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Deal may keep internet privacy measure off California ballot
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Backers of an internet privacy initiative say they will keep their measure off California’s November ballot if lawmakers pass comparable consumer data protection legislation next week.
Supporters of the initiative aimed at giving consumers more control over their personal data say they’ve collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. But a political consultant working on the campaign says the initiative’s chief backer has reached a deal to withdraw it if lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown enact similar legislation ahead of next Thursday’s deadline to pull measures from the ballot.
Details of the agreement were not immediately available. But the consultant and a spokeswoman for Sen. Bob Hertzberg confirmed legislation is in the works. Hertzberg’s spokeswoman Katie Hanzlik says she expects details to be made public Friday.


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Regulators and central bankers around the globe have lengthy had stablecoins of their websites as a possible menace to monetary safety, their management over economies and the usage of their nationwide fiat currencies for retail funds.
That consideration is returning to middle stage this week after the TerraUSD stablecoin misplaced its greenback peg, dropping as low 30 cents earlier than rising again to a hopeful 67 cents — a steep highway to a full comeback — and fluctuating wildly since then.
Worse, it’s an algorithmic stablecoin, which suggests it maintains its peg by way of an arbitrage mechanism arrange with a accomplice coin Terra, which works by LUNA on exchanges. Terra’s worth has collapsed as effectively, beginning the month at $80. As of Wednesday afternoon (May 11), its $2.25 — a 92% drop.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen referred to it throughout a Senate Banking Committee listening to, saying it confirmed why regulation is required.
It’ll actually put wind behind a really well-timed May 6 interview by Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania to push his Stablecoin TRUST Act, which might give stablecoins a authorized definition and require a federal license for issuers, amongst different issues.
TerraUSD’s troubles may even put an unfriendly concentrate on algorithmic stablecoins, which have displayed way more fragility than conventional fiat — and monetary instrument-backed stablecoins, the place the priority is extra concerning the high quality and safety of the backing property.
SEC Wins One
That isn’t the one information on the crypto enforcement entrance.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler known as for extra oversight and management, accusing many exchanges of buying and selling towards their clients, Bloomberg reported.
Seeking Wall Street-style firewalls between divisions, Gensler stated, per the report, “Crypto’s obtained a whole lot of these challenges — of platforms buying and selling forward of their clients. In reality, they’re buying and selling towards their clients actually because they’re market-marking towards their clients.”
The SEC’s newly beefed-up Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit’s enforcement workers might or might not have had something to do with prime crypto alternate Coinbase’s choice to register with the company.
The company compelled the corporate to halt the deliberate rollout of a lending product late final 12 months, saying it might violate securities legal guidelines if it didn’t do in any other case.
Read extra: Coinbase Kills Lend Product Amid SEC Ire
It won’t solely assist Coinbase purchase, promote and commerce crypto property that regulators finally resolve to think about securities — just about all of them, based on Gensler — however give it leeway to subject its personal monetary merchandise.
The firm additionally introduced up its woes with India’s crypto-unfriendly authorities in downbeat annual earnings name Tuesday (May 10).
Referring to press reviews saying India’s coverage quantities to a “shadow ban” CEO Brian Armstrong stated it’s going to stay within the nation regardless of being compelled out of the National Payments Corporation of India’s fashionable, central bank-regulated Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an enormous differentiator, simply two days after the April 7 launch.
EU’s MiCA Endgame
The stablecoin state of affairs may even deliver consideration to European Union Commissioner for Financial Services Mairead McGuinness’ latest name for extra and higher worldwide cooperation on making a globally appropriate crypto regulation framework.
Meanwhile the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation invoice is within the late levels of negotiations — principally about tweaks, reasonably than broad coverage strokes — and its newest focus is on the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that retailer and observe varied sorts of media like artwork and music, in addition to paperwork.
One provision requires a ban on exchanges from nations designated as noncompliant (learn “shady”) due to potential commerce legislation violations, based on CoinDesk.
See extra: EU May Change Crypto Regs to Include NFTs
The negotiators are reportedly requiring NFT issuers to centralize and register earlier than they launch collections — which might considerably increase the attain of MiCA oversight of a quickly rising discipline with out a lot actual debate.
Britain Gets Aggressive
In the United Kingdom, the federal government announced plans to step up crypto regulation and enforcement within the annual queen’s speech on the opening of Parliament (delivered by Prince Charles in her absence) detailing its legislative agenda for the approaching 12 months.
This contains “harnessing the alternatives of revolutionary applied sciences in monetary providers, together with supporting the secure adoption of cryptocurrencies and resilient outsourcing to expertise suppliers,” it stated.
On the enforcement entrance, it might create “powers to extra rapidly and simply seize and recuperate crypto property, that are the principal medium used for ransomware,” the draft launch speech said. “The creation of a civil forfeiture energy will mitigate the danger posed by those that can’t be criminally prosecuted however use their funds to additional criminality.”
Here and There
Argentina is cracking down on unregistered crypto mining firms and jacking up electrical energy prices on the remainder, CoinDesk reported.
Closer to house, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order May 4, telling the state to begin work on a complete regulatory framework for blockchain and cryptocurrency firms. The purpose, he stated, is “to make California the primary state to determine complete regulatory and enterprise setting for crypto property.”
New York, which has an in depth, and really powerful regulatory regime led by its tough-to-get BitLicense, may take exception to that “first” half.

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(WKBN) – Walmart announced Thursday that it’s raising wages for pharmacy technicians and paying for their certifications.
The plan is good for Sam’s Club, too. It’s the second time this year that wage increases were announced.
Effective this week, pay for Walmart and Sam’s Club pharmacy technicians will increase to an average hourly rate of more than $20. More frequent raises are also part of the plan that could add up to $4 to base pay over four years.
“We believe we are among the first large retailers to incorporate this kind of model – an approach that’s commonly seen in healthcare systems. This will help associates increase their pay more quickly as they build their careers and continue working at Walmart,” company officials wrote in a prepared release.
Walmart also helps eligible associates to become certified pharmacy technicians through programs that cover the costs of getting certification. Those workers earn on average $3 more per hour compared to non-certified associates.


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- On 18.1.2022 ended up being understood that Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard. The acquisition rate is regarding 68.7 billion US dollars.
- On November 16, 2021, a report of Wall surface Road Journal showed up, that thought the CEO of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, he understood of misuse cases in the company. The share cost of Activision Blizzard after that sank to a few percentage points.
- As currently known, in charge of Xbox has actually currently started on November 19, promptly after the record on Kotick, starting to start the purchase of Activision Blizzard. He certainly ran open doors. Till the official indication of the requisition offer, it just lasted 2 months, which was exceptionally rapid.
Microsoft intends to buy Activision Blizzard (WOW, Call of Duty, Diablo 3): When the deal experiences, it would certainly be the best purchase in the history of the video gaming. As now via a report to the US supply market supervision, the sec, comes to be clear: the purchase began only 3 days after a report of the Wall Road Journals had established the CEO Bobby Kotick under wonderful pressure. The record clearly makes how scary promptly the conversation concerning the massive combination in fact ran
- Activision Blizzard formally clarifies the timing of the acquisition
- Someone wished to acquire Blizzard independently
- Kotick obtains 410 million $ rather than outward throw
That’s the situation: .
Activision Blizzard formally clarifies the timing of the acquisition
Where are the new details now? The new info are highly working. The details comes from a letter to the shareholders of Activision Blizzard, which motivates you to tune the merger with Microsoft. There, on page 30, there is a section on “The Background of Fusion” (using sec.gov).
Below is the exact temporal order of the offer summed up:
The procedure also acts considerably sped up.
On November 19, Xbox boss Phil Spencer and also the Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, spoke with each various other concerning other subjects, as Spencer the chief executive officer asked if he had time for a discussion with the employer of Microsoft the next day. You desire to “discuss critical chances in between Activision Blizzard as well as Microsoft”.
At the end of November there was an arrangement of the share price: Activision Blizzard had the ability to high up Microsoft from $ 80 to $ 95. In principle, nonetheless, every little thing explained from the start of the negotiations that both sides had a terrific deal of passion that the bargain transpires.
After that, whatever diminished in the daytime, various discussions as well as meetings in any way occurred. Everything ran amazingly smooth.
Someone wished to acquire Blizzard independently
However, the board had uncertainties about the person’s capability to elect such a transaction. In enhancement, it hesitated that there might be disruptions, so the Executive Board determined not to take a conversation with the prospective purchaser.
What is still interesting? In the report, there is also a passage that on December 6, an individual expressed his wish to purchase the “Blizzard company system” partially or entirely.
Kotick obtains 410 million $ rather than outward throw
As the website Kotaku notes, Bobby Kotick will obtain about $ 410 million in case the deal experiences concerning $ 410 million when it repels its shares. Even a couple of weeks back, it appeared Bobby Kotick was required under the stress of the general public and his staff to a resort. After that the takeover deal pertained to the ideal time.
When CEO Kotick stood under considerable stress is additionally striking, the time that the deal came just. Kotick had discussed in a meeting, the sexism rumor had actually not been essential for the choice to market Activision Blizzard.
This makes the issue particularly: 2 months for a combination of this magnitude is extremely rapid.
In the discussion of Kotick the sale seemed substantially various:
Activision Blizzard discusses why they had to sell themselves to acquire EA as opposed to EA
Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard (WOW, Call of Duty, Diablo 3): When the bargain goes through, it would be the greatest acquisition in the history of the video gaming. As currently via a record to the US supply market supervision, the sec, comes to be clear: the acquisition started just 3 days after a report of the Wall surface Road Journals had set the CEO Bobby Kotick under fantastic pressure. The record clearly makes just how frightening swiftly the conversation about the big combination really ran
- As now known, the employer of Xbox has actually already begun on November 19, quickly after the record on Kotick, beginning to launch the purchase of Activision Blizzard. The information comes from a letter to the shareholders of Activision Blizzard, which motivates you to tune the merger with Microsoft.


