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The FINANCIAL — “Showrooming,” the practice of researching merchandise in a store, then buying it elsewhere—online, by phone or from another brick-and-mortar business—has retailers nervous, and rightly so. Price-conscious consumers are inclined to defect when presented with a better deal.
Shoppers armed with smartphones, though, have been causing the most commotion. The number of individuals who have checked prices using mobile devices while in a store varies depending on the source and methodology, but it is fair to say that a significant number have engaged in the activity.
According to eMarketer, several researchers have surveyed the number of US mobile phone users who have comparison-shopped via phone while in-store. Their research has found a comparison-shopping rate ranging from 59% of US smartphone owners to 25% of US mobile phone owners.
ForeSee Results findings from between 2009 and 2011 are consistent with this trend toward using mobile phones for in-store research; however, in 2011, the shoppers surveyed were more likely to access the website or app of the store they were actually in than a competitor’s website or app. This means that retailers need to not only be concerned about how their pricing stacks up against others’, but also about pricing consistency across their own channels.
The rise in smartphone adoption and the visibility of shoppers using phones to scan barcodes or take photos has drawn attention to the potential problems with consumers using stores as showrooms. And yet, for as long as there have been shops and ecommerce sites, this multichannel behavior has existed. A February 2012 ClickIQ survey discovered that nearly half (45.9%) of US online shoppers researched products in-store—not necessarily using smartphones—only to ultimately buy online.
Retailers are coming up with solutions to combat fickle window-shoppers, however, like providing better customer service through well-informed sales associates. Nordstrom, for example, recently began offering perks such as free shipping on in-store purchases, while Target has taken more of a stopgap approach and is exploring offering more items made exclusively for the retailer, which would make comparison shopping more difficult.
On the upside, most in-store researchers stay put. According to Pew, 35% bought from the retailer’s store location where they were comparison-shopping, 19% bought online and only 8% went to another store. If approached the right way, immediacy can work wonders for conversion.


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AdWeek shared the following infographic created by JSH&A to summarize the emerging 2015 trends:
Real-time marketing is redefined
Instead of real time, focus on right time. In 2015, it will be less about having a rapid response at the ready, and more about having the right content to share with the right audience at the right time.
Social media ad spending increases
Pay-for-play is the new norm for social media. Moving forward, marketers will shift to an always-on-paid social strategy to ensure content is reaching their fans.
Content marketing continues to grow
Content creation was on the rise in 2014, and budhets are expected to grow in 2015. With content creating and budgets on the rise, marketers will place greater emphasis on measuring ROI and the effectiveness of their content.
Video isn’t just about YouTube anymore
In August, Facebook passed YouTube for desktop video views for the first time — delivering nearly a billion more views. Marketers need to identify how video can work across their social channels. And it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Facebook is no longer king of engagement
The visual web is taking over. As the social media landscape continues to splinter and niche social networks appear, Facebook will not always be the most impactful or effective channel to build social presence and engage with fans.

domain: news


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Have you heard about the recent updates of SpiritfarerHow is the new edition of the same different from the others?
Spiritfarer is an online indie management sandbox and sim action game released back in 2020. This is one of the casual internet-based games with hype in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and many other parts of the world.
Edition Spiritfarer Farewell is the recent hype over the internet as the game has released its recent update. Scroll down the article to get all the details for the game.
What is Spiritfarer?
Spiritfarer is a management online indie action game developed by the Canadian gaming studio Thunder Lotus Games. The game can easily be played by players who have Nintendo Switch, PS4, Linux, Windows and macOS.
The game has received attention from gaming critics and users, and both have mentioned the same to be a good platform, enjoying tremendous success since its launch.
Details for Edition Spiritfarer Farewell:
The game has recently completed the sale for around a million copies in the past month, which seems to be a remarkable achievement for the platform. Edition Farewell is the recent update launched for this game, receiving appreciation in all parts of the world for amination, gameplay and music.
Thunder Louts, the game developers, have decided to retire the same by launching its farewell version as the last update. Meanwhile, the game has been appreciated with multiple Canadian Awards and has been nominated in multiple gaming award events, leading to the hype for Edition Spiritfarer Farewell. This last edition has also led to its widespread success and acclaim.
The game’s main character is Stells, a ferry master, later becoming a Spiritfarer. The farer’s job is to decrease the spirits from the afterlife. The game can be enjoyed in both single-player as well multiplayer modes.
Players who favor the spirits or do care for them need to build a boat to take them across, helping them find an ideal afterlife. The players will face multiple adventures and chaos in their path while carrying a ferry across the sea.
Edition Spiritfarer Farewell has added more features to the game, making it more interesting and engaging for the players. This farewell edition for Spiritfarer has the base game and all the past three updates.
Spiritfarer, as already mentioned, is one of the best casual online games that has received worldwide recognition and appreciation, making it the most successful one for the platform.
Thunder Lotus has decided to end this game, therefore launching a farewell version of Spiritfarer’s and gameplay can be explored further from the attached link.
Have you installed the Edition Spiritfarer Farewell yet? Please share your comments in the given section below.


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A petition calling for shops to stay closed on Boxing Day has been signed around 200,000 times.
Created by Ian Lapworth, the petition to Prime Minister Theresa May calls for shops to stay closed in order to give workers a rest.
The petition states: “Shops, especially supermarkets, do not need to open on Boxing Day .
“Whilst not everyone may see Christmas as a religious holiday, it should be respected as such, and retail workers (who work so hard on the run up to the big day) given some decent family time to relax and enjoy the festivities like everyone else.
Family time plea
“Most retail workers are on the go up to Christmas Eve then back on Boxing Day.
“Sometimes they have no choice. We managed 30 and 40 years ago...when shops were sometimes shut for a whole week.
“Let’s get back to the way it was. Forget making money for one day, let’s concentrate on making more memories with the ones we love.”
Ian created the petition one month ago but it seems to have a had a recent boost in support.
One backer, Ruth German, from Leicester, said: “Christmas is for families not for retailers to make a quick buck.
“Give the hard working staff an extra day to spend with their families.
Another supporter, Catherine Turner, from Cambridge, said: “I’m signing because the world won’t end if the shops are shut for 48 hours.
“Give the retail workers a break. They deserve it.”
Another supporter, Sandra Beeney, said: “Everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy a family day and Boxing Day without exception is one of those days.
“Emergency services and healthcare are a necessity but they still make the holiday period special for those in hospital.
“We don’t need to spend money on Boxing Day.”
The shopworkers union Usdaw has joined in support of the petition.
A spokesman for the union said: “Staff in retail work very long hours in the run-up to Christmas.
“Our members tell us that they need time off to recuperate as well as to spend time with their family and friends. That is especially important when they have children for whom Christmas is such a special time.
“Usdaw is seeking the longest possible break for retail staff over the Christmas and New Year period to provide shopworkers with a breather during this very busy time.
“Usdaw won the campaign for legislation to stop large stores from opening on Christmas Day and we are calling for small stores to follow suit and stay shut.
“We are also calling for shops to be closed on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, as well as early closing by 4pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
“Usdaw is not currently campaigning for any changes in shop trading hours legislation.
"In fact we have been busy defending the existing restrictions against deregulation but we welcome the debate this petition is generating.”
Boxing Day is normally a big day for retailers, with the launch of post-Christmas sales often attracting large queues waiting in the early hours for stores to open.


