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Online grocer Hello Fresh nets backing from Vorwerk Ventures of Germany
Online grocery start-up Hello Fresh has secured a seven-figure investment from Vorwerk Ventures of Germany.
Hello Fresh, which has subsidiaries in seven countries including Britain and Germany, delivers boxes of fresh, locally sourced ingredients from independent suppliers to subscribers’ homes. But uniquely, these come with tailored recipes for meals.
In Britain, the cost starts at £36 a week for three meals for two people, rising to £129 a week for a five-meal box for six people.
Fresh face: Hello Fresh boss Ed Boyes says putting tailored recipes in boxes cuts waste
Ed Boyes, Hello Fresh’s 25-year-old UK managing director, said sales at the firm were growing by 50 per cent month on month. About half of its customer base is in London, but Boyes said that take-up was ‘growing steadily in rural areas’.
Hello Fresh, which employs 20 staff in central London, is keen to encourage people to cut back on food wastage through its tailored boxes. Boyes said: ‘We are encouraging people to try new recipes.
It is the next step on from vegetable boxes, where there is often a lot of waste as people don’t know what to cook with the contents.
‘This investment will enable us to capitalise on the success of the past 12 months and develop Hello Fresh into a more widely used, viable alternative to supermarket shopping.’
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MENLO PARK — In just over a month since the launch of its eye-catching new Android app, Facebook’s latest effort to win the hearts of smartphone users has turned into a high-profile disappointment for a company that describes mobile computing as its top priority.
After an initial surge of interest, the volume of consumers downloading the smartphone app called “Home” has fallen dramatically in recent weeks. Users have given a low rating to the app — which automatically shows Facebook updates and photos on the home screen of Android phones — while complaining that it drains battery life and makes it difficult to use other Android apps and services.
Without releasing sales figures, AT&T last week slashed the price of a new HTC smartphone that comes with the Home app pre-installed, marking it down from $99 to just 99 cents. The tech blog BGR, citing an unnamed AT&T source, reported Monday that AT&T has decided it will soon stop selling the HTC First phone.
While Facebook declined to comment on that report, an AT&T spokesman said, “We have made no decisions about future plans.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted the Home app as a major milestone in his company’s strategy for serving the growing majority of Facebook users who access the social network on mobile devices.
After being criticized for ignoring those users until last year, analysts say Facebook has made rapid progress in creating new types of advertising to show on mobile devices. The company sold $375 million worth of mobile ads last quarter, for nearly a third of its overall advertising revenue.
The Home app is designed to capture users’ attention and keep them engaged by using a smartphone’s main screen to display material from their Facebook account. The social network has also worked with Apple (AAPL) to make Facebook features work seamlessly on new iPhones. But with Home, Facebook hoped to showcase its features even more prominently on phones that use Google’s (GOOG) popular Android software, which is designed to make it easier for outside developers to build on the Android platform.
While acknowledging some complaints, Facebook executives are standing behind their new app.
“This product is still very early and this is just a first release in a long journey,” Zuckerberg told analysts on a May 1 conference call. Other executives have said the company always intended to introduce the app gradually and add improvements based on user feedback.
Facebook said last week that it’s working on modifications to make it easier for Home users to access their other apps.
While Home currently takes up all of a phone’s main screen, the new features will include a permanent “dock” or bar at the bottom of the screen where users can keep icons for other apps they use regularly. Other new features reportedly include a more detailed introduction for first-time users, explaining how to use Home, and an easier method of launching chats.
It’s not surprising to see Facebook pulling back from its effort to dominate the main screen, said mobile tech analyst Ross Rubin of Reticle Research, who added that HTC and Motorola have also tweaked their own user interfaces for Android phones.
“The trend really has been for companies to come out with a very overbearing offering, in terms of how it dominates the interface, and then to scale back significantly over time,” he said.
Other analysts cite anecdotal indications that sales of the HTC First have been lackluster. But Facebook executives have said they’re pleased that downloads of Home, which currently works on only a handful of other Android phones, reached nearly 1 million last week. The company also said preliminary data showed Home users were spending 25 percent more time on Facebook.
Downloads of the Home app have fallen, however. According to the App Annie analytics firm, the app rose in the first week after its release to become the 50th most downloaded app by U.S. users in the Google Play store, before falling below the rank of 300 in recent weeks. Facebook’s regular Android app is the store’s most downloaded app in the United States, according to App Annie.
“Clearly this is not where they want to be,” said Rubin, although he predicted Facebook will recover from the setback. “This is a company that almost never misses an opportunity to say they’re very serious about mobile. They’ll certainly be back.”
Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey.

domain: news


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As port worker contract negotiation disputes continue on the West Coast, some say the terminals are just days away from a “complete gridlock.”
Pfizer is buying injectable drug maker Hospira for $15.2. Ian Read, Pfizer CEO, said the company "will benefit from a significantly enhanced product portfolio in growing markets," due to the merger.
BT Group PLC is also buying mobile operator EE for $18.98 billion. The merger links the UK’s biggest fixed-line telecommunications company with its largest mobile operator.
Japanese airbag maker Takata announced its nets losses will likely be nearly a quarter percent higher than originally expected, due to the rising costs of car recalls.


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Eoin Treacy's view -
When the Vision Fund last invested in 2019, it valued Opendoor at just $3.8 billion. This year, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp II, a SPAC created by former Facebook Inc. executive Chamath Palihapitiya, decided it was worth $4.8 billion (excluding its cash). Since announcing the merger with Opendoor in September, the price of shares in Palihapitiya’s SPAC has more than doubled. This means Opendoor’s enterprise value has risen to about $13.5 billion, even before the transaction is complete.
A serial SPAC launcher, Palihapitiya thinks Opendoor’s valuation could rise tenfold. “This to me feels like Bitcoin in 2012, Amazon in 2015, Tesla in 2016, Virgin [Galactic] last year,” he said last month. Palihapitiya’s first SPAC took Richard Branson’s space-travel company public in 2019.
Palihapitiya and his investment partner Ian Osborne have put more of their own money — about $169 million — into Opendoor than is customary in a SPAC deal. At the current share price, they’re set to achieve a spectacular four-times return on that invested capital.
It’s hard to see how the company’s fundamentals justify such returns. Opendoor said the SPAC transaction valued it at a 1x multiple of its revenue (the value of the houses it sells, plus any ancillary services). But once you deduct the cost of acquiring and renovating the houses, the company generated just $300 million in gross profit last year — a paltry 6% gross margin.
Startups have waited a decade to list on the stock market. They didn’t have to. The conventional reason to list is because it is the only large source of funding available for small companies to fuel growth. Equity is an expensive source of capital for companies and private funds were a lot easier to come by since the financial crisis.
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The largest recall in Toyota’s 75-year history could undermine the carmaker’s comeback from natural disasters and embarrassing safety problems.
The company on Wednesday recalled 7.43 million cars, trucks and SUVs worldwide to fix faulty power-window switches that can cause fires. The recall affects more than a dozen models produced from 2005 through 2010 around the world including the Camry, the top-selling car in the U.S. It’s bigger than the 7 million vehicles recalled two years ago for floor mats that can trap accelerator pedals and cause unintended acceleration.
The problem centers on the power-window switch, which is inside the driver’s door and controls when a window is opened or closed. Toyota said grease wasn’t applied evenly to the switch during production, causing friction and sometimes smoke and fire.
Toyota said initially the window-switch problem hasn’t caused any crashes or injuries. But documents filed by U.S. safety regulators show customers have reported 161 fires and nine injuries.


