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Perth man caught in cyber crime raid
A Perth man’s house has been raided by police after he allegedly tried to sell a prototype of Microsoft’s new Xbox gaming console on the internet.
According to thetechgame.com, the man, who goes by the names “superDaE“, tried auctioning off a Durango development kit on Ebay.
The new Xbox is expected to be launched in time for Christmas this year.
“Technology Crime Investigation unit is currently conducting a multi-jurisdictional investigation into computer-related offences,“ a WA Police spokesman said.
“A search warrant was conducted Tuesday the 19th of February 2013 in relation to this investigation where items were seized.”
The spokesman could not confirm whether the FBI was involved.
But superDaE tweeted “police raided me” and mentioned having “an FBI agent and 7-8 police in your house”.
“I don’t even have bank cards to buy or pay for a lawyer or a phone,” he tweeted.
He also published the search warrant online.
“I find it hilarious how the warrant only really mentions “Microsoft“, “eBay“, “Paypal“,” he wrote.
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First Solar profit almost doubles, raises full-year forecast
May 6 (Reuters) - First Solar Inc's quarterly profit nearly doubled as revenue increased and operating expenses fell.
The company raised its full-year earnings forecast to $2.40-2.80 per share from its previous forecast of $2.20-$2.60 per share.
Net income jumped to $112 million, or $1.10 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $59.1 million, or 66 cents per share, a year ago.
Sales rose 26 percent to $950.2 million. (Reporting By Kanika Sikka and Anannya Pramanick in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
We are living longer but not creating financial plans to keep pace. Advisers give tips on how to make sure you don’t outlive your money. Video

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Cruise Tourism in India has potential to grow 10 fold says Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal
MUMBAI : Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has asserted that Indian cruise market has the potential to grow 10 folds over the next decade, driven by rising demand and disposable incomes. “The government of India realizes this potential and is determined to position India as a global cruise hub with state-of-art infrastructure for both ocean and river cruises”, he said after inaugurating the 1st Incredible India International Cruise Conference 2022 in Mumbai
Stating that India is a magnificent cruise destination, Shri Sonowal said several attractions of India along its 7,500 km long coastline and vast river systems are yet to be unveiled to the world. He said the global players have evinced a keen interest in promoting cruise tourism in India, and with the development of right infrastructure and adoption of modern technology, India will certainly become one of the top tourism destinations in the world.
Advisory Panel being set up to help the Task Force on Cruise Tourism
Shri Sonowal stated that the Government has set up a Task Force headed by the Secretary, Tourism and Secretary, Shipping for development of cruise tourism. The Minister announced the setting up of a high level Advisory Committee, comprising national and international experts, to help the Task Force in creating an enabling eco-system for development of cruise tourism in the country.
Invoking Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Shri Sonowal said ‘Transformation is possible through transportation and for that we need to leverage technology’. Emphasising on the importance of Ports, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had said that Port led development can help in developing a comprehensive eco-system of transport and tourism especially in terms of cruise tourism.
Elaborating the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Minister of State, Shri Shripad Naik said ‘Four theme based coastal destination circuits such as Gujarat Pilgrimage tours, West Coast – Cultural and scenic tours, South Coast – Ayurvedic wellness tours and East Coast – Heritage tourism have been developed to activate cruise demand. ‘Lighthouse and Island development is also being undertaken to attract Coastal tourists’ he added. He further said River cruise or Inland cruise is another potential component of cruise tourism that could be explored.
Secretary Port and Shipping Shri Sanjiv Ranjan said, post pandemic the tourism sector in India is growing with resurgence and cruise tourism has registered a 35% year-on-year growth. He said the Government of India has prepared the Maritime Vision Document 2030 with focus on heritage tourism,Ayurveda tourism,coastal tourism,river cruise tourism etc. He said new business opportunities for global cruise liners as well as start-ups were discussed in detail at the stakeholders meeting in the morning.
Government of India initiatives
India aims to increase cruise passenger traffic from 0.4 million at present to 4 million. Economic potential of Cruise tourism is expected to go up from USD 110 mn to USD 5.5 bn in the years to come. In order to boost cruise tourism industry in the country, Government of India has taken several initiatives including infrastructure upgradation, rationalisation of port fees, removing ousting charges, granting priority berthing to cruise ships, providing e-visa facilities etc.
Upgradation and modernisation are being carried out at seven major ports in the country including the flagship New International Cruise terminal coming up in Mumbai with a total cost about Rs 495 crores. The iconic sea cruise terminal coming up at BPX-Indira Dock, is expected to be commissioned by July 2024. The terminal will have a capacity of handling 200 ships and 1 million passengers per annum. Similar infrastructure upgradation is taking place in Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata. ‘
Lays Foundation Stone for Mumbai Port Authority’s 3rd Chemical Berth at Pir Pau
At the inaugural session, Union Minister Shri Sonowal and Shri Naik laid the foundation stone for the third Chemical Berth at Pir Pau Jetty of Mumbai Port Authority to handle chemicals including LPG. The berth will have a rated capacity of 2 mtpa and cater to very large gas carriers and tankers up to 72,500 displacement tonnage. It will be equipped with latest safety standards under OISD norms.
Inauguration of Kelshi Lighthouse in Ratnagiri district
Kelshi Lighthouse in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra was also remotely inaugurated at the conference. The new light house bridges the 85 km gap between Nanwell Point Lighthouse in Raigad District and Tolkeshwar Lighthouse in Ratnagiri District ensuring safety of local fishermen community during day and night.
World’s longest ropeway system to connect Mumbai to Elephanta Caves
Speaking on occasion, Mr. Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Authority and Mormugao Port Authority, said the current cruise ecosystem, including the infrastructure and policy environment, is fast-changing and will match the international standards within a reasonable time. He invited international cruise lines to prioritise India in their expansion plans. Please start making plans for business expansion into India”, he said.
The Mumbai Port Authority is also celebrating its 150th anniversary during 2022-2023. The authority would organise a series of 365 events, including water sports, cultural programmes, awareness camps, heritage walks, and marathon run to celebrate the momentous occasion.
Mumbai Port Authority is now aiming to transform from a cargo port to a tourism port. In this regard, an ultra-modern international cruise terminal is under construction, RO Pax and water taxi transportation services are already operational, and Kanhoji Angre Island Tourism will soon be opened to the public. In addition, the world’s longest ropeway system over the sea will connect Mumbai to the Elephanta Caves.
Dr Sanjeev Ranjan, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India, said Vision 2030 has an ambitious target. He also laid out new possibilities in the cruise tourism circuit. The Indian cruise tourism market has the potential to grow ten times over the next decade, given the rising disposable incomes.
“Heritage, ayurvedic & medical tourism, pilgrimage tourism and North-east circuit happen to link cruise, river, and coastal altogether”, he added.
Mr. Arvind Sawant, Member of Parliament, said there is a huge opportunity for the cruise and commercial operations.
Mr. M Mathiventhan, Minister for Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, announced that cruise tour operator Cordelia is starting its first journey on June 4 From Chennai. In addition, the minister alluded to the tourism schemes in the state.
“First time in the history of tourism, we have come up with a new destination development scheme where we pick up destinations and develop it”, adding, “we are also setting up guidelines for adventure sports and all other tourism activities”.
Mr. Rohan Khaunte, Minister of Tourism, Goa, said the state is trying to position itself as a tech-tourism state by attempting to sell sun, sand and software. “Goa has all the potential in port, air, road; we will look at more infrastructure support through the Sagarmala projects”, he said.
Mr. GKV Rao, Director General – Tourism, Government of India, said the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Tourism jointly have been working to identify and create routes and see that SOPs are issued.
Mr. Dhruv Kotak, Chairman-Ports and Shipping, FICCI Committee on Transport Infrastructure and Managing Director, JM Baxi Group, said India is now slated to be the fastest-growing cruise market in the next five years among the top five cruise markets anywhere in the world.
“I think the kind of infrastructure we are seeing now will make the travel experience truly world-class”, he said.
Mr. Adesh Titarmare, Dy Chairman, Mumbai Port Authority, delivered the Vote of Thanks.


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Retail Inventory Robots Could Replace the Need for Store Employees
There are currently many industries that will likely be replaced with robots in the coming future, and with retail being one of the biggest industries across the world, it is no wonder that robots will slowly begin taking people's jobs. A robot named Tory will perform inventory tasks throughout stores, as well as have the capability of directing customers to where what they are looking for is.
Essentially, a customer will type in a product into the robot's interactive touch screen, and it will start driving to the exact location. It will also conduct inventory using RFID scanners, and overall, it will make the retail process much more efficient. Check out the video below from the German Robotics company Metre Labs who are behind the retail robot.
Metre Labs currently has around 200 of its robots doing various tasks all throughout the service industry, and they are hoping to expand even further with Tory. The retail bot stands about 5 feet tall and 1.5 feet wide according to Vocativ, so it will be able to zip through even the thinnest of isles. Don't worry about the robot dying in the middle of the shopping floor either, when it is low on power, it will automatically return to its charging dock.
The inventory skills of this robot cannot be matched, as it can scan 250 RFID codes per second from up to 26 feet away. This would beat even Usain Bolt running through the store checking tags really fast, and no retail employee stands a chance at outworking Tory. Since Tory is so fast at inventory as well, it allows managers to keep a constant log of what is in stock, and what isn't, almost down to the minute.
SEE ALSO: GARBAGE MEN ARE BEING REPLACED WITH ROBOTS
This robot is just the meager beginnings of what will soon be a full takeover of robots in much of the service industry. This, of course, means bad things for the millions of people who make their living in the retail and service industries, but jobs will likely be created in other new industries to keep humans busy. As the age of the robots is soon upon us, we face a changing economy that will look a lot more robotic.
A new study suggests coffee can increase your lifespan. But how true is that claim?


