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George R.R Martin, the mind behind A Song of Fire and Ice, the basis of the Game of Thrones HBO series, recently confirmed that he has reached out to a Japanese game developer, in regards to an unannounced project.
Earlier, in March, a rumour was circulating the internet, in which the famed novelist allegedly reached out to renowned Japanese game developer, From Software, the studio behind the Dark Souls series of roleplaying games, and most recently, the action title, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The rumour went on detail that Martin has been working with Dark Souls director, Hidetaka Miyakazi, for the past three years, on a new open-world game, featuring horse riding, ala The Witcher 3. According to Gematsu, the project has been internally dubbed as “GR” and will be published by Bandai Namco, with a full reveal set for E3 2019, during Microsoft’s press conference.
With the series finale of Game of Thrones finally upon us, fans of the medieval fantasy series clamouring for more, or for those who have suffered severe dragon burns from past Game of Thrones video game adaptations, can now look forward to a new game, with writing that should at least be on par with Martin’s original book series.
For the full blog post, readers are encouraged in checking out Geroge R.R’s official blog post.
Microsoft’s E3 2019 press conference is set for June 9th, 2019. The conference will be available to watch live on both Twitch and YouTube. If true, fans should expect to see From Software’s latest game running on what will likely be the next generation of Xbox. E3 2019 itself, will begin on Tuesday, June 11, taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, concluding on Thursday, June 13.
Gamesrader has just put out new information, regarding the name of the forthcoming From Software/ George R.R Martin project, which will allegedly be titled Great Rune. The game is set to be heavily inspired from Norse Mythology.


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Istanbul drops in rankings on most expensive cities list
Tourists and locals who buy a ticket for the metro in Istanbul in September 2018. (Alamy Stock Photo)
The cost of living in Istanbul has fallen sharply over the last year, taking the city to 120th place in a list of most expensive cities around the world, down from 44th, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) bi-annual survey of 133 cities released on March 19.
A city’s drop in the index does not necessarily mean life automatically gets cheaper for people living there, as prices adjust to inflation often quicker than wages, said Güneş Cansız of the World Resources Institute (WRI), a think tank.
“The cost of living in Istanbul, for example, might seem to have decreased, but since household expenses have increased, this has no positive reflection on the daily life of Istanbulites,” said Cansız, director at WRI’s Turkey Sustainable Cities program.
Istanbul kept its place as the most populous in the country and its population has grown by 907,257 people in five years, according to a recent study by the United Nations Population Fund.
With a population of 15 million residents, Istanbul is more crowded than 131 countries, including Belgium, Greece, Austria and Switzerland.
Paris and Hong Kong for the first time joined Singapore as the world’s most expensive cities to live in, the EIU study also revealed, with utilities and transport driving up the cost of living.
Zurich, Geneva and Japan’s Osaka trailed closely, with emerging market cities like Moscow plummeting down the ranking due to high inflation and currency depreciation
It was the first time in more than 30 years that three cities shared the top spot, a sign that pricey global cities are growing more alike, said the report’s author, Roxana Slavcheva.
“Converging costs in traditionally more expensive cities are a testament to globalization and the similarity of tastes and shopping patterns,” she said in a statement.
“Even in locations where shopping for groceries may be relatively cheaper, utilities or transportation prices drive up overall cost of living,” she said.
For the EIU survey researchers compared the cost of more than 150 items such as cars, food, rent, transport and clothing in 133 cities.
A woman’s haircut was about $15 in Bangalore, India, compared to $210 in New York, for example, while a bottle of beer was about half a dollar in Lagos, Nigeria, and more than $3 in Zurich.
Political turmoil in Venezuela plummeted Caracas to the bottom of the ranking, followed by Damascus, Syria, with Karachi, Pakistan, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and New Delhi also featuring among the 10 cheapest cities.

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IVECO is to supply 2,000 eDAILY chassis cabs, which will be fitted with refrigerated bodies by bodybuilder Lecapitaine.
Goodyear Presents 63% Sustainable Material Demonstration Truck Tyre at the IAA for Transportation
The 63 per cent sustainable-material demonstration truck tyre included 15 featured ingredients across 20 tyre components.
Daimler Truck Starts Local Production of Mercedes-Benz Trucks in China
Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive (BFDA), the joint venture of Daimler Truck Holding AG and Foton Motor, celebrates the first locally produced Mercedes-Benz trucks with an inauguration ceremony at its new state-of-the-art production site in Huairou, Beijing.
Comprehensive MANN-FILTER Product Range for Light Commercial Vehicles
MANN-FILTER has been providing innovative products in original equipment quality for the independent aftermarket for over 70 years.
Scania Passed a Milestone – Half a Million Vehicles Connected
Over 500,000 connected vehicles are rolling all over Scania’s 100 markets, continuously sharing data for analysis.
Vipal Rubber: Retreading Saves Money and Environment
Vipal Rubber, one of the largest retreading companies in the world, says it has offered the best solutions for the tyre retreading market for more than 45 years.
MAN Lion's City E is International Bus of the Year 2023
Members of the international jury for selecting the bus of the year voted MAN Lion's City E as the winner for the International Bus of the Year 2023.
Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo Wins the International Van of the Year Award 2023
Volkswagen in the shape of the ID. Buzz Cargo has just been announced as International Van of the Year 2023 (IVOTY).
Michelin Becomes Official Cooperation Partner for MAN ProfiDrive
The Munich-based commercial vehicle manufacturer, MAN and the French tyre manufacturer, Michelin jointly announced the official start of a new cooperation at the IAA Transportation in Hanover: from January 2023.
UD Trucks Installs Rooftop Solar Panels at Thailand Factory
UD Trucks Thailand has completed the installation of 1,850 solar panels at its factory in Samut Prakan, located on the outskirts of Bangkok.


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According to French Health Minister Olivier Veran, consumers shouldn't be rushing out to buy anti-inflammatory drugs in the hopes of minimizing the possible symptoms of COVID-19. Veran said that drugs like ibuprofen and cortisone could be "aggravating factors" and make the symptoms of the illness even worse. Popular NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) include aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen.
Veran suggested using acetaminophen (aka, Tylenol) -- which is not an NSAID -- to treat fevers. However, there are no specific recommendations from the World Health Organization yet as to which medicines to take to treat COVID-19 or its symptoms. The WHO has noted that taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen "may mask symptoms of infection."
France has more than 5,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday and over 120 deaths. It has been one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, although Spain has more cases with over 7,700, and Italy has close to 25,000 cases.
Advice comes as stores are running slow on supplies
Consumers have been stockpiling essential items in preparation for extended periods of isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration says it expects that the outbreak will lead to "potential disruptions to supply or shortages of critical medical products in the U.S."
For retail pharmacies like Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA 1.74%), that could lead to challenges in keeping stores stocked. The company announced last week that it would be putting purchase limits into place to help manage inventory levels and make items more widely available. In addition, the company will waive delivery fees on eligible prescriptions and for any purchases made on Walgreens.com. The healthcare company will also provide testing for COVID-19 at some of its locations.


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How Australia's lockdowns have made avocados CHEAPER - so why is smashed avo still SO expensive at the cafe?
- Huge crop of avocados combined with lockdowns have cause prices to plunge
- The fruit has gone from costing $3 at the supermarket to about $1 in 12 months
- Cafes have been unable to serve the brunch staple in Sydney and Melbourne
Australia is enjoying a bumper crop of avocados with the trendy green fruit flooding supermarkets and driving the price down to a third of the usual cost.
But as lockdown lifts and city dwellers can once again head to cafes for a healthy brunch, don't expect the price of the foodie-blog famous smashed avocado on toast to be any cheaper.
Farmers have planted more avocado trees thanks to strong demand from consumers resulting in record harvests and the price for buyers has plunged from $3 to $1.
Vaccinated Sydney residents can once again head to the cafe for brunch but don't expect the cheap price of avocados at the supermarket to make smashed avo any cheaper (file image)
'Lovers of Aussie avocados are really in the best place right now,' Avocados Australia CEO John Tyas said.
According to the peak industry body new orchards planted in the last five years are 'hitting their stride' this year and providing an abundance of fruit.
This had been fueled by an increase in demand with Australians eating on average 4kg each of the fruit this year which is expected to rise to 5kg next year.
'Australia's production from now until Christmas is expected to be up 150% more than last year,' Mr Tyas said.
The huge production increase has coincided with cafes being unable to serve the popular dish thanks to months of lockdowns in the huge markets of Sydney and Melbourne has further driven prices down.
While hospitality venues have been open for takeaway, this has generally been for lunch and dinner.
Mr Tyas said the hospitality industry accounts for 20 per cent of the overall market.
The 2017-2019 drought has lifted, combined with farmers planting more avocado trees has resulted in massive supplies of the trendy fruit (file image)
He added the 2017 to 2019 drought, which affected much of the sub-tropical and temperate growing areas had lifted in the last two years providing plenty of rainfall.
'This year's Hass crop is of excellent quality, we've had good growing conditions across most of our production regions.'
Western Australia is on track to break their record for avocado production this year.
Across the whole of Australia yearly production is expected to double to 170,000 tonnes over the next four years.
As restaurants and brunch hotspots once again open up in Sydney after 106 days of lockdown, with Melbourne soon to follow, it's unlikely the cheap price will be passed on to customers.
The popular avocado on toast is a cafe staple and the expensive dish was once even famously blamed as the reason younger generations couldn't afford a house deposit.
Sydney venues which have barely been able top keep afloat during the the last two years are struggling to make money where they can.
Prices have dropped from $3 to $1 at supermarkets which industry body Avocados Australia says will likely stay (file image)
Popular Manly hangout Vini's is serving up their 'Bella' breakfast of avocados, roma tomato and Persian feta for $16, while Kirribilli's Celsius coffee has a similar dish for $16.
In Chippendale, 101Kissa is serving up their vegetarian breakfast which has the above plus broccolini and eggs for $16.90 and the Social Brew at Pyrmont is erving up their smoked salmon, avocado and buttermilk dressing for $17.
However, if you're out west you may be able to get a bargain with Paper plane at Parramatta offering avo on toast for $14.50 and nearby Lil Miss Collins have the dish for an eye-catching $7.90


