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MicroStrategy has adhered thickly and thinly to its Bitcoin strategy. Every dip now appears to be a buying opportunity for a company that has thrown its weight entirely behind bitcoin. His CEO Michael Saylor is a maximalist who believes that Bitcoin is the future. MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin investment increased throughout the year to more than 100K bitcoins.
Even now, the company continues to improve its digital position. CEO Michael Saylor announced that the company purchased a further 5,050 bitcoins, bringing the company’s total assets to around 114,042 bitcoins. Around $242 million was bought for the 5,050 Bitcoins, averaging $48,098 per BTC. This brings to $3.6 billion the total amount of the company’s Digital Assets. Everyone receives $27,713 per coin at an average price.
MicroStrategy has refused at any time to sell its crypto stocks. With every price decrease, crashes do not appear to be in the company as they invest more in the asset. This recent acquisition demonstrates its dedication to bitcoin’s long-term growth. Saylor also has an interest in the asset both individually and institutionally and is one of the most vocal supporters of digital currency.
MicroStrategy is making all of the right moves
MicroStrategy appears to have abandoned traditional assets in favor of Bitcoin investment. According to a Bitcoinist report, the firm would have made more money if it had invested in gold, one of the most well-known traditional investments, instead of bitcoin. Since bitcoin has consistently outperformed gold by at least 200 percent year over year over the last few years, MicroStrategy’s investment would yield far less in terms of return. Alternatively, as the report shows, the company would be losing money at this point.
Comparisons between the digital asset and gold from March to June 2020, when the firm first invested in bitcoin, show what the investment’s current value would be. MicroStrategy invested approximately $2 billion in bitcoin, which has now increased by more than 376 percent in a year. On the other hand, if the firm had invested $2 billion in a traditional asset such as gold, it would have lost 80% of its total value.
This is due to the fact that gold has provided negative returns on investment over the last year. As a result, any investment in the asset would be a loss. The success of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin investment has also helped the company’s bottom line. Not only has its investment outperformed gold, but the company as a whole has outperformed gold in the market.
MicroStrategy’s stock has increased 428 percent in the year since the launch of its bitcoin fund. Outperforming both the NASDAQ and the S& P 500. MicroStrategy is the leading corporate investor in bitcoin at the moment.


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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Wednesday that the world's second largest economy is not heading for a hard landing.
As the Chinese economy has entered a state of new normal, the shift of growth gear from high speed to medium-to-high speed reflects the profound adjustment of the world economy, and is consistent with the law of economics, Li said in a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.
In 2015, China plans to withstand downward pressure and continue with its strategic focus, added the premier.
"We will continue to pursue a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy," Li said. "We will step up anticipatory adjustment and fine-tuning as well as targeted macro-regulation, in order to stabilize economic growth, upgrade its structure and achieve better quality and performance."
For the Chinese economy to maintain medium-to-high speed of growth and achieve medium-to-high level of development, Li said, China must properly use the hand of the government and the hand of the market, and give full scope to both the traditional and new engines of growth.
"To foster a new engine of growth," Li said, "we need to encourage mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and mobilize the wisdom and power of the people."
"To transform the traditional engine of growth, we need to focus on increasing the supply of public goods and services, and strengthening the weak link of the economy," the premier said.
China, he added, will continue to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and open up its service sector, central and western regions as well as the capital market wider to the outside world.
"China will encourage its companies to explore the international market, and work for common development with other countries through greater openness towards each other," Li said.
Li arrived here Tuesday for the WEF gathering in this ski resort and a working visit to Switzerland.
This year's WEF winter meeting, which opened Wednesday, will run till Saturday under the overarching theme "The New Global Context."
Over 2,500 participants from across the world are expected to attend the event and exchange views on a wide range of issues, including global economy, environmental protection and non-conventional security.

domain: news


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Game developers have been trying to figure out how to paddle their way through pirate-infested waters for decades. DRM, “glitches” designed to thwart pirates, and more DRM have done little to stem the tide. Seeing this, a handful of developers took less combative approaches, putting their games on sites like the…
We see a lot of deals on home theater bias lights, but even by our standards, $9 is insanely cheap for an RGB model. Just stick it to the back of your TV, plug it into a USB port, and control it with the included remote.
Still having a hard time finding a Nintendo Switch in stores? Or maybe you’re tired of waiting for Nintendo’s promised online store full of retro games? Tim Lindquist took things into his own hands and built a Nintendo Switch clone from scratch that can emulate games from over 50 classic systems.
Have you seen this Twitter account from General John Kelly, President Trump’s chief of staff? Some tweets from the account have started to go viral on conservative Twitter in recent days, as it gains followers at a rapid pace. But it’s totally fake.
The Hellboy reboot expands its cast. The comic book inspiration behind the Venom movie may have been revealed. Chris Carter teases Langley’s weird return in The X-Files. Plus, a new clip from Thor: Ragnarok, behind-the-scenes on Justice League, and a new teaser for Ash vs. Evil Dead’s return. To me, my Spoilers!
Eero basically invented the mesh router market, and their new wireless system is a marked improvement from the already impressive original.
The US Federal Aviation Administration wants the world’s airlines to stop letting passengers put large electronic devices like laptops in checked bags on international flights. The proposal, which will no doubt upset some frequent travelers, will be considered by the United Nations in the coming weeks.
Installing wind turbines on the high seas is the holy grail for generating renewable energy. It’s there that powerful winds blow strong enough to potentially power the whole world without an iota of carbon pollution.
Just over 10 years ago, television producer Steve Molaro ordered a pizza from the Domino’s website. Like anyone using the online system, he made his selections with a set of radio buttons labeled “whole,” “left,” “right,” and “none.” He selected “none” cheese. He selected “none” sauce. And he selected “left” beef.
There are tons of untold Doctor Who stories out there—but none have ever captivated fans quite so much as the almost-aired “Shada.” In the nearly 40 years since it was originally canceled, it has become legendary among Who fans, and a story the BBC has frequently tried to tell, including in a new animated version due…
If you still haven’t upgraded your morning routine up a life-changing wake-up light, Philips’ entry level model just got a huge price drop.
Lyft announced today that Alphabet’s investment arm CapitalG—formerly known as Google Capital—led a $1 billion investment round in the ride-sharing company.
If physics were complete as-is, the Universe wouldn’t exist. All particles would have found their antiparticle pairs and annihilated into a burst of energy. Matter and antimatter look like exact mirror images of one another, after all. There’s no difference between a particle and its antiparticle partner aside from…
Senate lawmakers on Thursday unveiled their first major legislative effort to increase transparency in online political advertising, called the Honest Ads Act. Sponsored by Senators Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar, and John McCain, the bill attempts to align rules for online advertising with those broadcast on television…
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center has issued its forecast for the 2017-18 winter season and, for the second year in a row, La Niña is poised to be a major factor in how the season shapes up. In general, the forecasters are predicting a cooler, wetter north, and a warmer, drier south.
On Wednesday—for only the second time—the Food and Drug Administration approved a cutting-edge therapy that genetically modifies a patient’s blood cells in order to attack cancer. This time the therapy, known as CAR T-cell therapy, is designed to treat aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma.