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"Designed to maximise profit through deception, grey practices are the day-to-day schemes involved in the use of mass registration addresses, shell or one day companies, opaque ownership structures and cash generation tactics," according to global risk consultancy Control Risks.
In its white paper titled 'Grey Practices: fuelling fraud and corruption in the Indian business environment', the firm said that grey practices pose a significant risk to companies doing business in the country.
Control Risks Director (India and South Asia Corporate Investigations) James Owen said grey practices can turn what might at first sight seem like a legitimate business deal into a situation fraught with legal, regulatory and reputational risk.
"Neither clearly nor explicitly illegal, grey practices are short-cuts... and financial sleights-of-hand employed by many individuals and companies to conceal more serious fraudulent and corrupt activity," the white paper said.
Malpractices in particular have been noticed mainly in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, construction, engineering, infrastructure and liquor, it said.
"They (grey practices) flourish like elsewhere around the world in a business environment creaking under weight of burdensome red tape and bureaucracy and where the nexus between business and politics is extremely close," the white paper said.
With regard to pharma sector, the report has cited various kinds of malpractices including stealing of intellectual property leading to the production of counterfeit and generic medicines.
However, Owens said that changes are taking place.
"The rules of the game are slowly starting to change. Whether the catalyst is popular indignation against bad governance, a tightening in domestic anti-corruption legislation or the example being set by some of India's multinational brands, the overarching goal seems to be one of greater accountability," the white paper said.
The enactment of the Companies Act 2013, for the first time defined fraud and gives specific penalties, requires higher standards of governance, it added.


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Security is a major concern for households and businesses that are considering the plunge into an IoT network. IoT (Internet of Things) relies on the interconnectivity of devices to allow operator access to all devices from a single platform. While convenient, this also happens to be its weakness. In 2019, security specialists revealed that 2 billion records were exposed in a mass hack. The type of information that can be exposed to hackers during such a breach includes email addresses and passwords, credit card details, full names, and social security numbers. Knowing which devices can cause issues on a home network is a good place to start.
The Kitchen Of The Future
If you’ve been dazzled by manufacturers to purchase a fridge that connects to the internet or a washer and dryer that can be started by an app on your phone, it’s also likely that you’ve linked the devices on the cloud through an app. If these devices have not been secured individually and you’re relying on the factory-set passwords, you’re placing your entire IoT network at risk. If your fridge can access anything on any other device on the network – such as your phone and laptop – a hacker who can get past the fridge’s security standards will too. It’s important to change the password for each device to restrict the access to your home network.
Security Hacks vs Security Hacks
Your security camera might seem like a great way to keep an eye on things at home while you’re on vacation or at work, but the very thing that needs to provide you with those added layers of security can be the weak link in your network. Security experts recommend that households invest in products from well-known and trusted manufacturers, go through the effort to change the factory-set password, and upgrade the security to a cloud-based platform that has multiple layers of security. According to DSC, video surveillance is one of the key deterrents for criminal behavior, which is why they’re a preferred addition to home security.
Simple Everyday Devices
While it seems like a good idea to add every new gadget to the home network, office printers and pool pumps are notorious for providing a backdoor for hackers. In 2018, fans of PewDiePie hacked over 50,000 printers in an effort to boost the channel’s subscribers. While this is obviously a case where fans were a little too enthusiastic, it leaves many households cold at the thought of how easily their networks were compromised. While the standard password-change advice still stands, it’s also important for office and home users to be aware of their open network port on their printer. This allows hackers to gain easy access to the network.
While it’s convenient to have all devices connected for easier access, it can also pose a security risk. Check each device, change those passwords, and enlist the help of a professional to see if there are any weaknesses in the network.
Photo: BENCE BOROS
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Cavs adding 2 new jerseys for 2018-19 season
The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to add two new jerseys to their collection for the 2018-19 season.
Via WKYC‘s Ben Axelrod:
And while the Cavs’ latest uniforms have yet to be revealed, graphic designer Casey Vitelli has come across the list of the colors for each team’s ‘City Edition’ set this season — as well as a new set of threads. According to the list, which has been corroborated by uniform expert Chris Creamer, the Cavs’ ‘City Edition’ uniform this season will be blue, while a new jersey — labeled under the title ‘Earned’ — will be powder blue.
Consider this just the next step in the Cavs’ attempts to catapult the franchise past the shadow of LeBron James. The previous “City Edition” jerseys, which weren’t well-received by fans, were essentially designed by James with Nike asking him to give them a significant amount of input on the design.
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 27, 2017
Gray and yellow with the words “The Land” prominently on the front of the jersey, Cleveland also had a strange habit of losing whenever wearing these uniforms.
By March, the Cavs were 1-5 while wearing their gray threads with four games to go.
That said, fans have long been clamoring for the Cavs to revive their black and blue jerseys from the late ’90s, a transitional period for the team after being a perennial playoff contender.
They won’t be getting their wish, exactly, but the blue uniforms the Cavs are planning on wearing do pay homage to the jerseys they wore from 1994 to 2003. The fans will also get to see them add a second blue jersey (powder blue) with the NBA’s new “Earned Edition” jerseys.
A new era has begun in Cleveland. With two new blue jerseys, they’re not just going to look like a different team on paper.


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Mega Millions leaders say sales have increased by 30% in the last week. It’s now the fifth largest jackpot in the game's history. Hype around the draw tonight is in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary Game of the Idaho Lottery. Neighborhood market cashier Debra Stamper said there have been a lot of people coming through their stores and some even claim to have tricks up their sleeves.
"A lot of them want just separate tickets,” said Stamper. “A lot of them find that if you do separate tickets, then you don't have repeat numbers."


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Record Store Day
Photo courtesy Park Ave. CDs/Facebook
Inside Park Ave. CDs
has been postponed from April until the summer (at least) due to the coronavirus pandemic, another in a series of financial hits that independent record stores have suffered over the last month. But as a sliver of good news, local record hub Park Ave CDs
is partnering with the filmmakers of Vinyl Nation
for a worldwide virtual screening event, to raise money for record stores that have been forced to close their doors due to the necessity of social distancing.
The hitherto-unseen documentary Vinyl Nation
will be made available to view this weekend online for 24 hours, for the price of a $10 ticket. And 100 percent of the proceeds from this premiere will go to participating record stores.
is a love letter to the gratifying and surprising resurrection of the vinyl record as a listening medium of choice, and the culture of collectors, musicians and stores that champion this new life of the LP format. (And from the looks of the trailer, Park Ave CDs even makes an appearance.)
So from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, April 18, to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, April 19, the film will be available
for ticketholders to screen one-night-only style. After that, it's back in the vaults until its proper release. Purchase your tickets here
and in the meantime, if you have any extra cash, consider throwing some toward local record stores that are continuing mail-order operations. See you at the movies.
— Please follow CDC guidelines and Orange County advisories to stay safe, and please support this free publication. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you news on how coronavirus is affecting Central Florida. Please consider making a one-time or monthly donation. Every little bit helps.


