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The annual inflation rate in Lebanon, which is suffering from a severe economic crisis, has risen to the highest rate among all countries in the world, surpassing Zimbabwe and Venezuela, according to Sputnik.
The consumer price index in Lebanon rose by 137.8% from the previous year during August 2021, compared to 123.4% in July, according to data from the Lebanese Central Statistics Department, which is the highest inflation rate among all countries tracked by Bloomberg.
Consumer prices also increased by 10.25% from the previous month, while food prices increased by 20.82%.
Inflation in Lebanon has risen dramatically in the past two years as the country's financial and economic crisis spirals out of control, with politicians doing little to mitigate its impact.
The currency lost nearly 90% of its value and plunged three-quarters of the population into poverty, according to the agency. Lebanon defaulted on a $30 billion Eurobond last year.
In recent months, authorities have begun cutting subsidies, with most items now priced at the black market exchange rate, while the central bank has repeatedly warned the government against continuing cash out of cash.


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Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri to be based in Kings Cross offices, and will reportedly be seeking to hire more staff in the British capital
The head of popular photo-sharing app Instagram, Adam Mosseri, is to temporarily relocate to London later this year, as he seeks to increase its UK workforce.
According to the Guardian, Mosseri will move to the company’s offices in King’s Cross London, amid intense pressure from rivals such as TikTok, which has been downloaded more than three billion times according to analytics company Sensor Tower.
The development comes days after Instagram temporarily rolled back its shift to full-screen videos and recommended content, after celebrities made public their disapproval of the changes.
The company had been heavily promoting Reels – full-screen videos similar to those found on rival TikTok – by modifying its algorithm to insert popular Reels into users’ Instagram feeds.
And the company made it clear it planned to continue its shift toward full-screen videos and recommended content.
But it has backtracked for the time being, after users had complained they were seeing fewer images from accounts they followed, and were instead receiving “video after video from random pages I don’t follow”.
Celebrities Kylie Jenner and her half-sister Kim Kardashian joined in the criticism of the shift.
They both pleaded with parent Meta by sharing the “make Instagram Instagram again. (stop trying to be tiktok i just want to see cute photos of my friends.) Sincerely, everyone” message.
Now according to the Guardian, Instagram’s Mosseri will temporarily relocate to London.
“Given the global nature of his role, Adam will be temporarily based out of London later this year,” a Meta spokesperson told the Guardian.
“London is already Meta’s largest engineering hub outside of the US, with over 4,000 employees across our offices, including a dedicated Instagram product team with people focused on building long term solutions for creators,” the spokesperson added.
The 39-year-old will reportedly be seeking to hire more staff in London’s product team because it is cheaper to recruit tech professionals in London than in San Francisco, where the company is headquartered.
Instagram could also take advantage of changes to research and development tax credits that offer incentives for innovation, according to reports first appearing in the Financial Times.

domain: news


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Great Gerwig’s fantasy comedy film Barbie created quite a stir at both the box office and social media in July. Its clash with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is considered historic given trends on the internet. Starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, Barbie was released on July 21 in the US. After two months of its theatrical release, the film is all set to premiere on OTT.
However, Barbie will not just be released on one OTT platform but many. Yes, you read it right.
When and where to watch Barbie on OTT?
The box office-shattering film will premiere on September 12. Barbie will be available for purchase at $29.99 or for rent at $24.99 on multiple OTT platforms. It will be released on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV+, Vudu, and others. In India, Barbie will be made available by BMS Stream on the same date. Moreover, the 4K version of the film can be availed by pre-ordering for Rs 799 and can be rented for Rs 499, OTT Play reported.
Barbie box office report
Made on a total budget of $128-145 million, Greta Gerwig’s directorial earned $1.386 billion worldwide. The film clashed with Oppenheimer at the box office leading to the Barbenheimer trend on social media. Barbie also stars America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, and Kate MacKinnon in supporting roles.
Ahead of its release, Barbie triggered multiple controversies including the nine-dash line. Vietnam and The Philippines banned Barbie due to the child-like portrayal of the world map in the film. The Philippines also directed the makers to blur the nine-dash line, a maritime border running through the South China Sea set claimed by the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
Also Read: The Nun II Twitter Review: Netizen lauds Taissa Farmiga-starrer, calls it ‘better than the first film
Latest Web Series News


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(WRIC) — A crowdsourcing campaign has gained a lot of steam, raising more than $80,000 — nearly three times its $30,000 goal — since it launched on Kickstarter in November 2015.
The Hypnos Hoodie is a sweatshirt that inflates to turn into a pillow with just a few puffs of air. The hood contains a built-in tube for you to blow in, transforming the hoodie into a convenient and cozy napping space.
The Hypnos Hoodie is in its final days of fundraising on Kickstarter. Those who pledge $49 are allowed to essentially pre-order the standard pullover hoodie, which are estimated to arrive in March.


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Nokia Debuts Indoor Positioning System
While GPS and cellular tracking systems have opened up new ways to navigate our daily environments, the viability of the technology is often less than stellar when we find ourselves indoors or in dense urban areas—which is a lot of the time. Nokia has released a trial technology that allows users to pinpoint their location indoors inside the Kamppi Shopping Center in Helsinki. The service will present shoppers with their location inside the mall along with supplementary information about its stores, coupons, and the ability to share locations with friends via SMS. The service is currently limited to the Kamppi mall and only for users of Nokia’s S60 series, but its potential for a wider roll-out is vast. The unfamiliar interiors and structures we navigate through and around on a near-daily basis, often socially, are just waiting for devices that will intuitively open them up to us.


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Microsoft has officially announced that it is rolling out OTA updates for select Lumia smartphones in India to enable support for 4G LTE bands.
The company has said that the update is now being rolled out to the Lumia 1520, Lumia 1320, Lumia 1020, Lumia 930, Lumia 925, Lumia 920, Lumia 830, and Lumia 625 smartphones.
Users of these devices will receive a notifications informing them of the update or they can manually download it by heading to Settings > Phone update > Check for Update.
Once the update has been installed, users will have to enable 4G under the Mobile + SIM tab in the settings menu. Regardless to say, in order to use 4G data networks, the same will have to be enabled at the carrier’s end.
Nokia had equipped Lumia phones with penta-band LTE support, however, given the lack of 4G services in the country, the company had deactivated it. Now users of even entry-level Lumia devices such as the 625 will have access to high-speed internet.


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Land banking involves plots of land offered for sale, often online, with the promise of sizable returns when planning permission is approved for housing or other development. Yet often the land is located in areas protected from development by planning law.
The companies involved soon disappear with investors' money and as the firms are not protected by the Financial Services Authority, their funds are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
It is reasonable to assume that if you take out a mobile phone contract at £30 a month for 24 months that's exactly what you'll pay unless you exceed the tariff. Yet mobile phone providers have come under fire for a snag buried in the small print – a clause to allow mid-contract price rises.
Prices are rising by a median of 81p a month and 70% of consumers are completely unaware off this sneaky move, according to Tesco Mobile, so be sure to check any new contracts before you sign the dotted line.
Fraudsters recruit unknowing accomplices through email under the guise of offering employment, seeking a personal favour, or through internet shopping sites. The recruits are persuaded into receiving what are essentially fraudulent payments and then passing funds on.
The 'mules' are frequently offered a small financial incentive to encourage involvement and face difficulties in proving their innocence when the fraud is discovered.
The scams claim to offer people the chance to profit from carbon credits. Under regulations that permit businesses to emit a tonne of CO2 – the companies claim to offer investment in green projects like a forestry scheme or a solar panel project, which generates carbon credits that are then sold on to heavy industry.
A flashy brochure or website tells of a reliable 'government-backed' scheme which provides reliable returns for investors. Such a scheme doesn't exist however – a reality investors only discovered when they have parted with their cash and the company is untraceable. As with land banking, fraudulent companies are not covered by the FSA so victims have no course for recompense
Receiving an email from the taxman saying you are owed a payment may seem like a nice surprise, but it is actually from fraudsters trying to relieve you of your cash instead.
The emails provide a "click-through link" to a cloned replica of the HMRC website. The recipient is then asked to provide their credit or debit card details - all the information the criminals need to clear your account, and sell on your personal details.
Insurer Direct Line reported a hike in the number of 'crash for cash' scams last year – where fraudsters fake accidents by making unnecessary emergency stops at busy roundabouts or slip roads, forcing motorists to crash into them.
They then make bogus claims to the innocent motorist's insurer, often including fictitious injuries and passengers.
Learner drivers have been taken for ride by being unknowingly taught by trainee instructors. An investigation by the AA found up to 27,000 extra driving tests have been failed in the last year because one in 10 learner drivers are unwittingly taught by an instructor they do not know is learning on the job.
July saw the arrest of a Leicester postman who stole £46,686 worth of mail over two-and-a-half years. Yogeshbhai Patel, 38, was jailed for two years for stealing mail including 2,000 DVDs and 2,250 games along with CDs and other electrical equipment. He intercepting the valuable packages and spent the money on living a luxury lifestyle including helicopter rides and a trip to Las Vegas.
The Trading Standards Institute reported over 200 cases where elderly homeowners have been targeted by telephone cold callers, purporting to be from their energy supplier and offering energy saving devices which could cut their bills by 40%.
The TSI tested the devices in homes where owners had fallen for the scam, only to find they both failed to satisfy electrical safety standards or deliver any tangible energy savings.
Thermal cameras that track ATM pin numbers are the latest weapon in their arsenal and US scientists have warned it is the next threat for this form of crime. Researchers at the University of California at San Diego found that up to 45 seconds after a person types their pin code into an ATM machine or door entry pad the numbers and even the sequence are still readable by thermal cameras.


