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Consider marketing fermented food and drink products as not just good for the gut but good for the skin. The New York Times calls the gut “the secret to complexion perfection,” and highlights the beauty benefits of a diet full of fermented foods. Though probiotics marketed specifically for skin health are selling out, doctors say supplements alone won’t help — diet is key. Carla Oates, known as the Beauty Chef, wrote a cookbook encouraging what she calls “gut weeding and seeding and feeding,” praising a diet of fermented foods like carob and sauerkraut.
Read more (New York Times)
Ever wondered how the government defines “healthy” on American food labels? The FDA is taking comments until today on their nutrition innovation strategy. The FDA plans to modernize what goes on an American food label, like should plant-based dairy alternatives be called milk? And how should new food technology that reduces sodium or fat content be labeled?
Read more (FDA) (Photo: Foodies Feed)
Kimchi is a scientifically proven safeguard against the flu. New research proves, with fall flu season around the corner, we should stock up on kimchi. The fermented Korean food has an antiviral effect that stops the growth of the influenza virus. Flu-infected mice that ate kimchi had a higher survival rate and lost less weight. The study also referenced the 2003 SARS pandemic in Hong Kong and China — Korea was the only place where few people were infected with the virus, attributed to Korean’s love of kimchi. Study results were published in the Journal of Microbiology.
Read more (PR Newswire)
New product BrewMonitor System integrates the Internet of Things (IoT) with craft beer production. BeerMonitor is a high-tech device that sits in fermentation tanks and takes real-time measurements. Brewers can then monitor tank conditions from their smart device, without ever opening the tank. Created by Precision Fermentation, a biochemistry technology provider, BeerMonitor will launch next month with the tagline “If your tanks could talk.”
Read more (PR Newswire)
Quark could be the next big thing in health. The fermented dairy product is already popular in Europe. Quark is made from milk protein, which is separated from the milk when it is warmed. Three Kansas State University students recently won a National Dairy Council product competition for a drink they invented called Quick-Quark. Dubbed “The next Greek yogurt,” the creamy drink is made with fermented whole milk, cream, milk protein concentrate and sweetened condensed milk. Quick-Quark has 14 grams of protein in a 150-gram serving, double the protein of the average Greek yogurt drink. Fruit is added to create the fruity pina colada and acai blueberry flavors. The students plan to sell their product in a resealable pouch.
Read more (The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
The notoriously unsustainable chocolate industry is reevaluating business practices, according to a new study. As global demand increases, more companies are looking at sustainable cocoa sources. Jack fruit seeds are one growing alternative – once fermented and roasted, the flavor is similar to chocolate. Many confectionery companies are setting socially responsible policies and pledges, like Mars who is aiming for 100 percent sustainability by 2020.
Read more (Gourmet News)
Kombucha sales are expected to soar in the next few years. Forbes featured the probiotic-packed, fermented tea, predicting that kombucha “is likely to soon rival craft beer and, eventually, the slumping soda category.” Kombucha sales in 2017 were $1.5 billion, but industry experts say it’s not long before kombucha hits multi millions in sales.
Read more (Forbes)
How can #fermentedfoods businesses positively respond to unhappy customers in a digital era of online reviews?These #foodbusiness owners say, in the food industry, hospitality matters. Some of their key tips: always offer an angry customer incentive to buy from your brand again (like give a reimbursement or coupon), give quality feedback on online reviews less than three stars and share with your staff both the positive and negative reviews.
Read more (Ratchet + Wrench)
A New York senator is pushing change for federal alcohol regulators to ease up on hard ciders. Cider owners cannot legally sell hard cider with an alcoholic content below 7% in cans, forcing them to use wine containers instead. This hurts most quality, fermented apple ciders, the senator argues, because they must water down their product to sell it in cans.
Read more (WXXI) Photo by CNY News


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Dubai International Airport (DXB) handled a record 5.8 million passengers in March, according to the monthly traffic report issued by Dubai Airports on Monday.
Dubai International has become the world’s leading hub for A380 operations, according to published airline industry flight schedule data for 2012.
Dubai International Airport believes it will overtake Heathrow Airport as the world’s busiest gateway for international traffic by 2015.
Steven Thompson reviews the 2012 performance of the world’s busiest cargo gateways and discovers that it has been a difficult 12 months for airfreight.
Dubai International Airport is looking for specialist retail companies for its arrivals area in Terminal 1.
Between them Incheon and Dubai airports clocked up close to $3.5 billion in retail and duty free sales in 2012.
Dubai International Airport has announced the successful completion of the opening of Concourse A, the world's first purpose-built facility for the A380.
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OnePlus 5 has been reportedly plagued with a variety of issues, and the company tried to fix them via software updates. Earlier this week, we reported about the issue on OnePlus 5 that resulted in rebooting of the device when users dial emergency numbers like 911. As dangerous as it sounds, many OnePlus 5 owners resorted to public forums for bringing the issue to light. Subsequently, OnePlus rolled out an update to fix the issue and today the company has shared the reason behind the problem.
Not every user was affected by the issue, but some units were facing the problem consistently. On dialling 911 or 999, their device was automatically starting to reboot. The problem was successfully resolved through the update. Many believed that the problem was being caused by the location sharing with the emergency carrier and it seems that they were not wrong. The company itself has explained that the source of the issue was related to the VoLTE network for some users. The issue triggered due to the OTDOA protocol, which is a method that shares the location of the device with the emergency operators. The company also shared that it has resolved the issue with the chipmaker Qualcomm.
Here's the post that OnePlus shared on its forum:
Last week, we received distressing news regarding an issue related to dialing an emergency number on the OnePlus 5. Late last week an update was released to resolve the issue. We would like to provide additional information on the emergency call issue.
The source of this issue was related to a modem memory usage issue that triggered a reboot. This reboot was a random occurrence for some users on VoLTE network where OTDOA protocol was triggered when placing an emergency call.
We have worked with our partners at Qualcomm to resolve this issue globally.
Well, OnePlus has settled the issue successfully, and the update for it is available since last Friday. It should now be available for all the OnePlus 5 owners globally.
Why so many issues?
We wonder why so many issues have been surfacing on the latest flagship by OnePlus. One of the reasons could be the hurry to launch the device on time without running all the tests on it. Various reports also indicated that the company messed up with the phone while trying to copy the iPhone 7 design. Whatever may be the reason, but we hope not to see another issue surfacing on the phone.


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MakeITDeals Announces the Global Launch of Its Marketplace for Technology Solutions
MakeITDeals will make the Products, Solutions and other Technology Offerings from leading technology providers in these countries available to the customers across the world to help them in their business growth and in solving their business issues.
BlackBerry creates new Technology Solutions unit for key assets
Blackberry has announced that it has a created a new unit to group together its most important assets.
BlackBerry Creates Business Unit to Develop More of Its IP
To help expand its market share, the company created a new Technology Solutions unit, which contains BlackBerry's patent portfolio.
Cognizant Schedules Second Quarter 2014 Earnings Release and Conference Call
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation , a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, will announce results for the second quarter of 2014 on Wednesday, August 6, 2014, before market open.


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Altis Semiconductor, the innovative European based specialty foundry, announced it has opened a sales offices in US to strengthen its local business with a dedicated sales and technical support team.
"The new office in US reflects our go to market strategy and follows the opening of offices in China and Israel. We are developing a strong client base in US and the opening of the Austin office demonstrates our commitment to grow our business in the region", said Karl Lange, VP Sales & Marketing.
The US office will be led by Kenneth Stone. Ken has over 25 years of experience in product design, sales and marketing. He was most recently Senior Account Executive at GlobalFoundries where he spent six years in various sales and sales management roles. He has over 10 year's foundry experience with companies such as Dongbu HiTek where he was East Region Director of Sales. Prior to entering sales, Ken was Director of Product and Test engineering at Zilog and also had extensive engineering experience with technology leaders Cadence, Motorola and AMD. He majored in Physics of the Solid State and minored in Circuits at Rice University.
Karl Lange commented, "We are pleased to have Ken Stone on board, as he brings extensive international experience in sales and product design and deep knowledge of the US semiconductor market. The establishment of our office in Dallas will allow us to substantially increase business in a strategic market for our expansion. We are working hard to establish our name and presence here especially with our new RF and embedded Non Volatile Memories offers. I am aiming to show US companies and designers that there are viable alternatives to their existing suppliers both in terms of technology and customer support and focus."
"I am excited at the opportunity to establish Altis as a major foundry presence here in the US" said Stone. "Altis will be the customer focused foundry providing technology solutions that will make our customers successful."
About Altis Semiconductor
Altis Semiconductor is an independent and privately held company based in France with an industrial campus in Corbeil-Essonnes, a city 40 km south of Paris. The baseline technologies for Altis come from the proven technology platforms of IBM and Infineon, the former shareholders of Altis. With a robust technology portfolio, proven operational excellence and strict quality compliance, Altis is the ideal foundry partner to serve customers in different markets.