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Will Zondervan Still Publish Kate Gosselin's Cookbook?
Posted on June 27, 2009
Kate Gosselin has a book scheduled for release in October called Love Is in the Mix: Making Meals into Memories. While the book is up for pre-order on Amazon.com it may not be published as scheduled now that the Gosselin's have filed for divorce. USA Today reports that Zondervan's CEO says they are going to work with Kate Gosselin to "reassess the schedule for her next book."
Zonedervan CEO Maureen Girkins said in a statement, "We are saddened by this news from the Gosselins and will continue to lift both Jon and Kate and their children up in prayer. We respect their need for time to focus on their family during this difficult time."
If this book doesn't work there are likely to be other opportunities for Kate Gosselin to tell her story, especially with the enormous amount of press she has gotten recently.
Update: The book was published on September 24, 2013 by HCI.


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An estimated 2 million Facebook, Gmail, LinkedIn and ADP passwords have been breached by hackers according to a cybersecurity firm called Trustwave. The hackers used a malicious software that was installed on an unknown number of computers around the world. The hacking began on October 21, 2013 and there is a possibility it may still be going on.
Trustwave mentions, “Facebook accounts are a nice catch for cyber criminals, but payroll services accounts could actually have direct financial repercussions.”
The Washington Post has more details about the hacking incident.


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Over recent years, there has been a surge of
affordable electric vehicleson the roads and in production. Automakers are promoting them as the more eco-friendly alternative to traditional gas-powered vehicles, claiming that they can help combat climate change.
However, as you might expect, the claim came with its share of critics. Concerns were raised surrounding the manufacturing process that went into making EV batteries and just how eco-friendly the power sources behind them are. As a result, a lot of misinformation and skepticism rose around the subject.
So, just how eco-friendly are electric vehicles actually?
In this article, we’ll see how eco-friendly
electric vehiclesare, the problems associated with them, and the steps taken to mitigate the negative aspects of EVs.
EV power vs. fossil fuel
The main selling point for electric cars is that they reduce the overall
emissionsof greenhouse gases to the environment by producing little to no pollution. This is mainly influenced by the process where potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy as the car operates.
In traditional gasoline-powered cars, this potential energy would be stored in a chemical form then released via a chemical reaction in the car's engine. Thanks to lithium-ion batteries, however, electric cars release their energy electrochemically, without any combustion.
Since no fuel is burned, there is no air pollution from CO2 as you'd drive. The EVs are also generally more efficient than their fossil counterparts.
Battery production for electric vehicles
Generally, emissions tend to happen in 3 stages; in the manufacturing, the energy production stage, and at the end of the battery's life cycle. However, for EV cars, a chunk of it happens in manufacturing.
Forbes, the number one thing that taints the image of electric cars is the notion that a lot of pollution occurs when manufacturing their batteries.
batteries used in electric vehiclesare composed of a variety of rare-earth metals whose extraction often results in carbon emissions. The elements cobalt and lithium have an especially heavy environmental impact. Another major concern is the issue of recycling, which is currently not being done on EV batteries.
But according to a
reportby the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), the pollution in manufacturing largely depends on where the batteries are produced and the composition of the batteries.
For instance, compared to European or American manufacturing techniques, Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturers produce as much as 60% more CO2. This is almost as much as the pollution created during the manufacturing of diesel-based engines.
The good thing is that this can be significantly mitigated by employing more efficient manufacturing techniques and the use of better infrastructure in the process. For instance, the Chinese manufacturers could reduce their emissions by a whopping 66% if they used the more efficient American-based or European techniques.
Lifespan difference between engine vehicles and electric vehicles
According to the ICCT, there is a notable difference in the emissions made by electric combustion vs. internal combustion vehicles through the vehicle's lifespan.
On the one hand, we have EVs, which have zero combustion and no tailpipe emissions. Most of their CO2 emissions occur during manufacturing, making them more eco-friendly than diesel or petrol-powered vehicles.
On the other hand, we have the traditional Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs), which primarily operate on burning fuels to produce energy. While they have been gradually reducing emissions over the years, their CO2 output is still significantly higher than electric vehicles, which produce almost zero running emissions.
As electric vehicles become more prevalent, the battery recycling process will become more readily done and efficient, thereby reducing the need for extracting new materials from the ground. By doing so, there will be less overall mining and manufacturing, which will translate to even lower carbon emissions.
While the overall process behind the manufacturing of electric vehicles results in some carbon emissions, with the employment of better techniques, electric vehicles pave the way for a greener, emission-less future. If you are an EV enthusiast, there are still a few
ways you can make sure electric cars are greener.


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Opera Software announced today that it has acquired demand-side mobile advertising platforms Mobile Theory Inc. and 4th Screen Advertising Ltd. Further details of the transactions were not disclosed.
Opera said the acquisitions “significantly expand” the services and opportunities it can offer to advertisers and publishers across all mobile platforms, both feature phones and smartphones, on platforms including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Java and Symbian.
The benefits flow the other direction too, since the deals improve Opera’s ability to monetize traffic through its Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers. Collectively, Opera has more than 160 million monthly active users that generate more than 100 billion page views and consume more than 16 Petabytes of mobile data services a month, as of December 2011.
Two years ago, Opera acquired supply-side mobile advertising platform AdMarvel. Lars Boilesen, Opera Software CEO, said in 2011 Opera helped generate over $200 million for its publishers.
Based in London, 4th Screen Advertising is a premium mobile advertising network focused on serving European markets. It offers brands and advertisers engagement and rich media-based mobile campaigns, and its clients include The Guardian, MTV, Global Radio, Shazam and IMDb.
Mobile advertising network Mobile Theory serves the U.S. mobile advertising market from its headquarters in San Francisco and its offices in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. Reaching more than 60 million mobile users on over 300 mobile sites and apps, Mobile Theory serves up 2 billion impressions per month.
“This is yet another important step in Opera’s quest to create even more economic value in the mobile ecosystem,” Boilesen said. “Today, we are announcing the acquisition of two great demand-side platforms for mobile advertising. With these assets, and our very popular mobile browsers, Opera is uniquely positioned to deliver end-to-end mobile advertising solutions to brands, agencies, publishers and mobile operators across the globe. We are delighted to welcome the Mobile Theory and 4th Screen team to the Opera family.”


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The newly launched OnePlus Nord made its way to iFixit, which recently uploaded a teardown video of the affordable 5G smartphone. The YouTube video had the handset be disassembled, revealing cut corners that have made it easier to repair.
At the moment, OnePlus Nord is one of the most affordable 5G smartphones in the market. But with the non-premium price tag comes a few areas that had to be downgraded. While most OnePlus smartphone models in the past couple of years sport a glass on metal rear cover, the Nord features a cheaper glass on plastic panel. However, this makes it easier to pry open, rather than requiring dangerous levels of heat application to loosen the adhesive.
Editor’s Pick: Apple iPhone 12 camera lens supplier faces quality issues, launch date unaffected: Ming-Chi Kuo
After removing the rear pane, iFixit found a good number of screws, which were all the same size, length, and kind. In other words, they required only a single Philips screwdriver to remove. Furthermore, the expert also noted that everything is modular and easy to replace, with even the battery pack having an easy to use pull tab. Interestingly, the teardown revealed a generous use of rubber gaskets around connectors for waterproofing. This means that OnePlus did offer some protection against water despite the device not having an official IP rating, which the company previously stated to be expensive.
iFixit gave the device an overall score of 6 out of 10, with the main drawback being the display which is still glued down hard and a rather bothersome method of removing the battery. Although, apart from these issues, the OnePlus Nord still received a positive review in the YouTube video, which you can check out above.
UP NEXT: HTC Wildfire E2 with Helio P22, 4,000mAh battery and 16MP triple cameras launched for RUB 9,990 (~$138)
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LG is set to show off an upgraded smart TV at CES 2015, powered by a new version of webOS that offers an "intuitive and convenient" user experience.
Later this year, LG will do something rare and exceedingly welcome in the Smart TV universe: roll out a free, worldwide update to existing TV owners, bringing the operating system faster response times and new features.
Details on pricing and availability are now official for Sony's 2015 televisions, and the company is focusing on 4K and charging a mint for many models. New for many sets is Android TV, while HDR arrives on the flagships.
Pricing and availability for Sony's 2015 lineup of 4K TVs has leaked, targeting a release date of May for all of the models and prices from $1,300 up to $8,000.
LG is the first major TV maker to officially announce pricing and availability for its 2015 lineup, rolling out a 65-inch 4K OLED for $9,000 and four series of 4K LED sets, starting at $1,400.
The Korean electronics giant reveals its vision for interconnected personal devices with its suite of products, such as WebOS TVs and even smartcars.
Perennial South Korean rivals Samsung and LG trade blows at CES over competing TV technology, and what will win over consumers in 2015.
Sony introduced 10 new 4K resolution TVs at CES 2015, including the thinnest LCD TV on the market, and announced it was ditching its homebrew Smart TV software for Google's Android TV.
LG is touting its ColorPrime branding on its 2015 lineup of 4K LCD TVs, which includes models with Quantum Dot and others with Wide Color LED technology.
CNET goes over the hits and misses that helped define our year in smartphones.


