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- Snapchat’s initial earnings report disappointed investors as the young company exhibited slowing user growth and hefty losses.
- To date, Snapchat has focused on trying to land ad budgets from major, TV-centric marketers.
- Yet Snap has recently opened up its ad products to smaller advertisers, a move that could prove crucial to accelerating revenue growth — but one that poses challenges.
Snapchat may need an assist from the underbelly of the web.
Given that Snapchat’s users growth has slowed, it likely needs to widen its advertiser pool if it wants to drive the kind of revenue growth investors would like to see.
That means it will have to make its peace with direct response advertising.
The company said that 20% of its ads are being placed via programmatic channels during its disapointing earnings call on May 10. That’s a promising start, since the more automated ad buying available on Snapchat, the more demand it should attract.
And last week, Snapchat opened up its ad systems to small businesses who can now buy ads without having to talk to somebody at the company or hire a big ad agency.
Given the lacklustre results, the pressure is on for that initiative to produce.
Snapchat has focused on TV ad budgets
It’s a tough trick for Snapchat to pull off, as the company has taken pains to present its ad offerings as the “best ads in mobile” and comparable to TV. On the earnings call, executives talked up its audience data from Nielsen and big numbers for events like the Oscars and campaigns for Budweiser.
“We took a deliberate approach to start our business with the brand advertising,” said chief strategy officer Imran Khan during yesterday’s call. Snapchat declined to comment for this story.
That’s made sense, as Snapchat is a terrific place to showcase custom vertical video ads for upcoming summer movies, like the latest reboot of “The Mummy” or “King Arthur.”
But it’s also limiting. The secret to Facebook and Google’s ad dominance is that they don’t rely solely on the few hundred advertisers who traditional spend big on national TV ads. Instead they work with millions of advertisers, everyone from the local plummer to those ‘buy this’ or ‘click here’-type ads for reduced mortgage rates and reduced belly fat that permeate the web.
Some of those ads have already started popping up on Snapchat. Yet there’s no guarantee that we’ll see the floodgates open. For one thing, the best advertising on Snapchat takes into account vertical screens on phones and the app’s unique swipe-driven navigation. The average banner ad won’t necessarily translate to the platform.
Plus, Snapchat — given its entertainment-oriented nature — still has to prove it is a good vehicle for transactional advertising, said Andres Reiffen, CEO of Crealytics, a marketing technology company that works with retailers like Harrod’s and Asos.
Crealytics isn’t buying ads on Snapchat yet, because it is “simply not a direct response marketing channel today,” he said. “Many of our retail clients are not interested yet.”
Following the Instagram playbook
They will likely become more interested if other e-commerce brands start seeing success on Snapchat. “We continue to invest in both DR and brand and continue to make the advertising business as frictionless as possible which will help us to onboard many, many advertisers on the platform which should bode well for our future advertising business,” said Khan at Snap. “Our goal is to put the power of our ad products into the hands of every advertiser, regardless of their size.”
The transition Snapchat will need to go through is not unlike what Instagram experienced, when it went from hand selecting a limited number of ads that fit the app’s photo-friendly aesthetic to opening up its ad products to the masses, whether they run pretty ads or not. It took a little while for direct response brands like Parkwiz and eBagsonline to figure out Instagram, and now their ads are commonplace on the app.
“I think the big issue with advertising over the next decade or so, frankly, is going to be education,” said CEO Evan Spiegel. “I think we have world-class ad units. They are delivering ROI… we’ve just got to keep showing people how Snap can really work for them and drive ROI.”
Not everyone thinks embracing a wider array of advertisers is in Snapchat’s best interest. Will Margiloff, CEO at the marketing technology firm IgnitionOne, said he doesn’t think direct response ads fit Snapchat’s nature — and a sudden influx of such ads could make the platform less attractive for top marketers.
“I just hope they don’t deviate from what they are just to juice their revenue under the pressure of being public,” he said.
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Digital TV News: Strategy Analytics
Another record quarter for Smart Speakers in 3Q21
Dec 20, 2021 – The effects of the global component shortage have worked their way into the smart speaker supply chain, impacting Chinese vendors more acutely than others, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, David Watkins, Jack Narcotta, Digital TV, Market Research, Smart Home
Vewd and Mediatek bring entertainment to vehicle rear-seats
Oct 21, 2021 – MediaTek’s Autus I20 (MT2712) chipset has been selected to power Vewd for Automotive, a white-labeled, cloud-managed content aggregation and monetization solution for in-vehicle infotainment.
News categories: Vewd, MediaTek, Aneesh Rajaram, PC Tseng, Content Distribution, Digital TV, In-Car, Semiconductor, Streaming, Worldwide
Smart Speaker shipments surged to record levels in 2Q 2021
Sep 14, 2021 – The smart speaker market in calendar Q2 2021 surged to new heights as consumers and brands adapt to the ongoing pandemic, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, David Watkins, Jack Narcotta, Market Research, Smart Home, Worldwide
Global Smart TV household ownership to exceed 50% by 2026
Jul 20, 2021 – According to Strategy Analytics, more than 665 million homes worldwide had a Smart TV at the end of 2020. This equates to 34% of global households, a figure that is set to rise to 51% by 2026 when ownership will reach 1.1 billion homes.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Edouard Bouffenie, David Watkins, Digital TV, Market Research, Middleware, Smart TV, Streaming, Worldwide
ZEASN launches Smart Voice solutions
May 27, 2021 – ZEASN has unveiled its Whale Speaker OS and Whale AI Voice smart voice solutions. Whale Speaker OS is an operating system for smart speakers. Whale AI Voice provides Alexa skills for connected devices.
News categories: ZEASN, Raymond Chung, Colombia, Digital TV, Middleware, Smart Home, Smart TV, Worldwide
Strategy Analytics compares bundled communications service pricing
May 6, 2021 – Strategy Analytics-Teligen has introduced a benchmarking system that compares communication service offers across all permutations of services bundles in accordance with the recently approved OECD methodology.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Josie Sephton, Bernadette Finn, Broadband, Digital TV, Fibre, Market Research, Mobile, Worldwide
Dominant share for MediaTek in smart speaker market
May 4, 2021 – Apps processors from MediaTek were used in nearly 50% of the 151 million smart speakers and smart displays sold in 2020 according to Strategy Analytics. MediaTek increased its share by six percentage points in 2020.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Chirag Upadhyay, David Watkins, Market Research, Semiconductor, Smart Home, Worldwide
U.S. consumer spending on streaming video to pass pay TV in 2024
Apr 27, 2021 – According to Strategy Analytics, U.S. consumer spending on traditional pay TV will decline to $74.5B in 2023. By contrast, spending on streaming services will grow to reach $76.3B in 2024, passing pay TV for the first time.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Michael Goodman, Digital TV, Market Research, Streaming, TV Services, USA
8K TV households to reach 72 million worldwide by 2025
Apr 7, 2021 – According to Strategy Analytics, 8K TV adoption will begin to build momentum over the next few years, reaching 72 million households by 2025. North America will be the leading region with close to 25 million households owning at least one 8K TV set.
News categories: Strategy Analytics, Edouard Bouffenie, David Watkins, Digital TV, Market Research, Smart TV, Worldwide
- Video Solutions AG launches AVOD channels with Amagi
- Netflix shows signs of slowing in the U.S.
- A-LIVE partners with Minerva to offer fans NFTs of music concert
- Pay TV revenues in the MENA region to decline by $1.5bn
- ViacomCBS migrates from satellite to IP content distribution with CommScope
- VIDAA selects Unruly SSP and ad server to provide inventory access
- NBCUniversal names iSpot.tv as first cross-platform Video Certified Measurement Partner
- GTPL Hathway finishes 2021 with 7.5 million digital CATV subscribers
- Vewd adds SmarDTV CI Plus CAM to Operator TV ecosystem
- DTH subscribers down 970,000 in India in 3Q 2021
- Global consumer media usage growth slowed to 1.6% in 2021
- castLabs DRM protects online content for PBS
- NBCUniversal and RTL AdConnect offer joint access to ad inventory
- ERT upgrades OTT platform with Telmaco and Insys VT
- QXC Communications launches MDU streaming service with NAGRA
- TCL integrates WiSA wireless audio connectivity module
- Access Advance announces initial VVC/H.266 video patent pool licensors
- Disruptel partners with TCL to develop AI-driven viewing experiences
- Canal+ delivers low-latency streaming on Apple TV with ATEME
- Atlanta DTH announces compact USB ATSC 3.0 TV receiver

domain: news


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HANGZHOU — China’s Alibaba said orders made through its e-commerce sites during its Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza had exceeded $56 billion by Wednesday morning, as lockdown-weary consumers splashed out on as many as 16 million discounted products.
The world’s biggest sales event – eclipsing Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States combined – stretches over four main days this year, and so far has brought sellers on Alibaba platforms 16 times as many orders by value than Amazon.com Inc clocked last month in its two-day global Prime Day.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The performance will likely come as a relief to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd a week since it lost about 10% of its market value after regulators pulled the listing of financial technology affiliate Ant Group.
The sale also comes amid an economic rebound with the spread of the novel coronavirus in China under control, while border closures abroad have meant more consumers spending at home. Such is its size that its performance is widely considered indicative of the strength of China’s post-virus recovery.
Alibaba, which launched the shopping event in 2009, began the sale early this year to give lesser-known brands more exposure. It scheduled primary discount days for Nov. 1 through Nov. 3 as well as the usual Nov. 11, and will calculate gross merchandise volume (GMV) over the 11 days, rather than 24 hours.