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McLEAN, Va. -- Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder said
Friday he will buy Johnny Rockets, the 1950s-style diner chain that
features burgers, fries and a wait staff that dances and sings to
Snyder's investment arm, RedZone Capital Fund II, will acquire
the Lake Forest, Calif.-based chain, which operates more than 200
restaurants nationwide. Terms of the purchase were not released.
The move is the latest push into entertainment-themed businesses
by Snyder, who made a fortune in marketing and operates the NFL's
most profitable team.
In 2005, he took over amusement park operator Six Flags Inc.,
which has since embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to
revive sagging attendance. Last year, Snyder agreed to finance
actor Tom Cruise's production company after it was dropped by
Snyder said in a statement that he expects Johnny Rockets to
grow significantly in the coming years. That includes plans for a
series of smaller Johnny Rockets Express restaurants that will
serve the chain's staple of burgers, fries and milkshakes. They
will be cheaper too, with capital expenses of $300,000 compared to
$750,000 for a full restaurant.
"There's no reason we shouldn't expect see 1,000 Johnny Rockets
locations within the next five years," Snyder said in a statement.
Johnny Rockets was founded in Los Angeles in 1986 and tries to
reclaim the 1950s heyday of diners and drugstore malt shops. Every
half hour, waiters and waitresses dressed in white with black bow
ties and paper hats groove to classic tunes. Juke boxes on the
tables cost a nickel.
The chain has grown fast, expanding at a rate of 20 percent each
year. It now operates in 29 states and nine countries, with eight
restaurants aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ships.


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Hackers recently took control of a darknet market directory to phish Bitcoin from unsuspecting drug buyers, reports Vice. A Simple Guide to Safely and Effectively Tumbling (Mixing) Bitcoins. #cryptocurrency#cryptocurrencies #Bitcoin #Darknet https://darknetmarkets. Darknet market venues and the number of cryptocurrency transfers have decreased in 2022, but the revenue has reached an ATH of bitcoins and darknet markets billion. By A Afilipoaie 2022 Cited by 19 technologies that allow successful participation in Dark Net markets. Bitcoin - Allows members to use a currency that is difficult to trace to a. An anonymous bitcoin wallet holder transferred 1 billion worth of bitcoin from accounts linked to darknet marketplace Silk Road. Coming back to Hydra, approximately 86 of the illicit Bitcoin received directly by Russian virtual currency exchanges in 2022 came from the. The percentage of BTC received by darknet entities from exchanges directly has declined from 33 to 5 over the last eight years. But if we. Find the perfect darknet markets stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. RM M00CW7Crypto currency bitcoins with real money. Dark Web on.
Many of the sales made on darknet illicit markets are for illicit recreational drugs like cannabis and ecstasy. These drugs are shipped through. Trusted Darknet VendorsDarknet Market List All XMR Multisig Recon i2p dropped bitcoin payments and now accepts monero only Darknet markets need to be. By A ElBahrawy 2022 Cited by 24 After removing transactions to/from Bitcoin trading exchanges, the dataset contains 133 million transactions among over 38 million distinct. A Simple Guide to Safely and Effectively Tumbling (Mixing) Bitcoins. #cryptocurrency #cryptocurrencies #Bitcoin #Darknet https://darknetmarkets. Chainalysis has released its 2022 report on the darknet markets. The blockchain analytics firm has discovered that in reddit darknet market noobs bible 2022. Best Darknet Market 2022 bitcoins and darknet markets Darknet Market 2022 2022 Reddit Deep Web Links for Mixabit Bitcoin Mixer. com's multi-coin crypto wallet. level 1. 300 listings by T MA 2022 Cited by 2 We created a toolchain for drug market users deanonymization by using publicly known data. The tool imports bitcoin blockchain into. Neo4j graph. Bitcoin Lost Through Empire Market Most of the illegal marketplaces prefer operating on the dark web since it is a part of the internet that is.
Law enforcement agencies have struggled to shutdown illegal money flows to these market places. The amount of bitcoin flowing to darknet markets. You need Bitcoin in order to pay, Bitcoins are anonymous and that is the main reason and it is also very hard to trace transactions from one. German federal police said Tuesday they had shut down the dark web Hydra market, which trafficked in illegal narcotics and helped launder. Researchers from ESET have observed a trojanized version of the Tor Browser that steals bitcoins from darknet market users. Best Darknet Market 2022 bitcoins and darknet markets Darknet Market 2022 2022 Reddit Deep Web Links for Mixabit Bitcoin Mixer. com's multi-coin crypto wallet. level 1. Or they associate Bitcoin with reddit darknet market list the dark web. The coronavirus crisis led Bitcoin to crash right alongside the stock market. According to Chainalysis, roughly 900,000 Bitcoin (BTC) is being held by cybercriminals and darknet markets on the dark web with reputable. Armory - Buy weapons for bitcoin armoryohajjhou5m. Discovered they could access dark web markets selling guns and illegal drugs in.
Germany, US Sanction Russia's Darknet Marketplace, Seizes 25 Million In Bitcoin Hydra Accounts For 2022's 80 Darknet Crypto Transactions. Markets such as Hydra, Aurora, Neptune, Mega, Global Dreams and a few others deal only in Bitcoins. Whitehouse Market and Archtype are the only. The idea of a Darknet Market (DNM) search engine where one can browse offers from Aug Use your credit card, payment app, or bank account to buy Bitcoin. German police were able to seize 543 bitcoins from the Hydra darknet market's accumulated profits, an amount that equates to about 25. In 2022, Hydra accounted for around 80 percent of all darknet market-related cryptocurrency transactions. The platform's Bitcoin Bank. Your Bitcoin password is in your wallet data file - wallet Then the program transferred from a wallet associated with the Silk Road darknet market. One technological revolution that significantly accelerated the ease of operating an illicit business such as a DNM on the darkweb was the. Hackers recently took control of a darknet market directory to phish bitcoins and darknet markets Bitcoin from unsuspecting drug buyers, reports Vice.
Chainalysis, a research company, finds illicit activity is falling behind the rest of the market. Scam revenues through July 2022 are bitcoins and darknet markets. Has been ordered to hand over Bitcoin he made on darknet markets. took over the Silk Road darknet market after a US law enforcement. ESET researchers discover a trojanized Tor Browser that cybercriminals use to steal bitcoins from darknet market buyers. German officials have taken control of the servers of Hydra, a long-running dark web black market, which boasted some 19000 sellers and. Unfortunately, Bitcoin has a history of being used as an illegal transaction platform in darknet markets. In recent years, however, many cases have been. The transactions in darknet markets are anonymized. These markets exist on the Tor network in order to create security and anonymity for both users and. Liberty market darknet dark markets sweden deanying. List of the top Dark Web Blogs. onion reddit darknet market list 2023 sites list access hidden wiki bitcoins. Two of the dark net's largest online black markets have announced plans to accept a new online currency that promises to be much more.
New Darknet Markets
Vendors here offer both illegal and bitcoins and darknet markets prescription drugs, such as Cannabis, Ecstasy, Dissociatives, Opioids, and Steroids. See here for information on how interpolated data were computed. Cut in half and lay each half, with the flat side down, on the cutting board. Some dealers apologized bitcoins and darknet markets for delays in shipping and even warned that they would be pausing their operations. You can place orders using two types of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin or Monero. In other words, the LTV is a balance of the loan when compared to the value of the collateral asset.


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DUBLIN — The Irish meat company at the center of Europe’s “horseburger” scandal on Tuesday blamed the contamination of its hamburger patties on the purchase last year of 170 tons of meat imported from Poland.
As Ireland struggled to contain the damage to its reputation as Europe’s top beef exporter, the ABP Food Group shed new light on how burgers made partly of horse ended up on British and Irish supermarket shelves. Ireland’s biggest beef company said it purchased the Polish meat last year marked as “beef” from an Irish meat trader, McAdam Food Products, and the product was used by its Silvercrest food processing facility to make frozen beef burgers sold across Britain and Ireland.
The company said in a statement to The Associated Press that “while Silvercrest purchased these beef products in good faith, horse DNA originating in Poland was present in some of these products.”
Confirmation of the scale of ABP’s Polish purchases — at odds with the company’s promise to customers to produce all-Irish patties — came hours after Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny vowed that Ireland would pinpoint the source of the horsemeat.
Poland says its investigations have produced no evidence of horsemeat shipments.