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European consumers have always had a strong interest in health and wellness. But when it comes to vitamins and minerals, are they getting the treatment they deserve?
During COVID-19, European’s use of dietary supplements more than doubled — from 31% to 69% — as people sought to boost their immune systems and keep the virus at bay. Peak demand was often driven by social posts rather than scientific fact, creating a boom for products like Vitamin D.
Since 2002, the EU has harmonised legislation around vitamins using the Food Supplements Directive 2002/46/EC . This protects consumers against potential health risks and ensures that they are not provided with misleading information. However, it primarily covers content, hygiene and contamination laws. It does not apply the types of stringent pharma-regulation required for medical products.
Monitoring current safety trends
During 2020 and 2021, there were 24 alerts involving vitamins and minerals. 42% of these were serious. The most common cause was an excessive vitamin level, typically for A, D3, B6, B12 and B9.
There is also industry concern around cross-ingredient interaction in complex formulas which can lead to issues with product stability. According to one industry player, merely 10% of finished products have been subject to end-product stability testing.
In addition, consumers are increasingly sourcing cheap supplements through online marketplaces. To keep costs down, it is less likely that these sources have given much attention to stability testing and quality assurance around shelf-life.
The issue of stability
Why is this important? A vitamin’s properties can change depending on its environment and how it is treated, especially when combined with other chemicals. Consequently, properties and potency levels can alter while on the shelf. Consumers can end up with less active ingredients than they pay for. In some circumstances, they could also end up taking too low a dosage, leading to a deficiency which could also impact their health.
With more ingredients to make them palatable, popular vitamin formats like ‘gummies’ are more likely to suffer from stability issues. This can tempt some manufacturers to put in a lot more of certain vitamins than labelled as they seek to ensure that the product provides at least 100% of the labelled amounts throughout its shelf life.
Should consumers be concerned?
Some reports link excessive nutrient intakes to health problems, including an elevated risk for some types of cancer, making this practice potentially hazardous. It also raises the question of whether vitamins and minerals should be treated as food supplements (as they are now) or as medicines, which would involve much more stringent testing and controls.
With health professionals in Europe increasingly recommending vitamin and mineral supplements to their patients to combat and prevent health challenges, it is likely that we will see further work on harmonising standards and clarifying grey areas.
As usage and production increases, manufacturers and retailers should continue to monitor their products to ensure dosage accuracy and stability and be prepared for recalls especially if their products include vitamins which can be harmful if taken in excess.
Find out more about this topic and other food related safety trends in our latest recall index here.


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KAIHARA Corp., a denim manufacturer based in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, known as a world-renowned denim production area, has launched the “Cruising JEANS” project to produce jeans with denim fabrics exposed to sea breezes during cruising — the first of its kind in the world.
Japan’s fashion industry is exposed to global competition. In an effort to outstrip its competitors, KAIHARA Corp., known for its “KAIHARA DENIM” brand, has developed a unique method of producing jeans that cannot be seen elsewhere in the world. Specifically, a sail is made with denim fabrics and exposed to sea breezes during cruising before being processed into jeans.
Denim fabrics, which are fully exposed to breezes in the Seto Inland Sea as a sail, take on a unique tinge and do not easily fade in color because substances, for example sodium and magnesium, contained in sea breezes combine with indigo in the materials.
In other words, KAIHARA Corp. has created its original products in this project by exposing denim fabrics, produced in Fukuyama that faces the Seto Inland Sea, to breezes in the inland sea.
After cruising over a total distance of more than 700 kilometers in a 40-day period, calling at 14 ports, KAIHARA Corp. processed the sail made of denim fabrics into more than 10 items, ranging from jeans, T-shirts and bags to shoes, and put them on sale.
KAIHARA Corp. allows members of the general public to not only view the manufacturing process of giving distressed effects to denim fabrics but also participate in the manufacturing of jeans by cruising on a boat equipped with a sail made of denim fabrics.
Completely blue scenes – the blue sky, the blue ocean and blue denim – are new landscapes unique to Fukuyama, a city facing the sea. Through the “Cruising JEANS” project, KAIHARA Corp. has offered a value of slow fashion in the age when fast fashion is blooming.


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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Digital auto platform Fair Technologies today announced that it is preparing to launch an end-to-end e-commerce marketplace that offers consumers industry-best levels of inventory and comprehensive financing, insurance and extended warranties.
The company’s transition also includes an official name change to Fair Technologies. From a brand perspective, it will continue to be known as Fair in most consumer-facing settings. The company expects to officially launch in select markets during Q1 2022.
To ensure Fair’s scalability and optimize the “buy and build” investment requirements associated with acquiring inventory and creating reconditioning and delivery channels, it will offer vehicles from a curated network of third-party dealer partners, giving customers access to a vast array of local cars at the best possible prices. This model differs from most players in digital auto, which typically offer limited owned inventory or are non-transactable lead-gen platforms.
With an emphasis on local inventory, Fair’s strategy enables even digitally native customers to tailor their experience with more traditional elements of car-buying that they may prefer, such as a test drive or in-person pickup.
“The new Fair is designed to cater to everyone – whether they’re completely comfortable having a car delivered to them sight unseen, or would still prefer to get eyes on a particular vehicle and maybe even have a conversation or two before committing to it,” said Fair CEO Brad Stewart. “Fair’s unique approach puts the customer at the center of a ‘best of both worlds’ experience that’s totally customizable, light on infrastructure costs, and that knits together all aspects of the automotive experience they might otherwise have to manage separately.”
To boost its non-tech capabilities in the auto space, Fair is also considering a strategic industry acquisition. This includes the possible purchase of a large dealership group, which would continue to operate independently to provide a ready supply of cars and serve as an unparalleled resource of operational and logistical expertise.
Fair is also negotiating partnerships with a number of financial institutions to serve as lenders on its platform, offering customers across the credit spectrum a variety of ways to finance their vehicle – whether they want a lease, a loan, or to pay in cash. Fair will also continue to serve as a hub for customers across all aspects of their drive, from purchasing insurance or an extended warranty to scheduling an oil change or service appointment.
“Customers require no-haggle prices upfront, transparent financing while shopping, and competitive trade-ins, insurance and add-ons that are embedded into their experience,” said Craig Nehamen, Fair’s Chief Strategy Officer. “It’s a tall order, but one we’ve already laid the groundwork to meet through our long-established investment in our tech platform and our deep relationships with the dealer partners who will be working with us to ensure that everything from contract to title to delivery or pickup is just a matter of clicks away.”


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Davis residents get a chance to go hog-wild on Saturday, March 1, as the Davis Farmers Market hosts Pig Day, one of its most popular annual celebrations.
The market opens at 8 a.m. in Central Park, Fourth and C streets, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., shoppers and visitors will find baby pigs to pet, people in pig costumes to dance with, and pig-out goods to enjoy.
Market manager Randii MacNear says Pig Day is her favorite market event.
“This year, our Pig Day celebration falls on the actual date of National Pig Day — March 1 — founded in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley, a teacher in Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, N.C.
“Now in its 23rd year at the market, Pig Day is part of the Davis culture. It celebrates the pig’s rightful place as one of man’s most intelligent and useful domesticated animals. It’s also the only event of its kind in California.”
Pork and pig-themed foods will rule the day. A pork stir-fry made from Bledsoe pork and market vegetables will be whipped up at Sutter Davis Hospital’s live cooking station, and recipe cards will be available.
In addition, market food vendors will offer a wide array of pig-themed eats: Monticello Seasonal Cuisine’s pork ribs and pulled-pork sandwiches; Fat Face’s breakfast sammies (with bacon or pulled pork); The Hotdogger’s pigs-in-a-blanket; piggie pops (Upper Crust Bakery’s sweet French bread on a stick in the shape of a pig’s head); pig cookies; and bacon-flavored frozen confections from Davis Creamery and Fat Face.
The Yolo Food Bank also hosts a free farmer’s breakfast of pancakes, bacon and juice. Donations for the breakfast will benefit the local community.
Come pet the baby piglets from Woodland farmer Jim Neilson’s farm. Kids also can make piggie crafts at booths sponsored by Davis Parent Nursery School, Davis Community Church Nursery School and University Covenant Nursery School.
Davis artist Heidi Bekebrede also offers kids a chance to paint their own clay piggie bank for a fee. Bekebrede fires the painted piggie banks and kids can pick up their finished work at the market shed a few weeks after Pig Day.
Greenich’s Acres offers pony rides and a petting zoo (both for a fee), and MacNear makes her annual appearance as Ms. Piggie.
The Peter Franklin Band will offer crowd-pleasing Americana music on the oak tree deck from 8 a.m. to noon, with The Spokes, UC Davis’ only all-female a cappella group, taking the deck from noon to 1 p.m.
At the market shed, Regal Beezers will perform songs from “The Three Piggy Operetta” at 9:30 a.m., and “The Dance for Babies and Tots” at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.
For more information, visit www.davisfarmersmarket.org or call 530-756-1695.


