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Peloton Forces Subscription Plan on Customers, Faces Backlash
It's shaping up to be a tough few months for the fitness company Peloton Interactive, which sells internet-connected exercise bikes and treadmills. The company had to recall over 125,000 treadmills and halt sales of the equipment after the machines were linked to the death of a child and dozens of injuries in May, and now, it's facing immense backlash on social media after and could face legal action from angry customers after the free "Just Run" setting on its $4,000 Tread+ treadmill vanished after an update and the company announced that all users needed to pay a $39 monthly subscription fee to keep using the machine.
Previously, customers were able to use the "Just Run" and "Just Ride" modes on Peloton's treadmills and fitness bikes without paying a dime for subscriptions or special classes. But that is no longer the case, Gizmodo reports.
Peloton's Tread Lock software update, which introduced a 4-digit passcode to prevent unauthorized access, was cited as the cause for the move. This update is part of Peloton's voluntary recall for the Tread+, which was prompted by the aforementioned injury concerns.
Wow. The Peloton Tread will no longer allow you to use your $3000 treadmill without a $39.99 a month subscription.— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) June 21, 2021
The pretext is their design issues that led to a child’s death.
Hope reporters will cover this. pic.twitter.com/XHKS6DaOeD
The reaction that followed on Twitter has been harsh, with some people calling the act "extortion" under the disguise of enhancing consumer protection. But the company looks like it's trying to make things better. Peloton told The Verge that "due to current technical limitations, Tread Lock is not yet available without a Peloton Membership." However, the company also stated that it is "working on updates to Tread Lock that will allow us to make Tread Lock and Just Run available without a Peloton Membership."
It is unknown when this update will be available, but Tread Plus owners will receive three months of free membership, which will activate the Tread Lock function. Furthermore, owners may return their Tread or Tread Plus treadmill for a full refund if they choose to.
Still, this specific case raises questions and serves as a reminder that, while you might think you have "ownership" of a connected device because you paid for it, you do not own the software that runs on it.
This can be partly connected to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which states it’s illegal to “circumvent” digital locks, as reported by Gizmodo. Manufacturers such as Apple claiming that the customer doesn't own the software that makes their device work, with another example being General Motors telling the Copyright Office that right to repair activists "incorrectly conflate ownership of a vehicle with ownership of the underlying computer software in a vehicle," in 2015.
There've been some changes though, with the New York State Senate voting to pass the Digital Fair Repair Act, an electronics right-to-repair legislation, which made the senate the first legislative body in the U.S. to approve such a law. While it still has to pass the Assembly vote, it is a step toward changing the relationship between tech companies and customers.
Charm Industrial removes carbon from the atmosphere by leveraging photosynthesis that captures CO2 in plant biomass. Still, how dependable, scalable, and economical will the technique be?


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Kalyan Jewellers shimmers with robust double-digit growth in Q3
NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the ongoing economic slowdown, Kalyan Jewellers, the country’s largest jewellery brand, has seen a robust growth in the third quarter of the fiscal. Besides, the company is also on an aggressive expansion spree to take its total store count to 145 by end of March.
“There’s a rapid shift from the unorganised to the organised market, pushing up demand for gold among organised players like us,” TS Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director, Kalyan Jewellers, told this publication. As a result, the company has seen a healthy “double-digit” growth in the festive quarter despite a consumption slowdown, he added.
The Thrissur-based jewellery house has also opened two showrooms so far this year, in Chandigarh and Bengaluru. In the next week, it will be opening a new showroom in Kuwait in the Middle-East.
Expecting the domestic jewellery market to grow in tandem with the organised players, Kalyan has unveiled a new four-level assurance certification on gold jewellery.
“The growth of organised players in the last few years has paved the way for rapid adoption of BIS certification. Assurance programmes too have been gaining ground and this is a special initiative to enhance the brand’s commitment towards offering the very best to its loyalists,” Kalyanaraman said.
So far this year, the company has invested over Rs 300 crore. The company, which has a major presence in South India, plans to now penetrate deeper in non-south geographies with a major focus on tier 2 cities and beyond.
“The next phase of growth will come from smaller towns as aspiration for gold jewellery in these regions is more than that in tier 1 cities, where the organised industry is already doing well,” he said.
The company has also appointed regional celebrities in cities like Punjab, West Bengal and Haryana in a bid to become more hyper-local.

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Ultraviolette F77 superbike to have 307 km battery range, pre-booking from October 23
Ultraviolette electric superbike F77 will be officially launched on November 24, 2022.
Bengaluru-basedannounced that its highly-awaited F77 electric superbike will have a massive battery range of 307 km on a single charge.
On the occasion of National Battery Day, co-founders Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan spoke in a press meet about peaking their battery capacity after devoting almost five years to remodelling and retesting.
“For the past couple of months, we were having a monthly campaign called Beyond Asphalt where we targeted to push the bike to its limits and see its breaking point. The real-time data that we retrieved is what has gone into making the final iteration of the battery,” said Ultraviolette co-founder Niraj.
Amid the ongoing noise of EVs catching fire across the country, Co-founder and CEO Narayan revealed that the bike is being modelled to have a durability of seven to 10 years.
The team also revealed the final naked version of the F77 and its new aluminium-covered battery pack which will have a passive air cooling system over the usual liquid cooling systems used in EVs.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, the bikes were tested in different conditions—from city asphalt to rocky hills and torture tracks.
“We want stability and consistency for these bikes, which is why we are not going for mass production and will have about 10,000 of these bikes for the initial year of launch,” Narayan added.
The team is simultaneously working on creating an ‘experience zone’ in Indiranagar, Bengaluru for bike enthusiasts to look, feel and experience the bike, and what went into making them.
Ultraviolette will open the online pre-booking for the F77 on October 23, 2022 at Rs 10,000. However, customers will have to wait until November 24, 2022 for the official launch of the bikes. The specifications of the bike, market roadmap, and dealership plans will also be revealed on the launch day.
Founded in 2015, Ultraviolette’s superbikes will be competing with bigger fishes like Energica EGO+/RS, Harley Davidson LiveWire, and Lightning LS-218. However, the founders revealed that their main competition is the IC engine vehicle industry.
Edited by Kanishk Singh


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Netflix Won't Increase Its Content Budget, Unless It's For Originals
Image source: Netflix
Content for streaming video services like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is getting more and more expensive, as media companies like Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) look to fight back against the impact of subscription video on demand on live viewership. Media companies are asking for more money for less content, and Netflix has been happy to pay up so far.
This year, Netflix will spend $5 billion on content. Next year, that number will rise to $6 billion. Those numbers are more than double its closest rivals, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Hulu.
But UBS analysts think the days where Netflix spends more and more to license content from other media companies are over. They expect all of that additional $1 billion next year to go toward producing original content for the streaming service. By 2019, they think more than half of its content budget will go toward originals.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos once said, "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."
HBO -- a Time Warner company -- launched its own stand-alone streaming service, HBO Now, last year. The service has since accumulated over 1 million subscribers. That's a far cry from Netflix's 83 million subscribers, but HBO also has millions of traditional TV subscribers around the world.
Although HBO doesn't report exact subscribers for its flagship network alone, combined HBO and Cinemax had 131 million total subscribers worldwide as of the end of last year. Estimates put HBO's total subscribers ahead of Netflix's still.
Nearly all of HBO's series are exclusive original productions. It only licenses a few film catalogs each year. As such, its content spending has been fairly limited. What's more, HBO's focus is mostly on developing award winning comedies, dramas, and documentaries, limiting its content spend even further. Last year, the company spent just over $2 billion on content for both HBO and Cinemax. Just $1 billion of that went toward original content and sports rights.
As mentioned, UBS expects Netflix to blow away that original content budget next year when it adds $1 billion on top of the $1 billion or so it's spending this year. If the goal is to become HBO, Netflix has already done it. Now, it's looking to become the HBO of every video entertainment category in the world (e.g. kids programming, French docuseries, Bollywood films).
Being everything to everyone
Netflix has a tough task in that its original business model looks to serve the tastes of everyone, and it's extended that to streaming video. Subscribers have the expectation that they can find something they'll like on Netflix no matter what, and Netflix expects to be able to serve that need.
HBO, by comparison, has traditionally only had to produce enough content to fill a primetime television lineup catered toward adults. The rest is filled in with licensed films. That's starting to change with its new over-the-top service, but it's why the company has been able to spend so much less than Netflix.
But HBO's content budget is split roughly in half -- $1 billion on licensed content, $1 billion on original productions. That's a goal Netflix can still aspire to, and it should make its spending that much more efficient going forward. Originals cost more upfront for Netflix, but come out as some of the most efficient content in the long run. That's because Netflix is able to retain global rights for most of its newer originals indefinitely.
Netflix is already spending more efficiently on a cost-per-hour basis compared to Amazon and Hulu, which are also spending heavily on original productions. (Time Warner owns a 10% stake in Hulu.) Netflix gets three times the viewer hours per dollar spent on content compared to its closest competitors, according to UBS.
As a larger portion of Netflix's content budget shifts to originals, Netflix can expect its content cost efficiency to continue climbing. Its subscribers continually watch more every year and it still has a lot of markets where it's just getting started with subscriber acquisition. The cumulative number of hours of Netflix originals will continue to pile up, and at this pace it won't be long before Netflix catches up to HBO's back catalog in terms of hours of content.
With an infusion of revenue from its recent price increase, there's not much else Netflix should spend the money on besides original content.
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When Hennessey Performance Engineering first received their 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS, they did what every muscle car owner should would do – a burnout followed by a quarter-mile run.
Now, before Hennessey threw in their 562-hp HPE550 upgrade, the stock 2010 Camaro SS ran the quarter-mile test in 13.6 seconds at 107.9 mph. After throwing in their HPE550 upgrade, which will cost those interested $18,950 plus shipping ($24,950 installed), Hennessey has reported a quarter-mile run in an outstanding 11.67 seconds at 121 mph.
If you wish to purchase the HPE550 upgrade, you can call Hennessey Performance Engineering at 979-885-1300 or visit them at http://www.HennesseyPerformance.com.
Click through for the video.
– By: Omar Rana