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Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:11:27 GMT
iPhone 6S camera rumored to feature 8 MP
While some smartphone manufacturers have adopted higher-res cameras for their flagship phones, Apple doesn't seem too keen on jumping on the high-res sensor bandwagon. Some believe that the upcoming iPhone 6S could feature a camera with a larger ...
Tue, 16 Dec 2014 07:25:54 GMT
MP: Lokayukta unearths assets worth Rs 20 crore from senior engineer's residence
Bhopal, Dec 16: In a raid conducted at residences and properties of state's senior Rural Engineering Services (RES) official SS Ali, the Lokayukta police in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Madhya Pradesh on Monday seized cash and assets estimated around Rs 20 ...
Mon, 15 Dec 2014 13:58:21 GMT
Lokayukta raids at MP engineer's premises leads to Rupees 20 crore assets
Times of India
In Indore, the RES executive engineer owned a house constructed on around 3000 sq ft area in Scheme 54 locality and two residential plots at Mahalaxmi Nagar and Tulsi Nagar. Raids at Indore also led to precious jewellery worth Rs 12 lakh, Rs one lakh ...


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LG Optimus LTE confirmed for Canada: exclusive on Bell, $629 off-contract
The impressive LG Optimus LTE first launched in Korea with the prospect of a launch in North America uncertain. Now, we're finally sure that it's arriving, but the first country to get it will be Canada and carrier Bell will have the exclusive rights to sell the 4.5-inch LTE smartphone initially. The off-contract price stands at 629 Canadian dollars, but a subsidy will also probably take place.
brings LG on par with other high-end offerings like the Samsung Galaxy S II from rivals like Samsung.So what's the LG Optimus LTE about? The handset finally
Under the hood, the Optimus LTE packs a serious punch – a dual-core 1.5GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM. On the back, there's an 8-megapixel camera capable of capturing 1080p footage. Now, hopefully all this means that the handset will also arrive stateside and the sooner the better.


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Ross D’Arcy, Ripple’s sales director, made comparisons between Ripple, a Blockchain-based payment protocol and SWIFT, a settlement system used by banks for cross border payments. According to D’Arcy, Ripple is designed to allow customers to send payments easily and faster just like sending an email or making a voice chat, reports a media outlet on January 18.
Ripple Competes With SWIFT For Faster Cross Border Payments
Ripple, a technology of Blockchain enables payments to be sent between banks in different countries, and so far, it has been competing with SWIFT. The latter has been adopted globally, and it is one of the most commonly used payment system employed by financial institutions. However, Ripple’s adoption rate is bringing about its popularity, and the actors behind the platform have made comments.
One of such is reportedly from Ross D’Arcy who said that Ripple’s aim, is to provide a platform which is easy to use and can process transactions speedily. In his opinion, this is a payment system that will be easy to use just like sending an email. Here, a customer will be notified that their payment has been sent after a few clicks and seconds.
In his own words;
3 clicks, 30 seconds, receive a confirmation that the end beneficiary has been paid. So as easy as we can do a voice chat or exchange emails, that’s exactly how we want the payment experience to be.
Ripple’s Shutdown Will Not Hinder the Transfer of Funds
Asides pointing out Ripple’s potential in delivering faster payments than SWIFT, the Sales director also said that the closure of the SWIFT’s business could affect its payments. Ripple, on the other hand, he says will still be able to process payments because these transactions are carried out over the internet and using its software. As such, a shutdown of the company will not stop customers from sending funds.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple in November had also hinted that Ripple might be taking over SWIFT. According to him, over 100 banks had signed up, and they are taking advantage of the Ripple platform. He also added that these financial institutions included some of the largest banks in the world which are also using SWIFT.
Alternatively, Swift’s messaging system is used by over 10,000 financial institutions across the world. BTCNN’s report from December 9 reveals that the company has made plans to launch a Global Payment Initiative service (GPI). Reportedly, the GPI aims to rival Blockchain and Fintech systems employed by Ripple, Transferwise, and JP Morgan.


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East Coast salmon processor poised to make big waves in the frozen seafood market through leading-edge product innovation and tasteful packaging execution —May 2018, Canadian Packaging
Build conveyors in real time with Dorner’s new 3D Preview.
As part of the 2018 Excellence in Flexography Awards by the FTA, TC Transcontinental won a total of eight awards, including the prestigious “Best of Show” award in the Web/Process/Film category for Transcontinental Robbie’s Post Fruity Pebbles / Cocoa Pebbles packages.
PolyOne offers chemically-compatible thermoplastic elastomers for brand owners and converters who create cosmetic packaging.
Developments in packaging sustainability and efficiency secure Amcor two 2018 Alufoil Trophies at the European Aluminium Foil Association awards.
The GravityTray captures dripping liquids in a separate bottom compartment.
Three Farmers Products, Cucina & Amore, Crickstart Food, and Tree Island Gourmet Yogurt are the big winners of 2018 SIAL Innovation grand prizes.
The Gluten Free Bar was awarded for its IntegraFlex collapsible cup packaging technology.
New augmented reality maintenance solution keyed to distribution centers providing real-time audio-visual connection to off-site support, helping customers decrease unplanned downtime and reduce service costs.
New packaging material effects will help brands attract shoppers’ attention.
A monthly look at some of the hits and misses in the packaging world from the viewpoint of Joe Public, Canadian Packaging magazine’s revolving columnists. From the March 2018 issue.
New droplet-shaped lightweight bottle from Krones.
Tekni-Plex granted a patent for the first-of-its-kind Sniff Seal technology that enables scent permeation through induction-sealed closure liner.
All data at hand with the IoT-gateway CPX-IoT from Festo.
New technology could be applied to paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food, according to the University of Cambridge.
Wins for Sustainability Packaging at the 2018 Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards competition.
Metal organic compounds produce a new class of glass, according to The Pennsylvania State University.
The Art Of Winning—January/February 2018, Canadian Packaging, PAC Connect 2018
NanoPack to present novel food packaging for extended food shelf life at the Anuga FoodTec trade show.
Cascades pulls a rabbit out of a hat with an irresistibly cute and adorable package design graphics created for its new national brand of household tissues
EVRYTHNG announce a QuickStart Online Tool for brands to connect consumer products to the Web with the standard GS1 identifier codes used in every barcode, enabling mass scale direct-to-consumer smartphone interaction and supporting an industry-wide initiative to web-enable trillions of barcoded products.
Future Brand and Proctor & Gamble take Best of Show.
A monthly look at some of the hits and misses in the packaging world from the viewpoint of Joe Public, Canadian Packaging magazine’s revolving columnists. From the January/February 2018 issue.
Kraft Heinz reignites breakfast with new offering that provides delicious, convenient and hot egg scramble in under two minutes.
Engineers at Iowa State University develop smart material that changes stiffness when twisted or bent.
New retail realities help drive accelerated global growth for retail-ready packaging solutions
Stoelzle Masnieres debuts its Quali Glass Coat 2.0, a new decoration process for glass bottles.
Based on Digimarc Barcode technology, SteathCode technology helps packaging become interactive.
The BOBST AluBond process provides high metal adhesion and surface energy levels through vacuum metallization.
Bottle for Nature’s Promise hand soap is produced on proprietary Amcor-built machine powered by LiquiForm.
Brand-owner PepsiCo says the different way men and women eat chips is the driving force behind creating new chip products for the female market.
CSAIL system uses custom ink and ultraviolet light to repeatedly change an object’s color.


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Confirmed the US company Google in the last year that all computers Chromebook that was released as of 2017, you will get full support for Google Play Store, which allows users of these computers to use Android apps on computers Chromebook their own despite the fact that these computers are running Chrome OS. Since then, the company Google issue support for Google Play Store for many computers Chromebook. And now it turns out that the Google Play Store will reach ten computers new Chromebook from different companies.
Many computers Chromebook that shipped now already come with the Google Play Store. This makes it easy for users to avoid extra steps and move directly to use Android apps on computers of their own.
In the past months, Google Inc great effort to bring the Google Play Store to computers, the Chromebook old. Of course, this process cost the company a lot of time but we have reached the stage I started a new batch of computers Chromebook get this the store.
Generally, some of the computers that got on the Google Play Store include Acer Chromebook 11 and the Acer Chromebook 15 and the Toshiba Chromebook 2, 2015 and the Dell Chromebook 13 Add to Haier Chromebook 11 C. anyway, the full list of computers Chromebook that I got on the Google Play Store you will find in the source link below. Will there also computers Chromebook other that you’ll get this store in the future.
The post support for Google Play Store up to ten computers Chromebook new appeared first on electronic.


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The Internet of Things (IoT) is on the rise. According to Statista, the number of IoT devices are expected to increase from 23.14 billion to 30.73 billion in 2020. By 2025, that number is expected to more than double to 75.44 billion.
Such projected growth highlights the need for organizations to harden their IoT devices. But are companies adequately prepared to meet the challenges of IoT security?
To answer that question, Gemalto surveyed 950 IT and business decision makers globally for its report, The State of IoT Security.
On the one hand, we found that many organizations consider IoT security to be a priority. Nearly a quarter of survey respondents said they think IoT security constitutes a secure foundation for offering new services, for example. That figure was down from 32 percent a year earlier. At the same time, nearly two-thirds (57 percent) of survey participants said that their organizations had adopted a security by design approach for creating their own IoT devices, while slightly less than that (46 percent) said they thought that security is the main consideration for their customers when choosing an IoT product or offering.
On the other hand, the international digital security company discovered that many companies are struggling against several challenges to adequately secure their IoT devices. Thirty-eight percent of companies admitted that they struggled to ensure data privacy when trying to secure their IoT products and services, for instance. Approximately a third (34 percent) of IT and business decision makers said that their employer struggles under the large amounts of data collected by IoT devices, while slightly less than that (31 percent) revealed that they struggle to balance security with the user experience.
These challenges have subsequently shaped organizations’ IoT security posture. With less than 14 percent of IoT budgets currently going towards security, it’s no surprise that less than two-thirds (59 percent) of respondents said their organization encrypts all of the data they capture or store via IoT. It’s also no wonder that companies have a difficult time detecting a security incident with respect to their IoT assets. Indeed, just forty-eight percent of survey respondents said that their organizations could detect when an IoT device had been breached.
Reflecting on the security gaps identified above, many IT and business decision makers do see a way forward for IoT security. A majority of respondents (59 percent) specifically said it’s “very important” that there be regulations in place regarding IoT security. The same percentage of survey participants said that those regulations should make clear who is responsible for securing data at each stage of its journey as well as identify what methods should be used for data storage. Sixty-percent of individuals also noted that IoT security providers and cloud service providers should be responsible for abiding by IoT security regulations when implemented, with nearly 80 percent of respondents vocalizing support for government intervention.
Interested in learning more about the state of IoT security? Download Gemalto’s report today.
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Enterprise Security – Gemalto blog authored by Jason Hart. Read the original post at: https://blog.gemalto.com/security/2019/01/15/nearly-half-of-organizations-cant-tell-if-their-iot-devices-were-breached-finds-study/