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HOUSTON – Houston Police Chief Troy Finner announced the Houston Police Department’s annual holiday safety campaign on Tuesday.
The HPD Holiday Safety Campaign will be happening throughout the next five weeks. Officers shared weekly crime prevention tips to educate Houstonians on safe shopping and holiday celebration habits.
“I always remind people of one thing, there are those individuals in our city and some of them don’t want to work and they want to victimize people during this season,” Chief Finner said.
HPD has asked shoppers to stay vigilant while shopping this holiday season. HPD has also increased patrols in mall parking lots to deter robberies and thefts.
Finner told KPRC 2 shoppers can avoid becoming targets by staying off their cellphones, traveling in groups, parking in well-lit areas and carrying a minimal amount of cash or credit cards.
“If you are going to make a large purchase, a large expensive purchase, make sure it’s your last purchase of the day and drive straight home,” Finner said.
Shoppers can do a ride-along with HPD on patrol in a mall on Black Friday.


text: The current rapid economic development is possible thanks to the great industriousness of Poles, who – with their diligence, resourcefulness and ability to adapt to changing conditions – contribute every day to building the economic success of enterprises and, as a result, of the whole economy. Poles work hard – they are one of the hardest working nations in the world – but it brings tangible results. Since 2004, when Poland joined the European Union, the country’s GDP has risen by 90 per cent. Under the current government coalition our domestic product has grown by more than one fifth. This is really impressive growth, which has been achieved in difficult competitive conditions.


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Singapore, Singapore, 22nd November, 2021,
SYN CITY is the Mafia Metaverse built for the crypto era.
Co-founded by Roy Liu, ex-Head of Business and Marketing of TRON, and Mihai Pohontu, ex VP of Samsung and Disney, the project features a team of gaming and tech veterans from Disney, Ubisoft, Roblox, EA, Gameloft, Google, and Twitter, boosted by an $8M investment co-lead by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and Zynga China’s co-founder Robin Chan’s Goat Capital, A&T Capital, Alex Pack’s Hack VC, Animoca Brands, Spartan Group, Project Galaxy, iAngels, Superpower and many other super angels including Synthetix’s Jordan Momtazi, Terra’s Do Kwon, CMC’s Luke Wagman, Superfarm’s Elliot Wainman, Alex Becker, Coinlist’s Paul Menchov, Illuvium’s Kieran Warwick, Santiago R Santos, and many more.
“Mafia and underworld syndicates is one of the few evergreen genres among all the entertainment products worldwide. In the startup world, we also call ourselves whatever mafia or syndicate to show that we are a close group of advocates with strong consensus. After spending over 10 years in gaming and over 3 years in crypto, it’s a no-brainer for me to combine the knowledge of the two and start my metaverse career building a mafia metaverse.” says Roy Liu.
SYN CITY introduces the unique governance system called Mafia-as-a-DAO or MaaD. Users can form their own syndicates to play together and earn together, by earning through events, investing in the business and ecosystem, or participating in the governance.
The new mafia metaverse will also be free to play to everyone. “It’s not fair to ask people to pay $1000 hard-earned money before they can play or earn from the game. This is the crypto era and we want everyone to have an equal right to be able to play and earn.” says Roy Liu. “If Call Of Duty can become F2P, why can’t crypto games.”
“We think the metaverse that SYN CITY is building is super exciting.” says Robin Chan, General Partner of Goat Capital. “When I was GM of Asia at Zynga, we witnessed the global phenomenon of Mafia Wars which influenced the whole generation. SYN CITY is here to lead the paradigm shift of the mafia metaverse”.
To celebrate the genesis launch of the community, the first 10,000 SYN CITY members on the discord server (discord.gg/syncity) can participate in a huge Mystery Mafia giveaway hosted by well-known celebrities.
About SYN CITY
SYN CITY is the Mafia Metaverse with a cutting-edge gaming engine, bridging the gap between real-world NFT utilities and DeFi functions. Displaying a stylized take on the world of modern syndicates, SYN CITY takes this concept a step further by making the game Free to Play — Play to earn, and truly making the Metaverse more accessible by introducing the revolutionary MAFIA as a DAO (MaaD) system. Players can grind in daily events, PvE, PvP, and Syndicate events such as cross-chain tournaments. The game is developed by a team of industry experts from Disney, Ubisoft, Roblox, EA, Gameloft, Google, Yahoo, and Twitter.


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Chinese state media condemned the violence, with the China Daily newspaper saying young protesters were revelling in a hormone-fuelled ‘rebellion’.The stylized versions seen here at SEMA have brought the steelie from a throwaway piece used for rolling shells around the shop to an integral part of high-end shop truck builds featuring creatively cut holes in various arrangements, shapes, and sizes.Young guys take longer to develop, especially when they’re big.Make sure the gift you’re giving away is something the new recipient will really want and appreciate, and don’t regift something the original giver spent a lot of time and thought getting for you.the San Diego Chargers, the Browns partnered with the American Red Cross on Dawg Pound Drive.
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The ultimate of luxury living in an art deco masterpiece.
Repurposing heritage landmarks into upscale condominiums has become a key trend in New York’s real estate market. What is intended as a solution to land scarcity turns out to have a fair amount of bonuses – adding character to the homes for one – and the 56-storey tower One Wall Street is a case in point.
Originally built in 1931 as the corporate headquarters of American bank Irving Trust, the Irving Trust Company Building, located in Lower Manhattan at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway, was an art deco masterpiece crafted by Ralph Walker – a legendary architect hailed as the “Architect of the Century” by The New York Times in the 1960s.
The then 50-storey tower was marked by a grand limestone façade and a 9,000 square-foot “Red Room” that featured a triple-height floor- to-ceiling mosaic by muralist Hildreth Meière.
Nine decades on, the architectural gem is now undergoing a transformation by developer Macklowe Properties which, upon completion in Q4 this year, will be resurrected into a luxury condominium with 566 studio-to four-bedroom residences and a penthouse on offer at a starting price of US$1.5 million.
One Wall Street, a 56-storey tower, will retain some of the historic architectural features in homage to the building’s former life, including the iconic limestone façade and the “Red Room” – which will be turned into a retail space alongside a list of shopping options the development has to offer. Among them is the Whole Foods Market, which is expected to span across three floors with openings on Broadway, New Street and Exchange Place.
The homes are meant not only for comfort, but also for entertaining needs, boasting 10-foot ceilings with meticulous finishes such as fluted bay windows, Calacatta-honed marble for the kitchens and Bianco Dolomiti marble for the bathrooms. Many of the apartments will have panoramic views that stretch out to the New York Harbour and the Statue of Liberty.
Residents of One Wall Street will be given exclusive access to The One Club, where they can enjoy a 75,000 square-foot four-storey athletic club complete with spa and wellness facilities. Other amenities include resident-only fitness rooms, an indoor lap pool that has 270-degree views of Manhattan and New York Harbour, wrap-around patios, and a full-floor event and entertainment space that comes with a club lounge, bar, private dining room and demonstration kitchen, and more.


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CX-50 new off-road-intended crossover from Mazda
First Mazda built in U.S. since 2012
Mazda’s first CX-50 crossover rolled off of the line today at the company’s joint venture plant in Huntsville, Alabama. It marks the launch of the brand’s newest crossover as well as a return to North American manufacturing for the automaker.
The new plant is called Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, a $2.3B joint venture between the two automakers that is already building the Toyota Corolla Cross. Total production is expected to be 300,000 units a year, split evenly between the two companies.
New for 2023, the Mazda CX-50 is the brand’s first attempt at a more rugged vehicle in its modern lineup. The new crossover, larger than the CX-5 and powered by 2.5L engines in turbo and non-turbo, is meant to make the drive to the trail more enjoyable while being able to handle the rough roads at the end of the trip. More of an adventure ride than the city-centric CX-5.
“This is an exciting day for both MTM team members and MNAO employees to celebrate the first CX-50 to roll off the Discovery Line at MTM,” said Mazda North American Operations CEO Jeff Guyton. “The production of the CX-50 here signifies the importance of the North American market to Mazda and our commitment to investing in the U.S.”
Mazda says that the CX-50 will go on sale this spring, and the automaker expects to have more information, including about a new hybrid model, to be shared down the road.


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Tales of Fantasy alpha test begins
Tales of Fantasy, a new MMO from IGG that features mounted combat, has begun its alpha phase of testing today. The test will last for eight days, and those lucky enough to get an alpha test key and play will be entered for a chance to win an Apple iPad.
IGG is offering alpha keys to players who refer enough friends to their gaming portal to earn credits for an Alpha Key. Details on the referral event can be found here.
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Okami HD lands on Xbox One, Xbox One X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro and PC on December 12th for $19.99. It'll be available on PS4 and Xbox One both physically and digitally, as well as getting a digital only PC release. However, it's not clear if the new Okami HD will also support the peripherals.
The mini-games were excluded from the Wii and HD PS3 releases of the game in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
Capcom made the announcement via the Japanese magazine Famitsu.More news: Kate's pregnancy has been an anxious time, admits William
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In a culmination of what has to be one of the worst kept secrets in gaming, at least for this year, Capcom have finally announced that the long-awaited Okami HD will be released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on December 12th.
The game will be released physically and digitally, with the latter priced at £15.99 / $19.99 United States dollars (no Australian pricing was available at time of writing).
The game is retaining the original interactive loading game screens that will allow players to earn bonus demon fangs which can be traded for in-game items. Originally developed by Hideki Kamiya's Clover Studio and released on PlayStation 2 in 2006, it was highly praised for its attractive Japanese-style music and visuals. However, it has seen a graphical upheaval, as "its renowned Sumi-e ink art style is now even more breath-taking as the graphics have been updated to take advantage of modern high resolutions". The gameplay is a mix of action, puzzle and platforming, with players being able to transform the world of the game by pausing and drawing figures with the analog stick or the motion controls of the later versions.