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‘Please don’t book if you are Asian’: Airbnb Bans Scottish Host After Racist Listing
Airbnb recently banned a host in Scotland after he specifically barred Asian guests from renting his property.
Identified only by his first name Stephen, the Airbnb host from Edinburgh reportedly wrote “please don’t book if you are Asian” on his accommodation listing on the booking website.
An unnamed IT worker who was looking for a place to stay came across the blatantly racist post. In an interview with Mirror Online, the man said he reported the hateful post to Airbnb, dubbing it as the “worst type of violation one can perform on the platform”.
“If you are deciding to make your property available on a platform such as this to generate an income then the rules do not allow you to discriminate in this fashion period,” the man was quoted as saying. “If you have a personal resentment towards a specific group of people, then do not use this platform.” The room, advertised for £25 a night, remained listed on the site up until Monday with the comment about Asians already removed. It did not take long until Airbnb banned the host and removed the listing after news of the discriminatory listing emerged.
The complainant, however, noted that Airbnb should have been monitoring listings to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen. “Airbnb has chosen not to scan house rules or look for discriminatory listings when they quite easily can,” he added. “They have given importance to their revenue stream over discrimination as possibly the process to implement is not cost effective and thus they rely on the users to see and report.” In a statement, an Airbnb representative described discriminatory incidents as “extremely rare”, noting that the company would punish anyone discriminating against guests. “We have zero tolerance for discrimination and have permanently removed this host from Airbnb,” the statement read. For his part, the racist Airbnb host who works as a taxi driver, had only this to say about his actions: “Yes aware of a complaint, nothing really to discuss, apart from having bad experiences in the past. No further comments to make!”
Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.
Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.
However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.
We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community.
Even a $1 contribution goes a long way. Thank you for everyone’s support. We love you all and can’t appreciate you guys enough.


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James Draper, Founder & CEO, Bidstack
At this very moment, millions of Americans are busy catching fish and making home improvements inside Animal Crossing, drifting carts across courses in DiRT Rally 2.0, and matching up juicy gummies on Gummy Drop. Entire digital universes are built and expanded upon every second of the day, making video games one of the most active and engaging environments in the world right now.
Since the start of the pandemic, gaming in the U.S. has risen by 45 percent. Female gamers made up 41 percent of the U.S. gaming population in 2020, up from 38 percent in 2007. The majority of gamers are 18-34 years-old, but there’s been a steady increase in the number of gamers 34 – 54 years-old, and even a slight increase in the 65+ age category (which makes up 6 percent of gamers in the U.S.). It’s also worth noting that gamers were most likely to make between $67k – $76k annually. The point here is that stereotypes of gamers are now completely outdated — the majority of the U.S. population plays some sort of game. With that comes an incredible opportunity to use in-game advertising as a viable marketing channel to share crucial information with once hard-to-reach audiences.
Catching Audiences While Actively Engaged
Before in-game advertising is written off as a novelty concept, consider this — as of January 2020, an estimated 66 percent of the U.S. population are active gamers. Not all are battling it out on Call of Duty, though. There’s a large, diverse audience locked in on the game’s universe, and in that, an opportunity to deliver advertising messages for candidates and causes without disrupting the gaming experience.
The numbers are enticing, but what really sets in-game environments apart from traditional display advertising is the level of attention a gamer has at any given time. Recently, Lumen Research partnered with our company, Bidstack, to measure players’ attention levels with eye-tracking software, and the results were astonishing. In-game ads outperformed traditional ad channels every time, sometimes by more than double.
The Biden-Harris campaign recently made waves when it launched custom campaign signs for the yards of players in the immensely popular game Animal Crossing. The initiative to drive awareness of the campaign and the upcoming vote helped replace real-world events impacted by the pandemic. This use of advertising dollars is a creative way that meets voters where they’re spending their time and promotes unity among campaign supporters.
There is rarely a new avenue of advertising that offers this kind of attention from audiences, hence why gaming is poised to rise in popularity across all industries. Tending to private islands, managing a football team, and racing treacherous courses is what has people truly paying attention, and might be the tipping point of getting them to adopt a campaign, cause or listen to public service messages.
Endless Opportunities to Integrate Ads into Game’s Universe
Arguably gaming’s most incredible opportunity for advertisers is that ads no longer have to be thought of as a static overlay. They can be seamlessly integrated into the metaverses of these games, allowing ads to be delivered in a more pleasing way than the typical bombardment of display ads and promoted posts.
This summer, several of the UK’s leading game companies partnered with the government to embed COVID-specific public safety messaging into some of the country’s most popular video games. The “Stay Home. Save Lives.” campaign quickly spread public health messages without disrupting the gaming experience.
These messages were seamlessly placed into each game quickly and creatively. For instance, DiRT Rally 2.0 — a racing game played by millions of people since its 2019 launch — displayed the message throughout its courses on banners and roadside billboards that were already a natural part of the game. The ad placements are highly noticeable and can host and switch out any type of creative almost instantaneously.
Games host infinite types of playing environments, from ones that mimic the world we know to ones that have created an entirely different universe. Provided the player’s experience and the integrity of the environment are always front-of-mind, in-game ads can spread important messages rapidly.
In-game offers more than simply advertising space, it’s a community
Gaming is home to a vibrant and active community where a diverse audience is not only playing but chatting and streaming with one another. For public service campaigns, there is a powerful opportunity to extend a message in order to create solidarity and unity amongst these players.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently did exactly that with their March 2020 campaign, #PlayApartTogether. Similar to the “Stay Home. Saves Lives.” campaign, the WHO’s campaign was aimed at keeping people inside, playing together while maintaining social distancing. It was adopted by some of the industry’s most powerful and title-rich gaming companies, who then created special events, exclusives, activities, rewards, and inspiration into some of the most popular games in the world to show their support.
This activation proved that communities surrounding each game could come together and adopt a common cause. It spurred awareness, conversation, and compliance from those that saw and interacted with it. It’s unifying approach to one simple but crucial message allowed gaming companies to adopt it in ways that fit its communities — something that would be difficult to accomplish on most other platforms. The launch generated an enormous amount of positive mainstream media coverage as well, a nod to its impact, creativity, and ability to engage gaming audiences effectively.
In-game advertising has the potential to change how the public receives vital information moving forward. Provided campaigns and their creative assets are crafted and strategized to suit the game’s environment without intrusion, there’s more than enough evidence to show that players will see, listen, and take action.
About the Author: James is the founder and CEO of Bidstack, a leading in-game advertising platform that empowers developers, publishers and esport organisations to monetise the pre-existing advertising spaces in games as a source of revenue generation. Bidstack also works with premium brands to place native ads into spaces that sit naturally within video games and most importantly protect the gaming experience. James founded Bidstack in 2015 utilising more than 15 years of commercial experience to launch his own business. Since the initial launch he has seen the company grow from a one-man operation to an international business which trades on the London Stock Exchange. Under his stewardship, Bidstack became the first ever Crowdcube funded company to go public. James pivoted the business into gaming in 2017 and leads the business as a whole, overseeing the company’s direction, growth, development and vision.


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Bruce Jenner gets a nail polish change?
Since we told you Bruce Jenner was spotted sporting fire-engine red nail polish (although some called it pink) on Wednesday, it's only right that we report on his nail polish again today.
He seems to have gotten rid of the red.
His daughters gathered to celebrate his big 65th birthday at "family lunch," as Kim Kardashian put it, in Malibu. His ex, Kris Jenner, was absent.
He hid his nails in this close-up:


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Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
A new Toyota recall is set to steer more than half a million car owners to their local dealers for maintenance.
The company announced Wednesday a voluntary recall for certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles with six-cylinder engines.
The problem lies in the crankshaft pulley, which may become misaligned and trigger a warning light. If the problem isn't fixed, drivers may find it a lot harder to steer.
More than 70 reports of the problem have arisen since 2007, but there have been no accidents or injuries to date, Toyota says.
Toyota's recall affects 283,200 Toyota-brand vehicles in the United States, and 137,000 Lexus vehicles.
That's on top of another 100,000 vehicles worldwide.
Models affected by the Toyota recall are the:
Recalled Lexus models are the:
Owners of these models should keep an eye on their mailboxes beginning in January. Toyota says it will send letters when replacement parts are ready, offering inspections and service free of charge.
If the problem pops up before then, owners should contact a Toyota or Lexus dealer for inspection, Toyota says.
The Toyota recall is more bad news for the company, which has faced production problems since Japan's earthquake and tsunami disaster last spring.
Toyota's profit declined more than 18 percent between July and September, the company announced Tuesday.
With this latest announcement, about 14 million vehicles worldwide have now been subject to Toyota recalls.
Meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your rights. Visit our attorney directory to find a lawyer near you who can help.


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New York -- Ziff-Davis Publishing President Mike Perlis announced the promotion of three publishing executives. Peter Longo, currently publisher of PC Week,
will become senior VP-publisher of PC Magazine.
Sloan Seymour, currently publisher of Sm@rt Reseller,
will replace Mr. Longo as VP-publisher of PC Week.
And Pat Dignan, currently associate publisher-East of PC Week,
will become publisher of Family PC.


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The IRS is reporting that taxpayers, individuals and the 90% of small business owners who pay any business profit on their personal taxes, gave Uncle Sam $93 billion more in 2018 compared to 2017.
The reason—the 2017 tax law that gave huge tax cuts to corporations and the uber wealthy.
That’s $93 billion that should have been in our local economies creating consumer demand for small businesses. No wonder the 2017 tax law had no benefit for small businesses according to a national poll by Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform.
What happened to that big tax cut American’s were promised from the Tax Cut and Jobs Act the GOP Congress and President Trump crafted quickly without public hearings in the last two months of 2017?
It was all a marketing scam.
What the tax reform proponents really wanted to do was transfer money and wealth from working Americans to big businesses in order to cut corporate tax rates by 40%.
And that is exactly what happened.
The $93 billion more taxpayers paid in 2018 enabled big corporations to pay $91 billion less in 2018 taxes compared to the year before. Those corporate savings went primarily to shareholders and corporate executives, not employees or capital investments.
It gets worse.
There were 60 profitable corporations in the Fortune 500 that paid NO federal income taxes in 2018. That was a giant increase of these free-loading companies from the 18 that paid no taxes in 2017. All because of the 2017 tax law.
You will recognize most of these corporations that aren’t paying their fair share of federal taxes but here are just three that are of interest to South Carolinians—Delta Airlines, Duke Energy and Dominion Resources.
Oh, and about that reduction of corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% that big businesses said they needed to compete internationally, almost all of these big corporations weren’t paying anywhere near that 35%.
The effective corporate tax rate in 2017 was only 13.6% because these businesses were using all kinds of loopholes and write offs to avoid paying federal taxes.
Now, thanks to the 2017 tax law, the corporations that did end up paying taxes in 2018 only paid 7% of their profits on average—the lowest rate in over 70 years.
Clearly, the 2017 corporate tax cuts need to be rolled back and used to actually help our economy grow.