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Baby carriage, the new luxury baby wagon, is here to stay.
That’s according to the folks behind the brand.
The luxury wagon will be sold as a family car at the upcoming 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a source close to the project told CTV News.
The wagon will not be a full-fledged family vehicle.
The baby carriage is a companion to the baby carriage wagon.
Baby carriage, or the baby wagon as it’s known in Canada, was developed in conjunction with the family vehicle industry.
Its predecessor was a two-door sedan, which is now out of production.
The company behind the baby carriages said its name derives from the fact that it’s made for young children, not adults.
It’s also the name of a Canadian TV series that starred the character Baby Boomer in the 1950s.
The new baby carriage will be a “luxury baby carriage with a special purpose,” according to a release from the company.
The cab is expected to be available in 2019.
It’ll be a luxury wagon.
It’s been rumored for a while now that a new luxury car will come to the market this year, but the Cadillac CTS-V is still considered the gold standard for the market.
Cadillac has said it will launch a luxury crossover SUV, and that Cadillac plans to make a premium crossover SUV in 2018.
Cadillac CSE is scheduled to begin in early 2019.
If you’re a luxury car fan, the Cadillac S8, S8 Plus, and S8 sedan are among the top-selling luxury vehicles in the U.S.


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Fluid is the latest record label to come out of Manchester. ‘The style is going to be house, only more fluid than that,’ says Damyon Anderson-Garrity, art director at Influence Design Group. Anderson-Garrity was responsible for the branding and logo of the label, which has been set up by ‘two northern pop stars’, he says. The packaging is simplistic so it stands out against competitors, he adds. The droplet logo design also had to cater for the top-loader style record sleeve, rather than the standard side opening.
Design studio Start has created Folio, an online platform where the university’s 20,000 art and design students can upload their own work, and like and share other people’s.
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv has redesigned the tennis tournament’s logo, drawing inspiration from its existing flaming ball symbol.
Else creative director and partner Dave Dunlop traveled to Austin Texas to find out how designers are increasingly embracing socially responsible tech solutions, which have “inclusion and empowerment” at their
A new exhibition at the Lettering Arts Centre in Suffolk explores the design processes, personal collections and work of typography and graphics legend Wolpe, who designed the Albertus typeface and


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SILVERDALE, Wash. (NNS) -- Since July 2005, anyone trying to renew a regional vehicle decal has been able to do so online. The new process allows normal customers of Pass and I.D. to bypass lines and waiting times and conduct business with only a few clicks of the mouse.
Navy Region Northwest Webmaster Ray Mills developed the new program and said that within the next few months, all regions in the U.S. will be able to renew their respective regional vehicle stickers online. Currently, six Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) Regions are online. Navy Region Midwest came online in April, and Mid-Atlantic is expected to be online soon.
"When [Rear Adm. Len Hering] was commander, Navy Region Northwest, he wanted to decrease the wait times at the gates," said Mills. Now, for qualified members, "we just verify the data, so a system like this made perfect sense."
The site can be accessed by going to the local region Web page and clicking on the "Vehicle Decal Renewal" link on the left side of the page. Mills said that since the site began, his office has been receiving feedback from the users of the Web site and have begun implementing some of their requests.
"One person said they would like to receive an email confirmation saying they have successfully completed their registration," Mills said. "So now when you renew your decal online, you will get an email with all the pertinent information."
Wait times at Pass and I.D. have been up to two hours, so valuable man-hours have been lost. Since the Northwest region has gone to the Web, a number of other regions have followed suit. For Mills, the idea is to get everyone renewing their vehicle stickers on the Web, adding that man-hours will be saved by doing so, since using the system takes approximately 10 minutes.
"It avoids waiting and drive times," said Mills.
Security is always a concern when using the Internet; therefore, your full social security number is not a necessity to renew your decal. With this in mind, Mills said that soon, customers will be able to attain decals of the new naval region they are transferring to. Currently, the system allows you to edit your personal information such as your phone number or address, saving the customer from doing so at the Pass and I.D. office itself.
"The vision to improve our way of life in and around the Navy made this happen," Mills said. "With a total team effort here in the Northwest, we will continue to improve projects such as this one."
The regional online decal applications can be found at these URLs:
Region South https://www.pid.cnic.navy.mil/form2.asp?region=cnrs
Region Southwest https://www.pid.cnic.navy.mil/form2.asp?region=cnrsw
Region Hawaii https://www.pid.cnic.navy.mil/form2.asp?region=cnrh
Region Southeast https://www.pid.cnic.navy.mil/form2.asp?region=cnrse
Region Northwest https://www.pid.cnic.navy.mil/form2.asp?region=cnrnw
For more news from around the fleet, visit www.navy.mil.


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SOFTBANK VISION FUND
YouTube influencers, social media create millions of new day traders in India
Although most of the pandemic restrictions imposed in March in India have been lifted, the retail frenzy continues. Around 10 million new investing accounts, largely by retail investors, were opened in India last year.
FirstCry in talks to raise up to $200 million at nearly $2 billion valuation
FirstCry, which is in funding talks with TPG Growth, Premji Inve...
Japan shares extend gains to close at 30-year high on recovery hopes
The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix names were SoftBank Group Corp, up 4.15%, followed by Hoya Corp, up 3.79%.
Facebook-backed Meesho nears $250 million funding from SoftBank Vision Fund, others
The funding round may double Meesho's valuation to $2 billion — propelling the Facebook-backed startup into the coveted unicorn club.
SoftBank Vision Fund hires Microsoft's venture fund chief Nagraj Kashyap
SoftBank's Vision Fund has seen a number of recent changes among its senior roles after making a flurry of hires following its debut in 2017
SoftBank will have up to 20 IPOs a year: Son
After a record profit of $8 billion in the December quarter, Son said, “I want to have that kind of rhythm to list 10 or 20 companies per year. So we are going to a harvesting period from SoftBank Vision Fund 1 perspective and even from Vision Fund 2 perspective we have some sort of harvesting.”
SoftBank posts Q3 profit gain as Vision Fund rallies
The earnings mark a sea change from a year earlier when high profile misses such as the flopped IPO of office sharing firm WeWork and the Covid-19 pandemic forced CEO Masayoshi Son to sell down assets to stabilise his investing empire.
SoftBank posts Q3 profit gain of 20 times, beating estimates
During the third quarter net profit ballooned more than 20 times to 1.17 trillion yen ($11.09 billion). That compared with an estimate of 171 billion yen from four analysts polled by Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
OneWeb secures $260 million more from Softbank, Hughes Network
“The capital raised to date positions the company to be fully funded for its first-generation satellite fleet, totaling 648 satellites, by the end of 2022,” a statement released by OneWeb said on Friday.
SoftBank Vision Fund sells Uber shares worth $2 billion
SoftBank has invested heavily in ride-hailing platforms across the world in recent years, from Uber in the United States to Didi Chuxing in China, India's Ola and Singapore's Grab.
SoftBank Group sells Uber shares worth $2 billion
An affiliate of SoftBank's Vision Fund sold 38 million shares for $53.46 apiece, according to a US stock filing on Uber's website.
SoftBank Vision Fund will invest early; back enterprise, SaaS companies: Rajeev Misra
SoftBank Vision Fund may fund SaaS firm MindTickle; expects some portfolio firms to list next year
Rajeev Misra steps down from SoftBank group board along with three others
India-born Misra has been leading the charge of the $100 billion SoftBank Vision Fund, and was a part of the board since 2017 when the group started deploying capital in technology companies globally.
SoftBank, armed with billions in cash, joins blank check binge
SoftBank is now looking at ways to deploy the cash it’s raised, and has recently launched an asset management unit that’s putting money into public securities.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund plans to unveil a blank-check company
SoftBank’s experiments beyond its traditional expertise have spooked some investors, including earlier this year when the company traded billions in stock options.


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Consumers in China lead global trends, says research
Thursday 20 May 2010
A new report from Ericsson has suggested that China's consumers are set to lead the world in global communication trends.
The report, released by mobile phone giant Ericsson at the World Expo in Shanghai, says that Chinese consumers are moving towards an "enjoy life" mentality, curious about technology, and more mobile-phone centric than many other developed markets.
Indeed, Ericsson's figures suggest that 22 percent of urban Chinese will browse the internet on their mobile phones weekly during 2010, compared to 13 percent of Britons, 11 percent of Swedes and 17 percent of Americans (although the Western figures represent 2009).
Other mobile functions are also expected to boom.
Just 1 percent used mobile instant messaging in 2008 but at the beginning of 2010 usage shot up to 15 percent, according to the Ericsson ConsumerLab study.
Ericsson believes that China's flourishing youth market, as well as both the booming urban centers and rapidly-rising rural incomes, are now comparable to Western countries in terms of the takeup of advanced services.
That huge interest in new technology, combined with income growth, has made China the world's second largest luxury consumer market in the world, in turn driving other trends such as travel - 54 million Chinese tourists are expected to go overseas this year, up from 47 million last year.
With over 800 million mobile phone subscribers and an extra 8.8 million every month, perhaps the most surprising thing about all of this growth is the motivation - by far the biggest reason for using a mobile to access the internet was to "kill time."
Diving in at the deep end is no excuse for shirking the style stakes
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More than 175 viewers were online and muted when the call with Souvankham Thammavongsa was interrupted within minutes by a screeching noise and offensive images
Join the Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center for a series of lectures on how to take your business online!
On Wednesday, residents at several homes in a Kanata Lakes neighbourhood reported stolen packages from their front doors.
With so many people heading online to shop because of the COVID-19 pandemic, pivoting to a new reality has become more important than ever to succeed as a small business.
While they are not offering any numerical projections, FedEx Express Canada is expecting this holiday shopping season to be record breaking in their books.
Trexity CEO and co-founder Alok Ahuja says their rapid delivery service integrates easily with Shopify and other e-stores
Since creating a special section on its mobile app to house high-end fashions in September, the e-commerce giant has amassed just a handful of big brands.