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Check out SZA's new video for "The Weeknd" directed by Solange.
It appears to be a full TDE takeover today. Hours after they held their 4th annual Christmas toy drive & Holiday concert at Nickerson Park in California, where Rihanna performed at, the West Coast label decided to roll out a couple videos from camp. Pretty much simultaneously as Kendrick Lamar’s new video for “Love” surfaced, TDE also released the official video for SZA’s “The Weekend,” which has been teased over the past few months.
Directed by Beyonce’s sister Solange Knowles. the artistic & beautiful 4-minute clip finds the TDE songstress showing off her seductive & elegant figure, while dancing in random locations like a balcony and in an empty parking garage.
Check out the official video (above) and show your support on iTunes.


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If you’d told me six months ago that a headline-grabbing brand safety story would be prompted by a tweet from a Florida teenager, I’d have been skeptical. But David Hogg, who was sitting in an environmental science class at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school when the shooting started, is no ordinary teenager.
With over 700,000 Twitter followers at time of writing (not to mention almost one million views on his YouTube channel), Hogg commands a huge social audience: and it’s a very active one. He’s also, for many, a highly sympathetic figure, as the young survivor of a shooting which left 17 of his classmates and teachers dead.
All reasons, and obvious ones, why brands might not wish to be associated with mean-spirited or profane attacks on him. So far, common sense; but the speed with which brands reacted to a personal attack on Hogg by Laura Ingraham was, nonetheless, breathtaking. Within hours of Hogg’s response — which was to publish a list of a dozen brands supporting Ingraham’s Fox TV show — the consequences of Ingraham’s tweet were clear.
Expedia, Hulu, and Nestlé were among high profile brands to take an early exit. From there it snowballed, with Bayer AG’s withdrawal bringing the lost advertisers total to 16 by Saturday. For once, brands were playing it smarter than an established media figure: Ingraham’s apology to Hogg, referencing Holy Week, only seemed to fan the flames.
As of today, Ingraham is on a week’s leave (planned in advance, said Fox).
- First, this is yet further confirmation that communication between brands and customers is now a two-way thing; and some customers, often unexpectedly, turn out to wield powerful megaphones
- Second, some of these major brands were well prepared, coupling their withdrawals with well-crafted statements about their values
- Third, brands which view their customers as less likely to shop next door seem less sensitive to consumer outrage. AT&T, for example, in this case.
Speaking of social media, movement at Facebook at last, with the announcement that it will stop using third party aggregators to append data to its own (first party) data set. Whether this is movement of any substance is another question. In the past, Facebook has supplemented data from within its walled garden with data from outside the walls — transactional data supplied by Experian, for example. The additional data helped advertisers target audiences within Facebook.
The reason for the prohibition — said to be permanent — seems to be that Facebook is wary of the integrity of data-gathering by third parties. From the perspective of an Experian, which has been collecting and protecting personal financial data for some 50 years, this must feel like Harvey Weinstein warning you that you have an image problem (not that Experian has been wholly breach-free).
“(E)thical practices for data sourcing, use, and governance have been among Acxiom’s core strengths throughout our nearly 50-year history…Thousands of companies rely on ethically sourced third-party data to better serve their customers and have done so for decades. Now is not the time to make walls thicker or higher. This should be a moment for the industry to rally around principles of transparency, choice, and a commitment to putting the consumer at the center of everything we do…”


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Marvel Comics has released solicitation text and images for product shipping August, 2002.
'Powers' creator Brian Bendis talks about hitting the milestone issue #25 with a look back on the series, how it's changed over the years and what's coming next. Brian also addresses the rumor whether or not he's going exclusive with Marvel.
DC Comics has released solicitation text and images for product shipping August, 2002.
The solicitations text and images for product shipping from Image Comics this August.
'Spider-Man: Blue' artist Tim Sale talks about his work on the mini-series with Jeph Loeb, what most insterests him about Spider-Man and how he changes his art for each project. He even weighs in on who he thinks was the better love for Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane Watson. Updated with cover of 'Spider-Man: Blue #4.'
Real-life crusader and sometime presidential candidate Ralph Nader has joined the battle for the future of LPC Group, the independent book publisher that declared bankruptcy last month, and thus endangered the future of Top Shelf, Drawn and Quarterly and other prominent independent comics publishers.


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Market volatility has spooked many investors who fear July's 700-point fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a harbinger of more declines in the stock market.
Although the market bounced back on July 21 and rose by over 500 points, some investors remain fearful and wary as the global pandemic continues and cases of people being infected with Covid-19 rise.
Investors shouldn't sell their stocks because they fear more volatility; they instead should rotate to buying dividend aristocrats, which are high quality dividend growth stocks that have generated yields for over 25 years, Real Money contributor Bob Ciura wrote in a recent column, 3 Bear Market Stocks for Steady Dividends.
Ciura is a fan of Procter & Gamble (PG) - Get Free Report , McDonald's (MCD) - Get Free Report and Walmart (WMT) - Get Free Report and believes they can outperform in a bear market. These three companies have “recession-resistant business models, long histories of raising their dividends through recessions and above-market dividend yields,” Ciura wrote.
Procter & Gamble not only has paid a dividend for over 130 years, the company also increased the yields for the past 65 consecutive years.
“P&G is a top pick for a bear market because its industry-leading brands see steady demand each year, even during recessions, which fuels the company's steady dividend payouts,” Ciura wrote.
McDonald’s has demonstrated that it can weather recessions fairly well — the fast food giant grew its earnings per share during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The blue-chip stock has increased its dividend annually since 1976. In 2020, the company raised its dividend by 3% unlike its competitors that either suspended or slashed their dividend payouts.
Walmart is another business that is immune to the recession and increased its sales by 6.7% to $35 billion in 2020, Ciura writes.
“Its focus on everyday low prices is the reason behind its extremely resilient business model,” he wrote. “Walmart's steady profits, no matter the economic climate, allow the company to return lots of cash to shareholders. Last year, the company increased its dividend for the 48th consecutive year, and it approved a $20 billion share repurchase.”


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- The company started its operations in Canada in November 2018
- Xiaomi had brought shares in TCL earlier this year
In the first half of 2019, TCL Electronics ranked number two in the global market share, only after Samsung in terms of global TV shipments. Company’s sales figures in North America, increased remarkably by 75 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2019.
NPD, a consultancy focusing on consumer shopping trends research, pointed out that market share in terms of TCL brand TV sales volume remained number two in the US market. According to the latest NPD data, in the first three quarters of 2019, TCL brand TV sales volume ranked second with a 16.5 per cent market share in the US market, up by 3.3 per centyear-on-year, while the market share of Samsung which ranked number one decreased by 2.8 per cent from 22.3 per cent last year to 19.5 per cent.
TCL started Canada operations in November 2018
The latest data from NPD also shows that the company has started its business in Canada in November 2018, and its sales volume ranking in Canada has climbed to top five within a year. TCL now enjoys a market share of 7.5 per cent in the first three quarters of 2019.
According to an official announcement made the company sales volume of TCL branded TVs in overseas markets has increased by 49.8 per cent year-on-year to 7.07 million sets. Company’s turnover reached HK$10.77 billion, up by 32.5 per cent year-on-year.
Xiaomi had brought shares in TCL
China based Xiaomi Corporation had earluer announced that it had bought 65,168,803 shares, or 0.48 percent of TCL Corporation, from Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s secondary market. TCL on the development had said, “Xiaomi’s investment in our shares will strengthen the collaboration between the two companies, and therefore help to build a closer strategic partnership.”
It is to be noted here that Xiaomi has been growing in terms of TV business here in India. As a matter of fact it is also one of the top selling smart TV brands in China.
“The two companies have shown a strong presence in their business. We believe Xiaomi’s strong product development and superior R&D capabilities, combined with our rich supply chain and production experience, will form a strong industrial synergy effect,” continued TCL’s official statement issued back in January 2018.


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Missoula Police Arrest Man After Attack With Pipe, Shopping Cart Theft
Missoula Police took a man into custody Friday after a call came in to 911 that he was threatening others with a metal pipe.
"A male called and reported that another male had threatened him with a metal pipe, swung it in a threatening fashion and actually chased him with it, before he was able to get away and call 911," said Missoula Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh. "Through the initial investigation, the officers were able to identify and locate 68-year-old Larry Hurley, Mr. Hurley was walking away from the area with a shopping cart that did contain a couple of metal pipes."
More charges began piling up when Andrew Hurley was confronted by officers.
"It appears that he had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant and he is also being charged with misdemeanor theft for being in possession of a shopping cart that was taken from a local grocery store," Welsh said.
Hurley is now in the Missoula County Jail with bond set at $50,000 for a felony assault with a weapons charge.