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Stores prepare for new school yearWritten by Michael Stainbrook | | email@example.com
Local retailers are stocking their shelves for the upcoming school year with hopes of making a profit before the opening bell marks the first day of classes.
Department stores and supercenters are slashing prices, breaking out the latest trends and even holding special events to attract parents and schoolchildren to their doorsteps as continued economic hardships have led to more frugal spending habits.
“Consumers are looking for a deal and are a lot more choosy,” said Allen Snowden, store manager of the Kohl’s in west Toledo. “Do children really need a new pair of shoes or can they use the ones from last year?”
Kohl’s is among the department stores that began promoting back-to-school specials in July. Others will begin advertising for school apparel in early August.
“[Sales] heat up the second week of August,” said Dave Stockwell, store manager of Dillard’s at Westfield Franklin Park. Stockwell added that he is using “different strategies” for marketing his products than he has in past years.
In 2009, he aimed to steady the ship by making large price cuts to keep customers. This year, the focus is back on profitability.
“It’s better than it was last year,” Stockwell said. “Maybe our markdowns aren’t quite as steep as they used to be.
“Some people will spend a couple extra bucks to get better service. Some people will drive a couple extra miles to get better service. That’s what we strive for.”
Kohl’s takes a different approach by slashing prices on many clothing options for students. Snowden said the store’s size allows for a wide selection.
“The economy’s really not taken off all that much,” he said. “I think we’re offering some really good deals to attract customers in.”
Style is another aspect of back-to-school shopping. While many districts now require uniforms, some stores still stock their shelves with the latest fashions.
Dillard’s recently picked up Jessica Simpson’s new clothing line, while Meijer keeps up on the evolving trends for backpacks. Meijer also provides many items necessary for college students.
“We are tying a lot of promotions with Facebook and Twitter this year, which makes a lot of sense when talking about [going] back to college,” said Frank Guglielmi, Meijer spokesman.
Two stores are hosting back-to-school events to attract customers. Dillard’s has Kid’s Day, which will take place Aug. 14 and features price markdowns, as well as fun events for children.
Meijer sponsors an annual back-to-college event at its Bowling Green store Aug. 20. The event features food, a Guitar Hero contest and discounted items for students. The event runs from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.
“Retail has become about being innovative,” Guglielmi said. “Being privately held, we can be very nimble and react very quickly to ideas.”
Stores, such as Macy’s, Target and Walmart, also have back-to-school selections. With a variety of shopping choices, parents and students have options when it comes to preparing for another year of classes.


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PHOENIX, Ariz. (Jan. 26, 2015)
TORRANCE, Calif., (Sept. 18, 2014) – Metal, music and some serious skateboarding moves inspired two new Scion cars for the upcoming Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) Show. Scion will debut the “Scion x Slayer Mobile Amp tC” for heavy metal band Slayer and the “Scion x Riley Hawk Skate Tour xB” for pro skateboarder Riley Hawk at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nov. 4-7, 2014.
TORRANCE, Calif., (Aug. 11, 2014) – They publish about the FR-S and they love the FR-S, but can they tune it?
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 5, 2013 — It’s finally here…and then it’s gone.
TORRANCE, Calif., (Oct. 30, 2013) – Performance, technology and the young entrepreneur influenced the Scion vehicles on display at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show Nov. 5-8. The collection of five builds will be located at Booth 20313, alongside three 2014 Scion tCs competing in the Scion Tuner Challenge.
TORRANCE, Calif., (Sept. 5, 2013) – Scion announced its three Scion Tuner Challenge finalists today, each of whom will show off their modified tC vehicles at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas Nov. 5-8. The winning participants are Josh Croll of Mertztown, Pa., Walter Franco of Seattle and Young Tea of Alhambra, Calif.
2014 Lexus IS Sport Sedan Designed to Deviate at 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show
TORRANCE, Calif., – August 19, 2013 – The all-new 2014 Lexus IS sport sedan is getting closer to making its grand entrance this November at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. The third-generation IS will turn heads at SEMA with new aggressive exterior styling demonstrated by a spindle grille, wider stance and sporty rocker panels.
LAS VEGAS (Nov. 1, 2012) – With a unique color and a supercharger under the hood, custom-car builder Chris Basselgia of Lebanon, Pa., won Scion’s FR-S Tuner Challenge, announced yesterday at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS, (Oct. 30, 2012) – The Scion FR-S earned industry recognition today with the Hottest Sport Compact award on the first day of the 2012 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas.


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Star Trek Online Adds New Legacy of Romulus Wallpaper and Screenshots
It has been ten days since the release of Star Trek Online’s first-ever expansion, Legacy of Romulus. Cryptic has since released a plethora of Romulan paraphernalia inside and outside of the game. Today’s Friday screenshots include images of New Romulus Command and Khitomer – Star Trek fans will recognize the importance and history of the latter. The new wallpaper is that of the symbol of New Romulus.
Legacy of Romulus was developed by Cryptic and was released on May 21st, 2013.


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Eleven of the original 12 countries have agreed to work toward the trade deal
By Kaitlynn Anderson
Canada and ten other countries in the Pacific Rim are one step closer to reaching a new free trade agreement, which could be good news for Canadian farmers.
The 11 countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada – have agreed to move ahead with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal without the U.S., according to a Global News article.
The countries announced on Saturday that they have reached an agreement on the core elements of the pact, the article said.
If the trade deal is successful, Canada’s red meat industry could reap the benefits.
“We can't afford to give up a competitive advantage against other nations … who are also competing for this new market,” Marcus Mattinson, manager of communications at the Canadian Meat Council, said in a Farmscape interview.
Countries in the Pacific Rim receive approximately 28 per cent of Canada’s total global meat exports, Mattinson said.
And, this market may continue to grow.
In fact, Canada’s pork exports grew by 7.53 per cent from Sept. 2016 to Sept. 2017, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Many of the countries included in the proposed trade agreement contributed to this growth. Over the same period, exports increased by:
· 13.43 per cent to Japan
· 3.41 per cent to Mexico
· 50.07 per cent to Chile
· 21.09 per cent to New Zealand
“International trade and the ability to reach new and developing markets is vital to the continued growth of Ontario’s hog industry,” Eric Schwindt, chair of the Ontario Pork board of directors, said in a recent email to Farms.com.
“Ontario pork producers currently export between 50 and 55 per cent of their products, with Japan (being) the second largest export market for Canadian hogs. A successful Trans-Pacific Partnership will increase access and remove barriers to trade with important and fast-growing markets on both sides of the Pacific.”


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International artist management company YMU has appointed former music agent Brad Pophal as head of Web3 and NFT for US Music.
Based in Los Angeles, Pophal will be responsible for developing and bolstering Web3 strategies and initiatives for the company's clients through NFT, the Metaverse and other partnerships.
Pophal will also work with the company's roster of music clients, which includes 3LAU, Steve Aoki, RAC, The Glitch Mob and Travis Barker.
YMU has launched several NFT drops in 2021, and has participated in a number of auctions via established auction houses such as Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christies.
Brad Pophal said: “I first heard about Bitcoin back in 2012 and in 2017 made my first investment. Since then, I have become an avid crypto investor and passionate NFT collector and have become fascinated by the possibilities Web3 can offer artists. YMU have always been industry leaders and are true pioneers in the Web3 & NFT space. I couldn’t be happier to be joining the team to help build upon this momentum.”
Matt Colon, global president of YMU Music, said: “When our clients entered the NFT community two years ago, we were hopeful this would be a new revenue stream. We had no idea however that it would completely revolutionise our business. Now firmly established as the leading management company in the Web3 and NFT space, the needs of the business demanded that we appoint an executive to manage the deal flow and expand our opportunities. Brad brings both knowledge and experience in the traditional music space as well as a deep understanding NFT, Web3 and blockchain.”


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US lime company, Mississippi Lime Co., has completed the purchase of Mercer Lime Co.’s hydrated lime business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Mercer Lime Co. has operations in Branchton, Pennsylvania, US, and has a “long history of producing high-quality lime to a variety of markets,” Mississippi Lime said in a statement.
The acquisition marks the continuation of Mississippi Lime’s strategy to become the “leading supplied of hydrated lime products and services in North America,” said Bill Ayers, President and CEO of Mississippi Lime.
“This addition will strengthen Mississippi Lime’s position in the industry and help better service the wide range of hydrated lime customers in the region.”
Mississippi Lime is based in St Louis, Missouri, with operations in twelve US states – including Pennsylvani after the Mercer acquisition.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/23062017/mississippi-lime-acquires-mercers-hydrated-lime-business/
Optimisation 2020 provides a unique online forum for cement industry professionals to hear first-hand from experts through a series of exclusive presentations from cement producers and industry experts.
The group moved into its new premises at the beginning of September. The move to the new building has been accompanied by a new VDZ brand identity which can be seen for example on the company’s website or various print media.