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News about the NFC market in France — trials, pilots, tests and live services.
January 27th, 2016
A 16-page study that presents findings from research into how companies approach payment data security is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre. The study also reveals why IT professionals believe the risk…
January 7th, 2016
PARTNER NEWS: NXP is to showcase NFC and the Internet of Things (IoT) in a world tour that includes stops in 86 cities. The Smarter World Tour “is a highly visible, 36 tons, 2 levels, fully mobile semi-truck trailer designed by Luigi Colani which turns into a large and spacious mobile tradeshow,” NXP says.
January 6th, 2016
Mobile network operator Orange has entered into negotiations to acquire a 65% stake in France’s Groupama Banque with a view to launching a 100% mobile bank. “The launch of Orange Bank is planned for early 2017 in France and on other European markets like Spain and Belgium,” Groupama Banque says. “Services cover daily banking, savings, loans and insurance.”
December 17th, 2015
A white paper aimed at giving transport operators, transport authorities and ticket distributors greater insight into deploying mobile ticketing technologies and services while both containing costs and improving the passenger experience is now available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre.
December 11th, 2015
The use of in-store mobile payments increased nearly four-fold across the US this year, from 5% in 2014 to 18% in 2015, research from Deloitte reveals, with approximately one in five consumers using their phone…
December 8th, 2015
A joint venture has been established in France with the aim of bringing an NFC mobile ticketing solution to the market in 2017. Public transport operator RATP, mobile network operator Orange, digital security giant Gemalto and railway company SNCF each hold a 25% stake in Wizway Solutions, which remains open to other operators and carriers.
November 27th, 2015
A case study that presents the objectives, key success factors and lessons learned by mobile network operator Orange France when implementing mobile retail solutions for merchants is now available to download from the NFC World+ Knowledge Centre. ‘Orange France: Delivering digital commerce in retail to enhance the customer journey’ has been produced by the GSMA and aims to provide retailers with support for putting in place their own mobile strategy.
November 24th, 2015
French bank BNP Paribas has begun testing an NFC connected screen in its 2 Opéra concept store in Paris, allowing customers to complete transactions by holding their NFC phone or contactless payment card up to…
November 16th, 2015
German supermarket chain Edeka has added mobile payments to its mobile app, letting customers in 800 stores across the country complete transactions by presenting a barcode at the point of sale. “The barcode creates the link between your mobile phone and the POS system when shopping and is part of the payment process,” Edeka says. The service also includes loyalty and coupon redemption.
November 16th, 2015
Cartes Secure Connexions 2015 in Paris will go ahead as planned this week, though security has been tightened in light of the terrorist attacks that took place in the city on Friday evening. “Increased security measures have been put in place and will be maintained throughout the event in order to ensure the highest security standards to our exhibitors and visitors,” the organiser says. The event runs from November 17-19.
November 13th, 2015
NFC World partners AMS, Clear2Pay/FIS OTS, Kona, Gemalto, Mahindra Comviva and NXP will be exhibiting at Cartes in Paris from November 17-19. Here’s what you can expect to see from these industry leaders, and where…
November 3rd, 2015
French banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa is to begin offering its customers a host card emulation (HCE) mobile payments service. “The solution, provided by Airtag, includes a tokenization server, a wallet management server, a mobile payment application based on HCE technology and a crypto solution to safely store payment credentials on mobile phones,” Airtag says. A national rollout of the service is expected next year.
October 23rd, 2015
Customers using Seamless’ Seqr mobile payment solution will soon be able to make host card emulation (HCE) based NFC payments at any contactless terminal through the service’s integration with white label wallet provider MeaWallet. “Until…
October 19th, 2015
Orange has launched its Orange Cash NFC mobile payments service across France after going live in selected French cities in February 2014. “More than 30,000 retailers like Ikea, Picard, Relay and many more are participating actively in the launch,” platform provider Wirecard says. The service was launched in Spain in May this year.
October 2nd, 2015
French bank BNP Paribas has begun trialling payment cards on which the three-figure security code is replaced with a small screen displaying a code which automatically changes periodically in order to make online payments more secure. The bank is using Oberthur Technologies’ OT Motion Code solution for the pilot, which involves 1,000 customers. French bank BPCE has also conducted a pilot test of the cards.
August 26th, 2015
PayPal has extended its One Touch mobile payments solution to 13 new markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. “Eligible merchants in these markets will automatically have One Touch enabled without needing to do any integration,” the company says. The platform was launched in August 2014 and is available in the US, UK and Canada.
August 6th, 2015
PARTNER NEWS: Visitors to France’s largest music festival Vieilles Charrues had the opportunity to pay for refreshments during the event using an NFC payment system developed by ticketing solutions provider Weezevent that incorporated NFC wristbands supplied by RapidNFC.
July 7th, 2015
French NFC device maker Famoco has secured €4m in a financing round led by Hi Inov. “Famoco will allocate a significant portion of its funding to R&D but also to international expansion, particularly in emerging countries and in the US market in the medium term,” the company says, after selling 10,000 terminals in 2014, with 60% of sales outside of France. Famoco unveiled its B2B Android NFC device in 2013.
July 7th, 2015
More than 400,000 viewers of France’s largest television shopping network will soon be able to buy products featured on the TV channel by holding up their smartphone to the screen to scan audio tags that will then…
July 6th, 2015
More than one billion contactless transactions worth in excess of €12.6bn have been made by Visa cardholders across Europe in the past 12 months, research from Visa Europe has found, with its customers spending €1.6bn…


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There are certain things I expect for my tax dollars: Schools, Police services, Military protection, Infrastructure, etc.
This is true whether you believe in big government or small. Note that these are not politically charged issues — should the EPA be eliminated, why not privatize NASA, etc.
I am referring to the very basic services government is formed to provide.
Which is why the simply incompetant job performed by FEMA is such a cause for concern: Somehow, we seemed to have lost interest in strategic planning — there is no intelligent design (pun intended) in anything the goverment does lately.
Even more pathetic than the failure at the Federal level is the post-disaster excuse making. Echoing similar 9/11 excuses, the "No one could have seen this coming crowd" is out pushing the same canard.
Let’s put that lie to rest right here, via the WSJ:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency could learn some things from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
On Wednesday, Aug. 24, when Katrina was reclassified to a storm from a tropical depression, Jason Jackson, the retailer’s director of business continuity, started camping out in Wal-Mart’s emergency command center. By Friday, when the hurricane touched down in Florida, he had been joined by 50 Wal-Mart managers and support personnel, ranging from trucking experts to loss-prevention specialists.
On Sunday, before the storm made landfall on the Gulf Coast, Mr. Jackson ordered Wal-Mart warehouses to deliver a variety of emergency supplies, from generators to dry ice to bottled water, to designated staging areas so that company stores would be able to reopen quickly if disaster struck.
Then, when the hurricane knocked out Wal-Mart’s computerized system for automatically updating store inventory levels in the area, he fielded phone calls from stores about what they needed. He also alerted a replenishment team to reorder essential products, such as mops and bleach. And by Tuesday, scores of Wal-Mart trucks, some escorted by police, were setting out to deliver 40 generators and tons of dry ice to company stores across the Gulf that had lost power.
Katrina is the biggest natural disaster Wal-Mart has ever had to confront. Initially, 126 of its stores, including 12 in the New Orleans metropolitan area, and two distribution centers were shuttered because they were in Katrina’s direct path. More than half ended up losing power, some were flooded and 89 have reported damage.
But by this past Friday, all but 15 of the idled stores had reopened. From Boutte, La., to Pass Christian, Miss., Wal-Mart frequently beat FEMA by days in getting trucks filled with emergency supplies to relief workers and citizens whose lives were upended by the storm.
Wal-Mart’s speed in responding to Katrina underscores the extent to which it and other big-box retailers like Home Depot Inc. have become key players in responding to natural disasters. Whereas FEMA has to scramble for resources, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart has it owns trucks, distribution centers and dozens of stores in most areas of the country. It also has a specific protocol for responding to disasters, and it can activate an emergency command center to coordinate an immediate response. In the short term at least, the hurricane has helped boost Wal-Mart’s tattered image, damaged by a major sex-discrimination suit and allegations that it provides workers stingy pay and benefits.
Its astonishing that some people keep pressing the same old misinformation into service . . .
At Wal-Mart, Emergency Plan Has Big Payoff
Ann Zimmerman and Valerie Bauerlein
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, September 12, 2005; Page B1


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With fall officially here, some people are shrugging on their favorite cozy clothes and really settling into their element—fall leaves, flannel, Pumpkin Spice everything, and of course, spooky movies and decorations.
2020 was a bust for a lot of people's Halloween celebrations, between social distancing and a lot of businesses being closed down. With having to stay at home and not being able to trick-or-treat, why would anyone want to bother with decorating?
But that's all in the past for some Halloween Type A's who have been going full-swing in the holiday decoration sections at stores like Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot.
A person can easily redecorate the whole inside and outside of their home with a cozy or spooky fall theme. Especially if they managed to snag the 12-foot grinning skeleton currently available again at Home Depot.
The product sold out almost immediately since its introduction.
But one gentleman in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, Alan Perkins, decided a 12-foot tall skeleton was not going to be enough this year.
Why tower over your family and potential guests when you could tower over your entire house and neighborhood instead?
You can see video footage here:
If we were to walk by the Perkins' household right now, we would see much more than a thoroughly decorated yard. Perkins' house appears to be abandoned and broken apart with boarded-up windows, cobwebs, and life-sized spiders.
There are small skeletons in various places on and around the house, seeming to emerge from it, not to mention one of the 12-foot grinning guys from Home Depot.
But leading the skeleton crew is a house-sized skeleton, seeming to break out of the home. One hand is reaching out into the yard, grabbing that 12-footer, and the other hand is grabbing onto the roof, trying to pry the framing away.
Perkins explained in a blog post he shared on Instructables Living that creating this one-of-a-kind creature wasn't an overnight decision, but rather a project that had been in the works for the better part of three years.
To create such a large attraction, Perkins had to spend time collecting all the supplies he needed. Getting enough PVC piping, furniture-grade PVC connectors, giant foam blocks, glue and paint was not going to happen in a one-day shopping trip.
Perkins managed to purchase large sums of supplies from Facebook Marketplace as well as a construction company liquidating all of their supplies.
He started the project with 48 x 96 x 8 feet sheets of foam.
He estimated that one finger would be about 8 inches thick, which would make the hand about 8 feet in size.
The rest is glorious history.
Perkins' work paid off and Twitter is spookily thankful for the new supersized neighbor in their neighborhood.
Some were incredibly impressed with the details.
Others admired Perkins' commitment to the project.
A few entertained ideas of what would come next.
Perkins told News 5 Cleveland:
"I like to create things that are whimsical and family friendly for Halloween, but somehow make somebody scratch their head and say, 'How did you pull it off?'"
"It allows me to sort of have a creative outlet and do something because I can."
Sinister or whimsical, the internet was not ready for the skeleton that would put the already-sold-out 12-foot skeleton in his place, let alone a skeleton that when standing fully erect would probably be able to look out over his whole neighborhood.
We'll just have to see what this leads to.
One neighborhood's Michael Myers stuck around for the rest of the holidays.
Maybe this skeleton will, too.


