to lift exemptions on the processing of yellowtail and redfish late today saying it’s unfortunate the two parties were unable to reach agreement. Sullivan maintained that change in the fishing industry is required if it is going to be sustainable for the long term, but recognizes that change is never easy and will take time.
“Now that we have Government’s decisions on our proposals at hand, Ocean Choice International will determine the next steps for its business,” said Sullivan.
“Last fall OCI made its position on the future of the fishing sector very clear,” said Sullivan. “If we are to meet consumer demands and explore new markets, we need to embrace change, a change in product offering and a change in how we do business. It’s the right thing to do for a sustainable fishery in our Province. The message is the same today.”
Sullivan said the company placed very reasonable proposals before government in an effort to see hundreds of permanent, good paying jobs in the fishery and millions of dollars returned to the provincial economy. “It’s unfortunate these proposals were unacceptable,” said Sullivan.
At the core of the issue is overregulation in the fishing industry. The company says this is the only fishing jurisdiction in the world with restrictions which impede the growth of the fishing industry and make it uncompetitive in the global marketplace.
“Our goal at OCI is to be a strong global player in the international seafood business.
That includes being responsible stewards of the fishing industry and managing our
resource. As our position becomes stronger so too does our investment in our Province, and in particular, in those who work in our fishing communities,” said Sullivan. The company said it believes in the fishery in Newfoundland and
Labrador, and more than anything it wants to work together with all stakeholders to guarantee its place as a global leader in the industry.
Sullivan said Ocean Choice International, and indeed all processors in Newfoundland and Labrador, can only achieve this leadership status through change. He remains firm in his previous statements that this can be done without government funding but that it absolutely requires regulatory change.
Change is always difficult, said Sullivan, but it remains necessary for our industry. “We remain hopeful that all parties will have a common vision for the future in due course.”


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Beth.Technology Announces Major Rebrand to I/O Fund
April 14, 2021
Beth.Technology Fund has unveiled a new name, I/O Fund, new website, and audited 2020 returns as part of an extensive rebranding initiative.
April 14, 2021 07:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time (originally published on Business Wire)
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Beth.Technology, an actively managed tech fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades, has completed an extensive rebranding initiative to reflect the company’s comprehensive services, team-oriented approach, and vision for the future. The rebrand includes a new logo, updated website, and a new name: I/O Fund.
“We evolved from a tech insider with a blog to a full-service fund with an expert team. Our brand is built on credibility, transparency, and industry knowledge. I’m proud to offer these benefits and raise the bar on tech analysis for retail investors.”
I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering an actively managed and transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. The I/O Fund specializes in tech microtrends and has outperformed other popular tech focused innovation funds on the market. I/O Fund competes at the highest level and offers full transparency for individual retail investors.
The I/O Fund also features a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin around $9,500. Premium subscribers are notified of even lower entries, such as Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700.
With audited returns of 115.5% from May 9, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020, I/O Fund outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds within the same time frame. The actively managed fund was founded on May 9th, 2020 following the launch of the premium service on July 15, 2019.
“This rebrand reflects a significant step forward in our evolution, redefining who we are as a team and as a company,” said I/O Fund Founder and CEO Beth Kindig. “We evolved from a tech insider with a blog to a full-service fund with an expert team. Our brand is built on credibility, transparency, and industry knowledge. I’m proud to offer these benefits and raise the bar on tech analysis for retail investors.”
Lead Analyst and CEO, Beth Kindig, uses fundamental analysis at I/O Fund to identify the leaders of the most important tech microtrends. Then Portfolio Manager, Knox Ridley, uses technical analysis to guide entries, exits, risk management, and provide market commentary on the decisions the I/O Fund makes in the actively managed portfolio.
“At I/O Fund our goal is to get outsized returns—without excessive risk-taking —by predicting future tech leaders before the run, and spotting periods of market weakness before they happen,” Knox Ridley said. “We share that knowledge with our readers, alongside real-time entries and exits in I/O Fund, so they see how decisions are made when running a competitive growth portfolio that exceeded the best funds on Wall Street last year. To communicate this expanded vision, the fund needed a new identity. I’m extremely proud of our team, and our market-beating results.”
This press release article was originally published via businesswire.com on April 14, 2021 07:30 PM ET.
For more information about I/O Fund's premium services, visit: https://io-fund.com/pricing
About I/O Fund
I/O Fund is an actively managed fund that offers in-depth research and real-time trades. We specialize in tech microtrends and have outperformed popular tech focused innovation funds since our inception with audited performance results. I/O Fund empowers retail investors by offering a transparent portfolio alongside institution-level research and real-time notification of entries and exits. We also offer a free public newsletter with past stock coverage that included Roku at $33, Zoom at $137, and Bitcoin at $9,500. Premium members are notified of lower entries, including Zoom at $62, and Bitcoin at $7,700.
Download Press Release
Audited Results from I/O Fund
Gains of up to 1150% from our FREE stock tips newsletter.
Here are sample stock gains from the I/O Fund’s newsletter --- produced weekly and all for free!
+1150% on Roku
+560% on Nvidia
+162% on Zoom
+340% on Bitcoin
Our newsletter provides an edge in the world’s most valuable industry – technology. Due to the enormous gains from this particular industry, we think it’s essential that every stock investor have a credible source who specializes in tech. Subscribe for Free Weekly Analysis on the Best Tech Stocks.
If you are a more serious investor, we have a premium service that offers lower entries and real-time trade alerts. Sample returns on the premium site include 324% on Zoom, 601% on Nvidia, 445% on Bitcoin, and 4-digits on an alt-coin. The I/O Fund is audited annually to prove it’s one of the best performing Funds on the market with returns that beat Wall Street funds.
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Research in Motion has been rumored in the past few weeks to be making some large layoffs soon and today, RIM has announced that those layoffs are indeed underway. AllThingsD.com reports that the Blackberry phone and OS maker is now telling a number of its workers in its operations, sales, and manufacturing divisions that they won't be working at the company anymore.
RIM sent out a statement confirming that the company "has reduced some positions" but would not give a specific head count. The statement added that RIM may continue to lay off team members "as the company methodically works through a review of the business."
In late May, rumors hit that RIM was preparing to announce that as many as 2,000 team members would be laid off. Prior to today, the Canadian-based company had about 16,500 employees worldwide.
RIM is still scheduled to launch the Blackberry 10, the next version of its smartphone operating system, along with the first Blackberry 10 based smartphones. sometime before the end of the year. The company revealed a prototype of the Blackberry 10 product in May that it gave out to software developers. However, the OS inside those phones was actually a version of the one that's being run on the Blackberry Playbook tablet and not Blackberry 10 itself.