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By Markham Heid for Prevention.com
Your daily omega-3 supplement may be swimming with more than just fish oil. A new report from ConsumerLab.com, an independent tester of health and nutritional products, finds many omega-3 capsules don’t include all the nutrients they claim to, are loaded with extra fat, and are even contaminated with levels of carcinogens that exceed EPA standards.
“Our analysis found problems with roughly 31% of omega-3 supplements,” says Tod Cooperman, MD, president of ConsumerLab.com. Among the 35 products tested, four contained 20 to 30% less omega-3 than the label indicated, and one included spoiled fish oil. Another product that claimed just 1 milligram of fat actually contained 1,000 milligrams.
And it gets worse. “For the first time, we also found omega-3 products contaminated with PCBs,” says Dr. Cooperman. PCBs are man-made, carcinogenic compounds that are found in almost all fish products, and although every supplement tested contained some PCBs, two contained levels deemed unsafe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
But don’t toss your supplements out to sea just yet, says Dr. Cooperman.
More Reading from Prevention.com:
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Britain's appetite for food and drink rose in January despite an overall dip in retail sales indicating a continued shift in the U.K.'s consumption patterns.
U.K. retail sales fell 0.6 percent in January compared to the same period last year, according to new data from the British Retail Consortium and audit firm KPMG on Tuesday. Over the three months to January 2017, food sales were up 0.6 percent, fuelled by increased demand over Christmas and subsequent New Year health resolutions.
However, the festive period was less kind to retailers in the non-food sector, which saw sales rise just 0.2 percent on a like-for-like basis and 0.3 percent on a total basis, well below the 12-month total average growth of 0.8 percent.
Retailers were up against it this year, competing with a strong January 2016 in which sales were up 2.6 percent. Yet the figures released Tuesday point to the slowest growth during the festive period since 2009, predominately driven by "slowing sales in non-food sectors," noted Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, in a press release.
Paul Martin, U.K. head of retail at KPMG added: "With consumer price inflation beginning to kick-in alongside retailers' costs also rising, the sector will need to continue to examine its cost-base as this will be a vital element of success in 2017."
Speaking to CNBC Tuesday, Henry Dixon, fund manager at investment manager GLG Partners, suggested the scale of supermarkets will go some way in enabling them to continue to offset inflation and hold prices flat going forward.
Inflation is predicted by the Bank of England to rise this year after sterling's dramatic fall following the Brexit vote, and amid oil prices fluctuations. The BRC report states that almost two-thirds (65 percent) of consumers expect food prices will have the biggest impact on their personal finances in the year ahead, outdoing energy bills (58 percent) and petrol prices (53 percent), suggesting the U.K. retail sector could continue to be squeezed by tighter purse strings in the months ahead.


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Prominent Toronto developer Peter Freed, known for partnering with top designers on his condominium projects, is lauded on his website for crafting â€œa community of design-centric buildings.â€
This was the vision articulated in the marketing materials for Six50 King, which listed award-winning designer Munge Leung as part of the â€œdream teamâ€ that would create a â€œluxuriousâ€ new development â€œdrenched in designer detailsâ€ in the heart of the King West strip Freed helped to transform.
But in a $6.5-million lawsuit against Freed, condo owners at 650 King St. W. and the attached building at 95 Bathurst St. allege that Munge Leung did not, in fact, design Six50 King.
Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the units and common areas â€œwere built, designed and furnished without luxurious and high-end style finishes and furniture and in a materially different and inferior mannerâ€ than the developer had promised.
The owners are suing for misrepresentation, breach of contract, construction deficiencies and unjust enrichment, among other allegations. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
Critics say the case illustrates the lack of protection afforded to condo owners when developers' promises, made during pre-construction, fall through. The pre-construction phrase is often years ahead of the move-in date.
Officials at Freed, which recently announced a partnership with Chanelâ€™s Karl Lagerfeld to design the lobby in the Art Shoppe Lofts at Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave., declined to comment for this story.
In a statement, Danny Roth, a spokesman for the partnership group, said, â€œWhile we believe the claim is without merit, we also believe that it is not appropriate to discuss this through the media.â€
Tricon Capital, which â€œjointly developed Six50 King,â€ according to the lawsuit, is also listed as a defendant, and declined to comment.
Munge Leung is not named in the lawsuit. Kasia Chalas, a spokeswoman for the design firm, said in an email that, â€œthis matter has nothing to do with Munge Leung.â€
As of Tuesday, no statement of defence had been filed, according to lawyer David Shiller, who is representing the owners of Six50 Kingâ€™s approximately 200 units.
Condo board president Aaron Crangle, who moved into his two-bedroom unit in Six50 in fall 2012, says he wants to send a message to developers to â€œlive up to their end of the deal.â€
Strong demand for condos â€œshouldnâ€™t allow developers to wiggle out of doing what their representations were,â€ said Crangle, 46.
â€œThis is peopleâ€™s homes that they walk through every day. Shouldnâ€™t they have the sort of finishings that they expected from the developer?â€ he said.
Crangle, who bought his place in July 2007, said he was impressed by Freedâ€™s reputation in the King West area and the partnership with award-winning Canadian interior design firm Munge Leung.
â€œThe description of Munge Leung sounded incredible. We were excited about their involvement,â€ he said. â€œThatâ€™s the King West style that was emerging, and it sounded like a great fit.â€
The lawsuit alleges that Freed included Munge Leung in the marketing materials â€œto take advantage of . . . Munge Leungâ€™s world class reputation . . . in order to distinguish Six50 King from other condominium developments . . . and reinforce Freedâ€™s brand of â€˜design-based development.â€™â€
Under the Condominium Act, which is currently under review by the provincial government, developers must give buyers notice of any â€œmaterial changesâ€ to the agreement, to give buyers an opportunity to back out.
But Crangle alleges that didnâ€™t happen in this case. Instead, the condo owners discovered in June 2014 that Munge Leung allegedly did not design Six50 King, according to the lawsuit.
On a recent visit to the development, Crangle shook his head at the long, barren hallways with scuffed white walls and simple grey carpeting. The tile in the central courtyard is cracked, and he says the fountain had to be turned off because it was leaking into the underground parking garage.
â€œWe expected more,â€ he said.
By not hiring Munge Leung, the lawsuit alleges, Freed and Tricon â€œsaved the expense of retaining a high-end interior developer and delivered a lesser product.â€
Lawyer Ted Charney, who is currently representing condo owners in other disputes with developers, says this case is â€œa new twist on a recent theme.â€
â€œDevelopers promise the moon at the pre-construction stage using glossy advertising campaigns . . . and they take your dollars based on those promises,â€ he said.
Because these changes are often made years after the condo has been purchased, and the unit has appreciated, Charney believes owners should have other remedies available to them besides backing out of the purchase.
The condo owners at Six50 King, Crangle says, are simply interested in beautifying their homes. The damages sought, he says, are intended to cover the cost of iring Munge Leung â€œor another designer of equal calibreâ€ to bring the common areas and elevators up to the standard they were expecting.


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Will Virtual Reality Shape the Evolution of our Consciousness?
The Occulus Rift, a Virtual Reality headset financially backed to the tune of $2 billion by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, will hit stores some time in April. A Google headset will soon follow. And a Sony one. And another from HTC.
While this first crop of VR machines are designed primarily to play games, the shakers and movers in the I.T world are predicting that the emerging technology will not only fundamentally alter how we interact with each other, but also how we perceive the world and indeed ourselves. Continue reading “Digital Apes”


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Hi there, Don't forget to sign up now for free to personalize your watchlists and receive price alerts.
Modine Manufacturing Company (NYSE:MOD) Q1 2019 Earnings Conference Call August 2, 2018 9:00 AM ET Executives Kathleen Powers - Vice President, Treasurer, InvesRead full article
Modine (MOD) delivered earnings and revenue surprises of 13.89% and 2.53%, respectively, for the quarter ended June 2018. Do the numbers hold clues to what lies ahead for the stock?Read full article
Zurich, Switzerland – Sept 1, 2017 – On September 1, 2017 the MOD token is officially available in public crowdsale. In a private pre-sale, the token raisedRead full article
Modum.io's MOD Token is backed by a regulatory-driven business case for blockchain technology in the pharma supply chain.Read full article
Lykke, a Swiss Fintech company building a global marketplace on the blockchain, has agreed to advise on the initial token offering (ITO) of modum.io, a leading startup in the supply chain management sector.Read full article
Lykke has agreed to advise on the initial token offering (ITO) of modum.io, a leading startup in the supply chain management sector.Read full article


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The senior executives of cryptocurrency organisations have been severely and unexpectedly impacted by the drop of cryptocurrency prices, particularly bitcoin.
It will take some time before the harm caused by the cryptocurrency market fall can be quantified.
According to data provider CoinGecko, digital currency prices have fallen precipitously since their peak in November, wiping off roughly $2.4 trillion.
The most well-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has fallen almost 73% of its value since peaking at a record $69,077.44 on November 10.
In the sector, thousands of employment have been cut or frozen. The crypto industry, which has called for clear regulation, is now very much on the authorities' radar.
They interpret the cryptocurrency crisis as evidence that the existing financial system's stability is being threatened by the fledgling sector.
The CEOs and founders, who are frequently the same in the cryptocurrency industry, represent a different group of victims of the crypto meltdown, but they have received less attention.