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WICHITA — The ever-popular Free State Brewing Co. in Lawrence is participating in the Midwest Beerfest Saturday and having a tasting at the Anchor that night, but that's not the exciting news for fans of the bar and its brew.
Starting Monday, four of Free State's beers will be available at liquor stores throughout the city.
Standard Beverage is distributing Free State's Wheat State Golden, Copperhead Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout and Ad Astra Ale.
"Those are the ones that have been kind of our flagship beers since we opened 20 years ago," owner Chuck Magerl says. "Those have been the perennial favorites."
He started selling bottles in Lawrence in May. Magerl thought he'd be in the rest of the state by June, but it didn't work out.
"The response in Lawrence was so great . . . we didn't even tiptoe our way to Topeka till August."
In September, he made it to Johnson County stores.
"So this month we're finally making it into the Wichita market," he says.
The demand has been so high, it's been a much slower process than Magerl expected.
"There are certainly worse problems in this economy," he says. "We're grateful for that."
Magerl says there's incredible growth in the craft beer industry nationally and in Kansas. He also notes that Wichita is a great dining town.
"We're excited about Wichita," he says. "It's a big step for us."


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Leading US analysts believe that major shareholders are pushing for a PepsiCo split that could happen sooner rather than later, and said the firm could spin-out or sell its Americas Beverages or American snacks businesses.
PepsiCo is facing another class action lawsuit in California – this time accusing it of making a nutrient content claim (0 grams trans fat) on Frito-Lay snacks, without adhering to the legal conditions of use for such claims.
PepsiCo’s snacks business Frito-Lay has again been accused of deceiving consumers in a second lawsuit by making all-natural claims on its products which also contain genetically modified corn and vegetable oils.
After banking on the cola as the main driver of its growth in India for two decades, PepsiCo is changing focus to push more healthy foods in the market, chief amongst which is Quaker oats, its breakfast cereal product.
PepsiCo has created a global snacks group to drive marketing and innovation for the entire group and has formed a council to draw on synergies between its beverage and snacks businesses in North, South and Central America.
Vancouver-based sustainable packaging develop Pakit has announced that it is working with PepsiCo to develop its technology, which turns cellulose fibre from a range of plant materials into moulded board.
Technology to extract water from potatoes for reuse in processing will go some way to helping PepsiCo UK and Ireland achieve its pledge of unplugging its largest sites from the water mains by 2018, said the snack maker in a new report.
Walkers Snack Foods has revised its chemical delivery policy following on from a 2006 incident which resulted in a delivery truck driver being killed from toxic gas and the food manufacturer and chemical distribution company Omnichem being fined a total...
Snack maker Frito Lay has reverted to the original non-biodegradable material for five of its six SunChips brand bags after consumer feedback indicated its new 100 per cent plant-based polylactic acid (PLA) packaging was too noisy.
Packaging waste derived from snack goods like potato chip packets may provide manufacturers with versatile new ways to cut their environmental impacts by using the materials in bags, pencil cases and even building products, says one US-based group.
Further signs that snack makers are delving deeper into green packaging initiatives with US behemoth PepsiCo attesting that by 2010 its SunChips brand will boast a 100 per cent compostable bag made from plant-based materials.
Industry continues to slice salt levels from formulations with Walkers crisps, part of PepsiCo, announcing they will cut salt levels across Walkers crisps, Baked and Sensations brands by 10 per cent in 2009.
PepsiCo and Strauss Group have completed their joint venture
partnership to operate fresh dips maker Sabra, a move that confirms
both companies' plans to extend their presence in the growing
healthy Mediterranean foods market.
Beverage and snack company PepsiCo last week posted a 10.3 per cent
increase in operating profit for the tax year ending 30 December
2007, but higher overall costs led to a slight decrease in
margins for the group.
Following a £15m (€22.2m) investment in research and development at
the company, UK crisp giant Walkers has launched a new 'healthier'
range to attract snack-loving consumers worried about their
Snack firm Frito Lay is to face a law suit for deceptively
marketing its 'Light' potato chip range in order to trick consumers
into believing the products do not contain the controversial fat
substitute olestra, said the...


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Humble Bundle has just announced that they are going to update all bundles prices. Previously, all prices were standard, following US dollars. Now they are introducing regional prices. According to a blog post, Humble Bundle says that it’ll make purchasing more consistent across their stores.
Humble Bundle will support EUR GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD, TRY, RUB, and PHP Currency. Furthermore, some bundles are currently listed in USD on the website, however, in the future, all prices will be regional. Additionally, Humble Bundle wrote on Twitter that conversion between regional prices will be based on exchange rates. This would result in the Bundle being cheap or expensive for some players. You can read about the rate conversion here.
People have criticized Humble Bundle on Twitter, saying that this would be unfair for those with specific currencies. A Twitter user said that “In the UK this costs a lot more than prior to regional pricing. For example, the $3.99 monthly fee is now £3.99. £11.50 is the new price for the $12 bundle tier, yet as of this post that exchanges to £9.30. All you’ve done is increase your profits and tried to sugar-coat how.”
Lastly, Humble Bundle will charge users based on their region. This will happen automatically, and you cannot change your region. Furthermore, people with classic accounts won’t face this update, thus their prices will remain $12 USD. Humble Bundle is also expanding to more currencies that will be supported.
Rockstar is giving away free items in GTA Online and Red Dead Online
Rockstar’s latest “most complex” Diamond Casino Heist set to hit Los Santos on December 12.
Bully 2 is not coming any time soon, it might have been canceled.
Steam has broken its previous playbase record by a high margin


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Codemasters has released three new screenshots of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, a first-person shooter adventure set in an alternate version of WWII and its aftermath, where the US lost and the Nazi Party came to rule the world.
But a few screen shots don't excite me (for any game). For a game that is supposed to be out by Q4 '07 there should be a trailer or some sort of game play vids. That being said, hopefully this will turn out to be a game worth owning because it sounds like an interesting concept.
A few screens that I had seen a while ago were really weak and last0gen looking but these look sweet. Hope they use the alternate history theme in a good game.
I want this game!
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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Americans eat almost half of all their meals out, and many say that is the problem. It's time we start re-occupying our own dining room tables, cooking in those newly remodeled granite-countertopped kitchens and learning from mom how to make her spaghetti sauce.
But really, what’s so great about cooking? Why is it touted as a solution to our nation’s troubles?
There are four clear reasons to brave the kitchen, battle the dirty dishes and deal with whiny kids who would rather eat pizza from Dominoes every night.
1. Cooking at home is better for the environment.
“Without question, it takes less energy and resources to cook at home,” says David Pimentel, Professor Emeritus at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. Pimentel explains it takes seven kilocalories of energy to produce food, but processing, packaging and transporting it takes another ten. In plain language, that means it takes more than double the amount of energy to process food than it does to grow it.
Considering then that processed food also is often frozen (= more energy) and cooked again (even more energy), with each purchase of a frozen pizza or frozen dinner, you are using close to twice as many resources to feed yourself than it takes your neighbor to cook at home.
2. It is less expensive to cook food yourself
Contrary to all the hype about how eating at Burger King is cheaper than a home cooked meal, this cliché has turned out not to be true. Now measured in several different ways, the only way fast food is actually “cheaper” is if you compare it solely on calories. Comparing serving size, weight, or nutritional content, home cooked meals come out ahead in price.
The fact that fast food is not cheap has also now driven home by other studies. One conducted by University of California - Davis found that those making $60,000 (not the poor) are most likely to visit fast food chains. The CDC reports it is the middle class with more obesity problems than those with less money. But studies also say that households making less than $150,000 a year are "financially strained." So why not stop eating out and save some money?
Of course your time is also valuable. One way to minimize the time you spend shopping is to try an online grocer or a shopping service (there is even one just for college students living in dorms). Or how about giving the shopping list to the neighbors kid and paying them $10 to do the shopping for you? And how about swapping meals with a friend?
It is "convenience" and not price that is the reason for people eating out. So try making your cooking easier, and save some money while you are at it.