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Bitcoin hit a new all-time high on Wednesday morning. At writing, it has traded as high as $64,780 per coin — an 825% increase from this time last year and an increase of more than 120% since the beginning of 2021.
The surge comes as Coinbase Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) listed to the Nasdaq exchange, becoming the first cryptocurrency exchange trade publicly.
According to the company profile on Yahoo! Finance, The San Francisco-based company provides clients “a platform to invest, store, spend, earn, and use crypto assets.” Its platform includes “an online marketplace for hedge funds, money managers, and corporations” as well as individual investors.
After much anticipation, COIN opened at 1:25 p.m. Eastern, and the first trade was executed at $381 per share. It has since traded as high as $429.54, giving the company a valuation of more than $110 billion.
Coinbase went public through a direct listing, which means the company doesn’t sell any shares ahead of time or go through an underwriter. In a direct listing, there’s no lock-up period either. All existing investors can sell their shares as soon as trading is open.
According to Reuters, the last round of funding in 2018 gave the company a valuation of $8 billion. During the first quarter of 2021, the average price paid for a share of COIN on private markets was $343.58, giving the company a valuation of about $68 billion.
In an April press release, Coinbase reported estimated first-quarter revenue of $1.8 billion, an increase of more than 200% from the previous quarter and an increase of more than 840% from the first quarter of 2020, according to CNBC.
For comparison, Nasdaq, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) the parent company of the Nasdaq exchange, has a market cap of about $26 billion. And Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has a market cap of $67 billion.
The Coinbase IPO is one more step in a long journey for cryptocurrency as it joins the mainstream financial world. As we reported last month, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) recently expanded payment options to allow for more crypto use.
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Image: Pro Aerial Master/Shutterstock.com


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Unilever evolves skin care portfolio to embrace a more inclusive vision of beauty
Average read time: 4 minutes
Colombo, 25 June 2020: Unilever Sri Lanka announced today the next step in the evolution of its skin care portfolio, with the rebranding of its flagship brand Fair & Lovely. Taking forward the brand’s journey towards a more inclusive vision of beauty, the company will stop using the word ‘Fair’ in the brand name ‘Fair & Lovely’. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals and we expect to change the name in the next few months.
Over the past few years, Fair & Lovely’s advertising has evolved to communicate a message of women’s empowerment. The brand’s vision is to adopt a holistic approach to beauty that cares for people, that must be inclusive and diverse - for everyone, everywhere. The brand is committed to celebrating all skin tones. In 2019, the brand’s communication moved away from the benefits of fairness, whitening and skin lightening, towards glow, even tone, skin clarity and radiance, which are holistic measures of healthy skin. Unilever Sri Lanka has also removed the cameo with two faces showing shade transformation, as well as the shade guides from its packaging in its wider portfolio. The Company will continue to evolve its advertising, to feature women of different skin tones, representative of the variety of beauty across Sri Lanka.
Hajar Alafifi-Laadel, Chairperson & Managing Director of Unilever Sri Lanka said, “We are making our skin care portfolio more inclusive, celebrating the true diversity of beauty. The brand’s communication has progressed from fairness to the skin’s natural glow which is a more holistic measure of healthy skin. This change has been very well received by our consumers. We are now announcing that we will remove the word ‘Fair’ from our brand name Fair & Lovely. The new name is awaiting regulatory approvals, and the pack with the revised name will be available in the market in the next few months.”
Fair & Lovely is based on pioneering technology that has made multiple skin health benefits available to millions of consumers at an affordable price. The brand has been progressively changing its formulation, and includes other vitamins like B6, C & E, allantoin, known to improve skin health and protect the skin from external aggressors, UV rays and environmental pollution. The product is designed to improve skin barrier function, improve skin firmness and smoothen skin texture - all of which help enhance radiance and glow holistically. The brand has never been and is not a bleaching product.
In addition to the changes to Fair & Lovely, the rest of Unilever Sri Lanka’s skincare portfolio will also reflect the new vision of positive beauty.
Additional information about Fair and Lovely Foundation
Connecting women to opportunity:
Career guidance. High-quality education. They are vital elements to building a career and essential to empowering women. That is especially true where socio-cultural, infrastructural or economic barriers stand in women's way – barriers such as gender stereotyping, safety concerns about studying outside the home, or harmful norms about household responsibilities.
The Foundation was introduced to Sri Lanka in October 2019 and includes a mobile-friendly career and education platform at . It is a holistic e-learning platform dedicated to upskilling women across the country and is made accessible free of charge, offering career guidance as well as a curated selection of courses. The courses are chosen from well-regarded, high-quality digital education partners such as edX.org (founded by Harvard and MIT), the IT skills training firm, NIIT Limited, and English Edge, an English language training specialist.
Within a short span of time, nearly 6,000 Sri Lankan women have registered to access skills and training through the platform, including over 230 resumes submitted for improvements, over 1,400 career guidance tests conducted and 7,600 course enrolments.
As with the rebrand of Fair & Lovely, Unilever Sri Lanka will also be announcing the new name for the Fair & Lovely Foundation.


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Twitter a 'dangerous game' for companies neglecting their presence
Companies that establish a presence on Twitter and then fail to use the channel to foster engagement with consumers are playing a dangerous game, according to a new multichannel customer experience report from Eptica.
The new Multichannel Customer Experience Study just released by Eptica reveals that consumers' choice of contact method to reach companies they are not already a customer of is shrinking. Their research found that 55% of companies in the UK offered just two contact channels - normally email and Twitter.
"Our research shows that, for most companies, the idea of multichannel customer engagement is a distant dream," said Olivier Njamfa, CEO, Eptica. "Many appear to have focused resources on particular channels, ignoring others. This not only risks alienating customers but actually pushes up costs, as they run silo-based, inconsistent, channel by channel activity that is more expensive than a single, multichannel operation."
Worse still, of the 100 leading UK firms evaluated on their ability to answer 10 routine questions via the web as well as their speed and accuracy responding to email, Twitter and web chat, only 39% were able to answer customer service questions asked via Twitter. That's despite more than three-quarters (76%) of those businesses having a presence on the platform.
According to Njamfa, "when it comes to Twitter companies are playing a dangerous game by establishing a presence and then failing to engage with customers. This could well backfire, leading to negative feedback spreading through the social network and damaging their overall brand."
Other key findings from the study include:
- The % of questions answered by the top 100 UK companies online in 2011 was 50%; this has now risen to 63%;
- Response to email is slowing and now stands at nearly 3 days (61 hours, 39 minutes) compared to just 20 hours and 41 minutes in 2011;
- The Entertainment sector was the fastest to answer email in 22 hours, 19 minutes whereas the Banking sector was slowest taking 190 hours, 17 minutes;
- One retailer (electronics) took just 7 minutes to successfully answer a question.
- 'Commuter Commerce' worth £9.3 billion each year
- Research uncovers ways in which Millennials 'game' e-commerce
- Study finds that 'data for discounts' consumer behavior is a fallacy
- Ad Roundup: Solutions for ads, optimization, mobile work
- Top 3 don't's for telecom customer service
- Kahuna: Brands must engage for apps to work
- Research highlights effectiveness of in-app messaging
- Facebook tests 10-second video views and monetization
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- The Big Impact of Big Data on Affiliate Marketing
If you are relying on affiliate networks you have no access to vital data to manage affiliate processes such as...
- 8th Annual Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report
Download the Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report for 2015 to find out about the latest trends, industry benchmarks and best...