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Apple has already started seeding beta versions of the next major iOS 7 firmware update, iOS 7.1, and according to a latest rumor it has already seeded iOS 7 beta 3 to various testing partners. As of now this build has not been seeded to developers because it hasn’t been long since Apple rolled out iOS 7 beta 2, that particular build was seeded to developers on December 13th. According to a “trusted source” who spoke to BGR, iOS 7.1 beta 3 includes important bug fixes as well as a several new features, however they have not been described.
The same source claims that iOS 7.1 will not be publicly released until March 2014. It was previously believed that this update might be rolled out for all iOS users in January, but that timeframe has now been contradicted. It is also unclear if iOS 7.1 beta 3 patches the exploit that has been used to achieve the iOS 7 untethered jailbreak that was released just yesterday. While it can go either way, Apple usually patches the exploits soon after the jailbreak has been released. There also exists the possibility that the company might not wait for iOS 7.1 and simply release an incremental update that patches the exploit. iOS 7.1 is going to be the first major update ever since iOS 7.0 was released back in September.
Filed in iOS 7.1.. Read more about


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The Arcadia-owned fashion retailer partnered with early stage investor L Marks to launch the boot camp-type platform earlier this summer, challenging start-ups to present wearable tech that’s fashionable, functional and affordable.
At the end of the program, participants had the opportunity to pitch their product to Arcadia chairman Sir Philip Green—and The Crated came up trumps.
Founded in 2013 by Madison Maxey and based out of the Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, The Crated works on making smart fabrics a reality by applying stretchable and flexible conductive materials to textiles. The company’s core innovation, called InteliTex, features washable, patent-pending technology that can create soft, flexible and comfortable heated blazers for cold winters.
“We’re excited that big, high-street retailers like Topshop are seeing wearables as something that’s more than a gimmick but as a true and useful consumer product sector,” Maxey told Wareable. “Being part of the Top Pitch program allowed us to understand how Topshop is viewing the smart clothing market and how start-ups like ourselves can create tools and technologies that feed into that view.”
Sheena Sauvaire, Topshop’s global marketing and communications director, noted, “The Crated achieved the balance between style and function; its focus on textiles to create next generation smart clothing using heat technology is simple, with a clear purpose for the consumer.”
— The Crated (@TheCrated) August 22, 2016
Layered looks and practical items come together for S/S’18 menswear trends.Read more
DownTek ZeroPFC expands with Enlightened Equipment, Applied DNA gets a major order and Gore-Tex grows its sustainable portfolio.Read more
JC Penney is facilitating a more transparent supply chain with its latest certification.Read more
Now that Trump has pulled the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the implications for the fashion industry—one of the leading sources of pollution—are complicated.Read more
A study from the International Institute for Sustainable Development shows that voluntary environmental standards are growing across select agricultural sectors, but remain a marginal force across global production.Read more
Athletic footwear brands are stepping up to promote better working conditions worldwide.Read more
Under Armour appointed Patrik Frisk as the company’s new president and COO. Plus, Finish Line, Inc. announced its Q1 fiscal year 2018 results.Read more


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GST collection October: The government has collected Rs 1.72 lakh crore from Goods and Services Tax (GST) in October 2023. This is 13% more than a year ago i.e. October 2022. Then Rs 1.51 lakh crore was collected from GST. A month ago in September, the government collected Rs 1.63 lakh crore from GST.
Till now the highest GST collection was in April 2023, when this figure had crossed Rs 1.87 lakh crore. Apart from this, the country’s GST collection has remained above Rs 1.4 lakh crore for 20 consecutive months. This is the 8th consecutive time that the revenue collection has been above Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
What the Finance Ministry said
The Finance Ministry said, ‘GST collection in October 2023 has been Rs 1,72,003 crore. Of this, CGST was Rs 30,062 crore, SGST was Rs 38,171 crore, IGST was Rs 91,315 crore (including Rs 42,127 crore collected on import of goods) and cess was Rs 12,456 crore. Cess includes Rs 1294 crore received from the import of goods.
GST collection for FY24
In the financial year 2023-24 i.e. in the last 7 months, a total GST collection of Rs 11.65 lakh crore has been done so far. If we talk about the entire financial year 2022-23, the total GST collection was Rs 18.10 lakh crore.
When GST was implemented?
GST is an indirect tax. It was implemented in 2017 to replace a variety of previous indirect taxes (VAT), service tax, purchase tax, excise duty and many other indirect taxes. GST has four slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28%.


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John Sperzel has been named the new CEO of ITC Nexus Dx, a global provider of point of care testing systems and advanced diagnostic solutions. Sperzel was most recently president of Axis-Shield USA, which focuses on POC immunoassay systems and whose parent company has been a takeover target of Alere.
"I am honored to lead ITC Nexus Dx as Chief Executive Officer," said Sperzel. "We have a history of innovation in Point of Care testing and our products and services provide unique solutions to customers around the world. The people at ITC Nexus Dx are the cornerstone of our company and we will pursue product quality and innovation, operational excellence and customer satisfaction with passion and focus."
In addition to his time at Axis-Shield, Sperzel held positions at Bayer Diagnostics, Instrumentation Laboratory and Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics (Roche).
Meanwhile, Sperzel's former company has been rebuffing Alere's £230 million ($375 million) takeover bid, viewing the offer as too low. The rivals have competing tests; Alere's Cholestech LDX machine competes with Axis-Shield's Afinion system, for example. Analysts believe Alere might have to pay more for Axis-Shield. Sebastien Jantet, an analyst at Investec Securities, thinks £285 million might be a fair price for the company.
- see the release on Sperzel


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Analysts at Macquarie Research believe that about 50% of people in the United States will be members of Amazon's Prime subscription service by 2020.
Prime costs $99 a year and gives customers free, two-day shipping on millions of items, as well as access to of thousands of free TV shows, movies, music, and books and unlimited cloud storage for photos. Macquarie based its bullish estimate off the fact that Amazon said that Prime memberships increased 53% in 2014, on a base of at least 20 million members (it believes that ~20-25% of US households already have Prime right now). It thinks Amazon Prime membership will continue to see a 12% compound annual growth rate.
Here's Macquarie's chart:
If Amazon could actually achieve this, it would be huge.
An oft-quoted 2014 study from RBC Capital showed that Prime members spend nearly twice as much on Amazon as non-Prime members do. That's how Amazon makes money off of Prime: The $99 price tag doesn't cover the cost of all of its services. A more recent CIRP study upped the ante, concluding that Prime members spend more than double what non-members do. If Amazon could actually rope 50% of Americans into joining Prime, its revenue would swell enormously.
Amazon has spent the last year amping up its digital offerings for Amazon Prime, including spending more than $100 million on original video content exclusive to Prime members, to try to encourage more people to sign-up.
Here's Macquarie's full rationale:
Prime Growth. The most important number that we heard anywhere in the last 12 months is 53%. 53% is the growth of worldwide paid Prime memberships in 2014 (50% in the US). We think this is important.
- 20-25% of all US households are currently Prime, and it is still growing rapidly. Given that we know AMZN had at least 20mm members as of the end of 2013, 53% growth means that there are a minimum of 30.6mm and likely closer to 40mm Prime members worldwide.
- Assuming that ~75% of members are in the US, then ~20%-25% of all US households are already Prime. As this number continues to grow, this will have significant competitive implications and even serious socio-economic impacts. What happens when 50% of all US homes are Prime?
- By 2020, ~50% of US households could be Prime. Assuming a US Prime CAGR of 12% from 2015-2020, we estimate that 40%-52% of US households will be Prime members. That has far-reaching implications.
- Notably, 10mm+ people tried Prime for the first time just in 4Q’14. Many of these would be on trial accounts. So while not all convert to paying members, many that will were not counted in the 53% growth number.
- Prime Features to Grow, incl. telco? In ’14, AMZN added nearly a dozen new features to Prime. Given the ramp in Prime members, we expect AMZN to double-down on Prime investment, including more video and potentially significant new benefits such as linking Prime with a new phone offering (MVNO?).