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Pretzel Perfection was a little-known company producing 100,000 bags of gluten-free pretzels a month when it made its debut on Delta flights in 2017. Now, the brand, which Amy Holyk, then a stay-at-home mother, started out of her garage in Vancouver, Wa., turns out more than 8 million bags of pretzels and snack mixes a month and had $16 million in revenues last year.
Brian Berry, Delta’s director of onboard services strategic planning, said that after passengers said in surveys in 2016 that they wanted better snacks in economy, the company branched out.
“We wanted to be on trend with our snack choices, and we think that smaller, specialty brands are definitely on trend,” he said.
Are other airlines doing the same thing?
Yes, in recent years, carriers including Delta, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue have begun serving passengers food and drinks from start-up companies.
This spring, United started serving Wheatley Vodka, which is distilled in small batches in Frankfort. Ky., in both economy, where it’s available for purchase, and business class, where it’s free. Also, in July, the airline started serving bags of maple wafers from Byrd’s Cookie Company, a fourth-generation, family-owned enterprise from Savannah, Ga., as its free economy class snack on morning flights.
American Airlines will start serving snacks from Lorissa’s Kitchen, a maker of grass-fed beef jerky, in November (free in business class; for sale in coach) and it will also be selling items from Zoe’s Kitchen, a Dallas-Fort Worth company that prides itself on its made-from-scratch Mediterranean dishes. The choices will include the Gruben sandwich, a combination of turkey, manchego cheese, slaw and feta spread on marble bread.
You mentioned JetBlue
JetBlue is so dedicated to supporting tiny food brands that it offers a mentoring program called BlueBud where companies work with its onboard food and beverage team to learn what it takes to supply products to an airline. They’re not guaranteed placement on JetBlue, but Sophia Mendelsohn, head of sustainability, environmental and social governance, said that the point is to set up the budding entrepreneurs for success.
In the skies, the airline has numerous options from niche food companies, varying by route. In Mint, its business class cabin, for example, passengers can eat ice-cream from local producers. Flights departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., between October and December are stocked with a “chocolate decadence” flavor from the Miami Beach company, The Frieze, while flights leaving Los Angeles during these months can choose “bananas foster” from Coolhaus.
The companies must love this
Byrd’s, the cookie company whose products were picked up United, was making 200 million cookies a year before the airline started offering them. “We now make 1.9 billion of them a year,” said Geoff Repella, Byrd’s president. The thin and crispy wafers are made with brown sugar and maple syrup and are a variation on a recipe from the South that Mr. Repella said dates back more than 300 years. “Our relationship with United has been a game changer for us,” he said. “I get more than 20 calls and 40 emails a day from customers who want to buy our cookies.”
But it’s not always easy to ramp up a small business to meet airlines’ needs. Only one company that completed JetBlue’s BlueBud program has had its wares accepted for onboard service: Hot Bread Kitchen, whose challah rolls were part of the brunch menu in Mint class.
“Many of the companies haven’t been quite ready to offer their products on such a large scale,” said Tamara Young, a JetBlue spokeswoman.
Wouldn’t passengers be a lot happier with a couple more inches between seats?
But that would cost money, and providing hipper snacks is relatively cheap.
Zach Honig, the editor at large of the travel site The Points Guy, said offering cooler snacks is a win-win for everyone involved because they’re more likely to be loyal to the airline while the brands get propelled into the big leagues.”
Mr. Honig said that he is a frequent traveler on United and said that he fell in love with the Shelia G’s brownie brittle that used to be in its first class snack basket. “It was the first thing to go so I would rush to grab it,” he said. “I even ordered a case for home. When you’re trapped on an aircraft, food is one of the biggest sources of excitement.”


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- Editor’s Note: This is the first of a series of articles on fall color in and around Kane County.
We’re not quite there yet when it comes to peak fall color here in beautiful Kane County, IL.
But if you’re planning a trip “Up North,” it’s getting close. This weekend and next should be the creme de la creme, colorwise.
At least, that’s what you can read right off one of the best fall-color websites I’ve ever seen: the Travel Wisconsin Fall Color Report.
I love this interactive map and wish we had something like it in Illinois. It offers up-to-the-minute reports on everything from percentage of color to estimated peak times to photo galleries that show you exactly what it looks like.
Seriously, I’m not trying to promote Wisconsin tourism, and goodness knows there are some spectacular places to see fall color here in Kane County and throughout the beautiful state of Illinois, but I know a lot of Kane County folks who are interested in fall color in Wisconsin and make day trips or weekend trips to see it — and this is a great way to stay informed.
Bottom line: The best fall color in Wisconsin is likely the first week of October — depending on how far north you want to go.
If you’re just going to Lake Geneva, for example, the color is estimated at 15 percent right now. The peak is the second week of October.
If you’re going up to Boulder Junction, on the other hand, it’s at 50 percent and you’re looking at a peak during the first week of October.
Some areas in Wisconsin are posted at 75 percent color today (Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017), so strike while the iron is hot.
The map has all kinds of information, and you can click on any part of the state to find out the latest reports. To see the full interactive map, click on the map embedded above, or this link.


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Aaron Craig and Tammy Paterson are coming up on their one-year anniversary of helping Sault Ste. Marie residents satisfy their sweet tooth from their Queen Street bakery and cafe, The Queen’s Tarts.
Paterson began selling butter tarts several years ago when she decided to travel to Kenya for a Habitat for Humanity global village build and needed to do some fundraising for the trip. Since that first trip, Paterson has gone on six more, using her baking skills to fund each of them.
Craig said once the Mill Market opened about six years ago, the couple turned their attention there, where their pies and tarts were well received.
“From there, we started to attend various festivals around Ontario, with our first one being Ontario’s Best Buttertart Festival in Midland, for which we brought the most tarts we’d ever made for a single event: 162 dozen,” Craig told Sault This Week.
“We were worried about what we’d do with them if we didn’t sell them all, but our worries were for naught as we had an hour-long line up that didn’t stop until we were completely sold out.”
The pair has been back to that festival every year since, until it was cancelled for this year, selling more than 20,000 butter tarts over the years.
About four years ago, Craig and Paterson began roasting their own coffee to serve with their tarts.
“With us doing more and more with our side business, it was quickly becoming more time consuming than our regular jobs, and in late 2018 we decided we’d try doing it full time,” said Craig. “On June 21, 2019 we opened our storefront on Queen Street.”
When they first decided to open a storefront, the couple did consider other locations in town, but ultimately decided on Queen Street because that was where they “really wanted to be.”
“We are impressed with how supportive all the downtown businesses are of one another, with many businesses like Vintage Games n’ Junque sharing other businesses’ posts on social media to try to reach as many people as possible,” said Craig. “There is a real sense of community, not competition, among the downtown businesses.”
Opening the storefront has allowed the business to expand further, giving them the ability to offer cappuccinos, lattes, and other specialty drinks, as well as simple lunches like soup, sandwiches, and quiche, Craig said. Their baking menu also continues to expand, now offering muffins, cinnamon buns, pies, and more than 40 different varieties of their signature butter tarts.
With no employees working for them, the couple has recruited all of their four children at some point in time to help with running the business, but they still put in at least 100 hours each week between the two of them. Nevertheless, the couple hopes to one day be able to open cafes in other cities and to expand their coffee roasting.
The Queen’s Tarts has been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but business hasn’t come to a halt.
“We are grateful for all the continued support we’ve received during this pandemic and love to see all different orders we’ve received as gifts being sent to put a smile on someone’s face,” said Craig.
“We’ve received orders from North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Alberta, and other places from people who have friends or family here in the Sault that they just wanted to let know they were thinking of them.”
The business has also received several orders from local businesses who want to send tarts to frontline workers, such as Northridge Montessori School who sent a few dozen buttertarts to SAH. Business owners and managers have also sent tarts to employees who are working from home.
There wasn’t any real significance to why the couple chose to focus on butter tarts, “other than Tammy makes a great one that is her own recipe,” Craig said.
Traditional buttertarts, such as classic, raisin, and pecan, remain the business’s bestsellers, but over the years the couple has experimented to add new varieties as well. Some of those flavours include maple walnut, coconut, raspberry, maple bacon, strawberry cheesecake, s’mores, and cookies and cream.
It would be easy for a first-time customer to get stuck trying to make a decision with all those flavours to choose from, but Craig has advice ready.
“Our bestselling varieties after the traditional flavours are Salted Caramel, Sea Salt Dark Chocolate, and Nanaimo, so one of those is usually the one I’d suggest if someone was trying one of our tarts for the first time,” he said.