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Bringing joy of the season to hundreds of kids
Celebration of seasonal giving takes place December 8th at Republic Nightclub
What began 14 years ago with a small group of Donnelly Group managers getting together a few weeks before Christmas to donate to those in need has grown into a Toy Drive which annually gathers over $40,000 worth of annual donations, a mountain of gifts for Vancouver kids, and a legendarily spirited holiday gala which is set to take place at 11pm Tuesday, December 8th at Republic Night Club.
Over the course of more than a dozen years of Toy Drives, Donnelly Group has collected almost half a million dollars in toys, hundreds of pounds of non perishable food items and has helped thousands of people get into the Christmas spirit by being part of Donnelly Group’s largest annual signature event.
It would be simple enough for Donnelly Group to write a cheque to the Salvation Army, but the Toy Drive is also builds holiday spirit and community by involving every one of the Donnelly Group’s more than 600 employees, each of whom is each gifted a $50 Toys-R-Us gift card. The GC is to be redeemed at the West Broadway Toys-R-Us location anytime from Saturday December 5th to Tuesday December 8th (until 7pm) so that the presents can be brought to the big party at Republic.
After their shopping trip, they bring their new, unwrapped toys to Republic Nightclub and enjoy some complimentary beverages, canapés and our favourite holiday soiree. The holiday season is about sharing and building community, so the Toy Drive has always been open to members of the public who want to be part of one of the biggest single donations that the Salvation Army receives each holiday season.
They are invited to purchase their own gifts and bring them (unwrapped) or to bring food items for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank which will be part of the event for the second year. Mark the calendar for December 8th and plan to be part of the 14th Annual Donnelly Group Toy Drive at Republic Nightclub at 958 Granville Street.


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Business to Business’ Tim Darnell profiles former CNN anchor Daryn Kagan (no link available)…
Where Kagan is now is head of a media company that, much like the publishers of Business to Business, owns content. www.DarynKagan.com went online nine months ago, and has led the former CNN anchor into a book deal as well as a current PBS documentary inspired by her Web site. “You can’t be just a Web site,” she says. “A media company is like a big salad bowl, owning content in all manner of forms.”
But the huge leap into entrepreneurship was made even wider for Kagan, who had never owned her own company and who, in her own words, “didn’t appreciate the creation of process.
“It was always someone else’s job to figure out the ‘how,’ as in how to do something,” she says. “When you’re on your own, there’s no one to lead you by the hand. When my Web site designer asked me if my Web site was going to use QuickTime or Flash, I thought, ‘What’re you asking me for?’ ”
Now, Kagan is in a groove, staffed by a freelance group of video photographers and editors, interns, a PR and ad group, as well as intellectual property attorneys. Her video library contains more than 140 videos that have appeared on her Web site, stories about inspirational people overcoming obstacles in life, all under the motto, “Show the World What’s Possible.” The strongest hits on the site occur at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.


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Pop-up hotels take glamping to another level and are starting to appear even in urban areas. Could this be a business opportunity for hotel brands?
With so much travel news breaking across the globe each month, it’s impossible for hoteliers to keep up. That’s why SiteMinder’s TrendTracker is here...
Each year brings new trends and wellness is one that is encompassing all parts of society. Here are the latest insights on wellness and travel.
SiteMinder's TrendTracker is here to keep you on top of the latest industry news and insights. Here are the statistics you might have missed in July...
A study conducted by Expedia Media Solutions has revealed some interesting trends about European travellers, especially on how markets in the region differ from each other.
The amount of breaking news and industry statistics that are revealed each month can get overwhelming. Catch up on the latest with SiteMinder's TrendTracker.
In this free SiteMinder guide, we look at the revenue opportunity for Italian hoteliers and top inbound travel markets to focus on in 2018.
A rise of robots has been spoken about for some time. Are we any closer to the reality where our meal or room service is delivered by an android?
Every month in the travel industry, new stats and developments are being unearthed. Don't miss any; keep up with SiteMinder's TrendTracker.
With global travel continuing to explode, rail transport could start to play a much larger role in the future of travel - and hotels.
There’s too much happening in the hospitality industry for hoteliers to keep up every month. Catch up on stats you might have missed in April...
Global travellers experience an entire journey online before they arrive at your hotel. Here are 17 stats detailing the modern digital habits of travellers.
20 surprising hospitality stats: What can your hotel learn?
Wellness travel is still on the rise with more travellers becoming proactive about their health and wellbeing. Here’s why and how you can promote it at your hotel.


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The tenth most visited NZ site in July with over 500,000 unique browsers…
Yup, that about sums it up doesn’t it!
Trade Me still dominates, with 2.8 million unique browsers and over 1 billion page impressions. That’s 64% of all recorded domestic page views! And they’re still hiring.
Meanwhile, according to latest figures there are now 1.5 million internet “subscribers” in New Zealand. Of these 59% are broadband users (I’m not sure what definition of broadband is used here, but we’ll take it as meaning not-dial-up).
So, while that has improved a lot in the last year (see my previous post: Broadband usage still under 50% from March 2007), that’s still a lot of dial-up users out there.
I wonder if iPhone users are counted as subscribers yet?
Usage stats from Neilsen Online, subscriber numbers from Statistics New Zealand via NZ Herald


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Popular new YouTube channel Gamingvid has compiled an absolutely epic video montage of Grand theft auto V Fails.
It’s one of the better GTA montages we’ve seen.
We reached out to Gamingvid for comment, but haven’t heard back yet.
watch the video:
According to their about page, Gamingvid strives to upload “epic gaming clips daily”.
It appears they’ve accomplished that.


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Everyone knows that Proton has been working hard to develop the upcoming Proton X50. Since January 2020, we have often seen spy photos of this SUV on social media.
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, February 19, 2020 /Neptune100/ — Everyone knows that Proton has been working hard to develop the upcoming Proton X50. Since January 2020, we have often seen spy photos of this SUV on social media.
According to reliable news from Wapcar, Proton X50 is likely to be launched in the market by the end of 2020. However, the delay in the launch of the Proton X70 may cause the X50 to be available in 2021.
In fact, people have been discussing for a longtime when Proton will launch its new B-Class SUV.
A couple months ago, Geely Automobile Holding Company (Geely’s parent company) announced that the company agrees that Geely Holding Group, which owns 49% of Proton Automobile, will transfer the production licenses of its three Geely cars to Proton Automobile. And the X70 will be the first model to be delegated.
In addition, Proton has invested RM 1.2 billion to upgrade its production facilities in Tanjung Malim to assemble the localized X70 CKD. Therefore, it can be surely guessed that the X50 will be launched as a locally assembled model in the first place, and it is not like the X70 that was fully imported first and then locally assembled.
Proton is also likely to launch one new model every year with the help of Geely Group.
It is basically certain that the Proton X50, which is going to be launched in 2020, is developed based on the Geely bingyue platform. And as a B-class SUV, its main competitors will be Honda HR-V, Peugeot 2008 and Mazda CX- 3.
The Proton X50’s engine configuration is going to be a 1.5-liter turbocharged petrol engine jointly developed with Volvo.
Wapcar.my is a one-stop digital automotive content platform aimed at consumers in the fast-growing South East Asia region. The mobile-centric platform is owned and operated by MOBILE VOYAGE MY SDN.BHD.
By leveraging on our market data-driven content and user-friendly shopping tools, we will help you to find, compare, and buy your next car.