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Sunday 18 April 2021
Week 2 of the Easter Holidays; the sun shines, at times the snow even falls, but the big news is that pubs and cafes re-open for outdoor hospitality. Our politicians and leaders caution us to be careful and ‘take this next step safely’, but it is hard not to feel just a teeny bit giddy…
In our household, we all get out to meet our friends! Lunches, brunches, take-out picnics, shopping trips and alcoholic tipples. Gosh it does feel great …. even though it is all in the fresh air. Because, I had previously dismissed the notion of ‘outdoor hospitality’ as a terrible concept when it was first muted in February. How happy I am to be proved wrong! Sitting outside – I’d venture that it actually adds to the experience. But why?
Here in the bracing North of England, we are a perfect stomping ground for your ‘good muddy walk’, but are not traditionally associated with alfresco dining, so is it just the novelty? Very possibly. Re-thinking, re-invention and innovation are very much part of our 21st Century world and the phenomena of falling a little bit in love with the pandemic driven pavement culture has been seen in other urban areas too. In December 2020, in his Guardian article “Outdoor dining has been a Covid bright spot. Let’s make it permanent”, Gene Marks reports on the decision to extend outdoor permits in New York and the drive to address some issues so that this can be replicated across other US cities too. Marks recognises that eating outdoors isn’t actually new, rather, like ‘like work from home, e-commerce and virtual meetings‘ it is a trend that has been accelerated by lockdown restrictions. Additionally, it offers cities a chance to re-invent themselves as we emerge into the ‘new normal’
“As we begin a long-term recovery, we’re proud to extend and expand this effort to keep New York City the most vibrant city in the world. It’s time for a new tradition.”
City Mayor New York City
In an era where we have been drilled to ‘follow the science’, the glad tidings are that scientist too support the benefits of the outdoor culture. Countless articles suggests that being outdoors boosts our mood, our creativity, our vision and our immune system. It makes us feel better and also be better! The Huffington post, in its article ‘Here’s proof that going outside makes your healthier‘ finds that exercise feels easier and is proven to be more motivating when outside. An ‘Ask the Scientists‘ summary by Sydney Sprouse, claims that it can even help us to live longer!
A 2015 study followed 108,630 American women to determine the relationship between nature and longevity. Women who lived near parks, lawns, trees, and forests had significantly lower mortality than women living far from nature.
And it doesn’t have to be about venturing far or extreme physical challenges, bringing nature and the outdoors closer to us, via gardens plants and even views of the natural world from a window will also bring benefits. Essentially there seems to be no right or wrong way to get outside, so as it is currently our only way to start re-connecting with all the people we have missed for so long I say what better combination than fresh air and… delicious refreshments?
Yes, chinwagging over an alfresco latte, can be a touch chilly at times, but for me it’s a big thumbs up to digging out the layers and popping a pair of mittens into my handbag. Feel a bit continental! Feel the outdoor glow on those cheeks. Feel a frisson of excitement as you balance those sunglasses on your head once more. Outdoor hospitality – I am a definite convert…


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Farato Hatchery Farms has been created by EMPAS, the Gambia’s leading poultry processing company, to initiate an integrated poultry value chain that aims to re-construct a poultry industry with sustainable socio-economic benefits.
The Farato Hatchery is the country’s first state-of-the-art facility, producing 100,000 day old chicks per month. Rapid growth is anticipated, as the new operation returns full control over product quality and overcomes the cost challenges of transportation and losses in transit experienced by local farmers who previously could only source chicks from Senegal.
Farato Farms currently employ 100 women and youths in its operations to produce fresh, healthy Halal chicken, with this number expected to more than double very quickly.
The company’s product is marketed throughout the Gambia as Moggie Chicken and recognised as a trustworthy, high quality product, against the backdrop of the Government’s ‘Back to the land’ call in support of agribusiness development to deliver greater independence, employment and improved living standards.
The groundbreaking new farming initiative launched in the Gambia is employing Pas Reform’s Smart incubation technologies at the heart of its operation, the first to be created as part of a fully supported framework to support and encourage agribusiness re-development for future stability in the country.
Pas Reform CEO Bart Aangenedent comments: “Pas Reform is very proud of its involvement in this initiative – we look forward to working with EMPAS to ensure the success and duplication of the Farat Hatchery model to support regeneration throughout the Gambia.”


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It’s almost time to say goodbye to the ghouls and ghosts and enjoy the season’s greetings as we move into the festive season with Christmas markets, twinkling lights and the merriment that comes this time of year. Sheffield Christmas Market has announced its 2022 event and this year it’s moving to The Moors instead.
Alpine bars serve up mulled wine, baileys hot chocolate and German beers are returning along with cabins of independent traders and of course Sheffield’s Big Wheel. There will be over 50 log cabins all decorated with tinsel, fairy lights and all those things that make us think of Christmas creating a festive frenzy for shoppers over the Christmas period.
Expect jolly old Saint Nick there to greet the kids in Santa’s Grotto where the man in red will be perched ready to give Christmas market Sheffield 2022 a big dollop of festive cheer.
Sheffield’s Christmas market is made of 80% local traders who’ve created a special experience to make your experience extra special. Not only that but there will be a visit from Santa and his elves at Santa’s Grotto where kids can tell him what they would like for Christmas.
At the Sheffield Christmas markets, The Alpine Bars will also be serving a range of food including traditional German sausage grill, pizza, chimney cake, churros and many more.
The double-decker bar will be once again taking centre stage in Piece Gardens. The Alpine Bar is a highlight for many people visiting the Christmas Market in Sheffield.
It’s open from 10am – 10pm daily until 24th December when the Sheffield Christmas Markets 2022 will come to an end once more.
Writing on the Sheffield Market Facebook they assured people that “Don’t worry we will still have lots of cabins on Fargate and around Town Hall Square as well as the Alpine Lodge in the Peace gardens.”
The Sheffield Christmas Market is open daily from 10am until 6pm daily with those times extending until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays in December
The Sheffield Christmas Markets 2022 is set to open in November 2022 and will be open from 10am to 6pm Sunday to Thursday and 8pm on Friday and Saturday throughout December.
Head over to the website here to find out more.