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STOCK WATCH: New Deliveroo director may be hungry for a fresh float
Is this a tell-tale sign that takeaway delivery firm Deliveroo is gearing up for a stock market float?
The technology start-up has hired Frank McGlade as its director of corporate and business development. It may not sound like a huge deal, but this is the same post McGlade held at rival food delivery firm Just Eat just before its £1.5billion float in 2014.
McGlade left as chief financial officer of Emoov in December last year, having joined in February as it was lining up a listing of its own.
Deliveroo has hired Frank McGlade as its director of corporate and business development
However, the estate agent went bust so that never happened.
Deliveroo, which helps users order food from restaurants via a smartphone app, is among Britain's most valuable technology start-ups, having raised hundreds of millions of pounds with venture capital firms away from the public eye.
But that could be about to change. The company's ambitions to float on the stock market are no secret.
It is thought that a separate private funding round will happen before any float. Perhaps McGlade is eyeing another possible payday on the horizon.
Amazon could reclaim number one spot
The race to become the world's biggest listed company is back on. Amazon reveals its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, giving it a chance to reclaim the number one spot.
Analysts reckon that turnover will hit $60billion (£46billion) for the first three months of 2019, up 16.9 per cent on the previous quarter. It will also be eyeing up the title of the biggest company by market value, held by Apple.
Amazon is currently worth $916billion, behind Apple at $961billion and Microsoft at $946billion.
Jeff Bezos's tech giant could top them both by next week if the results beat expectations.
The heat is on
Pressure is rising on Centrica boss Iain Conn to deliver after a 60 per cent fall in the British Gas owner's value since he took charge in 2015.
Surely this fall couldn't make the Footsie company a takeover target, could it? Conn revealed last year that he is often asked by investors whether an oil giant or Amazon is going to buy the £6billion firm.
Scribblers at UBS think a takeover is 'not impossible'. They argue that being part of a larger company would bring 'much needed financial flexibility, relieving pressure on credit ratings and dividends, and allowing Centrica to focus on rebuilding the earnings power of the business'.
MX Oil shares surge 200%
Shares in tiddler MX Oil gushed more than 200 per cent last week, serving as a rare reminder of why punters love AIM.
The surge followed the news that Sheik Ahmed Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai's ruling family, had taken a near-30 per cent stake in the firm, which operates in Nigeria.
One beneficiary of the share spike is Johnny Hon, the colourful Hong Kong businessman who is friends with the British Royals. Hon has a small stake in MX Oil, according to Bloomberg.
I wonder if his royal connections extend to Dubai.
Contributor: Simon Neville
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Cyber Crime is no game despite the recent announcement of a new Watchdogs but cloud tech firm Akamai’s State of the Internet report has a few nasty surprises for gamers. Criminals are after your in-game items and it’s our own fault.
If you’ve ever ventured down a dark alley in Exodar or skulked around the more nefarious taverns of Divinity’s Reach you probably would assume that this is as bad as it can get. Turns out we were very wrong. Akami are a cloud-based technology company that specializes in that bit of the internet that gets videos, games, and services in front of your computer with minimal fuss. This integral type of service requires a good understanding of how people use the internet and their latest State of The Internet title says it all really.
“Security Web Attacks and Gaming Abuse” report that the instance of attacks on the gaming industry is staggeringly high. Of the 55Billion credential stuffing attacks made against all online industries, Akamai monitored 12Billion of these directed at gaming websites. That’s doesn’t even include other services that many of us use day to day. A whole other plethora of attacks are identified in the report and Akami suggests there’s a reason for this.
“One reason that we believe the gaming industry is an attractive target for hackers is because criminals can easily exchange in-game items for profit,” said Martin McKeay, Security Researcher at Akamai and Editorial Director of the State of the Internet / Security Report. “Furthermore, gamers are a niche demographic known for spending money, so their financial status is also a tempting target.”
We all know somebody who has been hacked, their account stripped and the virtual items sold off in game or online through grey websites. This appears to be exactly what the Akamai team found happening over the 17 months of their State of The Internet report. Cyber Crime can look at your account as a low-risk high reward target with virtually no retribution for these acts in the real world and a web of international borders between source and targets.
You can check out some of the startling numbers from the report above and check out some of the MMORPG.com security service picks here. The full report is available here. Take note they’re after your gold, your mantle, and your legendary swords.


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Perkins & Marie Callender’s Inc. reported a wider first-quarter net loss tied to falling customer traffic at both of its family-dining chains. For the quarter ended April 18, the company's net loss increased to $14.6 million from a year-ago net loss of $9.8 million. Latest-quarter revenue declined 7.9 percent to $155.8 million, compared with $169.2 million a year earlier. Same-store sales fell 8.7 percent at corporate Marie Callender’s restaurants and dropped 5.7 ...
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One of the largest tech services organisations, Wipro, is currently deep in its Cloud 2.0 strategy implementation. However, discussions around its Cloud 3.0 strategy have already started. Anup Purohit, CIO, Wipro throws light on best practices and risks that organisations need to factor in a while embarking on a cloud journey.
The new OS version will start rolling out as an over-the-air update for Pixel phone users, while companies like Sony Mobile, Xiaomi, HMD Global, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Essential Phones as well as qualifying Android One will receive the update by the end of the year, Google said in a blogpost.
"We are also working with a number of other partners to launch or upgrade devices to Android 9 this year," it added.
Android 9, which harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI), has been built to make the phone smarter by learning from user behaviour and adapting to usage patterns, the blog said.
"That's why Android 9 comes with features like Adaptive Battery, which learns the apps you use most and prioritises battery for them, and Adaptive Brightness, which learns how you like to set the brightness in different settings, and does it for you," it noted.
Google will also roll out "Slices" later this year that will show relevant information from apps. For example, if a user starts typing 'Lyft' into Google Search, the user will see a "slice" of the Lyft app, showing prices for the ride and the estimated time of arrival to enable the user take action more quickly and easily.
The US-based company said improving security is an important component in each of the platform releases.
Interestingly, the revised OS version will offer a new dashboard to users to help them understand how they are spending time on their device, including an 'App Timer', 'Do Not Disturb (DND)' and 'Wind Down' features.
Using the App Timer, users can set time limits on apps and when the set time lapses, the app icon is grayed out on the phone's home screen.
The DND feature silences all visual interruptions that pop up on screen, while Wind Down switches on Night Light and DND and fades the screen to grayscale before bedtime.
Digital Wellbeing will officially launch on Pixel phones this fall, with Android One and other devices coming later this year, the blog said.


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Next-Gen Payment Card Form-Factors Now the New Hope to Stem Continued ASP Degradation
May 21, 2019
London, United Kingdom - 21 May 2019
In the wake of softening growth in other primary smart card areas, most notably SIM cards, payment card issuance continues its upward growth trajectory. Despite near ubiquitous global uptake of the EMV standard, several factors are stimulating the payment cards market such as new banking clients, increasing wealth in developing areas, and contactless migration. Other factors include new innovations in card form factors, such as metal cards, and powered payment cards that incorporate biometric sensor technology. The net effect is driving EMV payment card issuance from 3.18 billion in 2019 to over 3.75 billion by 2023, according to ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies.
Interestingly, between 2017 and 2018, there was a significant slowdown in contactless migration, driven by stagnation in the key contactless market, China. However, other regional markets are set to reverse the decline in 2019.
“A significant push by the Reserve Bank of India, such as the release of contactless tokenization guidelines, and India’s Finance Ministry advising banks and financial institutions to begin issuing contactless-enabled credit and debit cards have already paid dividends. The Indian market reacted well, particularly in Q4 2018, where it was estimated that near 10 percent of all cards issued were of the contactless variety,” explained Phil Sealy, Research Director at ABI Research.
For the United States, the “Chase effect” (referring to other issuers following Chase’s lead in contactless migration) is now in full swing. This momentum is expected to continue, with U.S. issuers likely adopting a targeted migration approach by selecting parts of their respective portfolios for contactless migration and/or adopting a regional approach heavily linked to cities. For instance, in New York, contactless card marketing is being timed with transit system migration accepting open-loop payment credentials.
ABI Research forecasts that contactless issuance in the United States and India combined will grow from 200 million in 2019 to 609 million in 2023. “Despite the positivity’s of ongoing migration to contactless cards, continued ASP degradation in the traditional market is hitting vendor bottom lines. This is causing a shift in strategy toward the development of higher-value propositions to help counter reducing margins,” Sealy said. Leading ecosystem players including Gemalto, IDEMIA, G+D, CompoSecure, Fingerprint Cards, IDEX, Kona, Linxens, NXP, Infineon, STMicro, Precise Biometrics, and Next Biometrics already have solutions and products in place to take advantage of this next-generation revenue/margin opportunity.
Metal cards and biometric payment cards continue to gain momentum. Metal cards are already shipping in the millions within the U.S and the Middle East. The announcement by Fingerprint Cards’ in March 2019 for its first large-scale order of a few hundred thousand flexible sensors is another sign supporting continued biometric card growth. “Form factor innovation is just one example of card supplier strategies pivoting from market share maintenance/growth towards the supply of high- value cards to help improve otherwise declining margins,” Sealy concluded.
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Ever since Nintendo released the Switch in 2017, it feels like handheld gaming is having a bit of a renaissance. Not only has it blasted past a hundred million units sold, but it’s also come alongside the successful Steam Deck and a handful of other x86 handhelds from smaller companies.
One such company is Ayaneo, which has released numerous handhelds since its first in 2021. In that short timeframe, we’ve seen the tiny Ayaneo Air and the powerful Ayaneo Next. Now, however, the company has a proper follow-up on the way – the Ayaneo 2.
The Ayaneo 2 is a Windows-based handheld PC that packs a punch, with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800u alongside customisable RAM and SSD storage (my unit came with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage – a prototype unit, mind you, so any issues could be ironed out for the final shipments). That puts it on par with a handful of other new handhelds from OneXPlayer and Aokzoe – basically, it’s among the most powerful handhelds you can get today.


