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According to a press release, increased production at the Pendleton facility will allow Dutchmen to meet its Western U.S. and Canadian dealer demand for Aspen Trail.
“This move will also provide additional product availability to our Eastern and Midwest dealers by shifting more production out of our Middlebury, Ind., facility,” said Aaron Young, Aspen Trail general manager. “The demand out West has been strong for Aspen Trail, and our Western dealers are excited about the commitment we’re making to them, as well as our mutual customers.”
Aspen Trail has shown rapid and steady growth since its inception. The line offers a broad offering of innovative floorplans, stylish, feature-rich interiors and affordable pricing, the company said.
Dutchmen Manufacturing Inc. has announced it will introduce the Aspen Trail line of travel trailers at the 48th Annual National RV Trade Show Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in Louisville, Ky.
Aspen Trail is an entirely new line of conventional construction travel trailers and will eventually include 15 floorplans ranging from 19 feet to 38 feet feet and will retail between $13,990 and $29,990, according to a news release. The product line is available from Dutchmen RV’s Indiana and West Coast production facilities.
According to Ryan Thwaits, product manager for Dutchmen RV, “Aspen Trail has a few twists to it that are new to the ‘stick and tin’ market. It includes innovative features at a terrific value. Aspen Trail has an aerodynamic fiberglass front, heated and enclosed underbelly, mega pass through storage, convertible dinettes, 60-inch-by-80-inch beds and full extension roller-bearing drawer guides just to name a few. Plus our contemporary interior décor is absolutely stunning. The dealers love the cherry glazed cabinets, wood plank ‘beau-flor’ flooring and the radius cabinetry.”
Thwaits added, “Dealers have been begging for an entry-level piece that has the look and features of products with a significantly higher price tag. We have achieved this with Aspen Trail and hit a price point that will lead the market.”
The Aspen Trail product line as can be seen at the Dutchmen display, South Wing Booth 1101 at the show. For more information contact the Aspen Trail sales team at (574) 537-0600.
Dutchmen RV is a division of Thor industries Inc. Dutchmen RV produces several brands of towable recreational vehicles that are sold throughout the United States and Canada. Dutchmen RV brands include the Denali, Infinity, Grand Junction, Aerolite, Kodiak, Voltage, Rubicon, Aspen Trail, Aerolite and Dutchmen brands. For more information on Dutchmen RV and its brands visit www.dutchmen.com.


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Since Foursquare made it big, an increasing number of location-based apps and services have been appearing on the scene. South Korea has its fair share of ‘clone’ apps and this concept can initially cause one to be skeptical of Juspot, which could just be another check-in app. On closer inspection, however, that description is unfair as this location-based app is an interesting new way for people to connect with one another.
Juspot is available for both the iPhone and Android and is produced by Korean startup ABLAR Company, but as yet it can only be used in Korean. The company was started by Chester Roh, who previously founded Tatter&Company — which was subsequently acquired by Google — and it aims to solve offline problems using online solutions.
While most other location apps are based on users letting each other know what venues they have visited, Juspot instead focuses on creating a platform for local communities to connect through locations.
Users post and share photos, experiences and information with others from their ‘Juspot Zone’, which are predetermined, popular areas which those of the same demographic are likely to frequent. Unlike Foursquare, which can be updated without using GPS or location confirmation, Juspot posts can only be made from inside a Juspot Zone and must be confirmed via the device’s location service.
Though the app’s user interface is similar to Path, Juspot is an open social-network that is more akin to Twitter. All posts are public and users are able to follow other ‘Juspoters’ and send private messages to each other. The most active and popular users are also shown in the ‘hot people’ and ‘hot posts’ section of the app.
One standout feature of Juspot is the ability to manipulate photos from directly inside the app before uploading them. As nearly all users prefer to upload photos in their posts, the tool is a popular function to make a simple photo look more attractive.
The company is yet to announce a profit model for Juspot, which remains in open-beta, however Roh explains that monetisation is not an immediate priority:
Too many startups simply concentrate on how they are going to earn profit. What startups need to focus on is who their customers are and how they intend to solve their cutomers’ problems.
Nevertheless, ABLAR Company expects that, once the app gains greater traction, it will develop an income stream working with businesses that feature inside Juspot Zones. The app is not yet available in English but that will change as an international marketing campaign is planned for next year, starting in New York.
The company is not just relying on Juspot, and the company is developing LogBook, a service targeted at cafes and restaurants who deal with a large number of reservations and customers.

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The Monterey Auctions have just closed again for another year, with results that are surprising.Four days of auctions took place this year with 1,277 classic vehicles on offer, and $317m changing hands.
These following results consist of what was witnessed by Hagerty during the live auctions but does not include any post-block sales not reported to us.
Most of the Big Lots Sold
Although the total sales were down by 6% from 2016, this was better than we had expected, pre-event, in large part thanks to the fact that most of the week’s biggest consignments successfully sold. Sell-through rate was 57% and median price was $90,200—both on par with 2016’s performance.
The auctions showed a buoyant high-end market (cars valued above $250,000 had the highest sell-through rate of any other segment this week) and an increase in the quality of cars offered (a nearly 10% increase in the number of cars Hagerty graded as “excellent”) that both bolstered sales. And of the 23 lots in Monterey 2017 that had been at another auction previously over the past 12 months, 70% were bid to higher amounts and the average high bid was 16% percent higher.
‘Modern Classics’ Led The Way
Cars from the 1980s and 1990s in general performed the best this week. Standout cars from Saturday in this category include RM Sotheby’s 1991 Ferrari F40 that sold for $1.54M and Gooding & Company’s 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Speedster that sold for $297,000. Ferrari Testarossas also did well by this measure, a change from recent auction experience, especially in the UK.
The second highest sale of the week was Friday’s record-setting $15.62M for a 1995 McLaren F1 and a pair of Ferrari F40s sold for approximately $1.5M each, which were both good sales.
Have Early Supercars Hit their Peak?
On the flip side, a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO from Bonhams received the lowest bid for the model since January 2014, and a 1988 Porsche 959 sold by Gooding went for $1.056M, or more than $250,000 less than it sold for last year.
Generally speaking, short-wheelbase (1964-68) Porsche 911s struggled to generate expected prices, while Turbo 930s also sold on the low side. Mercedes-Benz 190SLs, 1954-63 300SLs, and later 380SLs were also more likely than the rest of the cars offered this week to fall short of condition-appropriate prices. In broader terms, while top-tier cars did well, entry-level cars were slow to move.
Hagerty believes that at the moment the market favours buyers, but prices have stabilised for most models and those sellers who are realistic with their expectations are receiving fair prices. The ‘Enthusiast’ market is likely to remain buoyant as Monterey isn’t reflective of that market, and we expect ultra-high-end cars to continue to perform well. As for the big band of cars in the middle, results will vary.