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The online world has managed to unearth alleged photos of the upcoming third generation Nest smart thermostat. Nest are dedicated to providing customers with the most high-tech, smart and efficient home experience. There are an array of products that have been designed specifically to help home users interact with their home appliances quickly and efficiently, with Nest, owned by Alphabet, having three main product lines.
These products include security cameras, smoke detectors and the best-selling Nest Learning Thermostat. There are numerous variants of these products already on sale across retail stores and online.
There are numerous design changes and improvements featured within these variants and that gives us a better idea of what the latest Nest Thermostat might incorporate. The new pictures that have subsequently leaked have given us a better idea of what we can expect to see from the Nest thermostats.
The first of the leaked photos is a packaging box that includes a small, printed house image, which could be an indication of where the new testing version will be shipped. This is almost certainly the box for the third generation thermostat, we can be reasonably sure of that.
Why? Well because the original second generation images of the Nest model were sent in a similar unbranded box. It is highly likely that the packaging will change once it reaches the shelves as it will look to represent the product itself a little more. The second leaked image of the third generation thermostat looks quite a lot like the second generation at first glance but when you put the too images of the second and third generation together, the differences between the two are a little clearer.
The biggest design change is the overall size of the device, with the third generation incorporating a much larger display screen. This change in screen size has not had an effect on the overall size of the thermostat however. If you’re hoping for any more obvious design changes, it seems there isn’t any other than this major screen change. We’ll learn more once the product becomes available.
We are hoping that a huge wave of information could follow these latest image leaks and that these images are the start of a whole new insight into the design changes included in the third generation nest thermostat. The upcoming device could well be officially announced in the near future now that these images have been leaked. So what about a launch date?
Assuming a launch date upon the unearthing of some leaked images of the product is more of a shot in the dark than anything else, but there are suggestions that we could be edging closer to a launch date after all. This was suggested after the new Nest Learning Thermostat went through the FCC last week.
This involved Nest filing that it had a new device in the works but they stopped short of other information being released until the official announcement. That could mean that the gadget is getting ever closer to its launch date.


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Oxea released additional details yesterday about its previously discussed plan to increase production capacity of carboxylic acids, which are used for manufacturing lubricant esters. The German chemical maker said it will debottleneck and optimize production processes at existing facilities and then build another plant by 2021.
Oxea claims to be the world’s largest producer of carboxylic acids, with global capacity of 180,000 metric tons per year. In July the company first said that it would increase its carboxylic production capacity in order to meet rising demand from synthetic refrigeration lubricants and animal feeds. On Monday the company it will work this year and next to debottleneck its five plants that currently produce carboxylic acids and to fine-tune their production processes.
The company did not reveal the cost of that work or discuss the overall impact on its carboxylic acid output, but it did say its global capacity for one carboxylic acid, isononanoic acid, will double in 2019. Oxea produces carboxylic acids at three plants in Oberhausen, Germany, and at one plant each in Marl, Germany, and Bay City, Texas, United States.
A press release issued Monday said the company has not yet selected a location for its sixth plant and is considering sites in Oman and China, as well as locations of its existing facilities.
The site selection study for the new world-scale production platform has been funded by the Oxea board, Executive Vice President for Global Marketing and Sales Markus Hoschke said in the press release, adding that basic engineering for the facility will begin in the first half of 2019. Oxea, which is based in Monheim, Germany, is owned by Oman Oil Co.
Demand for synthetic refrigeration oils is rising because of initiatives to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons. Those efforts are part of the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to stop using substances harmful to the ozone layer. Originally it committed countries to phase out the use of chlorofluorocarbons, which were widely used in refrigerants but were found to create holes in the ozone layer.
HFCs were an initial substitute, but though not directly harmful to the ozone layer, they are greenhouse gasses, so they became a target of efforts to combat global warming. The Kigali amendment, which took effect Jan. 1, mandates that most developed countries cut their HFC production by 80 percent by 2045.


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Playdead’s morose platformer Limbo has sold over 3 million copies on the platforms it’s currently available on. On July 3, it will broaden its reach to iOS devices.
The iOS version of Limbo will support iPad 2 and up, iPhone 4S and up, iPad mini, and the iPod Touch 5th generation for $4.99.
“We have worked very hard to bring Limbo to as many devices as possible;” the press release states, “rethinking the controls and performing extensive optimizations to ensure an amazing touch-based experience …”
Limbo arrived on PlayStation Vita earlier this month. Other platforms include Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Windows PC, and Mac.
Source: Playdead Press Release


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It showed 12:17 p.m. on all of the timepieces carried by students and young workers taking a break around a coffee table at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan.
Travis Pinks checked both screens of his smartphone: ?12:17 p.m.? And so it appeared on Johnny Stiles? laptop screen, on Sara Humphreys? iPod Touch, on Garrett Rotert?s cellphone.
It should not surprise that only one of the four of them, Humphreys, 21, wore a watch ? mostly because of how it sparkled on her wrist. After all, that has been the trend in recent years.
And none around the coffee table, when asked for the time, said ?a quarter after 12.? Nobody said ?about 20 past noon.?
It was 12:17 p.m.
?The magic of satellites,? Pinks noted.
That ratio of just one wristwatch-wearer for every four people held up in a perusal of the lunchtime crowd at the JCCC Student Center. It also holds close to national market-research data on the millennial generation.
Most adults in their early 30s or younger don?t wear a watch on a regular basis.
Strangely, these watch-tossing trends seem to be showing up everywhere but at the cash register.
Wristwatch buying ? that time-honored staple of the holiday shopping season ? appeared to be on a fateful slump six or seven years ago, about the same time cultural pundits began to forecast how cellphone clocks would render the watch obsolete.
But in the past three years, sales have recovered for moderately priced watches that speak more to fashion than timekeeping. And the fortunes have surged, sometimes by triple-digit percentages, for certain luxury brands selling for thousands of dollars, said Andrew Talbert of the market monitoring firm LGI Network.
?That?s the rich getting richer? and buying a better Rolex even in lean times for most folks, Talbert reasoned. ?We?re not in the business to understand or ask why. We just track the sales.?
Stiles, 32, of Shawnee, Kan., isn?t buying even a basic Timex anytime soon.
?Haven?t had a watch since before I joined the Army, what ? 12 years ago?? Stiles said.
?I see a wristwatch as formal attire ? a status symbol. On my (electronic) devices, I?ve got a whole calendar ? no need to strap on a watch.?
For some, the wristband pinches. The crystal gets scuffed; the calendar date wanders off. The mainspring snaps, or the battery goes dead.
One 19-year-old diner at the Student Center in Overland Park feared that if she wore a bulky watch at the day care center where she worked, it might pose a liability when she moved her arms a certain way. No timepiece is worth a welt on a youngster, she said.
?I?ve gotten two watches as gifts ? they?re terrific watches ? and I haven?t worn either in months,? echoed student Roman Permyakov, 21. ?With the new Google glasses that are about to come out, why bother? You?ll be able to see everything you need right in front of your eyes.?
So at least two schools of thought compete in the 21st-century world of watches: the consumers who couldn?t be without, and those who couldn?t care less.
?I?ve taken 100 phone calls, at least, on this topic of cellphones and the demise of the watchmaker,? said Jim Lubic of the trade group known as the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute. ?Among younger people, yes, you?re seeing fewer wear watches on a regular basis. They?ll just keep a cellphone to tell time through college.
?But once they hit their 30s and find their career path, they?ll get a watch as a status symbol.?
True enough, the Jewelers of America said that ?fine watches? continue to hang on to about 13 percent of the jewelry market, as it has been in recent years, and that overall sales of watches ticked up 3.5 percent this summer from a year earlier.
Looming over future sales are those bare-wristed millennials: Less than a third of Americans ages 18 to 29 report wearing a watch at least most of the time, according to surveys by YPulse, a market researcher.
The most commonly cited reason? ?It?s unnecessary ? since I always look at my phone to know the time.?
Still, more than one-quarter of young adults tell YPulse they will sport wristwatches from time to time as fashion accessories.
That means they?ll buy, then buy again, but the watches on most days stay on the dresser while the cellphone goes everywhere.
For millions, the phone represents the return of the pocket watch, the preferred time-telling tool before World War I. Any number of apps can display the time as if it is a pocket watch, with Roman numerals on a clock face, a second hand and even ticking noises on command.
If fault lines are forming in the wristwatch trade, Kansas City?s Borel family ? among the nation?s major distributors of watch parts ? hasn?t missed a beat.
?I can?t tell you if cellphones will someday make watches obsolete,? Paul Borel said. ?All I can say is we?re very busy doing what we?ve always been doing. And that?s selling watch parts.?
Recently rounding up a mainspring and other tiny parts for a repair order from Maine, he recognized the watch needing service as being a classic Jaeger LeCoultre.
?This guy?s trying to fix something that has to be 60, 70 years old,? he said. ?We see a lot of that.?
A quiet institution downtown, Jules Borel and Co. has operated out of the same six-story building on Grand Avenue for more than half a century. Founded by a Swiss immigrant who arrived in America with a suitcase full of watch parts, the company is a maze of drawers resembling a library?s card catalog ? each little drawer containing neatly supplied packets of watch crowns, crystals, bezels, stainless-steel spring stems or microscopic gaskets.
CEO Mark Borel, 90, bends over a bench with a magnifying optivisor strapped around his eyes as he performs surgery on a Mallard watch of his own design.
His nephew, Gary Borel, shows off his own copper-colored timepiece with a vacuum-sealed face surrounded by a ruby case topped with a sapphire crystal.
?I?ve worn this about 38 years, and it looks pristine,? Gary Borel said. ?That?s what happens when you put ruby and sapphire together. Nothing scratches it.?
Imagine a cellphone lasting 38 years.
Not that cellphone technology takes a back seat.
With dozens of GPS satellites overhead talking to a network of cell-tower receivers on the ground, telecommunications companies such as Sprint Nextel can ?have all times synchronized precisely to the micro-second,? Sprint manager Ben Bellinder said. ?We call it network time.?
The network even knows when you cross time zones.
Some of the world?s largest electronics manufacturers have begun to blend such technology with wristwatch fashion. For about $150 retail, Sony?s SmartWatch slaps around your wrist a 2-inch-square screen that channels the Android phone in your pocket. You can check the time and read emails and texts without reaching for a mobile device.
Not to be outclassed, Swiss mechanical watchmaker Omega is plastering images from the new James Bond flick, ?Skyfall,? on its website.
That?s actor Daniel Craig sporting an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, priced at $10,000 and beyond. (Until the mid-1990s, the Bond character was a Rolex man.)
Omega is part of the Swatch Group, owner of 19 high-end brands, which in July posted double-digit growth in gross sales and operating profit for the second straight year.
Time out, said the watch-rejecting Pinks back at the JCCC Student Center: Some disconnect here or what?
?If I had $10,000 to spend, I?d buy a motorcycle and ride across the country,? he said, ?and leave the wristwatch at home.?
Source: MCT Information Services