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38 pounds of cannabis, 170 cartons of tobacco seized from Alberta home
Police have seized a significant amount of illegal cannabis and tobacco products from a home in Athabasca.
On Jan. 10, a search warrant was executed at the home, and 38 pounds of illicit cannabis and 170 cartons of unstamped tobacco products were seized.
A 48-year-old Athabasca resident has been charged with distribution of illicit cannabis and selling of tobacco products, among other charges.
The suspect has been released from custody on conditions, and will appear in Athabasca Provincial Court in the coming weeks.
Athabasca is about 150 kilometres north of Edmonton.
View original article here Source


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rick owens wants us all to cheer the fuck up
As his second collaboration with Birkenstock drops, the Prince of Darkness discusses why we all need to lighten up and how wellness, sex and glamour can help.
Photography Flo Kohl
"I've been moving towards glam,” Rick Owens explains at the launch of his second collaboration with Birkenstock, “it could be down to a begrudging optimism because I've been dour about cultural and natural decline. It's time to cheer the fuck up!” While forcing the frow to choke on coloured smoke plumes as he sent out his parade of otherworldly sculptural sportswear before asking his all-powerful women, dressed in survival-wear, to put a torch to the world for spring/summer 19, his recent shows have been anger-fuelled acts of creative resistance in response to the sociopolitical shitstorm that we’re living through today.
Now, with the world on fire, the California-born, Paris-based, forever independent design force has turned to the optimism found in glamour and comfort. Fresh from honouring the glam-rock glory of lust and vice in the story of Larry LeGaspi -- the visionary mind behind the iconic looks of Labelle, Kiss, Grace Jones and Divine -- Owens has added architectural glamour to the ultimate comfort footwear, Birkenstock sandals.
From Marc Jacobs’s iconic (and recently reissued) 1992 grunge collection for Perry Ellis to Phoebe Philo’s “Furkenstocks” for Céline spring/summer 13, fashion has flirted time and time again with the Görlitz-made sandals, but in Rick Owens they’ve found the ideal creative partner to push both its archive and new styles forward. “Owens is one of the most relevant and last independent designers,” Oliver Reichert, CEO of Birkenstock, explains. “His take has transformed iconic Birkenstock styles and there are many more common traits our brands unite than most would have thought at first.”
The debut collaboration reimagined one of the brand’s most recognisable sandals, the Arizona, in fuzzy grey calf-hair and fringed straps. For the follow-up, the classic Arizona and Rotterdam silhouettes have elongated straps in different metallics and colourblocked colourways, while the Rotterhiker boot includes a metal buckle on the upper strap for easy fastening, an elongated tongue and a translucent rubber sole. In the grungy glam hands of Owens, the familiar becomes the otherworldly.
"I'm not interested in just decorating the sandals, it had to more than applying sequins and studs,” Owens explains. “Here, I wanted to do something architectural, so we lengthened the straps and you wouldn't believe the discussions we had to make it happen. They're all about safety. It’s their values and I respect them for it, that’s what drew me to work with them in the first place.” His cult might be made of shape-shifting, transcendental daydreamers that lurk in the darkest corners of our imaginations, but Owens is the first to remind us that he’s a Californian hippy at heart. “We make sense together,” he explains. “The barefoot sandal thing, that’s my jam. Also, the countercultural element too, Birkenstock has a 60s nostalgia too. Initially, the collaboration might’ve come as a shock but it made sense to the people that know.”
“It can’t just be a product collaboration, there are too many around,” Oliver notes. “There has to be a real newness, a context of how to experience and visualise the product has to materialise.” To celebrate the first product drop, the second collaboration launched with black cork-covered pop-ups in Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. “For me, it's about wellbeing, living a healthy lifestyle,” Owens explains. “Birkenstocks conjure up thoughts of sun-worshipping Germans, with this healthy attitude towards sex. There’s a sensuality to wellness that’s overlooked. It's this mix of sex and health that I like.
"What’s sexier than big, white, strong teeth?"
This article originally appeared on i-D UK.


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8:28 a.m. March 9, 2017
Wells Fargo shakes up retail banking unitWells Fargo & Co. took further steps this week to restructure its retail-banking business, even as the firm continues digging into the causes of its sales-practices scandal, according to employees and memos reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
12:34 p.m. Jan. 9, 2017
- By Sue Chang
Nasdaq closes at record even as ‘Trump rally’ takes a breather Psychologically important 20,000 remains elusive for Dow U.S. stocks retreat Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back further from the psychologically significant 20,000 but the Nasdaq bucked the weak trend to finish at a record high for a second session in a row.
8:15 a.m. Jan. 6, 2017
Wells Fargo to roll out new pay planWells Fargo & Co. is planning to roll out a new retail-banking compensation structure next week in an attempt to fix what many believe was one cause of its sales-tactics scandal, people familiar with the matter said.
8:35 a.m. Dec. 16, 2016
Wells Fargo sees drop in checking account openingsWells Fargo & Co. reported retail banking branch interactions and new consumer checking-account openings continued to fall in November following its sales practices scandal in September. The San Francisco bank, reporting monthly branch data for the third time since the sham accounts went public, saw some improvement in metrics around balances, deposits and credit-card purchase volume.
10:25 p.m. Dec. 12, 2016
Bitcoin startup hires ex-Barclays chief JenkinsOne of Europe's most prominent former bankers is joining a bitcoin startup. Antony Jenkins, the ex-chief executive of Barclays PLC, said he has joined the board of directors of Blockchain, a London-based startup that provides services related to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The company, named after the basic technology that creates the shared network used to move and track bitcoin, raised $30 million in an initial fundraising in 2014.
6:24 a.m. Nov. 27, 2016
- By Quentin Fottrell
Meet the richest person in each of the 50 U.S. statesThey’re not all billionaires, but they’re probably richer than you.
7:03 a.m. Nov. 17, 2016
Wells Fargo reports drop in new customer accountsWells Fargo & Co. reported that customer interactions and new accounts both fell in October, compared with the previous month and the year-earlier period, as the bank disclosed additional retail-banking metrics Thursday following its sales-practices scandal.
12:45 p.m. Oct. 28, 2016
- By Robert Powell
Retirement newsThe AARP has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s final wellness program rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law.
8:07 a.m. Oct. 14, 2016
Wells Fargo wealth unit grows despite scandalWells Fargo & Co.'s cross-selling scandal didn't knock its wealth- and investment-management unit off stride last quarter as client assets hit a record high, but the bank's new chief hinted at greater oversight of sales practices at the unit.
9:00 a.m. Oct. 6, 2016
- By Howard Gold
Huge egos undermine star fund managers Bruce Berkowitz, a one-time ‘Fund Manager of the Decade,’ crashes and burnsBruce Berkowitz, a one-time ‘Fund Manager of the Decade,’ crashes and burns, writes Howard Gold.
4:25 p.m. May 11, 2016
- By Justin Baer
LendingClub under fire for close ties to outside fund Investments reportedly were to boost demand for loansLendingClub Corp. and its chief executive invested millions of dollars in an outside fund in part to boost demand for the company’s loans at a time of market stress, people familiar with the matter said.
11:54 a.m. May 9, 2016
LendingClub CEO ousted after loan sales reviewThe CEO of the leading company in the burgeoning online-lending industry resigned Monday following a board investigation into what it called improper practices in the lending process. The departure of Renaud Laplanche immediately pushed down LendingClub Corp.'s stock by 26%, a fall that would be its sharpest one-day decline and put the stock at an all-time low.
8:25 a.m. May 9, 2016
- By Ciara Linnane
LendingClub saga may yield increased scrutiny of peer-to-peer lending Regulators expected to take fresh interest after LendingClub’s CEO ousterNews that the CEO of LendingClub is being ousted for improper activity in lending is likely to bring fresh regulatory scrutiny to the peer-to-peer lending business, says Fitch.


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Sneakernews!!!! ya'll startin to annoy me with this half a story shit ya'll been doin lately....leave that shit to footlocker!!!!! This is SNEAKERNEWS.....we want the whole damn story!
January 12, 2012 BY John Kim / 3
For the Nike LeBron 9, a special set of ‘college colorways’ were devised to branch out to the NCAA scene. Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Miami were the three schools placed front-and-center at this LeBron-ification of college kicks, and in October and November, all three colorways were released to the public. The ‘College Pack’ came at just the right time, as the NBA Lockout did not permit viewers to see LeBron wearing his kicks on court; instead, we were left with the treat of seeing these Player Exclusives hit the college hardwood over a month before the NBA season was finally scheduled to start. Jason Petrie, designer of the Nike LeBron 9 as well the two previous LeBron installments, gave his insight on the College Pack during an interview he did with Sneaker News a few weeks back, so if you want to find out more about story behind the LeBron 9 college colorways, get your Foot Locker VIP Access and head to Foot Locker Unlocked to get the low-down on the Nike LeBron 9 College Pack.
Filed under: LeBron
Tags: Nike LeBron 9


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Local TV ads - 2010 'People's Choice Award'
TV ad by NAIL for the Rhode Island Food Bank
Description: "People seek help from the Food Bank when they have no food to feed their families, no money and nowhere else to turn, explains Rhode Island Community Food Bank chief executive Andrew R. Schiff. "We wanted to communicate to the public what it's like to find yourself in this dire situation, here in the world's wealthiest nation. We spent three days shooting these taste tests, and it was moving to watch people go from surprise to understanding to asking what they could do to help in a matter of seconds."