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Ask any fleet manager what the biggest obstacles to widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption are, and an insufficient public charging infrastructure will invariably be one of the answers.
This covers a range of issues, such as the number of charge points, their speed of charge, and their interoperability. But how real is this concern?
“Access to public charging is certainly a perceived barrier,” says Helen Lees, head of electric vehicles at PSA Group in the UK. “But I think the reality is most EV drivers today don’t actually make that much use of public charging.
“If you look at some of the data that comes out of charge point companies, they tend to say that somewhere around 80% of charging is done at home and the other 20% is somewhere between work or destinations such as supermarket car parks or on-street.”
Analysis from KPMG suggests this will change in the next 20 years, with a significant proportion using charge points at ‘transient’ locations such as motorway service areas.
Its Mobility 2030 project says that in 2020, 70%-80% of the fleet cars taken home at night will be charged there, 12%-22% at destinations and workplaces and 3%-8% will be transient.
In 2040, this will have shifted to 45%-65% (home), 15%-20% (destinations) and 20-35% (transient).
It is clear that, as public infrastructure develops, it will play a key part in the success of EVs.
This is reflected by the huge amounts of money being spent to improve the infrastructure. For example, in autumn 2017, the Government announced the creation of a £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) to accelerate the roll-out of publicly-accessible charge points.
This makes £200m of public money – to be matched by private investment – available for all aspects of the charging infrastructure, including charge point equipment and grid enhancements.
“We want to ensure the lack of availability of charging infrastructure is not an excuse for people not buying vehicles,” says Philippa Eddie, commercial finance specialist, infrastructure and projects authority at HM Treasury. “We want to make sure range anxiety is not an issue.”
Last month, the Government allocated an additional £2.5m to fund more than 1,000 new charge points on residential streets.
Public charge point statistics from Zap-Map show that on August 23 there were 25,395 connectors split between 14,935 devices at 9,424 locations in the UK. Of these, 5,602 connectors were rapid chargers, split between 1,656 locations.
This is an increase of almost 50% compared with the number 12 months before (17,050), but Deloitte has warned that much more still needs to be done to meet demand.
Its recent analysis found the UK will need 28,000 new charge points to service an estimated seven million electric vehicles by 2030.
Delivering this infrastructure will cost some £1.6 billion between 2020 and 2030, suggests the research.
“At present, the EV charging industry is not profitable and it could take until 2023 when EVs make up at least 5% of vehicles in circulation that it becomes so,” says Mark Lillie, power and utilities leader at Deloitte.
“Therefore, companies looking to capitalise on this prospective boom will have to get into the market now but be prepared to wait for their returns.”
There is definitely no shortage of private sector companies willing to invest.
“The EV market is marching into the mainstream. Private companies are now seizing the EV investment opportunity,” says Ian Johnston, CEO of Engenie.
Last month, Engenie announced a £35m investment commitment to install more than 2,000 rapid charge points at accessible public sites including supermarkets and retail parks in the UK by 2024, while last year BP acquired Chargemaster, whose Polar network has more than 7,000 charge points, for £130m.
Other major expansion plans include those from Gridserve, which has announced a five-year, £1bn plan to install a network of more than 100 ‘electric forecourts’ around the UK, delivering ultra-fast charging, and Pod Point, which is installing 2,400 charge points at 600 Tesco stores.
However, while it seems concerns over the number of public charge points are being addressed, another issue is also proving a major obstacle: a lack of interoperability between different networks.
This means EV drivers may need to register on different apps and RFID (radio frequency identification) cards to use different companies’ charge points.
“The Government has allowed charge point companies to have proprietary networks that aren’t open source, that don’t do roaming and don’t offer interoperability,” says Lees.
“I think that is a fundamental mistake because it’s difficult for customers to understand.
“Realistically, today you have to plan in advance as to what charge point solutions you might need and download their app or apply for an RFID card for that company.
“If I want to charge at any point in London, I might need five different apps and/or two different RFID cards, and that’s just nonsensical.
“I need to be able to pitch up anywhere in the country without having to pre-plan with only a debit card in my hand and be able to buy electricity quickly, and we are not there yet.”
Catherine Hutt, mobility innovation lead at Addison Lee, which has just taken on five Audi e-trons on a six-month pilot project, agrees.
“The day I had to say to our chauffeurs ‘sorry guys, you are going to have to download about six different apps to go about your daily business’, my heart sank,” she says. “We cannot let this carry on, so, hopefully, we can all work together and sort this out because it’s not sustainable.”
Lees adds: “If the market doesn’t address it, the Government needs to legislate. It has got the powers to do so under the new Automated and Electric Vehicle Act 2018.”
Further to this, the Government last month outlined an ambition that all new vehicle rapid charge points should provide debit or credit card payment by spring 2020.
It expects industry to develop a roaming solution across the charging network, allowing EV drivers to use any public charge point through a single payment method.
Some networks already operate to this model, such as Instavolt, while BP Chargemaster has committed to introducing this facility on all new 50kW and 150kW chargers, as well as retrofit its existing UK-made chargers with the technology over the next 12 months.
Johnston adds: “From our perspective it is simple: there is only one solution that drivers will accept and demand going forward, and that’s the ability to use all chargers with a contactless bankcard or a mobile wallet.
“We have to remove the fear that exists today about public charging and we have to find innovative ways to collaborate across industries to make our networks truly open and truly wide.
“If we do all of this, I think we will be successful in helping drivers make the change to EVs.”
It’s not just the number of charge points – speed and location are important considerations
As well as the number of public charge points, their location and speed with which they charge vehicles will also be vital to support the expected growth in EVs.
Ian Johnston, CEO of Engenie, says: “The experience is critical, so the charging networks have to put chargers in locations that are convenient, in environments that are comfortable for drivers, and not just where the grid is.
“If you were to look at Zap-Map now, you will see more than 2,000 rapid chargers in the UK, but some of those are in dreadful places and I’ve been to some you wouldn’t want your worst enemies to spend time at.”
Faster charge points will also help the uptake of EVs. As the table shows, while a 7kW fast charger can add up to 30 miles’ range in an hour, the newer 150kW rapid chargers can supply up to 200 miles in the same time.


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AKRON (May 18, 2012)—Bridgestone Americas has renewed its corporate sponsorship and Pirelli Tire North America will be a supporting sponsor of the International Tire Exhibition & Conference next fall.
Both tire companies will be exhibitors at the Sept. 18-29 event, at Cleveland's International Exposition Center.
“Bridgestone Americas is very excited about the upcoming ITEC conference,” said Hank Hara, the Nashville, Tenn.-based tire maker's chief technology officer.
“With the conference expanding its mission to focus both on the manufacturing side as well as a product showcase for the aftermarket business, ITEC has become an important gathering for engineers, tire dealers and business leaders to discuss industry trends, see new products and learn about new technologies,” he said..
“We are excited to continue our support for the independent tire dealer who is the backbone of our industry,” said Tom Gravalos, Pirelli's vice president marketing, motorsports and original equipment sales.
There is no charge to visit the ITEC exhibit floor. The educational/conference fee is $50.
For more information, visit www.itec-tireshow.com.