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August 5, 2021
Luxury home prices continue climbing, particularly in warm-weather markets including Austin, Phoenix and West Palm Beach.
According to new findings from Redfin, both luxury housing and affordable home segments outpaced the rest of the housing market last year and prices continue to surge, and the overall supply of the country’s affordable homes is growing. Luxury home prices increased 26 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2021, while the prices of the most affordable homes in the country grew by 19 percent.
"Home prices and sales plummeted at the beginning of the pandemic, but have now more than recovered — especially in the luxury and most affordable price tiers — due to low mortgage rates and strong homebuyer demand during the pandemic," said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, in a statement.
“Surging prices can be especially problematic for first-time and lower-income homebuyers, but the good news is that the supply of the country's most affordable homes is growing,” she said. “That means there could be more homes to choose from and less competition for buyers in that segment of the market.”
The report is based on an analysis that divided all U.S. residential properties into five price tiers — luxury, expensive, mid-priced, affordable and most affordable — based on Redfin Estimates of the homes’ market values. The brokerages categorizes homes with sales prices within the top 5 percent of their market as luxury.
Market surges, market matters
The median sale price of U.S. luxury homes and the country’s most affordable homes increased by 25.8 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively, year-over-year in the second quarter. Comparatively, prices of mid-priced and affordable homes grew only by 16 and 13 percent, respectively.
Homebuyers flocked to purchase luxury homes and the most affordable homes in the second quarter. During this quarter, purchases of luxury homes in the U.S. increased by 88.2 percent year-over year and purchases of the most affordable homes rose by 56.8 percent year-over year.
"The government's pandemic mortgage forbearance program is coming to an end, which is likely boosting the supply of America's most affordable homes," Dr. Fairweather said.
Ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the ability to work from home anywhere, helped fuel home sales across the board.
The number of homes for sale in the most affordable price tier rose 11.3 percent year-over-year during the second quarter, followed by the next-largest increase in the luxury tier, which saw supply grow 1.3 percent.
Housing supply in the remaining three categories Redfin identified either declined or grew less than 1 percent.
Luxury homes have on average historically taken longer to sell than homes in other price tiers, but the gap has narrowed during the pandemic, likely due to the increased competition for luxury homes with desired amenities that could include privacy, working spaces, childcare spaces, et cetera.
A luxury home that was for sale during the second quarter of 2021 spent 30 days on the market, 34 days less than the same period in 2020. The most affordable homes spent 25 days on the market, 17 fewer days than a year earlier.
Homes in the remaining three Redfin price tiers spent about two weeks on the market and also sold faster than they did in 2020.
Surges, sales and more
Certain areas in the country continue to serve as havens for luxury homes. Affluents continue to seek properties in areas like New York.
Super-prime sales surged across the globe during the first half of 2021, nearly surpassing all 2020 sales of $10 million-plus homes, according to Knight Frank.
During the first six months of 2021, 785 residential properties sold for at least $10 million across seven global cities. Transactions totaled $13.8 billion, with 202 super-prime sales in New York alone (see story).
Other areas across the country are made up primarily of luxury offerings.
Million-dollar homes account for the majority of real estate listings in three California cities as the demand for luxury homes has grown since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to new data from real estate platform Point2, San Francisco is the city with the highest share of home listings above $1 million while Los Angeles has the highest percentage of homes for sale above $5 million. Even small cities, those with populations between 50,000 and 53,000, are seeing rising median home prices (see story).
Redfin findings indicate that prices could continue to climb for the luxury and most-affordable sectors.
"With the pandemic eviction moratorium coming to an end and many Americans priced out of homeownership, investors are keen on buying up inexpensive properties and turning them into rentals," Dr. Fairweather said. "A relative abundance of homes hitting the market in both the most affordable and luxury tiers has also enabled purchases in these segments to flourish."