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Reflections as Joe Biden takes on the furnace manufacturers…
Regulator-in-Chief Joe Biden's latest demands on the manufacturing community include attacking the makers of furnaces and other household heating appliances for using too much energy (which is only so expensive because of their policies), and for producing too much carbon dioxide (you know, the stuff we all exhale every day of their lives, without ill effect). The Biden-Harris regime is therefore "proposing" new efficiency standards for manufacturers and distributors of such appliances, requiring the use of much more expensive manufacturing and operating processes.
If we had a divided government, with either the House or Senate in Republican hands, there might be some chance of slowing or halting such costly, foolish regulations, but with Biden, Harris, Schumer, and Pelosi all drinking from the same pitcher of Kool-Aid, once these plots are proposed, they usually go into effect a few months later, remaining on the books, causing costly problems in the marketplace for years and years, until some future administration can dial them back.
What do such regulations do? Objectively speaking, assuming the technology required is achievable and not some fantasy, they require all manufacturers across an industry to redesign all or most of their products, and obsolete and dispose of their existing stock. Obviously. But what does that really mean?
A product redesign means a companywide effort to change the components and assembly of each unit. Product by product, each company's engineering, purchasing, quality, and production departments must experiment with alternate materials, alternate components, alternate processes, and alternate vendors. This comes at a great cost.
Once the new design is achieved – this alternate design, never requested by the consumer, but one that makes Joe Biden and his micromanaging bureaucrat allies happy – the company must find a way to somehow order those new components (from a vendor base that must now develop these new parts for them), and must then retool or re-organize their manufacturing plants to incorporate these changes into their assembly lines.
Quality, distribution, and marketing must then manage the profusion of new product SKUs that they now have to keep straight. They have to find a customer base to accept the existing stock of the old version, and work on release plans to introduce the new version into their customer network. Legal and warranty departments must sort out a plan for coverage of all these now-obsoleted products, working with purchasing and distribution on a plan to stock the massive numbers of "old" parts for future repair needs, potentially as much as doubling the stock of necessary replacement parts for a decade.
This is an incredibly costly process. If done for a good reason, it may be necessary… but even then, it is still an incredibly costly process. There is simply no way to make such changes easy, cheap, or painless.
Furnaces, water heaters, and similar household appliances are typically manufactured here in the United States, because their size and relative cost makes importation unattractive. The burden of all these new regulations will therefore fall primarily on American manufacturers.
Read that sentence again, another way. The burden of these new regulations will therefore fall primarily on American employees, American factories, American distributors, American stockholders in American companies.
After months of denial, the Biden-Harris regime is finally just beginning to acknowledge the economic calamities that surround us. They don’t acknowledge how bad unemployment is, but they acknowledge that it exists. They don’t acknowledge how bad inflation is, but they acknowledge that it exists. They don’t acknowledge how incredibly costly energy has become under their policies, but they are at least finally acknowledging that energy costs have risen.
And in this environment, the Biden-Harris regime has decided to turn yet another entire industry upside down.
The American economy is in freefall, primarily because of the policies of the current regime and the current Congress. This is no time for more unforced errors, but still, they don’t stop, do they?
Let's think back on the job of our national, "federal" government. The Founding Fathers didn’t precisely anticipate the modern supply chain, the modern energy industry, the modern assembly line. But they didn’t need to.
The Founding Fathers were fully aware of the fact that supply chains change over the years. Alexander Hamilton was an import export clerk in the Caribbean in his youth…. John Hancock operated merchant ships in the North Atlantic.
Similarly, while the Founding Era pre-dated the industrial age boom of the 19th century, many of our Founding Fathers were involved in manufacturing and knew how manufacturing changed as well. George Washington’s plantation manufactured steel fasteners and clothing. Ben Franklin invented bifocal eyeglasses and the Franklin stove. Paul Revere made copper sheathing for cargo ships.
So, the Founding Fathers did understand that the free market will always be a changing panoply of products, vendors, manufacturing methods, transportation networks, and sales systems.
Even without reading Adam Smith’s classic (published the same year as our Declaration of Independence), our Founding Fathers knew that the Invisible Hand of the marketplace would always be an infinitely better manager of these changes than any governmental rule or regulation.
And so it was that the Founding Fathers gave us a government that left the market alone to handle these matters. They wrote a Constitution, and designed a framework, in which government would not meddle in any of these areas.
The limited government approach of the American system simply did not, and legally still does not, allow federal bureaucrats to take an industry and turn it upside down on a whim.
Looking at it from a jaded perspective, it may hardly seem to matter. American manufacturing is suffering anyway; what’s one more industry stabbed in the back by its thoughtless government?
But looking at it another way, with an eye to history, and an eye to the Constitution that they all swore to uphold, this does matter, and it is in fact a perfect example of the key problem we suffer from today:
A thoughtless government, regulating by whim, without regard for the workers, communities, and investors who depend on the industries that this government attacks with abandon on a daily basis.
This continual illegal assault on the American economy must be stopped.
2022 is an election year. If everyone who has been stabbed in the back by this regime can only take off their blinders and realize how severely they have been wronged, the results will be unanimous.
But, unfortunately, that is a big if.
Copyright 2022 John F Di Leo
John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance trainer and transportation manager, writer and actor. A one-time county chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, he has been writing regularly for Illinois Review since 2009.
A collection of John’s Illinois Review articles about vote fraud, The Tales of Little Pavel, and his 2021 political satires about current events, Evening Soup with Basement Joe, Volumes One and Two, are available, in either paperback or eBook, only on Amazon.
Don’t miss an article! Use the free tool in the margin to sign up for Illinois Review’s free email notification service, so that you always know when we publish new content!
How much longer is this to be tolerated?
Over-regulation has been the hallmark of Democratic administrations since the Clinton Administration, but it became exponentially worse under Obama and even worse under Biden. Biden’s war on energy is making it ore difficult for Americans, especially those in the lowest income brackets to pay for natural gas and electricity. Food inflation is making it difficult for those same people to put food on their table, that is if they can find it in sparse grocery store shelves. Biden also said he favors California’s AB5 law that put millions of gig workers and freelance workers out of work.
I wonder how many people know that by 2023 their new air conditioner will have a flammable refrigerant? Most big name brands will be 2023 compliant by July 2022.
Congress is infamous for making vaguely worded laws, then turning them over to un-elected bureaucrats to interpret them as THEY see fit, then to regulate and enforce them.
That’s how elected congressmen and senators escape responsibility for their own actions.
Which is why the upcoming SCOTUS decision on West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is so important for those of us who oppose unelected, incompetent bureaucrats making laws
Well, we already have a lot of ELECTED,incompetent Congressman already doing it, so why pay for duplicate “services?”


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Latest News on Kodak
Showing of 0 - 10 from 88 results
Kodak - Total results - 88
Sep 25, 2006
Kodak Announces New Imaging SolutionsKodak announces new digital and traditional products for consumers, professionals and retailers.
Aug 29, 2006
Kodak Digital Cameras Most SatisfyingFor the third consecutive year, Kodak EasyShare digital cameras in the $200-$399 price range have ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Digital Camera Satisfaction StudySM.
Aug 09, 2006
Kodak Announces Four New EasyShare Cameras and Printer DockEastman Kodak Co., announced four new and user-friendly products to the C and V lines of EasyShare digital cameras. Two of the newly designed cameras ...
Aug 09, 2006
Kodak Unveils the EasyShare V705 Dual Lens CameraIn the latest addition to its award-winning EasyShare consumer digital photography system, Eastman Kodak Company today announced a new product to its ...
Aug 02, 2006
Kodak Digital Cameras Now Made by FlextronicsKodak has announced an agreement in which Flextronics International Ltd. will manufacture and distribute Kodak consumer digital cameras and will manag...
May 13, 2006
Kodak Loses Digital Camera LeadEastman Kodak Corp. lost the market share lead in digital camera sales in the United States, reported market research firm IDC, Framingham, Mass., USA...
Apr 28, 2006
Kodak Introduces the Next EASYSHARE-ONEKodak recently announced the successor to their award-winning #Digital camera #Kodak #WiFi #point and shoot #6 megapixel #EASYSHARE-ONE
Apr 26, 2006
Kodak's new Bluetooth-enabled digicamKodak has introduced a new entry in its series of dual lens cameras - the V610. The V610 is a 6.1 megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom. It also co...


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(Corrects last graph to “by $3 billion” from “to $3 billion”)
Oct 13 (Reuters) - HP Inc, the hardware business of former Hewlett-Packard Co, said it expects to cut about 3000 to 4000 jobs over the next three years.
The company now expects adjusted profit for fiscal 2017 to be $1.55-$1.65 per share. Analysts on an average had expected $1.61 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
HP also said it is increasing its share repurchase program by $3 billion. (Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)


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In a recent article, we covered a huge announcement from Jelly Roll. He told the world that he would be performing at the Ryman Auditorium. Just being able to perform there is a huge accomplishment for an independent rapper. However, Jelly Roll and his fans refused to let that be where the big news ended.
Tickets went on sale today, May 7th. According to a post by Bunnie Xo, Jelly Roll's wife, within 30 minutes, the show was completely sold out! 30 minutes! How awesome is that?!
Later in the evening, Jelly Roll made his own post and announced that the Ryman Auditorium had sold out at 100% capacity. The Ryman at full capacity holds 2,362 people. This is such a momentous feat for Jelly Roll, his fans and the growing genre.
The Ryman Auditorium is known as the "Mother Church" of Country Music. Many artists can only dream of standing center stage where so many famous names have performed historic shows.
Because of its history, the auditorium has been shown in multiple movies. A couple of those movies you may recognize. "Coal Miner's Daughter," (about Loretta Lynn's life), shot several scenes in the auditorium. Another, the fictional movie, "Nashville Rebel" starred Waylon Jennings, who is the grandfather to one of Jelly Roll's best friends, Struggle Jennings.
Now, Jelly Roll gets to make history as an independent Country Rapper who sold out one of the most well-known stages in the world. The icing on the cake is the fact that Jelly Roll is a Nashville native. For an independent artist, it is hard to sell out hometown shows. When that hometown show is Nashville, the capital of country music, a rapper tends to get overlooked.
With Ryan Upchurch seeing huge success at his first arena shows, and now Jelly's Ryman show selling out, it just goes to show how much attention these talented men are getting in the genre. To think that neither has a mainstream label backing them is truly too great for words. Again, the genre is on the cusp of something huge. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.


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Clipper card users can now refill their cards at BART ticket vending machines, transit officials announced.
Customers can now refill their all-in-one transit cards at any of BART’s 302 ticket machines throughout its 44 stations, transit officials said.
The upgraded ticketing machines are the result of BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s five-year, $10.6 million program.
Clipper cards are used for more than 450,000 boardings each weekday on Bay Area transit and more than 100,000 boardings each weekday on BART alone, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of BART’s fare payments, transit officials said.
“This is great news for customers around the Bay Area,” MTC vice chair Amy Rein Worth said in a statement. “It makes Clipper even easier, faster and more convenient for BART passengers, especially those who use suburban stations where there might not be a Clipper retailer nearby.”
Customers can add cash value to their Clipper card using cash, credit cards or debit cards. The ticket machines do not distribute new Clipper cards, transit officials said.
New cards are available at retail locations around the Bay Area. Locations can be found at www.511.org or cards can be ordered online at www.clippercard.com.