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|By Business Wire||
|June 11, 2014 10:20 AM EDT||
Cartera Commerce, the leader of omni-channel marketing solutions that increase revenue and customer loyalty for merchants, has named Erin Warren as its senior vice president of marketing. In this new role, Warren will leverage her previous direct-to-consumer digital marketing experiences in the financial, technology and consumer goods industries to lead the company in its goal to make shopping more rewarding for consumers.
Prior to joining Cartera, Warren served as the chief marketing officer of CollegeWeekLive and lead teams at both Sallie Mae and UPromise. Her mix of financial and consumer marketing know-how will prove useful in this new role at Cartera, whose partners include the top three largest financial institutions, all five of the largest airlines and hundreds of merchant advertisers.
“Erin’s experience in the financial industry and her success with channel and digital, consumer marketing will enable a seamless transition to her new role within our team,” said Tom Beecher, president and CEO of Cartera Commerce. “As we continue to grow and provide new, innovative solutions to our marketing partners and their consumers, we’ll look to Erin’s expertise, leadership and energy – and her fresh perspective – to drive meaningful, multifaceted communications about those advancements.”
Warren has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northeastern University and a Master of Business Administration from Babson College. She was also a member of the 1994 and 1998 U.S. Winter Olympic Luge Team, and currently serves on the U.S. Luge Association’s Board of Directors.
“Cartera has a unique technology platform in a fast-moving industry, and our roster of merchant, FI and airline partners is nothing short of impressive,” said Warren. “As we continue to look for new ways to help make shopping more rewarding, I look forward to helping both our partners and their consumers better understand the value of these impactful online marketing and loyalty programs.”
About Cartera Commerce
Cartera Commerce delivers the industry’s most comprehensive, fully-managed, performance-based offer platform for card issuers, airline frequent flyer programs, loyalty programs and merchants. Cartera works with two of the top three largest financial institutions, all five of the largest airlines and hundreds of merchant advertisers to power personalized, omni-channel shopping and marketing programs that build consumer engagement and loyalty, maximize card spend and create new revenue streams. The Cartera offer platform delivers relevant offers via multiple digital marketing channels including website, online banking, email, mobile, and social media. The company is headquartered in Lexington, Mass. For more information, visit www.cartera.com.
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The buzz continues for cloud, data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) and their collective impact across all industries. But a new conversation is emerging - how do companies use industry disruption and technology enablers to lead in markets undergoing change, uncertainty and ambiguity? Organizations of all sizes need to evolve and transform, often under massive pressure, as industry lines blur and merge and traditional business models are assaulted and turned upside down. In this new da...
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Chris Van Tuin, Chief Technologist for the Western US at Red Hat, has over 20 years of experience in IT and Software. Since joining Red Hat in 2005, he has been architecting solutions for strategic customers and partners with a focus on emerging technologies including IaaS, PaaS, and DevOps. He started his career at Intel in IT and Managed Hosting followed by leadership roles in services and sales engineering at Loudcloud and Linux startups.
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly by extending current technologies, products and networks. By 2020, Cisco estimates there will be 50 billion connected devices. Gartner has forecast revenues of over $300 billion, just to IoT suppliers. Now is the time to figure out how you’ll make money – not just create innovative products. With hundreds of new products and companies jumping into the IoT fray every month, there’s no shortage of innovation. Despite this, McKinsey/VisionMobile data...
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Electric power utilities face relentless pressure on their financial performance, and reducing distribution grid losses is one of the last untapped opportunities to meet their business goals. Combining IoT-enabled sensors and cloud-based data analytics, utilities now are able to find, quantify and reduce losses faster – and with a smaller IT footprint. Solutions exist using Internet-enabled sensors deployed temporarily at strategic locations within the distribution grid to measure actual line lo...
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Today air travel is a minefield of delays, hassles and customer disappointment. Airlines struggle to revitalize the experience. GE and M2Mi will demonstrate practical examples of how IoT solutions are helping airlines bring back personalization, reduce trip time and improve reliability. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Shyam Varan Nath, Principal Architect with GE, and Dr. Sarah Cooper, M2Mi's VP Business Development and Engineering, will explore the IoT cloud-based platform technologies driv...
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There are many considerations when moving applications from on-premise to cloud. It is critical to understand the benefits and also challenges of this migration. A successful migration will result in lower Total Cost of Ownership, yet offer the same or higher level of robustness. Migration to cloud shifts computing resources from your data center, which can yield significant advantages provided that the cloud vendor an offer enterprise-grade quality for your application.
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In recent years, at least 40% of companies using cloud applications have experienced data loss. One of the best prevention against cloud data loss is backing up your cloud data. In his General Session at 17th Cloud Expo, Bryan Forrester, Senior Vice President of Sales at eFolder, will present how organizations can use eFolder Cloudfinder to automate backups of cloud application data. He will also demonstrate how easy it is to search and restore cloud application data using Cloudfinder.
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Marriott International has announced that it’s replacing tiny, single-use toiletry bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel in guestroom showers with larger, pump-topped bottles.
Making a contribution to mankind’s effort to reduce plastic waste, Marriott International has announced a new initiative to replace tiny bathrooms toiletries with larger bottles and reduce its use of plastic by 30% per year. Marriott’s expanded toiletry program is expected to prevent about 500 million tiny bottles annually from going to landfills — about 1.7 million pounds of plastic.
“Our guests are looking to us to make changes”
“This is our second global initiative aimed at reducing s…
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DENSO to Announce its North American Investment Plans At the 2013 North American International Auto Show PR Newswire Jan. 3 --Exhibiting Technologies that represent Everyday Confidence, Extraordinary Safety-- SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – At this year's North American International Auto Show, global automotive supplier DENSO will showcase its technologies that bolster fuel economy, improve safety, and connect people, cars and society. Also, DENSO will hold a news conference to announce its North American investment plans on Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 7:35 a.m. at its booth on the main exhibit floor. DENSO's 2013 NAIAS PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS DENSO International America, Inc. (DIAM), premier sponsor of the WHAT: North American International Auto Show, will announce its investment plans in North America. WHO: Terry Helgesen, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations at DENSO International America, Inc. Jack Helmboldt, Corporate Senior Director of DENSO Corporation and Senior Vice President of DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 7:35 a.m. WHERE: DENSO booth, Detroit Hall, Cobo Center QUESTIONS & INTERVIEW SCHEDULING: If you would like to RSVP or schedule an interview with DENSO executives, please contact Janine Krasicky at 248-542-3991 or firstname.lastname@example.org Janine Krasicky J9 Media Solutions Phone: 248-542-3991 Email: Janine@j9media.com Bridgette LaRose DENSO International America, Inc. Phone: 248-372-8266 Email: email@example.com /PRNewswire -- Jan. 3, 2013/ SOURCE DENSO International America, Inc.
DENSO to Announce its North American Investment Plans At the 2013 North American International Auto Show
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HPE published its third quarter financial results Tuesday, beating market expectations.
The company reported Q3 non-GAAP earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $8.2 billion.
Wall Street was looking for third quarter non-GAAP earnings of 26 cents a share on $7.49 billion in revenue.
"The results of the third quarter are an encouraging sign of the progress we are making," HPE CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement. "With better execution we drove overall revenue growth, exceeded our EPS targets and improved our operating margins sequentially, all while completing the spin-merge of our Software business. There's more work to do, but we are on the right track."
Enterprise Group revenue was $6.8 billion, up 3 percent year-over- year. Within that segment, Servers revenue was down 1 percent, while Storage revenue was up 11 percent. Networking revenue was up 16 percent, and Technology Services revenue was up 1 percent.
Software revenue was $718 million, down 3 percent year-over-year. Within that, License revenue was up 2 percent, Support revenue was down 2 percent, Professional Services revenue was down 23 percent, and Software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue was up 7 percent.
Financial Services revenue was $897 million, up 10 percent year-over-year.
Analyst Patrick Moorhead, founder of Moor Insights & Strategy, said that HPE had a good quarter "right when they needed it." One concern, he noted, would be the 1 percent decline in server revenue -- traditionally a strong point for HPE, but not in the few quarters.
"The last two quarters of server declines can be attributed from not taking high revenue- low margin public cloud business and this is still the hangover from that as HPE reported that non Tier 1 server sales were up 12 percent," he said.
While the server business was slightly down, Whitman said on a conference call on Tuesday that HPE is "cautiously optimistic about our server business." The business has improved, she said, in part because of better execution, particularly in the Americas, well as as a stronger portfolio.
HPE, she said, has worked hard to pivot to faster growing, more profitable areas in the server business and is now seeing momentum with HPE Synergy, Gen10 and other initiatives. The company expects that shift to continue paying off, leaving HPE "feeling much better about that core business," Whitman said.
For the the full 2017 fiscal year, HPE is adjusting its non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share outlook to a range of $1.36 to $1.40 from a prior range of $1.46 to $1.56, reflecting the successful separation of the Software business.
On the call Tuesday, Whitman also addressed her talks to with Uber to potentially join the ride-hailing company as CEO. While Whitman was reportedly on Uber's short list of candidates, the embattled company last week named Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its new chief executive.
"I was called in very late in the Uber search," Whitman said, noting that the company's business model is "very interesting" to her, in part because of its similarities to the eBay business model.
"In the end, it wasn't really the right thing," she said, calling HPE "quite special in its own right."
"I've dedicated the last six years of my life to this company, and there's lots more work to do," Whitman added. "I actually am not going anywhere."


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One of the largest independent soybean seed distributors in Manitoba has parted ways with Legend Seeds and has signed a pair of new seed distribution agreements with specialty seed companies Sevita International Inc. and Horizon Seeds Canada Inc.
Delmar Commodities, a subsidiary of Ceres Global Ag based in Minneapolis, confirmed recently that it will no longer distribute corn and soybean seed varieties as Legend Seeds Canada.
In a May 25 news release, Ceres Global Ag announced that Delmar is dropping its Legend Seeds Canada trade name and will sell seed under a new trade name — Ceres Global Seeds.
As of next year, Legend Seeds Inc., based in South Dakota, will no longer be licensed to grow or sell corn or soybean seed products containing traits owned by Bayer.
Delmar managing director Mark Jorgensen said the company received notice earlier this year that Legend would not be able to provide them with products they had in the past.
“Those (products) … were a very large percentage of what we were selling in Western Canada so it really meant that we had to find some new partners.”
For 2021 planting, corn and soybean products distributed by Delmar will come from Horizon and Sevita, both based in Ontario.
Under the new agreements, Delmar will distribute 10 Horizon corn hybrids and 12 Sevita soybean varieties.
Horizon corn varieties have been previously available to growers in Western Canada. Horizon had a small distribution network in the West before signing an agreement with Delmar.
Under the new agreement, existing Horizon seed dealers will become part of Delmar’s western Canadian distribution network.
Sevita did not have a distribution network in Western Canada.
Jorgensen said some of the soybean products previously distributed by Delmar and its dealers will be redeployed or relicensed through Sevita.
“We will be moving forward with some of our existing soybean varieties that we had, and in addition, we’ll be bringing to market four or five new (soybean) products from Sevita,” he said.
Sevita soybean offerings include Enlist E3 and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend varieties.
Xtend soybeans are so-called “stacked trait” seed products that contain Bayer/Monsanto genetics and are resistant to both dicamba and glyphosate herbicides.
Enlist E3 genetics contain Corteva traits that are resistant to glyphosate, glufosinate and 2,4-D choline herbicides.
“On the Horizon side, we will be replacing our (corn) portfolio completely with products that Horizon Seeds will be bringing to market,” Jorgensen added.
He said Delmar examined a lot of Horizon trial data from the West and assessed all of Horizon’s corn hybrids to make sure their products were a good fit for western Canadian growers.
“We wanted to make sure that we were able to replace our current (corn) portfolio and remain competitive,” he said.
Delmar is the largest independent soybean seed distributor in Manitoba by volume.
About 10 years ago, it signed a deal to become the exclusive distributor for Legend Seed products in Western Canada.
Jorgensen said Delmar is expecting an increase in markets share in 2020. Its corn seed business has tripled over the past three years.
Sevita is in the process of registering names for new soybean varieties that are expected to be offered in Western Canada for 2021.
Sevita’s yet-to-be-named varieties have performed well in western Canadian trials, Jorgensen said.
Dealers and producers will be able to see the new products at Delmar’s Winkler, Man., plot location this summer.
The Horizon corn hybrids will also be on display at Winkler as well as in Delmar’s research and development plot at Carman, Man., and in the Manitoba provincial corn trials.
Horizon varieties will also be grown in dealer plots throughout Western Canada.
Jorgensen said the new agreements with Sevita and Horizon give Delmar a closer relationship with companies that are directly involved with research, plant breeding, varietal development and seed production.
“The big thing for us is that both of these companies (Horizon and Sevita) are actual research and production companies,” he said.
“Our relationship with Legend was really (with) a licensing company whereas now, we’re partnering directly with the companies that do their own seed production and their own breeding, so we’re going direct to the source and its always better if you can go direct instead of going through another layer.”
Sevita International is an Ontario-based soybean company that develops and sells varieties under the ProSeeds trade name. Sevita has a strong focus on non-GMO food grade soybean genetics and is expanding into the GMO soybean market.
Horizon Seeds is a family operated corn seed business based in Courtland, Ont.
Ceres Global Ag, whose assets include a high-throughput grain terminal and rail transload facilities at Northgate, Sask., acquired Winkler-based Delmar Commodities in 2019.