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Whitbread shares soared 19% in early morning trading on its surprise agreement to sell its Costa coffee chain to Coca-Cola for £3.9bn including debt.
The UK leisure group has been pressurised by activist investors - such as Elliott Advisors, which joined the shareholder register in April - to separate its business this year, prompting Whitbread to announce a demerger with Costa initially set to be listed as a separate business by 2020.
However, in a change of tack, the deal with Coca-Cola means Whitbread can now focus on the Premier Inn hotel business.
Costa was bought by Whitbread 23 years ago for £19m, and has since increased its chain from 39 outlets to over 2,400 in the UK and 1,400 in more than 30 international markets.
Chief executive Alison Brittain said the deal represented a "substantial premium" to what would have been achieved by demerging Costa.
Whitbread said a "significant majority" of the net cash from the deal, around £3.8bn, will be returned to shareholders, with proceeds also used to pay down debt, contribute to its pension fund and finance Premier Inn expansion plans.
By mid-morning Whitbread shares had seen a slight pullback to 4,663p up 16%.
Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said Whitbread got "a great price" and is "a quicker and cleaner process than a demerger".
"The timing of the deal by Whitbread will be seen by many as being astute, given that Costa Coffee was bought for £19m 23 years ago and sold at what could be a peak in the cycle after a couple of decades of strong growth in coffee market and the rise of the coffee culture," Miah said.
"However, some others will say that Whitbread may be too premature in selling given that Costa Coffee in China is set to experience strong growth in the next few years."
He added: "For Coca-Cola, the group obviously see value in the deal given that they lack exposure to the coffee industry and should be much better at further expanding the Costa Coffee brand given its global distribution networks.
"Whitbread investors can additionally look forward to the possibility some of the proceeds from the sale return to them. It will also appease activist investors who jumped on-board over the last year and pushed for the split, ultimately earning them a healthy return on investment."
Following the jump in Whitbread's share price today Miah said the stock is unlikely to rise much further.
"We continue to recommend Whitbread as a ‘hold' for medium-risk investors seeking a balanced return and willing to accept a medium level of risk."
The news will be welcomed by Blue Whale chief investment officer Stephen Yiu, who has said in the past he wants Whitbread to generate cash by offloading their properties to external parties and focus on fee-generating activities. At the time of the demerger announcement Whitbread comprised 3% of the LF Blue Whale Growth fund.
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In 2010, Verizon agreed to a deal with the NFL to live stream games to smartphones. The customers who paid for the service could view games that took place on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights only. Verizon and the National Football League have agreed to a new deal that will start in 2014 and will expand the amount of games that the consumers will be able to watch.
Verizon will pay the NFL $1 billion over four years to get the rights to air more games on consumers smartphones. The new deal applies to smartphones only, not tablets. Under the new deal, those who sign up for the service will be able to watch Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games. They will also have access to the NFL RedZone channel, NFL Network, all post-season games, and home-market games starting in the 2014 season. Currently Verizon costumers pay $5 a month to watch the NFL games on their smartphones. It is not known what the cost will be after this new deal takes effect.
On a Sunday afternoon during football season, I like to be on my couch watching the games on television. I'm sure most do. For those who can't be in front on the television when the games come on, the smartphone option seems great. I believe this new deal will benefit both the NFL and Verizon. The benefits to the NFL are obvious. They will make a billion dollars over four years by allowing Verizon to get access to the games. In addition to the financial benefits, the NFL will help to spread an already popular sport. For Verizon this deal is a bit of a risk. They are assuming that current trends of people consuming sports in nontraditional ways continues. I think this is a safe bet.


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MMTC Aiming for 20% of Indian CV Tyre Import Market
MMTC, the Indian state run trading company, has its sights set on between 15 and 20 per cent of Indian truck tyre import market. The company plans to take its slice of the pie by importing Chinese produced cross-ply (and importantly radial tyres) into the 120,000 unit market segment from April, the Hindu Business Line reported.
The news makes MMTC the first major outfit to start importing tyres into India. According to reports, while the import market is growing and is not insignificant in size (it is said to account for 13-14 per cent of the Indian domestic truck and bus tyre market), up till now tyre imports were shared between 35-odd smaller players. Some observers are suggesting that the move could result in the establishment of an important industry lobby, which could potentially have an effect on market-wide issues like the country’s radialisation rate, currently around 5 per cent.
According to market observers, monthly truck imports have increased from approximately 85,000 to between 120,000 and 140,000 tyres during the last eight months. Here it is interesting to note that some reports suggest the share of cross-ply tyres (against total imports) has come down to less than 30 per cent following imposition of a so-called anti-dumping duty in July 2007.
There are no details of which suppliers will be involved in the import business at this stage, but a company source told Business Line: “We intend to market a bouquet of brands ensuring consistent quality in various price segments.” In addition to marketing to large fleet-owners including the state transport corporations, MTTC is reportedly planning to set up its own retail dealer network.
Plans for MMTC company to import raw materials for the tyre manufacturing sector are apparently also being negotiated.