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Siam Piwat, a local leading retail property developer and operator of Siam Paragon, Siam Centre and Siam Discovery Centre, said it will consider all potential possibilities of overseas expansion, Chollachat Meksupha, first executive vice president of Siam Piwat’s business development and investment division, said.
The company will also spend approximately Bt4 billion in the development of its first premium mall in the eastern part of Bangkok in partnership with US-based Simon Property Group. The 150-rai (24-hectare) mall will be located close to Suvarnabhumi Airport and should be opened by the end of next year.
Outlets for premium brands will cover around 30,000 square metres of retail space, while in the second and third phases – construction of which will begin two years later – retail space will expand by another 7,000sqm and 5,000sqm respectively.
Meanwhile, Chollachat said property developers from other countries, namely China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar, have approached Siam Piwat seeking possible partnership for the development of shopping malls.
“Once our big shopping mall project, Iconsiam, opens officially in November, then we will reconsider potential overseas projects based on appropriate criteria, such as partner profile, project location, concept and market situation,” Chollachat said.
He said that compared to other neighbouring countries, Vietnam showed the highest potential because it has a mature retail sector along with a rising middle class and increasing number of business corporations.
Overseas expansion is part of the company’s expansion roadmap, and Siam Piwat’s strategy is to focus on collaboration with leading international partners to strengthen its business and reinforce its vision as “the icon of innovative lifestyle” in Thailand’s retail and real-estate industry.
“Over the past four years, we [Siam Piwat] have been operating in accordance with the roadmap laid out to drive long-term growth. We continue studying the feasibility of premium real-estate projects in prime locations. We focus on new businesses including world-class entertainment, arts and culture, and different retail formats that can create added value and benefit our partners’ businesses, surrounding communities and the country. For both domestic and overseas projects, we are seeking joint ventures with global partners who can bring expertise, help revolutionise our offerings and diversify our portfolio, which now consists of fashion, cosmetics, food and beverage, as well as auditoriums,” Chollachat said. “However, we have no definite timeline for overseas expansion. It depends on opportunities and projects being offered by potential partners.”
Uchenna Akujuo, director for international development and finance of Simon Property Group, said its success in the development of premium outlets relied in its strong relationship with top brands in the world.
He said Simon Property Group posted US$5.5 billion (Bt179.5 billion) in total revenue last year. International portfolio accounts for about 10 per cent of its net earnings.


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August 5, 2022
Canada’s Urbanibrands, the team that developed the popular Noble Jerky, has leaked a brief statement revealing that it will launch a line of “hyper-realistic vegan ribeye steaks under the brand Misteak®” following two years of intensive R&D.
Desribed as a whole muscle product that mimics the marbling and texture of a premium butcher shop style steak, the first product in the launch is said to be a “juicy and tender ribeye-style steak that has dry aged texture found in conventional meat offerings”. The alt steak will reportedly enter both retail and foodservice, to be available initially at specialty stores and high-end restaurants.
Noble Jerky hit the plant-based headlines last year when the brand pivoted to a vegan recipe in May and saw its revenues soar by 70%, creating such demand that by August the company experienced short-term supply issues. Following its success in the US, the jerky rolled out into Canadian retail in October with a Walmart launch.
“Most of the existing plant based offerings seem like they are targeted to 10-year-old kids — nuggets, burgers, tendies. Misteak® will be a plant based alternative targeted to a more adult audience that occasionally eats a meal at a table with a plate and cutlery,” said Stefan Urbani, co-founder urbanibrands.


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Below are the key headlines from today’s updated papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Ted Baker to offer HR training as sexual harassment investigation concludes. is to review its HR policies and offer employee training following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour, including unwanted “hugging” of employees, by founder and former chief executive Ray Kelvin. The fashion retailer said it would not be making any comment on the specific allegations against Mr Kelvin, who left the company last month. Mr Kelvin has denied all allegations of misconduct. The findings of an investigation into the company’s policies and its handling of employee grievances will not be made public.
WH Smith strikes rent-free deals on some high street shops. is paying no rent on about 20 of its shops, its boss has revealed, in the latest sign of turmoil on the high street. Stephen Clarke, chief executive of the stationery chain, remarked that there was a shift away from the decades-long trend of ever-increasing rents for retailers as a number of struggling rivals had fallen into administration or were scrambling to shut shops through company voluntary arrangements. “How times have changed,” he added. WH Smith, which has 578 shops across the UK, had no major closure plans but would close stores if deals to make them profitable could not be struck, Mr Clarke said. Last year it announced plans to shut six stores.
tech arm AHL keeps hedgie motoring as assets rise. Man Group’s tech-driven hedge fund AHL division helped cushion $700 million (£535 million) of outflows as retail investors shunned Japan. AHL, which also employs scores of people with PhDs, was the stand-out performer at London’s only listed hedge fund, attracting inflows from investors and boosting fund performance by $500 million. Around two thirds of AHL funds are now in the territory where they start to earn performance fees, paid when fund returns jump over a certain hurdle, which will benefit the company. AHL’s good run contributed to a rise in assets under management to $112.3 billion at the end of March
IAG and easyJet gain height on relief over delay to Brexit. Airline backers welcomed a decision by EU leaders to hand Theresa May a Brexit extension until October 31. The move in Brussels means airlines can, for the time being, remove Britain crashing out of the bloc without a deal from their list of headaches, which also includes rising fuel costs and overcapacity in the market. Just last week budget carrier admitted that bookings had succumbed to Brexit uncertainty, with would-be passengers holding off buying flights in fear of how the Brexit process will end. That sent the shares tumbling. But easyJet flew to the top of the FTSE 100 today, up 45.5p to 1101.5p. Shares in British Airways owner rose 20p to 535p, and the City also piled into travel company , sending the shares up 20.4p to 736.6p. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Robin Byde said: “The European airlines are rallying as the risk of a demand shock with a disorderly Brexit abates.” He pointed to the Brexit delay period getting the airlines through the crucial summer season.
On AIM investors checked into budget accommodation group . The chain said UK demand has “softened” amid political and economic uncertainty, with London growth being offset by weaker regional performances. However, chief executive Guy Parsons said it is outperforming competitors. First-half revenues rose 47% to £7 million and the shares leapt 2.5p to 69p.
Online clothing retailer was in fashion as it posted a 12% jump in full-year sales to £130.9 million. The AIM-listed firm cheered international and digital growth, and tried to reassure investors about work with Debenhams.
The information, investment views and recommendations in this article are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engaging in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the writer but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. Vox Markets may receive payment from companies mentioned for enhanced profiling or publication presence. The writer may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.
On today's podcast: Upland Resources on their corporate migration to Jersey. Salt Lake Potash covers the three key executive appointments they've made this weeK. Mirriad Advertising explain their AI platform. John Meyer Anglo Asian Mining, Keras Resources & Serabi Gold.
SP Angel research note on commodities and miners, featuring: Acacia Mining (ACA LN) – Resumption of gold exports from North Mara AfriTin Mining* (ATM LN) – Uis tin project drill results OreCorp (ORR AU) - Raises A$13.5m to consolidate its ownership of the Nyanzaga gold project in Tanzania Solgold* (SOLG LN) – Annual report published
Shares in Aston Martin tumbled to a new low as pressure continued to mount on the British luxury carmaker amid a broader market rout, Burford Capital has bowed to pressure and promised to shake up its boardroom in the wake of a blistering ‘bear attack’ on its shares by US short seller Muddy Waters last week
On today's podcast: Europa Metals provide a drilling update on their zinc, lead, silver project in Spain. Adamas Finance Asia describe their strategy. Chris Bailey covers: GVC Holdings, FirstGroup & Prudential. Glen Goodman talks crypto.
SP Angel research note looks at commodities and miners, featuring: Altus Strategies* (ALS LN) – Gold discovery on the Zager licence Atalaya Mining (ATYM LN) – Q2 production helps maintain 2019 production guidance Europa Metals Limited (EUZ LN) – Drilling results from Toral zinc, lead, silver project in Spain Gem Diamonds (GEMD LN) – Letseng achieves 10% higher prices in H1 2019 Keras Resources* (KRS LN) – BUY, Valuation rises to 1.08p – Calidus raises A$9m from investors in Australia to fund drilling and DFS Scotgold Resources* (SGZ LN) – Appointment of director Tirupati Graphite (private) – Operations update Thor Mining (THR LN) – Thor confirms it has sufficient funds to meet commitments over next six months