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So considering that 2013 is the 30th anniversary of the company, G-Power decided to release a new supercharger system just for the occasion. And boy, is it a whopper of an engine program.
The official name of the engine upgrade is the M3 V8 supercharger system "GP Edition 30 years”. It’s limited to just 30 units, which means that it’s going to get scooped up in a hurry. It’ll also cost just €4,199, which is around $5,600 based on current exchange rates. That’s not a bad amount to pay for a supercharger system that can produce up to 500 horsepower for the BMW M3 .
If you want something a little more powerful, the SK II CS ‘GP Edition 30 years’ chalks up 600 horsepower at €8,399, which is about $11,300 based on current exchange rates.
Let this be a call to anybody looking to get this special edition engine upgrade from G-Power. Remember, only 30 units will be built so if you’re interested in one, better get to it and let the aftermarket company know as soon as possible. G-Power sales reps can also fill you in on what M3 models this kit fits, as the site does not reveal that important piece of info.
Click past the jump to read about one of G-Power’s latest programs for the 2013 BMW M3 GT2 R


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Companies say they haven’t signed up to free download service Qtrax
Four major record labels have denied that they have signed an agreement with Qtrax, the service planning to offer free music downloads.
Qtrax promises it will offer music downloads free, garnering revenue through advertising instead of download fees.
Qtrax had claimed that it had signed agreements with Sony BMG, Warner Music, EMI and Universal, but the companies have since denied the claim, reports News.com.au.
Qtrax are claiming that they are still in discussions with the major labels, reports AP.
The Shockwaves NME Awards 2008 are coming soon – and it’s time to have your say. Vote now by heading to NME.COM/awardsvote and you could win VIP tickets to the ceremony, which takes place in London on February 28.


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HP Pavilion Power notebook launched in India, price starts at ₹77,999
The HP Pavilion Power is equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card and 7th-generation quad-core Intel processor.
HP Inc on Monday launched 'Pavilion Power' notebook in India. Aimed at creative professionals, the notebook is available at a starting price of ₹77,999.
The Pavilion Power notebook is equipped with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card and latest 7th-generation quad-core Intel processors.
"With HP 'Pavillion Power', we are reaching out to the creative professionals seeking to fulfill their passions by turning visions into reality. Being a leader in the consumer PC segment, HP has strived to bring the best value to its customers -- from design, form-factor to engineering and performance," said Anurag Arora, Head-Consumer Personal Systems, HP Inc India, in a statement.
The device has full-HD IPS display along with audio by "B&O Play" and HP "Audio Boost".
The notebook features hybrid storage of 128GB Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) solid-state storage device (SSD) and 1TB hard disc drive (HDD) storage.
The HP fast-charge technology enables 90 per cent charging in 90 minutes. 'Pavilion Power' comes pre-installed with MS Office Home and Student 2016 Edition. The device will be available in three variants at leading retail stores.
Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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tech2 News StaffDec 15, 2016 19:57:19 IST
In an interview with CNBC TV 18, Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick in a lighter mood said that Indian will be the last place on earth to get the company's self-driving cars. The CEO of the global radio cab service that recently announced its self-driving taxis in San Francisco said that it was almost next to impossible to have self-driving cars run about in India.
His reasons for the same were fairly straightforward and to do with driving patterns that road users and drivers or riders follow, "India will be the last one to get autonomous cars! Have you see the way people drive here?" Coming from the US, Kalanick found it a bit frightening as to how drivers in India make their way through the streets.
Commenting on when he thinks driverless cars would arrive in India, Kalanick said that it all depends on where you are. He gave a simple example of starting driverless cars in the middle of a desert because there's simply no people or regulations to worry about. The same applies to different cities around the world and the same would apply differently to different cities in India as well. Apart from this, using driverless cars for taxis would also depend on driving patterns of the motorists within that city.
When it came to Indian startups taking a stand against against the foreign cab operator. Kalanick commented that both Uber and Ola had equal foreign investments and so the competition is technically on the same ground. "I will apply to be a citizen of India if this is what it takes to get over the hump!" said the CEO when quizzed about being a foreigner operating in India. The co-founder also said that service had its quickest entry into the China market compared to any other country. Germany and Seoul had the most interesting laws to protect their local taxi communities.
The CEO was on his tour of India and stopped by in Hyderabad where he announced the company's plans to launch UberMoto, a motorbike-sharing service. “It’s a quick, easy and affordable way to get around the city. And it’s great to be working with a progressive, forward thinking government like Telangana on smart mobility solutions that can help reduce congestion in urban areas,” said Kalanick after meeting Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in a report by the Indo Asian New Service.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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“We encourage all Mac OS X and Linux users to experience the cost and quality gains with version 1.0 Skype software,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder. “We thank all those who downloaded the beta products as we were developing; your support has been fantastic. We will remain committed to innovation and will continue to expand platform choice.”More info at DigiTimes
Skype for Linux and Mac OS X
Posted on Tuesday, February 01 2005 @ 18:32 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Skype, a VoIP (Voice over IP) program with more than 23 million registered users, announced the launch of Skype for Mac OS X and Linux.


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Watch out Siri, Google’s Assistant is now available on iPhones! At Google’s I/O conference Google announced that its Virtual Assistant is coming to iPhones. But users won’t be able to replace Siri with Google Assistant. Still, IOS users can use its features in Google’s app.
The app went online today in Apple’s App Store, users can simply download it in their phones And the size of the application is just 256 MB. Google’s vice-president of engineering, Scott Huffman unveiled the launch of google assistant for IOS.
— Google (@Google) May 17, 2017
Currently, Google Assistant only works in English, But the company also announced that Google Assistant will be speaking in different languages including, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Italian.
To catch up with more announcements you can watch the Google I/O 2017: Google Keynote stream:
So iPhone Users are you going to try Google Virtual Assistant in your iPhones? Share your views in comments.


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After a huge volcanic eruption severed the island country's lone connection to the global Internet, a difficult repair job, delving deep into the ocean, lies ahead...The New York Times From ACM News | January 20, 2022
A computer model developed by Tufts University researchers can mimic the real-life spread of misinformation to expose its mechanisms and help in the development...Tufts Now From ACM TechNews | January 12, 2022
U.S. farm equipment manufacturer John Deere and French agricultural robot startup Naio unveiled new technologies at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las...Yahoo! News From ACM TechNews | January 11, 2022
Concerns are mounting as Apple's location-tracking AirTag devices are being found on people's cars and in their belongings, giving rise to fears of stalking.
The New York Times From ACM TechNews | January 5, 2022
Companies old and new, large and small, are working to establish themselves in the smart warehouse and distribution center market.
Jake Widman Commissioned by CACM Staff From ACM News | January 4, 2022
Researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Technical University of Braunschweig, and the Technical University of Berlin demonstrated that physically...Karlsruhe Institute of Technology From ACM TechNews | December 27, 2021
Medical doctors commonly use language that patients cannot understand, according to an analysis of more than 250,000 secure emails conducted by researchers at the...University of California, San Francisco From ACM TechNews | December 27, 2021
Nike has acquired RTFKT, a virtual sneaker company, as part of an effort to expand in the "metaverse," where users can purchase clothing, virtual land, and other...Reuters From ACM TechNews | December 23, 2021
An early-alert system managed by the U.S. Geological Survey on Monday warned Californians of a 6.2-magnitude earthquake by phone, seconds before it struck.
The Guardian (U.K.) From ACM TechNews | December 22, 2021
Pulled between not trusting some tech companies and still wanting to use their products, people look to government regulation, according to a Washington Post-Schar...The Washington Post From ACM News | December 22, 2021