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In a quarter marked by slowing growth and the sector absorbing the impact of the Chennai floods, HCL is expected to post a good quarter, backed by deal wins and higher demand in its core businesses. Some analysts have pegged it to outperform its larger rivals.
1. Revenue growth and margins: Analysts expect HCL to post a revenue growth of 2-2.5% though margins are expected to fall by 30 basis points, largely due to the impact of the Chennai floods. Growth took a hit in the last quarter due to disengagement with a client and transformational deals. The absence of these factors is also likely to help growth this quarter.
2. IMS and ERS demand: Market will look for growth in engineering services, HCL's fastest growing business, which is expected to see continued demand and its infrastructure management services business which is also expected to have done better after two quarters of tepid growth.
3. Deals: Another factor to watch for is the number of large deals signed during the quarter and management commentary around pricing. HCL was in the process of acquiring Volvo Group's external IT business, which was expected to close in Q2 and provide cost savng and capital gain.
4. M&A and digital strategy: While HCL has spoken about digital as a core part of its strategy over the last few quarters, the market will watch for commentary on the future roadmap. Though HCL announced the acquisition of CRM service provider PowerObjects in October, it is largely seen as risk averse. With the increased focus on startups and acquisitions at bigger rivals, market will look for the company's growth and expansion plans.
5. Attrition and utilisation: While HCL saw a net headcount reduction in the last quarter, which it attributed to the annual appraisal cycle, utilisation rate at 83.6% was a cause of concern. It has however, managed to keep attrition around the 16% level since over a year now.
- HCL expands partnership with Google Cloud
- HCL America denies US labour board allegation that it is shipping jobs to Poland
- HCL Tech acquires Australian IT firm DWS for $115.8 million
- HCL Tech to double fresher hiring
- HCL says Covid impact not 'significant'; bookings on track
- Growth ahead, Roshni Nadar-Malhotra says at first AGM as HCL Tech chairperson


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People wear protective face masks in front of Starbucks in Union Square as the city resumes Phase 4 reopening after restrictions were imposed in New York City on September 29, 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Noam Galai | Getty Images
Starbucks announced on Wednesday that it expects to meet its long-term growth targets in 2023 and 2024 with adjusted earnings per share growth of 10% to 12%.
CFO Pat Grismer informed investors on Wednesday at his biennial Investor Day that the forecast for sustained long-term sales growth had been raised slightly to 8% to 10%. At its last investor meeting in 2018, the company expected adjusted earnings per share to grow at least 10% per year and long-term consolidated revenue growth of 7% to 9%.
In fiscal 2021, Starbucks expects adjusted earnings per share of $ 2.70 to $ 2.90 as the company and the wider economy rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. Starbucks is forecasting more than 20% growth through fiscal 2022 as it has weaker earnings growth.
The forecasts assume that Starbucks will not experience additional business interruptions and stable exchange rates.
This is the latest news. Please try again.


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DME Global Marketing & Fulfillment, Direct Mail Expertise and Mobile Promotions and four of its principals -- William Hernon Lenis; his son William Luis Lenis and daughter Monica Lenis; and Manny Gustavo Lenis, a nephew -- were named in an indictment unsealed yesterday accusing BetOnSports and its principals of illegally engaging in internet gambling and tax evasion.
The indictment, issued in St. Louis, charges the ad execs and their companies with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, saying they worked to illegally advertise and support several websites by buying ads, sending equipment and prizes for the site to Costa Rica and eventually serving as the fulfillment house for internet-gambling prizes.
Among examples of the support given in the indictment: a $99,620 check sent Sept. 6, 2000, to American Media Communications for advertising and the shipment of two cars from the U.S. to Costa Rica.
The indictment says the conspiracy was intended "to develop a scheme to defraud gamblers in the United States by inviting, inducing and persuading them to place bets ... As part of the scheme the members and associates [involved] created and disseminated advertising through the United States which falsely stated that internet gambling on sporting events and contests was 'legal and licensed.' The enterprise used radio and television to deliver fraudulent advertising through broadcasts and cablecasts in and across the United States."
Biggest attempt yet
The BetOnSports case is the biggest attempt yet by the government to take action on online gambling. Some proponents of internet gaming have suggested it is legal for U.S. citizens to bet using internet sites headquartered overseas and almost impossible to stop, but the Justice Department and Congress have tried, imposing limits on credit card use at the gambling sites.
The founder of BetOnSports.com, Gary Stephen Kaplan, 47, was charged with 20 felony violations and the Justice Department also sought a temporary restraining order to bar the website from continuing to operate in the U.S.
BetOnSports is now part of a British corporation, BetOnSport PLC. The CEO of that company, David Carruthers, has also been charged.
All four ad executives were charged with conspiracy and could face up to 20 years in prison and have to pay a share of billions of dollars if convicted. In addition, William Hernan Lenis, Monica Lenis and Mobile Promotions have been charged with interstate transportation of gambling paraphernalia and could face 5 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 each.
Officials of the ad agencies and a lawyer associated with them could not be reached for comment. According to websites for the ad agencies, the shops have produced promotional blow-up masks for major marketers including McDonald's and Anheuser-Busch.