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Meet your future face to face
Join us for Open House 2014 to find out what makes MRU a great choice. Here, you're more than just a face in the crowd!
MRU alumnus sets crowd funding record
Entrepreneur and business graduate Stephen Guppy's software company GNS3 earns massive support from the public.
Beakerhead turns tech cool Sept. 10-14
Celebrate Mount Royal’s creative geek streak with guitar-playing astronauts, robot drummers and everything you can dream of at Beakerhead.


text:
Attorney accuses Comey concerning prohibited leakages Jesse Trump's self law firm Marc Kasowitz pledge each director 'never, In develop or substance' directing sacked federal bureau of investigation movie consultant adam Comey to prevent understanding anyone, With govt of an ancient safe practices guide meters Flynn.
The file on wed are offered following FBI overseer must have been inhibited on chair for economic council thinking ability panel which is then checking it out Russia's meddling during 2016 spolitical ray ban outlet online shop election additionally scarves who have Trump's specific program sales teams. Kasowitz explained those Comey's listening to conventional which inturn Trump was not looked into to achieve colluding, Or attempting prevent states investigation procedure along with turned down Trump from demanded commitment. 'Contrary a number of pretended growing media company, Mister Comey has in due course tested publically exactly your ex frequently stated us website design manager Trump for your case,--He was quoted telling me. 'There has really become, So scams, Those who work in state which attempt to so sunglasses ray that you can weaken this kind of liquidation from discerning in addition, Unlawful leaking associated restricted knowledge thankful marketing marketing and sales marketing and advertising devices, Mister Kasowitz would definitely say. 'Mr Comey has confessed that he's one of those leakers.-- Trump requested Kasowitz later carry on for month while having resolving aspects caused by numerous probes about ruskies disturbance during spolitical election. You notice, Our own leader statements he with his fantastic admirers 'are for siege' sadly 'will appeared greater sized and more favorable and more solid prior to now, Trump speech on wednesday at the belief and so the liberty Coalition's annual consulting concurrently, As sacked federal bureau of investigation movie representative was being asked at the u. s us economic council chair thinking ability panel. Generally us web ray ban clubmaster kaskus design manager wouldn't assist personalized mention of Comey, Business supposed Trump attempted make him promise support and so slip a study according to upcoming collusion by using russian federation because of that push helps.
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|US: Sony Agrees to Halt Gifts for Airtime|
by Jennifer Bayot, The New York Times
July 25th, 2005
Sony BMG Music Entertainment, one of the world's largest record companies, agreed today to stop providing lavish gifts, free trips and other giveaways in exchange for airtime for its artists on radio stations, under the terms of a settlement with the New York attorney general's office.
|US: The New Blacklist
by Doug Ireland, LA Weekly
June 13th, 2005
The Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America -- and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don't like.
|US: When Media Dogs Don't Bark|
by Norman Solomon, AlterNet
April 18th, 2005
The recent decision by General Motors to pull its advertising from the Los Angeles Times has not gone over very well.
|US: Video Games Add Advertisements
by Matt Richtel, New York Times
April 11th, 2005
Until now, ads have appeared occasionally and haphazardly in video games. But a new advertising agency hopes to bring a more aggressive marketing approach to interactive media. The aim is to put up billboards and make product placements for mainstream advertisers in the cyberworlds of sports, shooting and strategy games.
|Book Review: Thrilling Chronicle of Cons, Fools and a Business World Gone Mad |
by Larry Williams, The Baltimore Sun
March 20th, 2005
A half-dozen books have been published about Enron's collapse, but Conspiracy of Fools, Kurt Eichenwald's richly detailed narrative, is likely to be a landmark record - not just of what went wrong at Enron, but of how American business went crazy during the 1990s, when it seemed that everyone had a shot at becoming a billionaire in the New Economy.
|US: Pepsi Puts a Lid on Kids' Ads|
by Andrew Ward and Jeremy Grant, The Australian
March 1st, 2005
PepsiCo, one of the world's largest soft-drink makers, has introduced voluntary restrictions on its advertising to children, in response to rising levels of obesity in the US and western Europe.
|US: Marketing Under the Radar|
by Deborah Branscum, CMO
December 22nd, 2004
Stealth. Guerilla. Undercover. Whatever itís called, covert marketing woos ad-weary consumers by pretending to be something itís not. But is it the real deal for marketers?
|US: Reuters Outsourcing Journalists|
by Jacques Steinberg, New York Times
February 9th, 2004
Outsourcing has become all the rage in recent years, and India has become a favorite destination for Western companies that want to send jobs to cheaper markets. Companies as different as Delta Air Lines and Dell Computer have hired workers or subcontractors to perform customer service, data entry or other computer-related jobs once done in the United States. Now, Reuters is going a step further. It told its editorial employees in an electronic posting late last week that it planned to hire six journalists in Bangalore, India, to do basic financial reporting on 3,000 small to medium-size American companies.
|MEXICO: Film Studio Sell-Off|
by Jo Tuckman, Guardian (London)
November 14th, 2003
Mexico's cultural elite is on the warpath, determined to stop a sell-off of state cultural institutions that will, they say, remove the last barriers to American cultural domination.
|UK: Brussels Concerned by BSkyB Monopoly|
by Daniel Dombey and Matthew Garrahan, Financial Times
October 1st, 2003
Mario Monti, Europe's competition Commissioner, on Wednesday turned his sights on British Sky Broadcasting, when he revealed plans to put forward a fresh set of objections to the satellite broadcaster's 1.02bn contract with English football's Premier League.
|US: Recording Industry Targets 12 Year Old for File Sharing|
by Frank Ahrens, Washington Post
September 10th, 2003
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music industry's trade group, is targeting what it calls "major offenders" of peer-to-peer digital song sharing, which it considers to be a violation of copyright law. Federal law allows penalties of up to $150,000 per copyrighted work, or, in other words, per song.


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The stage is set for this year’s edition of Miss Nigeria, which holds on Saturday, November 30 at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking on the forthcoming event, 26-year-old Miss Nigeria, Chidimma Aaron, said: “I am excited. The last one-year has been quite amazing! It has been a year of accomplishments. This year’s edition is themed: ‘Girls and Technology Grand Finale’.
Since inception in 1957, the Miss Nigeria brand continues to grow in history and social significance in empowering women beyond beauty. This is no typical pageant that diminishes the value of womanhood, but rather, one that puts the empowerment and inclusion of women and girls at the forefront of its mission.”


text:
Just a couple of months after the release of Gothic Playable Teaser, THQ Nordic have officially confirmed that Gothic Remake is set to enter full production. The game is announced for PC and next-gen consoles and will not launch in 2020.
THQ Nordic have officially announced Gothic Remake for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The game will enter full production just two months after the company initially released the playable teaser for the game that, to see if players would be interested to play Gothic in this enhanced version.
THQ Nordic confirmed that they will establish a new Barcelona studio, which will soon start the full production on a Gothic Remake title for "next-gen consoles".
As for the release date, the company did not announce anything specific but have made it clear that the game will not be coming in 2020, which was somewhat expected. THQ Nordic will soon asses all the feedback that has been received in the last two months. The studio revealed that over 180.000 players played Gothic Playable teaser and the majority of them were in favour of remaking the iconic RPG.
THQ Nordic say they will try to stay close to the original material as faithfully as possible with modern graphics and gameplay mechanics. "We are up for the challenge to develop a full Gothic remake which will stay as faithfully as possible to the original experience and transport the atmospheric world of Gothic into a high-quality look and carefully modernizing certain gameplay mechanics," THQ Nordic's Reinhard Pollice explained.
The original Gothic game released way back in 2001. It was praised for its visual fidelity and story but criticised for high system requirements. Check out how the two versions of the game compare in the video here .


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Shellfish firm Shetland Mussels aims to double production after a multimillion-pound finance package.
The Walls-based, family-owned business is a primary producer of rope-grown mussels.
It sells live product to markets throughout the UK both directly and through its membership of the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group co-operative.
The business is owned by Lollie Tait and his sons, Richard and Michael.
It grew out of a fish farming venture, North Atlantic Salmon, with the decision to switch to shellfish production prompted by a trend towards bigger operators muscling in on salmon.
Shetland Mussels now supplies more than 900tonnes of the bivalve mollusc annually to restaurants, wholesalers and retailers throughout the UK.
A funding package from Clydesdale Bank will be used to support expansion, with part of cash allocated for specialised new production equipment.
It is expected this will lead to an increase in harvesting of more than double to 2434tonnes of mussels by 2020.
Richard Tait, co-owner and director, Shetland Mussels, said: “The support and commitment that the bank has provided will enable Shetland Mussels Limited to fully action its development plan by 2020.”
Clydesdale Bank relationship manager Graeme Johnston said: “Richard and his team have shown great passion and determination to build this fantastic success story and our support reflects their commitment and entrepreneurial spirit.”
Shetland Mussels already provides 17 jobs in Shetland and expects to increase this to 20 by 2020.
Growing demand for its Marine Stewardship Council-accredited shellfish reflects an industry trend.
Last month, figures from Marine Scotland showed mussel growers across the country enjoyed a boom in production during 2016.
A record 7,732 tonnes were harvested last year, contributing to a shellfish farming industry estimated to be worth about £11.7million at first sale value.
Shetland produced more mussels than anywhere else in the country, accounting for 74% of the total.
Scotland’s National Marine Plan includes a target for “sustainable” mussel production of 13,000 tonnes annually by 2020.