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When robots inhabit public spaces, it is important that they don’t seem like a threat to humans.
Photo Composition: Getty Images and Badger Technologies
Everything looks normal at my local Giant grocery store. Customers are wheeling their carts up and down the aisle, plucking items off the shelves, and checking things off their lists.
In one aisle, though, there is something besides focused shoppers. A tall, slender machine rolls slowly along, monitoring the shelves and the floor, looking for things that are out of place. When it comes to the end of an aisle, it encounters the normal traffic tangle caused by a few shoppers politely trying to move past one another. The machine stops and waits for traffic to clear, then proceeds around the end of the aisle and down the next one.
The machine even has a name: Marty. Giant installed Marty and identical robots in all its stores to monitor spills and scan the shelves to see if they are stocked correctly.
Robots in industrial settings are pretty common now. Nuclear power plants, for example, are inspected almost entirely by robot. Planes and spacecraft were developed to navigate using automation and computer control. For a generation or two, robots have increased in numbers on factory floors, tightly controlled environments where workers are generally hyper-aware of dangerous machinery and take pains to avoid running into them. Such robots don’t need to be warm and fuzzy and generally they are not.
More and more, however, new types of intelligent robots are entering cities, workplaces, and public spaces with the intent to interact with humans. Companies such as Starship Technologies have developed picnic cooler-size delivery robots, and Knight-scope offers a robotic security guard. Streets full of cars, sidewalks teeming with people, and grocery stores swarming with shoppers are much more complex, random, and unpredictable than industrial settings.
A lot of that randomness is due to the humans with whom the robots are sharing the space. “Out in the wild” is what Tim Rowland, CEO of Badger Technologies in Nicholasville, Ky., which manufacturers the Marty series, calls the new robot operating environment.
“Badger robots are around consumers on a regular basis,” he said. “There’s been a lot of interesting reactions and responses to these robots.”
Engineers like Rowland are working to develop robots that work well around people, that are essentially “friendly” rather than threatening.
Laura Major, chief technology officer at Motional, an autonomous car company in Cambridge, Mass., and the coauthor of the recent book, What to Expect When You’re Expecting Robots, said, “As robots become a part of our everyday world, they’re going to become social entities, and they need to behave.”
Wugrhirg with Robots
The so-called everyday world has decidedly different zones of activity and different expectations for the people in them. Our homes ought to be our castles. At the workplace, on the other hand, we are expected to conform to the rules set by employers. Because simple robots were very rule-based and needed human “coworkers” to accommodate their limitations, it was easier to introduce robotic arms to factories rather than kitchens.
Everyday life includes a third space, too: Public areas such as roads, sidewalks, and grocery store aisles that are not as constrained as factory floors but still have expectations of regular behavior. Engineers developing self-driving vehicles, which are essentially autonomous robots with passengers, have spent years trying to get these machines to perfectly navigate this third space.
“Autonomous vehicles and drones are great examples of how humans can work with robots,” said Wenlong Zhang, an assistant professor in the Polytechnic School in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University in Tempe.
Robotic taxis, such as those deployed by Motional in Las Vegas, are enabling researchers to gain real-world experience to learn how to get robots to interact with humans in socially comprehensible ways. The robo-taxis have given over 100,000 rides on the Las Vegas Strip to paying passengers, who can simply order an autonomous car via Lyft. One thing engineers have realized is that robots need to make quick decisions based on a limited amount of data.
“When you interact with another vehicle, the total amount of time is probably less than a couple of seconds. How much data can you collect?” Zhang asked. “A manufacturing robot can sit there I and collect lots of data in the same setting. Autonomous vehicles create more challenges in human-robot interaction.”
It isn’t just the limited timeframe for human interactions that creates a challenge, Zhang said. He points to work at Arizona State developing wearable exoskeletons. These devices are intended to assist patients during rehab and recovery and include an arm brace that uses air pressure to assist movements and an intelligent, motorized knee brace to support stroke survivors in rehabilitating their walking ability. The combination of motorized parts and programmed intelligence makes these exoskeletons essentially soft wearable robots.
Laura Major says that adding AI and machine learning to robots may enable them to follow social norms.
Motional’s robotaxis have given over 100,000 rides to paying passengers on the Las Vegas Strip.
While in rehabilitative settings, the environment can be limited, the ultimate goal is for assistive exoskeletons such as these to be worn in the field by soldiers or construction workers. “The challenge we have seen is that they’re going to wear these in all types of situations,” Zhang said. “How do we program for that?
Major and her co-author Julie Shah, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and associate dean for social and ethical responsibilities of computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, see other challenges in this third space. In their book, they envision a scenario of drone vehicles replacing human delivery drivers and couriers. “Soon, your front yard and our neighborhoods may be swarming with drones, which will deliver small packages, and passengers will zip across town in the air over roadway traffic,” they wrote.
Unless these robots know how to behave around the people they are trying to serve, all this activity could seem menacing.
Major has worked in autonomous systems her entire career, starting in aeronautics and astronautics, before entering the field of self-driving cars. “I saw an opportunity to help take the experience I’ve had with industrial applications and bring those lessons over to the consumer space and make robotics for consumers a faster reality,” she recalled.
One of the lessons she and Shah have learned— and which they relay in their book—is that humans react to how a robot or automated system behaves, not how it looks. Klunky, rigid ones can be friendly, while others sculpted from soft materials to look like people can seem threatening. A key technology is artificial intelligence and machine learning, as these allow the robot to learn many different things so it can react to the infinite number of situations it will encounter.
“You can’t script that into the robot,” Major said. “It’s important that we have scalable techniques such as AI and machine learning that allow us to learn these behaviors and be able to set up our robots so they can follow social norms.”
To build a robust machine learning platform, the system must draw from a vast library of robothuman interactions. That’s where robots such as Badger Technology’s Marty come in. Rowland, an engineer who spent decades in product development before he got into sales, said Badger Technologies began deploying Marty in 2019, installing about 540 robots in Giant Food Stores, Martin’s, and Stop & Shop grocery stores on the East Coast. “We’ve logged almost half a billion miles of travel during very busy times,” he said. “We’re traveling autonomously safely, and we’ve had no incidents in many hours of operation in the public.”
The robots traverse store aisles looking for spills, obstacles, debris, or anything that could impose safety risks for customers and store employees. If Marty detects a problem that needs attention, it sends a message to the store’s public address system and pings a device carried by the front-end manager. Then the robot will position itself next to the hazard and turn its light and audible speaker on.
Additionally, the robots serve as mobile data collection systems to archive information and images to help improve operational efficiencies. Data gathered during the robots’ continuous store loops can address out-of-stock, shelf-layout, and price-integrity issues.
As Rowland explained, the main sensing technology Marty uses for navigation is Lidar—light detection and ranging, also known as laser scanning. Similar systems are found in self-driving cars for parking and similar functions. Several LIDAR sensors adorn the robot.
Wenlong Zhang (right) has helped develop an intelligent, motorized knee brace that is essentially a wearable robot.
Photos: Arizona State University
“When we first deploy one of these robots, we have a handheld version of that technology that we walk through the grocery store with to read all the structural entities,” Rowland said. “It gives us a three-dimensional point cloud that we translate into a map the robot then stores in its control system.”
The robots also employ cameras pointed at various angles to look at the shelves and down the aisle to provide three-dimensional depth information. This array of sensors monitors a safety zone about a four-foot radius from the robot; whenever anything moves in that zone, the machine will take appropriate action such as slowing or stopping.
The Marty robot scans a grocery store shelf. The robot uses LIDAR and a camera system to look out for—and avoid— obstacles like shoppers.
Photo: Badger Technologies
In their book, Major and Shah see the kind of teamwork between Marty and human store workers as a precursor to a deeper partnership. “Some of our most stubborn societal problems could be better addressed by the kind of collaboration we envision. The applications are vast,” they wrote.
Major said most of the work on the book was done prior to the start of the pandemic, but the past 12 months have underscored the importance of these issues. “In this post-COVID-19, there’s even more openness for adopting this technology to keep people out of dangerous circumstances, whether that’s delivering food to somebody or sanitizing an office,” she said.
Some of the answers may come from systems more familiar to engineers: industrial robots used in manufacturing.
“What are the hard lessons we learned in aerospace and factory robots that we can now transfer and use those lessons to help inform the design of consumer robots?” Major asked. One key, she said, was making sure that robots in consumer settings have the flexibility to react to changing environments. “We need robots to be directable so you can communicate with it or change its behavior,” Major said.
It’s a challenge that roboticists are still grappling with, even in constrained factory settings. “The problem we have when we apply these robotic manipulators is, we don’t really know how to let them team up with humans,” Zhang said. “What roles should humans take? What roles should robots take?”
As robots like Marty prove more and more successful, they will create a new set of challenges, both technical and social. “It will take years if not decades for us too see the best practices with these robots,” Zhang said. “It’s like cell phones. The next question is, how do we bring down cost and make them easy to maintain? There are a lot of aspects.”
Someday, though, we could see robots intermingling with humans as commonplace, and we’ll expect machines with names like Marty to greet us at the grocery store or deliver our food.