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Foodborne illness has been a big item in the news lately for the restaurant industry, with chains such as Chipotle suffering big drops in sales and loss of consumer confidence due to outbreaks of e. coli, norovirus, salmonella and other foodborne illnesses. While contaminated ingredients and poor food safety practices are often blamed for being major causes of foodborne illnesses, industry research suggests that an even bigger culprit is something surprisingly simple: restaurant workers coming to work while sick.
According to a survey by the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) cited in BuzzFeed News, two out of three restaurant workers reported that they had cooked, prepared or served food while sick. The BuzzFeed article also cited a CDC study which found that 70 percent of norovirus outbreaks are caused by sick foodservice workers – and each year, norovirus results in $2 billion of costs to the U.S. economy in terms of health care expenses and lost productivity.
If sick restaurant workers are such a leading cause of foodborne illness, why is it so rare for restaurants to offer paid sick leave? There is a widely accepted cultural attitude within the restaurant industry that people are expected to work hard and show up for every shift – even if they’re not feeling well. But as Chipotle’s massive sales declines have shown, if your restaurant is making customers sick, the cost of not offering sick leave can become more damaging than simply paying your sick employees to stay home.
We talked with a few restaurant industry experts about the state of paid sick leave in the restaurant world, and how small independent restaurant owners can navigate the challenges of avoiding foodborne illness without sabotaging their bottom line profitability.
Why Sick Leave is Rare in the Restaurant Industry
Many restaurants do not offer any paid sick leave – workers are expected to show up for their scheduled shifts, or lose income. This often creates a tough situation for restaurant employees, who feel like they have to choose between their health and being able to pay their bills. But it’s a bit more understandable when you look at the larger context of how restaurants operate.
Rick Davis is a former restaurant owner and an attorney in Leawood, Kansas who regularly represents restaurant owners. He said that sick leave is so rare in the restaurant world in large part because of the nature of the work. “In an office environment, if Jane is out sick on Tuesday, she can just finish the report she was working on the next day – but in a restaurant setting, if Jane doesn’t show up to work, the kitchen is short one cook during the rush,” Rick said. “It can be very difficult for a restaurant owner to find other employees to cover for a sick employee and restaurants’ thin profit margins usually prevent restaurants from “overstaffing” to prepare for potential missing employees.”
Restaurants are a less profitable business than many people might expect. As of 2013, average U.S. restaurant profit margins were only 5.1 percent – and that was up significantly from 0.4 percent in 2008. With many restaurants struggling to pay their own bills and maintain positive cash flow, it can be hard for restaurant owners to budget for paid sick leave.
“Despite the sometimes significant revenue that is coming in, restaurants have much smaller margins than people realize,” Rick said. “Also, many restaurants’ business may be seasonal. Committing to expenses such as sick leave makes it even that much more difficult to make a profit.”
What Restaurant Owners Should Do
Nick Mazing, a former operator with Aramark who now works as a portfolio manager at consumer-focused investment firm Ampera Capital, said that part of the challenge for restaurant owners is that many employees choose to come to work sick out of their own sense of financial self-interest.
“It is important to note that the dynamic of workers coming to work while sick is also driven by the employee: they often need the hours and will come in sick, or they have used up their sick leave for the period,” Nick said. “Paid sick leave can be legislated. Some cities, like New York City, do mandate sick leave for all but the smallest employers, but even that is not perfect because of the high proportion of illegal, off-the-books and family labor in many restaurants.”
In the absence of an industry-wide standard for sick leave, Nick suggests that restaurant owners look to adapt their operations to be able to better handle employee absenteeism.
“Sick leave can be dealt with the way any other absenteeism is dealt with,” Nick said. “Managers can do several things: ask people to come in early, stay late, come on their day off or use a floater or a temp labor person from a local agency. Building some slack in the labor schedule goes a long way.”
Rick Davis suggests that more education about foodborne illness is key – especially by showing restaurant owners the link between sick employees and slower sales.
“The best way to make a change in this area would be to further educate restaurant owners on the risks of spreading foodborne illnesses and more importantly what effect that has on their bottom line,” Rick said. “Whether an employee is sick or healthy, the business owner should place an emphasis on proper hygiene and sanitation practices. Employees should regularly wash their hands and wear gloves when touching ready-to-eat foods. These simple practices can have a profound effect on the spread of food-borne or other illnesses.”
However, Rick also believes that the overall restaurant industry has some significant cultural barriers to overcome if paid sick leave is going to be a widely adopted practice.
“It would take a massive overhaul of the restaurant industry for employers to start providing sick leave to employees, especially since it would be counter to the culture that exists in restaurants,” said Rick. “The fastest way to see a change would be if some of the larger chains started making this a part of their benefits package. Over time, more employers may start to see the upside of offering these benefits.”
Rick also says that fear of a Chipotle-style publicity nightmare could also drive restaurant owners to make big changes.
“The other potential game changer is if there continue to be these highly-publicized cases, such as Chipotle,” Rick said. “Chipotle is big enough to weather the storm of lost sales resulting from this bad publicity, but a smaller restaurant or chain may not have the resources necessary to survive such a situation. As restaurant owners begin to realize the possibly of something like this happening to their business, they will be more driven to implement changes in their restaurants.”
Limit Your Restaurant’s Liability to Lawsuits
In addition to seeking to prevent foodborne illness by implementing smart training and scheduling practices, restaurant owners should also consider how to protect their business in the worst-case scenario of a customer lawsuit. According to Ted Devine, CEO of small business insurer Insureon, many restaurant owners could benefit from double-checking their business liability insurance coverage.
“In recent years, laws in the U.S. have evolved to favor the doctrine of “strict liability,” which means that if you buy something and use it correctly and it results in an injury, anyone involved in selling it to you (vendor, distributor, manufacturer) can be legally and financially responsible for the damages to you,” said Ted.
This strict liability standard means that restaurants who serve food to customers – and whose customers then get sick from eating the meals – could potentially be vulnerable to a lawsuit (depending on state laws). And in the eyes of the law, it often doesn’t matter what the cause of the food contamination was.
“According to strict liability principles, even if a restaurant handled its ingredients properly and maintained adequate cleanliness within its restaurant, it could be found legally liable and financially responsible for its customers’ illnesses,” Ted said.
Ted recommends that small business owners, especially restaurant owners, take time to investigate their business’ level of product liability insurance. “The good news for small businesses is that a special type of insurance policy called “product liability insurance” may cover the cost of a food poisoning or other product injury lawsuit,” Ted said. “This type of insurance is typically included in a general liability insurance policy. General liability is often considered a foundational coverage for small businesses – it’s best known for covering slip-and-fall accidents. So in most cases, if you have a general liability policy, you have product liability coverage. Of course, it’s always a good idea to double check by reading through your policy or calling your agent.”
As people become more health-conscious and interested in knowing about the sources of the food they eat, consumer concerns about food safety are likely to intensify. This is going to put some added pressure on restaurant owners – but with a few best practices and protections, you can keep your customers safe and happy and keep your restaurant’s reputation clean!
Are you a restaurant owner? What’s your take on the Chipotle foodborne illness outbreak? What should restaurant operators do to minimize risks and maximize profitability? Leave a comment and let us know!


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MINEOLA, N.Y. — Bellavia Blatt Andron & Crossett P.C. announced this week it has joined forces with Berger & Montague P. C. in prosecuting its antitrust suit against Carfax. the lawsuit Maxon Hyundai Mazda et-al. vs. Carfax, Inc.
Filed in April 2013 on behalf of more than 500 deals, the suitalleges that Carfax violated U.S. antitrust laws. Berger & Montague previously served as co-counsel against Visa and MasterCard, winning a landmark, $7.25 billion settlement — the largest private antitrust settlement ever.
"Having Berger & Montague, one of the premier antitrust law firms in the country join this lawsuit confirms the validity of our antitrust allegations against Carfax," said Bellavia Blatt Senior Partner Leonard Bellavia. "We are pleased that a firm with this level of expertise in antitrust litigation will help to right the wrongs we allege that Carfax has committed against automobile dealers and consumers nationwide."
The lawsuit charges Carfax with impairing competition through its exclusive alliances with Autotrader.com, Cars.com, and a majority of OEMs and their certified pre-owned programs. As a result of those partnerships, dealers are forced to conduct business with Carfax at grossly inflated prices, only to have Carfax spend these inflated revenues on ads that disparage dealers as dishonest and untrustworthy, the suit alleges.
"Bellavia Blatt has long been a proponent of the rights of automobile dealers and this lawsuit on their behalf demonstrates that commitment," said Eric L. Cramer, a managing shareholder at Berger & Montague. "Our firm looks forward to working with Bellavia Blatt on behalf of hundreds of dealers in promoting free and fair competition and to achieving a successful outcome for our clients."
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The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed civil penalties ranging from $54,000 to $63,000 against four companies for allegedly violating the country’s hazardous materials transport regulations.
"Repercussions on the global supply chain will be felt over the next few months and perhaps years to come," said the CEO of supply chain research firm Resilinc.
Profits increased compared to the same 2014 period despite lower revenues and volumes due to the ocean carrier leaving certain trades and weak demand on Asia-Mediterranean routes.
Tideworks Technology has developed a mobile version of its customer service web portal for the Massachusetts Port Authority called Forecast Mobile Lite.
Ocean carrier CMA CGM will team up with Bolloré African Logistics and China Harbour Engineering Company to build and operate a 1.4 million-TEU container terminal in Kribi.
The Norther California port warned, however, that vessel backlogs could reoccur if more longshore labor is not added.