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|Screen shot of Apple's home page on the night of Oct. 5th, after the death of Steve Jobs was announced.|
Steve Jobs, the masterful innovator of Apple, has died, it was announced Wednesday, Oct. 5th. When he stepped down as the company's CEO a few weeks ago you knew things weren't going well for Jobs, but it's sad that the end came this quickly. The brilliant and demanding technology leader who changed the way people around the world interacted with computers, listened to music, and even used the telephone finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.
Jobs was interested in computers in high school and took after-school classes at Hewlett-Packard, where he later got a job with Steve Wozniak (Apple's other co-founder). The details of Apple's beginnings, growth, and success have been well documented so I won't rehash them here.
But it's interesting to note that the path of Jobs and Apple took some unusual twists, from the launch of the Macintosh in 1984 to Jobs's departure/firing from Apple just a couple of years later, and his triumphant return in the mid-1990s, when Apple bought NeXT, the company Jobs founded after he left Apple. Also notable was Jobs's formation of Pixar from an animation company he bought from Lucasfilms, which gave a shot in the arm to the world of animated films.
With its co-founder back in the fold as CEO, Apple went on to innovate not only with further versions of the Macintosh computer but with the iPod, the iTunes music store, and most recently the iPhone.
Apple posted a brief message about Jobs on its website, along with an e-mail address where people could send their condolences or remembrances (firstname.lastname@example.org).
The impact of Steve Jobs can be seen in the outpouring of messages from millions of everyday people on Twitter and Facebook, and the reactions and tributes from leaders in technology and government, who can attest to his impact much better than I can.
- Reactions from Pres. Obama, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown, and more
- Tribute from Disney president Bob Iger
- Statement from Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jobs's successor
- Thoughts from MySpace founder Tom Anderson
- The life of Steve Jobs in photos, from the L.A. Times
Even if you never used an Apple product, Steve Jobs probably had an impact on the way you work or use technology. Apple's innovations often forced competitors such as Microsoft to make their products and services more user friendly or intuitive.
One can only imagine what more Steve Jobs could have accomplished with another few decades of life.


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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Xia Yiping, chief executive officer of Jidu Auto, an electric vehicle (EV) joint venture by Baidu and Geely, attends an interview with Reuters in Beijing, China April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
BEIJING (Reuters) -Jidu Auto, a smart electric vehicle venture between China’s tech giant Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:) and Chinese automaker Geely, said it has hired Frank Wu, formerly at Cadillac, to lead its design studio.
Jidu’s chief executive Xia Yiping told Reuters in April that the new company, founded in January, aims to invest 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) into producing smart cars over the next five years.
Wu previously worked for General Motors Co (NYSE:)’s premium Cadillac brand in Warren, Michigan, and led design studio of Beijing brand of Chinese state-owned automaker BAIC in Beijing.
Baidu’s EV making plan comes as tech companies around the world are racing to develop smart cars after Tesla (NASDAQ:)’s success in commercializing EVs. The collaboration is based on Geely’s EV-focused platform, Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA). Baidu currently owns 55% of Jidu and Geely has a 45% stake.
Reuters earlier reported Jidu’s hiring, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shanghai and Beijing based Jidu also plans to roll out its car brand in the third quarter of 2021.
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McLaren has at last confirmed the all-important numbers for its new 673kW P1 hypercar: how many seconds it will take to transport you to 100 kilometers-per-hour.
Initially listed merely as "less than three seconds", the British supersports marque has now settled on a time of 2.8 seconds for the run to 100km/h, while punching on to 200km/h will take just 6.8 seconds.
So what about 300km/h? A lazy 16.5 seconds, McLaren says, or around 5.5 speedier better than the P1's predecessor, the F1.
The carmaker promises a quarter-mile (0-400m) time of just 9.8 seconds at 245km/h. Top speed is listed at an electronically-limited 350km/h.
What's more, McLaren says the P1 will come to a stop from 100km/h in 2.9 seconds - over 30.2 metres. It'll haul up from 200km/h in just 4.5 seconds - over a huge 116 metres - and from 300km/h in an incredible 6.2 seconds over 246 metres.
All that remains now is an official Nurbugring time, although McLaren is believed to be in the process of settling that score as we speak.
Outspoken McLaren boss Ron Dennis has previously claimed the P1 will set "a new benchmark" for supercars, anticipating a time below seven minutes.
- Interested in buying MCLAREN ? Visit our MCLAREN showroom for more information.


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General Mills, Sony Team
al Mills here and Sony Computer Entertainment America, Foster City, Calif., have launched a three-month cross-promotional campaign running now through May 31.
In the "Gimme Five" program, General Mills is offering consumers a $5 discount coupon on five popular PlayStation games: "Crash Bandicoot: Warped"; "Spyro the Dragon"; "Tomba!"; "Grand Turisimo"; and "Rugrats: Search for Reptar." The cereal brands include Lucky Charms, Frosted Cheerios, Cook


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After 103 years nestled between Thayer and State St. on North University, Moe Sports Shop closed its doors in early July.
The store was known as the birthplace of collegiate apparel, but it had been in flux since 2010, when its long-term owners sold it to Underground Printing. Last year, as part of a larger deal, Underground sold the store to its former competitor, the M Den. At the time, the M Den’s State St. store around the corner was under construction, so Moe was a way to maintain some of their sales.
M Den co-owner Scott Hirth says the decision to close the store was necessary. “Our State St. store is 25,000 square feet. Moe’s is less than three [thousand],” he says. “We left it up to the customer. If enough customers wanted to shop at Moe’s just because it was Moe’s, we gave it a shot.”
They didn’t, or at least not in sufficient numbers. Once the State St. M Den reopened, the need for a smaller secondary location was diminished.
“I think it’s important to understand that the Moe’s that we took over that year-and-a-half ago was not the Moe’s that everybody’s remembered through all the years,” says Hirth. “The business has just changed a great deal” since it was owned by the VanDeWege family. They returned all of the shop’s old memorabilia to the VanDeWeges, and Hirth says they are now weighing their options for what to do with the space.
They have a lot of other projects in the works: a new Victors Collection (their higher-end brand) attached to their Briarwood location; reopening their Main St. store when Reza Rahmani completes his new building on the site; and a new M Den in downtown Detroit.


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Jay Taylor, in the Feb. 13, 2015, edition of Gold, Energy & Tech Stocks, says buy Allied Nevada Gold Corp., recently $1.21. Mr. Taylor said buy four times from Feb. 17, 2009, to June 21, 2011, at prices ranging from $6.16 to $31.61. He said sell on Sept. 20, 2011, at $44.85. Assuming a $1,000 investment for each buy, selling at $44.85 yielded a profit of $11,288. He said buy again on April 17, 2013, at $10.75 and on Jan. 16, 2014, at $4.60. A $1,000 investment for each of the two buys is now worth $375. Mr. Taylor recently talked to a major Allied Nevada shareholder who is "very well connected" with its goings-on. The shareholder claimed bafflement at the company's poor share performance given its ownership of one of the largest and most economic gold mines in Nevada, Hycroft. Mr. Taylor reckons that the malaise stems from the myth that Allied Nevada took on over $500-million in debt and got nothing in return. The company is undoubtedly indebted, says Mr. Taylor, but it used the money on projects that either have provided or will provide a substantial increase in production. "There is no way the household-name majors working in Nevada are not licking their chops over Allied Nevada," Mr. Taylor concludes. He has been buying.
© 2020 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.


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The Global Tourism Initiative commits signatories to remove all unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging from their businesses by 2025
As the tourism sector begins to reopen after Covid-19 closures, it has pledged to continue action against plastic pollution.
The Global Tourism Initiative — led by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and in collaboration with charity the Ellen MacArthur Foundation — provides a plan of action for both public and private sectors to address the root causes of plastic pollution.
It illustrates how reducing the plastic footprint, increasing engagement of suppliers, and working with waste services providers can contribute to the responsible recovery of the tourism sector.
UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili said: “As the tourism sector restarts, we have a responsibility to build back better.
“Not managing the transition into the new reality we are facing, including the strong focus on health and hygiene measures, in a responsible manner may have a significant environmental impact, which is why this renewed commitment is vitally important.
“We are proud to announce the first signatories to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.”
How the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative is looking to tackle plastic pollution
Hotel and holiday businesses Accor, Club Med, and Iberostar Group are among more than 20 official signatories to the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.
Accor chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin said: “Every year, we use and display 200 single-use plastic items in our restaurants, in the meeting rooms, in the spa wellness facilities.
“Each of us, you and me, actually swallow and eat, every week, one credit card’s worth of plastic. We have to stop this.”
Iberostar Group’s CEO Sabina Fluxà Thienemann and COO Gloria Fluxà Thienemann added: “Responsible tourism must lead the way to help tourism companies to build back better.
“We say this not only as owners or managers of more than 120 hotels in 19 countries, a business responsible for the health and safety of almost eight million guests a year, and the livelihoods of 34,000 employees.
“We say this as part of an industry that’s responsible for our oceans, 80% of our properties sit alongside them.
“Iberstar’s entire operations will be single-use plastic-free by 2020, as far as local regulation allows.
“We’ll be waste-free by 2025, carbon neutral by 2030, and launching our roadmap for our transparent and time-bound goals to get there by the end of this year.”
Those signed up also include major industry players and supporting organisations that will act as multipliers.
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative requires tourism organisations to meet a set of commitments by 2025, such as removing plastic packaging and helping to boost recycling and composting rates for plastics.
It also commits companies to increase the amount of recycled content in all plastic packaging and items, and to share publicly and annually on the progress made towards these targets.
Sharing information is seen as an important part of how the initiative will support companies, destinations, associations, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Jeremy Sampson, CEO of charity and initiative signatory the Travel Foundation, said: “Through the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, we are creating a supportive network for businesses and governments to close the loop around plastic.
“The Travel Foundation has a long track record of successfully working with hotels and other businesses to reduce their plastic and other waste.
“This is currently our focus in Cyprus, Mauritius and Saint Lucia, where we are working at a policy and operational level.
“The pandemic has put increased pressure on businesses to offer single-use items. Yet within this new context, a smart and circular approach to resource use can, and must, be a priority.”
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative also wants to make positive contributions to improving the natural environment, saying that tourism companies, destinations, associations, and NGOs have an “important role to play as custodians” of these outdoor spaces.
Members are looking to do this by raising awareness of conservation among staff, as well as encouraging guests to avoid single-use plastic products.
They’re also aiming to influence their suppliers to produce more sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic products and work with governments to improve local waste infrastructure.
A Science-based approach needed to protect health without creating pollution, says UNEP director
When these products are not properly disposed of, they can end up polluting the natural environments around major tourist destinations.
UNEP’s economy division director Ligia added: “We need to take a science-based approach and support governments, businesses, and local communities to ensure we are taking the most effective measures to protect hygiene and health without creating pollution and causing harm to our natural environment.
“These recommendations addressing hygiene and disposable plastic can support tourism sector stakeholders in their efforts towards a responsible recovery.”