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It's the biggest foray into the brick-and-mortar retail sector.
The deal sent shockwaves across the food distribution market, as Whole Foods' peers and supermarket chains grappled with the prospect of having to compete with Amazon's massive buying power and ability to sell goods at a lower cost.
Amazon will gain a footprint of 456 supermarket stores in North America and Britain with the acquisition of Whole Foods, boosting its delivery capacity and allowing it to compete directly with U.S. chains such as Kroger Co and Albertsons LLC.
"Supermarkets will now have to contend with not only competition with each other and non-traditional grocers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, but with a retailer like Amazon which has the financial capacity to price aggressively," said Mickey Chadha, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody's Investors Service.
"We expect this transaction to further accelerate the consolidation within the supermarket space."
Amazon has agreed to pay $42 per share in cash for Whole Foods, a 27 percent premium on the Austin, Texas-based grocer's closing share price on Thursday. Whole Foods shares were trading just under that level in early trading on Friday, as investors saw negligible regulatory risk to the deal closing.
Excluding debt, the deal is valued at $13.39 billion. It implies a trailing 12-month price-to-earnings multiple for Whole Foods of 31 times, versus a 14.4 average for the S&P 500 Food Retail index.
Amazon and Whole Foods expect to close the deal during the second half of 2017.
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May 27, 2009
Manila store offers fix for bagaholics on a budget
May 27, 2009
By Michaela Cabrera
MANILA (Reuters Life!) - Handbag lovers addicted to Louis Vuitton and Prada, but on a budget because of the financial crisis, are indulging their cravings at a Manila store that buys and sells used, authentic designer totes.
Photo: REUTERS/Fred Prouser
In the Philippine capital, the cash registers of luxury goods stores are still ringing, thanks to the super-rich who appear immune to the economic downturn.
But business is also booming at Bagaholic, located at the New World Hotel in Manila's financial district, whose range spans everything from Louis Vuitton Monogram Denims and Balenciaga Motorcycles to Chanel Bowlers and Gucci Hobos.
"Women in general, especially Asian women are very crazy over high-end designer bags, and I am one of them. So it actually solves my problem. I don't have to buy bags anymore, I can use what I have here," owner Gigi Asok Bambroffe told Reuters.
Several websites offer used designer clothes and accessories, but one-year-old Bagaholic allows customers to try on their purchases before committing to them. And unlike designer stores which often have a fixed-price policy, you can bargain.
Depending on the bag's quality and popularity, Bambroffe sells them for a discount of about 30 to 70 percent of the brand-new item's price.
A used classic Hermes Birkin, which sells new for half a million pesos ($10,600), can be bought for less than 60,000 pesos ($1,270) at the store. A Louis Vuitton Speedy, the store's bestseller, goes for as low as 15,000 pesos ($320), compared to its original price of around 40,000 pesos ($850).
"The price is definitely to die for, because instead of just buying one purse, now I can buy three purses, and instead of just being stuck with one color, now I can actually do more colors," said businesswoman Danielle Parker, who has recently taken to buying more used bags than new ones.
With the help of books and her own experience, Bambroffe has developed a keen eye for spotting genuine items from fakes and says only one out of nine sellers would offer a copy.
Most of Bambroffe's loyal customers are professionals and women with rich husbands. Some want to get rid of last season's "it" bag to buy a new one, while others don't mind being slightly unfashionable and buying an older model.
She said she was surprised at the number of Filipino women willing to buy used goods. And the designer boutiques in Manila don't seem to see her store as competition, sometimes even sending clients over.
"Vuitton actually sent them here to sell their stuff, and they go straight to Vuitton and buy a new one, so I think I'm helping them more than I'm affecting them sales-wise," Bambroffe said, referring to some of her customers.
And the bag addiction can start early, with one of Bambroffe's customers, 16-year-old Sham Kawit, buying four bags in one excursion.
"The quality is okay, they look brand-new for 10,000 pesos. It's a practical choice, right?," Kawit said.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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Ofcom's ISP code of practice: why it is necessary
My struggle with Plusnet
For anyone suffering at the whim of a rogue service provider, Ofcom may very well offer the last hope of resolution. So it can be frustrating to consumers that the regulator will not investigate individual complaints.
Ofcom's usual practice is to merely gather complaints and do nothing. An investigation can only begin once a particular company causes a blip in the statistics.
Coinciding with the launch of the new migration rules, Ofcom announced an "own-initiative" investigation into the broadband industry.
"Ofcom's active enforcement programme will gather information from broadband providers about migrations and consider evidence of non-compliance," the regulator said in a Competition Bulletin on its website.
"Ofcom may initiate separate investigations of named providers...or may move directly under this programme to take action where, for example, Ofcom has reasonable grounds for believing that a communications provider is contravening General Condition 22."
Steve Weller of uSwitch.com, an organisation which has campaigned against service providers charging for MACs, gave a cautious welcome to the new regulations.
"The 234,000 consumers switching broadband every month have a right to do so simply and free of charge. With this in mind we are pleased that Ofcom has taken a step forward towards resolving the MAC code issues."
Consumer journalism by consumers?
The web has long been the refuge of the embittered consumer. Company forums and dedicated complaint sites are filled with horror stories, but the veracity of those who complain is rarely known. Even the most sincere complaints are often so filled with invective that they can appear as little more than exaggerated rants.
"There are too many sites on the web with high-decibel complaining," NowPublic.com CEO Leonard Brody says.
"Too often, the signal gets drowned out by the noise. But by encouraging consumers to use the basic tools of journalism to get answers, I suspect that corporations might get the hint that here is a way to resolve issues in a more rational manner."
So will NowPublic.com and other citizen journalism sites become a credible outlet for consumers to research and report their own complaints?
"We have not yet actively sought out this kind of news activity," Brody says.
"When I saw your posting, and the response, I was quite thrilled. If our members were to use your posting as an exemplar, the whole area of consumer news might be remarkably reshaped. To promote civil reporting, discussion, and potential resolution - the prospect is inspiring."
Brody's enthusiasm may lead to a new outlet for consumers to blow the whistle on what mischievous companies have been getting up to behind our backs.
But can NowPublic's team of paid and volunteer editors ensure that submitted articles will be fair and accurate? The organisation's current passive policies will do little to silence critics of citizen journalism.
"If a story is bogus usually our community deals with it by burying it with indifference, through our moderation tools, and by the comments left on the site," Brody says.


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There are 48 million people in the United States alone who get sick from food poisoning every year. The majority of these cases come from meat, poultry, dairy products and eggs, which are all used in preparing meals for the festivities.
There are so many myths about food poisoning that some of us may not know the explanation behind them or if they are actually true. Cathy Moir talks about it on The Conversation, posted on Daily Mail:
You CAN thaw and refreeze meat – but DON’T rely on the sniff test: Expert busts common safety myths to help you avoid food poisoning
It’s that time of year when the fridge is fully stocked, the heat’s turned up high and the danger of food poisoning is ever present. So what is the best way to avoid it? Should you wash meat before cooking it? And it safe to re-freeze? Read more…
These myths about food poisoning might have been some of the reasons why the cases continue to rise. Now that they have been debunked, hopefully, people will be more cautious about how they prepare raw products.
We just won’t know when different types of bacteria will attack our body, so it’s always best to keep food and everything that’s near to it clean, such as the utensils, container, even the whole kitchen. Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain that can last for up to weeks.
from NUTRITIONCLUB http://nutritionclub.ca/safety-myths-about-food-poisoning-busted/
from Nutrition Club Canada https://nutritionclubca.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/myths-about-food-poisoning-debunked/
via WordPress https://jonathanwilhoite.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/myths-about-food-poisoning-debunked/
I have a pretty fast paced life. I'm fairly successful and travel a lot. Come from a really good family and love to spend the time I have with them and friends.


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Electric vehicle (EV) sharing schemes are a type of car rental that allows users to rent an electric vehicle for a limited amount of time.
The electric mobility sector is still relatively new, and it has the potential to grow in a variety of ways, thanks to a variety of revenue streams. EV sharing is a tool that allows the local community to use an alternate mode of transportation for daily or occasional travel, hence reducing the number of private vehicles in the city.
As local regulators increasingly prohibit polluting automobiles and an ever-increasing selection of electric car models become available, car-sharing in Europe is going electric. The electrification trend in Europe is now centred in a few hotspots. The largest electric car-sharing fleets in Europe are in Paris and Madrid.
Aiming to score with the first mover advantage, SPARK Technologies, a Lithuania-based electric car-sharing firm, revealed that it has inked a €30M capital commitment agreement with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS, a Luxembourg-based private, alternative investment organisation. In addition to that, the company intends to go public.
The funds raised will allow SPARK Technologies to grow into new EU markets, increase its customer base and fleet size, and further enhance its unique software solutions.
Nitty gritties of agreement
GEM will provide SPARK with a share subscription facility of up to €30M for a 36-month period following the public listing of SPARK Technologies shares, according to the conditions of the agreement.
SPARK will retain discretion over the timing and, within certain conditions, the maximum amount of each individual withdrawal under this facility, and there will be no minimum drawdown requirement.
As part of the agreement, the Lithuanian company will provide GEM warrants to purchase up to 4% of SPARK’s total equity interests on public listing for a period of three years following the public listing of SPARK’s common stock.
“The partnership with GEM helps ensure money for us to continue doubling our annual growth as we increase our electric car fleet and enter new cities.” SPARK is now well-positioned as the firm prepares to scale up its development, thanks to the certainty of finance that comes with listing on a major European public stock market,” says Nerijus Dagilis, CEO and Chairman of SPARK Technologies.
SPARK Technologies: Innovation in EV sharing
SPARK Technologies, based in Sofia, Lithuania, is an electric car-sharing firm that intends to reduce its carbon footprint by delivering zero-emission affordable transportation in key European cities.
Founded in 2015 by Nerijus Dagilis and Justin Ott, the company competes with Zity, Emov, Share Now, Free2Move and Moov’in.
Currently, the platform has a fleet of 1,500 vehicles that can be shared using SPARK mobile applications in Bucharest, Sofia, Plovdiv, and Vilnius. As of today, the company has more than 250,000 customers.
Global Emerging Markets is a $3.4B alternative investment organisation that oversees a wide variety of emerging market investment vehicles and has executed over 480 deals in 70 countries. The firm has offices in Paris, New York, and Nassau, Bahamas (Bahamas).