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U.S., estimated annual dialysis spending approximates $74B and the main market players have not changed for 30 years. A new medtech company is set to disrupt the market.
We are following up on a recent IPO idea published on our telegram channel. This Medtech company looks towards a post COVID expansion in Europe and Asia.
We highlighted in various webinars and last weeks FIT that MedTech is a strong sector currently. We review a trade idea in that sector.
Two companies compete in a large and growing diabetes market in the US. New technology brings a complementary, yet competitive product to the market that is gaining market share. Is a take over opportunity coming?


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Today, President Obama in his Saturday radio address announced the creation of a multi-agency task force to tackle the issues of food safety and nominated New York City's very own Dr. Margaret Hamburg aka Peggy (former NYC Health Commissioner) to lead a new FOOD SAFETY WORKING GROUP and also to head up the Food and Drug Administration.
Great news for consumers and eaters! I know I was afraid to eat a tomato last summer during the tomato recall -- unless, of course, I bought it from a local farmer.
But, potentially new food safety regulations are mixed news for small and mid-sized farmers and small scale food processors. IT WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR ANY CHANGES IN LEGISLATION TO ADDRESS the food safety and inspection of small producers so that new regulations don't put an unsustainable cost burden on the local and small producers, farmers markets and CSAs for example. According to Council on the Environment NYC, which runs a lot of the farmers markets in New York City, food safety is after all among the 10 Reasons to Buy Local Food .
4. Local food is safe. There's a unique kind of assurance that comes from looking a farmer in the eye at farmers market or driving by the fields where your food comes from. Local farmers aren`t anonymous and they take their responsibility to the consumer seriously.
Obama's goal is to make our food supply safer and dramatically increase the funding for inspections of food processors (he notes that only 7,000 of the 150,000 food processors are inspected each year -- no wonder we've had a huge number food poisoning outbreaks and even deaths as a result of contaminated spinach, tomatoes, and processed peanut paste). The threats are real: pathogens such as E Coli and Salmonella, pesticides and antibiotics, human growth hormones and Mad Cow disease threaten food safety. So does bioterrorism. And, let's not forget genetically modified crops, irradiation -- I don't know about you but I don't feel we know yet whether these technologies are safe over the long term. Many people don't think so.
This would be the first major overhaul of food safety policy since Teddy Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906!!! Bloggers, and journalists are speculating that this may be the first step towards splitting the Food and Drug Administration into two parts, separating food and drug oversight and consolidating all food inspections into one agency. As Marion Nestle, food politics and food safety expert, notes often times fruits and vegetables are contaminated by animal waste so to have meat products inspected by one agency (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and all other food inspected by another (the Food and Drug Administration) makes no sense.
I'm OK with all this, but let's be sure to protect the small farmer, locavore and artisanal food producers, farmers markets and direct to consumer outlets such as farm stands and community supported agriculture and restaurant supported agriculture subscriptions.


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Huggies creates personalized diaper line
Parents or gift-givers can now customize Huggies diapers for the little one in their life.
The company, which is part of the Kimberly-Clark portfolio of brands, announced the launch of its first-ever customizable line, Huggies Made by You.
Containing five limited-edition collections, the line also allows for the customization of names, monograms and dates on the Neenah, Wis.-based company’s diapers.
“We know that a lot of thought goes into selecting the perfect gift for expectant parents reflective of the celebration of each unique baby,” Sara Young, general manager of Huggies, said. “Overwhelmingly, consumers express passion for personalization, and we’re thrilled to be offering Huggies Made by You to deliver a gift that’s as exciting to give as it is to open.”
Consumers can choose from the five limited-edition collections, which include:
- Pattern Party, which features black and white graphics with pops of color;
- Bright World, which contains fanciful color and playful prints;
- Sweet Safari, which has tropical prints, animal patterns and hand-drawn silhouettes;
- Little Hero, which contains sporty patterns, colors and designs; and
- Mediterranean Mama, which has an easy-breezy look meshed with a vintage Riviera vibe-très chic.
Made by You is sold exclusively on Huggies’ website, with each custom order costing $75 and containing 28 premium diapers in size 1, or 8-to-14 lbs.
The company is encouraging those who purchase Made by You custom designs to share theirs on social media by using the #MyHuggies hashtag and tagging the company’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages on the post.
Ben & Jerry’s, Phish launch special stash flavor
For a third consecutive time, Ben & Jerry’s and Phish are joining forces to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the WaterWheel Foundation with a new ice cream.
It’s Ice … Cream, features caramel malt ice cream, almond toffee pieces, fudge fish and a caramel swirl. Back in 1997, this launch was one of the original flavor concepts in the running to become Phish Food.
The ice cream, which was named after the band’s 1991 song “It’s Ice” will be celebrated by Ben & Jerry’s with a one-of-a-kind pack, featuring exclusive artwork by Jim Pollock.
The Burlington, V.T.-based company also will be offering a merchandise gift pack in limited quantities through its online store that includes a special poster signed by Pollock.
“For over 20 years, Phish has enjoyed a great partnership with Ben & Jerry’s and we’re excited that this new creative flavor can continue to support the work of The WaterWheel Foundation,” John Fishman, Phish’s drummer, said.
A portion of all proceeds from It’s Ice … Cream will benefit the WaterWheel Foundation, which was founded by Phish, and it oversees their charitable activities.
It’s Ice … Cream is part of Ben & Jerry’s limited-edition line, known as the special stash, will be available for purchase online and in select retailers.
SweeTarts unleashes gummy candies
After bringing its latest innovation to the Sweets and Snacks Expo, SweeTarts is getting ready to unleash a set of gummy candies on the world.
SweeTarts Gummies, which come in sweet and sour fruity flavors, are now available at retailers nationwide and come in a variety of such shapes as a turntable, VR headset and rocket ship.
“After recently surveying more than 1,000 college students, and learning that more than 76% prefer gummy candies over chewy, hard or licorice candy formats, we knew our fans would be thrilled to try our new gummies offerings,” Benjamin Jones, SweeTarts marketing associate, said. “With no artificial colors, the new SweeTarts Gummies pack the same electrifying SweeTarts flavor that our fans have come to know and love, and with an endless variety of shapes and flavors, no bag is ever the same!”
To celebrate the product’s official launch, the Glendale, Calif.-based company is kicking off the “Search for the Next Gummy Shape” contest, which invites fans to pick the next gummy shape for a chance to win a year’s supply of the snack. The winner will see their chosen shape appear in a future bag of SweeTarts Gummies. Participants have until July 22 to submit entries.
In addition, the company also is launching the “Shape Your Passion” sweepstakes, which invites candy aficionados to answer questions about their hobbies and interests using only gummy shapes, for a chance to win $10,000 or one of over 100 daily prizes. The sweepstakes runs through Aug. 20, and can be entered online by uploading a photo to Instagram or Twitter by using the #ShapeYourPassionSweepstakes hashtag.
SweeTarts’ new gummy candies can be found at such retailers as Target, Walmart, Kroger, Publix, Meijer, HEB, Family Dollar, Rite Aid, Circle K and Speedway in 4-oz. share packs that retail for $1.69, 5.25-oz. medium pegs for $1.99 and 10-oz. stand-up bags for $2.89.


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Best high schools in Massachusetts
We Americans sure like to spoil our pooches and kitties. Check out which cities are home to the owners who spend the most on their pets each month, according to an analysis by Bundle reported by US News and World Reports.
It's National Pet Week. Find out which cities are home to the owners who spend the most on their pets each month.
The Massachusetts Legislature is entering the final days of formal meetings with a number of unfinished items still on the agenda.


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Private equity firm IK Investment Partners has sold Wehkamp, a major Dutch online retail company, to a group of private investors for just under €500 million ($625 million), according to industry sources.
The exit followed a restructuring of Wehkamp, which was acquired by the private equity firm from UK retailer GUS in 2006. IK divided the former catalogue company into an online retailer, a debt collection business and a consumer finance business. The online retail business now has more than 5 million visitors to its website per month.
“Wehkamp has been a very profitable investment for IK. The transformation of Wehkamp demonstrates IK’s ability to accelerate growth and implement structural operational improvements in our portfolio companies. We are now ready for the next phase in its development,” Kristaan Nieuwenburg, partner at IK, said in a statement.
The purchasing investor group consists of Wehkamp’s management team, Paul Nijhof and Berend van der Maat, and Ad Scheepbouwer, a shareholder in Wehkamp’s parent company, RFS Holland.
IK, formerly known as Industri Kapital, currently manages €5.7 billion in fund commitments. Wehkamp is its seventh transaction this year, following the acquisitions of French construction firm Etanco, Dutch solar firm Flabeg, and Polish transport provider Axtone, and the divestments of Norwegian storage firm ELFA, Finish paint suppliers CPS Color, and Swedish communications firm Dataphone.