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United Technologies moved its earnings report to today because of the storm and investors weren’t impressed. The industrial conglomerate’s earnings were in line, but revenue missed estimates. It also gave a downbeat profit and sales outlook citing the negative effects of a stronger dollar and pension discount rate headwinds. Shares initially dropped after the bell. Before the close, the stock fell one percent to $118.75.
Texas Instrument also failed to wow investors with its after-hours report. Fourth quarter results matched estimates and guidance for the current quarter was also in line. Shares were volatile after the release. Before the close shares were off by just a penny to close at $55.05.
D.R. Horton saw its revenue jump as it delivered more homes in its first quarter. On that, the home builder’s results beat on both the top and bottom lines. Shares popped 5.5 percent to $24.38.
Norfolk Southern’s revenue fell on lower coal shipments. The rail operator’s profits did manage to top estimates and it expects the solid U.S. economy to help business in 2015, but it still doesn’t know what the overall impact of lower energy prices will be. Shares were up one percent to $106.11.
MeadWestVaco & Rock Tenn
MeadWestVaco and Rock Tenn will combine in a deal that will combine in a deal that will create a company with about $16 billion in annual sales. MeadWestVaco’s shareholders will receive stock in the new company and Rock Tenn will have a choice of either cash or stock. Shares of MeadWestVaco surged 14 percent to $51.35. Shares of Rock Tenn were six percent higher, closing at $66.85.
Shares of Mattel tumbled after its CEO stepped down and the company warned that sales fell during the holiday quarter. One of the toy maker’s longtime board members will step up as interim CEO. Shares fell five percent to $26.64.


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Apple is already making an M3 chip, though the M2 is still very new to the silicon block, according to a new rumor.
Given that this is a surprisingly early time to hear about the M3, be skeptical of this one, although that said, it comes from one of the most trusted Apple leakers out there; Mark Gurman.
In Gurman’s latest newsletter (published in Bloomberg (opens in new tab)), he mentions that Apple is working on the M3, which theoretically should be finalized and inside Macs as early as next year. Apparently, the M3 is destined to be the engine for an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, as well as a 15-inch MacBook Air, along with a new all-in-one iMac (it doesn’t specify model size), all which are reportedly scheduled to be released in 2023.
There’s also mention of a 12-inch MacBook (also recent rumors, as you may remember), but it’s much more tentative as the laptop is reportedly still very early on in the development schedule. Of course, this is all speculation, so we should be careful about how much weight to lend to any of these potential new Macs.
creative block (opens in new tab) adds to this report pointing to more rumors of the rumor that an M3 chip is in development that will use TSMC’s 3nm process (N3), shifting a 5nm gear (as used by the new M2 and original M1 for that matter) .
We know that TSMC is scheduled to ramp up volume production of 3nm chips in the last quarter of 2022, so this is in line with the 2023 deadline for the M3 to be ready and shipped to new Macs.
The theory from some time ago – see The Information (opens in new tab) – is that Apple is working on a trio of M3 chips, which will be the base SoC, in addition to the Pro and Max (or equivalent) versions, with the processors potentially having up to 40 cores (not the vanilla M3, of course, but the potatoes spicy fries).
Analysis: How likely is an M3 SoC to arrive anytime soon?
It looks like the new M3 could be seriously powerful and, being built in 3nm, it will offer some key advantages in terms of substantially improving not only performance but power efficiency as well. Exciting stuff, no doubt, when playing the guessing game of how much power the M2’s successor might boast.
So what can we expect from Apple as the next step towards its own silicon? After the M2, there will presumably be the M2 Pro and M2 Max (assuming the standard of M1 releases is adhered to), and so we can guess that these chips will be released in late 2022. Apple plans to release a bunch of Macs – models MacBooks, Mac Mini and Mac Pro – with the M2 chip driving them).
For the M3 to come out in 2023, we’re obviously looking at Apple leaving the M2 in just a year.
Could this happen? It seems early to hear about the M3 and expectations that the SoC will be ready to debut on multiple Macs next year. Even if this is Apple’s plan – and we’d be careful to put too much stock on this idea at this point – the company could still hit gremlins and delays, whether that’s with producing chips or actually making the actual devices come to fruition.
We would do well to remember all the hiccups that have recently plagued Apple in terms of lockdowns in China and MacBook production. And let’s not forget that the just-released MacBook Air (M2, 2022) was supposed to come out late last year – or at least, the Vine certainly believes it was Apple’s intention to trigger this redesign considerably sooner than it actually did.
Despite petty doubts, we certainly wouldn’t rule out the M3 for next year. And if Apple’s plan is to debut a new generation of its own silicon each year, this pace of development and successively faster processors will certainly not hurt sales of the Macs these SoCs are hitting. heart of.
Through Gizmodo (opens in new tab)


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Verizon Wireless to Kill Unlimited LTE Data, Even for Grandfathered Users
May 16, 2012 4:25 PM
comment(s) - last by
Verizon won't make any new friends with its latest attack on unlimited data
It appears that the unlimited wireless data "gravy train" is fast coming to an end. No matter which wireless network you use in the United States, they all are looking for ways to cripple "unlimited" data either by cutting off the plans altogether or
throttling data after a certain gigabyte threshold is crossed
Verizon Wireless is the latest U.S. carrier to punch customers right between the eyes when it comes to unlimited data. The company is ending the practice of allowing customers on grandfathered, unlimited 3G plans to move to an unlimited 4G data plan when upgrading to a new LTE phone. Instead, those long-time Verizon Wireless customers will have to sign up for a new plan with data caps according to
Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo explained the move at the 40th J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, stating, "LTE is our anchor point for data share, so as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan, moving away from the unlimited world."
Shammo is hoping that customers won't mind being kicked off unlimited data plans once Verizon Wireless' family shared data plans launch this summer.
"Everyone will be on data share," Shammo added.
Unfortunately, the company has yet to announce pricing for the shared data plans. However, we have the feeling that customers will be getting a lot less for their money with a family shared data plan than they do with the current grandfathered, unlimited 3G/4G plans.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Already left them...
Dr of crap
Dr of crap
5/17/2012 8:28:43 AM
Don't mind over paying do you.
You paid the ETF and then paid FULL price for a phone!
Hope that SEXY new phone sleeps with you as well!
Oh, I have some lovely swamp land I'd like you to see!
RE: Already left them...
5/17/2012 9:52:38 PM
Uh no, I did a new contract with at&t so I got the phone at a discount. And yes, my galaxy note rubs me to sleep in bed and then mastubates me also, there is an app for that
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The Scandi airline’s CEO said the Irish carrier has ‘shown interest’ in it.
The Gulf airline put the extra service on ice due to ‘infrastructural issues’.
Lynk CEO Noel Ebbs also talks about learning to let people brainstorm freely.
Your Smile Direct lets people correct minor issues like tooth overcrowding from home.
The Cork-based Musgrave group has set out a vision for convenience retail in 2025.
Harvey Norman’s Irish boss said the story that e-commerce is killing physical stores is ‘fake news’.
Trade unionists objected to the IAG-owned carrier’s decision to enlist a third party for the service.
Fórsa appears to be on a collision course with the budget carrier as the parties try to hammer out a deal.
Tourism officials are worried that visitors think the city offers poor value for money.
Blaine Callard accused the media and technologists of spreading ‘a false narrative’.
But Joe Barrett says the industry practice of lodging appeals against rival developments is ‘unfortunate’.
Nearly 30 outlets will get a makeover by the end of this year.
MediaHQ and All Good Tales CEO Jack Murray also talks about quitting social media apps.
The retailer, which is little-known here, claims to sell more books than WH Smith.
Advocates say it will reduce consumption. Small firms argue it could prove detrimental for their business.
Leetha Industries is establishing a new operation called Red Seal Cups.
It’s hoped the Royal Canal Greenway will appeal to walking and cycling fans at home and abroad.
The semi-state that runs the port is looking to Denmark and Canada for inspiration.
The eight-year-old firm partnered with the whiskey giant on its ‘Caskmates’ project.
Credit unions topped the poll – Irish Water came in dead last.


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Purkeys announced it has developed a 100-amp charger that can charge up to eight batteries in nearly half the time of other chargers.
According to Purkeys, the PAC can charge these batteries while they remain in the vehicle. “The PAC pushes a lot of current into a battery pack without compromising the safety of the technician or the vehicle,” the company said. “Also, the user-friendly selection menu monitors the voltage to avoid overcharge.”
It can produce 100 amps of electricity for an extended period of time to charge lead acid or absorbed glass matt (AGM) batteries quickly, the company said. Purkey’s noted this is important because the amperage demand of AGM batteries is more than double a typical flooded cell battery’s demand.
“Technicians will enjoy the portable, easy-to-use, and powerful PAC,” the company added. “It is the ideal addition to any shop that services, maintains, or repairs any number of trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles.”