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Ministry of Trade has partially lifted the maize export ban to mop up last year’s maize stocks to create space for the anticipated more than one million metric tonnes (MT) surplus grain.
In a statement yesterday, the ministry’s Principal Secretary Christina Zakeyo advised interested exporters to apply for export licences to enable them export the staple grain.
She said: “The ministry wishes to stress that the maize export licences will only be issued to exporters with proof of verifiable maize stocks from the previous agricultural season.
“The licences to be granted will have a validity period of three months from the date of issue.”
The Malawi government imposed an uninterrupted maize export ban from 2011/13 until the end of 2017. In early February 2018, government reintroduced the ban to preserve the national grain reserve and stem the impact of tighter domestic supplies.
Since last year, Grain Traders and Processors Association of Malawi has been calling for a lift on the ban due to huge maize stocks, which the local market cannot consume.
The association’s chairperson Grace Mijiga-Mhango in an interview yesterday commended government for lifting the ban, saying the stocks would have gone bad.
She said: “We are excited with the news because we recently officially requested the government to allow us to export the maize.
“Cumulatively, our membership has over 29 000 metric tonnes, which is verified stock but other traders would also have stock for exports.”
Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe earlier said government will allow maize exports using export mandates, a situation where no commodity is exported unless it goes through a structured market.
Currently, export mandates apply for tea and tobacco.
The minister said by using export mandates, government wants to ensure that foreign exchange is repatriated back to Malawi.
Agriculture development policy expert Tamani Nkhono Mvula cautioned government to manage the exports well to avoid creating maize shortage in future.
He said government should not bank on the first-round crop estimate, which shows the country will have one million MT of maize surplus.
“My view is that it is not a total lifting of the ban, but people should apply for export licences, which is a better move than opening up free-for-all to export,” he said.
Over the years, rice and maize have had export restrictions to ensure food security.
Maize remains the key staple crop in the country; hence, listed among protected crops.


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The New York Times is one of a few privileged publishers that have transitioned into a subscription business, and to do this, it started behaving like a consumer brand, according to the Times’ evp and COO Meredith Kopit Levien.
“We pay for things that become important utilities and daily habits. So it turns out, lots of people are interested in hearing from the Times on what to cook, what to watch and so on,” she said. “We are on the path to becoming a world-class consumer brand, and a lot of the work is to behave like one.”
Levien talks about subscriptions, advertising, differentiating from free alternatives and more on this week’s Digiday Podcast. Below are highlights, edited for clarity.
Digital subscription revenue has surpassed print ad revenue
“In actual dollar terms, the total revenue from digital subscriptions was larger by a decent margin than the dollar figure from print advertising. The New York Times’ future depends on being a very large paid consumer business. Because we don’t have to chase scale and our model does not require a billion-dollar ad business, we make a better product. Our reporters don’t have to choose between quality and how to direct your attention. We don’t move audience around in support of audience.”
Converting readers to subscribers
“The work is, how do we create gravity in our conversion funnel so people move through their relationship with the Times so that they want to pay and stay? Our international audience is growing at a slightly faster rate than the domestic audience — 300 million college-educated, English-speaking people outside the U.S. We have a global brand. We have to convince people of the relevance of that brand and its worthiness to be paid for.”
Making people value news
“A big part of the work is actually bending the curve on sentiment that high-quality news is actually different from everything else. A strong and ascendant Washington Post is a good thing because the work is to bend sentiment in [that] category and make that category much larger. Part of that is to make people understand the differentiation between original, independent, high-quality journalism and everything else. It’s distinct from the free alternatives.”
Churn is improving
“Even before Trump, we had seen a step function improvement in our ability to generate digital subscriptions. We got that by behaving more like a consumer business and trying to understand a consumer’s behavior and what makes them subscribe. Most people pay for The New York Times on a monthly basis, so we watch churn month over month. We’re actually improving churn. We’re getting better at steadily onboarding people and understanding high-risk moments when someone might leave the Times.”
Platform relationships are important
“We have very important relationships with Facebook and Google. We spend a lot with them because it works. We understand and believe in them as platforms. They are changing consumer behavior, especially Facebook. Format experimentation, like Facebook Live, was a very hard thing to do, but it was necessary. If not for them saying, ‘We’re going to give you money to [program on] our platform, we wouldn’t have done it as fast, and we would have done it differently.'”
Advertising must evolve
“The days of advertising as we knew it are waning. Marketers need to know how to do either high-quality programming or create products or experiences that actually give value to people. That doesn’t mean there won’t be campaign advertising, but respect people’s time, privacy and data. The marketer creating a relationship with the content provider for whom the audience is coming is really important.”
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As Xandr shuts down its Clypd platform, datafuelX's M3 SaaS product aims to solve some of the multi-currency, multi-platform problems with investing in convergent TV today.


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Committee Unanimously Approves Bill to Address Harmful Effects of Plastic Microbeads
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which was introduced by Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) earlier this year. The bipartisan legislation would begin the phase out of plastic microbeads from personal care products on July 1, 2017.
These small bits of plastic, often used as exfoliants in personal care products like face wash, soap, and toothpaste, can slip through water treatment systems after they are washed down the drain. As a result, these microbeads often end up contaminating local streams, rivers and larger bodies of water.
“Our bill to ban microbeads in personal care products is a bipartisan and commonsense step forward to protect the environment, and I am glad that the Committee unanimously agrees,” said Ranking Member Pallone. “Most people buying these everyday products are unaware of the damaging effects they are having on the environment. However, they are being washed down the drain and reaching our waterways, so we must make sure that these soaps and toothpastes don’t contain synthetic plastic that will ultimately contaminate our environment. I look forward to continue working with Chairman Upton and our colleagues to advance this bill and put an end to this unnecessary pollution.”
“Microbeads may be tiny plastic – but they are big time pollution, especially for our Great Lakes,” said Chairman Upton. “Today’s unanimous approval of this critical bipartisan bill is another important step in protecting Lake Michigan and all of our waters from these pesky bits of plastic. On their own, microbeads are nearly invisible, but once they’ve been flushed down the drain is where the trouble begins. Microbeads are causing mega-problems, and working together with Ranking Member Pallone and all of our colleagues, we’re going to fix it.”
Scientists have found evidence of microbeads in numerous bodies of water in the United States, including increasingly in the Great Lakes, the world’s largest source of freshwater. In addition to contributing to the buildup of plastic pollution in waterways, microbeads can often be mistaken by fish and other organisms as food. If consumed by fish, the chemicals found in synthetic plastic microbeads can then be passed on to other wildlife and humans.


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Microsoft announces new Skype China partner
Guangming Founder gets the gig as snooping fears persist
Microsoft has announced a new JV partner offering Skype services to users in China, but it's likely to continue monitoring text chats and blocking banned keywords according to local laws.
Previous China partner TOM wrongly declared earlier this month that Microsoft would be taking sole control of Skype in China from 24 November.
That can't happen by law. In fact Redmond has found another partner – Guangming Founder (GMF) which will operate the service locally.
A canned statement from Judd Harcombe, head of global market development at Skype, spoke of the new collaboration putting both firms “at the heart of helping people do more by creating connections and bringing them together”.
However, as a local service it should still have to comply with local laws, which means automatically filtering and blocking text conversations if they contain banned keywords and storing a copy of the message to its servers.
There is a suspicion that voice comms data must also be stored so that it can be made available to the authorities on request.
The beef that many rights groups have about this is not necessarily that Microsoft is complying with local regulations - although this isn’t ideal for a company committed to online freedom of expression - but that users in China are automatically directed to the China-specific site, which looks almost identical to the international Skype service.
With the new joint venture announced on Tuesday, Microsoft had a chance to change this and make local users aware of the difference.
However, there’s virtually no mention of the JV partner on the local site, which could be confusing for users thinking they're getting the non-censored version.
That said, with the NSA at large there's no guarantee that any online comms are safe from snooping.
“We hope Microsoft can publish the details of the difference, especially regarding censorship and surveillance,” non-profit body Greatfire.org told The Reg.
“Our old questions stand," the organisation added. "Will it have more or less surveillance capacity compared to the TOM version and the ‘global’ version? What happens to the text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information stored on Chinese servers now that the partnership with TOM has ended?” ®


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thatgamecompany released critically-acclaimed video games such as Journey and Flower. Today, the company announced that its latest title, Sky: Children of the Light, has surpassed 20 million downloads. The game launched one year ago on Android and iOS. It will also get a Nintendo Switch version this summer. It’s a great milestone for the independent game studio. If you didn’t hear about it before, it is a social indie adventure game. It was widely-applauded for its ground-breaking game experience that advocates compassion, friendship, and altruistic behaviors in the game and its community.
Sky: Children of The Light have won many awards
The hit title got many awards such as Apple’s ‘iPhone Game of the Year’ and ‘Apple Design Award’. Furthermore, it also got SXSW’s ‘Mobile Game of the Year’, Game Developers Choice Awards’ ‘Audience Award’, Webby Awards’ ‘Best Visual Design’, Mobile Games Awards’ ‘People’s Choice Award’, among others. To celebrate the first year anniversary, thatgamecompany will hold notable events for existing for the fans. There’s also a new adventure called ‘Season of Sanctuary’ which was designed to deliver a retreat-like experience for fans playing and staying safe at home.
In a press release, Jenova Chen, co-Founder and Creative Director at thatgamecompany said the following about the milestone:
Without a doubt, Sky has been one of the most exciting, challenging, rewarding and heartwarming chapters of thatgamecompany studio. We humbly launched Sky a year ago with the hope that it may emotionally evoke or touch people’s hearts… I don’t think we were ready for the players’ response or that over 20 million fans would get to play it. Its world has truly become the community’s haven to be themselves and to positively connect with others. We can’t wait to grow this space with our fans over this next year!
Try it yourself
You can download the game on the App Store by clicking here or on Google Play by clicking here. On both platforms, Sky: Children of the Light has almost 5/5 rating. From all of us at Mobidictum, congratulations to the team on this great achievement!