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Discover more from Very Serious
The Other Global Chaos Shoe to Drop: China
We are in for a recurrence of 2020 problems, plus our 2022 problems. I talk with Chinese economy expert Patrick Chovanec about COVID lockdowns, asset bubbles, and a fraught partnership with Russia.
It’s a bizarre time right now in the economy. Growth is high, and it’s a very good time to find a job. Businesses are flush with customers and they want to hire and expand. And the ongoing post-emergency renormalization from COVID continues to fuel this trend.
But there is also economic peril. Inflation is high. To fight it, central banks around the world will raise interest rates, cooling business enthusiasm and consumer spending in the process. The war in Ukraine is fueling more inflation, severing international trade links and straining global markets in energy and agricultural products — at a time when global supply chains are already strained.
And then there’s China.
Even before COVID, China’s economy was troubled. Decades of robust economic growth and increased integration into the world economy have sometimes obscured the important ways in which the country remains communist. State direction of business investment has led to widespread misallocation of capital. This is most visible in the form of vast and empty apartment developments fueled by a bubble among Chinese retail investors with few options about where to put their money.
The Chinese government has had to intervene repeatedly to prevent bank and business failures, staving off a financial crisis but creating even more incentive for Chinese businesses to build and buy the wrong things. And there’s been risk that this whole system could crash down into an unprecedented economic recession, destroying middle-class Chinese wealth and damaging the economies of China’s trading partners in the process.
For this week’s Very Serious podcast, I invited Patrick Chovanec to discuss China’s economic situation — how resurgent COVID and the war in Ukraine exacerbate China’s economic troubles, and how those troubles may affect our economic and geopolitical position. Patrick is an adviser who has spent decades helping foreign investors and companies do business in China; he’s also taught at both Columbia and Tsinghua University. And he described to me how China and its trading partners are about to face some very 2020 and very 2022 problems at the same time.
In winter 2020, before people had fully grasped the global nature of the destruction that was coming from COVID, investors were focused on some very China-specific economic concerns: that widespread lockdowns in China would hamper economic activity and global trade, creating shortages of basic materials and product components for which the world relies on China. Then, China got its outbreaks under control in a way that many other countries (including ours) did not. That specific crisis was averted.
But now, COVID is roaring through Hong Kong and threatening to do the same in mainland China. Even if the mainland Chinese government is able to continue stamping out outbreaks, it is going to do so at the price of increased economic disruption. And unlike in 2020, that threat to the flow of Chinese goods comes in an environment of already existing global shortages and inflation. The risks are extensive, to China and also to us.
What to do about [gestures broadly] all this is a hard question for both China’s leaders and ours — even before you get to the question of how the Ukraine war might affect the way China looks at Taiwan. I learned from my conversation with Patrick, and I hope you will, too.


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U.S. plans new safety rules to crack down on carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators
The U.S. agency responsible for protecting consumers announced this week that it intends to recommend new mandatory rules to make portable generators safer, saying manufacturers have not voluntarily done enough to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning deaths caused by their products.
The announcement, part of a major report by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is a key step toward regulating gas-powered generators, which can emit as much carbon monoxide as 450 cars and which kill an average of 80 people in the U.S. each year. Read More…
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Sharp Free-Form Display to free up display designs
Sharp announced Wednesday that it has developed the Free-Form Display, which can free up new display designs for varied applications. Sharp released an illustration with its announcement showing an in-vehicle instrument panel that combines a speedometer and other monitors. The announcement said other display possibilities include wearable devices with elliptical displays, digital signage and other large monitors. Sharp has been providing manufacturers with displays that carry features in demand: slim profiles, light weight and thin bezels. Continuing on a wave of newer innovations," the Free-Form Display can advance a wider range of shapes. Sharp's two keys to this technology are the incorporation of IGZO technology (IGZO stands for indium gallium zinc oxide), a semiconducting material, and proprietary circuit design methods. IGZO is a compound semiconductor.
According to Sharp "With electron mobility 20 to 50 times faster than that of amorphous silicon, what to date was impossible is now a reality in the form of revolutionary display possibilities." As for battery life Sharp said IGZO contributes to the dramatic leap in the energy efficiency of digital devices, resulting in substantially longer battery life for mobile users. When displaying still images, it achieves significant power savings by pausing the driving signals to maintain the same image.
The Free-Form Display announcement was received Wednesday as noteworthy for what it might mean to the electronics industry and mobile device marketplace, from in-vehicle instrumentation to big screens to wearables. The Verge said the screen could "radically change" the shape of our future electronics, as well as making it easier to come up with far more unique designs than was possible. Similarly, The Next Web said the Free Form Display could help lift consumer technology devices out of "the rigid convention of using rectangular and square shaped screens."
The company announcement discussed why the Free-Form development changes options: "Conventional displays are rectangular because they require a minimal width for the bezel in order to accommodate the drive circuit, called the gate driver, around the perimeter of the screen's display area. With the Free-Form Display, the gate driver's function is dispersed throughout the pixels on the display area. This allows the bezel to be shrunk considerably, and it gives the freedom to design the LCD to match whatever shape the display area of the screen needs to be."
Sharp said it plans to enter the mass-production stage for the Free-Form Display "at the earliest possible date."
More information: Press release: sharp-world.com/corporate/news/140618.html
© 2014 Tech Xplore


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Vinyl Digital have released Shag’s Flyrule: A Terrible Fate album on vinyl. It is an instrumental hip hop arrangement of music from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
The release is a single LP on gold-colored vinyl. It comes in a regular LP jacket with art by Micha Quär. It is limited to 300 copies.
It was released for Record Store Day 2018, which was on April 21, 2018.
Vinyl Digital have released Shag’s Flyrule album, which is a remixed instrumental hiphop version of the The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time soundtrack.
It is a single LP in a cover with new art by Micha Quär. It comes on gold colored vinyl and is limited to 300 copies.
It was announced on May 4, 2017 and started shipping a few weeks before the official release date on May 26, 2017.


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Macroverse Epics: Creators, it’s time to bring on the geek as Macroverse, one of the leaders in next-gen digital comics, is introducing a new branch with the launch of the first NFT comic drops known as Macroverse Epics.
This brand new community is said to be designed to empower creators in an all-in-one creator economy. You may be asking yourself, well, what is Macroverse Epics? Well, it’s pretty simple, these are complete stories + the creative process that goes into the project. Instead of getting a single-issue, you are getting that and the concept art, the process work and more and it’s geared to highlight the creative process of these comics for collectors of NFT.
Each project will be built through covers, story concepts, the creative process, audio and much more. This will include rare and exclusive availabilities that is meant to increase it’s value over time. This is the happy medium for readers and collectors.
This new adventure from Macroverse is available to sign up for early access and Macroverse encourages collectors and creators to sign up, which you can do here. This opportunity is set to kick off this month and it is on a first-come, first-serve basis and it comes with an incentive for collectors who sign up early, gaining early access to the unique items on the platform.
“I’ve been collecting comics since I was a kid, so bringing true rarity and collectibility to the DIGITAL world is incredibly exciting,” said co-founder Eben Matthews. “What we’re doing gives everyone access to that component of what comics have always been, in a way that is unique for both creators and fans.”
With celebrated stories already on the app such as Alien vs. Parker by comedian Paul Scheer and Nick Giovannetti, Phobos by Jason Brubaker, and Boondock Saints by director Troy Duffy, Macroverse will also be launching all-new Macroverse Epics featuring series from David F Walker (Bitter Root, Naomi) and Evan Shapiro (Portlandia, HarmonQuest).
This is a testament to the quality of work that will be available on a short term basis, but much like Kickstarter and other platforms designed to help smaller creators build their way up, Macroverse Epics is a great opportunity for fans and collectors to get the opportunity to get an experience from creators on an early basis that could eventually turn into a very rare piece of memorabilia.


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Kate Moss’ 15th collection with Topshop launched with a bang last night at the retailer’s Oxford Street flagship.
Radio One DJ Nick Grimshaw hosted a party for the much anticipated preview ahead of the wider launch today, with DJ Duke Dumont hitting the decks and Moss herself welcoming the crowds that had made it through the Tube strike to attend.
Those who couldn’t make it in person got to watch it on the live stream, which had been counting down to the moment throughout the day.
Before opening the store, Moss demurely told Grimshaw: “I just want everyone to find something they love to wear.”
The 40-piece collection is now rolling out to 346 stores in 41 countries. It will also be available online at Topshop.com and via luxury etailer Net-a-Porter. Prices range from £38 for a scallop-edge camisole to £600 for a beaded dress.
For more, read this week’s issue of Drapers.