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It was hard to miss the news about Carnival Splendor going dead in the water off the coast of Mexico last week.
Shortly after leaving from Long Beach, Calif., with nearly 5,000 passengers and crew members for a cruise along the west coast of Mexico, a fire broke out inside one of six diesel-driven electric generators. For reasons yet to be determined, the fire caused the ship to lose all of its electric power, including the power to its propellers. The cruise line, following a new international protocol that says a structurally- sound ship is its own best lifeboat, chose to tow the passengers onboard back to the closest U.S. port : San Diego.
Before the 75-hour trip to San Diego was complete, we already knew Carnival’s plans of compensation for the stranded cruisers. The line fully refunded the cost of the cruise to everyone, nullified all onboard charges made the first night out including casino losses, drinks and gift shop purchases. Carnival booked and paid for flights home for everyone and offered hotel rooms and meals to those who wanted to stay in San Diego. Finally, they gave everyone a free future cruise credit equal to what they paid for this cruise.
Cruise line compensation is always at the discretion of the cruise line, and in this case, Carnival went further than I have ever seen a cruise line go in terms of compensation for a failed cruise. But I have also never seen a cruise fail quite so miserably. With that being said, it is very unlikely that any lawsuits will result of this mess and even less likely that one would be successful.
The terms of a cruise contract every passenger accepts with their cruise documents, whether they realize it or not, makes it tough to sue the companies. These days, especially with Carnival, most people get their cruise documents over the Internet from the cruise line’s Web site--much like checking in for an airline flight online. Cruisers check a box stipulating they have read, understood and accept the terms of the cruise contract.
That contract puts each passenger’s life and limbs in the hands of Carnival for the duration of the cruise. Whether there is a mechanical failure, natural disaster or any other crisis, the cruise line always reserves the right to “make the calls” to determine what will be done to fix the situation. In this case, the mechanical failure meant the cruise was cancelled and the next step was to get people home.
Civil attorneys specializing in maritime law are few and far between, most of them working in Miami due to venue restrictions by the top three cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL) that say all lawsuits must be filed within one year and in the state of Florida. Most of these attorneys cut their teeth working originally for the cruise lines and then switching sides. Earlier this week prominent private practice maritime attorney James Walker blogged “Three reasons why you will lose if you try to sue Carnival.”
First he says that there must be a personal injury, noting that “taking cold showers, smelling toilets that can't be flushed, eating Spam sandwiches in the dark or other similar "cruise from hell" stories are not compensable.”
Next, he notes that the cruise contract says “If the performance of the proposed voyage is hindered or prevented by . . . breakdown of the vessel . . . Carnival may cancel the proposed voyage without liability to refund passage money or fares paid in advance.”
Finally, he says “Carnival has already offered to refund the passengers' fare and travel expenses and a free cruise of equal value in the future. So if you are foolish enough to file suit (in Miami), you simply will not do any better than what is already being offered now.”
Carnival had a few conceptual options after becoming stranded, including abandoning ship or going to the closest port in Mexico, but the latest standards developed by the International Maritime Organization’s SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Agreement say that with the large capacity of passenger vessels, a ship is now considered its own best lifeboat.
Other ships were in the area and other ports were closer than San Diego, but the company decided that the safest thing to do to prevent exposure of even one person to unsafe conditions was to tow the ship back to the nearest U.S. port.
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard provided food, water and other assistance while it took two tug boats three days to get the ship to San Diego. Three more tugs were standing by just to navigate the tricky entrance to the J-shaped harbor.
The bad news for Carnival is its estimated loss of revenue for a total of nine cruises that will add up to about $.07 a share in the fourth quarter in 2010, and negligible in 2011.
The good news for Carnival is that this story generated enough positive press about the extraordinary action of the crewmembers onboard that the avid cruising public is now looking at the line in a new light.
I started writing about stock market investing for Motley Fool in 1995, but previously I worked aboard cruise ships. I co-founded CruiseMates.com, the first cruise travel guide on the Internet, in New York City in 1999. CruiseMates, still one the Web’s top cruise travel guides was acquired by Internet Brands (NASD: INET) in 2006. Once CEO, I am now the editor of CruiseMates.


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PHOTO | Rodrick Jackson
Hasta La Raiz, an annual fashion show the Latinx Student Organization hosts, is one of the primary attractions during the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on campus.
On Oct. 13, This year was the second year for Lesly Mendez, the president of the Latinx Student Organization, to serve as a host.
“Hasta La Raiz showcases the different traditional attire many Latin America countries have,” Mendez said.
In addition to celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, the fashion show is also a way to educate others about Latin American culture.
Mendez has enjoyed hosting the fashion show for the second year. “It has been great. I love seeing everyone enjoy the show and seeing how our members also enjoy their moments. It makes me happy to see others happy and live in their moment,” she said.
According to Mendez, all the work behind the scenes is not without its challenges but is also rewarding.
“It is stressful planning and putting everything together, but at the end of the day, all the hard work pays off.”
The fashion show also offered a special treat.
“The event’s highlight to me was seeing the quinceañera [dresses]. It means a lot to see people dress up and how happy they were just because some people didn’t have a quinceañera. They also had a small dance of what it looks like during a quinceañera, so showcasing that was a highlight for me,” Mendez said.
According to Mendez, planning for the event took about a month and a half.
“The process of preparing for this event was hectic. We wanted to showcase different things and be more prepared than last year. Unfortunately, this year we didn’t have a stage, and we had to quickly improvise on what our stage would look like the day of. Also, getting people to participate and model is one of our challenges just because some people either work or have class during those times,” she said.
Despite the confusion, Mendez decided to add a traditional dance into the mix.
“After all the confusion, this year we incorporated ‘Danza,’ which is an ancient ancestral Aztec dance. The dances were performed to celebrate seasonal changes and festivals,” Mendez said.
The organization’s upcoming events include movie nights, donation drives, Latinx dance nights, and food fundraisers. Mendez said she encourages students and faculty to attend these events.


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The question that comes to mind when you hear the words “Bitcoin” is: What is the price of Bitcoin in three years? The answer is a bit tricky to pin down, but there are several experts who give their predictions. Here are some of their thoughts. In three years, Bitcoin will likely hit $100K! What is your price prediction for Bitcoin in three years 2022? How much can it still grow?Read more in-depth cryptocurrency articles on this blog.
Despite recent predictions, experts are divided in their outlook. Some think that the price of Bitcoin will reach $318,000. According to Thomas Fitzpatrick, the global head of CitiFX Technicals, it will hit $318,000 by 2022. In his report, he compared the price of Bitcoin to the gold market in the 1970s. He also cited the acceleration of central bank money-printing since COVID-19 as a factor in his forecast.
The panel highlighted several areas in which Bitcoin will challenge traditional banks. For example, if staking a cryptocurrency is more advantageous than accruing interest, people will adopt it to circumvent sanctions against Russia. In addition, it will continue to challenge traditional banks and make its way around the world. And it will eventually replace fiat currencies in every country. It has also been speculated that Bitcoin will become a worldwide digital currency.
Experts are increasingly optimistic about the value of Bitcoin in three years. In April, they predicted $410,000, a figure that is less than twice the current price of $600,000. However, they’re more pessimistic about the price in five years. In fact, their predictions have lowered every single report since 2021, but are still well below their estimates for the price in 2030.


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100 new hires. That’s how many Emilia PC expects to add by the end of this year, all resulting from one step the beauty product manufacturer took roughly 12 months ago: attending Walmart’s Open Call for products that support American jobs.
That’s 100 people who can now choose local employment in De Kalb, Miss., a town of less than 1,000 where Emilia – one of the largest manufacturers of private label and contract health and beauty products in the world – chose to re-shore its merchandise from Israel.
Emilia PC’s decision is the kind of win we’re working hard to help make happen more often in the months ahead. When we pledged to buy an additional $250 billion in products made, assembled, sourced or grown in the U.S. through 2023, we recognized it was bold. But we’re committed to growing U.S. manufacturing and encouraging the creation of American jobs. Supported, in part, by two previously unprecedented events – our Open Call to suppliers and U.S. Manufacturing Summit – we’re on target to reach this goal.
On July 7 and 8, we’re going to make a good thing even better by bringing both of these events together under one roof. We’ll host the “Made in USA” Open Call and U.S. Manufacturing Summit, at the Walmart home office in Bentonville, Ark.
Hundreds of current and potential suppliers from across the country will be face to face with our buyers, pitching their products for the chance to get on shelves at Walmart, Sam’s Club and Walmart.com. Meanwhile, Walmart executives and industry experts will be making valuable connections with suppliers, state representatives and economic development organizations.
Separately, our Open Call and U.S. Manufacturing Summit events sparked countless success stories. Hugh and Nicole Jarratt of Jarratt Industries pitched their plastic taco plates, 1 million of which are now for sale on the shelves of Walmart stores across the country. What began for Luxurien International as an opportunity to sell its contemporary metal bands, camouflage rings and exotic wood jewelry on Walmart.com has grown to include 600 Walmart stores. Luxurien expects to hire an additional 35 employees in 2015 and will break ground on a state-of-the-art production facility near Salt Lake City. And these are just a few from a growing list of examples.
Imagine the possibilities with all of these relationships and opportunities now being hatched at the same time, under one roof. This is how business – and innovation – gets done.


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SHAKEY’S Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. (Spavi), the owner of the Shakey’s Pizza brand in the Philippines and in select parts of Asia and Australia, said it will add some 20 stores in the country this year after exceeding its expansion last year.
The company said in a statement it opened a total of 24 branches last year, or four more than the 20 branches it planned to open.
Meeting the 2018 target will bring its total Philippine store network to 228 at the end of this year, the company said.
“It has been a banner year for Shakey’s—our maiden year as a publicly listed company—as this is the fastest we’ve grown in terms of store network,” Shakey’s President Vicente Gregorio was quoted in a statement as saying. “We will continue to take advantage of the positive consumer sentiment in the Philippines, and hope to open even more stores, including those outside the typical first tier cities.”
Last year Spavi opened Shakey’s Pizza stores in provincial locations, including Iligan, Puerto Princesa, Antique, Gapan and Palo, Leyte, following the growing urbanization trend in these areas.
The company has also started to roll out redesigned interiors for its newer branches, which will take the American family casual dining concept to another level.
Spavi, which has been assigned a stock name Pizza at the stock exchange, recently reported that recurring net income for the first nine months of 2017 grew by 15 percent versus the comparable period last year. System-wide sales rose by 15 percent, as well, driven by same store-sales growth of 6 percent and an expanding local store network.
Apart from the Philippines, Spavi also owns the perpetual rights to the Shakey’s brand for the Middle East, Asia (excluding Japan and Malaysia), China, Australia and Oceania.