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Archive for July 28th, 2013
Just announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe – the next Star Wars Celebration (presumably Celebration VII – connection?) will return to California, and take place April 16th-19th, 2015 in Anaheim.
The previous two Celebrations were held in Orlando, Florida. Celebration IV was held in Los Angeles in 2007.


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Today Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High around 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Rosé Tonight Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Sauvignon Blanc A woman was seriously injured after crashing her vehicle into several cars on the Greg Sweet Ford dealership lot Friday evening.
Los Altos is finally getting its first winery tasting room. Los Gatos’ Byington Vineyard & Winery is pulling the wraps off its Silicon Valley satellite tasting room with a grand opening celebration from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. this weekend, June 17-18.
Cabernet Shiraz Byington winery owner and Los Altos resident Benny Madsen’s hopes this becomes more than a tasting bar. “We’re hoping people use the place as alternative to a coffee shop in the afternoon,” he says. “People can have casual meetings, discuss some business or have a casual drink.” The grand opening party will feature half-price tastings (five pours for $6 instead of $12), and the band Vintage Noise will perform on Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 p.m. Look for the tasting menu to offer the Los Gatos winery’s biggest hits, including the estate-grown pinot noir.
Rosé Mary Orlin is the wine and food writer for the Bay Area News Group and a James Beard Award and Emmy award-winning journalist, Certified Sommelier and WSET Advanced certified wine professional and frequent wine judge. Prior to joining the newspaper group in 2014, Mary contributed to local and national wine publications, and produced the wine TV show "In Wine Country" on NBC for nine seasons. Mary's journalism career began at CNN in Atlanta. She enjoys cooking and traveling throughout the world's great wine regions.
Decanter's John Stimpfig interviews Pio Boffa of esteemed Piedmont estate Pio Cesare, and tastes wines from the latest vintage to be released...
Shipping Wine To India They have even recently revived old family recipes for Barolo Chinato & Vermouth , due to increasing demand.
Cabernet Shiraz I recently attended a lunchtime tasting hosted by Boffa, where I had the opportunity to taste the latest 2013 releases of Barbaresco, Barolo, and the single vineyard Barolo Ornato.
Photo by: Greg Gorman Fred Schrader has built one of the elite names in Napa Cabernet.
Grover Vineyards India Wine Spectator . The blockbuster deal gives Constellation one of the elite names in Napa Cabernet, known for its Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard cuvée and several other notable bottlings.
Shipping Wine To India The deal includes the brand and long-term contracts with multiple distinguished vineyards. Schrader owns no vines of its own. Neither side would disclose a price, but Constellation will be required to eventually as a publicly traded company. Schrader Cellars produces between 2,500 and 4,000 cases of Cabernet from Beckstoffer To Kalon, Beckstoffer Georges III in Rutherford and Las Piedras Vineyard in St. Helena annually. The sale includes the 2015 and 2016 vintages, which are still in barrel, as well as part of the winery’s inventory.
Site developed by Viraj Patil ()


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The Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi dominates in several markets across the globe and the company also expands its portfolio on regular basis with the devices in different price segments. Today we got a new piece of information which confirms that the company has touched a new milestone and defeated a brand which is very popular and claims to have the best loyal fans. So without making any further delay let’s dive into the article to check out the latest milestone of the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi.
According to Canalys Research, the Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi is now the second largest Smartphone company in the world and the Chinese brand has defeated Apple to reach the second position.
It is also said that Xiaomi saw a massive 83 percentage of jump in the shipment and this is happening for the first time for the Chinese brand when it comes to smartphone shipments. The first position is still dominated by the South Korean electronics giant Samsung.
Now it is interesting to see how long Xiaomi can able to hold the second largest Smartphone company position and we are looking forward for its new movements and strategies in the electronics world.
We would like to know your thoughts on the new position of the Chinese company in the comments section below and stay tuned with us for more interesting information from the technological world at your fingertips.
Read interesting news, reviews as well as tips & tricks on TechnoBugg website, and stay updated with the latest happenings of the tech world on the go with Technobugg App. Also follow on Google News and join our Telegram channel for the latest updates.


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Fiat Suppliers Turn to VW to Survive Italy’s Crisis
For almost three decades, Salvatore Giordano had a stable business supplying plastic parts to Fiat SpA (F) from his small factory in northern Italy’s Asti wine region. The debt crisis and Fiat’s subsequent decision to retrench in its home country put that under threat.
As orders from Fiat tumbled, the former Alfa Romeo worker was forced to cut 18 of his 68 employees. Pushed by his son Gianluca, Salvatore sought new sources of revenue, including making furniture, to reduce his reliance on the Italian carmaker. His latest lifeline is Fiat’s archrival Volkswagen AG. (VOW)
“We understood that if we want to get through this grave crisis, we have to go abroad,” said Gianluca, who was a university classmate of Fiat Chairman John Elkann. “After a trip to VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg in July, we are now in talks to become a supplier.”
Italian parts makers are sacrificing traditional corporate loyalties to survive after 75 companies failed last year. With Fiat’s production down by a third since 2009 and its plan to invest 20 billion euros ($26 billion) in Italian factories canceled, expansion abroad is the only option for many of the country’s component manufacturers.
“German companies are interested in our products,” said Mauro Ferrari, head of the components division of Italian auto association Anfia. “Thanks to the exports, the sector managed to offset a slump in orders from Fiat in Italy last year. On the flip side, small companies, which don’t make high-value products, are going to die.”
While Italy’s sole carmaker can fall back on profits generated by Chrysler Group LLC, many suppliers are exposed to the full brunt of the slowdown in the country, where car sales are poised to drop to their lowest level in 30 years.
Small family-owned businesses like Giordano’s company Elmeg are most at risk from the slowdown as they have a limited product range, lack resources and depend on a few key contracts. Their troubles stems chiefly from Fiat.
The Turin-based manufacturer is cutting production in Italy to about 420,000 cars this year from 650,000 in 2009, according to Anfia. Fiat’s goal to increase output to 1.4 million vehicles by 2014 under its so-called Fabbrica Italia plan is almost certainly unachievable after the company cut spending in Europe by 500 million euros this year to save cash.
“Any supplier depending on Fiat’s European operations has to look elsewhere or risk going bust,” Flavio Gussoni, vice president of global sales at Magneti Marelli, a Fiat unit, said at a supplier event in Wolfsburg, VW’s home town.
At Fiat’s main Mirafiori plant in Turin, a giant facility that covers an area about half the size of New York’s Central Park, the nearby streets are devoid of the bustle seen in better times. About 5,500 employees at the factory work just a few days a month and will produce less than 50,000 Alfa Romeo Mito hatchbacks this year. The plant’s official capacity is about 250,000 vehicles.
About 8,000 jobs were cut in the Italian auto-parts industry in 2011 after revenues dropped 13 percent from 2008 to 41.8 billion euros last year, according to Anfia and the Turin Chamber of Commerce. Another 10,000 of the remaining 179,000 jobs will probably be cut before the end of next year, Anfia’s Ferrari said. About 75 percent of the companies in the Piedmont region, Italy’s industrial hub, have furloughed workers to cut costs as orders dry up.
“The car-parts sector is the epicenter of the crisis,” said Giorgio Airaudo, head of the auto workers’ unit of Fiom Cgil union, which is organizing a nationwide rally to highlight the crisis in the component sector.
Some workers are independently drawing attention to their plight. Last week, three laid-off employees of Viberti, a trailer maker, camped on the roof of the company’s factory in Nichelino.
To secure high-grade, low-cost parts, Volkswagen held a fair for Italian suppliers at the headquarters of its Italdesign unit near Turin in May. Giordano’s Elmeg, one of more than 30 manufacturers presenting their products, showed light-weight containers for fluids such as windshield cleaner.
VW’s move to attract Italian suppliers comes amid growing tensions with Fiat. In July, Stephan Gruehsem, Volkswagen’s communications chief, called on Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne to resign as president of the European automaker association ACEA over comments that the Italian executive made suggesting that VW was behind a price war.
Marchionne, whose efforts to push for industrywide capacity cuts have been thwarted by VW, dismissed the call and threatened to quit the organization in protest. VW Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch in turn said at the Paris Motor Show last month that carmakers in southern Europe will struggle to survive the crisis without government help.
The Fiat CEO also took issue with VW’s continued interest in buying the Italian carmaker’s Alfa Romeo unit, telling VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech to “drop it.” Marchionne and VW CEO Martin Winterkorn eased the tensions by shaking hands and smiling for journalists gathered outside an ACEA meeting in Paris late last month.
The dispute reflects the tough car market in Europe, which is forecast to shrink for the fifth consecutive year in 2012. Volkswagen’s financial muscle and profitable operations outside the region has helped it offer deals to win new customers from rivals. The German manufacturer’s market share through August rose to 25 percent from 23.2 percent a year ago. Fiat’s share slumped to 6.5 percent from 7.3 percent, according to ACEA data.
With Marchionne delaying new models like the Punto hatchback, Italian authorities are helping suppliers look for alternatives, including efforts to lure other carmakers to the country. In the Turin area, where 50 percent of the parts industry is based, the local chamber of commerce has a project called “From Concept to Car,” which helps companies get clients outside of Italy, especially in fast-growing countries such as Russia and China.
“Our focus is to help small companies grow abroad and become suppliers of other carmakers,” said Alessandro Barberis, a former Fiat CEO who heads the Turin Chamber of Commerce.
The Giordanos have followed this advice, teaming up with Japanese designer Takahide Sano in 2009 on a line of plastic chairs. The company’s light-weight fluid containers impressed VW’s procurement chief Francisco Garcia Sanz in Italy in May, prompting a visit to the Wolfsburg headquarters in July. Discussions of a potential supply deal are under way.
“As we saw orders halving in 2009, we understood that we couldn’t just sit there,” Salvatore Giordano said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at email@example.com