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Class-action lawsuits against Apple aren’t uncommon. The company has faced quite a few over the years, especially related to its hardware. And now it’s facing yet another related to some MacBook Pro models.
According to the new complaint against Apple (via AppleInsider), the company was aware of a design flaw in some MacBook Pro models that could cause a backlight issue. That problem quickly became known as the “stage light” issue, or, more commonly, “flexgate”. The issue cropped up in MacBook Pro models manufactured between 2016 and 2017.
Flexgate manifested itself in a couple of ways. First, and more commonly, dark spots would appear near the bottom edge of the screen once it was opened. In other instances, some MacBook Pro owners said their backlight would turn off altogether if the lid was opened beyond a certain angle. A hardware teardown by iFixit revealed that the flex cable Apple used in these models could wear out and fray.
This complaint against Apple alleges that, despite knowing about the issue, the company delayed a subsequent repair program. What’s more, that repair program only covered two MacBook Pro models: a pair of 13-inch models. The program did not cover the 15-inch MacBook Pro that suffered the same stage light issues.
The lawsuit reads, in part:
Apple was aware of the issues with the backlight screen and the defective flex cable, in light of the comments posted by consumers on Apple’s discussion forum and that those comments were deleted after they were posted.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages, court fees, and a declaration by Apple to which MacBook Pro models suffer from flexgate and define them as defective. In addition to that, as noted in the original report:
The class-action argues violation of unfair competition laws in various states, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and consumer fraud statutes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, fraudulent concealment and unjust enrichment are also asserted.
As a means to correct the issue, and quietly confirm it exists at all, Apple made some changes in its latest MacBook Pro models. In 2019 iFixit confirmed that the 16-inch MacBook Pro includes a “lid angle sensor“. This is a more sophisticated way to determine when the laptop’s lid is open, and appears to fix the flexgate issue.
Did you or anyone you know suffer from the flexgate issue?


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Ferrero Rocher is attempting to increase sales of its luxury chocolates in the run-up to Christmas with a new advertising campaign. The activity, created by WCRS, is centred around a TV commercial, which aims to distance the brand from the cliched image created by its infamous Ambassador ads. The ad is set to Cilla Black's 70s track 'Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)'. It features silhouetted figures dancing and flying across a background of sparkling gold chocolates, in a style reminiscent of the James Bond title sequences. The spot shows Christmas party scenes with people dancing, chatting and enjoying the chocolates. It ends with the strapline "Share something special", which also runs across press and outdoor ads.
Get the very latest news and insight from Campaign with unrestricted access to campaignlive.co.uk , plus get exclusive discounts to Campaign eventsBecome a member


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The legality of surcharging keeps getting more confusing. Recent reports seem to indicate that New York’s law prohibiting surcharging was overturned. Unfortunately, that overstatement confuses the actual status of the statute.
As you may recall, the card brand rules allow merchants to add a fee on top of the regular price for goods and services, also known as a surcharge, if a consumer pays by credit card. The rules require merchants to follow certain conditions and requirements if they surcharge credit card transactions.
But ten states have laws on the books that prohibit surcharges. Those laws have been contested in court. Merchants argue that the statutes violate the constitutional First Amendment right to free speech.
In 2013, a court agreed with the merchants and declared the New York surcharge ban law unconstitutional. The court interpreted the statute to prohibit merchants from calling the price difference a surcharge while allowing merchants to call it a discount. Similarly, in 2015 a California court approved an injunction preventing enforcement of California’s surcharge ban. Other courts have upheld state laws prohibiting surcharges.
This threw the validity of those state surcharge ban laws into disarray.
Ultimately the New York case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the New York statute may be unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
The case was remanded back to the Court of Appeals, which then asked a lower court to determine a very specific question: Does a merchant comply with the New York law if it posts the total dollars and cents price to credit card users? The lower court ruled in 2018 that yes, a merchant complies with the New York statute so long as the merchant posts the total dollars and cents price charged to credit card users.
Most critically, the court also opined that merchants may describe the difference in price any way they like. Therefore there is no basis for the merchants’ argument that the statute violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
The merchants saw the writing on the wall. On January 8, 2019, the merchants and the New York Attorney General asked the court to vacate the lower court decision that found the law unconstitutional and to dismiss the case. The merchants are backing away from challenging the New York statute that prohibits surcharges. This means that the New York law prohibiting surcharging stands.
Here are the takeaways: 1) the recent action clarifies that New York merchants can charge two different prices, one for credit cards and one for cash; 2) the higher price charged to credit card users must be posted in total dollars and cents form, and 3) merchants can call the price differential anything they wish.
As of this writing, the case is not quite over, because the court still has to approve the request to vacate the lower court decision (which found New York’s law unconstitutional).
It remains to be seen how this will affect other state’s laws that prohibit surcharging. There are no clear answers quite yet. Keep an eye out for further developments.
In the meanwhile, know that most jurisdictions permit surcharging, ten states have statutes on the books that ban it, and the New York law prohibiting surcharging is still enforceable.