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Sales from mobile commerce are up 40 percent this year, making it the fastest-growing channel compared to ecommerce’s 11 percent increase year-over-year, according to a new report from Astound Commerce.
- No categories
A surge in mobile commerce may indirectly cause a relatively slower growth in other types of ecommerce this holiday season, according to a report from NetElixir.
Visa and Uber are modernizing rewards programs by offering incentives to spend with each platform in a cross-channel loyalty program that keeps the focus on local business.
In news announced today, Groupon, Jet.com and Hotels.com are supporting mobile coupon application Ibotta’s shift into in-application rewards, urging more users to start spending on mobile after consumers have become more comfortable with the experience.
Mobile seller-to-seller application letgo is adding ratings and reviews for buyers and sellers so users can be more confident in their transactions following the app’s growth past 30 million downloads.
BOSTON – An executive from RetailMeNot at eTail East 2016 revealed that the digital couponing platform will be putting data at the forefront of its mobile offerings, and suggested other retailers interested in better serving consumers should do the same.
The eighth installment in an exclusive series, this publication is reporting on quarterly mobile site performance as monitored by Catchpoint Systems, New York. Find out in this installment how leading brands in the retail, banking, travel and news sectors fared.
With the buy button struggling on social media, Pinterest is exploring a different way of capturing the buying opportunity on mobile with a new shopping bag that spans multiple platforms.
Retailers with mobile applications that take up a significant amount of space on smartphones can mitigate the problem by moving features to the cloud and using eight-bit images, but larger apps with unique functionality may have an edge.
As Snapchat is just now establishing itself as an integrated purchasing platform, consumers lack significant intent to purchase, but that does not mean retailers should not test the waters with small campaigns that include direct call-to-actions.


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Seedrs' Eat Square pack up and hand the keys to the Admin Boys
Seedrs had Eat Square on their site raising cash recently. Now Eat Square has gone into administration. The Gazette for this was posted a while ago. It does beg the question - did Seedrs investors know that this was a last ditch attempt to fund the company at a valuation of £860k?
Eat Square had raised initial funding on Seedrs in 2017. Then a Morrisons' local listing gave them a boost. But lack of funding and planning (for the new funding) have left the company cashless and in a hopeless position. How many times do we have to see this classic over trading before founders start waking up?
There is absolutely no point...
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Monday March 11, 2019
Hardman and Co’s Brian Moretta in conversation with ECF Buzz Founder Rob Murray Brown on start up investing, equity crowdfunding and what’s a good read.


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LG to launch curved G Flex 2 smartphone next week
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — LG Electronics Inc. says it will start selling its latest curved smartphone next week.
The Korean company said Thursday that the G Flex 2 will be launched locally on Jan. 30 and overseas in coming months.
The smartphone is LG’s latest effort to expand the use of curved screens as a way of differentiating its smartphones from those of competitors.
When LG released its first version of a curved smartphone in 2013, it was a niche product. The latest iteration shows LG is targeting a bigger market.
The phone features a 5.5-inch screen curved from top to bottom. In an improvement from its predecessor, the phone’s self-healing back can repair scratches in seconds rather than minutes.
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- Optimizing operational efficiency is a prerogative for the manufacturing industry
- Driver shortages: An increasingly dire issue for e-hailing companies in Malaysia


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Colombia’s Capital City Administration has released a series of free online courses through which citizens can hijack more about blockchain and other cutting-edge technologies.
Sponsored by the City of Bogota, the Bogota Aprende TIC program aims to promote innovation and the development of new technologies in the city. It covers topics such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, the gig economy, and distributed ledger technologies..
Chain Reaction: Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) explained
The blockchain course begins with a description of its features, main areas of application, the reasons for its popularity in the financial market, the use of bitcoins and the impact of digital currency on global transformation processes. In the second part, students are told about the principles of operation and specific examples of use, indicating that the technology has unexplored potential..
The program is designed for residents of Bogota over 14 years old, but anyone can sign up. Blockchain course lasts 4 weeks.
Many countries have already recognized the benefits of using distributed ledger technologies and have begun to stimulate their adoption in various industries. For example, the South Korean government recently held a meeting with private companies urging business use the existing potential for the development of the blockchain industry.
text: Ivan Malichenko, photo: republicbuzz


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Let’s assume you unwrapped a brand new Mac this year (awesome!) or scored a ton of iTunes/iBooks/App Store credit (still awesome!) and you need ideas for awesome apps to buy and check out for your new MacBook or iMac. Tons of new apps have launched on the Mac this year and even more have added new features and remain essential. Below are some of my favorite Mac apps that I’ve used needed from time to time or even use daily and should give you a solid place to start whether your a brand new Mac user or Mac veteran looking to do more with your machine. expand full story
iTunes credit Stories December 25, 2014
iTunes credit Stories November 26, 2014
iTunes Radio, Apple’s ad-supported Internet radio service, is today available with “limited interruptions” courtesy of Verizon. That means that you won’t be seeing the normal ads you’re used to on the service and instead just a message from Verizon that states, “Enjoy with limited interruptions courtesy of Verizon.” The company is also handing out $5 iTunes store credits through a banner ad on iTunes Radio (pictured above).
It’s not just for Verizon customers, however, as the offer comes today only as part of Verizon’s “Connection Day” promotion offering free digital content and services to all users, not just Verizon customers. expand full story
iTunes credit Stories February 25, 2013
Last time we checked in on the in-app purchase class-action lawsuit against Apple, courts refused Apple’s request to throw out the case brought on by parents arguing the iOS freemium model, i.e. in-app purchases, allowed children to easily rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars. Today, Law360 (via GigaOM) reported Apple has agreed to pay a settlement and will be contacting 23 million iTunes users that “made a Game Currency purchase in one or more Qualified Apps.”
According to the report, Apple will pay $5 in iTunes credit to those who claim in-app content was purchased by a minor without their permission. For purchases above $30, users will be able to request a full refund. However, credits will likely not get to users until early 2014 when the settlement meets regulatory approval: expand full story


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Pensacola businesses honored for making national fastest-growing company list
PENSACOLA, FLA. (wear) —
FloridaWest recognized three local businesses on Tuesday evening that made a national list for their fast growth. While two of those businesses have made the Inc.'s "5,000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Companies" before, there is a newcomer this year. Pay Sells Co, an electronic payment program, ranked in the top 500.
"It's surreal," Jibril Sulaiman, owner said. "There's a bubble there."
Rewind five years and you would find Sulaiman inside the building at 418 West Garden Street in Pensacola. He had just brought his business to Gulf Coast Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship as part of an incubator project to bring his business idea to life.
Fast forward today, and his community is applauding his success. In the past three years, Pay Sells Co has seen 783 percent in growth. Last year, the company brought in $9.8 million in revenue.
"Being able to bring in those type of numbers and being able to be on the Inc's 500 list has brought a certain notoriety that I will continue to leverage and to bring the spotlight here to Pensacola," Sulaiman said.
Pay Sells Co ranked 484 out of 5000. AppRiver and Footbridge Media also made the list. AppRiver, the subscription-based product to protect against spam and virus protection, ranked 4,204 and brought in a whopping $64.2 million in revenue in 2015. Footbridge Media, a website design company out of Pensacola ranked 4,603.
"Communities are competing for these companies to be located in their community," Kelly Reeser of Florida West said. "So for one, it's an honor that these companies have chosen to locate and grow and sustain their operations in Pensacola."
Reeser said that the recognition is a testament to the Pensacola area's business climate, work force and community support. Sulaiman agrees.
On top of Pay Sell, he also opened a co-working space off Pine Forest Road. "Work Base," is similar to the incubator project he was part of. It offers space for small businesses owners who just need an area to do transactions, but want be around other entrepreneurs. However, people pay for membership, rather than being funding by taxpayers.
Sulaiman said he is grateful for the recognition. He said that as a minority himself, he hopes his success will inspire other minorities to pursue their dreams.
"There are barriers out there and you can overcome those barriers," Sulaiman said. "It's going to take hard work and tenacity. It's going to take a group effort as well."