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PARSIPPANY, NJ – Whether through a conventional rental company or a car-sharing service, booking a vehicle for business and leisure travel has become easier since the advent of smartphones. With just a few clicks and a credit card, travelers can be in a vehicle and on their way in no time.
But they may spend more time looking for parking in a new city than renting a car for their trip. To help take some of the pain out of parking, Avis recently announced a partnership with Arrive, which operates the ParkWhiz and BestParking brands and supplies connected parking solutions to a variety of entities, including parking vendors, cities and OEMs such as Ford and Hyundai.
After renting a car from Avis, drivers can use the company’s smartphone app to find, reserve and prepay for parking from providers on the Arrive platform within the U.S. “The Arrive app integration removes the stress and hassle of finding parking for both road warriors and leisure travelers, while also making the lives of travel managers easier,” Arthur Orduna, chief innovation officer at Avis Budget Group, says in a statement.
Charges for parking purchased through the Avis app are applied to the credit card used for the rental, giving renters and employers “greater control, transparency and personalization of the overall experience,” the company says. It adds that when employees rent a vehicle and pay for parking within the Avis app, the Arrive partnership also helps businesses better manage parking expenses and provides “valuable financial data to participating companies.”
“Parking can be difficult, especially in unfamiliar cities.” says Dan Roarty, president and COO of Arrive. “And it can often come with a huge cost that has historically been hard to predict.”
As car-sharing and ride-hailing lures away traditional rental car companies’ customers, Avis and others are looking for ways to differentiate their services and make them more appealing to businesses and business travelers.
“This partnership cuts across all three of Avis Budget Group’s innovation initiatives: reinventing rental, digitizing the business and developing new models,” says Orduna.


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Berkeley Welcomed Chilean Entrepreneurs Granted Scholarships by Crystal Lagoons21 August, 2014 / News
Crystal Lagoons and UC Berkeley received in California the winners of the “Crystal Lagoons-Berkeley Scholarships 2014,” initiative for local innovative ventures established as entrepreneurs, which aims to boost the entrepreneur aptitude of Chileans.
The local entrepreneurs are participating in the intensive “Skydeck – Global Venture Program (GVP)”, focused on the “Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship (BME)”at the Berkeley University Headquarters in California, which is wholly financed by Crystal Lagoons as a way to contribute to the local innovative human capital and the creation of jobs in our country.
The selected entrepreneurs were Charles Rohrer, founder of Terviu, digital company of recruitment management through referrals; Andrés Vergara with his platform Wholemeaning which rates customer interactions, and Rodrigo Andrews, co-founder of the biotechnology firm Amniofilm with a patch or membrane tissue reconstitution.
Crystal Lagoons Corporation is an international innovation company that has developed and patented technology that allows for the low-cost construction and maintenance of unlimited size bodies of water in crystal-clear condition. Patented in 160 countries, Crystal Lagoons’ technology applications range widely from its recreational business, which brings the dream of idyllic beach life to any corner of the world, to its industrial variations in closed-circuit cooling, water desalination and applications for the mining industry. The technology was pioneered by Fernando Fischmann, the founder and chairman of Crystal Lagoons Corporation. A trained biochemist, Fischmann patented the technology and founded Crystal Lagoons Corporation in 2007. In less than three years since its formation, Crystal Lagoons Corporation has seen exponential growth and is currently involved in over 300 projects in more than 60 countries, including Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and United States.
Photo captions (From left to right)
Ken Singer, Director Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Berkeley; Carlos Rohrer, founder of Terviu; Andrés Vergara co-founder of Wholemeaning; Rodrigo Andrews, co-founder of Lince Labs; and Ikhlaq Sidhu, Director of Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Berkeley.


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Dogecoin may be a lighthearted joke, but it's no laughing matter when your money is involved. Jim Cramer – host of “Mad Money” on CNBC – recently claimed that Dogecoin is security eventually regulated. Is Doge A Security? Cramer issued a warning about the meme coin in a tweet on Thursday. Were the SEC to agree with his assessment, he suspects exchanges will come under fire for making money from newly “created” Dogecoin. “Please be careful with Dogecoin...It is a…
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has started exploring a central bank’s digital currency’s possibilities. The Apex bank has partnered with Australia’s two largest banks and Ethereum software company ConsenSys to explore its digital currency. Findings from the research are expected to be presented in early 2021.
The Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Michele Bullock, further explained the project’s details. According to him, the project is to research and test the viability of a CBDC for wholesale financial markets.
Wholesale banking involves transactions between institutions like corporations or banks instead of retail banking provided to the general public. The announcement by the Australian Central Bank is a shift from its stance in the past. In 2017, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Philip Lowe, claimed that the central bank had no plans of issuing a wholesale or retail digital currency.
Digital Currency Dominating The Financial Space
Over the past few months, the need for a Central Bank Digital Currency has been on the rise. This recent announcement from the Reserve Bank of Australia goes a long way to show the importance of digital currency.
The Australian central bank joins the long list of countries and tech companies exploring digital currencies. Just yesterday, the European Central Bank opened a public consultation to access the public opinion on the development of a Digital Euro.
The European Central Bank plans to explore the issuance of the digital euro mid-2021. The bank believes that the development of a digital euro would improve digitization in the region.
Also, the Central Bank of Bahamas is becoming the latest national financial institution to launch a state-backed digital currency. The digital currency is known as ‘Sand Dollar,’ which is pegged to the USD and made available to all 393,000 residents of the Bahamas from October 21st.


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US court raises a smile for Grumpy Cat’s owners
A coffee company that was ordered to pay the owners of celebrity feline Grumpy Cat $710,000 for IP infringement has failed to escape liability after a court denied its request for declaratory relief.
District Judge David Carter delivered the ruling at the US District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division yesterday, May 31.
The owners of internet sensation Grumpy Cat, also operating under the business name Grumpy Cat, were awarded$710,000 in damages in January after a jury found that coffee company Grenade Beverage infringed Grumpy Cat’s copyright and trademarks.
Grumpy Cat, based in the US, is a celebrity feline who first gained attention in 2012 because of her unique Grouchy expression.
In 2015, the owners of the celebrity feline filed a lawsuit which accused the coffee business of “blatantly infringing” the company Grumpy Cat’s IP. The complaint also alleged breach of contract.
At the centre of the dispute were copyright illustrations and photographs of Grumpy Cat, as well as word and figurative trademarks of the same. According to the owners, Grenade violated the terms of a licensing agreement that the parties made in 2013.
The owners had originally granted Grenade limited rights to the brand for an iced-coffee called ‘Grumppuccino’. However, the coffee company then allegedly used pictures of the cat to sell other items, including roasted coffee and clothing, without authorisation.
Following the jury award in January, the parties agreed that the court should decide on the company Grumpy Cat’s remaining cybersquatting claims and Grenade’s counterclaims seeking declaratory relief for non-infringement.
Grenade owns the domain www.grumpycat.com, which was registered by a third party before Grumpy Cat’s internet fame.
However, Carter said there was no evidence of bad faith on Grenade’s part. The domain was used as a business negotiation tactic with Grumpy Cat in a proposal to modify and expand the licence agreement, rather than being used to make profit.
Grenade argued that it should be granted relief for non-infringement of Grumpy Cat’s copyright and trademarks because the coffee company was an exclusive licensee so it could not be sued for infringement as it owned the IP via the licensing agreement.
In response, the company Grumpy Cat argued that the coffee business had used the IP on products which fell outside the scope of the licensing agreement and therefore Grenade had committed infringement.
The court confirmed that when a party breaches a contractual term limiting the scope of a licence, that party can be liable for infringement. Grenade “exceeded the scope of the exclusive licence” so it can be liable for copyright and trademark infringement, Carter said.
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Wendy's Taunts `Yo Beef's Still Frozen' in Twitter Burger Battle
(Bloomberg) -- Wendy’s Co. has long touted its fresh beef as a selling point. The fast-food company is now defending that turf with stinging tweets and other social media jabs aimed at McDonald’s Corp.
McDonald’s announced in March that it was switching to fresh beef for its Quarter Pounder and specialty Signature Crafted sandwiches at most U.S. locations. Wendy’s responded with a marketing campaign that has impressed Stifel analyst Chris O’Cull.
“Wendy’s has punched well above its weight on social media and has already begun to display the shortcomings of McDonald’s fresh beef,” O’Cull wrote in a research note to clients Monday.
Last week, Chief Executive Officer Todd Penegor said on the Wendy’s earnings call that they have watched the eight markets where McDonald’s is testing fresh beef Quarter Pounder and “haven’t seen an impact really either way, positive or negative.” He said the attention brings “a big spotlight back” to Wendy’s burgers and gives the company a platform to continue to promote its message.
At least one analyst predicts that the switch to fresh beef at McDonald’s will benefit the Golden Arches at the expense of rivals. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Halen wrote this week that the "upgrade will allow it to accelerate U.S. share gains.”
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.


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Credit card issuer TCM Bank exposed the personal and sensitive details of thousands of people who applied for credit cards for more than a year. The firm, which helps over 750 small and community US banks issue credit cards to account holders, said applicant data was exposed via a misconfigured website managed by a third party vendor.
Compromised data included applicant names, addresses, dates of birth and Social Security numbers.
TCM said it was made aware of the issue on July 16, 2018 and resolved the issue the next day. The company said its own website was not impacted in the incident.
People who applied for cards between early March 2017 and mid-July 2018 were impacted by the incident. According to Bruce Radke, an attorney working with TCM, fewer than 10,000 credit card applicants were affected in the incident.
TCM is a subsidiary of ICBA Bancard Inc that helps community banks offer credit card options to their customers with respective bank-branded cards. TCM itself partners with more than 750 financial institutions across the US, offering its credit card services to over 300,000 customers, according to its website.
The third party vendor responsible for managing the misconfigured site was not named by TCM citing they were "contractually prohibited" from doing so.
“It was less than 25 percent of the applications we processed during the relevant time period that were potentially affected, and less than one percent of our cardholder base was affected here,” Radke said. “We’ve since confirmed the issue has been corrected, and we’re requiring the vendor to look at their technologies and procedures to detect and prevent similar issues going forward.”
Security Brian Krebs, who was the first to report the issue, notes that the incident is yet another reminder of third-party risks.
"Many companies that experience a data breach or data leak are quick to place blame for the incident on a third-party that mishandled sensitive information," Krebs wrote in a blog post. Sometimes this blame is entirely warranted, but more often such claims ring hollow in the ears of those affected — particularly when they come from banks and security providers.
"Managing third-party risk can be challenging, especially for organizations with hundreds or thousands of partners. Nevertheless, organizations of all shapes and sizes need to be vigilant about making sure their partners are doing their part on security, lest third-party risk devolves into a first-party breach of customer trust."