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Lenovo began a nationwide promotion campaign in December last year, when it added the Lenovo P1m and LenovoS1 to its Lenovo vibe series, with the former admired for it long lasting 4000mAh battery and amazing camera for the latter.
Ms Vivian Onyemaechi of Delta state University, won the Grand final draw at the end of the even in Lagos Nigeria.
Though she was absent and only communicated and appreciated the organisers via telephone. And represented by
Nnamdi Marcellinus at the Lagos event.
The fun-packed show had Music star Dbanj in attendance who doubles as Slots brand ambassador. He was there to present awards and prizes to the winners.
Speaking about the promos, he said: People have castigated promos, but my involvement has convinced me ofthe transparency of the process.
Marketing manager Lenovo technologies West africa, Oyekanmi Bolade and Head of marketing slot systems Mr. Jonathan Uzomba was also present.
Lots of consolation prizes were also given to other winners.
Congratulations to Ms Onymaechi, good rep for DelSU✌👍👍


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- A low-key US asset manager bet on Tesla back in 2011 – and now the stock has surged nearly 15,000% since then.
- Jennison Associates' gamble was all thanks to a 27-year old analyst, Owuraka Koney.
- "When I look at Tesla today, I'm no longer worried about survival. It's just a question of how successful they will be," Koney told Bloomberg.
A secretive US asset manager bet big on Tesla back in 2011 when a 27-year old analyst saw the EV maker's potential – and now its stock is up nearly 15,000% since then.
New York-based Jennison Associates owns more than 20 million shares in the Elon Musk-led carmaker, racking up a stake that's currently worth around $5.9 billion. That also makes the asset manager one of Tesla's largest investors.
The growth equity manager's huge win all boils down to Owuraka Koney. In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, the young analyst explained his bullishness on Tesla, and what led him to convince Jennison Associates to take a chance on the carmaker's stock.
From self-teaching himself about the EV industry to meeting Musk himself, Koney watched Tesla like a hawk. Then just a year after the automaker went public at $17 apiece, Koney was sold. "Owuraka believed that Tesla was going to revolutionize the auto industry," Kathleen McCarragher, head of growth equity at Jennison Associates, told Bloomberg.
Tesla's bespoke battery system, its "unique company culture" and structural cost advantages were just some of the factors Koney was impressed by, per the outlet.
"When I look at Tesla today, I'm no longer worried about survival," said Koney. "It's just a question of how successful they will be," Koney said.
Tesla has been an investor favorite for some time now. The company has become one of the best-performing stocks on the S&P 500, soaring more than 130% this year thanks to shining quarterly earnings, EV price cuts, and investor excitement about the tech industry amid an AI boom.
The company just made headlines for rolling out its first Cybertruck after years of delays, in what Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives noted will spur demand.
New-York based Jennison Associates typically keeps a low profile when it comes to their stock pickings, making this the first time they've publicly discussed their Tesla holding.
Tesla isn't the only win for the asset manager. Jennison likely made a stunning $5 billion gain on Nvidia stock this year with its nearly 1% stake in the semiconductor company, Insider's Theron Mohamed reported last month.


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- Newly-designed 4965 sq.ft. space emblematic of brand’s vision for the future
Lifestyle has launched its newly-designed store at the Dubai Mall, perfectly integrating in-store technology and the personal element synonymous with brick-and-mortar retail. The 4,965 sq.ft. “store of the future” opened its doors today, bringing the first-of-its-kind omnichannel experience to the beauty and lifestyle brand’s loyal patrons in the UAE.
The new beauty-focused layout with digital interfaces was designed by Dalziel & Pow to offer an interactive journey that captures the imagination of style-conscious consumers and millennials with a penchant for online retail and a love of their smartphone. It will also include different sections centered around beauty accessories, bags, bath & body and home fragrances, where customers will have the opportunity to buy diverse products from new brands on Lifestyle’s e-commerce website.
Modern design and well-demarcated experience zones with makeover labs, known as ‘Beauty Labs,’ will ensure that transformations and other beauty activations take centre-stage at the revamped outlet; this, in order to cater to a younger generation of Middle Eastern shoppers for whom social media trends are of central importance.
Vikas Attri, CEO of Lifestyle said: “Lifestyle has always been future-oriented and in touch with the ever-evolving digital needs of young male and female customers. With the launch of this new design, our goal was to create an omnichannel experience which will meet the shopping preferences of generations to come. I’m pleased to share that this format will be replicated in most Lifestyle stores in the region within the next five years.”
Shopping touchscreens are at the heart of the upgraded experience that is both convenient and inclusive, whilst simultaneously employing the latest technology. A key element of the enhanced interiors is the incorporation of projections, LED screens, touch screens and tablets which allow for a seamless yet exciting customer journey.
According to a report on retail disruption published by PWC last year, online monthly customers in the Middle East rose from 23% to 29% in 2016. The main motivation for this was lower pricing, followed by a greater product selection. Customer behaviour also varied based on age—approximately 36% of those between 18 – 24 shopped online regularly, compared to only 13% in the age bracket 55 and above.
Lifestyle plans to further revolutionise the experience at physical stores for this technology-savvy cohort via its ‘Click & Collect’ function which combines the convenience and intuitiveness of online shopping with a tangible in-store experience. Customers can now shop a range of products in-store by choosing from a wide variety of products, online, and collecting their purchases at a Lifestyle store of their choice, gratis.
The leading beauty brand’s research division has identified that 40% of its shoppers conduct their research online and then make a purchase in-store. It has also found that online shopping allows customers to research product reviews and find items easily; however, it can never give buyers the physical experience of touching and exploring merchandise before purchasing it. Additionally, it cannot provide the personal connection between vendor and customer that has defined retail since its very inception.
As part of its new approach to retailing, Lifestyle has also tied up with Klara Cosmetics to launch its exclusive beauty products through its retail stores across the Middle East. In addition to the Australian brand, Elle Décor, Esteban Paris, theBalm Cosmetics, and Bronx Colors are available at the store.


text: During a time when Bitcoin seems to be suffering more and more, and losing value by the day, there is some good news. Bitcoin Diamond has had a really good week, with the value constantly improving and this is something that the market really needs right now, making a recovery look promising at a time when it is very much needed. So, what is Bitcoin Diamond and why is it different and gaining popularity? Bitcoin Diamond gained a huge amount of support across exchanges before it was even released, so it is only natural that it would do well when it was. The code used for this new cryptocurrency is similar to that used for Bitcoin Core. The downside to this cryptocurrency seems to be that there are not many wallets that support it. One of the main differences between Bitcoin Diamond and Bitcoin is that they have a supply of tokens ten times larger than the latter. On top of this though, it claims to solve some of the problems that Bitcoin had, such as anonymity; it fact, this is one of Bitcoin Diamonds main focus. The developers claim to have found a way to encrypt the transaction amounts and balances of all users; similar to the likes of Monero. They also claim to provide faster transaction times, and alleviate any network congestion that might occur, generally making it a better choice over Bitcoin. That said, despite all of the positives, it is unlikely to push Bitcoin; the oldest and most well known cryptocurrency; off of the throne just yet. Today, Bitcoin Diamond is trading at $2.45, which is up from yesterday, when it was trading at just $2.34. if it continues to rise like it has been, it could be a really positive step forward for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoins, and might begin to help the market begin to recover.


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Posted on June 15, 2018 at 4:10 PM
Apple Removes iPhone’s Feature to Block Out the Law Enforcement and Hackers
According to Apple’s new announcement, the new software update for iOS will finally remove the USB access feature. This will be done in order to protect the safety of users’ information, and prevent the law enforcement, as well as hackers, from gaining access to the locked phone’s data.
Apple removes the iPhone vulnerability
Apple’s newest improvement to iPhone includes the new security measure which will disable the Lightning port of the iPhone. The Lightning port has been serving as both, the data port, as well as the charging port, and from now on, it will be disabled an hour after the phone was last unlocked.
Apple’s spokesperson has stated that the customer is at the center of everything that the company designs, which is why they are working non-stop to improve the devices’ security. Protecting the users from hacking, intrusions, and identity theft has become one of the most important tasks, hence the new improvement.
By implementing this as the new default option, users will still be able to use the Lightning port for charging their devices. However, data transfers will stop until the valid passcode was entered. Apple came to this idea due to the creation of various devices that were developed by federal law enforcement agencies. These devices were specially designed to break into the iPhone, which is something that the company decided to prevent at all costs.
Most of these devices, like GrayKey box, work by installing a software that is capable of cracking the device’s passcode. Various agencies are known to be in possession of this device, FBI included. Another type of devices that this move is expected to prevent include Cellebrite’s UFED devices. These were made to be forensic tools for devices such as iPad and iPhone, which presumes that they are capable of unlocking them.
Apple sees this method of gaining access as an indication that the device is vulnerable, and has decided to fix the vulnerability. Originally, they introduced a feature by the name of USB Restricted Mode, which disabled access to the Lightning connector after a week.
However, the company soon discovered that this mode has vulnerabilities, especially in the way that the system handles the USB devices. The code was reviewed and improved, and the company even added additional mitigation to remove USB as a method of attack. That way, the customers can remove it when it is not needed, without the negative impact on the user experience.
Apple and the law enforcement agencies
There has been quite a history between Apple and federal law enforcement agencies over the years, especially when it comes to unlocking the company’s devices. The biggest conflict between the two came in 2016 after the FBI demanded that Apple unlocks the iPhone of a person who killed 14 people in the previous year, known as the San Bernardino gunman.
Apple refused to create a version of iOS that would allow the access since it would create a backdoor that would put other customers at risk. Despite the fact that the government might promise to limit the use of such a system to this particular case, there is no guarantee that they would actually respect that promise.
The newest security measure is still focused towards protecting the device from bad actors and hackers, much more than protecting them from the FBI. The company has stated that they have the greatest respect for the law enforcement and that their security improvements were not directed towards frustrating the federal agents. However, the move will still do just that, and the relationship between the company and the law enforcement can only suffer even more.
Awake Security’s researcher, Troy Kent, stated that this move obviously shows that Apple respects their users’ privacy and that the move is good for both individuals, as well as for organizations. It will probably damage the relationship between Apple and the law enforcement even further, but there will always be other exploits that can be used, and it is only a matter of time before they are uncovered,
One thing is certain, and that is that the law enforcement within the United States will definitely be impacted by this move. Still, the company has done this to protect their customers, and while this is expected to work without problems in other countries, it will still make a problem for the law enforcement in the US.