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We're all waiting for the PlayStation 5 price and release date right now, and every hour that ticks by is now only made worse by this morning's Xbox Series S reveal. We now know the cost of one of the consoles launching this year, but Sony has remained tight-lipped on its own line-up of systems at the time of writing. The wait has gotten to some people so much that they think the Japanese giant is actively trolling them with Ghost of Tsushima gifs on Twitter.
Whether that is actually Sony's intentions or not, we'll never know, but it is a funny talking point nonetheless. It started yesterday as the official PlayStation account asked fans to "find some time to relax and reflect". PlayStation UK then followed that up this morning by tweeting that it was simply "blessing your timeline". The caption was once again accompanied by Jin Sakai relaxing in a Hot Spring with his buttocks on show.
The responses on both the social media site and popular gaming forum ResetEra are then filled with people very much not remaining calm in response. Remember folks, the news we're all waiting for is probably just around the corner. It has to be this month, right? This scribe cannot envision a world where we enter October without a confirmed PS5 price and release, but then stranger things have happened. 2020 is a thing.
Do you think Sony really is trolling its fans with these gifs? Debate in the comments below.


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According to Use, the transport bit was flooded with future news this week. There are two stories that I would like to highlight here. First, the first Rivian R1 electric pickup truck in “Rivian Blue” shut down the assembly line at the company’s factory in Normal, Illinois. The R1T and the upcoming R1S SUV are now certified for sale in 50 states (at least online). It marks a milestone for more than a decade for the automaker and its founder and CEO, RJ Scarring, who started the company as a mainstream motor in 2009 stream two years later before taking the name Rivian.
Rivian has seen an explosive increase in people, supporters, and partners over the past few years. If the company has a successful IPO, which it has secretly filed recently, it could grow even faster, next, Tesla and its “completely self-driving” beta software, which is going to be accessible to many more owners.
The FSD Beta v10.0.1 software update, which has already been pushed to a group of selected owners, will be more widely available from September 24th. Telemetry data will determine that owners who have paid for FSD software will be able to access the latest beta version that promises more automated driving functions. A Reddit post several months ago indicated what data would be used. The poster, which engineered the Tesla app, saw the company getting ready to implement insurance directly on the app. There will be a new safety rating page that will track an owner’s car and link to their insurance.
There will be a new safety rating page that will track an owner’s car and link to their insurance. It is possible that Musk mentioned this when he tweeted, “Beta button will ask permission to evaluate driving behavior using Tesla Insurance Calculator. If driving behavior is good for 7 days, beta access will be granted.” According to Redditor, the app has the number of ABS activations, the average number of hours driven daily, the number of autopilot deactivations, the amount of time spent on unsafe distances due to ignoring warnings, the amount of time spent on unsafe distances and the intensity of acceleration and braking.
This September 24 release, which means thousands of potential Tesla owners using beta software on public roads, is going to test the will of regulators. Jennifer Homendy, the new head of the National Transportation Safety Board, told WSJK that Tesla should not launch this recent software update until it has solved “basic safety issues.”


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After a quantum leap in the digital tech industry over the two past decades, many of us sarcastically said: "The only thing we still miss is the ability to share a meal with the characters in a movie, or to feel what they feel."
However, it seems that the technological progress knows no sarcasm. All the imaginary ideas that people have now, or those they didn't have yet, may soon become a reality that we live.
This is at least what the modern innovations taught us. A team from the Tomsk State University in Russia, announced it has designed a new device that allows humans to feel the "beats," "burns," and even "tinkling" in virtual reality. According to a press release by the university, the new technique can be used in video games.
In addition, the researchers are currently developing their technique so it allows people to feel illusory motions, like when a mosquito settles on their skin or someone draws on their bodies, for instance.
The research team cited several devices that are currently used to transmit the sense of pain in virtual reality; these devices have a wearable skeleton-like structure that transmits the "sense" to the muscles through electric stimulation.
The researchers say the new device is based on the same concept, but it targets the skin without exposing the muscles to an electric pulse.
Researcher Andre Kostornoy, supervisor of the new innovation, said: "The new device affects a precise area of the skin," and stressed "the need for personal settings for each user based on his level of resistance to electrical pulses."
He explained that the principle adopted in the transfer of sensation is based on the same mechanism of brain function. It processes the signal coming from the skin, thereby obtaining a sense of touch, and draws the image of the material or device that comes into contact with the skin at the right moment.
Kostornoy said his team is working on improving the performance of the device so it becomes able to induce a sense of interaction with movements, objects, and characters, like "feeling the touch of another person's palm, for example."
The researcher said "developing this device is a promising achievement that would help control robots through signals communication."


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The Games Convention in Leipzig was host to a special day of Yuji Naka signage, as SONIC NEWS reported some days ago. Naka-san used the event to showcase Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Rush and Sonic Gems Collection, but he has also revealed that a next generation Sonic the Hedgehog game is in development.
Nothing else has been mentioned, other than the fact that the title exists. First details will pop up at the upcoming Tokyo Games Show in September.
However, this has not been the first time we have seen a potential next-gen Sonic – at E3 2005 The Sonic Stadium obtained some exclusive footage of a SEGA trailer that featured Sonic throwing ring boxes and destroying enemies in real time. Whether this trailer is any indication of what to expect from next generation Sonic is anyone’s guess right now; but we’d wager E3’s showcase was merely a technical demo.
When those details on ‘Sonic Next’ come out of the Tokyo Games Show, expect SONIC NEWS to be right there to relay the information to you.
Credit to “Metal King” and “MSQ” from the SSMB Forums for the heads-up.


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Bali Annual Telkom International Conference (BATIC) represents innovation and empowerment for businesses and the entire tech community. LARUS is proud to announce that we are part of the group of people who made BATIC 2023 a reality.
LARUS joins a small, select club of Bronze Sponsors for the upcoming BATIC 2023. We've gone beyond actively participating -- we've stepped up to help make the event happen.
Our Role as a Bronze Sponsor
The upcoming event, set in the finest venue and attended by the best in the industry, will showcase the latest and the best that our technology can offer. With more than 1,000 participants from more than 200 companies, BATIC 2023 is a juggernaut of an event.
Lots of heavy-lifting needs to be done to hold such an event. LARUS is proud to announce that we have helped in making BATIC 2023 an event to look forward to.
With our contribution as a Bronze Sponsor, we have helped in bringing together a huge network of businesses that will lead the way in technology and connectivity.
Important Partnerships for BATIC 2023
The two-day event will focus on enabling the future of digital experiences and Indo-Pacific's Web3 technology.
BATIC 2023, a blend of luxury, natural beauty, and cutting-edge technology, attracts some of the biggest names in tech. It is an opportunity for businesses to create new partnerships and strengthen existing ones.
Our Vision for BATIC 2023
BATIC 2023 is a gathering of some of the brightest minds in business and technology. We look forward to tackling some of the most pressing challenges in tech, particularly in connectivity and networking.
These challenges present the most exciting opportunities for innovation: Larus will be on both ends, to contribute to creating solutions that move us all forward.


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Hellmann’s is set to reinvigorate the ketchup category with the launch of two ground breaking innovations - Hellmann’s Tomato Ketchup Sweetened with Honey and Hellmann’s Tomato Ketchup made with Red & Green Tomatoes.
Available now, the new offerings are designed to entice consumers looking for healthy, sustainably sourced products that taste great. The launch will benefit from a £9m marketing investment in 2017, including TV adverts, OOH advertising and POS.
Hellmann’s Tomato Ketchup Sweetened with Honey is the first ketchup on the market to be solely sweetened by honey. This unique variant offers consumers a healthier and more natural way to enjoy their ketchup, using 30% less sugar (Versus market leader standard tomato ketchup).
Hellmann’s Tomato Ketchup made with Red & Green Tomatoes uses 36% more tomatoes by including both green and red varieties, ensuring that no good tomatoes go to waste. This unique approach is designed to help reduce food waste and save 2.5 million tomatoes each year across the EU (Based on 2016 harvest and the paste for all EU ketchups).
Hannah Webb, senior brand manager for Hellmann’s at Unilever, said: “We know that consumers are seeking healthy, sustainable and natural food products. Our new ketchup offering taps into this trend and is in line with our commitment to provide consumers with delicious, honest and high quality products made with natural ingredients.”
The packaging of the two ketchup variants will be in line with Hellmann’s 2017 total brand relaunch, featuring neutral colours used to match the New York deli where Hellmann’s originated in 1913.