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TOLEDO, Ohio — A $40 million project is coming to Toledo that promises an immersive, interactive experience in all things Jeep. The Jeep Experience will be 56,000 square feet, with an outdoor test track and aims to reach Jeep lovers worldwide.
A nonprofit has been established to make the museum happen. They anticipate 25 jobs created and much more tourism revenue. The location for the museum was not disclosed.
President and CEO of ProMedica, Randy Oostra, led the announcement of the new museum. ProMedica is part of a group of community organizations spearheading the effort.
"There are no more passionate fans of an automotive brand than Jeep®, so we are thrilled by this initiative to honor the heritage of such an iconic brand, and celebrate the women and men who have dedicated their lives to building these vehicles for nearly 80 years," a statement from Fiat Chrysler said. "We look forward to working with Toledo community leaders to bring this interactive Jeep experience to life."
There will be a board of directors for the museum, as it will be a 501(c)3 organization, according to Robin Whitney of ProMedica.
Retired Jeep plant manager Jerry Huber was visibly excited with the announcement.
"Hopefully, everyone has got to be as excited as I am about this. It's great news for Toledo and all the employees of the Jeep plant, past and present," Huber said. "The most important thing to realize is that this long and storied history of Jeep is reaches far beyond the Toledo area."
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz cited the success of Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson experience as an inspiration, as well as Bowling Green, Ky.'s Corvette museum. He said the Jeep Experience is expected to draw a quarter of a million new visitors to the community.
"It's an iconic brand that men and women have been proud to make for 80 years," Kapszukiewicz said.
RELATED: Jeepers, your clubhouse is open


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In fashion news, Ithaca, New York-based Gimme! Coffee, a 2013 Roast Magazine Roaster of the Year Award winner, has reached a deal to supply coffee to the flagship Soho location of Onassis Clothing. The high-end clothier, which added locations in San Francisco and Tokyo since opening in 2010, appeals to the “culturally conscious, quality-demanding gentleman.”
Onassis says the partnership was created to expand on the clothier’s “worldly identity,” and promote its “evolved men’s lifestyle brand with continual references to the jet set, a sense of history, bespoke detailing and elevated levels of craftsmanship.”
The Gimme!-supplied Onassis Cafe will offering numerous coffees, as well as a small menu of espresso-based drinks, all complimentary to shoppers. “Onassis believes in a full-service experience, one that is entirely sensory from touch to smell to taste,” the company said in an announcement of the deal.
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Feedback and story ideas are welcome at publisher (at) dailycoffeenews.com, or see the "About Us" page for contact information.


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If you’re an iPhone-craving Verizon customer, I have some bad news for you. They’re all gone. In just over 17 hours, Big Red managed to sell out of its complete allocation of CDMA iPhone 4s available ahead of the long-awaited device’s Feb. 10 launch.
This is not to say there won’t be more at Apple and Verizon stores come next Thursday, just that you might find yourself waiting outside at 4am in a blizzard if you didn’t get in on the action today.
What do you reckon? A million sold already?
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad


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Consumers are set to install up to 85% more video streaming apps in 2021 compared with pre-Covid levels according to mobile data and analytics firm App Annie, which has released its key predictions for next year.
As 2020 reshaped and redefined daily life, while the world tried to deal with the Covid pandemic, consumers hunkered down at home and turned to the world of mobile to stay connected, entertained and informed. Q3 showed all time record figures for mobile app usage, which said the analyst is set to continue through 2021.
App Annie says that to stand out, companies should capitalise on features that cater to today’s socially distant ‘at-home’ consumers, cultivating meaningful growth in engagement into 2021.
It expects features that enable socialising, connection and shared experiences to be new priorities on roadmaps, such as Disney+ GroupWatch, which taps into the growing trend of consumers streaming together while apart.
Meanwhile, traditional video streaming providers need to monitor peripheral market movements, such as their cross-app usage, with mobile-first, user generated short-form streaming apps like TikTok and Snapchat, especially for Gen Z.
Other predictions include a boom year ahead for social media giant TikTok, which App Annie says will reach 1.2 billion average monthly active users in 2021. TikTok has seen sharp growth in active users by amassing a sizable global footprint in 2020 — nearly tripling in size since 2018.
Meanwhile, mobile will drive a 43% acceleration in ‘at home’ activities as it continues to remain the epicentre of our social and working lives while the pandemic continues. Time spent in key ‘at-home’ categories is expected to top 1.3 trillion hours on Android phones alone in 2021.
App Annie predicts a four-year CAGR of 57% and 62% in business and education in 2021, fuelled by the continued growth in collaboration and video conferencing apps like Zoom.
Economic uncertainty propelled adoption of finance apps during the first waves of Covid. App Annie expects finance apps – including retail banking and fintech providers – to continue to drive adoption into 2021 as consumers turn to their most trusted devices for peer to peer payments, banking and investing.
Finally, mobile ad spend is set to reach $290 billion in 2021, as the industry bucked the trend in 2020 and and bolstered a level of resilience for digital ad spend overall. During H1 2020, mobile ad placements increased by 70% despite reduced budgets. Given mobile’s resiliency during the pandemic, App Annie expects advertisers to continue to allocate larger portions of their budget to mobile.


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The New General Motors Might Change Logo Color to Green
July 9, 2009
The square, blue GM logo is synonymous with General Motors but, according to the Associated Press, the icon might soon get a green makeover.
That's right, the blue background could become green to remind consumers of the New GM, a company that is leaner and more focused than ever before. No decision has yet been reached, but the green GM logo is apparently on the table as Ed Welburn, GM's vice president of design, leads a group discussing possible name and logo changes.
A green GM logo would also draw attention to the company's greener product offerings such as the upcoming Chevrolet Volt and Cruze, which is expected to get significantly higher mpg ratings than the Cobalt.
In the meantime, CEO Fritz Hendersen is planning on cutting another 4000 white-collar jobs to trim costs. GM's salaried employee ranks in the U.S. will go from 29,650 in January to 23,500 by the end of 2009, the Associated Press says.
Source: Associated Press via MSNBC