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Temporary location change of portion of the Market due to ongoing construction safety concerns and future bricking of Lemon Ave
The Sarasota Farmers Market will be shifting one street over, beginning next Saturday, September 22nd. The move is in response to safety concerns from ongoing construction activity of The Mark during market hours, and the bricking of Lemon Avenue in early 2019.
The new market footprint will extend South to Main Street on Lemon Avenue, with a new addition of First Street from Lemon Avenue to Orange Avenue. The shift was initiated by the Sarasota Farmers Market Board of Directors, with the support of the City of Sarasota.
“The time has come that we shift the south end of the Market so that our vendors, customers, and community can have a safe place to gather on Saturday mornings,” states Executive Director Phil Pagano. “And with the upcoming bricking of lemon, it’s a great way to get customers acquainted with our new footprint before it starts.”
In addition to the Farmers Market’s safety concerns, the City of Sarasota plans to begin a beautification project for Lemon Avenue, which will include re-bricking the streets, slated to begin in early 2019. “Once the construction of the Mark and rebricking of Lemon is complete, along with the revitalization of Paul Thorpe Park, it will make not only the Market but the downtown area a world-class destination and a vibrant hub for locals,” said Pagano.
Throughout this shift, the Sarasota Farmers Market will be open for it’s regular hours, 7am – 1pm, rain or shine. The Market will be providing a shaded seating area, free kids activities, and live music on the new Market Stage. It will also be rolling out several special events to engage the community and spread the word about the shift.
The Market is also working with State Street merchants to support their viability during this shift. “The merchants on State Street will be hosting various activities on the sidewalk so that customers and the community can enjoy and visit after parking at the State Street Parking Garage,” states Pagano. “We thank them for their support and hope you will patronize their businesses during this shift.”
The Farmers Market will return to its original location when construction and re-bricking is complete, and it is determined to be safe for customers to return. “There’s never been a time when our vendors and downtown merchants need the support of our customers and community more, “ states Pagano. “Special thanks to the City of Sarasota for supporting the Market in our needs during this shift.”


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EU banned the imports of goods from the Crimea
The EU Council decided to ban the imports of commodities from the Crimea to the European Union within frames of "the strategy for non-recognition of Crimea's accession to Russia", declared Linas Linkevičius, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.
It is expected that the decision comes into force on June 25, 2014, after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
You should be authorized to post comment
Russia applied the customs duties on Moldavian agricultural products
Russia harvested 75 mln tonnes of grains
Russia not to to get out of the WTO – S.Lavrov
September 1, 13:30
Russia: harvest volumes to significantly exceed the average annual level – Roshydromet
September 1, 10:40
Russia: Ministry of Agriculture to purchase 4-4.5 mln tonnes of grains to the intervention fund
September 1, 09:50
Russia harvested almost 74 mln tonnes of grains
August 29, 13:19


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PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) — Prom season is nearly upon us and teens across the state are scouring stores, searching for the perfect dress.
But for hundreds of children in the foster care system, buying a new dress just isn’t possible.
Ava Sangiovanni, a 15-year-old sophomore at Mount St. Charles Academy, started the dress collection back in February. In just one month, she far exceeded her goal.
“Finding the dress like the perfect dress that gives you the wow factor is really important,” Sangiovanni said.
For many teens, like Sangiovanni and her older sister, the only concern is picking out a dress, not necessarily buying it.
“We never have to worry about getting a dress, or having the perfect accessories for the dress, or being able to go to prom, and I think that sometimes me or some other people could take that for granted,” Sangiovanni said.
Sangiovanni had an idea. She noticed that after wearing a prom dress just one time, it’s quickly retired.
“Oh it goes right in the closet, like you don’t wear it again,” Sangiovanni said.
Rather than hanging it up to collect dust Sangiovanni started a dress donation drive, collecting gowns for fellow students in foster care who can’t afford to buy one.
Tara Iadevaia is a senior at Ponaganset High School and spent five years in the foster care system.
“A lot of my friends have like $500 dresses,” Iadevaia said.
Without the ability to buy a dress, she missed her junior prom. Thanks to Sangiovanni’s drive, she has a beautiful gown to wear to her senior prom in May.
“She collected enough dresses so every kid in foster care if they wanted a dress they could have one to go to dances,” Iadevaia said.
The Pawtucket Ocean State Job Lot location’s storefront is now filled with more than 400 prom dresses, plus shoes, accessories and suits for the boys.
“It was all about creating a little bit more of a normalcy factor to make them not ‘the foster kid’ but just another beautiful girl or guy on prom,” Sangiovanni said.
The first of several dress distribution days is Monday from 5-7 p.m. at the Ocean State Job Lot Plaza located at 50 Ann Mary Street in Pawtucket.
Other dates include March 12-16, April 16-20 and May 14-18. Hours are 1-7 p.m. for those dates at the same location.
To learn more about Foster Forward — the organization that helped Sangiovanni put on the drive — click here, or call 401- 438-3900.


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People spending more time at home because of the coronavirus have helped make Netflix even more of a habit. Whether it’s “Tiger King” distracting us with strange-but-true revelations, or a new season of “The Great British Baking Show” to provide a bit of comfort, watching shows or movies on Netflix has never seemed more necessary.
Well, now get ready to pay a bit more for the Netflix experience. As several sources have announced today, Netflix is raising the prices on some of its subscription plans for customers in the U.S. As The Verge reports, as of today, the standard plan is increasing from $13 a month to $14 a month, and the premium tier is increasing from $16 a month to $18 a month.
According to the report in The Verge, “New subscribers will have to pay the updated monthly fees, while current subscribers will see the new prices over the next few weeks as they roll out with customer’s billing cycles.”
The Hollywood Reporter notes that the standard plan allows people to stream on two screens at the same time, and includes access to Netflix’s HD library. The premium plan allows up to four streams at the same time, in addition to access to ultra HD programs. The cheapest plan, which only allows for one simultaneous stream and doesn’t include HD programming, remains at $9 per month.
In its story, the Hollywood Reporter includes quotes from a Netflix spokesperson, saying, “We understand people have more entertainment choices than ever and we’re committed to delivering an even better experience for our members. We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films — in addition to our great fall line up. As always we offer a range of plans so that people can pick a price that works best for their budget.”
As the Hollywood Reporter story adds, the increase in subscription rates “comes as Netflix has seen significant growth in the U.S. amid the global coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. and Canada accounts for nearly 73.1 million of its 195 million global subscribers.”
In January 2019, Netflix also announced a price hike, with the basic plan rising from $8 to $9, the $11 plan rising to $13 and the premium plan rising from $14 to $16.
-- Kristi Turnquist


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BANGKOK — Mounting wage costs, a significant shortage of labor and competition from cheaper neighboring countries could lead to contraction for Thailand’s apparel industry.
“I cannot be optimistic because the U.S. economy is not great…Europe is in debt and Japan is in recession,” said Sukij Kongpiyacharn, president of the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association. “There will be no growth this year. I will be happy to see us maintain last year’s level.”
Hermès is launching a Laundromat pop-up shop in NYC - dubbed Hermèsmatic - where customers can bring their old scarves to be dip-dyed by an expert. Get all the details on WWD.com. #wwdnews (📷: @donstahl)


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The international research and consulting group, which published results of a new survey on Friday, said e-mail responsiveness is "surprisingly poor" at high-tech companies. What's more, the industry as a whole is inconsistent with regard to keeping customer data private.
Siebel Systems and Toshiba America ranked last among high-tech companies in the study. Others at the bottom of the list include Epson America, Affiliated Computer Services, and Computer Sciences Corp.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hewlett-Packard and Xerox topped the high-tech charts with scores indicating overall excellence. Microsoft, Dell, Gateway, Symantec, Electronic Arts, Accenture, Adobe Systems and Electronic Data Systems rounded out the top 10.
In coming up with its rankings, the
"We were pleased to see an overall increase in the industry's Customer Respect Index scores since the last report," Terry Golesworthy, president of the Customer Respect Group, said in a statement. "But we continue to be concerned that the high-tech industry, which we believe has the know-how to do even better, hasn't yet found the will."
High-tech companies scored an average of 6.4 points in the survey, which was conducted this spring. The industry showed improvement over the end of last year, when the average score was 6. The average for all industries in this latest survey was 5.9, with 10 being the highest score possible.
Poor response rates to customer e-mails were the biggest drag on high-tech companies' scores, with 45 percent earning a "poor" rating for responsiveness. Computer firms completely ignored a "staggering 27 percent" of e-mail inquiries, the report noted.
"High-tech firms overall supplied less helpful answers than other industries with 40 percent of all responses considered less than very helpful," the Customer Respect Group's report stated.
The high-tech pack showed overall improvement in the privacy category, with IBM, HP and Veritas leading the way. Yet the industry is only average when compared with other industries on keeping data out of the hands of third parties, the report said. Nearly one-third of the high-tech companies in the study were either unclear about how they handle customer data or in fact shared data with their parties. Eight percent of sites provided no means to "opt out" of future marketing campaigns.