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Introducing 5G technology as a standard is the next step in the smartphone industry. However, it’s going to take a couple of years before this high-end technology becomes a standard because the only hardware manufacturer that can produce chips which support 5G connectivity is Qualcomm with its latest Snapdragon 855 Plus CPU. As we all know, Apple doesn’t like to outsource its hardware parts and the only ones that it buys are the OLED displays from Samsung because there is no other manufacturer. Well, Apple doesn’t want to rely on Qualcomm when it comes to 5G compatible chips and it has purchased Intel’s modem chip division for one billion dollars!
The reason why the Cupertino based tech giant has spent one billion dollars on Intel’s modem chip division is because it doesn’t want to make a deal with Qualcomm or any other chip manufacturers so that the next generation iPhones receive 5G support. With that said, no one should be surprised to find out that Ming-Chi Kuo who is a tech analyst is predicting that the three iPhones that Apple is planning to launch in 2020 will all support 5G.
2020 iPhones Will Support 5G Technology
The first thing that we want to mention about the new report from Ming-Chi Kuo is that he is one of the most reputable tech analysts in the world and that he has a great reputation when it comes to predicting Apple’s ever move. The analyst has always reported months ahead on upcoming Apple devices or iPhone changes and therefore, we believe that his new prediction are going to prove to be true. Now, let’s go ahead and check out what the analyst has to say about iPhones and 5G technology.
”We now believe that all three new 2H20 iPhone models will support 5G for the following reasons. (1) Apple has more resource for developing the 5G iPhone after the acquisition of Intel baseband business. (2) We expect that the prices of 5G Android smartphones will decline to $249-349 USD in 2H20. We believe that 5G Android smartphones, which will be sold at $249-349 USD, will only support Sub-6GHz. But the key is that consumers will think that 5G is the necessary function in 2H20. Therefore, iPhone models which will be sold at higher prices have to support 5G for winning more subsidies from mobile operators and consumers’ purchase intention. (3) Boosting 5G developments could benefit Apple’s AR ecosystem,” said Ming-Chi Kuo.
“Apple may have the intention to launch the 5G iPhone, which only supports Sub-6GHz, to gain market share by lowering the cost/price for markets which only support Sub-6GHz (e.g., Chinese market). However, 5G iPhone, which only supports Sub-6GHz and the version which supports mmWave & Sub-6GHz are regarded as different projects even though they share the same form factor design,” added the tech analyst.
Apple Will Launch By Verizon in the United States
There are many benefits that the 5G network brings and Verizon is currently the only network carrier from the United States that it providing the biggest coverage. The network carrier has already launched 5G services in 5 cities (Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Providence, St Paul) and it promised that more than 30 cities will feature 5G support before 2019 comes to an end. Therefore, Apple doesn’t have any other option than to work with Verizon if it wants to launch iPhones that support 5G.
The Benefits of 5G Technology
Now that we talked about Apple’s plans to equipped the 2020 iPhone lineup with support for 5G technology, the question that remains is what kind of benefits does this technology bring that Apple was more than willing to spend one billion dollars for it? Well, let’s go ahead and check them out.
#1 Increased Bandwidth
The first and most important benefit that 5G technology is going to bring to the next generation of iPhones is the fact that users will receive access to increased bandwidth. For the uninitiated, this is the amount of “space” that people can access when using up mobile data in order to download views, load websites or stream online videos.
#2 Faster Internet
Obviously, the 5G technology is going to provide users with faster internet speeds. This is thanks to the increased bandwidth. Therefore, iPhone users will be able to download files or load online videos at much speeds than usual. We should also note that smart devices such as Amazon Echo for example will run faster in general after receiving access to 5G technology. According to estimates, smartphones that are using 5G technology will hit a peak download rate of 20G/bits per second and an upload rate of 10G/bits. Now, this is impressive!
Let’s hope that the predictions made by Ming-Chi Kuo turn true because the advantages of having access to 5G technology are a game-changer for iPhone fans. Not just that, but all other smartphones that will support 5G technology will be so much faster. On the downside of things, there is still the problem that there aren’t enough cities in the world that can provide users with access to 5G networks. However, this problem is surely going to be fixed since there will be a demand for 5G technology since all flagship smartphones will support it. Nonetheless, let us know in the comments if you are going to purchase a 5G enabled iPhone once it comes out in 2020.


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KCN LUXTAG – A SELF-ONBOARDING ASSET-TAGGING PLATFORM CALLED PAPYRUS
LuxTag is an anti-counterfeit and anti-theft solution provider, incorporating track & trace systems to provide business intelligence to their clients, has announced the release of a self-onboarding asset-tagging platform called Papyrus. Tells CryptoNinjas. The article says: “Users will be able to independently create digital certificates and tag their assets or items with QR codes or NFC stickers linked to the blockchain. To get started, first users will need to create an account on Papyrus. Once registered, they will have a dedicated dashboard and tools where they can generate certificates for their items”. Follow the news of the crypto and blockchain world with us! The news release partner STEX.com.


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Rumor: The new Switch model with a larger OLED and 4K screen would arrive before Christmas
The counter continues its course. After many rumors, we get an important report from Bloomberg by Takashi Mochizuki which points out that Nintendo has teamed up with Samsung Display Co. to launch the machinery of a new revision of the console with an OLED touch panel larger and the power needed to reach 4K in desktop mode.
According to information shared by the company, the company would begin mass production of the screens of the new console this June, with a goal of just under one million units per month; all this for to begin to be assembled in July , with supposed plans to have the product in stores before the end of the year.
What do you think of this news? Do you think we will have news soon? Do not hesitate to leave it in the comments!


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U.S. manufacturer launches first new siding category in 20 years
Microposite siding’s microsphere technology gives the product the strength to resist temperature shifts, buckling, and warping, according to the manufacturer. Microposite offers an R-value rating 3.5 times greater than fiber cement, yet is 50 percent lighter.
In addition, the siding does not require any special installation tools and creates no harmful dust when cut.
Microposite’s closed-cell technology delivers 100 percent water resistance, eliminating concerns about decay or rotting. The boards are available in four widths, provide more prominent shadow lines, and feature no-repeat grain patterns to replicate the look of real wood. Microposite states that the siding has undergone independent testing for areas such as wind load, moisture, and fire; the manufacturer is currently working through the process for International Code Council (ICC) testing.
“We’ve already received overwhelmingly positive response and interest in this new category of siding, reinforcing our belief that when applied intelligently, technology can be a beautiful thing,” states Microposite president and C.E.O. Marc Carlson. The siding has already been specified into a multithousand housing-development project in the United States.
Microposite’s siding products will be competitively priced and distributed exclusively by building-product supplier BlueLinx Holdings. The product will be available beginning in the second half of 2008 in select markets, starting in the Northeast region. Microposite, Auburn Hills, Mich. www.microposite.com
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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. is recalling 185,610 pounds of its ready-to-eat bacon topping after a customer reported finding metal in the product, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Friday.
The Iowa-based company believes other bacon-topping products could also be contaminated with metal pieces, and as a result has widened the recall to include the additional items.
There have been no reported injuries or adverse reactions from consuming the potentially contaminated bacon products, according to the FSIS.
The following products being recalled were produced between Feb. 21 to Feb. 23 and March 3 and March 5:
- 5-lb. packages containing “Golden Crisp PATRICK CUDAHY PRECOOKED BACON TOPPING” SKU 43200 12002 with lot codes 2054, 2062 and 2063.
- 5-lb. packages containing “Smithfield PRECOOKED BACON TOPPING” SKU 43200 12003 with lot codes 2063 and 2064.
- 5-lb. packages containing “Golden Crisp PATRICK CUDAHY FULLY COOKED BACON TOPPING APPLEWOOD SMOKED” SKU 43200 12296 with lot codes 2053 and 2062.
- 5-lb. packages containing “Smithfield FULLY COOKED BACON TOPPING” SKU 43200 12663 with lot code 2064.
- 5-lb. packages containing “MEMBER’S MARK FULLY COOKED BACON CRUMBLES” SKU 78742240923 with “BEST IF USED BY” date of “2022-11-18.”
The recalled products, marked with the number “EST. 27384,″ were shipped nationwide and the bacon could have been used to produce other products, according to the FSIS.
Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. Additionally, distributors and retailers are urged not to sell these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.