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Economists expect the legalization of cannabis to boost Canada’s gross domestic product figures by up to $10 billion.
That may sound like a big number, but it’s just a sliver of the nation’s $2-trillion economy. And we should be careful of thinking of this as “growth,” since much of the boost is simply the recognition of an economic activity that was already happening but wasn’t in official statistics since it was illegal.
There has been lots of debate about how big the total market for recreational marijuana will be. Ottawa’s Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) estimated that by 2021 there will be 5.2 million Canadians who use marijuana at least once per year. They would consume over 700 tonnes of cannabis per year, with 98 per cent of demand coming from the 2 million people who use it daily or weekly.
Depending on assumptions about retail prices, this suggests a total market of around $5 billion for both legal and illegal cannabis. Other analysts get higher figures extrapolating from the experience of U.S. states that have already legalized, sometimes reaching $10 billion or more.
To put that in context, the market for beer is about $9 billion.
Scaling the estimates above for the Yukon’s population size, we would get around 5,000 Yukoners using 700 kilograms of cannabis in a given year, 2,000 using it daily or weekly, and a total Yukon cannabis market of $5-10 million.
Then we have to ask how this money gets spread along what consultants call the “value chain,” and how much of it will stay in the Yukon. The stages of the value chain include equipment manufacturing, cultivation, processing, testing and regulation as well as marketing and sales. Along the way, money flows to businesses, workers and governments in and outside the Yukon.
The Yukon government shows up in several places, since it will be both a business selling the product, a regulator and a tax collector.
The share of the money that will stay in the Yukon may be smaller than cannabis enthusiasts hoped, due to some circumstances beyond our control as well as some choices made by the Yukon government.
The first limiting factor is that edibles and cannabis-infused drinks will not be immediately part of the legal market. This is unlike Alaska, where, for example, edibles were immediately available.
Drinks are also a hot topic in the global beverage industry, since the big global beverage firms are thinking about how to respond to the threat of weed to their traditional products. Eventually, expansion into these products would increase total revenue for the industry and taxes for the government.
The production stages of the value chain will also be limited in the Yukon. The Yukon government store will not be selling any Yukon-produced marijuana when it opens. This is also unlike Alaska, and more like the old days when beer and liquor were 100 per cent imported with no local jobs or profits at places like Yukon Brewing. Our Alaskan friends have created a whole eco-system, including jobs in testing and regulation, as well as export opportunities.
The PBO estimates 60 per cent of the value is in the production stages of the value chain, and that portion of the money will flow Outside.
If you think of cannabis as an agricultural product, it is one of the few that could be viable in the North. Its high value per gram gives more cover for higher energy or labour costs in the North compared to commodities such as potatoes.
Yukon producers may be allowed into the mix in the future, however.
The next step is sales and marketing. We will have the jobs in the Yukon government store and mail order operation. The PBO estimates that the retailing stage’s wages, profits and other costs will add up to around $3 per gram. That’s an average, and the actual profits (or losses) of the Yukon government’s retailing unit will depend on how efficiently they run it and how much of the market switches from black market or medical marijuana.
The government says it plans to eventually allow private retailing, but remember this still has not happened for beer and wine except in limited off-sales outlets.
On the tax side, the corporate income tax will accrue only to the provinces since no Yukon private companies are involved along the value chain. The same applies for personal income tax on cannabis entrepreneurs, although the employees of the government store will pay. The Yukon will get 75 per cent of the marijuana tax.
The federal-provincial-territorial weed deal says taxes will be the higher of $1 per gram or 10 per cent of the selling price, and if the federal take from their 25 per cent share hits $100 million then everything over that will go to the provinces and territories.
If Yukoners consume 700 kilograms of weed per year, the Yukon’s 75 per cent share of a $1 per gram tax would work out to $525,000 in annual tax revenues. However, the PBO points out that when Colorado legalized cannabis there remained a large black market representing about half of the market, as well as a significant share of sales through medical marijuana channels.
This mix depends on how retail prices compare to black market prices, as well as the quality and convenience of the store. But you can expect the Yukon’s actual weed tax take to be significantly lower than $525,000.
We don’t have a territorial sales tax, unlike the provinces. The provinces will therefore make more money per gram than the Yukon government. PBO estimates total federal and provincial sales taxes at about $600 million, 60 percent of which would go to the provinces. Again, scaling to the Yukon’s population, that means about $360,000 will stay in the wallets of Yukon cannabis users compared to if they lived in a sales-tax province.
Then there’s the question of whether cannabis will be a substitute for alcohol or a complement. Some stock market analysts think Canadians will drink less alcohol once they have access to legal weed. If this is the case, it will eat into the profits of the Yukon government’s liquor stores, which have been a dependable and lucrative cash cow for decades.
So what is the net economic effect of legalization in the Yukon?
In the longer term, the Yukon’s benefits will depend on three key questions. Will it tightly manage the costs of the government store so it doesn’t eat up too much of the revenues? Will the government store have a dynamic retailing strategy that will steal market share from the black market? And when will the Yukon private sector be allowed to get into business?
In the meantime, there will be limited economic development opportunities, at least at first. The Yukon private sector will not be involved in production, distribution or sales. There will be no export business. New government jobs will be created in retailing, but we don’t yet know if this will turn out to be a profit-centre or a cost-centre for the Yukon government. The Yukon government will receive cannabis tax revenues, but probably less than even half a million dollars; not much compared to our billion-dollar transfer payment.
Legalization is exciting news for cannabis consumers in the Yukon. Advocates have foreseen big benefits around improved quality, product safety and shrinking the black market. But the numbers above suggest the cannabis legalization may be an economic development buzz-kill.
Keith Halliday is a Yukon economist and author of the MacBride Museum’s Aurore of the Yukon series of historical children’s adventure novels. He is a Ma Murray award-winner for best columnist.


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Volume 4 Issue 46
After a long, large run-up from the spring of 2020, base oil prices in Europe began retreating since summer, indicating that supply is catching up with demand following the disruption of COVID-19. But API Group I prices have fallen much faster than Group II or Group III, and an analyst from Argus Media told an industry conference recently that prices for the three categories will be less tethered going forward and based more on their own supply fundamentals.
Russian finished lubricant production has been sluggish and stood at about 1 million tons in the first eight months of 2021 as the economy recovers very slowly from the recession and as industrial output stagnates, according to a market report. Automotive engine oils, transmission fluids and hydraulic oils are the only product categories that have seen significant growth during this period, while all others stagnated or declined, said B2X, the Moscow-based consultancy.
The lubricants and greases segment of Nigerian blender and distributor Ardova Plc posted an increase in net profit and a more than 60% jump in sales revenue for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to the same period in 2020, according to the company’s financial statements.


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CLF Distribution is now an employee-owned business, its founder Robin Holiday has announced.
The Southhampton-based health food wholesaler has been converted into an Employee-Owned Trust (EOT) – that is, a business run and owned by its staff.
Former owner, Holiday, says he has always strived to build a company where employees enjoy going to work. “The recently introduced strapline ‘In it together’ can now be taken quite literally, the people behind CLF are not only its owners, they are also the present and the future of the company. The fundamental ethos of an EOT being putting a company’s people first and allowing them to share in the profits they generate, under the scheme employees can earn up to £3,600 per annum tax free”.
EOTs now span a wide range of business sectors, with well known examples including KPMG and the John Lewis Partnership. In 2018 Riverford Organic became employee owned (with 74% of shares moved into an EOT), a decision Guy Singh-Watson says he has “grown happier each day” about.
As an EOT, CLF says it hopes its future will flourish from increased employee engagement, innovation, high rates of productivity and improved attendance. The company says that the past two years have “proved, survival and success are born from working together, trusting in each other”.
“I am looking forward to watching CLF flourish under employee ownership and I am confident this change will help the company reach its full potential. I am proud of the team and the service we have provided over the last 23 years; I am looking forward to this new chapter as the company’s managing director”, says Holiday.
Photo: Robin Holiday, CLF founder and managing director. Jim Manson


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GE announced Current, powered by GE, a first-of-its kind energy company that integrates GE's LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to identify and deliver the most cost effective, efficient energy solutions required by customers today and in the future. Maryrose Sylvester, who as President and CEO at GE Lighting has led the transformation of one of the company's most iconic businesses, will lead the new enterprise. Current is backed by GE's balance sheet and financing expertise, and committed to successfully advancing ecomagination-certified technology solutions, new business models and Predix solutions for the energy sector.
â€œCurrent combines GEâ€™s products and services in energy efficiency, solar, storage, and onsite power with our digital and analytical capabilities to provide customers â€“ hospitals, universities, retail stores, and cities â€“ with more profitable energy solutions,â€ said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE. â€œThe creation of a new company within GE reinforces our commitment to take energy to the next level, focusing on custom outcomes for our Commercial & Industrial customers, municipalities and utility partners, and delivering a platform that can be upgraded as technology advancements are made.â€
Current will begin with more than $1 billion of revenue and build on GEâ€™s legacy in energy and deep roots in technology. It will bring to market a holistic energy-as-a-service offering absent from industry today that includes sensor-enabled hardware, software, fulfillment, product management and financing solutions. Through Predix, GE will analyze energy consumption and provide customers with data around patterns and needs along with recommendations to increase efficiency â€“ from reducing power levels, to generating power on site to creating new revenue streams for customers through the use of sensors and networked systems in buildings. These advanced solutions will help customers save an estimated 10-20% on their energy bills, and help utility partners better manage their distributed load.
â€œWeâ€™ve been transforming the power and lighting sector since GEâ€™s inception. Energy is part of our legacy, part of our genetic code. And digital code is a big part of our future. Once again, we have an opportunity with Current as a startup to lead another significant change in energy delivery,â€ said GE Vice Chair Beth Comstock, whose oversight of Business Innovation encompasses Current and other transformation efforts. â€œCommercial enterprises canâ€™t afford complexity and inefficiency in energy solutions if they are to remain competitive. They are looking for â€˜future proofedâ€™ solutions. From the socket to the grid, we understand how the electrons flow and have the unique position to optimize energy regardless of the scenario or customer.â€
Several key customers, including Walgreens, Simon Property Group, Hilton Worldwide, JPMorgan Chase, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Intel and Trane, a brand of Ingersoll Rand, are piloting Currentâ€™s solutions to transform their operations, drive energy efficiency and reduce costs.
â€œWalgreens has a history of implementing environmentally sustainable technologies in our retail footprint,â€ said Matt Harris, Divisional Vice President of Facilities Asset Management for Walgreens. â€œFor more than 25 years, we have worked with GE to bring improved lighting technologies to stores and most recently installed GEâ€™s environmentally-sustainable LED lighting products in some of our stores. It is important that we continue to find innovative, sustainable technology and explore ways to leverage software platforms like GEâ€™s Predix to assess our energy needs and increase efficiency. That is not only smart for our communities and planet but also makes good business sense.â€
â€œAs part of Simon's continued effort to improve energy efficiency at its properties, the company is exploring several new energy saving opportunities, in addition to our use of LEDs, including innovative new battery storage concepts,â€ said Tim Earnest, Executive Vice President for Simon Management Group. Pairing these technologies with GEâ€™s Predix data systems and software could lead to powerful, cost effective, efficient energy solutions. With more than 200 malls, The Mills and Premium Outlets in North America, Simon's scale lends itself well to testing energy efficiency programs for potential use across its portfolio.â€
Current will be headquartered in the greater Boston, Mass. metropolitan area, with additional presence in the Silicon Valley. It is expected to create roughly 200 new jobs focused on software, outcomes selling and energy product management over the next few years. Operations have begun and will continue to increase in 2016.