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According to PREMIUM TIMES, the cars will cost taxpayers an estimated N4.7billion that could be spent on vaccinating newborns and save them from dying or on providing electricity for remote communities so kids stop doing school assignments using paraffin lamps.
The upper legislative chamber is buying the vehicles at a time millions of Nigerians are facing severe
economic hardship, including nonpayment of salaries.
The procurement is also happening at a time millions of Nigerians are enduring long and humiliating fuel queues across the country because the federal government is too broke to pay importers of petrol several billions in subsidy claims.
As proof for their claim, PT says the management of the National Assembly has invited bids from contractors interested in supplying the vehicles.
In an advertisement published in some newspapers, including Blueprint of November 20, 2015, the authorities asked the companies to tender for “Lot 1S, Supply of Utility Vehicles”.
The advert, in what appears a deliberate ploy to conceal details, failed to indicate the number, type and specification of vehicles being bought.
However, PREMIUM TIMES has now obtained detailed copies of tender documents being discreetly issued to prospective contractors.
In one of the documents, the Senate indicated it was buying:
- 120 units of Toyota Land Cruiser, 2016 model.
Other details of the vehicles included that they must be:
- “American Brand, V8, VXR, 5.7, Auto Engine WITH INTELLIGENCE”.
The senators also want the vehicles to come with:
- integrated navigator cruise control,
- QI-Compatible wireless charging and Kinetic dynamic suspension system, as well as being “full option”.
On November 21, the Senate also put up another advert it labelled “addendum”.
The latest advert under Lot 2S, which was couched to look like an oversight in the first advert, was for the purchase of vehicles for the use of the senate president’s convoy.
Under Lot 2S and based on the tender document, which they have also obtained, the national assembly is seeking to purchase a 2016 model Mercedes Benz S550 for Mr. Saraki.
Other vehicles being procured for Mr. Saraki include:
- four 2016 Toyota Prado jeeps,
- four 2016 Toyota Hilux SS (Auto)
- as well as a 2016 model Toyota Hiace Bus.
The spokesperson for the Senate, Aliyu Sabi, could not be reached Saturday to comment on these new procurement as his telephone was switched off the several times their reporter called.
The Director of Information of the National Assembly, Ishaku Dibal, declined to comment on the matter. He said he was driving and couldn’t comment after Premium Times' reporter put his question to him.
Subsequent calls to his telephone failed to connect.


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Volvo Cars CEO, Håkan Samuelsson, has extended his contract and will continue as the CEO till 2022. Volvo claims that this extension will provide continuity to the transformation of the brand globally as a diversified mobility service provider. Samuelsson took on the role as the brand’s CEO in October 2012, and under his reign, Volvo has gone through a drastic transformation and further established itself as an innovative, luxury and premium global brand with their latest generation models. Volvo has been able to develop new platforms, powertrains, safety and infotainment technology in-house.
All of this has also led the company to clock in record profits with year-on-year growth to further strengthen the brand. By the middle of the next decade, Volvo expects to generate half of its annual sales from fully electric cars, while one-third of all cars are expected to be autonomous. It also aims to offer half of its cars to customers through an innovative subscription-based channel. Volvo will roll out new plans to market, like their car subscription service called Car by Volvo, its new mobility company called ‘M’ and a new electric performance brand called Polestar. Along with these plans, Volvo will continue to innovate with the Chinese car brand LYNK & CO and autonomous software company Zenuity.


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By Prafulla Mathur
Businesses across the globe have been impacted in multiple ways by the raging COVID-19 pandemic. With the situation far from being normal, it is difficult to predict when things will be back to usual. However, what is certain is that the way businesses have been operating, be it home grown companies or large MNCs, will not be the same anymore.
If branding and marketing spends were already moving towards digital, the global lockdown has acted as a powerful catalyst to that trend, given the average monthly online activity has skyrocketed manifolds globally.
A DataReportal analysis has revealed that the number of social media users has gone up to 3.81 billion today, an increase of 8% since April 2019. The ongoing pandemic induced lockdown has definitely helped in reaching those fantastic figures. GlobalWebIndex has revealed that almost half of global internet users (46%) have been spending considerably more time (+24%) on social media as compared to their pre-lockdown behaviours. It is therefore clearly evident that having an effective and compelling digital presence, is now an imperative thing for brands and businesses.
Therefore it also follows, that if ever there was a time for Deep Technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) to “cash-in”, it is now as we approach a more digitally driven world. Advertisers can now reach more than 2 billion people on Facebook, as revealed by the company’s self-service advertising tools. Assuming that every user is at least 13 years old, as required by the platform’s terms of service, advertisers can now reach more than one-third of the world’s total population through an effective advertising architecture.
In March 2020, an additional 76 million people saw adverts on Facebook, as compared to December 2019. A substantial part of the growth was fuelled by strong gains in India, with a potential reach of 280 million, an increase of 20 million since January.
This increased web traffic is heavily dominated by younger age groups (between 16 and 24), who love to play with tools like face filters, as Snapchat had established- basically preferring a much more engaging and interactive mode of communicating with the online world. This is where AR technology plays a powerful role and their applications go much beyond fun and games, playing an increasingly key role in driving greater value to businesses.
Brands have now taken to more powerful and evolved AR-filters like the one described above to magnify their outreach. Taco Bell for example, created a branded Snapchat filter that transforms faces into tacos. As weird as it may sound, the filter was an immense hit with tons of people sharing their taco faces, and most importantly – carried Taco Bell’s logo in the bottom corner of every snap. Bear in mind that your audience today primarily comprises tech savvy millennials and even the smallest technology innovation can blow up into an emerging trend.
AR is now an amazing opportunity for businesses to provide followers with an “out-of-the-box” experience. Leading cosmetic brands like Sephora have seen the light. Facebook has extended its AR offerings to Facebook Messenger, the platform’s messaging application and through the same, followers of Sephora can now try various products, for instance, shades of lipsticks through AR filters. Not only is this an effective “try and buy” medium, but every click carries the brand name and with every share and view, the growth is exponential.
AR filters on Instagram too have become an effective tool in the technology’s rise to prominence on the Facebook-owned platform. French artist Ines Longevial, who has over 308k followers on Insta, made waves on the platform last year with her AR face filters, which typically feature a bright doodle or scribble with a crayon like texture. Her “Save the Planet” mask got ragingly popular as users pledged their allegiance to the cause.
It is however important to shape your content strategies to make room for AR-driven elements into your social media plan. There is enormous scope for creating compelling, engaging and unique content and it is in the hands of brands now to develop the best possible experience to suit themselves as well as the user.
Consumers can also now make a more informed decision by seeing how a particular product will look in their surroundings through such AR elements, sometimes even driving them towards impulse purchases. According to a CreditCards.com poll, 80% of young people made an impulsive purchase last year. AR filters, for e.g. Sephora’s range of cosmetics that can now be tried on through social media, enables users to see how the product would appear on their skin in real time. This blurring between imaginary and reality can make impulse purchases harder to resist.
Social networks are now encouraging its user base to embrace their AR tools more than ever and it is only a matter of time when brands scale up to this reality. According to Tractica, AR-based ads will be generating about $13 billion a year by 2022, so if there ever was a time for your business to incorporate AR, it is now. Especially given that we are fast approaching a “contactless” post-COVID world.
The author is co-founder, Queppelin
Read Also: Five simple hacks for brand acceptance in changing times
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According to a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Freedom of Information request, a total of 32,056 vans have been stolen over the last four years with almost 10,000 thefts recorded across the UK in the last year alone. The 2018/19 official police statistics represent a year-on-year rise of 4% and a 45% increase since 2015/16.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is advising van owners and fleet managers to ensure their vehicles are fitted with the latest anti-theft devices as well as remembering to remove expensive tools from vehicles at night.
Of the 9,371 van thefts reported in the past 12 months, the Metropolitan Police recorded more than half of the total with 4,777 commercial vehicles stolen in the area – a rise of 15%.
The biggest yearly increase in thefts was reported in Leicestershire with 10 times more vans stolen in 2018/19 than records for the year before. Van thefts in North Wales doubled, while West Yorkshire police records show a 67% rise. In fact, West Yorkshire was the second highest overall (931 thefts), followed by the West Midlands (409), Essex (387) and Leicestershire (377).
David Hanna, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Head of Service and Parts Operations, said: “Our most recent findings are concerning as it reveals that the problem of van theft is getting worse rather than better – and it’s a problem right across the country. Vans are the lifeblood of so many businesses up and down the country and it’s not only the emotional stress of replacing the vehicle but also the days and weeks of letting customers down and the cost of replacing tools, often worth thousands of pounds, before you can get back to ‘business as usual’.
“Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is committed to supporting our customers wherever possible and that includes preventing them from becoming victims of van theft. We strongly advise not to leave tools in the vehicle overnight and we’re also supporting our customers with offers on the latest anti-theft devices to help give them piece of mind.”
Year-on-year trends in full:
|Police Force||Stolen vans 2017/18||Stolen vans 2018/19||Year-on-year increase|
|Avon and Somerset||166||193||16%|
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Win Blogs Charity News Latest Headlines London News London Close Up Sports News Entertainment News Business News Weird News Traffic and Travel Weather Hatton Garden Heist Party Conferences The News Explained Tube Strike Travel News Podcasts LBC Podcasts Mobile Apps Why Subscribe. Twitter is sort of the main one, which is intriguing due to the fact that Facebook, of course, is much larger than Twitter in terms of your basic population. But they also happen to have some of the city's best old school pies, made unique by the cornmeal crumbs under the crust.
go private FREE CHAT DAVIDPARKER Find the best 18 22 hulky and latin lovers in gay category on livegirlsuk. 99(Restrictions apply) Buy Now, Pay Later options available Interest Free finance options Free Installation on selected products 9 Stores Nationwide with large showrooms Largest UK Showroom Northampton 9 Stores & Showrooms across the UK Find your local store ». Owls of the British Isles'??wallpaper design is a brand new collection launched by talented interiors stylist Abigail Edwards, former Deputy Decorating Editor here at Country Homes & Interiors.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Pink Pussy July 22, 2015 by admin Delightful BBW posing as a hula dancer and wearing her floral crown. ??Based in London she has studied , assisted and co taught alongside many of the Advanced Jivamukti teachers here in London and New York including Durga Devi assisiting her at the Jivamukti Gathering in New York 2012. Bonus material Nintendo employed a woman to hold their product in a hideous flash driven piece of promo fluff on their site.