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Posted by Virus Bulletin on May 2, 2013
Mozilla angry about use of its brand and logo.
A new report has been released on the commercialization of digital spying, which thoroughly analyses a number of pieces of spyware developed by Western companies and used to target opposition activists in various countries in Africa and Asia.
CitizenLab, a research institute linked to the University of Toronto, has released the report, in which it brings together various recent pieces of research on the commercial spyware market.
Attribution of malware is notoriusly difficult. But there are exceptions, such as FinFisher, which is developed by Gamma International, a software firm with branches in the UK and Germany. The spyware even can be purchased from the company's website, though it is believed the company mainly sells to governments. (If you are a government, it is rumoured that you don't need to have a clean record on human rights to be able to purchase it.)
FinFisher is advertised as a 'remote monitoring solution' and, indeed, that is what the sample sent to a Bahraini activist does: it captures keystrokes, audio, screenshots and data and from the device on which it is running and sends these off to a remote server. For this purpose, FinFisher uses a large, distributed network of servers that are constantly changing: many command and control servers identified as such by CitizenLab in a March report have since gone quiet.
Of course, those with FinFisher running on their devices would rather not have it there, so the program goes to great lengths to hide its activity, both from researchers and from anti-malware software. The way it does so depends on the anti-malware sofware running on the system, and in some cases even on the version used.
Activists, like most people these days, are frequent users of mobile devices, and the spyware is tailored for that as well. Researchers found and analysed mobile trojans for each of the five most popular mobile operating systems - iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile. The trojans were all consistent in functionality with 'FinSpy mobile', a component of the FinFisher toolkit.
Of course, FinFisher is not the only one of its kind. The CitizenLab report also looks at a backdoor, first identified as 'Da Vinci' by Dr. Web in July 2012 and later called 'Crisis' by several other vendors, which has been used to target activists in Morocco and the UAE, among other places. It is believed to have been written and sold by Hacking Team, a company based in Italy.
Interestingly, an at-the-time zero-day vulnerability used to infect an opposition activist in the UAE was later made public by a researcher from French firm VUPEN, which is best known for regularly snatching prizes at the Pwn2Own hacking contests. This could indicate that VUPEN sold the vulnerability to Hacking Team (which wouldn't be surprising, given that the company's business model is based on selling such vulnerabilities), though of course it could also have been discovered independently.
The activities of Gamma International and Hacking Team have led to fierce criticism from privacy and civil rights activists. But they are not the only ones unhappy with such activities.
On its blog, Firefox developer Mozilla has spoken out strongly against the fact that FinFisher masquerades as an update for the browser and uses its brand and logo. The company has sent a 'cease and desist' letter to Gamma International.
CitizenLab's 100+ page report, which is well worth reading, can be downloaded from the group's blog here.
For those interested in the subject, VB2013 will feature a presentation on 'business-to-government malware' by Kaspersky's Sergey Golovanov and Denis Maslennikov, which will focus on the activities on the two companies mentioned.


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CALDWELL, Idaho — Omega RV held a grand opening celebration April 17 at its Caldwell, Idaho, manufacturing facilities. The company hosted a BBQ for employees and vendors and opened up the facilities for production line tours.
Omega showcased three of its newly-designed Road Ranger travel trailers, both metal and fiberglass units. A christening ceremony took place including encouraging words from Caldwell Mayor Garret L. Nancolas. He expressed his appreciation for the company’s commitment to remain in the former KIT Manufacturing and Extreme RV facilities, providing new job opportunities for the local area.
Scott Thorpe, vice president of sales and marketing, addressed Omega’s pride in continuing the preceding companies’ legacy of quality products produced by an experienced and talented RV workforce.
Financial backers and supporting members, Dennis Dillon, CEO, and Brad Dillon, president, of Dennis Dillon RV and Marine, addressed the crowd expressing their excitement with the progressive look and function of the newly introduced product and discussed their hopes in the future growth of the company.
Don Day gave the closing address encouraging the workforce to take continued pride in their work and look forward to a prospering new venture. He finalized the ceremony with the traditional champagne christening over the first Road Ranger unit.
SOURCE: Omega RV press release


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Governor Dan McKee signed two bills aimed at assisting the local restaurant industry. The first bill permits restaurants to continue offering alcohol with to-go orders, while the second prevents third-party providers such as Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash from listing a restaurant on their website without the business’s approval. Small businesses and locally-owned restaurants are crucial to Rhode Island’s economy, according to McKee, who emphasized that the state could only prosper if small businesses do well.
During the pandemic, Rhode Island had one of the strongest economic recoveries in the country, thanks to strong partnerships between small business groups, associations, and a robust vaccine rollout. Rhode Island’s GDP rose at a rate of 7.2% in Q1 2021, which is higher than the national average. The state’s unemployment rate fell from 17.4% to 5.9% between April 2020 and June 2021, which is among the largest declines in unemployment in the country.
The bill that allows restaurants to sell alcohol with takeout orders was sponsored by Representative Jacquelyn Baginski, while Senator Hanna M. Gallo led the effort on the other side of the General Assembly. The ceremonial bill signing took place outside Chaska, a new Indian restaurant in Cranston, which opened in February 2020 and weathered the pandemic’s hardships.
Apart from thanking legislators who passed the bill, Gallo also thanked former Governor Gina Raimondo, who initially implemented the alcohol-to-go policy during the pandemic’s peak to assist restaurant owners in increasing their sales. In addition, the bill requires third-party delivery providers to obtain permission from restaurants before listing them on their websites and registering to conduct business in Rhode Island.
Representative Robert Craven Sr. and Senator Frank S. Lombardi helped spearhead the effort to ensure that restaurants have more brand autonomy. This legislation aims to safeguard restaurants’ reputations since third-party delivery providers can damage a restaurant’s reputation if they do not deliver meals on time or in good condition. Lombardi noted that owning a brand is the most valuable asset a restaurant or any company can have.


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A brand new drug firm has been born, but what exactly does it do?
What is it?
Betos is a ‘specialised’ drugs and technology firm, set up by a former police officer in Argentina who has a long history in the drug trade.
Its a new company that was set up to be a specialist supplier of the drug brand Betos in Argentina.
The name is a play on Betos’ brand name.
The brand name is the name of the country’s state drug manufacturer.
In the country, it is not illegal to make drugs with the name ‘Betos’.
It is illegal to sell drugs that are labelled as Betos branded.
What does it make?
It is a brand of pills and powders that are used to treat narcolepsy and narcocephaly.
Its not clear what the drug has been used for, but there are many reports that its a treatment for narcofasias and other mental disorders.
Is it safe?
There are some reports that the drug is highly addictive.
It has been linked to the development of heroin.
What happens to the company?
The company is not regulated and is completely separate from the government.
It is not a government body, it’s a non-profit organisation.
How much does it cost?
The price of the Betos brand is set at US$30 a pill.
That is more than double the price of regular drugs.
What else does it have?
It has an array of other products, such as a treatment called anatine, which is used to combat asthma and allergies.
It has a range of other treatments for respiratory infections.
It also sells medical equipment such as inhalers, masks, and other protective devices.
How does it work?
There is no drug to test the efficacy of Betos products.
How is it made?
A doctor makes Betos pills by mixing Betos with water.
When it is mixed with the water, the Betas drug is released into the air.
It’s then injected into a patient, where the drugs are absorbed by the bloodstream and into the cells of the body.
The company’s CEO, Francisco Antonio Betos Jr, told the AP news agency that the pills were made by combining the Betis drug and water.
How long does it take for the drug to be absorbed?
The Betos drug is absorbed within about 10 minutes.
What is the side effect?
There’s no medical reason to worry about Betos.
However, it does come with a number of potential side effects, including:Nausea (nausea is caused by the withdrawal of the drugs in the body)Increased heart rate, chest pain, and fever (a common side effect of the medications)Dizziness (a feeling of restlessness)Headaches (a problem caused by excess sleepiness)Blurred vision (blurred vision can be caused by a drug overdose)Rash, fever, and muscle pains (sometimes called ‘shining spots’)What about the price?
There have been reports that it has been selling for around US$20 a pill, but that may not be accurate.
How do I find out more?
Betas website states that there is a website where you can see the exact amount of drugs available, as well as information about the company’s current drugs, the type of drugs it is manufacturing, and where it makes its medicines.
It says it will be launching a national drug news site soon, and that it plans to release new products as soon as they are ready.