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While most nutritional supplements appear to be safe, a lack of oversight for efficacy and safety should concern consumers, researchers say. File Photo by PublicDomainPictures
Jan. 2 (UPI) -- While the vast majority of over-the-counter nutritional and herbal supplements are safe -- unless they are consumed in large quantities -- not all of them deliver on their promised benefits.
Researchers say that the $40 billion-a-year dietary supplement industry, which covers "tens of thousands" of products, exists on the offer of some health benefit.
While many people believe they work, there is little beyond anecdotal evidence for their efficacy, experts say.
"When it comes to their health, everybody is looking for a silver bullet," Martin J. Ronis, a professor of pharmacology at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, told UPI. "And that silver bullet doesn't really exist."
Summary of supplements
The supplements label covers a broad range of products from vitamins -- like multivitamin, vitamin C and D tablets -- to herbal products like ginseng, touted for its energy-boosting benefits, and St. John's wort, billed as a natural anti-depressant. Melatonin is used as a sleep aid, and fish oil has been linked with improved heart health.
A wide array of herbal products with roots in Asian and Native American cultures, and supplements advertised on TV and sold online, also promise to help with weight loss and boost energy. An increasing number of CBD-based products have surged in use, particularly as states relax cannabis laws.
All of these products fall under the auspices of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which some experts believe provides inadequate oversight in terms of ingredients and safety and effectiveness.
The law effectively exempts many supplements from review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and some accuse the federal agency of being lax in exercising the enforcement power it does have.
"Unfortunately, there are several weaknesses in the [DSHEA] that prevent consumers from being able to trust that a product sold as an over-the-counter supplement is safe," Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard's Cambridge Health Alliance and co-author of a recently published commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine, told UPI.
"And this problem is amplified by the FDA not enforcing the law -- the agency permits products they know to be adulterated to remain on store shelves. Furthermore, the few times that FDA does try to remove adulterated products, their enforcement is inadequate and adulterated supplements continue to be widely available."
The power of pills
Not all supplements are bad, unsafe or ineffective.
Cohen said he routinely recommends vitamins and minerals for specific conditions, such as iron supplements for those who are anemic.
But Ronis noted that, with few exceptions, vitamin and mineral supplementation is rarely necessary in places like the United States because "most people here get sufficient amounts of them in their diet," assuming they have healthy, well-balanced eating habits.
Though many of these vitamins and minerals are found in foods, consuming more of them may not be good, Ronis said. He cited the extreme example of an August 2017 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which found that high doses of vitamin B6 and/or B12 actually increased the risk for lung cancer in men overall -- and even more in men who smoked.
Another example, said Peter Cogan, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Regis University in Denver, is prescription cannabidiol.
"Though not technically a dietary supplement according to federal definitions, yet treated like one by the states and possessed of all the attributes of any other herbal supplement, take a look at the side effects reported for prescription cannabidiol and compare them to those acknowledged by any vendor of CBD oil," Cogan said.
Cogan notes that CBD was marketed heavily before clinical trial results were known publicly, and the industry has continued to expand while acknowledging potential side effects, including sleep issues and increased risk for infection.
"What would we find if we subjected all dietary supplements to such assessments?" Cogan asked.
More scrutiny needed
Some supplement manufacturers have taken the step to bolster the credibility of their products by applying for, and receiving, USP certification of their composition.
USP, a non-profit that develops standards for drugs and other compounds, essentially certifies that these products contain the ingredients, and in the exact amounts, as noted on their labeling.
Ronis said this step is "better than nothing," but it doesn't provide the same assurances that large clinical trials testing the safety and effectiveness of these products in large populations of patients would.
"If a supplement is certified by a top-notch program it simply confirms that what is listed on the label is actually what is in the bottle," said Cohen, who added that he hopes Congress will address shortcomings in DSHEA when it returns from holiday recess. "No certification program, that I am aware of, provides consumers with assurance that the product works as advertised or that the product is safe."
So what should people looking into nutritional or herbal supplement do, particularly given that some of these products may provide health benefits?
"Talk to your doctor before taking anything," Ronis said. "Better yet, talk to a nutritionist who has expertise in supplements."


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According to a blog post by freelance publisher Charles Arthur that estimates tellurian smartphone sales total in Q4 final year, Sony has a tip normal offered cost (ASP) for a smartphones – usually behind Apple.
Average offered cost for a smartphone manufacturer represents a normal cost during that it sells a stream smartphone lineup.
In Q4 2014, Sony’s ASP was double as compared to that of LG and a graph between a dual widened over time. While a ASP of Apple smartphones were $691 (roughly Rs. 46,600), Sony’s smartphones had ASP of $422 (roughly Rs. 28,400), followed by HTC ($237, roughly Rs. 16,000), Samsung ($225, roughly Rs, 15,200), LG ($210, roughly Rs. 14,100), and Microsoft Mobile ($186, roughly Rs. 12,500).
The blog post (via Xperia Blog Net) suggests that Sony done an estimated normal of $26 distinction on any smartphone sold, $3 (roughly Rs. 200) some-more than what Samsung done from a smartphones. Apple unsurprisingly stays during tip with a $184 profit. On a other hand, LG, Microsoft Mobile and HTC indeed went in loss. While LG mislaid $3 on any phone sold, Microsoft and HTC mislaid $36 (roughly Rs. 2,400) and $38 (roughly Rs. 2,500) respectively.
The charts also mentioned that Sony was a usually Android OEM to see a ASP arise consistently. While HTC’s ASP is aloft than that of Samsung, it creates approach reduction increase than a South Korean tech giant. Pricing is pronounced to be a vital reason for HTC’s decline.
Citing Kantar Worldpanel ComTech date from Feb 2016, Arthur seeks to uncover how smartphone marketplace share is being redistributed in terms of patron upsurge between brands in a EU. Samsung is seen to be losing business to Huawei, BQ, Wiko, Alcatel, and Motorola, while Sony is seen to be losing business to Samsung, Alcatel, Wiko, Motorola, BQ and Huawei. HTC appears to be losing business to all a aforementioned brands including Sony and Samsung. LG on a other palm appears to be losing business to Alcatel, Wiko, Motorola, BQ and Huawei, though not Sony, HTC, or Samsung.
This entrance upheld by a Full-Text RSS use – if this is your calm and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, greatfully review a FAQ during fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.


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Ledger Wallet Offers ‘Free’ Money in Bitcoin Cash Update
July 24, 2017 by Evan Faggart 4 Comments
Popular hardware bitcoin wallet provider Ledger has offered its customers ‘free’ money in the form of a tool that will help users take advantage of a potential hard fork on August 1.
Also read: Wow, ‘Bitcoin Cash’ Is Already Worth Nearly $500 — in ChinaLedger Wants You to Profit From the Bitcoin Cash Fork Ledger Blue Wallet
In a blog post, Ledger explained that with the possibility of Bitcoin Cash (BCC) supporters forcing a hard fork on August 1, crypto traders have an opportunity to profit by using the fork to double their coin holdings.
If done correctly, Ledger said, a hard fork would result with users having an equal amount of coins on each blockchain, creating massive profit opportunities.
This scenario is similar to the Ethereum hard fork, when users doubled their money by having coins on both blockchains when the split to Ethereum Classic occured.
After going over the process of a chain split, how coins get doubled, and the best strategy for doubling coins, Ledger announced that it will soon roll out a tool to help Nano S and Blue wallet owners split their coins between Bitcoin and BCC.
Older generation wallet owners — such as the Nano and HW.1 — Ledger noted, will be able to split their coins using the ‘OP_RETURN strategy’ described in the blog post.What Is Bitcoin Cash?
Bitcoin Cash is name ViaBTC gave to tokens created by Bitcoin ABC, originally known as the User Activated Hard Fork (UAHF).
Bitmain founder Jihan Wu devised revealed the UAHF plan as a contingency against BIP 148, a proposal created by Core supporters that would force a soft fork as a measure to block SegWit2X activation on August 1.
Now, although SegWit2X has reached lock-in status, a handful of hard fork supporters have called for the implementation of BCC anyway.
As implied in its original name, BCC would hard fork the Bitcoin blockchain and create two competing coins. The supporters behind the respective coins would battle it out for market supremacy — decided by the dollar value of each coin.
Although Wu originated the BCC concept, mining pools owned by Bitmain have signaled their support for SegWit2X, which helped lock in the proposal for activation last week.
Will you try to profit from Bitcoin Cash? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Images via Kiplinger, Ledger


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If you live in a southern area of Santa Fe, you might notice your mail arriving even later than before.
Mail carriers have been ordered to start their shifts at 9 a.m. at the Pacheco Street post office, causing some to complain of working into the night and delivering items late to customers.
Carriers previously started work between 6 and 7 a.m., and now with the later start time, many find themselves working until 9 p.m.
That is leading to businesses receiving mailed checks too late to cash that day and other items they required during regular hours, said two carriers who didn’t want to be identified because they feared retaliation.
Because the Pacheco Street post office employs rural carriers, who are on a different contract than city postal workers, they are on a set salary and receive no additional pay for longer, later hours, they said.
Ellen O’Dowd, who knows some affected carriers and receives her mail through the Pacheco Street post office, said this policy change is “a thorn in the side” for everyone involved.
“The late start just kind of pushes everything later for everybody,” O’Dowd said. “It doesn’t make any sense, not for the employees or for the people of Santa Fe.”
A regional U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Denver declined to comment, saying each local office is in charge of its scheduling.
Union officials at the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, which represents Pacheco Street workers, also wouldn’t comment.
One of the unnamed workers said the post office manager imposed the later start time after a carrier demanded to be paid for the time he stood around as parcels were prepared for delivery.
That angered the manager, who imposed the mandatory 9 a.m. start time to prevent carriers from having such wait times, the worker said. But that’s punishing everyone for one worker complaining, he said.
Rural carriers in this office have a set wage, which is supposed to be based on volume, he said. So they’re paid the same, whether it takes them eight hours or 10 hours to deliver their loads, he said.
They also have received no hazardous duty pay during the coronavirus pandemic, as city postal workers do, he said. And each carrier’s volume has increased drastically since the U.S. Postal Service landed a contract to deliver Amazon parcels, the worker said.
He estimates he has gone from delivering 30 parcels a day to 200, with no pay raise for the longer days.
The managers are supposed to increase staffing, but they don’t so they can keep labor costs down, he said.
Ken Fajardo, president of the American Postal Workers Union’s Albuquerque branch, said rural carriers are more like contract workers.
“They are more salaried employees as opposed to an hourly rate, which are the city carriers,” he said.
Fajardo said parcel shipments, especially through Amazon, have increased exponentially during the pandemic, with more people ordering online instead of shopping at stores.
That’s resulted in mail carriers working harder, with longer days, he said.
“It’s like Christmas volume, but for the whole year,” Fajardo said.
O’Dowd said the higher volume of packages and the later start time means rural carriers are working at night in vehicles not equipped for them to work in the dark. And they get nothing for the additional hassle, she said.
“It’s been an eye-opener for me to learn about the post office,” O’Dowd said. “They don’t treat their employees very well.”