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[photopress:Hotels_Hilton_Beijing.jpg,full,alignright]With the Olympic Games scheduled to hit Beijing next year, major hotel companies have scrambled to get new properties in China open in time.
Hilton Hotels operates six hotels in China (the one in Beijing is shown here), but will more than double that in the next few years. In late August it announced an agreement to manage a new Hilton in the Wangfujing district of Beijing, set to open next year, and also has scheduled to open in 2008 a Doubletree in Beijing, a Conrad in Shanghai and a Doubletree in Kunshan, as well as a resort and spa in Chongqing. Three other Hiltons are set to open in China by 2011. In June, a joint venture of one of Deutsche Bank’s investment arms and private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific agreed to create and manage more than 25 hotels in mainland China under Hilton’s mid-price Hilton Garden Inn brand.
InterContinental Hotels now has 67 hotels open. IHG plans to nearly double that by next year, and future growth is particularly focused on Crowne Plaza.
Marriott International now has 27 properties in China, according to company spokesman John Wolf, and by 2010 will have 15 more: six under the Marriott brand, three under the Renaissance brand, two under the JW Marriott brand and four under Marriott’s mid-price Courtyard brand. In addition, the company will open six of its luxury Ritz-Carlton properties in China by 2010.
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has announced plans to open in China 15 new properties — three Park Hyatt hotels, three Grand Hyatt hotels and nine Hyatt Regency hotels. China already has more Hyatt properties than any other country outside of North America.
Wyndham Hotel Group has announced an Asia-focused investment management firm is investing $50 million in the master franchisor of the Super 8 brand in China, Tian Rui Hotel Corp. The franchisor already has opened 49 Super 8 properties in China and has agreements in place to develop 67 more.
Even with all those growth plans in place, however, travel managers said the region would continue to be a challenge as travel to the region increases. Travel managers often have to look outside of hotel offerings when planning Asia/Pacific travel.
Source: Business Travel News Online


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VW POLO R for WRC in 2013 - Web Exclusive
Volkswagen will enter the World Rally Championship from 2013 with the brawny Polo R WRC powered by a 300hp 1.6-liter TSI engine
Download the Polo R WRC wallpaper from www.eurotuner.com
Answering the prayers of many VW enthusiasts around the world, Volkswagen AG in Gemany today announced it would be entering the World Rally Championship in 2013, and unveiled the brawny Polo R WRC concept as the car they will use for the assault.
For Kris Nissen, Director of Volkswagen Motorsport and his team, the World Rally Championship marks a new commitment. “We look forward to this new challenge and are working on this project with the same passion with which we won the Dakar Rally in the past three years,” he said.
After three consecutive victories at the Dakar Rally, Volkswagen has set itself new goals in global sport. With three car corporations currently involved in the championship – Ford, Citroen and Mini – and the global media coverage it brings, WRC offers VW an attractive, competitive environment for it to compete in.
By 2013, the Wolfsburg-based company will have developed a 300hp rally vehicle with a 1.6-liter TSI engine and four-wheel drive based on the Polo to comply with the FIA WRC regulations
The World Rally Championship offers the most diverse technological challenge in motorsport because of the various terrain they must tackle. This had to be considered during the design of the new WRC vehicle. The typical season features 13 WRC rounds on four different continents, so a world rally car has to function in extremely different climatic conditions, from the blazing heat of South America to the icy roads in Scandinavia.
Additionally, new rules came into effect this year requiring a maximum displacement of 1600cc, direct injection and turbochargers. “The new Technical Regulations of the World Rally Championship are an ideal fit for Volkswagen’s philosophy for the development of production vehicles,” said Dr Ulrich Hackenberg from Volkswagen.
In order to compete at the highest level, Volkswagen will prepare and enter the Polo R WRC as a factory team. In doing so, the Wolfsburg-based squad can build on structures that have been established over the past few years. “We can draw on an experienced and proven squad which has done an outstanding job in top-calibre sport in the past few years,” said Nissen. “Even though the WRC is new territory for us, and involves learning many areas, the team already meets some important prerequisites as it brings an unwavering professionalism and resolve to deliver perfection.”
VW’s history in top-flight rallying may not be familiar to most people, with the brand deferring to Audi and lately both Seat and Skoda at different levels of the sport. However, Wolfsburg has celebrated rally success in the mid ’80s. The most important was in 1986 when Swede Kenneth Eriksson and his co-driver Peter Diekmann claimed the newly conceived Group A world championship in a VW Golf GTI 16v. Additionally, VW has promoted young rally talent through the Golf Rally Cup.
Entering the Polo R WRC in 2013 is seen by VW as closing the loop, with today’s WRC vehicles based on the original Group A philosophy introduced in the 1980s, enabling rally cars to be built on production-based models. However, the latest WRC cars are far more specialized than the previous Group A regulations would have allowed, including the introduction of 4WD technology into a chassis that might otherwise not offer it.
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U.S. to rule on genetically modified 'frankenfish'
CTV.ca News Staff
Published Monday, September 20, 2010 9:12PM EDT
Food regulators in the United States are considering whether restaurants and grocery stores will be allowed to sell a genetically modified animal for the first time.
Two days of public hearings got underway in Washington Monday to analyze a U.S. company's proposal to create genetically engineered salmon -- the so-called Frankenfish.
Ron Stotish, CEO of AquaBounty, told Food and Drug Administration officials at the hearings that his company's fish is both safe to eat and environmentally sustainable.
But critics of genetically modified fish will also speak at the hearings. They are expected to argue that selling modified salmon could lead to allergies in humans and cripple wild salmon stocks.
Consumer and environmental groups from Canada and the U.S. have rallied against the proposal by AquaBounty, worried a favourable ruling would open the floodgates to the genetic modification of many food products destined for dinner tables.
The company -- which intends to make a similar request in Canada -- argues that its product will reduce pressure on wild salmon stocks.
The FDA has already said the salmon is healthy to eat. And while genetically modified crops are widely used in the U.S., the agency hasn't yet approved the sale of modified animals.
On Tuesday, the FDA hearings will examine the food labelling issues surrounding the potential approval of the modified fish. It is also expected to consider whether the government should allow the salmon to be sold on the market.
Approving Aqua Bounty's application could pave the way for genetically engineered animals, such as an environmentally friendly pig being developed here in Canada, and cattle that are resistant to mad cow disease.
"For future applications out there the sky's the limit," said David Edwards with the Biotechnology Industry Association. "If you can imagine it, scientists can try to do it."
AquaBounty, which has a large production facility in Bay Fortune, P.E.I., has faced challenges from opponents who say there are "gaps in the science" around whether the fish is safe to eat.
"We're really concerned that the U.S. government is not seriously looking at the health risks of eating (genetically engineered) fish," Mary Boyd of the PEI Health Coalition said in a statement last week.
"Certainly Health Canada should not even consider approving (genetically engineered) fish," she added.
Aqua Bounty intends to produce all the genetically modified fish eggs at the Bay Fortune facility.
The eggs would then be shipped to Panama to grow the fish to a sellable size and process them before they enter the U.S. market.
Salmon produced by Aqua Bounty is said to grow twice as fast as its natural counterparts due to the addition of genes from Pacific salmon and ocean pout to Atlantic salmon.
The fish, which are 99 per cent sterile, would be kept in tanks on land -- protective measures that Aqua Bounty says ensure the safety of its product.
The company first applied for FDA approval in 1995. However, the FDA only began to consider applications for genetically modified animals two years ago.
The genetic engineering process involved altering a creature's DNA to create any number of desirable traits.
AquaBounty's salmon contain a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon and a gene from an ocean pout fish that allow them to grow much more quickly than naturally occurring salmon.
With files from The Associated Press


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By Sahil Patel
We’ve known for close to a year now that Facebook wants to bring video ads to users’ news feeds in an effort to get access to online video and TV ad budgets. It looks like that’s finally happening, albeit initially on a small-scale as Facebook tests the product out.
Beginning today, a small number of Facebook users will see video ads for Summit Entertainment’s sci-fi film “Divergent,” which comes out in 2014. Confirming early reports, these ads will auto-play when users scroll or swipe past it in their news feed. However, the ads won’t be as obtrusive as some initially thought. Per Facebook’s announcement:
- Rather than having to click or tap to play, videos will begin to play as they appear onscreen — without sound — similar to how they behave when shared by friends or verified Pages. If you don’t want to watch the video, you can simply scroll or swipe past it.
- If the video is clicked or tapped and played in full screen, the sound for that video will play as well.
- At the end of the video a carousel of two additional videos will appear, making it easy to continue to discover content from the same marketers.
- On mobile devices, all videos that begin playing as they appear on the screen will have been downloaded in advance when the device was connected to WiFi — meaning this content will not consume data plans, even if you’re not connected to WiFi at the time of playback.
If you want a visual example of how the ads will function, here’s a video supplied by Facebook on the product:


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Max’s Group Inc. said: Inc., which operates a casual dining restaurant, said its income from January to September grew 82 percent to 427.32 million pesos from 234.5 million pesos last year.
The company said last year’s income included a one-time gain of 377 million pesos from the sale of a subsidiary whose primary asset was land.
“Consecutive quarters have delivered on our promise to deliver resilience regardless of market volatility and global conditions. Our results have proven time and time again that we can reach greater heights despite challenging conditions to serve our stakeholders and consumers,” said Max CEO Robert F. Trota.
System-wide sales generated by both company-owned and franchised stores for the nine-month period were P12.56 billion, up 46 percent over the same period last year and already surpassing full-year 2021 sales of P12.52 billion.
The group’s consolidated revenue was 7.77 billion pesos, up 46 percent from 5.32 billion pesos in the same period last year due to continued relaxed restrictions despite challenges from the impact of Omicron in the first quarter, and inclement weather during the first quarter. Third quarter.
“Despite the headwinds, the business revolution we orchestrated during the pandemic continues to pay off in how our organization is run, how our brands perform, and how our economic model delivers profits. On an organic level, we are particularly proud of how our margins outperform 2019 levels.” , making it an attractive and reliable choice for our shareholders, business partners, and employees,” said Company President Ariel B. Firmin.
In the third quarter, system-wide sales reached 4.47 billion pesos, up 55 percent from last year’s 2.87 billion pounds. Likewise, revenue grew by 64 percent for the period, increasing by more than 1 billion pesos to 2.79 billion pesos from 1.7 billion last year.
Domestic market sales jumped 72 percent in the third quarter from the same period last year as consumer confidence, mobility and the economy continued to pick up.
Meanwhile, international business posted 15 percent growth despite employment challenges in the North American market, with new agreements in place to expand global reach in other markets.
Reported net income for the third quarter is three times higher than the same period last year and five times higher than net organic income in 2019.
The company said core brands are healthy with the eat-in brands Max’s Restaurant and Pancake House ensuring a significant increase in sales as restrictions continue to ease, while out-of-town brands Yellow Cab Pizza Co. and Krispy Kreme for its pandemic-resistant resilience.
As of the end of September, the company’s store network totaled 14 regions, with 600 Philippine locations and 63 stores spread across various locations in North America, the Middle East and Asia.


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Wedbush analyst Dan Ives is expecting overhauled 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros to be among Apple’s announcements for the usually software-focused WWDC. The company’s 2021 Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled to kick off next week, with a keynote address on Monday.
A new MacBook Pro has been heavily rumored as of late. This would supersede the November 2020 upgrade which introduced the M1 chip. The updated laptops will supposedly be a pretty major rethink of the pro-grade Apple notebook. Among the changes will be a redesigned chassis, built-in SD card reader and HDMI port, MagSafe charger, and M2 chip. But no LED Touch Bar.
A previous Bloomberg report describing the new MacBook Pros noted that:
“Apple is planning two different chips, codenamed Jade C-Chop and Jade C-Die: both include eight high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores for a total of 10, but will be offered in either 16 or 32 graphics core variations.
The high-performance cores kick in for more complex jobs, while the energy-efficient cores operate at slower speeds for more basic needs like web browsing, preserving battery life. The new chips differ from the M1’s design, which has four high-performance cores, four energy-efficient cores and eight graphics cores in the current 13-inch MacBook Pro.”
More expectations for WWDC
Ives’ other expectations for WWDC include iOS 15 (which is a guarantee for the event). He thinks iOS 15 will “be very focused around new device privacy” protections. It will also include “various notifications/lock screen changes, and potentially a revamped iMessage” feature set. Ives thinks that privacy will be a main focus and theme of Tim Cook’s keynote. He says there will (again, as expected) be updates to macOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and tvOS.
In addition, he thinks that Apple will drop some “breadcrumbs” about future products. This includes the long-awaited Apple Glass headset, expected for summer 2022, and a possible Apple Car in 2024. Ives writes that Apple will have some news or partnership information available this summer. WWDC will help with “laying the groundwork” for some of this.
What are you hoping for from WWDC? Is there a particular announcement you’re looking forward to? And how happy do you think early M1 MacBook Pro customers will be at having their laptops superseded after just eight months? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.


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Consumers across the country are being warned about online scams using quick response codes.
Federal police in Belgium have issued a new QR code fraud warning. It cautions smartphone and mobile device users about scams using quick response codes.
Quick response codes have become central to certain types of scams allowing scammers to steal money.
The QR code fraud warning was issued to everyone. That said, it was primarily meant to target anyone buying products or services online. For instance, those shopping in second-hand markets online were considered to be particularly vulnerable.
To receive payments for what they sell, merchants will frequently provide buyers with a bank account number. This makes it possible for shoppers to transfer money directly to that account. When the funds are received, the transaction is deemed completed.
That said, in the case of this QR code fraud warning, barcodes are used in a very dubious way.
In these cases, scammers claim to provide buyers with a more convenient way to complete the transaction than manually entering an account number. They do this buy sending QR codes to buyers. Once scanned, the user is directed to a place where he or she can enter his or her own bank account number in order to initiate a funds transfer. The method looks legitimate, but when the buyer enters his or her financial information, it runs the risk of giving the funds recipient greater access to the buyer’s account.
“You then run the risk that large sums of money can be taken from your account,” cautioned Oliver Bogaert from the Federal Computer Crime Unit, as quoted in a Brussels Times report.
This type of scam is becoming more popular in Belgium and appears to have arrived there from the Netherlands. ING in the Netherlands has already issued its own QR code fraud warning to its customers. It has cautioned them against using a barcode to complete a transaction as it could link an additional user to a buyer’s account even through an official banking app. Bogaert warned consumers not to rush when making a purchase and to “be extremely careful” if they should ever receive a request for payment that contains a quick response code.


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Demand for smartphones in Australia has declined marginally due to the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and handset supply delays, with a 5% drop in sales of the phones in the first half of this year.
Organisations in Australia are turning their attention to business transformation to improve employee systems as the "post-pandemic" world increases the reliance on technology, according to a new study which reveals that spending and investment on IT is growing despite the current economic headwinds.
Multinational companies are dominating the Australian hyperscale cloud market, according to research from emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte.
This is an unbearably good headline :-)
Great Stuff Sam - I wish this could go out to a larger audience.
5G will save us, and the NBN will have to be redone anyway.
As always, a great article Sam.
I will never forgive him.


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Jeep has lowered the ride height of its Liberty sport-utility vehicle, which rolled over in a high-speed lane-change test conducted in November by AutoWeek magazine.
The ride height was lowered by one inch as a running production change in early April, to 9.2 inches on two-wheel-drive models and 8.6 inches on four-wheel-drive models.
Spokesman Rick Deneau says Jeep has no plans to recall models produced previously to make similar changes.
"It's a safe vehicle," Deneau says, acknowledging that the changes were made to "address any perceived concerns people may have about what has been written."
Jeep has given its models substantial ground clearance for off-road driving, but Deneau says more buyers are concerned with on-road performance.
"We're getting a lot more people who want more on-road refinement," Deneau says, adding that steering effort on the Liberty was reduced by 15 percent as a running change in December.


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Kelvin Capital portfolio company Snappy Shopper completes £19.4m fundraise with strategic investment from PayPoint.
The fundraise will drive growth and create 400 new jobs over the next 3 years as the Company invests in people, technology, partner services and marketing. Kelvin Capital’s portfolio company Snappy Shopper has this week completed a £19.4m fundraise with investment from new and existing Kelvin Capital members, PayPoint plc, Highland Tech, Justin King (former Sainsbury’s CEO), Maven Capital Partners and Scottish Enterprise.
Kelvin Capital’s portfolio company Snappy Shopper has this week completed a £19.4m fundraise with investment from new and existing Kelvin Capital members, PayPoint plc, Highland Tech, Justin King (former Sainsbury’s CEO), Maven Capital Partners and Scottish Enterprise.
Kelvin Capital member Frank Skivington (formerly COO Skyscanner) will join the Board as Non-Exec Director alongside Nick Wiles (PayPoint) and Lord Laidlaw (Highland Tech) and Justin King and Kelvin Capital member Gordon Blair (former F1 team director) will join as Board advisors.
The last 18 months has seen an unprecedented rise in consumer demand for local home delivery and community retailers are eager to respond to those needs, yet many do not have the technology to provide that service. Snappy’s affordable tech solutions and trading model enables local retailers to complete effectively in the fast-evolving on-demand convenience market, at a time when the importance of local shops has never been felt more keenly.
During the pandemic, the hospitality sector has suffered greatly and has had to further develop its customer service offering for the long-term. Snappy’s bespoke technology solutions enables venues to take online orders, whether for drinks to a table in a pub, breakfast to a hotel room or food delivered at a major sporting event .
Businesses across the UK need cost-effective digital solutions which enable them to maintain their value proposition whilst servicing their local communities, making Snappy’s bespoke offering highly relevant.
Snappy has grown from 220 to 1540 business partners since December 2019, and to more than 1 million users across the UK. The Company aims to continue on its impressive growth trajectory over the course of a new 3-year plan.
Snappy’s tailor-made tech solutions present widespread application opportunities within the hospitality and convenience sectors. There remains a large number of convenience stores that currently do not offer a home delivery service which presents a significant market opportunity. Snappy’s recently announced commercial partnership with PayPoint alone, enables thousands of retailers to implement its home delivery and click and collect solutions.
Snappy works in partnership with existing local businesses embedded in their communities. With the Snappy model, retailers retain control over their home delivery service. They are provided with a flexible tech solution which enables customer choice, in-store pricing and special offers, tailored to the needs of each individual neighbourhood. Retailers can increase revenue significantly with average basket spend more than trebling online compared to instore.
Dark store operators compete with local neighbourhood retailers for space and customers whilst delivery aggregators charge significantly higher commission rates to cover infrastructure costs. Snappy’s model is much more in tune with the need for local businesses to maintain their value proposition whilst trading profitably online. These businesses are being empowered by Snappy to cater exactly for what their communities need.
Kelvin Capital founder John McNicol said “Having supported Snappy from its inception through our network of connections and fundraising, we are delighted with the exceptional performance to date. It is and always has been a very exciting tech proposition and the investing partners joining us on this journey are testament to the ambition of the team”
Lord Laidlaw, Chairman of Highland Tech, commented “The Snappy Group is one of the most exciting Scottish tech companies and we are hugely impressed with its trajectory so far. We are delighted to be part of the success story going forward”.
Nick Wiles, Chief Executive of PayPoint, said “We’re delighted to be investing into the Snappy Shopper business, building on the partnership that we announced recently to integrate their home delivery and click and collect technology with our own. This investment will enable PayPoint and our network of convenience retailer partners to remain at the forefront of retail and consumer trends.”
Mike Callachan, CEO and co-founder of the Snappy Group, said “Demand for the fundraise exceeded our expectations and we are pleased to have attracted such high-profile investors and advisers. The proceeds will significantly accelerate our next phase of growth across the UK, including investments in new services for our retail and hospitality partners and new hires across the business.
“Post lockdown the demand for home delivery and the desire to shop locally is greater than ever, but the increasing number of anonymous dark stores is a threat to local businesses and communities, which must not be underestimated. We are well placed to empower local business to offer another great service to their customers, and better compete in this fast-changing retail market.”