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Police arrested a Vacaville man Thursday, who authorities say is suspected of stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise from a local sporting goods store during the past few weeks.
Khang Le, 36, was taken into custody inside a home in the 600 block of Brazelton Drive after officers traced the license plate of a vehicle seen fleeing the scene of a robbery at the Sports Authority store in the 1000 block of Helen Power Drive, according to the Vacaville Police Department.
Police received a call around 3:49 p.m. that a theft had just taken place at the store, investigators reported. The caller told police the suspect, later identified as Le, allegedly took a shopping car full of merchandise and speed away from the store in a white Dodge pickup.
Another witness copied down the truck's license plate number, police said.
Officers traced the plate to a home in the 600 block of Brazelton Drive where the truck was registered and found the vehicle. police said. Officers then contacted Le inside the home, where they found property that police said was stolen in the theft, in addition to a "large amount of additional property from the same business."
As they continued their investigation, officers learned Le had made multiple trips to the same business during the past few weeks during which he allegedly stole more than $4,000 worth of merchandise, which police said they were able to recover.
Le was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Vacaville Police Department at 449-5200.
Follow Staff Writer Catherine Bowen at Twitter.com/cbowen4.


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With both sides so heavily invested in the case, neither company is likely to give in at this point, experts say.
Now the case will likely by decided by a jury of Apple and Samsung's "peers," but it's impossible to predict exactly how a jury will decide such a complex case.
Apple is accusing Samsung of infringing design patents for iPhone, iPad, and its operating system - basically patents on how the products look. It's also accusing Samsung of infringing three patents on the way its products are used.
In these types of complicated patent disputes, juries often just side with whichever party they might "buy a used car from," one expert told Business Insider.
But several experts said they would predict one winner if they had to.
Apple's lawyers presented this memo during the trial in which a Samsung executive said the difference between its products and Apple's was like that between "heaven and earth."
"It's a crisis of design," the memo stated.
Tech blog BGR also reported earlier this month that a 132-slide report internally assembled by Samsung repeatedly said its products should be more like Apple's.
The internal memos make it pretty tough for Samsung to argue that it "innocently" designed products that "looked so much like Apple's," intellectual property, analyst Florian Mueller told Business Insider.
"I think that's pretty damning evidence," Mueller said. "They [Samsung] just don't have a credible excuse that similarities between their product and Apple's were unintended."
University of Virginia law professor Chris Sprigman doesn't think Apple should necessarily win the patent case, in part because it never should have been allowed to patent some of the design features it did.
One of those design patents was for a "rectangular electronic device," and Sprigman contended Apple shouldn't have been able to patent a shape. "Why should Apple own the rectangle?"
But, he said, "If I had to predict, I think, at least in the district court, I'd rather have Apple's case than Samsung's."
When companies mimic one another's designs, they generally improve those designs and make better products, Sprigman said.
He pointed out that Apple itself has become prominent by "tweaking" other people's designs, noting Steve Jobs himself previously said the company was " shameless" about stealing other's ideas.
But the jurors might not view Samsung's alleged imitation that way, he added.
"In our culture, we just kind of have a dim view of people who copy," Sprigman said.
Apple's ultimate goal is likely to expose Samsung as a "willful infringer," or a company that copied another's work on purpose, according to Mueller, the patent expert.
But even if Apple wins the case, and Samsung is enjoined from using the patents, the South Korean company could simply switch to different designs, Mueller said.
"Apple wants to draw a line in the sand, but [an injunction] is not a strategic nuclear weapon in which you can force somebody out of the market," he said.


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Freight services and logistics provider UPS has formed a partnership with The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT). UPS will now be recognized as an official “Global Logistics Provider to IMTS and AMT.” AMT members and exhibitors at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) will benefit by harnessing the power of UPS’s infrastructure to enhance manufacturing technology trade around the globe.
“In AMT’s 110-year history, this is our first sponsorship with a global logistics provider,” said Peter Eelman, AMT Vice President – Exhibitions and Communications. “We are confident UPS will bring great value to AMT members and IMTS stakeholders. UPS is known for delivering innovative solutions that enable the agility and reliability that today’s dynamic global supply chain requires. They collaborate with local experts in international markets and optimize solutions with their diverse supplier base while continuing to integrate intelligent, data-driven technology and infrastructure to meet customer requirements.”
UPS has a practice serving the high-tech industry through reverse logistic and supply chain services. UPS also supports the tech industry though proximity warehousing which stores and delivers maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) parts for high-tech companies.
“Our team looks forward to working with AMT and its members to help them compete in a changing business environment,” says UPS Vice President of Marketing Derrick Johnson. “We have expertise in manufacturing logistics, and through this unique relationship we can help their members expand globally and enhance their supply chains.”
In recognition of the innovation UPS brings to logistics, they will be featured in the Emerging Technology Center (ETC) at IMTS 2014. The ETC will also feature Local Motors, who will actually manufacture its new city vehicle – the Boston Bullet – at the event, as well as interactive kiosks to showcase the new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). As plans take shape for IMTS 2014, AMT is thrilled to welcome UPS and its logistical expertise to this preeminent event.
In addition to IMTS, AMT members and IMTS exhibitors will notice increased participation by UPS at all key events.
UPS is also sponsoring the IMTS Exhibitor Workshop being held throughout the U.S. in January 2014. The workshop helps exhibitors prepare for IMTS, allowing them to fully capitalize on the unique opportunities provided by the industry’s largest and longest-running trade show. UPS representatives will be in attendance during these workshops to help educate exhibitors.