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Welspun Corp has acquired the entire share capital of Mahatva Plastic Products and Building Materials, a newly incorporated company with objects, of Polymer products business, from an unrelated party at a consideration of ₹10,000 with an intention to make it a Special Purpose Vehicle for organic/inorganic growth.
LG EnergySolution (LGES) employees hold company-produced batteries at the battery production plant in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province... It is rewriting the history of the global battery industry by securing differentiated technological competitiveness and world-class battery production capacity.
Some companies in the financial sector tend to rent out a chunk of their facilities to other tech companies ... Some companies offer insurance for their products – for example, Tesla car insurance or financing for home improvements, etc ... To keep up with the pace, most FinTech companies are inventing products and services to enhance managing money.
According to a 2019 study by US-based company Fitbit, India is the second most sleep-deprived nation after Japan... The company also has products for back support while working in the office or home since they are equally to promote restful sleep ... The company has a strong QA/QC team and every product goes through extensive testing before launch.
If you’re not familiar, Enel Chile is a company that offers electricity utility services ...As ofDecember 31st, 2020, the company had 7,200 megawatts of installed capacity with 109 generation units ... As a result, the company could work to move closer toward non-prescription FDA approval for its products.
Regular open tenders will allow flexibility for contractors to choose between a production sharing contract or a gross split scheme, under which the government reimburses the exploration and production costs shouldered by the contractors in exchange for a higher share of companies' oil and gas earnings.
As the world pays new attention to supply chains, much of the focus has been on delays in delivering products to stores and consumers ... But the other side of the supply chain — the process of returning a product — also plays a significant role ... They purchased a dozen products from AmazonCanada and returned them, hiding a GPS tracker in each one.
"European open-source cloud company Nextcloud does." ... Thus, more specialized EU companies can't compete on merit, as the key to success is not a good product but the ability to distort competition and block market access.... This includes Abilian, an open-source software publisher; DAASI, an open-source identity management company; and Mailfence.
A Kamloops company has launched an eco-friendly coating aiming to protect residents’ sports gear ... Armoured Labs was already selling the product in commercial retailers in the U.S ... They formed the company three years ago and created a similar protective product for glass bongs, but they went back to the drawing board since the pandemic.
Peloton is an exercise equipment and media company, whose main products include internet-connected stationary bicycles and treadmills that enable monthly subscribers to remotely participate in classes via streaming media ...Following that, we have Netflix, a streaming services and production company.
Give a deep-dive analysis of the key operational strategies with a focus on the corporate structure, R&D strategies, localization strategies, production capabilities, and sales performance of various companies Provide an overview of the product portfolio, including product ...
While Gray admits that he enjoyed television production, he was “always drawn” to the audio and music side of things, which led to his internship at a jingle production company in Nashville working as a back-up engineer ... a company, business, or product — that stood out.”.
As a retired chief financial officer at a large health care company, Dennis was an advocate for the company’s adjustable kits that improve the fit of prostheses for people who have lost limbs ... “At the time I invested in the company, I had no idea I would be a user of the product,” he said.
At the same time, South Korean entertainment companies have been rolling up their sleeves to tap into Hollywood for years through investment and joint production ... The company is also leading a joint project to co-produce a TV series with Skydance TV, in which it took over a stake, for a U.S.


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Jaw-dropping visuals, huge high definition video screens and spectacular lighting, mesmerising surprise special effects and remarkable shows are now part and parcel of running a successful event, as brands and events organisers look to surpass the competition.
As one of the world’s leading entertainment and events technology provider, PRG, is at the forefront of this ever changing entertainment landscape. Just last week, the company help deliver spectacular lighting at the National Television Awards. Now, the team is hard at work on the Fast and Furious Live global arena tour, helping to create awe-inspiring lighting and video effects to match the adrenaline-fuelled thrills of a franchise built on speed.
In December, Clash Royale took over London’s famous Copper Box Arena, with 16 participants competing for a $150,000 prize in a multiplayer mobile-based game. The show’s lighting, brought the magic of this hugely popular game to life in front of a live audience.
The trend towards more innovative sound and lighting effects has been notable in London’s Theatreland over the past decade from wizarding magic to the West Ends latest smash hit Hamilton for which PRG provides the lighting equipment for a lighting design by Lighting Designer, Howell Binkley and Associate Lighting Designer, Ryan O’Gara. With the audience’s sky high expectations to consider these new productions just get better and better all the time.
Brands too are always on the lookout for ways to impress their guests, whether they’re hosting a luxury product launch or entertaining key stakeholders with a prestigious party. The PRG team has seen a huge upsurge in the number of brands looking to create something completely different, and they’re having to work increasingly hard to do so. Big names are often on the bill at corporate events, whether that be a rockstar comedian hosting an awards ceremony or a chart-topping band entertaining guests as the party gets started.
Global leaders such as PRG are at the forefront of the most exciting developments in entertainment, and are always on the lookout for new ways to inspire and astound.
For U2’s The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 PRG announced a new product innovation along with the application of an industry-first technology solution: SPACEFRAMETM and a 4K Broadcast Camera System. These were integrated into the design, production and operations for the tour, demonstrating PRG’s dedication to innovating products that anticipate the needs of tour managers, designers and artists seeking to push boundaries and deliver a more immersive concert experience onsite or virtually.
As events entertainment gets more and more impressive, it becomes increasingly difficult to wow guests, leading us to an exciting period of innovation as events entertainment providers compete to deliver the most innovative sets and shows. With a strong focus on innovation, PRG leads the industry in advancing this technology through its applications. The company has over 100 issued patents and a similar number of pending applications, and excels at combining market expertise, state-of-the-art equipment, and in-house engineering and manufacturing to provide creative solutions for its clients; allowing them to work smarter.
The focus now is on designing and delivering the most exciting events entertainment, through the use of hard-hitting brand new technology, amazing special effects, the biggest and best sound systems and a few famous faces thrown into the mix. Keep an eye on upcoming shows like Fast and Furious Live to see what the future of entertainment may bring. It’s going to be incredible!
PRG is a leading international full-service provider of technical expertise and equipment for corporate and special events, music touring and festivals, theatre and the arts, exhibitions, brand activations, and film and television productions. They employ more than 3,000 professionals worldwide, and have locations in the UK in London and Birmingham, and more than 40 international branches.


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Letter to the Editor: Senators should support prescription drug importation
Recently, I received the following information from the National Retiree Legislation Network.
I am writing to state that I fully support their stand on Democrats and Republicans alike to cosponsor S.B. 92, the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2017. During the Jan. 11 budget debate in the Senate, an amendment was presented that would have allowed pharmaceutical distributors and pharmacists to import safe, lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada. I am very disappointed that the amendment failed by a 52-46 vote.
It would make sense that Americans, particularly retirees on a fixed income, gain the cost savings from the importation of up to a 90-day supply from Canada that are high quality FDA-approved drugs bought from approved and licensed Canadian pharmacies under terms of a valid prescription signed by a U.S. physician. The savings could be spent to help our economy.
President Donald Trump has stated he supports allowing safe, cheaper pharmaceutical drugs manufactured abroad to be sold in the U.S. I wonder why 39 of the 52 senators who voted against the amendment did not support their party’s new president. Could it be that campaign and Leadership PAC contributions they receive from the pharmaceutical and health products industry are more important than everything else, including doing what is right for your constituents and all Americans?
Republicans and Democrats alike should be ashamed. You’re supposed to help this economy and me, not protect rigged markets. You have an opportunity to make up for the error in voting down the prescription drug importation amendment. It is not acceptable for seniors to have to make the choice between buying food and paying for their drugs.


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The Universal Orlando Fall Garage Sale is set to return from November 13-16, 2020, offering passholders and guests a chance at some Universal merchandise at discounted prices.
The Garage Sale will be held on the first level of TeamPark, the main Team Member parking garage off Turkey Lake Road. The Garage Sale will feature merchandise from throughout the Universal Orlando Resort. Premier and Preferred Pass merchandise discounts will not apply due to the already discounted prices.
On Friday, November 13, the sale will be exclusive to Passholders from 9am to 7pm; then from Saturday, November 14 through Monday, November 16, the Garage Sale will be open to the general public, from 9am to 7pm. Reservations will be required, with registration opening November 6; time TBD. The first day of the sale on Thursday, November 12 is reserved for UO Team Members only.