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By John R. Quain
- Jan 15, 2020
The Best Car Tech of CES 2020
This year's CES 2020 tech show was a much more muted affair than in (many) years past. There was no single killer product, and there was...
Follow John Quain on the journey to self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles at OntheRoadtoAutonomy.com


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Wall beds sold by Costco and Amazon are recalled after 1 death and dozens of injuries
About 129,000 wall beds sold online by Costco, Amazon and other retailers are being recalled after the furniture left one person dead and injuries were reported in 60 other incidents. The beds can detach from the wall and fall on people.
A 79-year-old woman died in 2018 after a wall bed fell on her and injured her spine, according to the news release from the CPSC and manufacturer.
Others have reported bruising, among other injuries, after the beds detached or hit them, the release said.
Costco, Amazon, Wayfair and Cymax sold the beds online from June 2014 through March 2022. They were priced between $1,650 and $2,200.
The recall affects a slew of models: Nebula, PUR, Versatile, Edge, Cielo, Audrea, Lumina, Orion and Novello Full and Queen Wall Beds.
Consumers should immediately stop using the beds, according to the release. Those who aren't sure if their bed needs to be reinstalled can get a free inspection.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Every three months, we’ve been providing updates on the state of things at the corner of Haight and Fillmore, site of a devastating fire on September 27th, 2011.
Today, your nine month update.
This week we checked in with Jay Lieberman from Meridian Management Group, the company that manages the building at 491-499 Haight. We were hoping Lieberman would provide some good news regarding the timeframe for the building’s reconstruction. Alas:
“I think you should count on 24 months before the building is ready to move back into. If it happens sooner it would be a positive. Hopefully it will
not take longer but I cannot make that commitment.”
It’s not immediately clear whether Lieberman means 24 months from the date of the fire or 24 months from now, i.e. September 2013 or June 2014. He also cited no reason for the project’s extended timeframe, which just three months ago was estimated to us as “a year to 15 months.” We’re seeking clarification and will update accordingly.
One other note: we’ve heard some chatter recently about Walgreens. Specifically, that another retailer might be taking its place at 499 Haight Street. The short answer is, we have nothing to report at the moment. A spokesman for that rumored other retailer told us they have nothing to announce about the location, and a spokesman for Walgreens said he would check and get back to us (though he hasn’t yet). As Lieberman told us, “until a lease is signed, money received and a store opens, nothing is final.” So, as of now, nothing to see here.
Finally, as for Three Twins and Estela’s, we’re told both intend to return to their Fillmore Street locations.
We’ll catch you in three months for your one-year update — unless of course some news crops up before then. Let’s hope it’s good.


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It’s hard to believe, but Street Fighter 4 has been around for seven years now, spanning an entire console generation with multiple iterations of the popular fighting game released to fans. With development now wrapped up after the launch of Ultra Street Fighter 4, attention has now turned to the upcoming PS4 and PC exclusive, Street Fighter 5.
While Capcom continues to slow-drip information about the next fighting game in the franchise, the development team on the project has begun to tease fans about what they can expect from the next iteration of the long running franchise. If hard-working producer Yoshinori Ono has his way, the game will exceed fan expectations.
In an interview with Edge Magazine, Ono provided a bit of insight into the development of Street Fighter 5, highlighting where the team is in the development phase. While normal gameplay tweaks are taking place, Capcom is focusing more on growing the existing fanbase by providing something unexpected and fresh for players to experience.
“We’ve been working on Street Fighter 4 for the past seven years now. There’s been a lot of rebalancing and so on, but the game is still going strong, even today.” says Ono to Edge. “All this means that, with Street Fighter 5, we have a fantastic opportunity to create something with a larger scope, a game that encompasses all that Street Fighter has become in the last few years, but which also expands on that to become something it has never been before as well.
So now we want to create something that nobody is expecting. It’s going to be a title that caters to fans, of course, but one that also invites completely new players onto the scene. Street Fighter 4 was about reviving a passion. Street Fighter 5 is about growing that passion.”
Ono then went on to compare the development cycles between Street Fighter 4 and this new entry. The producer remains a critical figure to the series, having a hand in many of the Street Fighter games since Street Fighter Alpha 3, but he has also unfortunately been subject to development-related stress in the past. With this new project underway, that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.
“I’ve worked on many different projects within Capcom, but in my career here, the greenlight process for Street Fighter 5 was comfortably the most straightforward. This game was probably a hundred times easier to get off the ground than the previous one,” he explains. “The passion around Street Fighter is currently such that the internal team within Capcom has been incredibly eager. There have been far fewer obstacles and far less stress.”
Considering how long this franchise has been running, and also the high number of recent re-releases of Street Fighter 4, hearing that the development team is highly enthusiastic about Street Fighter 5 is always a good sign. Still, there’s a lot gamers don’t know about the title outside of the initial gameplay reveal during the Capcom Cup back in December, so until more information is given, fans will have to take Ono at his word.
According to reports, development on Street Fighter 5 is still early, so it’s not terribly surprising that details such as modes and characters in the game have been few and far between up to this point. With only three confirmed fighters so far and not much else to go on, gamers should expect to hear and see a lot more about Street Fighter 5 during E3 this year.
Street Fighter 5 is expected to release sometime in 2016 for the PlayStation 4 and PC.
Source: Edge Magazine (via GamesRadar)


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Rich New York City families are taking their nannies to COVID-19 hotspots for the holidays, and some nannies fear they'll lose their jobs if they refuse to go
Wealthy families who drag their staff on holiday "need to lose their sense of entitlement and be less selfish," one nanny told the New York Post.
Inside 'ground zero' of Europe's coronavirus pandemic, the Austrian ski resort under investigation for spreading the coronavirus across 6 countries and allegedly trying to cover it up
On April 23, the local mayor ended the town's lockdown and pledged to cut back on Ischgl's infamous party culture.
2,500 tourists are joining a mass lawsuit after after hundreds of Europe's early coronavirus cases were traced to a single ski resort in Austria
Hundreds of coronavirus cases in Europe can be traced back to one ski resort in Austria. Many have responded to a call for a potential legal case.
What it's like to visit the 'Aspen of Japan,' where billionaires and actors dine on sushi in ski lodges and relax in natural hot springs on the side of an active volcano
Referred to as "The Aspen and St. Moritz of Japan," Niseko offers wealthy skiers four resorts to choose from, along with luxury chalets to call home.
It is unclear where funding for the resorts came from, or who can afford to vacation there.
Fireside Dining at the Deer Valley Resort serves melted raclette in Park City, Utah.
Go inside the North Korean ski field where South Korea will join the North for Winter Olympics training
The $30 million resort is too expensive for most local North Koreans to visit.
Trackers and dog teams are currently at the scene as well as two medical helicopters, according to local police.
Prices at ski resorts have risen in the past year, but this isn't stopping UK adults from wanting to book a winter getaway.
Running a ski resort isn't that different from working on Wall Street, after all.
It’s that time of year again! Time to unpack those dusty ski boots from the closet and hit the slopes.
Start 2016 off right.


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Anyway, popular consumer retail site Overstock.com just started
accepting bitcoins to purchase all sorts of home and electronic
goods. How did they do in their first day? Wired
took a look:
In its first 22 hours accepting the digital currency, Overstock
tells us, it accepted 800 orders in bitcoin, and they were worth a
total of about $126,000. The company nabbed $5,000 in bitcoin
orders in the first 30 minutes alone, and about $10,000 in the
first two hours. That’s not an enormous haul, but judging from the
company’s yearly revenue, it could be as much as 4 percent of its
average daily sales, and it shows there’s a vibrant bitcoin
community that’s interested not only in using the digital currency
as an investment, but in actually spending it. That will be crucial
to the future of this still very young technology.
Certainly, some just wanted to try out the new Overstock system.
Others wanted to show the company how pleased they were that it had
made the move. But all were uploading real funds, and many are
interested in regularly spending their bitcoins, not just hoarding
them in the hopes that their value with continue to rise.
Ben Doernberg, a 24-year from New York City, bought a screen
projector for his cell phone just after Overstock flipped the
bitcoin switch. “I wanted to express my appreciation to them for
stepping up,” he says. “[And] I thought I might be the first one to
buy from them, which would be cool.” But he aims to spend his
bitcoin more often, having invested in the digital currency since
May of last year.
Read the full story here.
Wired reports that one customer even used bitcoins to
purchase a $2,700 13-piece set of patio furniture. I wonder who
will be the first to furnish an entire home with goods purchased
with bitcoins, assuming that hasn’t already happened.
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Zoomark is set to curate ParkZoo, the pet industry trade show to be held at the Sokolniki Congress and Exhibition Center in Moscow from September 19–21, 2018.
The aim of the event is to offer the Russian pet food market an international overview of the industry. The event will host exhibitors from Europe and around the globe. The project is part of the international development strategy formulated by BolognaFiere, a European tradeshow exhibition center manager.
"We are delighted to enter into this partnership with BolognaFiere and Zoomark International and welcome Italian and foreign companies to Parkzoo,” said Natalia Morgunova, exhibition director of Artis Expo, the company that organizes ParkZoo.
Promopet is the company in charge of selling booth space and providing assistance to Italian and international exhibitors. Promopet is responsible for the operational management of Zoomark International in Italy.
After a period of recession, the Russian economy is now showing key signs of recovery, according to data processed by Zooinform. Between 2015 and 2016, the pet market registered a 8.4 percent increase in turnover, with a value of US$1,813 billion. Over the next five years (2017 to 2021) Zoomark expects to see an average annual growth of 10 percent, with a turnover of US$3,038 billion dollars.
Domestic pet food companies in Russia can now successfully compete with foreign producers in terms of product composition, according to Dmitry Trukhanov, brand manager of R-Trade, a Moscow-based manufacturer of pet food. In the last couple of decades, he said, Russian companies have obtained market experience and have good formulas, even operating in the budget market segment.
By Lindsay Beaton
Pet food safety is top-of-mind all along the production line, and everything from the ingredients to the equipment must offer solutions.
By Debbie Phillips-Donaldson
Many hours, efforts, dollars and brainpower go into pet food companies’ and regulatory bodies’ efforts to ensure that products on the market are safe and healthy for pets.