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Reddit has conducted an ‘Ask Me Anything (AMA)’ session between the Google Android Team and users. Users have come with several questions, out of which three topics are highlighted in the session. All credit goes to the answers given by Dieter Bohr and Dave Burke of the team yesterday evening for the questions regarding Android 14.
What’s the team’s favorite new feature that debuted in Android 14?
Dave responded to the first query by acknowledging that his favorite aspect of Android 14 is the enhancement in performance and energy economy, which were made possible by four key measures described in a blog post on the Android developers website in connection with the launch of the system’s AOSP operating system. Dave particularly emphasizes the enhancements made to ART (Android RunTime) with Android 14, adding that the development team has implemented optimizations that lower code size on average by 9.3%, which in turn saves 50–100 MB and 500–1000 MB of code without hurting speed.
These enhancements could also be available for Android 12 and Android 13-powered smartphones through an upgrade to Project Mainline.
The most underutilized Android feature that more people need to try?
The first of the two innovations in Android 14 that the Android Team believes more people should test is Ultra HDR. Recently introduced, the Google Camera is expected to revolutionize how consumers consume HDR video from smartphones. The next one is the brand-new sharing sheet in Android 14, which the development team had to continuously improve in order to make sharing simpler with all the buttons in the proper places.
Dieter states that this is a typical characteristic that users won’t notice, at least consciously, immediately, but that will change with time in their daily experience.
SOS/SMS support through satellite feature:
Support for SOS/SMS via satellite, a capability that longtime competitor Apple just added to iOS and on which Google is attempting to catch up. This functionality allows users to use a satellite connection to send SOS or SMS in an emergency while they are in areas that are not serviced by a cell network or Wi-Fi. As of now, they are hidden and unavailable to third-party apps. Google has already integrated the new Telephony Satellite Interface into the source code of Android 14.
It appears that the project is already rather well underway. However, we anticipate that there may be updates in this area as early as some of the QPRs for Android 14. It is also important to note that not all cell phones running the most recent version of the green robot’s operating system will have the capabilities; instead, they will rely on hardware for use.
Lossless USB audio:
The final query relates to a function that is currently available in Android 14 and will soon come to the new Pixel 8 series, which is the lossless USB audio feature. A user requested more details on this feature, and Dave Burke reacted that he too personally requested the feature from the development team. Dave explained that this is a feature that avoids the audio mixer and any processing effects to ensure that the audio has the best quality within the parameters of the original track, and said that the most recent Android version supports this feature.
This now shifts to app developers, third-party manufacturers, and Google itself, as they must provide support for this mode inside the hardware abstraction layer of their devices in order to take advantage of its benefits.
Don’t miss our latest news on Samsung technology. Follow SamLover.com on your favorite social media platforms for instant notifications.
Since Android was announced in 2007, I have kept track of it. With each news that came out more, I liked this operating system. I have been learning a lot with it, since I have seen it born and grow, and I hope to continue learning and share my knowledge and experiences about Android, services and applications.


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- Retailers still suffering despite the dollar decline in the market.
- Dollar fluctuation impact on Kenya’s Economy.
The dollar depreciation has led to a deficit in the foreign exchange reserves.
Businesses that are import oriented like the second-hand clothes market in Nairobi’s Gikomba region are severely affected.
Speaking to Ghetto radio news retailers say they are facing price increase despite the dollar decline in the market expected to create better conditions for importers.
Impact of dollar fluctuation on Importation.
The ability of local businesses to purchase items from other nations is implied by growth in the value of shillings.
The recent fluctuation of the dollar has greatly affected businesses in Kenya. The dollar went up against the Kenya shilling up to 163.99 and dropped drastically to Ksh 142.5188 within a one-month period.
As consumers feel the pinch, the deeper structural issues still exist, and experts say things might not get better in the near future.
Difficulty in sustaining profit.
The value of the dollar has depreciated, and it has become difficult for importers to maintain profit margins, hence there is need for them to do adjustments in their pricing strategies.
The adjustments, however, don’t necessarily translate into relief for consumers as retailers in Gikomba are experiencing high prices though they expected favorable outcomes due to the dollar depreciation.
Speaking to Ghetto Radio News a trader from Gikomba says they are currently selling at a loss since majority had ordered imports from Canada, China and the UK.
The Bigger Picture
These challenges underscore deeper structural issues within Kenya’s economy, indicating that the problem extends beyond short-term fluctuations in currency values. Experts suggest that addressing these structural problems will be crucial for providing long-term relief and stability to businesses and consumers alike.
However, finding solutions to these underlying issues may take time and concerted efforts from both the government and private sector stakeholders.
Deeper structural problems
This problem, however, highlights the deeper structural problems within Kenyan economy, which show that the problems are not only transient but rather structural.
As problem solvers, experts believe that to have a better situation, we need to start by tackling the structural problems that have been the main obstacle for businesses and consumers.
While it may be challenging to come up with solutions to those deeper problems, this may require a long-term effort from both the government and private sector stakeholders.
STORY BY JUDITH KANAIYA


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Armed man threatens shop staff with a knife before stealing thousands of pounds worth of foreign currency
The incident happened at a premises on Ayr Road at around 1pm on Friday.
A man entered the store and threatened staff with a knife before making off with a five-figure sum of foreign currency, police said.
He then left the shop and drove off in a southerly direction in a silver vehicle.
"Extensive inquiries are ongoing to identify the man responsible, including reviewing CCTV from the area.
"Anyone who believes they may have information which could help identify the man or who was in the area at the time of the robbery is urged to contact police as soon as they can."
The man is described as being white, 6ft 2ins tall and of slim build.
He had a white mask covering his face and was wearing a black beanie style hat, light coloured long-sleeved top, navy blue bottoms and white shoes.


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Parents like new healthy eating rules for schools
One of my favorite stories that I reported on recently had to do with the new "smart snack" rules for schools that took effect in July. These rules followed the stricter breakfast and lunch guidelines of three years ago.
The rules sounded pretty tough to me. Any snack sold in a school had to be a whole-grain product; have a fruit, vegetable, dairy or protein as the first ingredient; be a combination food that contained ¼ cup of fruit or vegetable; or contain 10 percent of the daily value of calcium, potassium, Vitamin D or dietary fiber.
In addition, the snack must also be less than 200 calories, have less than 230 milligrams of sodium, have 0 grams of trans fat, have less than 35 percent of calories from fat and be less than 34 percent of weight from sugar.
"How could a kid ever enjoy a snack like that?" I wondered. But then I talked to Longleaf Elementary Principal Angela McCarty, who allows the school's parent-teacher organization to sell healthy snacks to students on Fridays. She said the students were eating sour raisins, lemon goldfish, whole grain pop-tarts and low-fat chips. I guess maybe they weren't so bad after all.
Well, now I've come across a survey that finds parents like the snacks, too.
The poll released by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association found 72 percent of parents think the snacks traditionally sold in school stores are not really healthy or are only somewhat healthy.
As for the snacks traditionally sold in school vending machines, 81 percent of parents are not really crazy about those.
But 72 percent support standards for snacks in schools.
And the same percentage supports standards for school meals. Those standards I told you about, enacted a few years ago, include more whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, fat-free or low-fat milk, and limited servings of starchy vegetables such as potatoes.
Eighty percent of parents also report being concerned about the state of children's health, while 74 percent report a concern with childhood obesity.
Education Week mentioned an assessment conducted by the Kids' Safe and Healthful Foods Project, which found serving healthy foods can benefit not only students but also schools. The project found, when schools implement healthy standards for snacks and a la carte foods, students are more likely to purchase a school meal.
Well, let's find out what kids are going to do — besides eat healthy — next week.
• Petal Elementary fourth-grade gifted students continue a unit on electricity by building batteries and light bulbs.
• Petal Middle School eighth-grade world geography students will study Latin America by developing travel brochures, presenting role plays and creating five-day itineraries for a vacation.
• Oak Grove Primary makeup picture day.
• Sumrall High School seniors meet with University of Southern Mississippi recruiter during lunch.
• Longleaf Elementary smoothie sales.
• Oak Grove Upper Elementary student council elections.
• Petal Primary School kindergartners can bring their pets to school for Pet Day.
Ellen Ciurczak covers K-12 education for the Hattiesburg American. Contact her at email@example.com.


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First medical marijuana dispensary opening in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — Dispensary sales of medical marijuana in Hawaii are beginning after patients waited 17 years for a legal way to purchase the drug.
Maui Grown Therapies received approval from the Department of Health to begin selling medical cannabis Tuesday.
The dispensary plans to start selling medical marijuana to patients Tuesday, said Teri Freitas Gorman, director of community relations and patient affairs.
"Clearly this is a historic day not just for Maui but for the state of Hawaii," Freitas Gorman said. "This is the first time in Hawaii that patients will be able to buy lab-tested, quality-assured medical cannabis from a state-licensed dispensary. We're so excited."
The Maui dispensary has been pre-registering patients and will begin selling medical cannabis to patients by appointment only, Freitas Gorman said. Walk-in sales will start in about a week.
"This is an important day for qualified patients and caregivers on Maui who now have assurance the medical cannabis they purchase at Maui Grown Therapies has been thoroughly tested and is safe for them to use," said Virginia Pressler, director of the state Department of Health, in a statement. "Implementing a new health program is always challenging, and the dispensary program was no exception."
Hawaii was among the first states to legalize medical marijuana in 2000. But the state didn't legalize dispensaries until 2015, so the state's 18,000 patients had to grow or obtain the drug on their own.
Hawaii granted licenses to eight medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the Hawaiian islands last year. Several dispensaries began growing and harvesting the product, but they were unable to sell it because until recently the state had not certified a lab.
Honolulu-based dispensary Aloha Green was inspected Tuesday by the Department of Health, and expects to receive a certificate allowing sales to proceed, said co-founder James H.Q. Lee. Inspectors told them they found no deficiencies, but they need to wait for final approval from the Department of Health, he added.
"We're confident, but you never know," Lee said. "This is Hawaii."