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The fashion industry is always looking for the next new face to promote their newest creations and Texas has been a historically rich location in which to find those talents. There are many aspiring models of all ages in Texas looking to live the dream of an exciting fashion career and this is where you’ll find everything you need to make those dreams a reality. Click on this incredible category to find audition notices, news and notes for fashion jobs of all kinds in Texas.
The world’s premiere reality modeling competition is back and better than ever and it is set to begin a cross country search for the most talented male and female models in America. Casting calls for the all new cycle of America’s Next Top Model starring supermodel legend Tyra Banks are scheduled to begin soon and […]
It’s pageant time yet again and none is more fabulous or renowned than the legendary Texas Perfect Pageant. This is the spectacular event that serves as the official preliminary competition for the nationwide America’s Perfect Pageant and an amazing way to start your road to stardom. Casting and entries for this one of a kind opportunity are happening now. Women ages 10 to […]
Calling all aspiring models. Your chance of a lifetime has come in the form of the next great TV reality modelling competition series Working Model. Casting calls and auditions for aspiring Texas models will be held soon and submissions for this amazing new show are being accepted now. Are you ready to become the next […]
An all new season of televisions most exciting fashion reality program is coming to living rooms across the country and you can be a part of it. NBC’s Fashion Star is looking for up and coming fashion designers to vie for cash, prizes and this years title. Casting calls and auditions for this amazing show are happening […]
A brand new high end fashion line based in the Houston area is looking for a special talent to be it’s campaign face. Karen Clarksons FTj is searching for the perfect model for their exciting new line and that model could be you ! Submissions for this fantastic career opportunity are being accepted now so […]


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At the Coindesk 2018 Consensus conference in New York, Dorsey admitted that his payments company, Square, have approached their plans for the future int he belief that Bitcoin will eventually be the go-to currency for the net. They developed Square as a credit card processing service, but Dorsey says the credit card aspect of things is incidental, saying the goal was to help merchants make a sale and accept payment in any way they could. Jack Dorsey has always been a fan of bitcoin, and this interest is now evident in at least one of his company's products, as Square's Cash App now allows users to buy and sell BTC. The executive tweeted in 2016 that he would "love to see a digital currency thrive".
When Dorsey first began contemplating how to implement bitcoin payments into the Square platform with Mike Brock, an engineer at the company, the two initially settled on a goal that was grandiose in its simplicity. "We have to do the work to educate regulators and educate the SEC why this technology is important".
Dorsey - who counts himself as a fan of the hacker ethos surrounding bitcoin's rise to fame - claimed that whatever path Square takes to pushing mass adoption of bitcoin payments, it will do so without threatening the openness of the network. We wanted to have that same thing with Bitcoin [and the Cash app]. Let us know your thoughts. "And it felt like something we needed to explore a lot more", he said.
The CEO declared if cryptocurrencies were used as a global currency it would allow Square to enter new markets around the world more easily.
"We can not risk hurting what made this possible to begin with".
"I'll be frank, this was a pretty contentious move in the company", he said. In an ideal world, the cryptocurrency will be automatically transferred to dollars the moment the transaction happens and the seller doesn't even need to know it was paid with bitcoin. "It's going to happen".
Dorsey foresees a decentralized workforce in the cards for both Square and Twitter, saying the mega offices that they now have for both companies are a "thing of the past" and that people are starting to work where they feel most creative.
"The internet deserves a native currency; it will have a native currency", he said. It will have a native currency. He said he hoped that would be bitcoin. I hope it will be.
Kamada Ltd. (KMDA) traded 94796 Stock with change of -2.11%
Intel Corporation (INTC) stock is Overbought or Oversold? Using volume to analyze stocks can bolster profits and also reduce risk. The ATR may be used by market technicians to enter and exit trades, and it is a useful tool to add to a trading system.
Celebrities Who Suffer With Chronic Diseases
Now if that isn’t the epitome of what a BFF is, I don’t know what is! Selena continues to be on chronic medication. There is also a huge list of celebrities past like famous painter vincent Van Gogh who suffered with this disease.


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��� 1(380)205 1127 day of the week to book flights
The PM further informed that the government will normalise the number of international flights along with lifting the curfew for arrivals at Incheon International Airport the same day. Apparently... more
In a tweet, the High Commission of India in Bangladesh stated, “Frequency of flights between India & Bangladesh to increase! India & Bangladesh have mutually decided to increase the frequency of ... more
Air India is starting Kochi-London flight operations from August 28 to September 27, 2020 as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.
There is good news for those, who often travel on the New Delhi-Tel Aviv flights regularly, or would like to travel in the future. The number of flights to Israel by Air India will now increase t... more
In India, airlines might start functioning for domestic travels from the first week of June. According to a senior aviation official, the airlines will start taking bookings 10 days before resumi... more
Restrictions on train and air travel in Indian will likely continue beyond May 3 as the country takes strict steps to contain the spread of COVID-19. When India entered the second round of lockdo... more


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ZEE5 is banking on original content. The app gained huge viewership and subscriber base with Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ and other web dramas like ‘Oka Chinna Family Story’ and ‘Recce’.
Buoyed by the success of web dramas, ZEE5 has announced a new web series. Titled ‘Hello World’, the 8-part series promises to be slice-of-life and relatable.
“It is the story of eight youngsters who step into a large IT company hoping that their struggles are all behind them, only to find that life has a lot more in store than they had imagined,” says director Sivasai Vardhan Jaladanki.
The series will start streaming on August 12.


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A strong dollar and increasing component prices have caused worldwide PC vendor unit shipment to drop by 2.4% in the first quarter of the year.
Sustained demand in the business market couldn’t outweigh an upward pricing pressure combined with lower global consumer demand.
The price of memory has increased by 100% since last year and solid state drives are currently in short supply due partly to the increase in demand for high-end smartphones.
The increase in price is likely to continue for the whole year, which could put off consumers looking to upgrade their PCs and force businesses to delay theirs.
Lenovo is still ahead of HP and Dell on the manufacturers leaderboard with Asus, Apple and Acer filling the other places, but analyst firm Gartner, which published the report, warns of a bleak future for some.
Having a strong business computer segment - which includes laptops, convertibles and desktops - is essential for long term survival.
And while Apple is likely to escape unscathed, Asus and Acer may well find themselves squeezed out of the industry in the short term as the top three vendors continue to dominate the market.


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Note: this article adopts the U.S. Department of Transportation's definition of a
passenger .... Data include vehicles which were retired during the year and
vehicles that were ... new passenger...
This statistic represents the number of automobiles sold in the United States
between 1951 and 2015. In 2012, approximately 7.2 million of such motor
vehicles were sold to customers in the United States. Worldwide, car ... *Duration:
12 months, billed annually .... Forecast: sales value new car dealerships US 2008
Overview Charts. GO TO: What's Hot Off the Lots | Top 20 vehicles | The U.S.
Market | Sales and Share of Total Market by Manufacturer. Tuesday, May 03,
Small and Middle sized cars were the second and third best selling vehicles, but
... half of new vehicle sales have been split between cars and light trucks—
minivans, ... Automakers sold over 17 million light vehicles in the U.S. market last
Jan 5, 2016 ... About 17.5 million cars and trucks were sold last year, automakers ... many
drivers will still be paying off a new car when it is seven years old.
Jan 6, 2014 ... Auto sales reach six-year high of 15.6 million vehicles sold, Ford ... Overall
industry sales were flat compared with last December. A slowdown is inevitable,
analysts say. Many people who held on to their cars through the recession have
now ... since 2007, when 16.1 million new cars and trucks were sold.
Jan 5, 2016 ... Automakers chalked up 17,470,659 light-vehicle sales last year, an increase of ...
There were also two extra selling days last month compared with December
2014. ... If you're buying a new car today, you're getting a safer, more fuel-
efficient and .... I think they should sell as many trucks as they can now.
Dec 29, 2015 ... Crossover-crazy Americans haven't bought new vehicles at this pace in 15 years.
... Analysts expect 2015 to set a new high of 17.5 million units sold, led by ...
SUVs in 2015, higher than the record number of purchases made in 2000. ...
sales growth in December compared to the same month last year, led ...
Jan 5, 2015 ... The result, announced on Monday, was a crushing sales success: Nearly one
million more vehicles were sold in the United States last year ...
As of 2014, 16.4 million light vehicles were sold in the United States, according to
the National ... According to the Department of Homeland Security, in 2012, there
were 484,072 new, legal entries into the United States, as the Migration Policy ...