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An impressive line-up of classic cars celebrated the golden age of motoring as the brand new Golden Oldies display made its triumphant debut at Beaulieu’s International Autojumble on September 7th and 8th.
Enthusiasts brought more than 50 historic motors from the 1920s – 1960s for the display, while 33,293 event-goers snapped up bargains from 2,176 stands packed with motoring spares, accessories and automobilia.
Driving more than 1,000 miles from Sweden especially to take part in Golden Oldiesin the grounds of the National Motor Museum was a 1954 Wolseley 4/44, which had just been put back on the road by Nostalgia magazine after being unused for 30 years.
Also travelling from the Netherlands was an eye-catching 1952 Singer Roadster 4AD Ute and once-common 1969 Volvo 145, while an imposing 1964 Rolls-Royce Phantom V and diminutive but rare 1959 Fairthorpe Ashley Special showed the diverse range of the collection.
Turning heads were an unusual 1963 Ford Cortina Mk1 hearse and 1922 Bentley 3/4.5 Litre that had been a racing car (pictured at top) and fire engine in its varied life. A period-perfect 1943 Morris Z van, exactly as it was when in service as a Post Office Telephones engineer’s van, sleek 1969 Marcos 3-litre with space-age styling and rarely-seen 1957 Standard Family Ten parked up amongst Jaguars, Triumphs, Sunbeams, MGs, Austins and Morrises.


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As part of the strategy implemented in priority markets on destination meetings, Reunion Island Tourism (IRT) conducted a training meeting on May 30 in Belgium. Tourism professionals learned about the island’s tourism product in order to provide them … June 4, 2013
Seychelles penetration on the South American market of Brazil has set the marketing wheel going for the islands’ local Destination Management Companies (DMCs) to move to capture their fair share of the Brazilian tourism market. Brazil’s soaring financial … February 18, 2013
Helion De Villeneuve, the known French tour operator covering the names Thomas Cook, Jet Tours, and Austral Lagon, says that bookings for the Seychelles from France is getting back to normal.
“We have seen two back-to-back months of great numbers … November 8, 2012
TORONTO, Ontario - At one of the tourism industry’s most celebrated occasions, the Ubuntu Awards hosted by South African Tourism, Lion World Tours, the leading tour operator from North America to Southern and East Africa, was honored as Top Producing … April 27, 2012
LEXINGTON, Kentucky — NTA will take Contact to San Diego in 2012 and build on the success of its tour operator-exclusive event in Rhode Island. The three-day conference, set for August 16–18, 2012, will bring travel professionals together in one of … October 3, 2011
The Cragmont Baron Group, a new B2B consulting firm specializing in the travel industry, was launched by two former, long-time Tauck World Discovery executives, Keith Baron and Phil Otterson.
Specializing in strategic business planning for travel … April 6, 2010


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A Chinese pilot used a helicopter to open four beer bottles caps mounted on poles in five minutes in a challenge TV show. The challenge demanded contestants take the tops off bottles of beer fixed to poles. Without damaging them, using a bottle opener attached to the helicopter’s skid.
Chinese helicopter pilot Zhao Yang managed to pop off four beer caps in five minutes — setting a national record. With a bottle opener fastened to the aircraft’s skid, Central European News reported.
The stunt was premiered on the latest episode of Chinese reality show “Challenge the Impossible”. Which saw Yang set the record for his calculated performance in Beijing.
The bottles were fastened to poles and the contestants were challenged to open five bottles in five minutes without causing any damage to the beers.
Despite Yang’s record-breaking feat, the world record still belongs to Germany’s Jan Veen. Who opened four bottles in three minutes on the show “Wetten Dass?” (German for “Wanna bet that…?”) in 2008.


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JD Power’s 2021 China Tech Experience Index Study has rendered some rather surprising results. As per the results of the study, American EV maker Tesla was dubbed as the company with the 2nd-best in-vehicle tech among mass-market electric cars in China. Xpeng Motors, which is listed in the US stock market, took first place.
The 2021 China Tech Experience Index Study aims to map the flexibility of carmakers in adopting the latest technologies to improve a vehicle’s driving experience. Automakers were ranked according to the total number of points they gained from the study’s respondents. Tesla scored a total of 597 points to take second place, while Xpeng Motors accumulated a total of 615 points.
Fellow local carmaker Li Auto took third place with a total of 577 points. JD Power noting that the “criteria for awards were not met” in the luxury electric vehicle segment in this year’s survey. This resulted in the study not including vehicles from companies like NIO, which produces premium EVs.
The 2021 China Tech Experience Study aggregated responses from 32,141 owners of internal combustion vehicles who bought cars between June 2020 and March 2021. Responses for 3,976 New Energy Vehicle owners who bought vehicles between September 2020 and March 2021 were gathered as well. Overall, the study covered 264 ICE cars across 58 brands and 50 NEVs from 28 brands across China.
While it is quite surprising to see Tesla getting beaten by Xpeng in an area that is widely considered its expertise, the tech in vehicles like the Xpeng P7 does seem to be developed specifically for local car buyers. The voice recognition features in the P7 are particularly impressive, for example, though only for languages like Mandarin. Tesla, on the other hand, adopts a more universal approach to tech.
Whether Xpeng’s local focus on its software justifies its first-place ranking in JD Power’s survey remains to be seen. Tesla, after all, has been ranked both very high and very low in JD Power’s previous studies. In the US, for example, Tesla was ranked 30th out of 33 in JD Power’s Vehicle Dependability Survey, but the EV maker took first place in the firm’s Electric Vehicle Ownership Study.
JD Power’s 2021 China Tech Experience Index Study could be viewed below.
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The post JD Power study ranks Tesla as 2nd for in-vehicle tech, just behind Xpeng Motors appeared first on TESLARATI.


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Definitively I can tell you that this is an awful period for Facebook and its users.
We first read about an embarrassing incident involving the social network giant that asked some newly-registered users to provide the passwords to their email accounts to confirm their identity
News of the day is related to a data
The huge trove of data was amassed and stored online on unprotected cloud servers by third-party Facebook app developers.
UpGuard experts discovered two datasets exposed online, one belonging to a Mexican media company called Cultura Colectiva and another from a Facebook-integrated app called “At the pool.”
“A separate backup from a Facebook-integrated app titled “At the Pool” was also found exposed to the public internet via an Amazon S3 bucket.”
The archive managed by Cultura Colectiva contains more than 146 GB of data related to over 540 million Facebook user records, it included comments, likes, reactions, account names, Facebook user IDs, and more.
The second archive managed by “At the Pool” app contains information about users’ friends, likes, groups, and checked-in locations, as well as names, plaintext passwords for “At the Pool” accounts, and email addresses for 22,000 people.
Both datasets were stored in unsecured Amazon S3 buckets,
Facebook faced several times severe scrutiny for its practice of sharing its users’ data with third-party companies.
These two datasets demonstrate that even if the company is spending an important effort to reduce third-party access, some data are difficult to track and to control.
“But as these exposures show, the data genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Data about Facebook users
“Combine that plenitude of personal data with storage technologies that are often misconfigured for public access, and the result is a long tail of data about Facebook users that continues to leak.”
The availability of this data online poses serious risks to impacted users, threat actors that that eventually had accessed them, could use the information to carry out several malicious activities.
“These two situations speak to the inherent problem of mass information collection: the data doesn’t naturally go away, and a derelict storage location may or may not be given the attention it requires.” concludes the company.
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Hormel Foods has entered into a definitive agreement with Kraft Heinz to acquire the Planters snack nut portfolio, including the Planters, NUT-rition, Planters Cheez Balls, and Corn Nuts brands, for $3.35 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, subject to regulatory review and approval.
Hormel Foods Buys Planters
The company’s addition of the strategic leading brand continues its evolution as a global branded food business.
Feb 10, 2021