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Bolstered by rapid growth in polymer exports and transhipment activity across the Arabian Gulf, Khalifa Port Container Terminal (KPCT) handled 699,776 teu in the six months to June 30, up from 629,941 teu for the corresponding period in 2015.
A 49% jump in passenger numbers at its new Khalifa Port Cruise Terminal and 7% and 4% gains in general cargo and ro-ro volumes respectively also contributed to the near 80% period-on-period net profit uptick and a 20% increase in H1 revenue.
New productivity levels at its ro-ro terminals, with a record average of 206 cars handled per hour in April 2016, illustrated the growth of Abu Dhabi as a logistics hub for the automotive industry, ADP Ports said after unveiling 58,000 vehicles had passed through its ports in H1.
As a privately owned company, ADP’s has not disclosed its H1 financials but the absence of hard figures hasn’t stopped it from trumpeting the “remarkable” double-digit growth across its portfolio of 10 ports as well as the new Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad).
“These results demonstrate the crucial role that Abu Dhabi Ports plays as a UAE regional and increasingly global maritime trade hub, especially for those seeking to access the $7.8 trillion Middle East, Africa and South Asian region,” ADP ceo Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi said.
The H1 results follow closely in the wake of the announcement that Khalifa Port will soon welcome capsize vessels for the first time. The carefully plotted expansion plan will see 600,000 sqm of cargo handling capability come on stream by mid 2018 courtesy of an additional 1,000 mtrs of quay wall and the dredging of its main channel and basin from 16 to 18 mtrs. ADP said in Tuesday’s H1 statement that it had already invested $75m in new equipment but the “commercially sensitive” details remained under wraps.
“We continue to invest and upgrade our offerings and facilities to support fast, inter-connected and efficient supply chains while also reaffirming Abu Dhabi’s position as a centre of excellence in maritime trade. The positive role played by Abu Dhabi Ports’ suppliers, partners and employees is at the heart of this growth, in line with the wise vision of the UAE leadership, the Abu Dhabi Plan and Economic Vision 2030,” Shamisi said.
Khalifa Port’s current capacity is 2.5m teu and 12m tonnes of general cargo. Further phases of development will occur as market demand requires, eventually taking capacity to 15m teu and 35m tonnes of general cargo per year.
New container business has come on line this year adding regional connections, primarily to the Indian subcontinent, to support the transshipment business for the KPCT. Admiral Group started feeder services in the Arabian Gulf area along with TDS, furthering the momentum.
Total land leased at Kizad in H1, meantime, was more than 1.5m sq mtrs, a 50% increase on the same period in 2015.
“Industries in Khalifa Industrial Zone continued to expand with 82 Standard Musataha Agreements (SMAs), at an investment amount of over AED 40bn to date,” ADP said.
“The area has now leased 14.5 million square meters of land, 1.9 million square meters of which is leased in the trade and logistics zone. There has also been a 17% year-on-year increase in the number of investors from 2011, with a value exceeding AED 22bn.”


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Snapchat created four AR Snapchat Lenses to give users in UK and France the chance to take a virtual trip to Dubai.
The campaign allowed users to experience distinct virtual experiences in Dubai including the most prominent tourist attractions such as Burj Khalifa, Dubai Frame, Al Seef and Madinat Jumeirah.
CEO of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Issam Kazim said the Snapchat experience gave travel enthusiasts an incentive to plan their holiday in Dubai after it reopens to visitors on July 7.
“Dubai Tourism is delighted with the success of this creative partnership with Snapchat, which has helped sustain global interest and consideration for Dubai by reinforcing its position as a safe must-visit destination," said Kazim.
"Not only has this campaign spread positivity and happiness among travellers, but it has given them real motivation to plan for their next holiday to Dubai once the Covid-19 travel restrictions are eventually lifted,” he continued.
More than 9.2 million people from the UK and France made virtual visits to unique Dubai landmarks within two weeks, exceeding expectations by more than 180 percent.
A study conducted after the campaign in May, showed around 30 per cent were thinking about visiting Dubai when the borders were reopened and when travel becomes available to all.


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Imagine if a discount retailer, a Costco or Sam's Club or the equivalent, bought excess inventory from a manufacturer and then sold those items at a higher price. How would Maryland's sales tax be applied when the goods were sold to actual customers — toward the wholesale price or the retail? That might be the easiest tax question ever posed: Of course it would be applied to the retail price, as it is every day in every store in this state.
Yet online travel companies, Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline to name the most prominent examples, don't see it that way. When they book blocks of hotel rooms at a discount rate and resell them to online customers, they've applied Maryland's sales tax to their wholesale purchase price, not their retail sales price.
The practice has been controversial to say the least, and not just in Maryland. Across the country, it's estimated that state and local governments are losing $300 million to $400 million each year in uncollected tax revenues. The companies have been sued (Maryland's comptroller is currently seeking eight years of back taxes from them), and many states have been clarifying tax law to help settle the matter once and for all.
State Sen. Richard Madaleno Jr. of Montgomery County has offered just such a bill, and it could help the state collect an extra $3 million to $4 million annually in tax revenues, money that could help close a $750 million budget gap and restore funding to public education, albeit somewhat modestly. The legislation would seem a no-brainer under the circumstances given that applying the sales tax in any other manner makes no sense.
But here's the problem. In the last election, the words, "tax increase," have come to be regarded as something only slightly more shocking than "Fifty Shades of Grey" and a whole lot less popular with the general public, and particularly with Gov. Larry Hogan. (OK, so we don't actually know what he thinks of the movie, but you get the point.) And online travel companies have been portraying Senator Madaleno's measure as a tax increase since it would, after all, raise what they pay in taxes and potentially cause their customers to pay more to book hotel rooms if they pass those charges along.
The danger then is that lawmakers will be afraid to approve a bill that imposes what most would regard as common sense. It's only because Maryland tax law was written long before an Internet was ever contemplated that the Expedias of the world can hide behind the fact that they are not hotels charging for their own rooms.
That kind of short-sighted view is actually anti-business, as it puts actual hotels and motels at a disadvantage since they have no tax loophole — or at least perceived tax loophole — to inflate their profits. Those are companies that are invested in Maryland, pay their taxes, support their employees and contribute to communities.
Small wonder that local governments have been going after online travel companies for hotel occupancy taxes, too. Baltimore City and Baltimore and Montgomery counties as well as Worcester County, home of hotel-rich Ocean City, were among the jurisdictions that sued those companies for a similar tax dodge and subsequently received millions of dollars in confidential settlements over back taxes.
This is not to suggest that Orbitz and other online companies don't provide a useful service that benefits Maryland's economy. They facilitate the booking of hotel rooms, which helps boost the hotel trade and the local tourism industry. Maryland, as Mr. Hogan likes to say, is open for business, and that includes the booking of discount hotel rooms.