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Project Scorpio is the newest video game console coming from Microsoft in late 2017, and from what we can tell, it could very well be the most powerful video game console to ever hit store shelves since the PlayStation 4 Pro.
This is the console Microsoft hopes it can use to retain much of the market share it lost to Sony since the launch of the PlayStation 4 about 3 years ago. The company says the console is rocking a 6-teraflop GPU along with a processor with eight cores.
The idea here is to bring the first truly 4K console to market. The question is, what else is Project Scorpio capable of outside the 4K gaming and being extremely powerful? Well, how about being able to play Xbox 360 games with less of a hassle?
If we look at the Xbox One right now, Microsoft has made it backward compatible with certain Xbox 360 games through the power of software emulation. However, it's not perfect and it takes a lot of work to get the games to perform on the Xbox One.
Microsoft aims to do the same with Project Scorpio, but it should be more streamlined than what is on offer right now.
In a recent interview with Stevivor, head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, made it clear that backward compatibility on Project Scorpio won't require any form of technical wizardry. It should just work as the system will be built with playing games via Xbox One and Xbox 360 in mind.
"We've very specifically designed it [on Scorpio] so Xbox games just run," he said. "It's nothing like Xbox 360 backward compatibility right now - there's a lot of technical wizardry involved in that. We didn't want to have to do that again."
What Microsoft is saying here is that backward compatibility with Project Scorpio will work similarly to how things are done on the PC side of things. No need for the company to work overly hard to bring old games to the console, they should just work right out of the box.
Not too long ago, Microsoft had claimed that Project Scorpio's development is ahead of schedule, which could mean the official launch date could come earlier than the announced holiday 2017 target. An earlier date would likely be good for Microsoft seeing as the company could better compete with the Sony PlayStation 4 Pro.
Sony has a head start with its new console, and this could allow the company to grow its user-base even more before Microsoft is ready.


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LENEXA, Kan. (AP) — Hostess Brands Inc. on Wednesday reported second-quarter net income of $30.5 million.
On a per-share basis, the Lenexa, Kansas-based company said it had net income of 22 cents.
The results met Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of 22 cents per share.
The company posted revenue of $340.5 million in the period, exceeding Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $329.7 million.
The maker of Twinkie snack cakes gave investors a disappointing profit forecast for the year. Hostess expects full-year earnings in the range of 93 cents to 98 cents per share.
Shares of Hostess were down 90 cents to $22.16 on Thursday.


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A recent leak has revealed the screen sizes of various future Galaxy smartphones. The report suggests that there will be four different versions of the Galaxy S10 and a single version of the Galaxy Note10. Reports vary on the screen size of the Galaxy S10, but here is everything we know so far about the upcoming Galaxy releases-
The first model, named the Galaxy S10 Lite, sports a 5.8-inch screen. The middle model, the S10, has a 6.1-inch display. The largest model, the S10 Plus, would have a 6.4-inch display. There is said to be another S10 version- S10 5G, which will sport a massive 6.66-inch screen. It is also revealed that the two higher-end models will have an in-display fingerprint sensor. All the phones are expected to ship with AMOLED screens.
According to the source Ice Universe (A reliable tipster when it comes to Samsung phones), the Galaxy Note 10 will come equipped with an enormous 6.75-inch display. This means that it’ll be quite a bit larger than the existing Galaxy Note 9 despite the significantly smaller bezels, and much bigger than the Galaxy S9+.
The source believes that the bezels will be nearly non-existent on the Galaxy S10 models. The upcoming models are supposed to have almost 100 percent screen-to-body-ratio, thanks to cutouts in the AMOLED display for the camera sensors.
Samsung has not yet revealed any information about the specifications of the premium phones and the leaks are not trustworthy. But it is expected that the phones will feature a new iteration of Qualcomm’s mobile chipset, most likely the Snapdragon 855.
The Galaxy S10 series is currently expected to make its first official appearance at an upcoming event. There is no news on the Galaxy Note 10s announcement date yet, but if recent history is anything to go by, an unveiling in early August is highly likely.


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Certainly one of the biggest video game stories of last year was EA’s eleventh hour decision to strip away microtransactions from Battlefront 2 after a fervent fan outcry, reportedly at the behest of Disney, who didn’t appreciate what the controversy was doing to the Star Wars brand.
At the time, the suspension of the game’s microtransactions, which sold loot boxes that gave players clear power advantages, was supposed to be temporary, and yet, it’s now been almost seven weeks since Battlefront 2’s launch, and the game remains entirely unmonetized outside of its $60 asking price.
The last we heard about the potential return of microtransactions in any detail was five weeks ago, from EA CFO Blake Jorgensen:
"We're really watching how people are playing the game. We're trying to understand are there certain modes where MTX may be more interesting than not? What are the consumers saying about it? How are the consumers playing the game? What do the metrics look like? We're learning and listening to the community to decide how best to roll that out in the future."
But again, that was over a month ago, and not only have microtransactions not returned, but we haven’t even heard about how they might return via DICE or EA. There have been rumblings that a cosmetic MTX system is being worked on perhaps, but nothing concrete.
It’s hard to overstate just how significant this decision was, and continues to be, for EA to take out these microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront 2. They’ve now gone the entire holiday season without any form of post-launch monetization, which for a AAA game is almost unheard of these days. That includes not selling loot boxes, sure, but keep in mind the loot box system existed because the plan was to make all Battlefront 2 DLC, new maps, missions and heroes, free, to combat problems players had with BF1’s expensive season pass.
I recently recorded a Forbes podcast with Erik Kain where we made predictions for 2018. Most were slam dunks, like God of War and Red Dead getting delayed, but one “bold” one I made was that I believe this may be the year that the microtransaction/loot box industry-wide controversy might take a few steps backward at long last, rather than continuing to push past new lines. That would be thanks in part to this Battlefront 2 situation, where fans protested so hard that not only were microtransactions stripped out of the game entirely hours before launch, but the drama hurt sales of the game and EA as a whole. The fact that they’re still not back implies this is an issue that takes time and money to solve, or given how the game was designed in the first place, may not be easy to fix at all.
What happened to EA may end up scaring a number of publishers straight when it comes to their future microtransaction plans. We are starting to see something similar happen to Activision/Bungie and Destiny 2, where the cries of fans wanting to remove that game’s microtransaction-based Eververse store are growing deafening, even if that is fully based on cosmetics, as it’s upsetting the community all the same. And honestly, though EA may be hurting for extra MTX cash, what have we heard from Battlefront 2 since the microtransactions were removed? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The moment the loot boxes no longer were for sale, even a weird, chance-based progression system wasn’t all that big of a deal anymore to the players who had already bought the game, and more or less all of the biggest controversies died with the microtransactions themselves. Imagine if the issue had never come up in the first place. No lost sales, no weeks of horrible headlines. It’s definitely something for EA, and all publishers, to consider in the future.
I don’t believe that Battlefront 2 will stay microtransaction free forever. My guess is that there will be some sort cosmetics system introduced down the road, which will either contain new loot boxes or a more traditional storefront (but probably loot boxes). But at that point, how long after launch? Two months? Three? Five? At that point, players who are still playing Battlefront 2 probably won’t object to the low-key return of microtransactions, and overall, the damage will still have been done, and it’s going to take an entirely new game to paint over what happened in 2017.
I hope I’m right that Battlefront 2 was the moment loot boxes went too far, and the rest of the industry will hesitate before trying to press any further. But if so, then I’m worried about what new form of monetization may come next.


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Diamante Blockchain enters the non-fungible token (NFT) market to mainstream the public sale of the world’s most interesting and rarest diamonds. The NFT platform will create the first-ever marketplace for the world’s most unusual diamonds to go digital.
NEW YORK, June 2, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Diamante Blockchain, a worldwide fintech firm, proclaims the first-ever non-fungible tokens (NFTs) primarily based uncommon and essentially the most distinctive diamonds public sale platform. The platform might be powered by the Diamante Internet, the proprietary blockchain community of Diamante Blockchain.
Diamante’s public sale home will include the rarest and distinctive diamonds from the world over which can be validated and authorized. The consumers can bid for the dear diamonds on the Diamante public sale home with a non-fungible token or NFT, which has a novel digital signature linked to the bodily diamonds. It acts as a digital certificates of possession, authenticity, and provenance. The sellers must deposit their diamonds within the secure and safe deposit vault owned by a Swiss companion. The transportation and the storage of the diamonds all through the public sale lifecycle might be traceable on the blockchain community with 100% insurance coverage.
Diamante’s NFT-based on-line public sale platform will create the primary marketplace for actual and distinctive diamonds to go digital. Additionally, the platform affords consumers to achieve the rights to the NFT with assured management and blockchain proof of possession over the actual diamonds.
Dinesh Patel, CEO, and co-founder of the corporate stated, “Our NFT-based diamond public sale home supplies instantaneous, secure, and safe entry to the world’s rarest diamonds. The consumers and sellers are all validated and authenticated. They should cope with a minimal operational price related to the bidding of the diamonds on the Diamante ecosystem.”
Chirag Jetani, COO and co-founder, added, “We’re working to make the rarest diamonds extra attainable. Our platform will permit customers to purchase NFTs and diamonds utilizing our digital asset, DIAM. A couple of years from now, this might simply be how folks commerce uncommon diamonds.”
The NFT diamond public sale platform might be secured and traceable. The corporate’s progress is fascinating as there are already just a few world diamond merchants lined as much as collaborate with the Diamante.
Diamante Blockchain is a worldwide, decentralized finance platform efficiently implementing and growing a aggressive blockchain-enabled ecosystem for commerce, funds, and financing.
The Diamante ecosystem consists
(i) Proprietary blockchain community – Diamante Internet (ii) Consortium of luxurious items and repair trade stakeholders – Diamante Consortium (iii) DeFi funds utility – PayCircle
Web site: https://www.diamanteblockchain.com/
To remain updated on the corporate’s newest bulletins, be a part of their social hubs. Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Telegram
COLEEN F, Hashcash Digest, +14159662907, email@example.com
SOURCE Diamante Blockchain