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Copyright © 2021 Telekom Malaysia Berhad (128740-P) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Explore our profile to find out more about who we are and what we stand for.
9 June 2016
As the Rio 2016 Olympic Games fever grows among sports fans, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) joins in the hype with the Company embarking on an exciting campaign which features on-ground activities as well as online contests for all Malaysians to participate in.
The campaign aims to not only spread the love for sports and support for our Malaysian contingent; but also further demonstrates TM's commitment to provide the best experience for all sports fans in Malaysia. Among the on-ground and online activities that will be held is the flagship Life Made Easier Road Tour, where TM will exhibit its latest consumer offerings in a fun and casual atmosphere; while at the same time promoting its TM Team Malaysia initiative through sports-related activities during the tour.
In addition, TM Team Malaysia will once again gather and mobilise Malaysian fans - in support of our national athletes who will be participating at the Rio 2016 in August - by organising its trademark running event, the "TM Team Malaysia Fan Run" on 17 July 2016 in Putrajaya. Leading towards the event, TM is also organising the Team Malaysia Campus Road Tour 2016 which is currently ongoing until the end of June to garner the support from students of tertiary institutions nationwide, calling them to be part of the TM Team Malaysia chanters and cheer for the Malaysian Olympic-bound athletes.
That's not all; TM via its award-winning IPTV service, HyppTV, will broadcast the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on HyppSports HD channels (HyppTV Channels 720 - 726) - as the Official IPTV Broadcaster for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Malaysia. The broadcast of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games marks HyppTV's first ever offering of the global sporting event.
Commenting on this, Jeremy Kung, Executive Vice President, TM New Media, said: "We are very excited to be able to bring a world class sporting event to our HyppTV viewers for the first time. Being a matter of national interest and in line with TM's Team Malaysia initiative, HyppTV shows support to our national athletes by providing viewers non-stop free "live" coverage and exclusive Rio 2016 content, where they will be able to catch the moments when our Malaysian flags are raised at the games first hand."
"As the Official IPTV Broadcaster for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Malaysia, our customers will get to watch all 42 Rio 2016 games across 8 dedicated Live TV and Interactive Channels on HyppSports HD (HyppTV Channels 720 - 726) from 25 July until 2 September 2016. On top of that, they will also be able to watch the live sporting action when they are away from home on our HyppTV Everywhere mobile application, anytime and anywhere during the Olympics month. This is HyppTV's aspiration of being a true digital champion for our customers, offering the best content variety whether on demand or linear while having the best TV viewing experience," he added.
Sharing the excitement, Izlyn Ramli, Vice President, Group Brand and Communication, TM, said: "As the nation's Convergence Champion, we are excited to bring the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to Malaysians, not only through our services and digital platforms, but also through our unique TM Team Malaysia initiative that unites the sports fans and Malaysians across all walks of life to support our national athletes. Recently, at the Anugerah Sukan Negara, TM Team Malaysia was declared as the Official Supporters of Malaysian Athletes by the Minister of Youth and Sports - an honour our 850,000 followers to date proudly carries. Even if we may not be physically there in Rio to cheer for the athletes, we are always behind the athletes, to help ignite their spirit and give them that extra boost to perform their best when bearing our national flag at the Games."
"When it comes to the Olympic Games, no doubt sports content is key but digital and social media is increasingly becoming more important in engaging with fans. This is why we have created Malaysia's only Digital Platform for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. As our audience shifts online for Olympics content, we will be ready to provide them with the most rewarding experience beyond sports. Through the platform, our audience can experience the culture around the Olympic Games, get live updates direct from Rio and see the games from our athletes' perspectives. We'll be delivering this and so much more via a dedicated website – www.tm.com.my/Rio2016 -- together with Team Malaysia on social media (Twitter @TeamMsia and official Facebook page www.facebook.com/TeamMalaysia)," Izlyn continued.
Leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, this May, HyppTV will broadcast various Olympic-focused TV programmes on HyppSports HD, which include:
Not only that, TM customers as well as the public can win exclusive merchandise by participating in an online contest via the @TeamMsia twitter account and Team Malaysia Facebook page and showcase their support to the Malaysian athletes competing in Rio 2016 through an official hashtag – #KamiTeamMalaysia.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games which will take place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil from 5 until 21 August 2016 will see 12 Malaysian athletes competing for the nation, such as Pandelela Rinong, Fatehah Mustapa, Azizulhasni Awang, Khairul Anuar Muhamad and Nauraj Singh Randhawa to name a few.
True to its promise of 'Life Made Easier', customers who are on the move can enjoy all the dedicated Olympics channels as well as other HyppTV programmes and VOD content on their smart devices via the mobile app HyppTV Everywhere. The mobile app also allows in-app registration via mobile number, email address and Facebook for UniFi, Streamyx customers as well as the public to enjoy HyppTV service. The app is available for download on Google Play for Androids and App Store for Apple.
For exclusive live updates from Rio and to witness this historic sporting event, follow us at the official Team Malaysia twitter account, @TeamMsia and the official Facebook page www.facebook.com/TeamMalaysia. For more information of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on HyppTV, visit www.tm.com.my/olympics.


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Bloomingdale’s Opens New Store for Digitally Savvy Shoppers
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Bloomingdale's gave the media a sneak preview on Oct. 7 of its new, three-level, 125,000-square-foot store at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., a mall smack dab in the birthplace of high tech. When the curtain was pulled back, it revealed something akin to the land of Oz, at least compared to the store that preceded it. The glitzy new store contains a wide array of tech innovations to make shopping easier, and will be a petri dish of sorts to test the new gadgetry to see what early adopters like best.


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Netflix announced tonight that it increases the prices for all subscription levels by $ 1 to $ 2 one month. It has been about a year and a half since the streamer’s last price increase, which came in October 2020.
The increases – which will “roll out” to existing subscribers in the coming months, as part of the company’s ongoing efforts not to be fooled every time they do so – are broken down as follows: Premium subscribers, who currently pay $ 18 per month for 4K content and 4 monitors simultaneously, will be knocked up to $ 20 a month. Standard plan members (HD content, 2 screens) will be jumped up a fifty dollars, from $ 14 to $ 15.50. And Basic members, who do not receive HD content, will now pay $ 10 a month for the privilege.
The price increases come at an undeniably strange time for the service, which at the same time runs about as high as it has ever been, at the same time as they face tougher competition than it has ever seen. On the one hand, Netflix’s subscriber base is about as good as it could be at the moment, with the service currently supporting around 200+ million subscribers worldwide, and 74 million in the US and Canada—where these recent price increases are directed.
The problem is that Netflix’s subscriber base is also we will, as high as it may be at the moment; when you are already installed in the homes of pretty much every internet enabled home in a decent portion of the planet, it is difficult to single out the annoying “growth” that shareholders want. Therefore, in part, the price increases, which put Netflix on par (or a little over, for Premium) HBO Max, which has generally been the most expensive plan in the game at $ 15 a month. (In comparison, Disney + remains at $ 8 a month, Paramount + at $ 10 a month, Apple TV + at $ 5, and Hulu just set its own prices up to $ 13 a month last year.) (It’s for non-ad versions of the services , to be clear.)
And just the length of the parentheses above demonstrates the second problem Netflix is currently facing: There is one a lot of other companies out here right now trying to accommodate their lunch. ONEwhile its perennial lead in the power wars is obviously a blessing, the company must still spend as much money as possible on original content to keep subscribers happy. (Especially since studios that were once eager to license their shows to the streamer for a quick post-Life profits are now far more reluctant to give a rival the content it needs.)
The result of all this being: Expect the small monthly bill to be a little smaller in the coming months.
[via The Verge]


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We’ve written a few times about gift card marketplace and shop, Zeek, over the last year or so. For a while it offered generous bonuses for cashing out TopCashback and Quidco credit, as well has some potentially interesting ‘manufactured spend’ opportunities.
I couldn’t get any transactions to go through on my account yesterday, and bad news has now been officially confirmed by a Zeek spokesperson:
“Zeek Mobile Ltd (an Israeli business) is currently working through a process with its major creditor Viola, part of this process will be to secure a buyer for the business short term. Transactions on the Marketplace and shop have been temporarily paused while we resolve this issue over the coming days.
“We greatly appreciate the support of our consumers during the necessary changes we are making to the business ownership structure.”
Reading between the lines, I think there’s a substantial question mark over whether the suspension will be lifted in the next few days, if at all. Hopefully I’m wrong and Zeek can get back to business soon (if only so I can cash out my own, thankfully small, balance!).
Have you been impacted by the suspension?