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Door prizes, vendor displays and tours of the NewLife Center and St. Francis Center for Infant and Child Health will be featured when St. Francis Health Center hosts its fourth annual Baby Fair from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday on the first floor of the hospital, 1700 S.W. 7th.
Participants should park in the garage and enter through Entry C.
Those who register at the event will receive a coupon for 30 percent off their purchase Saturday in the Babymoon Boutique, a store for new and expectant parents that features nursing bras, breast pumps and BPA-free baby bottles, among other baby-friendly items.
Community Actions’ Safe Kids will conduct free child safety seat inspections at Entry B. As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Infant Immunization Week, which ends Saturday, parents are encouraged to bring their infant’s immunization records. A pediatric nurse will check the records to ensure they are up to date, and the child will receive a free gift.
Various businesses that cater to babies, toddlers, and new and expectant parents will showcase their merchandise and answer questions.


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Exclusive new research from HIM and MCA suggests convenience will add £475m in food-to-go sales over the next three years – but will see its share of the market fall.
The burgeoning UK food-to-go (FTG) market will continue to outperform the total UK eating out market and grow 2.7% in 2020 to a value of £21.7bn, according to research from the MCA and HIM Food-to-go Market Report 2020. Within convenience retail, the sector is forecast to grow £475m over the next three years, from £6.2bn in 2019 to £6.7bn in 2023. However, this represents a fall in share of the total market: to 28.3% by 2023 as convenience retail fails to keep up with its FTG rivals.
The report, which was based on data that included 144,000 online surveys, reveals convenience retail remains the number one channel for lunch and snack occasions, but share is slipping at snack occasions – a daypart that is traditionally vital for convenience store retailers. Although still accounting for one third of snack visits, local retailers and supermarkets are losing share to coffee shops and cafés for this shopping occasion.
Blonnie Walsh, Head of Insight at MCA Insight & HIM says, “Convenience retail continues to be the biggest shareholder of the UK food-to-go market, highlighting strong demand from consumers and considerable growth opportunities for retailers – particularly with the £475m growth forecast over the next three years. However, frequency is declining and with participation arguably reaching its peak, retailers are under pressure to find ways of increasing spend to mitigate a drop in FTG footfall.”
“Value for money continues to grow in importance and is an area that is considered synonymous with convenience retail in the context of food-to-go. In particular, meal deals are the number one mechanic for promotions. However, foodservice specialists are using innovation and technology to improve their offer beyond the traditional meal deal that has remained a staple within a c-store offering.”
“Offering a wider variety of products within an FTG range is critical to success. Health has changed the landscape of FTG, with growth in vegetarian and vegan options, as well as other dietary requirements. In fact, 15% of FTG visitors have dietary requirements, so failure to offer a wider, more diverse range will see frequency continue to fall.”


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Startup entrepreneurs spark Boston business networking
G. Valentino Ball | 7/2/2013, 11:29 a.m.
“We noticed that there was nothing out there if you just had an idea,” Randolph said. “There [are] no resources for you if you’re not two years in existence. You don’t have revenue. There was no one who helped you from the point of idea to the point of execution.”
From their experiences the creation of community is key to success. The ability to bounce ideas off others in the same boat can be the difference.
“There are a few things you need when you start a business: a cohesive environment, a rich place that has resources that has community and also you need a place to work,” Randolph said. “We all know that guy who has been trying to start his business working from his kitchen table. You need a place where you can focus.”
Dorchester resident Leticia Richards, founder of health-consultation company Peace of Food Wellness, is one entrepreneur who has gotten into the game.
As a health coach that specializes in vegan nutrition, Richards felt Boston was in need of her business.
According to her, eating well shouldn’t be a luxury but a way of life – and she has been working to spread the gospel of getting healthy through good eating.
“When you visit other major cities like New York, you can find a juice bar on every corner,” Richards said. “I feel like people are more health conscious. But in Boston it’s missing.”
But filling that gap has proven to be a difficult road, Richards said.
“When you are a small business you have to work hard at getting your name out there,” Richards said. “You have to be serious about it. You have to wear a million hats and do a million jobs.”
Richards said she hopes to expand into beauty products under her healthy lifestyle company. More important, Richards said she remains optimistic about her chances of success in Boston.
“Boston is a great place to start your business, especially if you are passionate about it,” she said. “You have to be passionate or else nothing is going to happen.”