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- From Blog Archive
Banks ignore CBN's directive on dollar sales to BDCs - Nation
Commercial banks have shown little or no interest in implementing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN's) directive that they sell dollar to bureaux de change (BDC) operators, The Nation has learnt.
The lenders are complaining that the CBN did not spell out their margin in the said transaction, which makes the zeal to implement it almost non-existent.
The CBN had over the weekend, lifted its six-month ban on forex sales to BDC operators. In a circular to authorised dealers titled: "Sales of Foreign currency proceeds of international money transfers to Bureaux De Change operators",signed by the CBN Acting Director, Trade & Exchange, W.D Gotring, the apex bank said the policy shift would ensure the stability of the exchange rate and boost participation of all critical stakeholders in the foreign exchange market.
Confirming the development, President Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, said the lenders have shown high level of unpreparedness to execute the CBN's directive to sell the greenback to BDCs.
He said the BDCs have no direct access to Western Union and MoneyGram, which are the key international money transfer agents, hence the operators rely on banks to access the funds.
He also disclosed that most of the offshore inflows are dry transactions, meaning that they are cash-in cash-out deals with nothing left for BDCs.
He told The Nation that although the policy is already having positive impact on the naira exchange rate at the parallel market, the unwillingness of the banks to sell to BDCs is adversely affecting the expected positive impacts on rates.
Gwadabe said the CBN should give the BDCs the sole right to sell Business Travel Allowances (BTAs) and Personal Travel Allowances (PATs) to enable them fix demand at the retail end of the market.
"The policy has positive impact on rates. The naira today (yesterday) exchanged at N374 to dollar against, N378 last Friday".
However, on the official market, the naira yesterday slipped 2.5 per cent to a new closing low of N310 per dollar, failing to lure in local investors or foreign players as trade dried up a day before an expected interest rate hike from the CBN.
The currency had opened at a record low of 302.10 and traded a total of just $8.64 million by the close, far less than $100.54 million on Friday, when the CBN spurred the market by selling some of its dollars.


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The long Easter weekend is coming and it’s a chance for families to go on road trips out of town. Scenic spots, beach coasts and camping areas are just a few days away.
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Australians will now start to feel the effects of the closure of local car plants with the pricing of the latest Toyota vehicle. The Toyota Camry made in Japan now has a recommended retail starting price of $31,000 drive-away. For more than two years, the price of the Camry as indicated on the Toyota website was at $26,990 drive-away.
The… Read more
The Ford Endura will be the successor to the Territory, as confirmed by Ford Australia. The Endura, which is a large SUV, is expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2018. The Endura is known as the Edge in other markets. Its name is short for “Endurance” and takes after other Ford SUV models with names that start with… Read more
The Forester, Subaru Australia’s best-selling model, will have a new model coming up and expected to boost the sales of medium SUVs. It joins its rivals in their respective recent overhauls. Details on this fifth-generation Forester are still secret, but what we know is that it will break cover in the first half of 2018. The local launch is set… Read more
95,763 new vehicles were sold in October in Australia, according to The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ VFACTS report. It’s a 2.6 percent increase compared to the same month last year. The demand in the commercial sector was the reason for the increase.
The demand for commercial vehicles still continue to hike with the light sector showing a considerable 18.5… Read more
With the recent closure of car manufacturing units in Victoria, Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) is encouraging its members to hire the automotive workers who lost their jobs. There are opportunities within the heavy vehicle and freight sector which will benefit skilled workers with experience in manufacturing.
Incentives up to $7000 will be given to Victoria-based employers who will hire these… Read more
Toyota is set to bring its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle in the Australia. Kiyotake Ise, Toyota’s president of advanced research and development, announced this in an international media conference in Tokyo. Australia is among the several markets where the Mirai fuel-cell vehicle will be sold.
Currently, the Mirai has been sold in very limited volumes in Japan, U.S., and Europe. Each Mirai… Read more
Those who are waiting for new small cars from Nissan may have to wait until 2018 as there is no announcements yet of the brand’s re-entry into the small car market at this week’s Tokyo Motor Show. Recently, Nissan’s previous boss Richard Emery decided to drop Micra and Pulsar from the company’s local line-up.
So far only the the GT-R… Read more


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Babcock lands Devonport for £350m
The Royal Naval Dockyard at Devonport is to be acquired for £350m by Babcock, the Navy's submarine support operator based at Rosyth in Scotland.
Babcock said the deal, for which it is raising £90m on the stock market today, will make it Britain's leading support-services supplier to Navy submarines and warships.
It is also means the Ministry of Defence has forced through a simplification of the UK industry as, after the expected merger of BAE Systems' and VT's warship interests, the Navy will be dealing with just two UK-based suppliers.
Babcock is buying Devonport from Kellogg Brown & Root, once part of US defence contractor Halliburton, and its UK-listed minority shareholders Balfour Beatty and Weir.
Babcock today reported a 40% rise in 2006 pre-tax profits to £57m.
The dividend is up by a third at 8.05p.
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Looks like the browser version of Gravity Co. Ltd’s famous MMORPG, Ragnarok Journey, will be released sooner than expected. A few days ago we wrote about the game’s pre-registration and now the company has announced via the game’s official Facebook page that it will launch on November 12.
The launch will happen in Glorietta 2 Activity Center. Thinking of heading there or trying out the game? Let us know in the comments section below.


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PARIS — Smallsat builder NanoAvionics is one of perhaps a dozen merchant providers of small satellite platforms and payloads that have proved an ability to win business from a diverse set of customers.
It’s also cash-flow positive, and counts on remaining so even as it adds new production facilities in Lithuania to handle the company’s new, larger product, the MP42.
Designed for satellites with 40-50-kg payloads and a launch mass of up to 150 kilograms, the MP42 is designed to put NanoAvionics where . . .
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“Mitel is excited to be part of the Howdoo community and to be seamlessly communicating and collaborating with our audience through a new high quality social platform”.
Colin Mann, Mitel’s Global Head of Growth Marketing
Howdoo, the all-in-one decentralized social media and networking platform, is excited to reveal the all-in-one communications innovator and supplier Mitel as our latest Launch Supporter. Mitel is a company that is a global market leader in business communications. It powers more than two billion business connections with their cloud, enterprise and next-gen collaboration applications and with more than 70 million users in nearly 100 countries, Mitel wakes up every day exclusively focused on helping customers take their communications from where they are today to where they expect them to be.
Many Howdoo users might be intrigued to learn about Mitel’s plans to build a community on Howdoo and about how they want to reach new customers using our unique user controlled opt-in advertising model. We are too, but we are also focused on working with Mitel to explore how they can help us to better provide completely seamless communications to our users.
With every launch supporter, we look at how they can enhance the Howdoo community, how they can add value and how we can work together to deliver a platform and experience that will transform and revolutionise social media.
And in Mitel, we have another launch supporter that shares our goal of bringing people and businesses closer together. Howdoo is a platform that respects your privacy and which has a core belief that it is your data, your content and your choice.
With platforms such as Facebook making the news for all of the wrong reasons (and seeing $22 Billion wiped off its value amid lawsuits for alleged manipulation and deception), Howdoo is well placed to welcome users, content creators and advertisers to its next generation platform and Mitel will not be the last major brand that we announce as a Launch Supporter.
People and businesses across the world are demanding change and they are no longer prepared to see their creativity censored, their information sold to the highest bidder(s) and their social media experience dictated and shaped by algorithms and unauthorised data sharing that is used to manipulate.
They deserve a platform that they can trust. One that gives them control and which provides a simple, seamless and intuitive user experience.
That platform is Howdoo
Sign up now to register your username and join the Howdoo Telegram Group to meet the team, discover the latest news, interact with our amazing and loyal followers and to get the chance to participate in our Beta launch.