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After at least one false start, a 2017 change in ownership and numerous design tweaks, what promises to be one of the biggest urban densification projects in North America is slated to finally take off.
A revised master plan for transforming Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre shopping mall into a high-density residential, civic and cultural hub in the city’s southwest was unveiled with updated models and appearances by key players during the recent gathering of the International Council of Shopping Centers in Whistler, British Columbia.
Five design and planning firms, led by Henriquez Partners Architects of Vancouver and including Japanese interior design firm Wonderwall, are attached to the project, which was approved by Vancouver City Council in 2014. At the time, the property was owned by the Canadian real estate company Ivanhoe Cambridge, but a number of snags, such as the discovery of an aquifer beneath the site and the insolvency of a key retail tenant, Target Canada, delayed the project’s kickoff. Last year, Ivanhoe Cambridge sold the property to Vancouver-based QuadReal Property Group, which teamed up with Westbank Corp., also of Vancouver, to move it forward. Their scheme for the 11-hectare site is considerably more ambitious.
“This isn’t another traditional shopping centre incorporating residential towers,” said Westbank CEO Ian Gillespie, who has enlisted global architecture stars such as Bjarke Ingels and Kengo Kuma for other Vancouver projects and personally sought out Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall for Oakridge. “The most interesting retail happening right now is happening in Tokyo,” he noted.
Initially, the existing mall, which opened at the intersection of 41st Avenue and Cambie Street in 1959, was to remain intact, but the new scheme calls for its gradual demolition. Speaking through a translator, Katayama said that he always tries to tailor his retail spaces, which include the Uniqlo store on Fifth Avenue in New York and the Westfield shopping centre in Sydney, to the culture and demographics of their settings, providing as “rich” an experience as possible.
In the case of Oakridge, the nearly 93,000 square metres of new retail space supplanting the existing mall will be both sheltered and exposed. Shopping areas will be located indoors in the approximate footprint of the current mall, along a new multi-storey galleria stretching east to west and on a new, pedestrian-only “high street” running north-south on the site’s western edge.
The residential buildings, meanwhile, are to be built in stages in a loose circle around the site. If all goes according to plan, four mid-rise buildings and 10 elegantly terraced or sinuous towers (one fewer than in the previous version) will house up to 6,000 residents in 2,600 new homes, including nearly 600 social housing and market rental units. According to lead architect Gregory Henriquez, who grew up not far from the Oakridge site, the placement and designs were inspired by a number of planning models, including Italian hill towns, the Garden City movement of the 19th century and Le Corbusier’s Radiant City.
Oakridge, Henriquez added, will incorporate some of the best elements of the planned community, including, in this case, a 9,300-square-metre community centre, nearly 50,000 square metres of work and office space geared toward tech and creative workers, a performing arts academy and live-music venue, the city’s second-largest library and a four-hectare park located at both ground level and across rooftops.
A little more than 5,300 residential, office and retail parking spaces (1,200 fewer than the initial proposal called for) will be provided on-site, a configuration that leaves the aquifer undisturbed. The site is already home to a SkyTrain station, for which Henriquez has designed a dramatic new entrance canopy. Other eco-friendly features include a new cycling network within the project, proposed on-site food gardens and a district energy system that shares heating and cooling across the development.
Such attributes conform to the City of Vancouver’s official goal of becoming a model of urban sustainability in the coming years. In a fast-changing city where the availability and affordability of real estate is a major concern, the insertion of hundreds of new housing units into the market will also be welcomed by many, even if social and rental models are just a fraction of the total.
In addition to Henriquez and Katayama, the design and planning team includes PFS Studio of Vancouver, Adamson Associates Architects of Toronto and the multinational architecture and planning firm Gensler. Construction on the Oakridge project is expected to start this summer, with completion projected for 2025.


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San Juan Photo Fakeout: Bringing the pool crop to a whole new level
Did the hotel's website show a photo of a different pool? We gotta hand it to their marketing team and photo editors, the photo on their website not only shows a massive pool, but it does a good job of cropping out the Holiday Inn's surroundings. In reality, guests find a small pool surrounded by the buildings of downtown Condado.
Update: Since publishing this Photo Fakeout, the Holiday Inn Express San Juan has closed and reopened as a different hotel.


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We would like to invite you to join us at the conference devoted to energy challenges, which is organised by MMC Poland and will take place on 16 and 17 November 2022. One of the speakers at the event will be Grzegorz Wąsiewski, PhD who will discuss legal aspects of restrictions imposed on the supply and consumption of electricity, gas and heat.
One of the experts from our law firm will indicate in which situations a company may suspend energy supplies and what it is subject to penalties for unjustified suspension. Furthermore, Mr. Wąsiewski will explain whether the distributor has the right to make energy supplies dependent on other factors, such as, for instance, payment of debts, and will also discuss issues of resumption of supplies.
We would like to invite you to learn more about the event by clicking HERE.


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The theft on the idyllic island, which welcomes over 10,000 visitors a year as well as a busy fishing fleet, has left the tiny population of only 22 stunned.
The thieves cleared out the Canna Community Shop, which had been run on an “honesty” basis, emptying shelves of sweets, biscuits, coffee, toiletries, batteries and six hand-knitted wool hats that had been on display.
The crime, committed between 8pm on Friday and 8am on Saturday, is believed to be the first on the remote island since a wooden plate was stolen in the 1960s. The shop on Canna, which has no police station, was previously left unlocked to allow local sailors to use its wifi. But it will now be closed overnight to prevent the potential of future thefts as officers from the mainland investigate the crime.
The Canna Community Trust, which runs shop, said in a statement: “In the four years our shop has been run on an honesty basis, this is the first time this has happened and we are all gutted by it. The thieves cleared the shelves of sweets, chocolate bars, coffee, biscuits, batteries and more.
“Most upsetting for [manager] Julie McCabe was they stole six of her hand-knitted Canna wool hats which were in the shop on a sale or return basis.
“The thieves would have had to fill carrier bags with the amount of items they took. Sadly, this means we will have to lock the door of the shop overnight now. We left it open specifically to welcome fisherman in to use the wifi and buy anything they needed while resting at our pier overnight. Thefts like this put our shop in jeopardy and may mean it will have to close, which would be a real shame after all the hard work and voluntary hours that go into it. The feedback from the fishing community was that it is a most welcome service. It is, therefore, very sad that they and other visitors have to lose out.”
Canna was gifted to the National Trust for Scotland by the celebrated Gaelic scholar, folklorist, historian and author John Lorne Campbell in 1981.
On social media, where the crime was widely condemned, the trust specifically made an appeal to the crew of one fishing boat who had berthed at the pier all night on Friday. They added: “If they have any info or witnessed anything, please get in touch. If anyone else has any information about this crime please let us know.
“With such a small community, this is the only way our shop can be viably run to provide a valuable service to locals and visitors.”
Councillor Bill Clark, who has represented the area for 13 years, said the thefts were “unbelievable”, adding: “I would think this is the first crime in years. I doubt very much if anyone even locks their doors there.”
Police Scotland has appealed for information.


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Sportsbooks taking bitcoin are like weeds cropping up after a rain. Good news for bettors who like line variety. Bad news for bettors who know which sportsbooks are trustworthy. There is no Better Business Bureau for sportsbooks. While outstanding work is done over at Bitcointalk.org, there is still the inherent risk factor involved in sending hard-earned money to unknown, anonymous businesses on the internet.
This time of the year is especially dangerous for players at bitcoin sportsbooks. Football is king to American bettors, and (in theory) a cash cow for sportsbooks. And sadly for those bet makers and bet takers, football is almost over. Just three games remain, with the conference championship games taking place this weekend.
With the end of football comes the possibility of “airport bets”. Years ago, a sportsbook called Ace’s Gold found itself in trouble. Loose bonuses and poor bookmaking put the company on the brink. Desperate to survive, Aces’s Gold owner Charlie Therwhanger made one huge gamble. Therwhanger offered New England +14.5 in the 2002 Superbowl while the entire world was offering New England +14. Sharp bettors, always out to find the best line, hammered New England. Rams backers, on the other hand, bet elsewhere.
The inevitable happened. New England won the game outright. Therwhanger and Aces Gold vanished, screwing over his customers for up to $10 million.
Bitcoin has made such scenarios much easier to pull off. Thanks to the anonymity offered by the cryptocoin, a man living in his parent’s garage can set up his own sportsbook and quickly be in business. A player’s only defense is his own due diligence.
A key part of the due diligence involves the length time a sportsbook has been in business. The test of time will destroy fragile, poorly run sportsbooks. The ones that have already survived the ups and downs will be more likely to survive future hard times as well.
Betcoin.ag is one of these long-surviving sportsbooks. Betcoin opened up shop in 2013, a year that began with bitcoin priced at $12. It ended 2013 at $752, and has bounced between $175 and $1,100 since. A sportsbooks that can handle such swings has proven it is in the game for the long haul. Betcoin has shown that. Nitrogen is also in the same category, a book that has shown strength through the good times and the bad.
Yet due diligence is still needed. A player should limit the amount of bitcoin stored in offshore sportsbooks as the football season winds down. Keep just enough on hand to make that day’s bets. If you need more money in your account, it shouldn’t be a problem. It should take minutes for quality bitcoin books like Betcoin and Nitrogen to handle the deposit. Good sportsbooks make withdrawing and depositing quick and easy. Those that don’t, avoid.


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Updated: February 2, 2021 3:50:21 pm
Shares of decorative paints manufacturer Indigo Paints made a stellar debut on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) today listing at a premium of 75 per cent against their issue price.
The scrip initially got listed at Rs 2,607.50 apiece on both the BSE and NSE, thereby registering a rise of 75 per cent from its offer price of Rs 1,490. The stock however continued its upward momentum during the day and froze after hitting its 20 per cent upper circuit at Rs 3,129.00 on both the bourses.
It eventually settled at that level, thereby registering a 110 per cent rise on the issue price. During the day, the stock hit a low of Rs 2,428.20 on the BSE and Rs 2,436.05 on the NSE.
The company’s market valuation stood at Rs 14,884.34 crore, according to data available on the BSE.
Over 1.26 crore (1,26,50,439) shares of Indigo Paints were traded on the NSE during the first day, while over 10.35 lakh shares exchanged hands on the BSE, data from the respective stock exchanges showed.
The Rs 1,170 crore IPO of Indigo Paints had received a robust demand during its offer period from January 20-22. The issue was oversubscribed by a 117.02 times. The Pune-based paint maker giant saw 189.57 times subscription from the qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), while the non institutional investors subscribed it a whopping 263.05 times and retail individual investors (RIIs) subscribed to the offer 15.93 times. Employee segment too was subscribed 2.50 times.
The proceeds from the IPO would be used to expand the company’s existing manufacturing facility at Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, purchasing tinting machines and gyro shakers and repayment/prepayment of borrowings.
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