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Don’t believe everything you see. It turns out even your computer monitor can be hacked.
On Friday, researchers at DEF CON presented a way to manipulate the tiny pixels found on a computer display. Ang Cui and Jatin Kataria of Red Balloon Security were curious how Dell monitors worked and ended up reverse-engineering one.
They picked apart a Dell U2410 monitor and found that the display controller inside can be used to change and log the pixels across the screen. During their DEF CON presentation, they showed how the hacked monitor could seemingly alter the details on a web page. In one example, they changed a PayPal’s account balance from $0 to $1 million, when in reality the pixels on the monitor had simply been reconfigured.
It wasn't exactly an easy hack to pull off. To discover the vulnerability, both Cui and Kataria spent their spare time over two years, conducting research and understanding the technology inside the Dell monitor. However, they also looked at monitors from other brands, including Samsung, Acer and Hewlett Packard, and noticed that it was theoretically possible to hack them in the same manner as well.
The key problem lies in the monitors’ firmware, or the software embedded inside. “There’s no security in the way they update their firmware, and it’s very open,” said Cui, who is also CEO of Red Balloon. The exploit requires gaining access to the monitor itself, through the HDMI or USB port. Once done, the hack could potentially open the door for other malicious attacks, including ransomware.
For instance, cyber criminals could emblazon a permanent message on the display, and ask for payment to remove it, Kataria said. Or they could even spy on users' monitors, by logging the pixels generated. However, the two researchers said they made their presentation to raise awareness about computer monitor security. They've posted the code to their research online. “Is monitor security important? I think it is,” Cui said. Dell couldn't be reached for immediate comment.


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Eskom will soon launch a crowdsourcing digital platform to supplement its existing skills base.
Employees at companies that participate in a four-day work week pilot will work 80 percent of their current hours for 100 percent of their current pay. Shoprite’s delivery service Sixty60 has created over 6,000 jobs since its launch in late 2019 and Eskom will soon launch a crowdsourcing digital platform to supplement its existing skills base to help address its operational challenges.
Automotive industry nurtures engineering skills
The Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC EC) has started on the development of a regional five-year masterplan to nurture the engineering skills needed to support manufacturing in South Africa as the automotive industry transitions to future mobility, including electric vehicles (EVs).
The masterplan framework identifies the key elements of a common, integrated engineering offering from high school to the institutions of higher learning in the Eastern Cape. The province houses several vehicle manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Isuzu, Ford and FAW, and contributes 38 percent of the country’s total vehicle production and 50 percent of its exports.
Pioneer pilot of four-day work week
Research suggests that participating companies will achieve 100 percent of their current output, while saving money. They may also help solve unemployment, make life easier for single mothers, and contribute to reducing climate change, among other benefits.
“I would argue this is not actually rocket science,” Andrew Barnes, author of The 4 Day Week: How the Flexible Work Revolution Can Increase Productivity, Profitability and Well-being, and Create a Sustainable Future, said at the launch of the project this week. “If you have a more engaged, more empowered, more focused workforce, they will deliver more output than one that isn’t.”
Sixty60 creates over 6,000 jobs since launch
The Shoprite Group delivery service Sixty60 has created 6,299 new job opportunities since its launch in late 2019.
The group says it has more than 145,000 employees across its thousands of stores and network distribution centres across Africa, making it the largest South African retailer by market capitalisation, sales, profit, and the number of employees and customers.
It said it continues to invest in creating jobs and providing thousands of young people with retail skills into 2022.
Eskom turns to crowdsourcing to add to skills base
Eskom will soon launch a crowdsourcing digital platform to supplement its existing skills base to help address its operational challenges.
According to the state-owned power entity, the platform will act as a skills database to acquire additional expertise and resolve its urgent business needs, and leverage partnerships with statutory and non-statutory bodies to ensure that it can access the best candidates in the electricity supply industry, engineering and technical professions.
“Eskom is in the process of matching the skills that have already been made available to its needs and will be recruiting the suitable candidates imminently,” said Eskom group chief executive, André de Ruyter.


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Crypto fanatic, writer and researcher. Thinks that Blockchain is second to a digital camera on the list of greatest inventions.
The company celebrated a decade of its robotics division, which was essentially created when it acquired Kiva Systems, this week at its annual Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas.
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced its “first fully autonomous mobile robot”, dubbed Proteus, which, according to the company, can safely navigate around without hindering human employees, unlike some of its past robots.
The Proteus robot, according to Amazon, has “superior safety, vision, and navigation technologies,” and was designed to move around Amazon’s facilities on its own, with or without carrying carts full of packages. In a video posted on their website, the newly designed Proteus would stop moving when a person gets in front of them and then resume after the person moves away, thanks to a green beam equipped in front of them as they move around.
“Proteus autonomously moves through our facilities using advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology developed by Amazon. The robot was built to be automatically directed to perform its work and move around employees, meaning it does not need to be confined to restricted areas. It can operate in a manner that augments simple, safe interaction between technology and people, opening up a broader range of possible uses to help our employees, such as the lifting and movement of GoCarts, the non-automated, wheeled transports used to move packages through our facilities,” Amazon stated in a blog post.
The company has been aiming to automate the handling of its package carts so that fewer employees would need to carry them manually throughout its facilities. Warehouse robotics and automation saw a sharp rise amid the pandemic, and Amazon Robotics, for almost a decade, has been a driving force in the sector, emphasizing that its robots were made to make workplaces safer for people.
“From the early days of the Kiva acquisition, our vision was never tied to a binary decision of people or technology. Instead, it was about people and technology working safely and harmoniously together to deliver for our customers,” the company stated on its website.
The company celebrated a decade of its robotics division, which was essentially created when it acquired Kiva Systems, this week at its annual Re:Mars conference in Las Vegas. More than 520,000 robotic drive units have been installed by Amazon Robotics across its fulfillment and sorting centers throughout its existence.
Amazon has enjoyed success in the company’s aim toward same-and next-day package delivery, thanks to its robotics division, which has prompted the competition to search for their own third-party robot solutions, supporting businesses like Locus, Fetch, and Berkshire Grey.
Several further robotic systems have also been announced by Amazon. One of them, Cardinal, is a robotic arm that Amazon plans to utilize in warehouses next year and can lift and transport products weighing up to 50 pounds. The company claims that it can pick out and lift certain parcels even when they are piled up thanks to its computer vision systems.