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5 Revelations From UM Real Estate Conference With National Leaders
Executives with industry heavyweights such as Blackstone Group, Prudential Real Estate Investors and Federal Realty Investment Trust told attendees of the University of Miami’s Real Estate Impact Conference that 2016 won’t be as strong for real estate values as the previous two years, but we’re not headed into a recession.
Nearly 600 people learned about what’s ahead in the real estate market at the conference held by UM’s business and architecture schools on Feb. 11. Some of the news could be difficult to stomach for investors who are counting on rapid value appreciation. Fortunately, they see the real estate market as more stable than the volatile stock market, and Miami remains one of the most attractive cities for global investors.
Here are five insights from the UM conference:
Don’t Expect Explosive Growth In 2016
Low capitalization rates have driven up real estate prices in recent years, but that probably won’t last as Treasury yields rise, said Alfonso Munk, chief investment officer of Americas, Prudential Real Estate Investors.
“It’s about time where we’ve seen a year where our values will go down,” Munk said “There’s a probability that 12 months from now that prices will go down and it’s normal. If it goes down 10 percent, then it’s not bad compared to the equities. We will be fine as long as we aren’t over leveraged. Those crazy cap rates will get back to normal because they are unsustainable. Many of the foreign investors that contributed to the run up in real estate values have been pulling back. That’s actually a good thing because many of them just wanted to park their capital in the U.S. regardless of the returns, he said.
“With cap rates so low you won’t see them grow lower,” said Jon Gray, global head of real estate for the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BXG), which manages close to $175 billion in real estate assets worldwide. “You could see a year of modest growth in value but the idea that you’re going to see a steep decline, with these market fundamentals, that’s just not the case.”
Expect 2016 to be a pretty good year, but slower than 2014 and 2015, said Don C. Wood, president and CEO of Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT), the retail REIT that bought CocoWalk and the Shops at Sunset Place in 2015. He said the company invested in those retail centers for the long term potential to revitalize them so they better serve their neighborhoods. In both deals, FRT brought in local partners Grass River Property and Comras Co.
“The overall bet we made in Miami is that over the next decade or two that this city is truly growing up and can expand its employment base,” Wood said. “We basically made a $200 million decision in a $12 billion company and committed at least another $200 million to see those projects to fruition, and it may be a little more than that. It’s based on the ability of this market to expand.”
Yet, when Wood sees groups buying properties at a 4 cap, he thinks that’s crazy. “If you are looking for long term growth, I don’t think you can count on cap rates bailing you out,” Wood said.
Gray said there’s a shortage of supply on the residential market, both for single-family homes and apartments, and that should keep rents and values growing. That’s especially true in land-locked cities like Miami, he said. However, Gray cautioned that activity in the high-end condo market could slow because they are discretionary purchases, so the global economic slowdown could deter purchasers. He’s also concerned that there’s too much hotel construction in Miami.
Howard Lorber, president of the Vector Group and chairman of Douglas Elliman, said there’s clearly been a slowdown in luxury condo purchases in Miami, but he feels it was for properties that were overpriced.
“When people are building just for the very high end there’s going to be a slowdown,” Lorber said. “Especially when many people are out of the market like Asians and Latin Americans and Russians.”
Lorber doesn’t anticipate a real estate crash like last time because condo developers are building mostly with buyer deposits, with little reliance on debt.
“When we think what could cause you to get really nervous about real estate we think about cranes – how much new supply there is – and the amount of capital. Is the debt market driving prices to unsustainable levels?” Gray said. “We don’t’ think either of those conditions exist. We are in a period of much more moderate growth than we were so you should set your expectations lower, but you don’t want to panic here.”
Don’t Overreact To Stock Market Turmoil
Gray said the problems in the global markets will hurt real estate, but investors should have a long term view. He said the equity market declines are another ripple from the previous recession. China couldn’t maintain its aggressive real estate boom and ran up a lot of debt, so it needed to slow down. That resulted in a loss of production in Latin American countries that provided construction materials to China, he said.
At the same time, the weakening of foreign currency against the dollar hurt U.S. manufacturing and tourism, Gray said.That was compounded by an over supply of oil that reduced prices, he added.
“This is a slow down in China and it will slow U.S. and European growth but we don’t see this as a recession,” Gray said. “So this might create some interesting opportunities…We don’t see things as darkly as the markets do.”
Gray said the markets are reacting excessively compared to the underlying economic conditions. He sees many REIT stock that are trading well below the value of their real estate assets.
Build For Millenials – If You Can Figure Them Out
The 87 million-strong millennial generation is the sleeping giant of the home market. They’re the largest population segment but their level of home ownership is much lower than their predecessors. Millenials tend to live in small apartments in urban areas and wait longer to get married, said Garrick Brown, VP of market research for the western region at Cushman & Wakefield. High student debt has made it difficult for them to buy homes. However, when you survey millenials, you find that most of them aspire to buy homes and plan to have children one day, he said.
“The question is whether millennial preferences will remain permanent,” Brown said. “I’m not convinced millennials will go childless. I see nothing but pent up baby demand.”
Having children means millenials will eventually seek larger homes, likely in the suburbs, Brown said.
The shopping habits of millennials, especially their preference for buying online, has impacted retail real estate in a major way. Brown said traditional retailers will continue shrinking their footprints as customers purchase goods online. The luxury sector should remain strong and discount retailers will grow, but he expects retraction for mid-priced retailers. Online retailers like Amazon will open some retail stores, but not enough to make up for the closure of traditional retailers, Brown said.
“Regional centers and local shopping centers are doing well. Everything in middle is going dark,” Munk said. “There’s a ton of supply that’s not functional.”
Wood said he tries to be as flexible as possible with FRT‘s retail space so it can welcome different types of tenants. There are many shopping centers out there that are obsolete, especially the giant big boxes, he said.
Katy Gnapp, head of commercial real estate banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said it’s reducing brick and mortar locations as customers, especially millennials, switch to mobile banking. Only 35 percent of transactions are done at the teller and that number keeps declining, she said. Seeing that millennials typically live in urban environments, Gnapp said BofA’s office lending strategy focuses on downtowns, which tend to do better in a recession.
Real Estate Must Adapt To Technology
Much like the taxi industry has been disrupted by Uber, certain aspects of real estate could get a run for their money from new technologies. No where is this more apparent now than in hotels. Munk said Prudential owns many hotels in Paris and it’s seen occupancy rates fall there because of competition from Airbnb. There are about 90,000 Airbnb rooms in Paris, more than its hotel rooms, he said.
“Hotels will be completely transformed,” Munk said. “We won’t sell hotels until we realize what’s going to happen.”
The driver-less car would have huge impact on real estate, probably on the same level as mobile phones, Brown said. If people could sleep, work or watch TV in their cars on the way to their jobs, they may not mind how long their commute takes, he said. That could make living in far-flung suburbs easier to take.
Online purchasing has also impacted how properties change hands. Jeff Frieden, CEO and founder, Ten-X (formerly Auction.com), said his online platform has sold deals as large as $96 million for a California office building. It once sold a Florida hotel to a man who bid on his iPad while on a cruise ship, he said.
“It allows for transparency for people to bid on a level playing field, whether you’re a large institutional investors or a wealthy family,” Frieden said.
Ten-X has been working with Google, one of its largest investors, to track data and predict home sales based on search activity, Frieden said. He hopes that providing more data will take the risk out of transactions.
Warehouses Are Where It’s At
Many experts said South Florida’s industrial market is a great investment. Brown said he’s bullish on rent growth in the industrial sector. Amazon was larger absorber of industrial space in 2015, he said. E-commerce companies will continue seeking out warehouses, especially those that can deliver goods to population centers quickly, Brown said.
“Warehouse is a great business in Miami because of the amount of commerce and the inability to find space,” Gray said.
Click here for a SFBJ slideshow of the UM Real Estate Conference 2016


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Since 2007, the world’s Central Banks have collectively put more than $10 trillion into the financial system since 2008. To put that number into perspective, it’s equal to roughly 15% of global GDP.
This kind of money printing is literally unheard of in modern history. And it has set the stage for a roaring wave of inflation to hit the financial system. Indeed, the first signs are already showing up… not in the “official” Government data (which is bogus) but in how those who run businesses around the globe are acting.
Most people believe that when inflation hits, prices have to go higher. This is true, but higher prices can be manifested in multiple ways. Firms usually do not simply raise prices in nominal terms as price elasticity can kill revenues because it would hurt sales.
Instead, companies resort to a number of strategies to maintain profit margins without hurting their sales. One of them is to simply leave part of a package EMPTY, thereby selling LESS product for the SAME price (a hidden price hike). [..]
Another tactic corporation use is to simply sell smaller packages for the SAME price (another means of selling less for MORE= a price hike). [..]
However, perhaps the most scandalous policy employed by companies looking to engage in stealth price hikes is to swap out higher quality ingredients for lower quality/ lower cost alternatives.


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PC sales took a nosedive in the first quarter of 2013, falling by 14 percent, and research firm IDC thinks it knows why. Microsoft's Windows 8 — which was introduced last year to make desktops and laptops more appealing by giving them some features popular on mobile devices — actually backfired, and depressed PC sales. "Some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8," says IDC spokesman Bob O'Donnell says. But others were turned off by some of Microsoft's "radical changes" to its ubiquitous operating system, such as "the removal of the familiar Start button." And the cost of upgrading to a touchscreen to take full advantage of Windows 8 didn't help, either. "It's brutal," O'Donnell says. "These are disastrous numbers. Huge."
"Microsoft made a big gamble in designing Windows 8 as an operating system" better suited for "tablets and touch than for traditional PCs," says Preston Gralla at Computerworld. The software has dueling interfaces that are only confusing people and making them reconsider whether they want to stick with PCs at all.
Microsoft hoped that familiarizing people with the touch interface would spur people to buy Windows 8 and Windows Rt tablets, but that hasn't happened. Now it appears that Windows 8 is helping to significantly depress sales of traditional PCs as well.
Microsoft should admit its mistake and redesign Windows 8 so that people want to buy PCs based on it. To keep Windows 8 the way it is will only hurt sales even more. [Computerworld]
Not so, says Ken Hess at ZDNet. "Windows 8 doesn't need saving any more than Windows 95 did." People are afraid of it because it's new, but they shouldn't be, he goes on. "Windows 8 is a good operating system that deserves a respected place in history alongside other innovative technology advances."
Let me put this in personal terms for you: Windows 8 is what you wanted. Seriously.
You wanted an operating system that would run on the hardware that you have now because you don't want to spend the money to upgrade. Done. You wanted an operating system that runs on a variety of hardware so that your user experience is the same on all devices. Done. You wanted an operating system that's easy to use. Done. You wanted an Apple-like experience with swipey icons and an app store. Done. You wanted an operating system that doesn't take a long time to boot up — hence all of the geeky tales of "going to get a cup of coffee while it boots." Done. [ZDNet]
Oh, "the PC market is dying" all right, says Clinton Stark at Stark Insider, and it's pointless to deny it. "The numbers tell a dire story." The decline reported by IDC so far this year was "the worst performance since... forever." Windows 8 isn't to blame, though. Tablets and smartphones are. And why shouldn't they be slaying the PC? They're cheaper, sexier, have longer battery life, and they are designed for the touch and app experience everyone loves, notes Stark:
Tablets have taken off like a (SpaceX) rocket ship. Led by Apple's groundbreaking iPad in 2010, then followed by all manner of Android competitors, the market for non-PC devices has possibly defied all expectation. The Tablet market is expected to grow almost 70 percent year-to-year in 2013 (Gartner). Meanwhile PC shipments will likely shrink about 7 percent. While PCs still sell more in absolute numbers over tablets (315 million vs. 197 million units), the trend is as obvious as a reality show script. [Stark Insider]