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HTC’s upcoming smartphone will be a productivity powerhouse. A new leak has revealed much of the specs on the purported HTC 11.
The leak on Chinese networking site Weibo revealed the smartphone to sport a 5.5-inch Quad HD display. The highlight is the RAM. It is the first smartphone with a massive 8GB RAM.
Further, you have a 256GB internal memory and a dual camera on the back. The primary cameras will consist of two 12-megapixel sensors and there will also be a 8-megapixel sensor on the front for selfies.
HTC has upped the ante by bringing the latest Snapdragon 835 processor. The battery will consist of 3,700 mAh with Qualcomm Quick Charging 4.0 technology. Besides these specs, we dont have much insight into the pricing or availability.
To recall the predecessor of the upcoming device, the HTC 10, it was unveiled in April 2016 and carried a price tag of $699. The device has a premium metal build and features a 5.2-inch QHD Super LCD 5 display.
Other specs include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 quad-core SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB storage. HTC 10 houses a 12MP UltraPixel 2 camera with BSI sensor, optical image stabilization and f/1.8 aperture. For selfies, it had a 5MP front-facing autofocus camera.
HTC also had brought a second model of the flagship during the launch, the HTC 10 Lifestyle, a cheaper version of the smartphone.


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In 2016, BMW turns 100 years old, and what would be better than to mark the occasion with a supercar capable of competing with Volkswagen’s Audi’s R8, and Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG? Rumors are getting louder as the date approaches, and it seems even more possible that we will greet the fresh new model. Although starting idea was to name this car M1, mostly because of the M1 Hommage concept car unveiled at the 2008 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, it seems like they had another idea so the title of this little project is going to be 2016 BMW M8, mostly thanks to the sharing of the same platform with the upcoming i8. Its lightweight design and specially adapted i8 gasoline powered engine will make it a vehicle of impressive performance.
2016 BMW M8: Specs, Engine
Although still a concept, based on what we heard so far, why not let imagination run loose? The platform of the 2016 BMW M8 is BMW’s i8 eco sports car. It’s not too much to expect a long “V” hood supported by the one fine scoop and big air intake and engine cooling. It can get a bit flashy with some laser-light technology and interesting headlights, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Since the structure could be made of lightweight material it could easily be that the 2016 BMW M8 will achieve the 2,760-pound target weight and have a top speed around 200 mph. And according to some rumors, with upgraded version of the M5’s direct-injected 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 it could easily have 640-670 horsepower. Although by the 2016 technology as we know it may be outdated, it is still pretty probable that the inside of this new BMW may resemble the current i8. We may expect it to seem more than similar to that central information display and instrument panel. Judging by the rumors, we will be able to recreate that feeling of a spacious leather seat, carbon-fiber cockpit we had in the famous i8.
2016 BMW M8: Price
If the 2016 BMW M8 makes it to production, it’s highly likely that it’ll be extremely limited. Estimates by the Car and Driver, the 2016 BMW M8 will be probably priced around $ 330,000, although other estimates place the price closer to $ 500,000. Since this is the first supercar from the blue-spinner crew since 1981 and, as the BMW announces, the supercar of the future, the price may not be too much for those who realize its potentials.


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Viking launching new cruises in Windsor-Detroit area
WINDSOR -- A major cruise ship company has announced voyages that include Windsor-Detroit.
Viking Cruises is revealing several Great Lakes expeditions that will set sail in 2022.
One of the newly announced voyages is an eight-day trip through Niagara and The Great Lakes, from Toronto to Milwaukee. The website describes scenes from “urban skylines to uninhabited islands” and “world-class cultural attractions in Detroit, Toronto and Milwaukee.”
Multiple sailing dates are set for April, May, June, July and September 2022. Inaugural pricing starts at $5,995 per person, with free airfare within North America.
Viking says in the last eight years, the company has introduced more than 60 new river cruise ships and six ocean cruise ships to become the largest small ship cruise line with a current fleet of 79 river and ocean vessels around the world. In 2020, Viking will also launch seven new river ships.


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The California Department of Public Health has developed an infant formula web page (also available in Spanish) to provide the latest information about the supply shortage and connect California families in need of formula to helpful resources.
The web page includes FAQs and resources for families and providers. It serves as a resource for local health departments, community-based organizations, and other related partners to help share messages on social media with an infant formula communications toolkit.
The recent Abbott Nutrition recall of certain powdered baby formulas has led to national shortages of major brands of formula. Supply chain problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are also impacting consumers in California and across the U.S. On May 16, Abbott and the federal government reached an agreement to reopen the Sturgis, Michigan,plant, but Abbott projects it could take six to eight weeks before formula from that plant is available on grocery shelves.


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December 14, 2018
Subject | 2019 Investment Outlook Series | Industry views | Institutional | Invesco | Macro views
- In the US, we believe peak levels of growth are behind us and expect to see slowing in the second half of 2019.
- Outside the US, there are also signs of softening growth.
- Inflation is likely to increase somewhat, but we do not believe that wage inflation will be significantly passed through to consumer prices in 2019.
In the US, we believe peak levels of growth are behind us, although we expect annual growth of around 2.75% to persist through the first half of 2019 before slowing. Fiscal stimulus is still having a positive effect on growth, but will likely wane in the second half of 2019. In addition, the positive financial tailwinds that have been driving the economy may turn more neutral as monetary policy continues to tighten. Therefore, while consumer spending will likely be additive to growth in the first half, as the boost from tax cuts winds down, the question is how much will the consumer want to spend thereafter? Consumption has grown at an unsustainably high level, in our view, over the last several quarters, driven by stronger consumer confidence and tax cuts. A meaningful slowdown in consumption could have negative implications for broader growth. These effects mean that risks to economic growth are higher in late 2019 than they have been in previous points in the cycle.Comments Off on Fixed income: Gauging the ripple effects of softening economic growth


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The Arunachal Pradesh government has allowed neighbourhood and standalone shops to reopen, officials said on Saturday.
The Capital Complex administration permitted shops in various residential areas and sectors in Itanagar to start functioning normally as it was before the imposition of the lockdown.
It directed that the shops would work with 50 percent staff strength and the standard operating procedures of social distancing, compulsory wearing of masks, personal hygiene, frequent cleaning of hands with sanitisers and soaps, avoidance of spitting in public places should be strictly followed by the shopkeepers and the customers.
The order comes a day after the Union Home Ministry said “all shops, including neighbourhood shops and standalone shops, shops in residential complexes, within the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities, registered under the Shops and Establishment Act of the respective State and UT” will be allowed to open during the lockdown.
Itanagar Deputy Commissioner Komkar Dulom issued a notification on Saturday imposing restrictions on malls, markets and shops along the NH-415, besides prohibiting sell of pan, gutkha and alcohol.
All bookstalls will open and function normally, besides electrical goods shops selling fans and all shops in rural areas of the capital, the order stated.
The activities would start with immediate effect, the DC added in his order.
Arunachal Pradesh has so far reported only one COVID-19 case.


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KNOW HIM? @DaltonPD is searching for a 'desperado' they say shoplifted a drill and an Eagles CD from Walmart. One of these nights, someone will call police and let them know who this outlaw man is.
Keurig Dr Pepper confirms it just bought this caffeinated sparkling water brand @BrewLimitless . Mostly in Walmart now. Caffeine is the latest seltzer iteration -- along with CBD. Even @CocaColaCos coming AHA will have two caffeinated flavors.
Walmart's CEO made 1,076 times their median employee last year. The Walton family makes $25,000 a minute. Don't tell me that they can't afford to pay a living wage. They choose not to out of greed. And together, that's the kind of greed we're going to end.
An emotional moment: Beto O’Rourke meets Sean Nixon, 20, a Walmart employee who was there at the time of the shooting and helped a child. O’Rourke asked if he was getting counseling, offered his personal cell number and said to call if he needs help.
Walmart, a great indicator as to how the U.S. is doing, just released outstanding numbers. Our Country, unlike others, is doing great! Don’t let the Fake News convince you otherwise.
He yodeled his way from Walmart to my show. You are not going to believe this kid. He is priceless.
Walmart has decided to stop running violent video game ads in their stores but will continue to sell guns.
"I just wanted to make her day special": Walmart cashier steps in to paint disabled woman's nails when salon refuses.