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Syro will drop Sept. 23 via Warp — just over a month away! That means we can probably expect to hear new Aphex music within the next few weeks.
The album cover art — which resembles the data-rich track list Richard D. James unveiled on Monday — is a thing of strange beauty. It lists various costs associated with promoting a record, from “Refreshments for NYC listening party” to “Outdoor postering in Berlin/Cologne/Hamburg and other cities” to “Postage costs for U.S. radio promotion rollout.” So when you buy Syro, you’ll know exactly what each cent you’re spending helps to pay for.
The cover art is accompanied by a bizarre, hilarious press release, which refers to James as “the most celebrated and influential electronic fartist” and “Phex Twinnipicks.” It also reveals that Syro (called “Syria” in the press release) will be available in “Triple vinyl, CD and digital formats…Bleep a very limited vinyl version you can register your interest in buying.” Got that?


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Is Spotify Seeking an IPO?
- 11th March 2014
- Innovation & Technology
Spotify’s decision to secure a $200 million credit facility has investors talking – but is the music streaming giant really considering an IPO? …
Swedish music streaming service Spotify, founded by entrepreneur and technologist Daniel Ek, has been raising eyebrows in recent weeks. Investors, record labels and tech companies alike have watched as it has positioned itself for a rumoured initial public offering (IPO).
Last week the company announced it had acquired The Echo Nest, a music intelligence service which uses a kind of machine learning technology to handle data about music that can then be used to provide recommendations to users for new music that is similar to their current preferences.
But now, Spotify has negotiated itself a $200 million (£120 million) supply of credit from lenders including JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs which has sent the online rumour mill into overdrive. Is one of the world’s most popular streaming services about to float on the stock exchange?
Spotify has never officially stated that it is headed towards an IPO, but it certainly appears that it is looking at going public. Zynga, Twitter and Facebook all secured credit facilities for themselves before they went public, and all had values in the billions. Donors are often willing to offer generous terms for high-potential companies, which is often because they are hoping to be chosen as underwriters in the event of a flotation.
Moreover, it would be a logical progression for a company which is known to be making a loss. If Spotify is to expand, it will need funds from external backers, and access to credit will encourage investor confidence. Its acquisition of The Echo Nest, which also supplies data to many of Spotify’s competitors, will strengthen its market position and put it in a much better position for growth.
Still, there’s another sense in which Spotify is following in the footsteps of the technology giants. Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram, Twitter’s acquisition of Vine and Google’s moves into venture capital all point to a similar pattern – tech companies are consolidating their own positions by getting stakes in their competition.
Spotify no doubt sees the acquisition of The Echo Nest as an important step towards improving its own recommendations and attracting new customers with a better service offering. But it’s also a step on the road to making itself every bit as indispensable in the world of music streaming as the other media and technology giants.
A study from data analytics firm Consumer Intelligence has highlighted the impact of technology failures in banking, with more than…


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The new leader at Research In Motion said on Monday seismic change was not needed at the BlackBerry maker, a declaration seized on by impatient investors who say Thorsten Heins has only 12 to 18 months to turn RIM around.
Takeover talk, swirling around RIM for months, picked up steam on Monday as Heins took the helm at a once-dominant company that now struggles to compete. But RIM’s shares tumbled more than 6 percent as investors wondered whether Heins could reverse RIM’s decline.
RIM’s co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie finally bowed to investor pressure and resigned on Saturday. The looming presence of the two men who engineered RIM’s rise has been seen as a big obstacle to a possible sale.
Even so, Heins said that option was not under consideration for now, and there was no need for drastic changes at the company, but rather a sharper focus on effective execution.
Shareholders and analysts have grown impatient in recent months and calls for Lazaridis and Balsillie to step aside have become louder. RIM has lost market share and market value after being comprehensively outplayed by the likes of Apple and Google.
“If Thorsten really believes that there are no changes to be made, he will be gone within 15 to 18 months. He will be a transitional CEO and this will be a transitional board,” said Jaguar CEO Vic Alboini, who leads an informal group of 16 RIM shareholders calling for a radical restructuring. The group holds a little less than 10 percent of RIM’s stock.
Lazaridis and Balsillie – two of RIM’s three largest shareholders with more than 5 percent each – will remain board members, while Lazaridis will also head a newly created innovation committee. Their new roles suggest continuity was a goal in the transition.
Critics have called for a new leader that can rejuvenate both the design and operational sides of the business or prepare it for sale to one of a raft of rumored buyers.
Heins, who joined RIM in 2007 and previously served as a chief operating officer, said during a conference call on Monday that he would hone the current strategy rather than abandon it.
“I don’t think that there is some drastic change needed. We are evolving … but this is not a seismic change,” Heins said.
Heins, a former Siemens AG executive, said that RIM, after its massive growth, needed to start operating like a mature business, not a startup.
“People may have been a little disheartened that he was defending the current RIM strategy,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum. “I think (investors) might have wanted to hear a mea culpa.”
“People would have been happier hearing ‘we are on the wrong path’,” he said. “We didn’t hear a lot of talk about change.”
Jaguar’s Alboini criticized the retention of Balsillie and Lazaridis on RIM’s board and called for several other board members to step down before the company’s mid-year annual meeting.
“If we’re wrong, prove us wrong,” Alboini said in an interview, referring to the group of shareholders who support his view. “This group is not going anywhere. This is just putting RIM in a position where it might be able to get back into the game. It’s early days.”
Barbara Stymiest, a former banking and exchange executive, will replace Lazaridis and Balsillie as the chair of the board. Stymiest, who has served as a board member for five years, is also viewed as an insider tainted by association with the old regime.
The new CEO’s immediate concerns are to generate sales of RIM’s current lineup of BlackBerry 7 touchscreen devices, deliver on a promised software upgrade for its PlayBook tablet computer by February, and rally RIM’s troops to launch the next-generation BlackBerry 10 phones later this year.
But even if Heins had a credible overall plan to foster change, some analysts question whether RIM had fallen too far behind its competitors to catch up.
Its existing product lineup has struggled to compete with Apple’s iPhone and iPad and the slew of large-screen and powerful devices from Samsung and other manufacturers using Google’s Android operating system. In North America particularly, RIM has haemorrhaged market share during a year marked by product delays and a botched launch of the PlayBook.
“If RIM’s going to grow in the U.S. … they have to have products better than the iPhone or Android,” said Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette. As of now, “they don’t have products that are competitive with those, let alone better.”
Analysts circled the calendars for an analyst day hosted by RIM in early May as the first opportunity for the new leader to lay out a detailed plan for reversing the decline.
The event “will now become the focal point to the unveiling of Thorsten’s vision,” CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood told Reuters. “The speed with which you make strategic changes and implement them is absolutely critical because the mobile phone business will not stand still.”
“If there are no meaningful signs of an imminent turnaround, then I think the spotlight will turn back on to the assets that RIM holds and who they might be attractive to,” he said.
NOKIA IN THE FRAME
In recent months, investors have seized on any rumor of a deal, whether with Amazon as reported by Reuters in December or with Samsung last week, as reason to celebrate.
Analysts have said that logical buyers for RIM also include fellow-struggler Nokia, perhaps with support from Microsoft, and Facebook which is increasingly pushing its content to users via their mobile phones.
If there is no obvious buyer, Heins has more immediate options to add value to the business.
RIM could license its software or integrate its email package, a strategy that many analysts and investors have thought the company might pursue. Heins said it would be wrong to focus on that option but he is still open to discussions.
“RIM have had big challenges in the past and they succeeded in moving from a corporate product to be also a consumer product, to get a foot in the consumer market and very few people expected them to do that,” consultant John Strand said.
“Now they have to reinvent themselves again.”
RIM’s U.S.-listed shares fell 6.8 percent to $15.86.


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Almosafer, the Kingdom’s leading omni-channel travel brand and the flagship brand of Seera Group’s Travel Unit, has released key insights and data into Saudi travellers’ preferences highlighting the top trends for the upcoming Eid travel season. Almosafer’s study examined consumers’ searches, bookings, and behaviour over the holy month of Ramadan compared to the same period pre-pandemic in 2019 and found healthy signs of travel as KSA travellers are keen to venture out and discover wholesome destinations as border restrictions ease or are eliminated regionally and globally.
Drilling down on Ramadan travel, Makkah emerged as the #1 destination for consumers in the Kingdom with over 50% of overall bookings, showing that religious tourism continues to gather pace and is recovering well from the pandemic and the new eased up government restrictions of Umrah has really encouraged more visits to Makkah.
Domestic city breaks also remained of interest with hotel bookings in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam increasing gradually placing these locations as the favourite destinations for travel within KSA and for our recently launched Chalets+ product it has seen a huge spike in bookings with more people having an appetite for alternative accommodations. With most travel restrictions being lifted during 2022, more Saudi travellers are venturing to travel abroad during Eid, as evidenced by travellers’ searches and behaviour. Among the most popular destinations for hotel bookings were Dubai, London, Sharm El Sheikh and Cairo, with the latter observing a sharp increase of 77% in bookings. Trending destinations for Eid in 2022 included Milan, Rome, Paris and Amsterdam with the latter two observing an increase in hotel bookings by 58% and 40% respectively for the Eid period with a 26% increase in flight bookings to Amsterdam. Among tropical destinations; Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives and Mauritius were top picks among Saudi consumers with Male (196% increase YoY), experiencing the highest number of bookings. Following the removal of restrictions to Thailand, Phuket and Bangkok surfaced as another destination of choice among Saudi travellers.
Consumers in the Kingdom have also begun travel planning for the summer with destinations such as Cairo, Dubai, Paris, London, Cannes, Monaco and Mykonos in high demand indicating a strong summer performance. Recently opened destinations such as Qatar and Bangkok were also experiencing resurgence in bookings following ease of restrictions and border reopenings.
Another key finding is the reduction of booking lead time from an average 25 days in 2019 to 17 days in 2022, which indicates a shorter planning horizon as consumers are quick to decide, plan and book travel following the prolonged restrictions and quarantine regulations of the past year. Commenting on the results, Muzzammil Ahussain, Executive Vice President, Consumer Travel at Seera Group said: " Since the pandemic began over two years, 2022’s Ramadan and Eid are the first with relatively limited travel restrictions. Following this exciting news, consumers have begun eagerly booking indicating that demand is back, which – we expect – will continue to surge throughout the summer period."