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VSmart forecast to hold Vietnam’s third largest smartphone seller in 2020
The Hanoitimes - Vietnamese smartphone brand VSmart is expected to maintain its smartphone market share and overtake Chinese brands in 2020.
VSmart took over the third place from Xiaomi and Huawei in Vietnam’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019, and positioned itself behind the two major brands of Samsung and OPPO, according to the latest report from IDC Indochina, ICT market research firm.
| VSmart phones|
According to IDC Indochina’s shipment data for the last quarter of 2019, Samsung led in terms of volume in Q4, with a market share of 29.9%, followed by OPPO with 19.1%. Even though the two foreign brands still held the largest market shares throughout 2019, theirs dropped significantly in Q4 compared to the previous quarters of 2019.
The Vietnamese smartphone brand, owned by Vingroup’s subsidiary-VinSmart, placed itself in the third position with a 12.4% market share, much higher than that of Xiaomi at 6.5% in Q2 and 9% in Q2 of 2019.
There were roughly 5.09 million smartphones sold in Vietnam in Q4/2019, an increase of 33.9% quarter-on-quarter. Total smartphone shipment in Vietnam in 2019 was 16.4 million units.
Nguyen Lam, country manager of IDC Indochina, told Hanoitimes that total smartphone shipment in Vietnam for 2020 would grow 3.6%, compared to 6.7% in 2019. “We have no forecast for vendors’ shares; we only have knowledge of the current situation,” he said. He expected that VSmart would continue to maintain its footing in the country and remain in the top 3-5 vendors in terms of shipment in 2020.
Last November, VinSmart Research and Manufacturing Company inaugurated a new production line at its facility in Hanoi’s Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, after completing the first phase of the project. The company plans to manufacture 26 million devices per year in the first phase and 125 million devices per year once the facility runs at full capacity.
Among the reasons for VSmart to outpace Chinese brands, Lam cited the 50% pricing discount for LIVE model to push for market gain and pricing competitiveness; the distribution of 100,000 VSmart brand phones free-of-charge to Vinhomes residents as a way to build brand awareness and increase share; the introduction of lower pricing schemes (with similarly lower specifications) in comparison to competitors like RealMe, Xiaomi, among others, focusing on keeping the price at $150 per unit.
According to Lam, rumors have come to the market that VSmart is currently in talks with Viettel to form a partnership. This, together with the plan of Ministry of Information (MIC) and Communications on universalizing mobile phones are expected to boost the smartphone sales in Vietnam. The MIC pretends to reach smartphone penetration of 100% with an entry-level pricing model of just VND500,000 (US$21.5) per unit thanks to mobile service packages and pre-installed mobile apps on the gadget.
According to Lam, forming partnership alliance and building an ecosystem will likely forge VSmart to move ahead of its competitors, and retain user loyalty. Failing to do that would have an adverse effect. At the moment, VSmart is subsidizing its market penetration efforts in exchange for long term profits and sustaining business model.
“We might not able to ascertain its future success at the moment, but these game changing efforts are bold strategic moves of VSmart and adding fresh aura to the market,” Lam concluded.
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- Promoting Vietnam as a safe place to welcome foreign tourists
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Hanoi to build sewage collection system to revive its dying river
More monetary easing measures still to come in Vietnam: Fitch
Iconic lakes in Hanoi
Vietnam’s Northwest terraced paddy fields in snapshots


text:
This is the first look inside Coventry’s newest Currys PC World store on the Arena Park Shopping Centre - and it’s twice the size of the store it replaces.
Currys PC World featuring Carphone Warehouse has moved from its former home on the Alvis Retail Park to a bigger home.
The new store, which opens for business tomorrow (Friday, November 16), is both bigger and better than the one it replaces and represents an investment of more than £1million.
It has also seen a recruitment drive which has more than doubled the number of staff.
The Arena Park store, next to the Decathlon outlet, has a total floor space of 24,000 sq ft, of which 18,000 sq ft is customer facing.
It contains all the household electrical items one would expect, including a range of giant 75-inch smart TVs.
The most expensive currently is a Samsung QLED set which will set you back £3,699, plus another £329.99 for the stand.
General manager Kevin Hobson said: “This is a prime site and will be great for Coventry and great for customers.
“It is all about the experience for customers. We need to bring that back to the retail sector.”
Laura Perry, one of the team at the new store, said: “We have gone from having a 20-strong team to a team of 48 - and we are still recruiting.
“There’s still an opportunity there for anyone looking for work and we are an incredibly flexible company.”
Divisional director Simon Drury said the new store represented a vote of confidence in the retail sector.
He said: “I think it is a great looking place and a store of real importance for us.
“It is nice to be continuing to invest in retail when so many retailers are exiting places like this.”
To mark the opening of the new store there will be a range of special offers.
The store is also gearing-up for Black Friday.
Mr Drury added: “The offers we have got are under wraps but they will be bigger and better than last year.”
In a break with tradition the ribbon cutting at the new store will be performed by two pupils from nearby Exhall Grange Specialist School, with the school’s choir also performing on opening day.
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Report: HP Plans to Adopt Android for Future Mobile Devices
February 14, 2013 9:06 AM
comment(s) - last by
Android tablet from HP may be shown off at Mobile World Congress
Computer giant HP is looking to expand its horizons in the technology world. A new report suggests that the company will attempt to offer its own line of mobile products based on the Google Android operating system.
The first Android device offered by HP will be a high-end tablet using the NVIDIA Tegra 4 chip. NVIDIA claimed that the
was the world's fastest mobile processor during CES 2013.
HP hasn't gone official with the tablet yet, but sources indicate that the official announcement could come soon.
Other claims made by the sources include a little tidbit that HP is currently exploring the option of launching an Android-powered smartphone. HP's own CEO, Meg Whitman, has
stated in the past
that her company needs to offer a smartphone.
“We have to ultimately offer a smartphone because in many countries of the world that would be your first computing device,” said Whitman in September 2012. “There will be countries around the world where people may never own a tablet or a pc or a desktop. They will do everything on a smartphone… we have to take advantage of that form-factor.”
The smartphone reportedly won’t be coming out this year, but any further delay in getting out a credible entry into the cutthroat smartphone market can’t be good for HP. Even a well-respected company like BlackBerry still faces an uphill battle with its “re-entry” into smartphone relevance with
BB10 and the Z10/Q10
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
they don't care enough about the consumer
2/14/2013 2:33:56 PM
HP just doesn't care enough to build quality anything. Margin dollars are their friend, not the customer.
RE: they don't care enough about the consumer
2/14/2013 6:11:04 PM
Bull. Great monitors, very good printers, very good laptops. I've worked with many HP products over the years, a few were dogs, but only a few.
And yes, a company needs to turn a profit, or they don't remain in business. Unless they are propped up by government. They they can be as inefficient as the local DMV.
RE: they don't care enough about the consumer
2/15/2013 12:58:53 AM
Most blow except the "pro" ones. You can tell which are pro based on build quality.
very good printers
Their printers suck. Use a brother printer and get back to me.
very good laptops
Unless you're using the Elite series which are built like a tank, the regular non-special order products suck. Keep in mind that Compaq is also included as it is also HP.
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(By: Inside Retail Asia)
Vietnamese supermarket chain VinMart claims to have opened Vietnam’s first virtual store.
Run by VinGroup’s subsidiary VinCommerce, the new concept is being tested in 20 locations, including apartments, office buildings, schools and at bus stops, both in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Each store provides images and QR codes of more than 100 product groups for customers to scan and order via VinID app. The products will be delivered within two to four hours.
VinMart launched the Scan&Go function in its app in March, applying it in 73 supermarkets across the country.
Customers can also shop via VinMart’s printed shopping manual or online.
The article is first published on HERE May 24, 2019.


text:
Developer Frozenbyte has announced that their recent downloadable sequel, Trine 2, will be seeing some new levels in the form of downloadable content later this summer.
The company’s marketing director, Mikael Haveri, dropped the news at a recent GDC 2012 panel and said that the downloadable levels for the creative platforming & puzzling game will include a new story, new skills, and new puzzles revolving around light, water, low gravity, and magnetic elements.
Haveri also teased a new IP from the company to be in the works. It’s aiming for a $15 price on multiple platforms and will likely be a downloadable title.
We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.