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Coinbase stated in a June 15 tweet that it now provides 4% rewards on USDC.
Coinbase’s newly elevated reward price implies that the corporate has roughly doubled its beforehand provided returns on USD Coin (USDC).
As lately as June 9, the corporate’s web site stated that prospects may solely earn 2% on USDC bought or held in a Coinbase account.
Coinbase stated in the present day that reward charges are topic to alter and famous that essentially the most up-to-date charges could be seen inside buyer accounts. The corporate has not added the 4% reward price to the newest model of its public USDC web page.
The reward program’s necessities — equivalent to eligible areas, minimal USDC balances, and account necessities — could be seen on Coinbase’s assist pages.
USDC rewards not named in SEC case
Lately, the SEC charged Coinbase and alleged that a number of of its actions violate securities choices. In a single cost, it stated that Coinbase’s staking service, which permits customers to earn curiosity on cryptocurrency, constitutes an unregistered securities providing.
Coinbase’s web page distances USDC rewards from the focused providers, stating: “You can’t stake USDC, however … could also be eligible to earn rewards on USDC.”
Although the SEC didn’t goal the corporate’s USDC reward program in its newest case, the regulator prevented Coinbase from launching its comparable Lend program in 2021. That program would have seen Coinbase lend out customers’ USDC as a way to present rewards to customers; it by the way meant to supply 4% APY curiosity as properly.
Nonetheless, Coinbase funds its USDC rewards program with its personal funds. Coinbase is a member of the CENTRE consortium, which is accountable for USDC.
The submit Coinbase doubles USDC rewards to 4% amid SEC scrutiny on staking providers appeared first on CryptoSlate.


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The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley threw some shade at Metal Gear Solid V publisher Konami after the company reportedly blocked series creator Hideo Kojima from accepting an award for the game.
Things have been weird between Konami and Kojima since long before the release of the game, when Konami took the creator’s name off the box. The Los Angeles branch of his studio, Konami subsidiary Kojima Productions, was shut down earlier this year, and Konami has claimed Kojima has been “on vacation” since then. Even though MGS V won Best Action/Adventure Game during the show, Kiefer Sutherland, who voices protagonist Snake in the game, accepted the award on Kojima’s behalf.
Keighley gave what seemed like an off-the-cuff explanation of why Kojima wasn’t present, explaining that Kojima was watching from Tokyo, but a Konami lawyer told him he wasn’t allowed to accept the award in person. Kojima is still under an employment contract with Konami apparently.
Keighley’s announcement kicked up quite a bit of Konami hate on the internet—more than usual, anyway. Konami still owns the Metal Gear Solid name and seems like it may continue to make games in the series, but without Kojima attached. And fans may jump ship on the series just like Kojima has.