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Activision Blizzard Inc employees have had a range of differing and sometimes conflicting emotional responses to news this week that their company will be purchased by Microsoft Corp for US$69bil (RM288.78bil).
There has been trepidation about potential layoffs; optimism about Microsoft’s recent history of buying game companies and then leaving them alone; determination to fight for better wages and more worker protections.
But above all, more than a dozen employees across Activision Blizzard’s divisions say they’re relieved that something – anything – has actually happened that could fundamentally change the company’s course. Many people had been worried that the status quo would remain intact, and that was unacceptable.
Chief executive officer Bobby Kotick and his management team have dodged scandal after scandal, starting with a California lawsuit last summer alleging sexual harassment and discrimination. After the Wall Street Journal reported in November that Kotick was aware of the bad behaviour and even perpetrated some himself, the board publicly stood by him, leading to attrition and low morale across the video game publisher, which makes games such as Call Of Duty and Candy Crush Saga.
The fury toward Kotick empowered employees to criticise and mock him on social media, which was unprecedented for the typically reserved video game industry. More than 1,800 of the company’s 10,000 employees put their names on a petition calling for Kotick’s resignation, but by the end of 2021, it seemed like his 31-year reign as CEO would continue.
On Tuesday, everything changed. Once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard closes, Kotick is expected to exit, Bloomberg has reported. That news alone may be enough for the struggling publisher to retain some staff who were wavering, a sentiment expressed by most of the employees who talked to Bloomberg this week, who requested anonymity because they aren’t authorised to speak to the press.
Employees from Activision Blizzard’s various studios, from Treyarch in Santa Monica, California to Blizzard in Irvine and King in Stockholm, said they expected Phil Spencer, who was promoted to CEO of Microsoft Gaming, to be a stronger leader than Kotick. Several pointed to Microsoft’s successful acquisition of independent studios such as Double Fine Productions and Obsidian Entertainment, which have been mostly allowed to operate autonomously. Others said they were cautiously optimistic, but also upset that Kotick would still be in charge for at least the next six months. Microsoft said it expects the deal to close in its next fiscal year, which runs from July 2022 through June 2023.
Microsoft now inherits the cultural crisis that Activision has faced over the last year. Kotick noted, in a brief all-hands meeting with staff Thursday morning, that “Microsoft has been on its own journey to improve its workplace”, according to a transcript reviewed by Bloomberg. In fact, many of the problems within Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net division, which was known for rampant use of alcohol and bad behaviour, were caused by a group of people who had previously worked at Xbox.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Spencer both made assurances at the time of the announcement that creating an inclusive culture in gaming was a priority for the combined company. Kotick, who was publicly accused of threatening a subordinate and protecting a studio head accused of sexual harassment, has lost the trust of some of his staff to fix any cultural problems at Activision. Some employees believed he was responsible for many of them.
The acquisition may also be transformative for Activision Blizzard’s business strategy, another potential boost to morale. Under Kotick, the company released a new game in the blockbuster Call Of Duty franchise every year without fail, helping the series sell more than 400 million units. Churning out a new game every year led to brutal overtime for workers at companies such as Treyarch and Encino-based Infinity Ward.
High-level employees at Activision have discussed moving away from the annual release schedule, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Although nothing has been finalised yet, there’s a belief among many Call Of Duty developers that releasing games at a slower cadence will please players and help bolster the franchise, particularly after the weak launch of last year’s Call Of Duty Vanguard, which saw a 36% decline from 2020’s entry in UK sales charts. The shift may not happen until next year or later, as this year’s Call Of Duty is expected to redeem the franchise’s fortunes.
Slowing down the Call Of Duty release schedule may lighten developers’ intense workloads and could provide new opportunities for Activision’s gamemakers to work on other titles. The Blizzard division could also benefit culturally and strategically from the acquisition.
Activision has long followed a traditional business model, chasing big blockbusters such as Call Of Duty and Candy Crush while ditching franchises with less potential, such as StarCraft. Xbox takes a different approach due to its Game Pass, a Netflix-like subscription plan that allows users to pay a monthly fee for access to a large variety of games. Thanks to Game Pass, not every game needs to be a massive hit to be considered a success. Xbox’s strategy has been to fund and acquire a variety of eclectic titles that may help draw new subscribers.
Hundreds of people have left Blizzard in recent years and started new companies to make games that Blizzard wouldn’t consider. If Xbox offers more creative freedom to Blizzard employees, the exodus may slow.
But lots of questions linger. Several Activision Blizzard employees wondered if the acquisition would lead to job cuts, which Microsoft hasn’t addressed. Kotick said in the meeting that Microsoft “is committed to trying to retain as many of our people as possible”. Others said they wouldn’t be happy until the company paid fair salaries, particularly in departments such as quality assurance, where some say they don’t make a living wage. Testers at Activision’s Raven Software in Madison, Wisconsin have been on strike for a month and a half following job cuts last year, whom the company has so far ignored.
Some employees at Activision are still working to unionise, an effort that may take different shapes across the company, and one that the Microsoft acquisition hasn’t deterred.
In the Thursday meeting, Kotick didn’t acknowledge his role in Activision’s cultural crisis or say whether he would step down after the acquisition. He said there was “nothing more important to me, other than my children” than Activision Blizzard. “This is going to be a great journey,” he said. – Bloomberg


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We've heard various rumours about Sonar, the popular Windows DAW, coming to Mac down the years, but never anything concrete. The news that Cakewalk is to release a free Alpha version of Sonar OS X later this year, then, comes as something of a shock.
Shipping with a set of Cakewalk plugins and ProChannel modules, the Alpha build will be made available in order to gauge interest in a full Mac port.
"Ever since Sonar appeared, Apple users have been asking for a Mac version," says Cakewalk CTO Noel Borthwick. "We're excited to explore Sonar for OS X, and open up our award-winning Windows software to a brand new audience of music creators." Along with this free download, a dedicated forum will solicit feedback on the program and provide support."
Good news if you've been wanting to use Sonar on the Mac, then, but there's potentially something even better for PC users this summer. Cakewalk has also revealed that anyone who purchases or upgrades to Sonar Platinum between now and 31 August 2016 will get free lifetime updates of any future core features, enhancements and fixes. That means no paying for a new version ever again, it would seem.
Prices for this deal are $199 for anyone who owns Sonar Producer/Platinum (if you're already renewed your Sonar Platinum deal this year, the price will be $199 minus the amount you paid), $299 if you own Sonar Studio/Professional, $399 if you own Sonar Essential/Artist, and $499 if you're completely new to Sonar.
Finally, in a move that's also likely to please long-term users, Cakewalk has revealed that its development team will be putting the focus on Cakewalk's performance and stability. Slated enhancements include a new ripple editing function, 'load balancing' to allow loading more plugins without sacrificing speed, and updated comping and take management.
Find out more about all of these developments on the Cakewalk website.


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HONOLULU (KHON2) — If you’ve tried to get a rental car recently, you may have paid a lot more than you expected to — that is if you were able to get a car at all.
As spring break nears, experts are predicting an uptick in travel. If you have a trip planned you might run into problems if you don’t already have a reservation.
Get Hawaii’s latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You
It has been especially difficult to pick up a rental car on Kauai. Honolulu resident Jeffrey Kimoto said he has not been able to get a rental in three weeks.
“I have to go three out of four Saturdays a month to call and I checked Costco I checked Avis. I have a business account. They say there’s no cars available,” said Kimoto.
When he’s been lucky enough to get a car, Kimoto said he’s shelling out more money than he used to.
“They’re triple the price. They used to be $25 — $30 a day. Now it’s $90 to $125 a day,” said Kimoto.
Even if you do spot some cars in the lot, high demand has them reserved. Visitor arrivals have more than doubled in February compared to last year.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation (DOT) said they haven’t seen shortages on Oahu or Maui, which they say actually does more rentals than Honolulu.
The DOT added that the beginning of the pandemic caused many rental car companies to sell their fleet or leave them parked at Aloha Stadium. While cars were left there, batteries were taken out and the hot sun melted down windshield wiper blades.
“They didn’t know when they were going to come back and especially here in Hawaii, you can’t leave rental cars sitting empty and not used on the Aloha Stadium parking lot,” UH Travel Industry Management Professor Jerry Agrusa said. “It’s just not good for the car. We’re surrounded by salt air and saltwater and the sun and so on. So it’s just they had to get rid of them,”
A worldwide semiconductor chip shortage has made getting any car more difficult, so rental companies are having a tougher time getting their fleet back.
“They don’t buy 20 cars. They buy 20,000 at one time, and they usually get it at a discount,” Agrusa said. “It’s just like when we go to Costco we buy in 96 rolls of toilet paper we pay less than buying four rolls, and the difference is the car companies have a shortage now of manufacturing. So they don’t need to give the discount.”
So what can save people money when they’re taking a trip this spring? Agrusa recommends using person-to-person rental car services like Turo.
What’s going on around the globe. Find out in International News
“On the mainland, you’ll be paying more and you might want to consider looking at Turo there but here in Hawaii, where there is no other choice on the neighbor islands. That’s what I would be looking at,” said Agrusa.


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As the United States and the rest of the world begin rolling out doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, here’s everything you should know about the vaccine’s supply chain from procurement to distribution, to when you can expect to receive a dose.
Off to a Bumpy Start
As of the end of 2020, the U.S. had hoped to have 20 million individuals vaccinated. However, by January 5th, 2021, the count was only at some 4.8 million, not even a quarter of the way to the goal. This supply chain disruption is partly due to a lack of national, state, and local coordination as well as the complexity of vaccine storage—vaccines, must be kept at extremely cool temperatures. As a result, supply lines have reported shortages of dry ice.
Pfizer & Moderna Lead the Way
The FDA made large strides in the U.S. COVID-19 response by approving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations for emergency use in December 2020. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pfizer vaccine supply chain starts with raw materials from St. Louis, MO, and mRNA genes from Andover, MA which are then combined in a Pfizer facility in Kalamazoo, MI. On the other hand, production for Moderna takes place both domestically and abroad in Switzerland.
Further, the Pfizer vaccines are stored in vials that contain five doses each, which are then sorted into custom made containers that hold up to 195 vials. The complication with Pfizer is that the vaccines must be kept at -94° Fahrenheit and can only last up to five days once they begin thawing. Contrarily, Moderna vials hold 10 vaccinations each which are then placed into cartons that can hold up to 100 vaccines and can be stored at -4° Fahrenheit for up to six months.
The vaccines are shipped in specialized containers throughout the country across what are known as “cold chains” linked together by gene and therapy sites and augmented by clinical trial sites, which have the appropriate facilities needed for the extreme homeostasis of the vaccines. It’s important to note that certain states such as Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico have neither of these facilities, which further complicates vaccinations in those areas.
The last step once the vaccines have been shipped is to make sure the vaccines are used in a timely manner, and in a fashion that matches consumer preferences. While many states already have groups chosen for when they will be able to receive a vaccination with priority given to the immunocompromised and essential front-line workers, there is also the market side of things. Data shows that since the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine has begun, users have reported the largest increase in at-home / DIY vaccines, across all vaccination methods.
Questions Left Unanswered
One of the major questions supply chain leaders are still waiting to answer at this point is, will the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out make the same mistakes as vaccinations of the past, such as the H1N1 influenza vaccination. Supply chain leaders believe in order to avoid this, it’s critical to consider the amount of COVID-19 vaccine wastage, and the supply chains of other vaccines being contemporaneously shipped out with the COVID-19 vaccine, among other things.
If answering these complex questions about supply chain mitigation sounds appealing to you, apply today to the Foster MSCM program!