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After hearing from a company that wants to bring a pedal-powered party vehicle to Lakeland, city commissioners asked their staff to look into the possibility of carving exceptions out of the city’s open-container laws.
Swan Pedal Company plans three routes for their 16-passenger bicycle – six weekend downtown bar crawls and one monthly coffee crawl each in downtown and Dixieland. The bicycle vehicle with optional electric assist will be driven by an employee.
The company’s owners — Leslie Raysin, Stephanie Lewis, and Paige Conatser — recently gave a presentation to the commission outlining their plans.
Under the proposal, riders could eat or drink at the various stops and then re-board the vehicle. Riders may bring their own sealed drinks to consume on the tour, but those drinks must remain on the bicycle. Riders would not be allowed to bring alcoholic drinks back onto the vehicle after purchasing them at the stops.
The current city ordinance would prevent alcoholic drinks from being consumed on the bicycle. The Swan Pedal Co. is seeking an amendment to allow open containers of non-distilled alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, hard cider, etc.) on the company’s vehicles.
The company owners claimed their business would bring entertainment and additional business revenues to downtown. City commissioners asked questions about traffic impacts.
The commission gave “thumbs up” approval to ask its staff to look into the implications of changing the open-container ordinance and work on the legal language needed for any changes.
Commissioner Don Selvage suggested involving the police, traffic operations, risk management and community development departments in assessing a change in the city’s open-container laws.
Selvage described the change as “worth pursuing,” but urged caution changing the city’s decades-old ban on open alcohol containers.
The company would run three bar routes nightly on Fridays and Saturdays. Coffee crawls would take place on two Saturdays each month. In addition, the vehicle could be booked for private events such as company team building or birthday, bachelor or bachelorette parties.
The owners shared their plans with Julie Townsend, executive director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, who said she supports the idea.
“It’s a fun, different way of experiencing the city without exerting too much of your own energy,” said Townsend, referring to the bicycle’s electric motor assist. “Anything that we can add that provides a new and different experience than you can’t get anywhere else in Lakeland is definitely beneficial.”
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Death of the small ad breathes life into online obituaries
NET RESULTS:Once upon a time, the classifieds were surely the most mundane part of a newspaper, those little legal notices in tiny print stuck in the back of the paper ranking alongside the obituaries, which in my childhood memory, were mostly ignored by anyone under 60, but were a source of grim fascination for grandparents and great-aunts and uncles.
Now, it turns out that, for many newspapers, the crisis in print publication is summed up as: “It’s the classifieds, stupid.”
Display advertising is also in crisis, with online revenue on average replacing only a tenth of what has been lost, according to the Pew Research Centre in the United States – figures which would roughly coincide with what has been seen over here.
But it’s the loss of the small ads, the reliable bread-and-butter income for newspapers, which has hit especially hard. In the past, there was nothing else as efficient, with such broad reach, as a newspaper small ad for finding a flat, hunting down a job, selling items, finding a pet or searching out a holiday rental.
According to Pew’s recent report, State of the News Media 2012, since 2000, classified advertising revenue has declined more than any other category, from a peak of about $20 billion annually to $5 billion in 2011.
Recent reports from the UK and Ireland also show small ads continuing to take a bashing, down by as much as 17 per cent in some categories over last year at two big publishing groups, Johnston Press (which publishes 259 papers) and Trinity Mirror Group.
Mortality of the small ad
Within the classified advertising segment, recruitment revenue has declined most drastically since 2000 in the US, dropping from $8.7 billion to under $750 million in 2011. Car advertising revenue is about one-fifth what it was back in 2000, and property is about one-quarter its 2000 value.
What I found most interesting, though, was that Pew said the category labelled “other” – a grab bag that includes obituaries and legal notices – had stayed relatively steady by comparison. That niche was valued at about $2.8 billion in 2000, and is down to about $2.2 billion since, a far more gradual decline.
Eternal death notices
When you think about it though, it makes sense. Death and legal notices shall always be with us. As long as there is a legal requirement to post a notice in print, the legal notice will remain a needed mainstay of print newspaper revenue, small as it may be. And a print obituary remains very important to people. As I know from family experience, having placed one for my father in several newspapers after his death in 2011, seeing a person’s life summarised in print – something you can hold, read, cut out and save, is far more consoling than pixels on a screen.
Perhaps that will change but I would not have wanted Dad to get a send-off only on screen, even if he was an early devotee of the PC and had an email address before almost anyone else I knew.
Print obituaries are not cheap. According to Advertising Age, the fees for running an obituary in a US paper can range from a few hundred dollars for something in a mid-market paper, on up to $1,000 for a big city publication.
But newspapers also are working to create additional digital-based income around obituaries too. As I found, most papers will also run a print obituary for free online – with some leaving it up permanently, and others requiring a payment for it to be left on view.
The online guestbook is also a popular feature, which some papers try to parlay into additional income. While some keep guestbook comments at no charge, others, such as the Chronicle, remove them after a period, unless the bereaved decide they want to pay for a permanent online memorial guestbook.
A family can have the guestbook comments made into a print book, for example. And there are one click services for obituary readers to send flowers or an e-card.
It’s not exactly an innovation anyone wants to be in the position to learn about. But as I read the Pew report and noted the relative stability of the print obituary, I couldn’t help but think about how even in this most traditional and sombre of areas, the search for digital revenue models continues.


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Wealthify, the online investment service, officially launched its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs on Monday and quickly secured half of its £1 million funding goal. The company reported that over 500 investors pre-registered for early access to the initiative on September 9th.
Wealthify is described as an affordable and easy-to-use online investment service. It requires no prior investment knowledge or experience, it’s open to anyone, regardless of whether they have £250 or £2 million to invest, and is significantly more cost-effective than traditional wealth management services.
As previously reported, Wealthify aims to raise the funds through Seedrs in addition to funding raised from angel investors. The company will use the capital to support the next stage of the customer acquisition and growth strategy, creating national brand awareness, introducing new sales channels and extending products and services to include pensions and other types of ISAs.
Richard Theo, co-founder and CEO of Wealthify, stated:
“When we started out on the Wealthify journey, our main aim was to open up the world of investing to everyone – and crowdfunding felt like a natural fit to help us achieve that goal. We’re delighted to be welcoming new investors to be part of the exciting next stage of our development. The fact that so many of our customers have chosen to become shareholders in Wealthify underlines the confidence that people have in our approach, even at an early stage.”
He then added:
“Wealthify is all about creating a convenient and user-friendly investment service which gives people complete flexibility and control over their savings and investments. With interest rates now at an all-time low, it’s essential that UK savers wake up and start taking control of their financial futures.”
Have a crowdfunding offering you'd like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!


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No jackpot, but $1M Powerball ticket sold in Jax
Ticket matches 5 numbers but not Powerball number, sold at Publix on Southside
A ticket sold at a Jacksonville Publix that matched five numbers but not the Powerball number is worth $1 million.
Florida Lottery officials say the ticket was sold at the grocery at the corner of Beach and Kernan boulevards.
The $588 million jackpot will be spit between tickets sold. Lottery officials said Thursday that the winning tickets matching all six numbers were sold at a convenience store in suburban Phoenix and a gas station just off Interstate 29 in a small northwestern Missouri town. Neither ticket holder had come forward.
"Wish it was me," said Linda Sims, who didn't win anything on PowerBall, but did match four numbers on her Florida Lotto ticket. "Yes, I just won $384. She just gave it to me."
Lottery officials say the Jacksonville ticket is one of five sold in the state that won at least $1 million from Wednesday night's Powerball drawing. The other tickets were sold in Haines City, Marianna, Miami and Port St. Lucie.
The names of the winners were not immediately available. The stores where the winning tickets were sold will each receive $1,000.
Copyright 2012 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- When Nokia unveils fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, the one thing that's not in doubt is that the world's leading maker of mobile phones will report increased volumes.
After all, Motorola
shipped 40% more phones than a year ago and Sony Ericsson shipped 28% more phones in the fourth quarter, and Nokia
Analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, who have a sell rating on the company, estimate that Nokia has shipped 28% more phones than a year ago.
But the question is, at what price did Nokia sell phones?
Nokia says that because low-end phones sold to Latin and North America are making up a bigger portion of overall sales, average selling prices will be below the 102 euros recorded in the third quarter.
Weakness in average selling prices could in turn pressure revenue and margins.
In networks, which represented about a seventh of the company's operating profit during the third quarter, Nokia expects sales to decline due to strong operator spending in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Overall, analysts polled by Thomson First Call are expecting earnings of 1.05 billion euros, or 0.24 euros a share, compared to 1.02 billion euros, or 0.23 euros, in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue is seen climbing 10% to 9.97 billion euros ($12.23 billion).
Awaiting 2006 view
Nokia has been scaling back the quarterly guidance it's been giving, leaving the fourth quarter as the first without specific earnings and revenue guidance.
In December at a capital markets presentation, Nokia said it should keep its mobile device operating margin at 17% to 18% for the next one to two years, and that the overall handset market should rise by over 10% in 2006.
With the relatively scarce information available, Nokia's conference call will be more important, according to analysts from Susquehanna Financial Group.
"On the conference call, analysts will be looking for management comments regarding Nokia's 2006 outlook, particularly with respect to new product introductions, margin stabilization, and its ability to grow market share," the brokerage said.
Merrill Lynch echoed that view.
"Investors should avoid being overly focused on the North America drag-down effect in the fourth quarter and focus on 2006," the analysts said.
"Even if North America sequentially drags down the overall device gross margin from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, we believe that share gains in North America -- the world's largest market, albeit at low gross margin, will be followed by revenue from higher-average selling price/higher-margin music and enterprise devices in 2006," they said.