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Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
Irreverent Labs aims to change the game industry with some very fancy looking chickens.
Born from the mind of Voodoo PC founder Rahul Sood, the Seattle-based blockchain game company has unveiled its first game: MechaFightClub. The characters are mechanical-looking roosters that are reminiscent of cock fighting, but Sood thinks of them as hilarious figures in a cruelty-free combat sport.
MechaFightClub’s chickens are mechabots with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which use blockchain to verify the uniqueness of each chicken. The title is a “play-to-earn” game, where players can own the characters that they buy and profit from them if they can resell them to someone else once they’re leveled up.
The game is set in a dystopian future dominated by extraterrestrial mechabots. When a global resistance hacks the 41,000 remaining chicken-shaped mechabots, these weapons of war are redistributed to the public as “weapons of mass entertainment.”
The 2nd Annual GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming Summit and GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2
It takes place in 2065, after extraterrestrials make their first contact with Earthy. They deemed humanity finally worthy of joining the interstellar races of the galaxy. And then the aliens realized they seriously overestimated humanity. They left, and abandoned Earth. But they left behind some technology for the humans to figure out.
“It’s sort of like Free Guy where they’re artificially intelligent non-player characters (NPCs),” Sood said.
Sood thinks of MechaFightClub as Mortal Kombat meets Gundam Wing with a dash of South Park’s irreverent sensibility.
MFC players will collect, train and battle combat robots in a futuristic, mixed martial arts inspired experience. Each mechabot develops unique fighting styles, abilities and preferences over the course of its life, utilizing machine learning to give each NFT a lifelike personality on and off the battlefield, Sood said.
“To me, artificially intelligent entertainment being created is super interesting,” he said. “I think this is where gaming is going. And no one else has done this yet. We’re going to be the first to do it.”
It’s a bit of a wacky idea. But the company has 20 people, including a small design team in Seattle and developers in Ukraine. And Sood has raised $5 million.
“There’s a reason why we call ourselves Irreverent Labs,” Sood said. “We don’t want people to take us seriously and take offense to what we’re doing. We want people to have a sense of humor.”
Players battle and train in the Cockpit — where mechabots practice — with professional-tier tournaments regularly hosted in the metaverse’s premiere fighting stage, the Cocktagon. (Yeah, that’s kind of a weird name).
Later, both types of battles will offer AR, VR and traditional viewing options.
The mechabots play-to-earn by fighting for human audiences; owners can spend those rewards in game or withdraw them to decentralized exchanges. In addition, top-performing mechabots earn tournament prizes funded by nearly every purchase in MFC.
In addition to combat, MechaFightClub will include gamified breeding. Benefitting from play-to-earn mechanics, MFC players will be able to breed their bots with those owned by other players.
Mechabots’ forms, colors and rare mutations are set in a breeding process modeled after real biological and evolutionary principles. Every mechabot NFT has a digital provenance card filled with statistics, rarity and ownership information.
The combination of advanced AI personalities, spectator options and kaiju-inspired 3D art, will make MechaFightClub into the largest fight club in the metaverse, Sood said.
It’s an interesting switch for Sood, the creator of Microsoft Ventures, founder of Voodoo PC (acquired by HP) and the esports gambling firm Unikrn (acquired by Entain).
Sood said he thinks of the title as the fighting game of his science fiction dreams. He originally started working on the title as a fun project with his son. Then they took it more seriously and started to build it into an NFT game and founded a company around it. Then Sood stared teamig up with some talented game developers.
The idea was building a cockfighting game with robots. The idea is reminiscent of gambling on cockfights. While other game developers shy away from gambling, Sood said he likes gambling and thinks it goes together well with games and esports. He hopes to link the game to other parties like fantasy sports wagering companies.
MFC will begin whitelisting players from its early-bird community in January leading up to the Genesis drop, which will distribute 6,969 eggs to whitelisted players. The company has set up its own club in Discord.
In the long term, Sood said the goal is to create highly intelligent, extremely fun 100-year gaming experiences.
Sood said the game is built on the blockchain because it is at its core a collectables game. The game resembles Warhammer or Heroclix, where the main way you interact with the game economy is
collection and customization of a fighter (or mechabot).
However, unlike traditional collectibles games, every collectible in MFC is totally unique. They’re totally unique not just because of the contents of their models and related metadata, but also because each mechabot has an individual artificial intelligence that houses millions of personal experiences unique to that mechabot, and the mechabot has learned from every one of those unique experiences. They also have their own simulated genetic code.
The NFT is intended to mean that no two versions of those tokens are the same. These can uniquely identify the characters. That’s important because MFC’s mechabots will be so artificially intelligent, so genetically rich, so individualistic that they will be more akin to living, breathing creatures, Sood said.
The blockchain means players can trust that the company is creating what it says it is, and it permits players to take individual ownership of their mechabot and utilize it however they want, including selling, staking or even using in other blockchain applications.
Sood said it has better security, ensures that game records will persist, and it enables the company to throttle mechabot population to ensure a compelling metagame and good fight economy (which would be very difficult to do with a client-side application).
It also prevents cheating in public fights because MFC fights will not look at client-side data to determine fight outcomes, meaning players cannot modify local files to impact fight outcomes. And it lets players collect real rewards earned by their mechabots in the ring, using a play-to-earn model.
Sood said the game design in conjunction with decentralized blockchain means players are able to collect rewards even while offline because the AI mechabot continues to play and earn independently of the owner.
“We would not be able to do this without a decentralized, blockchain model,” Sood said.
Irreverent Labs is working with the Solana blockchain, which has an ecosystem that is popular with games and processes transactions faster.
Sood acknowledged some gamers are resisting blockchain and NFT games out of a variety of concerns, from crytpo scams to environmental costs. (Solana says it has an extremely low energy usage — the energy from one Ethereum transaction, you could process over 401,000 Solana transactions. Solana is also overall carbon-neutral). Over time, he hopes that gamers will come around.
One of his cofounders is David Raskino, who worked with Sood at Microsoft Ventures. Raskino brought some expertise in AI in a field dubbed agent simulation. That is the basis for the AI brains of the chicken-like creatures. The game is being built in 3D in Unity. The game brings together breeding, arena fighting, AI, and leveling up mechanics.
“Every character in the game is an artificially intelligent NPC that is living on the blockchain as an NFT,” Sood said. “As the player are, your job is to learn about your character in the game. And your character has pretty complete AI, with its own DNA and personality.”
The company hopes to target a young generation of gamers who are also technology enthusiasts. They may have dipped into cryptocurrency, but they love playing games.
Sood hopes that content creators in particular will like the game and support it — and in turn benefit from it. Sood studies gamse such as Zed Run and Axie Infinity.
“What makes us different is that we’re able to do a proper game,” Sood said. “We’re able to attract the right talent.”