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International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday that the global economy “is less bad than we feared a couple of months ago”, as inflation has started to ease and China has reopened after almost three years of strict Covid-19 restrictions.
However, she warned on the final panel session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Friday about the potential inflationary impact of China’s economic reopening, as demand for oil and gas grows.
In addition, Ms Georgieva said that while labour markets have held up so far, even as companies grapple with higher input costs, the effect of major central banks hiking interest rates in the past year yet to be fully felt.
“If they bite more severely, then we can see unemployment going up – and it is a very different for a consumer to have a cost-of-living crisis in a job than a cost-of-living crisis and job,” she said. “So, we have to be thinking of unemployment possibly going up at a time when fiscal space in governments is very tight.”
Having downgraded its global growth expectations three times in the past year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to raise its forecasts in its next statement, scheduled to be published at the end of this month.
The fund’s first deputy managing director, Gita Gopinath, signalled as much earlier this week when she predicted earlier this week at the WEF that there would be an “improvement” in growth the second half of the year and into 2024. Positive data from Europe and the US in recent weeks have boosted hopes that the world’s economy will avoid a recession this year.
The IMF currently sees global growth slowing to 2.7 per cent this year from 3.2 per cent in 2022.
Ms Georgieva declined to comment on whether the IMF will raise its forecasts in its next global outlook report on January 31st, other than to say that any movement in its projection “is not going to be dramatic”.


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New company called Current will combine the conglomerate's lighting, solar, and energy storage services with its analytics platform in a bid to slash customers' energy costs
General Electric (GE) has this week launched a new energy efficiency venture, designed to help companies lower their energy bills and better manage their energy use. The new company, which is called...
IEMA's Martin Baxter finds that delivering a Green Brexit is about a lot more than simply finalising an effective Withdrawal Bill
E3G's Simon Skillings argues Theresa May's new energy efficiency goal may be welcome, but like the rest of the government's Clean Growth Strategy it is guilty of side-lining consumers
Developer reveals proposals for 45 site network that promises to accelerate electric vehicle roll out and ease pressure on the grid
Energiekontor confirms it has reached financial close on Withernwick II extension project, after securing PPA with leading consumer goods brand


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Taking the measure against Covid-19 to the next level, the Gurugram
administration has ordered a set of guidelines which calls for a virtual closure of every establishment in the district.
The order mentions the closure of following places with immediate effect- - night clubs, theatres, multiplexes and gyms.
- operation of all weekly markets, shopping mall(except pharmacies and medical establishments, grocery stores, supermarkets)
- any gathering such as social/ cultural/ political/ religious/ academic/sports/ seminars/ conferences and family gatherings ( marriages) are restricted to maximum of 50 persons.
- all restaurants having in-dining facilities are restricted to the capacity of less than 50 seats.
- public dealings at govt offices should be minimised while not impacting time-bound and essential services.
Earlier, a 29-year-old woman from
Gurugram was also found infected with coronavirus
and admitted in Delhi's RML Hospital. Apart from this, 14 Italian tourists are also admitted in Medanta hospital with symptoms of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the district administration has clarified that door-step blood collection service for coronavirus testing is not being offered as yet.
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And yes, that takes inflation into account.
This craving for pork chops is costing you about 7% more than 12 months ago. The average price of that slice of bacon to go with the Sunday morning spread has jumped nearly 28% in the past 12 months, according to data from the inflation-adjusted Consumer Price Index.
According to the expectations of some analysts, the rise in prices is not expected to abate anytime soon.
How we got here
The national pork supply chain was one of the fastest to break down when the Covid-19 virus began to spread in the United States.
Panicked consumers bought freezers and emptied meat counters. The restaurant chain was shut down overnight, breaking a major arm in the supply chain.
Pork production is expected to end the year down 2% from 2020 levels, he said.
In terms of demand, that’s another story.
âDemand has been exceptional in the United States, moving more retail volumes than ever before,â Speck said in an email to CNN Business. “The combined effect of a smaller supply and higher demand for protein overall has contributed to this inflation.”
With a shortage of meat in cold stores late last year, the industry relied more on fresh animals, which in turn helped drive up raw material prices, a t he said, adding that it is likely that these costs have peaked and that indications from the futures markets show that prices are expected to return to normal by June 2022.
âBut don’t expect a quick price concession over the next few months,â Speck said, âas retailers are generally slow to bring bacon prices down.â
Food, freight and labor costs have also increased significantly, said Trey Malone, assistant professor and agricultural economist at Michigan State University.
The four major pork processors now control 66% of the market, doubling the market share from 1976, according to the NEC.
“This consolidation gives these middlemen the power to squeeze consumers, farmers and ranchers at the same time,” they wrote.
Pork, beef and poultry saw some of the highest price increases among other food items since December 2020, climbing 12.1%, 14% and 6.6% respectively, they wrote.
In response, the stated plans of action of the Biden administration and the United States Department of Agriculture include the enforcement of antitrust laws; pricing surveys; providing $ 1.4 billion in pandemic assistance to small producers, farmers and workers; and the investment of $ 500 million to support new competitors.
Amid the high costs and continued volatility, some farmers, consumers, and business owners relying on pork simply have to sit down and eat it.
âI’ve been in the restaurant business since the early 1980s, and I’ve never seen anything like it,â said chef Miguel Escobedo, who runs the Al Pastor Papi food truck in San Francisco.
Escobedo’s mobile restaurant specializes in al pastor, a 24- to 48-hour marinated pork shoulder, hand-stacked in a cone shape and placed on an upright spit for roasting. The dish, developed in Mexico City, was inspired by Lebanese shawarma.
The 30 pounds of pork needed for the dish has doubled in price in recent months, he said.
âSometimes you’ve seen the market fluctuate. You planned budgets for the year and you knew some [prices] would be higher, “he said.” But nothing like that. “
Escobedo has chosen to be flexible by offering different dishes such as marinated shrimp al pastor, if the prices or supplies are out of reach.
âAt this point, you just have to adapt,â he said.
Dria White, 51, a resident of Emeryville, Calif., Reduced her grocery shopping from twice a month to once a month so she could save enough money. She buys less bacon than before and often searches for protein on Fridays for $ 5.
“It’s pretty good luck with everything you can find in [the grocery store] that you can buy in and out for a reasonable price, âWhite told CNN Business following a recent trip to a grocery store in the Greater Bay Area. âLet’s be honest, if I want to eat, I will. . Let’s keep it real. If I am going to eat, I will most certainly pay for what I want to eat. “


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This past Thursday, November 1st, Nintendo showed its first Wii U launch video produced for the United States. They released a New Super Mario Bros. U commercial and a SiNG Party commercial, both Wii U games, last week as well.
The official launch video has received very mixed reactions. Some Nintendo fans think it's okay, and that it will do okay with multiple viewings. Others think it's pretty bad at conveying what the Wii U is and what the Wii U is about, and aren't fans of the music chosen for it.
If you missed the new Wii U launch video an commercials last week for the U.S., brew yourself some coffee and hit the jump to see them below, as well as my updated version of the first official "Wii U Advertising Campaign Launch Video"!
First up, the "Wii U Advertising Campaign Launch Video" which was the first one Nintendo of America released last week:
Next up, the "Wii U SiNG PARTY Launch TV Commercial" that was published and made public last Friday by JK Dance Productions:
Last up, the "Wii U - New Super Mario Bros U Launch TV Commercial" that Nintendo published on their YouTube Channel last Friday, November 2nd:
I personally don't think the "Wii U Advertising Campaign Launch Video" does a good enough job of showing that the Wii U is a brand new console, and not simply a new controller that can be used with existing Wii consoles. Same with the New Super Mario Bros. U and SiNG Party commercials. Every main shot of the Wii U console in the videos is hidden behind the Wii U GamePad, which I think might lead to confusion for many being that the black Wii console and black Wii U console (same for the white versions) look very similar in appearance.
Also, it seems very "busy" to me, with nothing being explained as to what is happening and being shown. I don't think the background music is a good choice if the ad will be used to target all ages of potential Wii U buyers. (Bean 1 enjoys the video a good deal, and Mrs. Coffee didn't mind it, but she did know about the Wii U before watching it.) I do think the launch video would be better marketed at a younger audience, and not the "expanded audience" of older gamers that Nintendo picked up with the Wii and I think it will be interesting to see how/if Nintendo adapts the Wii U marketing strategy for different audiences.
Being that the "Wii U Advertising Campaign Launch Video" doesn't say "Commercial" in its YouTube title though, like the two for the Wii U games do, makes me wonder if the ad will actually run on TV, or if it is perhaps just designed for the internet to kick things off?
Even though I don't think the music is the best choice (and I lack the announcer voice), I decided to see if I could have some fun and re-edit the video using the same background music in the original, but make it a little bit more informative and help show viewers the Wii U is not just a new controller, the GamePad, but also an entire new system. You can see my updated, over caffeinated, version of the "Wii U Advertising Campaign Launch Video" below.
Are you impressed with Nintendo's Wii U launch video and commercials for the U.S. market so far? Do you think they need to provide more information in them, as I do? If so, what information would you like to see in a general Wii U console commercial?
Would you prefer an official Wii U video that addresses and shows a little better what the Wii U GamePad is being used for, and that the Wii U console is entirely new; perhaps like my updated, over caffeinated, Wii U video?
You can pre-order New Super Mario Bros. U and SiNG Party on Amazon.com and check out the outrageous prices of the Wii U consoles from third party sellers, below:


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Netflix launched in Cuba on Monday, less than two months after President Obama announced landmark changes to the historic U.S./Cuba trade embargo. The company’s reach is now approximately 57 million subs worldwide. Netflix began offering its streaming service to parts of Latin America in 2011 and since then has signed on 5 million customers. According to this release posted by Deadline.com, Netflix hopes to bring Cuban artists’ work to the service in the future.
Here’s the release. More to come: LOS GATOS, Calif., Feb. 9, 2015 – Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the leading Internet film and TV subscription service, will offer a broad range of great global entertainment to Cuban consumers as Internet access improves and credit and debit cards become more widely available.


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Read GameChanger  CEO Larry Popelka’s latest Bloomberg Businessweek article on Social Media, and find out why GM and some other big marketers dislike it.
GM Doesn’t Get Social Media
Three days before Facebook’s initial public offering, General Motors (GM) announced it was pulling its Facebook (FB) ads and criticized the social network for failing to deliver results. Then on Friday the carmaker declared it was killing its 2013 Super Bowl advertising, calling it “overpriced.”
GM is a big advertiser—the third-largest in the U.S.—with a lot of clout, and some view these announcements as an indictment of these two ad mediums. But really they’re much more telling of GM’s own lack of social media prowess.…(click here to read more)


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Tin’s rise to decade highs fueled by supply fears
LONDON (June 11): Tin prices hit their highest level in more than a decade on Friday, as expectations of severe shortages due to supply and shipping disruptions created by Covid-restrictions 19 fueled another speculative buying spree.
The benchmark tin on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.1% to US $ 31,545 per tonne at 1557 GMT.
Welding metal prices hit US $ 31,620 per tonne, the highest since May 2011.
“The story of deficits does not go away. There are bottlenecks in Asia that affect supply and demand continues to rise,” said a physical tin trader. “A lot of people are looking for material in the spot market and on the stock exchange.”
TIN: Global tin supplies last year stood at around 330,000 tonnes, a significant drop from around 360,000 tonnes in 2019. Supplies are under pressure again this year due to lockdowns.
MALAYSIA: New tin purchases this week on the LME were triggered by Malaysia Smelting Corporation, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of refined tin, declaring force majeure on deliveries to customers.
CHINA: China’s refined tin production of 14,036 tonnes in May was down 8.2% from April.
SHIPPING: Congestion at southern China’s container shipping ports is worsening, as authorities step up disinfection measures amid an outbreak of Covid-19 cases, causing the biggest backlog since at least 2019.
PREMIUMS: The cost of tin in the physical market is typically the LME price plus a premium, which in the United States is US $ 2,700 per tonne, compared to around US $ 600 per tonne at the end of last year. .
The premium in Europe was around US $ 1,200 per tonne, compared to around US $ 400 at the end of December.
STOCKS: Historically low tin inventories in LME registered warehouses reinforced the idea of scarcity and created a significant cash premium over the three month tin contract this year.
OTHER METALS: Industrial metals as a whole were boosted by the weaker US currency, making dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Copper rose 1% to US $ 9,992 per tonne, aluminum slipped 0.5% to US $ 2,462.5, zinc added 1.6% to US $ 3,044, lead increased Nickel gained 1.8% to US $ 2,215 and nickel lost 0.3% to US $ 18,235.


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The "transmedia" sci-fi game Defiance goes on sale today, with the first episodes of the show to air on 18 April.
Square Enix has trademarked the name Deus Ex: Human Defiance, so let the rumour mongering begin.
"Suits" and "Covert Affairs" from USA Network are also available, while NBC's "Hannibal" and Syfy's "Defiance" will be come at a later date.
General Motors announces a $163.2 million investment in its operations in Flint and Bay City, Mich., and in Defiance, Ohio.
After spending a month with Psystar's Open Computer, which runs Mac OS X in defiance of Apple's licensing policies, the question comes up: what makes a Mac a Mac?
The linguist behind the language of the wild horsemen in "Game of Thrones" previews his forthcoming Dothraki primer at San Diego Comic-Con -- and offers some language lessons.
With tech apparently heading toward inevitable wearability, might Cupertino be tempted to have a few smaller high-tech/high fashion brands under its wing?
Steam has kicked off its annual Summer Sale, offering sweet deals on some fantastic titles.
From defiant anteaters to Grumpy Cat and doge, the Internet's most famous memes can be 3D-printed and ordered for your real-world enjoyment.
Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro -- which featured on "Kitchen Nightmares" -- decides to fight critics by calling them "punks" -- and a lot, lot worse.


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On January 11, Taobao launched a support plan for industrial belts in response to problems such as factory inventory backlog and capital turnover in some areas. It helps small and medium-sized enterprises to clear inventory through Taobao live streaming subsidies, anchor training, and one-on-one guidance for small and medium-sized enterprises.
A few days ago, Taobao announced the list of the top 100 industrial belts in 2022. For the high-quality sources of good products in key industrial belts across the country, Taobao will label them as “high-quality industrial belts” to increase transactions and help transformation. It is mainly distributed in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shandong and other eastern coastal areas with good industrial foundation.
Taobao Live will join hands with Diantao to launch a special plan to recruit 1,000 factories in difficulties with urgent needs in major industrial belts across the country to help them open up sales, clear inventory, and alleviate urgent needs. At the same time, Taobao Live will also invest tens of billions of exclusive traffic, and provide traffic support for anchors and institutions in the industrial belt. A single account can get up to 3 million traffic per month.
For these factories, Taobao Xiaoer will arrange local service providers to provide enterprises with one-on-one transformation live guidance; enterprises can also enter the Taobao Live Heat Wave Alliance (commodity center), cooperate with experts to bring goods, and solve inventory problems.
Live streaming has become an important means for the industry to clear inventory. In the Zhili children’s clothing industry belt in Huzhou, Zhejiang, it was found that most of the stalls in the local wholesale market have been closed for holidays, and there are signs on the door saying “Holiday on January 9th, online opening, you can go to Taobao live broadcast to buy”, “Taobao from January 10th” See you in the live broadcast room” such a notice.
“This year we helped hundreds of children’s wear factories in Huzhou industry to clear their inventory, and we expect to sell 500,000 pieces of inventory.” Taobao anchor “Lizijia Children’s Wear” said that in the past, children’s wear factories in Huzhou cleared their inventory through offline channels. Downstream channels are blocked, and the factory is clearing inventory live, without time and space limitations, and can quickly solve the problem of fund withdrawal.
In the past year, ten industries such as Huzhou and Haining opened more than 60,000 new Taobao live broadcast accounts in less than a year. Local anchors such as Rongjie, Lizi, and Xiaozhu in Zhili have helped hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses settle in Taobao Live broadcast, online live broadcast to sell inventory.
In the Xiangyun Yarn Industrial Belt in Shunde, Guangdong, the factory owner personally broadcasted the live broadcast. From being on the verge of bankruptcy in 2021 and unable to pay wages, he successfully opened up new sales channels after switching to live broadcasting in 2022. The turnover more than doubled to more than 70 million. The factory owner hopes that through platforms such as Taobao Live, we can truly create a “broadcasting brand” and at the same time promote our intangible cultural heritage to every corner of the world.
Taobao launches industrial belt support plan


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Unlike some other titans of consumer tech -- namely, Apple and Amazon -- Facebook has a vast wealth of data about all of us but relatively few credit cards.
Facebook's $1 messages: One more way to get your credit card
Facebook, which began the year with a reputation for caring more about its users than about making a buck, is ending the year with the rollout of yet another way to try to squeeze more money from its members.
This latest money-making effort comes with a revamp of its popular Messages service -- that part of Facebook through which you can message/e-mail your "friends" and, in fact, those who aren't your friends. What's changing -- and a spokesman describes it to CNET as a "small experiment" -- is that Facebook will start charging some people for messages they want to send to people they're not friends with.
The $1 cost seems steep just to shoot someone a message, but no matter. Facebook will surely drop the price if no one uses it. But the bigger point: This latest "test" shows that Facebook, eager to prove to Wall Street that it's building a cash-generating empire, is looking for more ways to add revenue streams not tied to advertising and, importantly, is trying to get more user credit cards on file.
Unlike some other titans of consumer tech -- namely, Apple and Amazon -- Facebook has a vast wealth of data about all of us but relatively few credit cards. Most of the credit card numbers it has -- a number it won't disclose -- it's accumulated from people who play games and pay up for virtual items. But that's far from enough for Facebook's ambitions.
"In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want ... The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work." -- Mark Zuckerberg, FUC*ING LIAR!!
Zuckerburg is going to get his butt put into prison if he keeps on coming up with stupid ideas like this. I am going to let me friend Robert know about this. In fact I don't have ANY credit cards!
You think so WTRH? and who would put his butt in prison?
LOL. Best comments I've read in a while. %#$@ing %#$@book money grubbers.