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Apple has promised to replace the batteries in what it says are "a very small number" of iPhone 6S handsets that have suffered sudden shutdowns.
Over the weekend, the company confirmed rumours coming out of China that some customers were seeing their phones unceremoniously switch off.
Unlike the battery problems with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, which saw some handsets unexpectedly go up in flames, Apple has insisted that its iPhone 6S recall doesn't represent "a safety issue."
The affected phones, it said, all come from a "limited" range of serial numbers, which were manufactured in September and October 2015.
Apple declined to comment when quizzed by Ars about how many iPhone 6S handsets had been affected by the shutdown flaw. It also refused to reveal the range of serial numbers that are subject to the recall.
Customers have been told to either visit an Apple store or an authorised third-party service provider—though not those belonging to mobile networks—to get their serial number checked free of charge, to determine whether their iPhone 6S should be recalled.
Alternatively, Apple said people can contact its customer support service. The replacement won't cost anything, but Apple did say that if a customer's "iPhone 6S has any damage such as a cracked screen which impairs the replacement of the battery, that issue will need to be resolved prior to the battery replacement. In some cases, there may be a cost associated with the repair."
It's understood that the sudden shutdown kicks in once battery charge drops to between 50 and 60 percent—a glitch first identified by the China Consumers Association, which asked Apple to investigate the problem last week.
Meanwhile, just last week, Apple said it would replace the screens of any iPhone 6 Plus handsets that had been afflicted by the so-called "touch disease" for the reduced price of just under £150. This problem manifested itself in an unresponsive touch screen, or a flickering display, supposedly as a result of "being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device."
In both cases, users who have already paid to replace their battery or paid full whack for a new screen can apply to Apple for a refund.


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the wired magazine website on July 3, the article, the original title: Chinese innovation has surpassed the “fast track” reputation in China today are breaking any regard it as the idea of followers. On China’s “follow the leader” concept has been disproportionately exaggerated. But obviously, at present China is the innovation of countries, are defined in a variety of ways to search, business, society, entertainment and advertising market.
although initially by imitating the technology industry to grow into a big country, but China now has four of the world top 10 Internet and technology companies. Impressive is that three of the four companies since last year was one of the top 10 in the world. Growth of China’s economy is becoming more and more to the mobile Internet together, its leader, beliefs and passion to be reckoned with. Now, the only need to change the view of China’s innovation is foreigner. Here is China is first to develop and a few examples from the United States has yet to start.
a, big market. Although China has 618 million Internet users, but it is still less than half of its potential. In addition, there are 500 million mobile Internet users and 301 million online buyers.
two, China has the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile communication enterprises. Since 2012, China has the largest smartphone market. Millet is seeking to put pressure on apple, not by copying but through innovation. Is China and the world’s sixth-largest handset-maker 3 millet wants to get bigger. Microsoft is through the set up shop in China are catching up, but it’s too late?
three social information users in China, more than the population of the United States. Its top that most companies have their own information service platform. These giant knows the value of information science and technology, are watching closely to see how the user through the phone communication.
4, mobile business, China in a leading position. In China, mobile electricity users can through the mobile phone to manage their money, take a taxi, even invest in money market funds. In the United States, such activities are far from such as China.
five, innovation in China may be very difficult, but it is worth to do it. Due to the evolution of the Chinese market in the United States market, its (electronic) ecosystem and complex user behavior than the United States. If you can make a successful product in China, can be anywhere in the world get their way. Perhaps, it is time the United States to China for inspiration. (the author guru, pan, Wang Huicong)


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Evelyn Zink ate breakfast on opening day at Johnny's, the new restaurant in the Roland Park Shopping Center. She ate lunch there, too.
And she said she'd be back for dinner.
"I'm besotted," said Zink, director of development at Roland Park Country School.
Zink, of Ruxton, was among a steady flow of diners who brought their appetites Tuesday, Oct. 16, to Johnny's, a long-awaited, family-friendly restaurant in the historic center at 4800 Roland Ave.
Johnny's is located downstairs in the center, in adjoining spaces last occupied by a Long & Foster Realtors and the Roland Park Bakery and Deli.
The restaurant opened with no fanfare and little advance notice other than a press release issued at 1:33 a.m. on Oct. 12.
"This is not a pomp-and-circumstance restaurant," said Tony Foreman, of Roland Park, restaurateur and a partner in the Foreman Wolf Restaurant Group, which owns the restaurant. "We have good food and we take care of people."
Johnny's, less upscale than its established neighbor in the center, Petit Louis Bistro, is open seven days a week and features separate coffee and whiskey bars, as well as an open kitchen. Johnny's is the fifth restaurant in the Foreman Wolf group, which also owns Charleston, Cinghiale and Pazo, among other dining spots downtown.
Some of the 25 members of Johnny's staff came from Pazo, including General Manager Robin Braniger and Executive Chef Kiko Wilson, formerly sous chef at Pazo.
Wilson brings a West Coast-influenced menu with Asian and Mexican accents, and she even makes her own potato chips, cheese biscuits, sweet potato bread and "cheese whiz," Allison Parker-Abromitis, a spokeswoman for the Foreman Wolf group, said. Menu entrees range from a farm frittata for breakfast to hoison and smoked jalapeno Berkshire pork chop for dinner.
The restaurant buys much of its food fresh from 15 to 20 farms in the region, including bison from Monkton and asparagus from the Eastern Shore, she said.
Foreman has been working since last year to open the restaurant, which the Roland Park Civic League supported, despite misgivings about a potential lack of parking. Ten parking spaces have been added in the shopping center's parking lot to ease any potential crunch, Parker-Abromitis said. She said a bike rack will be added outside soon and that people are being encouraged to ride their bikes.
The structurally unsound, late 1800s building, a former trolley facility, was built with no foundation and at a 25 percent slope for horses that once were tied up there. Now there's a new foundation and the original terra cotta plumbing has been replaced, Parker-Abromitis said.
The four-room restaurant with its original brick and stone walls, offers an abundance of plush booths to give it a 1940s-50s look, fine whiskeys like Black Maple Hill ($14) and a coffee bar run by Lindsay DiFabbio, whose title is "coffee auteur," akin to a barista, Parker-Abromitis said. She said Johnny's also offers 50 American wines, available by the glass or bottle.
A back room, formerly part of a dirt basement, includes a window looking into the wine room.
In a first for the Foreman Wolf group, the restaurant also has three flat screen TVs.
"It's pretty cool," said DiFabbio, a former barista at the coffee shop Spro in Hampden and at the Four Seasons downtown, now running her own operation. "I'm familiar with a lot of brew methods."
"I think it came out pretty well," Foreman said. He would not say how much it cost to open the restaurant, but said, "We try to do things the right way."
Customers were duly impressed.
Mike Savlo, a software engineer on the Mount Washington campus of Johns Hopkins University, said his wife emailed him a newspaper article about Johnny's, so he and co-worker Tony Ang thought they would check it out.
"I tagged along," Ang said. He was glad he did, after ordering a MEGA cheeseburger stuffed with chorizo and wrapped in bacon.
"The food was great. The service was awesome too," he said.
Carter Wilkinson's mother, Emily, was visiting from Virginia, so he took her to Johnny's, which he heard about at a bar in Towson.
"This is great," Emily Wilkinson said, eating butternut squash soup and a BLTA (with avocado) sandwich.