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Coca Cola Life: 'Fewer calories' soft drink to launch in Britain
Coca Cola Life has a third less sugar and fewer calories than normal Coke
Wednesday 11 June 2014
US drinks giant Coca Cola is launching its first coke drink in the UK in more than eight years and has picked Britain ahead of its home nation.
Coca Cola Life, a drink sweetened with stevia which has a third less sugar and a third fewer calories than normal Coca Cola, will launch in September. It trialled the drink in Chile and Argentina and the UK launch is the first in Europe.
Its last big launch was back in 2005/2006 with the Coke Zero brand – which was its largest product launch in 22 years.
The stevia sweetener, extracted from a South American leaf, gained European approval in 2011 and is being used in a variety of products to reduce calories. Coca Cola said it already uses it in Sprite and its Glacéau vitaminwater.
The group said more than 40 per cent of the coke it sells in the UK is already no-calorie. It sells 21 brands and over 100 products across Britain.
James Quincey, president Coca-Cola Europe, said: “With Coca-Cola Life, we have innovated to provide consumers with a new option with fewer calories. We were early signatories to the UK Government’s Responsibility Deal.”
Most of Coca Cola’s UK products are made in Britain in one of its factories in East Kilbride, Edmonton, Wakefield and Sidcup.
Last month the group revealed it will sell a new bottled water - glacéau smartwater - a decade after its disastrous Dasani purified water brand had to be pulled following poor sales.
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Event a great chance to network with businesses throughout Fraser Valley
The second annual Fraser Valley Chambers of Commerce Business Showcase and Mixer is set for Tuesday, Nov. 1.
Event organizers expect more than 500 people to attend the trade show, which has already sold out the 80 available exhibitor spots.
It will be held at the Langley Events Centre from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The show is a joint-event put on by Chambers in the Fraser Valley.
It is a great opportunity to network with business leaders and professionals working throughout the Fraser Valley.
“This is a great opportunity for business owners, operators and decision makers from across the Fraser Valley to come together and see what each other has to offer,” explained Denni Bonetti, the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce President.
“Exhibitors will get to promote their businesses and services and guests will get a chance to network and see what is available to them in other communities.
“It is a win-win for all involved.”
Participating Chambers of Commerce include Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, Mission and Surrey.
This event is free to attend for guests but an RSVP is requested for catering purposes.
Call the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce at 604-530-6656 or email firstname.lastname@example.org to book a spot for the Nov. 1 event.


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The White House last night declared a new lease of life for the wildly popular "cash for clunkers" scheme, after it received an emergency $2bn injection to cope with a surge in pent-up demand for new cars.
The programme, aimed at reviving stagnant car sales, has proved so popular that the $1bn (£600m) originally allocated has nearly run out after less than a week.
Car dealers have seen an avalanche of customers wanting to turn in their gas-guzzling bangers for more fuel-efficient models since the programme began on Monday. About 250,000 vehicles have been sold under the plan, which offers between $3,500 and $4,500 for each car that is scrapped and replaced.
The House of Representatives yesterday approved new funds to extend the programme and the Senate was expected to pass the bill next week. "If you were planning on buying a car this weekend using this programme, this programme continues to run," the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters.
The extension is to be funded by diverting funds originally allotted for energy loan guarantees under the $787bn economic rescue plan. But car dealers have said the additional $2bn would only be enough to keep the programme going for a week or two. With Congress about to go on a month-long August recess, that could soon provoke another crisis.
The cash for clunkers programme, officially known as the Car Allowance Rebate System, was designed to help the struggling US car industry as well as lowering America's use of fossil fuels. The programme was originally scheduled to run until 1 November – or until money ran out.
It was widely seen as a lifeline for the US auto industry, but car dealerships quickly became overwhelmed by demand. Some showrooms complained they were unable to log on to the official website without it crashing.
By midnight on Thursday the transportation department was warning dealerships to stop offering the rebates because the funds were running low.
Britain's similar car scrappage initiative is on track to run out of money in just over two months. The scheme, which began in mid-May, is designed to run until the end of February 2010 or until the £300m put in by the government has been spent. Official figures show that 134,404 cars have been ordered under the scheme in its first nine weeks. At that rate, the pot will have run dry by early October.
Under the British plan, people with cars registered before 31 December 1999 can trade them in for £2,000 to use towards any new car, including small vans. Half the rebate comes from the government, the rest from manufacturers.
Which? magazine warned today that the subsidy could be a false economy as carmakers have raised their prices by up to 14% this year.


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£250m worth of online shopping did not reach consumer last year
More than £250 million worth of online shopping is estimated to have gone missing or not been delivered to shoppers in the UK in the last year, research shows.
Around 3.6 million Brits have had packages they ordered online go missing in the last year, while more than 18 million people have had packages go missing or undelivered in the last five years, worth an average £68 per package, according to Direct Line Home Insurance.
One in five (22%) shoppers have had more than one package go missing in the last five years, while one in 20 have had five or more packages undelivered, the study found.
The company, who said 89% of UK adults now shop online, found that f or one in 10 online shoppers the average value of their absent package was £300.50.
The survey of 2,011 people suggests that more than 12 million UK adults deliberately ask for their packages not to be left with a neighbour.
While 45% say this is because they do not want to burden their neighbour with their packages, others (14%) either do not get on with their neighbour or do not trust their neighbour (14%).
More than two million (5% ) adults explicitly request that delivery drivers do not leave their packages with a specific neighbour they do not trust or get on with, the company said.
Nearly two million people have had problems leaving packages with neighbours in the past, the research suggests.
Incidents include neighbours refusing to take in their packages (8%), taking in a package and denying it (7%) or refusing to give their package (5%).
Direct Line said Opinium Research interviewed a UK nationally representative sample of 2,011 people.
The insurance company said 728 out of 2,011 have had packages go missing, adding that as a percentage of the population this equates to 18,429,514 people.
It said that 496 out of 2011 asked for packages not to be left with neighbours, adding that as a percentage of the population this equates to 12,556,368 people.