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Bhopal, October 5, 2015 (Muslim Saleem): Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached South Korean capital Seoul today. He held discussions with embassy officers about his 3-day Seoul visit. Officers informed him that large number of Korean companies are interested to meet him. Indian Ambassador to Korea Mr. Vikram Doraiswami also held extensive discussions with the Chief Minister regarding his visit. The Chief Minister will hold discussions with over 30 prospective investors during the 3-day visit. On October 5, Mr. Chouhan will visit Samsung headquarters at Suwon and inspect Samsung Innovation Museum. Mr. Chouhan will visit Songdo Smart City at Incheon Economic Free Zone and also visit Songdo Smart City. He will be accompanied by Industries Minister Mrs. Yashodhara Raje Scindia and a high level delegation.
The Chief Minister will hold discussions with South Korean business community and invite them to Global Investors Summit to be held at Indore in 2016. Mr. Chouhan will visit Samsung Electricals Company. It is a multinational electronics company of South Korea headquartered at Suwon. It is the major subsidiary of Samsung which contributed 70 percent of its revenue in year 2012. Since year 2009, it is the largest information technology company in respect of revenue. Samsung Electronics has assembly plants and sales networks in 80 countries with about 3 lakh 70 thousand employees. It mainly produces Lithuanian battery, semiconductors, chips, flash memory and hardware devices.


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plans to release a range of with the existing eTrust products. This "security management architecture," as CA calls it, will enable employees to keep a single identity when logging into different applications.
"CA is committed to providing security solutions that simplify security management across all platforms--mainframe and distributed," Toby Weiss, senior vice president of eTrust security management at CA, said in a statement. "The fragmented panoply of application- and platform-specific security mechanisms across the enterprise can be coordinated, easily securing complete business transactions as they move across process boundaries."
CA has not released full details of how it will integrate these tools into eTrust products but said it would provide a "common security backbone" across all network technologies. The company says eTrust will use open standards to enable interoperability between different platforms, applications and security mechanisms.
Currently, only two CA products have the identity tracking capabilities--dubbed eTrust CA-ACF2 r8 and eTrust CA-Top Secret Security r8--but the company said the features would be integrated into all eTrust products in the future.
Regulations such asmean that some companies have to be able to produce audit trails for all their employees or be liable for fines and imprisonment. CA said this was a reason for its move.
Dan Ilett of ZDNet UK reported from London.


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The Chinese IT company said the device is aimed at boosting mobile accessibility and adoption within the fast-growing African continent, and will be available in Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Angola, Morocco and South Africa towards the later part of the Q1 2013.
According to Huawei, the 4Afrika is a customised version of the Huawei Ascend W1, which was launched earlier this year at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show.
The smartphone is 10.15mm thick and features a 4-inch WVGA (480×800) IPS LCD touchscreen with “zero-gap touch” technology.
Its 1,730 mAh Li-Polymer battery powers a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Adreno 305 GPU.
Additionally, the phone includes a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and VGA shooter on the front.
Available exclusively for the African market, Huawei said that the 4Afrika phone features a “customised Store in Store” with a variety of applications and exclusive content including those built and designed by Africans for Africans.


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Google and Motorola recently entered an initial filing with the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals over the dismissal of a patent suit against Apple, which previously saw a circuit court judge toss arguments from both parties in 2011. The filing comes just four months after Apple issued its own such document with the CAFC in November, with Google now able to outline its appeal of Judge Richard A. Posner’s June 2012 ruling and respond to Apple’s brief.
As noted by Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, Google is appealing in the FRAND aspects of Judge Posner’s decision to toss the case in an attempt to win injunctive relief against certain Apple products.
Google claims that Judge Posner made a number of mistakes when he “categorically” barred injunctive relief for infringement of claimed standards essential patents (SEPs), including a failure “to apply the four-factor eBay test to evaluate Motorola’s claim for injunctive relief.” The jurists effectively banned injunctive relief based on FRAND-committed patents, instead saying that only monetary damages could be sought unless a scenario arose in which Apple refused to pay royalties. Google argued that the decision hinders district courts from making case-by-case decisions on such matters in the future.
Google now says that Apple is an unwilling licensee of the SEPs, which allows the Cupertino California company to get around an FTC rule that mandates all legal pursuits related to FRAND-related patents be halted. Working around the rules set forth by the FTC and USPTO regarding the litigation, Google’s Motorola hopes to win its 2.25% royalty demand, with which Apple has yet to comply. Google’s filing mentions the following:
Motorola offered considerable evidence showing that, unlike every other major cellular handset manufacturer, Apple has been an unwilling licensee vis-à-vis Motorola's standards-essential patent portfolio.
Source: FOSS Patents via AppleInsider


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Hong Kong’s position as a shopping paradise will be threatened if neighbouring Shenzhen goes ahead with a mooted duty-free shopping area that would target mainlanders in the Greater Bay Area, analysts and retail industry leaders have warned.
Some said mainland Chinese visitors – who made up nearly 80 per cent of Hong Kong’s overall tourist arrivals before the Covid-19 pandemic– would prefer getting their luxury goods and cosmetics in the Guangdong city if tax policies there were relaxed.
“If the two places offer the same tax treatment, why would mainland travellers want to come to Hong Kong to shop?” asked Michael Cheng Woon-yin, PwC’s Asia-Pacific, mainland and Hong Kong consumer markets leader.
Shenzhen authorities announced last month they planned to explore a raft of proposals, including the development of an international duty-free shopping area for the Greater Bay Area (GBA), with new stores opening downtown and a raised limit for tax-free consumption.
The GBA is Beijing’s ambitious plan to group nine Guangdong cities, Hong Kong and Macau into an integrated economic and business hub to rival Silicon Valley in California. It had a combined population of over 86 million last year.
Although there were no details about the Shenzhen proposal nor any indication of when it might happen if approved, Hong Kong observers were quick to predict the worst for the city.
Hong Kong’s retail sector would be dealt a heavy blow, they said. Shenzhen’s GDP has already surpassed Hong Kong’s for the past two years.
PwC’s Cheng said products from famous brands were sold in Hong Kong at prices 15 to 20 per cent lower than across the border due to the city’s low tax policies, excluding fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
Hong Kong has no value-added tax, for example, whereas the tax on imported goods could be as high as 13 per cent on the mainland, according to PwC’s review.
If Shenzhen chose to go tax-free, it would remove a key reason why mainland visitors throng Hong Kong’s high-end shopping centres.
“Hong Kong still has another advantage in providing goods with quality,” Cheng said. “But if the mainland keeps catching up [in having] products of a similar quality, our advantages would be next to nothing.”
Agreeing with Cheng’s grim prediction, lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who represents the wholesale and retail sector, warned that any sharp decline in mainland visitors would affect other industries that relied on them spending in Hong Kong.
If Shenzhen decided to move forward with the proposal, he said, it would not only batter Hong Kong’s retail scene but harm the city’s status as a top tourism destination.
“There is nothing much the industry can do,” he said.
He noted that Shenzhen was not Hong Kong’s only rival, pointing to the growth in retail sales on China’s southern island province of Hainan, where the duty-free spending quota was more than tripled in July last year, from 30,000 yuan (US$4,630) to 100,000 yuan per person each year.
Hainan’s offshore duty-free sales more than quadrupled to 15.39 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, according to official data, despite the disruption to cross-border travel caused by the pandemic.
By contrast, Hong Kong saw retail sales rise in the first half of 2021 by just 8.4 per cent to HK$174.4 billion, after suffering the double whammy of anti-government protests in 2019 and the pandemic-inspired border closures.
Annie Tse Yau On-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, which represents more than 9,000 outlets, said some members were already worried about Shenzhen’s duty-free shopping plans.
Some were exploring ways to tap into the bay area market, mulling ideas for e-commerce services or even opening physical outlets on the mainland.
Late last year, global real estate services provider Savills said luxury brands had already begun shifting their focus to cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen as well as Hainan Island and would continue turning away from Hong Kong to focus on southern China.
Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu, director of the ACE Centre for Business and Economic Research, said if Shenzhen went ahead, the risks to Hong Kong retailers would be difficult for the city’s government to address.
“If there is no tax difference when you buy a Chanel bag in Shenzhen or Hong Kong, people will just go to Shenzhen,” he said.
Hong Kong retailers might be left exploring how to sell more local products showing off the city’s characteristics.
“Now, they’ll need gimmicks,” he said.
But Simon Smith, Savills’ senior director of research and consultancy, said while some same-day shoppers might opt for a Shenzhen duty-free shopping area, others would still come to Hong Kong.
It would be difficult, he said, for a mainland-based, duty-free business to replicate Hong Kong’s appeal, which went beyond shopping and discounts to include restaurants, bars and local attractions such as the new water park at Ocean Park.
Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing was also concerned about the impact on Hong Kong retailers if Shenzhen proceeded with its duty-free shopping gambit, but, like Smith, was confident Hong Kong had more to offer visitors.
He pointed to the new Hong Kong Palace Museum expected to open next year in the West Kowloon Cultural District as well as the Skycity complex near the airport, with new retail, dining and entertainment facilities that will open in phases between 2022 and 2025.
“These new elements will replace our traditional retail edge gradually,” he said.


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Ford recently earned fourth place overall in the 2020 Brand Intimacy Study for being one of the most beloved brands. Furthermore, Ford was the highest-rated automotive brand in MBLM’s study, which is why we at L&L Motor couldn’t be prouder to offer Ford models at our dealership.
What is the Brand Intimacy Study
For 10 years, the Brand Intimacy Study has been examining customers’ emotional connections to different brands. Using the Brand Intimacy Quotient, the study scores brands based on the character, prevalence and intensity of intimacy that customers have with brands. More specifically, the study looks at six different archetypes of connection. These include fulfillment, enhancement, identity, nostalgia, ritual and indulgence.
How Ford performed in the study
Ford had an increase in all six archetypes, earning it fourth place overall. Among men, Ford was the top-rated brand overall, and it was the top-ranked automotive brand among young drivers between 18 and 34 years old.
61.6 percent of respondents in the study have been customers of Ford for less than a decade, indicating that Ford has many relatively new customers. In addition, 22 percent of Ford customers revealed that they felt as though they could not live without the brand.
Discover for yourself why Ford is so beloved by customers when you contact us at L&L Motor in Roosevelt, Utah.