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Belgium based Blockchain Platform as a Service company SettleMint today announced the roll out of IdentiMint, the reference implementation of a blockchain-based self-sovereign identity solution. Having recently joined the WEF’s Global Innovators community, SettleMint is well positioned to promote the adoption of ... Continue
AB InBev, the world’s leading brewer, has launched a new pilot in Europe that will use blockchain technology to give full transparency and traceability in its supply chain of barley, from consumer back to the farm... Continue
FSBC will support SettleMint with research and consulting expertise as well as networking and marketing services to further leverage the increased interest in blockchain and distributed ledgers among both public-sector and private-sector organizations ... Continue
KPN and SettleMint today announced that KPN Ventures has participated in the €1.9M investment round of SettleMint, a Belgium based Blockchain Platform as a Service company that has built a low code ... Continue
The purpose and benefits of blockchain across the enterprise are evolving rapidly. Gartner, Inc profiled three emerging vendors that enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders should watch ... Continue
SettleMint, a Belgian Blockchain technology provider with headquarters in Leuven (Belgian) and offices in Dubai, Riyadh and soon Singapore, today announced it has received a € 1.591 million grant from VLAIO ... Continue
SettleMint was recently awarded €1.807.750 from Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase II Grant. The successful grant application places SettleMint in the top 5% of applying European companies that pass the selective screening process. The grant will support SettleMint in ... Continue
As part of the D4D-Be platform and the successful mission to Kenya in 2018, Startups.be and Close the Gap joined forces again to organize an exciting economic mission to Lagos in Nigeria, Africa’s most prominent tech hub, with the most vibrant startup scene ... Continue
At the Siemens offices in Singapore, SettleMint’s co-Founder and CTO Roderik van der Veer connected the SettleMint platform with Siemens MindSphere. In less than 2 hours, a sensor suite reporting via a Siemens gateway device to the Siemens MindSphere platform was connected to a Blockchain enabled digital twin ... Continue
Insights into enterprise blockchain and SettleMint updates delivered straight to your inbox.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 849969.


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Tesla slips after saying it's reducing the number of store closures and raising prices (TSLA)
- Tesla on Sunday announced that it would reduce the number of store closures that it had previously announced.
- The electric-car maker said that keeping more stores open will cause it to raise the price of its cars.
- At the end of February, Tesla said it was moving to an online-only sales model and was closing most of its stores in order to slash vehicle prices by 6%.
- Watch Tesla trade live.
Tesla was down 0.54%, trading near $282.60 a share early Monday, after the company hit the brakes on its plan to shutter its retail stores.
Last month, the electric-car maker announced it was shifting to online-only sales and closing most of its 378 retail stores. As part of its move to shift all sales online and other ongoing cost efficiencies, Tesla slashed the prices of its Model 3, Model S, and Model X vehicles by about 6% on average. Since then, shares have tanked as much as 14%.
On Sunday, however, the company said it would reduce the number of retail store closures.
"Over the past two weeks we have been closely evaluating every single Tesla retail location, and we have decided to keep significantly more stores open than previously announced as we continue to evaluate them over the course of several months," Tesla said in a statement.
The company said that keeping more stores open will cause it to raise the price of its cars.
"As a result of keeping significantly more stores open, Tesla will need to raise vehicle prices by about 3% on average worldwide," Tesla said. "In other words, we will only close about half as many stores, but the cost savings are therefore only about half."
Telsa was down 6% this year through Friday.
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UCWeb, the developer behind the world’s most popular third party mobile browser by pageview market share (as of June 2015 per StatCounter), today announced a major update for its browsers for iPhone, aiming to consolidate its product portfolio. With this new release, UC Browser is now taking one more step towards fulfilling its commitment to connecting users with a better browsing experience, wherever they are and whatever device they use.
The newly released UC Browser International 10.0 for iPhone is the biggest update in two years, which comes with a brand new UI, ad-blocker and a video player. While the new UI brings users a fresher feeling, the ad-blocker gives a clutter-free browsing experience.
No one enjoys looking at websites cramped with banner advertising. In fact, studies show that about 86% of consumers experience banner blindness. People simply don’t look at online ads, and yet ads are still there cluttering and slowing down web pages.
It’s even worse when you view websites from a mobile device where every inch of screen space is precious. Some ads can also lead to malicious content. There’s a greater risk of accidentally clicking on these ads and downloading malware to your device.
The new UC Browser International for iPhone can detect ads and prevent them from loading. It also automatically rearranges the elements on a web page to give users the best viewing experience. As a result, web pages load much faster and less data is consumed.
UC Browser saves you time and money while providing you a better browsing experience! The new browser also allows users to customize their wallpaper, giving the browsing experience a more personal touch. Apart from that, UC Browser for iPhone is powered by cloud technology, which not only compresses data and saves the cost, but also speeds up web page loading.
You can download UC Browser for iPhone from the App Store


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The Sunshine in Product Safety Act would repeal CPSC’s regulatory constraints that have allowed companies like Peloton to delay the agency’s public warnings about dangerous products
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) introduced the Sunshine in Product Safety Act today to strengthen the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) ability to communicate vital health and safety information about potentially dangerous products to consumers without risking retaliation by the manufacturer. The bill comes in the wake of alarming reports that Peloton obstructed CPSC’s investigation into the safety of its Peloton Tread+ treadmill after injuries and a child’s death and hindered the Commission from being able to swiftly and adequately warn consumers about this unsafe equipment.
“The Sunshine in Product Safety Act puts consumer safety first,” said Blumenthal, Chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. “CPSC must be able to move swiftly to warn Americans when products like the Peloton Tread+ and the Fisher-Price Rock ’n Play Sleeper pose a danger to them and their families. Yet current regulatory constraints allow companies to call the shots on how and when to notify the public about their hazardous products, keeping important safety information from the public. This bill will eliminate these constraints, restoring transparency to product safety for the sake of consumers.”
“For too long, Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act has severely restricted the CPSC’s ability to promptly warn people about dangerous products, leading to unnecessary deaths and injuries from products such as the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play and the Peloton Tread+ treadmill,” said Schakowsky, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce. “It gives manufacturers the power to decide if and when they are held accountable. The Sunshine in Product Safety Act will repeal section 6(b), saving lives and preventing injuries. I am proud to introduce this life-saving bill with my friends and colleagues Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Rush. “
“It is wholly unacceptable that under current law, manufacturers can keep consumers in the dark about harmful and hazardous products,” said Rush, a senior member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce. “Simply put, Section 6(b) puts people’s lives at risk. I introduced legislation to amend Section 6(b) last Congress, and I am proud to join my colleagues Senator Blumenthal and Representative Schakowsky this Congress in introducing the Sunshine in Product Safety Act — vital, lifesaving, and commonsense legislation that will bring much-needed daylight to consumers and accountability to manufacturers.”
CPSC is an independent federal agency established by Congress in 1972 and tasked with promoting consumer safety, but over the years, its authority has been weakened and funding reduced. In 1981, Congress significantly amended Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act to give manufacturers an effective veto over the CPSC’s release of company-related information to the public. The Sunshine in Product Safety Act would repeal Section 6(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, and allow CPSC to share critical information about hazardous products quickly.
The amended Section 6(b) has led to delays of warnings, no warnings, or releases of generic information that can be confusing, rather than informative, to consumers. For example, when CPSC issued warnings about “inclined infant sleep products,” most consumers did not understand that these warnings were in fact primarily about the ubiquitous and dangerous Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper.
Section 6(b) also hinders the release of information that should be accessible to the public consistent with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the agency’s other information disclosure requirements.
In the case of the Peloton Tread+, CPSC was unable to alert the public of the 39 reported incidents related to children, pets, and objects getting pulled under the treadmill until a month later. These incidents ranged from mild injury to broken limbs, brain damage, and even death. Some incidents also occurred while the treadmill was being operated and in use by an adult. CPSC was also required to negotiate with Peloton over the wording and timing of the warning alert because of Section 6(b).
The Sunshine in Product Safety Act is supported by the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Reports, Kids In Danger, and Public Citizen.
“Section 6(b) keeps consumers in the dark, prevents critical information from being shared with the public that could impact the health and safety of their families, and thwarts the CPSC from fulfilling their mission to protect consumers from unsafe products” said Rachel Weintraub, legislative director and general counsel with Consumer Federation of America. “This bill is necessary to ensure that people have the information they need to make decisions about consumer products they own or are considering purchasing.”
“Companies shouldn’t be able to hide safety hazards or have the CPSC seek their permission before warning the public. People expect to hear about it if a product might put them or their families at risk. We strongly urge every member of Congress to support the Sunshine in Product Safety Act and make sure that our laws put people’s safety ahead of corporate profits,” said Oriene Shin, policy counsel for Consumer Reports.
“For too long, Section 6(b) of the US Consumer Product Safety Act has stymied efforts to get unsafe products out of homes and get safety information to consumers,” said Nancy Cowles, Executive Director of Kids In Danger. “This week’s warning of hazards with the Peloton Tread+ is the latest evidence of this. But this is the tip of the iceberg. The list of companies counting on 6(b) to hide information from consumers is an arm long and mile wide. We applaud the efforts of Senator Blumenthal, and Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Bobby Rush of Illinois in addressing this critical safety issue.”
“The corporate secrecy provision in product safety law that is known as Section 6(b) has time and again slowed critical product hazard information from getting to consumers, leading to additional injuries and even lost lives,” said Remington A. Gregg, Counsel for Civil Justice and Consumer Rights at Public Citizen. “The CPSC should have the ability to quickly release timely and specific warnings to best safeguard the public. Unfortunately, 6(b) hampers the CPSC’s ability to do so, and that’s why Public Citizen supports its repeal.”
The full text of the Senate legislation can be found here. A similar version of the legislation was introduced in the House.