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Deep Kalra invests Rs 3 Cr in Dunzo as part of Series C funding
Hyperlocal task management app Dunzo has raised Rs 3 crore as a part of its Series C funding. Dunzo is looking to raise close to $30 million. Earlier investors - Google and Blume Ventures, participated in the round. New investors include - Milestone, and other HNIs.
Hyperlocal concierge app Dunzo has raised funding of Rs 3 crore from Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip Founder. This Rs 3 crore is a part of dunzo's $30 million Series C funding.
Last year, during the same time, Dunzo had raised its Series B funding of $12.3 million by Google, making it the search-engine giant's first investment in an Indian startup. From a WhatsApp-based model, this hyperlocal “task running” business evolved into a rudimentary app, and now has over 80 percent of its tasks run by machines and algorithms.
Dunzo was founded in 2015 by Kabeer Biswas, Ankur Aggarwal, Dalvir Suri, and Mukund Jha.
In October this year, Dunzo completed over one million transactions, and completes an average of 30,000 transactions everyday. Since the last fundraise it now has operations in Gurugram, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai. It has also piloted bike-taxi services in Gurugram.
The on-demand business is a tough one – the frequency of the business needs to be high, there needs to be a strong liquidity of demand and supply. An analyst, on condition of anonymity, had then said: “The product is great, the way the operations run is seamless, but the question arises in the scale.”
Dunzo currently claims to make Rs 25 off each transaction.
The space is rapidly expanding. Last week, Swiggy announced on its blog that the platform will now go beyond online food delivery with the launch of Swiggy Stores, where it offers customers the convenience of ordering anything from any store across the city.
Swiggy's model of Swiggy Stores is exactly like Dunzo's. Since its last fund raise of $1 billion in December 2018, Swiggy has been looking to further strengthen its tech efforts and focus on an AI-driven delivery platform for hyperlocal and on-demand delivery. Earlier this month, Swiggy had also announced its first technology-driven acquihire of Kint.io, a Bengaluru-based AI startup.


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FEHD continues to follow up on Taiwan "substandard lard" incident proactively
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) continued to proactively investigate the incident of "substandard lard" from Taiwan. A spokesman for the CFS today (September 11) said that the CFS will expand the scope of the criminal investigation on the suspected case of exporting contaminated lard by Globalway Corporation Limited (Globalway) to Taiwan. Besides, the CFS will step up surveillance on edible oil sold locally, to ensure safety of edible oil.
The spokesman said, "The CFS has all along been monitoring the quality of local edible oil to ensure that the oil meets legal requirements and is fit for consumption. In 2013, the CFS has taken, under the regular Food Surveillance Programme, some 450 edible oil samples for testing of chemicals including Benzo[a]pyrene, aflatoxins, peroxide value and metal contaminants. All samples were found to be satisfactory and met legal requirements. With regard to public concern over the safety of edible oil, the CFS will step up the inspection of edible oil in the coming year. It is expected that the number of samples will increase by at least 20 per cent over last year's."
Furthermore, according to the Food Business Regulations, any food businesses involving preparing and/or manufacturing food for sale for human consumption off the premises must obtain a food factory licence from the FEHD. The department conducts regular checks on the premises to ensure that the licensing conditions are observed and hygienic standards stipulated in the law are met. According to the records of the department, there are nine local premises which have obtained food factory licences from the FEHD to handle or manufacture edible oil. Nevertheless, none is involved in the business of manufacturing edible lard for human consumption.
The FEHD has all along been taking strict enforcement action in combatting unlicensed food business. Illegal production of edible oil would be banned should any be found.
Regarding the announcement made by the Taiwanese authorities today that official health certification documents are required for importation of edible oil products other than lard, the spokesman said should applications from local exporters be received, the Centre would contact the Taiwanese authorities to find out the requirements of health certification documents to provide relevant services.
The spokesman stressed that, according to the information provided by the Taiwanese authorities, no substandard lard has been detected to have entered the Hong Kong market so far. Members of the public who would like to secure a copy of the list of affected products can pay attention to the relevant information issued by the Hong Kong and Taiwanese authorities.
The CFS will continue to liaise with Taiwanese authorities closely, and to announce the latest developments in a timely manner through press releases and by uploading the information onto its website to facilitate the public in keeping track of the development of the incident. The overall investigation conducted by the CFS is still ongoing.
Ends/Thursday, September 11, 2014


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MELBOURNE: Owners are shattered after four businesses were destroyed when tobacconist in Melbourne’s south-east was the subject of a “nightmare” arson attack late last night.
The intruders were captured driving a silver four-wheel-drive utility with a canopy into Harbour Plaza, before they proceeded to smash the tobacconist’s shopfront with weapons.
One person was then seen running inside to pour accelerant into the shop before it was lit on fire.
The offenders then fled the scene in the vehicle.
The fire spread to nearby stores, burning out a neighboring Japanese restaurant, burger restaurant and beer and wine bar.
The tobacconist owner, Ali Sultan, was working late and left just minutes before the attack.
He told 9News the incident was a “nightmare” after he only opened the shop in recent months.
“We’re all numb.”
Smoke and water damage to the block at the shopping plaza is extensive and could take months to repair.
Businesses in the plaza that were still operable today were forced to do business outside, while industrial fans were brought to clear the smoke from the air.
Detectives have released images and CCTV of the ute and two people who may be able to assist with their enquiries.
Police said one person may have been injured in the blaze. No arrests have been made.


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I admit to having my doubts when Boston Dynamics announced it was getting into the already crowded warehouse/logistics field. One could certainly make the case that Stretch is a bit over-engineered and ultimately a bit of overkill for most situations. Keep in mind, the company’s Spot robot runs around $75,000, while no official pricing has been revealed for Handle’s robotic descendant.
That said, a second big firm has put down a sizable order for the ‘bots. It’s a strong vote of confidence for what is still a new system. New Jersey-based supply chain firm NFI has agreed to order $10 million worth of Stretches for its U.S. warehouses. The news follows an even larger $15 million deal between DHL and Boston Dynamics announced way back in January.
We talk plenty about warehouse staffing shortages on these pages, in reference to the incredible growth for logistics robots — and continued supply chain shortages are still a hot-button topic. The NFI/BD deal sits right in the middle, coupled with a push to bring more supply chain operations to North America.
Automation and robotics are inevitably going to be a large part of that conversation, going forward. With the backing of its parent company, Hyundai, Boston Dynamics looks well-positioned to tackle some loading and unloading needs for these factories. Certainly a pair of high-dollar deals out of the gate don’t hurt.
“We designed Stretch to automate box moving, an operationally and physically challenging task across warehouses,” Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said in a release tied to the news. “Demand for goods continues to rise, and robots like Stretch can help NFI alleviate some of the challenges associated with that surging demand. Stretch makes truck unloading a safer and more efficient task, and NFI can pass that efficiency along to its customers.”
Stretch is set to make its NFI debut at a Savannah, Georgia facility at some point in 2023, with the remainder of the rollout happening over subsequent years. Clothing retailers Gap and H&M have also signed up to deploy the robot.


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Wednesday January 29, 2020
Hotels and Resorts
Travel Agent Issues
Transat welcomes new Sales Manager – Ontario & Atlantic Canada
Transat has announced a new Sales Manager for Ontario & Atlantic Canada, effective today.
Laura Di Nardo and Kerry Sharpe join VoX International
Destination marketing and PR agency VoX International has announced two new hires.
Kevin Pohlmann joins WestJet’s Agency Sales team as a BDM
WestJet has a new BDM on its Agency Sales team.
Globus announces new BDM for Southwestern and Northern Ontario
Globus family of brands has welcomed Jennifer Zammit to its team as the new Business Development Manager for Southwestern and Northern Ontario.
TravelBrands’ new BDM has retail, wholesale experience
TravelBrands has announced Charlotte Antill as is new Business Development Manager for Ontario.
Globus’ Patrice Geske to retire next month
The Globus family of brands has announced that Patrice Geske, director of marketing and a 10-year employee, will be retiring at the end of June.
Hard Rock International has a new director of global travel industry sales
Hard Rock International has appointed Rachel Mecca as Director of Global Travel Industry Sales in the global sales and marketing department.
Two new sales team appointments for Globus
Eva Montenegro is the new BDM for Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley in B.C. for the Globus family of brands.
Accor names Heather McCrory as CEO, North & Central America
Accor has announced the appointment of Heather McCrory as CEO, North & Central America.
WestJet has a new BDM for Greater Toronto West, Northern ON
WestJet has named Andrei Losinski to its Agency Sales team as Business Development Manager, responsible for the territory of Greater Toronto West and Northern Ontario.
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