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Respawn, the dev team behind Titanfall, is producing their own battle royale game called Apex Legends, with a full reveal after the Super Bowl.
It began with a tweet by Game Awards producer Geoff Keighley, who announced that Respawn will be revealing Apex Legends soon. This was quickly followed by Respawn co-CEO Vince Zampella, who announced an official reveal live stream that will "tell you everything about Apex Legends. Everything."
The live stream is active now, only displaying imagery of a lush tropical area. At 12 PM PST, the live stream will officially begin.
Current speculation an anonymous tips that could not be confirmed call the game a free to play battle royale of up to 60 players. It will operate similarly to Titanfall while having classes akin to Overwatch. They also noted that there will not be any mechs.
UPDATE: Apex Legends is not only revealed, but released! Find out more about it here!


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Blizzard Entertainment, creator of the Diablo series, has recently employed drastic measures to cut down on rampant Diablo II cheating. 112,000 accounts have already been blocked due to the new measures. Blizzard is recording CD keys in efforts to completely block repeat offenders from ever playing online again. Anyone caught cheating on a regular basis risks the loss of their ability to play over the internet for good.
The use of third-party programs to enhance gameplay has also found itself on the chopping block. Anyone using a third-party program to gain advantage over the other online players will violate the End User License Agreement of Diablo II and subject the offender to removal from online play via the same CD key blocking.
Blizzard says it wants to make sure that all online cheating in its games is kept under control and that they will do anything in their power to keep it that way. Cheating has always plagued online gaming, to the annoyance of the majority of players. Perhaps this move by Blizzard will prompt other game companies to follow suit and crack down on online cheating.


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With that in mind, the Cherokee County chapter of the American Red Cross is eager to do its share to help in areas other than it normally does.
The local chapter’s annual Souper Supper, which has been held late in January, has been moved up to the Saturday after Thanksgiving — Nov. 30 — and offers a chance for bidders to get some early Christmas shopping out of the way.
As in the past, Souper Supper will include silent and live auctioning of donated items, offering those in attendance a chance to pick up a bargain on Christmas gifts among other things.
Judy Sallis currently is checking with area businesses for donations for the auction. Those donations are tax-deductible.
The schedule for this year’s Souper Supper has been altered from previous affairs. The supper will be at 6 p.m. at the Centre First United Methodist Church Fellow-ship Hall, with the live auction to follow at 7:15 p.m; admission and dinner for $5 per person.
Prior to the supper and live auction, a silent auction will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m; there is no charge for the silent auction. During that six hours, items will be on display at the fellowship hall and may be claimed at that time for a minimum of 80 percent of the placed value. Items also may be bid on during that time. If they are not picked up and paid for by 6 p.m. they are null and void and the item will be placed in the live auction.
All items will be given an opening bid with a “take me home now” price.
Persons wishing to make an auction donation may do so by taking their item or items to the Red Cross office at 1122 W. Main St., Centre. Or they may call Mrs. Sallis at 927-6325 or 927-3797 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m


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Audi, Infiniti named presenting sponsors of Holiday Home Tour
STUART — Audi Stuart and Infiniti Stuart will be presenting sponsors for the 9th annual Woman’s Club of Stuart’s Holiday Home Tour, according to Polly Pharo, founding chair of the Tour.
“We are so pleased and grateful for the continued support of Audi and Infiniti,” she said.
She noted that this is the fourth year for Audi as presenting sponsor of the Holiday Home Tour, and the third year for Infiniti.
“Audi and Infiniti are truly community-minded organizations,” she added. “Their generosity enables the Woman’s Club to provide more college scholarships to local students.”
This year, the club provided a record $33,000 in college scholarships.
The 9th annual Holiday Home Tour will be Sunday afternoon, Dec. 3.
Participants pay $40 to tour six Martin County homes, resplendent for the holidays.
For those who prefer to leave the driving to someone else, VIP bus tour tickets are $65.
After viewing the homes, tour-goers return to the Woman’s Club for refreshments and a silent auction of holiday-themed items.
For Holiday Home Tour tickets, call 630-247-9431 or visit www.womansclubofstuart.com.


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A group of 165 companies and industry bodies has urged the EU to accelerate its crackdown on Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices, warning planned new laws will take too long to come into force.
In a joint letter to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager, seen by Reuters, the critics accused Google of unfairly favouring its own services on its web searches.
They said the tech giant’s services such as accommodation, travel and jobs were given preferential placement and called for swift action to stop the practice.
The signatories included longstanding Google critics such as Yelp, Expedia and Trivago, as well as roughly 30 industry associations.
“While we compete amongst ourselves for the best consumer experience, there is one common competitor that does not compete fairly — Google,” the letter read.
“Google gained unjustified advantages through preferentially treating its own services within its general search results pages by displaying various forms of grouped specialised search results [so-called One Boxes],” it added.
One Boxes are separate display boxes that show information and images related to a search query at the top of results.
The critics accused Google of unfairly using this function to promote its own services above those of its competitors.
A Google spokesperson hit back at the allegations, saying: “People expect Google to give them the most relevant, high quality search results that they can trust.
“They do not expect us to preference specific companies or commercial rivals over others, or to stop launching helpful services which create more choice and competition for Europeans.”
The signatories, who said they were the largest group ever to write to EU competition regulators, called for swift action, warning that upcoming legislation would take too long to come into effect.
Vestager is due to announce the new Digital Markets Act, aimed at preventing tech giants from unfairly promoting their own services, on 2 December.
But the draft laws will need to be approved by EU member states and the European Parliament — a process that could take more than a year.
The calls come a month after the US Department of Justice filed a major antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing it of breaking the law by using its market to fend off rivals.
The suit, which Google has dismissed as “deeply flawed”, centres on deals brokered by the tech giant to ensure it is the default search engine on devices made by other manufacturers.