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|By PR Newswire||
|November 7, 2012 08:00 AM EST||
LONDON, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today UBM Live and UBM Tech – the UBM businesses behind TFM&A and InformationWeek – have announced the launch of Big Data Republic (www.BigDataRepublic.com), a community for those dealing with transforming their businesses with big data.
As the world experiences an unprecedented explosion in information, harnessing that data and making sense of it is one of the biggest challenges that business, government, healthcare, education, and most other sectors face over the coming decade.
Big Data Republic's mission is to "transform your business with data" – helping all levels of business to understand this emerging field and turn it to their competitive advantage.
The community will explore how big data can steer business strategy with expert articles, interactive data visualization, and rich video content.
Editor Saul Sherry explains the offering:
"Big data is changing lives now, and it is underemployed. At Big Data Republic, we want to empower the community that stands to gain the most from the transformative power of big data. We aren't just looking at mind-bending data discoveries, but also at the way these findings can be explained in a way that facilitates real-world change."
Supported by sponsorship from Dell, SAP, and Information Builders from launch, it will quickly grow to become a comprehensive resource of expert community-driven content, whitepaper reports, and educational features.
Luke Bilton, Head of Content for UBM Live, says:
"Big Data Republic is an exciting launch for UBM, with collaboration between our UK and US offices, with other region-specific content in the pipeline. Followed swiftly by the launch of The Big Data Show in London in April 2013 and other international events, it's an example of how we are aligning our content and events businesses to create deeply engaged international communities."
Big Data Republic is published in partnership with UBM DeusM, the integrated marketing services arm of UBM, which has launched more than 35 online communities for B2B audiences in the past two years. These sites that have received more than 65 awards among them.
For further information about Big Data Republic please contact Saul Sherry at [email protected]
Visit here to access Big Data Republic: http://www.BigDataRepublic.com
The Big Data Show: April 23-25, 2013, London
The Big Data Show (http://www.TheBigDataShow.co.uk) will offer a range of features to ensure that it becomes the center of big data insight, including inter-visitor networking, a huge range of exhibitors, and extensive educational resources, including:
- More than 50 leading suppliers to the big data industry
- A dedicated Networking Area, for likeminded peers to discuss their experiences
- 2 Seminar Theatres, offering free sessions on the latest developments
- 2 Conference Theatres, with high-level strategic and technical content, offering the highest-brow content for the most senior visitors
For more information please contact:
Sales Manager, The Big Data Show
T: +44 (0)20 7921 8412
M: +44 (0)7766 205 381
About UBM Live
UBM Live connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote their brands, and expand their markets. Through premier brands such as TFM&A, Internet World, IFSEC, MD&M, CPhI, Cruise Shipping Miami, the Concrete Show, and many others, UBM Live exhibitions, conferences, awards programs, publications, Websites, and training and certification programs are an integral part of the marketing plans of companies across more than 20 industry sectors.
About UBM DeusM
UBM DeusM (www.deusm.com) is an integrated marketing services company owned by UBM plc, targeting the fastest growing segment of the online publishing industry: business social media. The company is led by Managing Director Stephen Saunders, Min's Marketer of the Year 2010. He and the other UBM DeusM principals have built and delivered more than 30 successful sites and online communities over the last two years. UBM DeusM's service is based on a unique platform, called Community in a Box (CiaB), which employs a structured system of proven B2B Web publishing best-practices, combined with a breakthrough integrated multimedia publishing platform ("n-Server") to enable marketers to quickly and profitably set up specialized communities for their target customers
About UBM Tech
UBM Tech is the global leader in technology media and professional information, enabling people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its three core businesses – media solutions, marketing services, and paid content – UBM Tech produces the most respected and consumed brands and media applications in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs and IT managers, Web and digital professionals, software developers, government decision makers, and telecom providers) actively engage in UBM Tech's communities and information resources monthly. UBM Tech brands include: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Cloud Connect, Black Hat, and Enterprise Connect; award-winning online resources such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Network Computing; and market-leading magazines InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, and Advanced Trading.
SOURCE UBM Tech; UBM Live
The Internet of Things (IoT), in all its myriad manifestations, has great potential. Much of that potential comes from the evolving data management and analytic (DMA) technologies and processes that allow us to gain insight from all of the IoT data that can be generated and gathered. This potential may never be met as those data sets are tied to specific industry verticals and single markets, with no clear way to use IoT data and sensor analytics to fulfill the hype being given the IoT today.
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The IoT industry is now at a crossroads, between the fast-paced innovation of technologies and the pending mass adoption by global enterprises. The complexity of combining rapidly evolving technologies and the need to establish practices for market acceleration pose a strong challenge to global enterprises as well as IoT vendors. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Clark Smith, senior product manager for Numerex, will discuss how Numerex, as an experienced, established IoT provider, has embraced a ...
Oct. 26, 2016 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,177
In past @ThingsExpo presentations, Joseph di Paolantonio has explored how various Internet of Things (IoT) and data management and analytics (DMA) solution spaces will come together as sensor analytics ecosystems. This year, in his session at @ThingsExpo, Joseph di Paolantonio from DataArchon, will be adding the numerous Transportation areas, from autonomous vehicles to “Uber for containers.” While IoT data in any one area of Transportation will have a huge impact in that area, combining sensor...
Oct. 26, 2016 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,032
In the next forty months – just over three years – businesses will undergo extraordinary changes. The exponential growth of digitization and machine learning will see a step function change in how businesses create value, satisfy customers, and outperform their competition. In the next forty months companies will take the actions that will see them get to the next level of the game called Capitalism. Or they won’t – game over. The winners of today and tomorrow think differently, follow different...
Oct. 26, 2016 02:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,067
“Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. CloudBerry Backup is a leading cross-platform cloud backup and disaster recovery solution integrated with major public cloud services, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
Oct. 26, 2016 02:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,476
Ask someone to architect an Internet of Things (IoT) solution and you are guaranteed to see a reference to the cloud. This would lead you to believe that IoT requires the cloud to exist. However, there are many IoT use cases where the cloud is not feasible or desirable. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Dave McCarthy, Director of Products at Bsquare Corporation, will discuss the strategies that exist to extend intelligence directly to IoT devices and sensors, freeing them from the constraints of ...
Oct. 26, 2016 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 3,132
SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftNet Solutions will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. SoftNet Solutions specializes in Enterprise Solutions for Hadoop and Big Data. It offers customers the most open, robust, and value-conscious portfolio of solutions, services, and tools for the shortest route to success with Big Data. The unique differentiator is the ability to architect and ...
Oct. 26, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,055
The Internet of Things will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform and how we integrate our thinking to solve complicated problems. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, will demonstrate how to move beyond today's coding paradigm ...
Oct. 26, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 3,895
Fifty billion connected devices and still no winning protocols standards. HTTP, WebSockets, MQTT, and CoAP seem to be leading in the IoT protocol race at the moment but many more protocols are getting introduced on a regular basis. Each protocol has its pros and cons depending on the nature of the communications. Does there really need to be only one protocol to rule them all? Of course not. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Matthieu, co-founder and CTO of Octoblu, walk you through how Oct...
Oct. 26, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 3,195
A completely new computing platform is on the horizon. They’re called Microservers by some, ARM Servers by others, and sometimes even ARM-based Servers. No matter what you call them, Microservers will have a huge impact on the data center and on server computing in general. Although few people are familiar with Microservers today, their impact will be felt very soon. This is a new category of computing platform that is available today and is predicted to have triple-digit growth rates for some ...
Oct. 26, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 34,236
Everyone knows that truly innovative companies learn as they go along, pushing boundaries in response to market changes and demands. What's more of a mystery is how to balance innovation on a fresh platform built from scratch with the legacy tech stack, product suite and customers that continue to serve as the business' foundation. In his General Session at 19th Cloud Expo, Michael Chambliss, Head of Engineering at ReadyTalk, will discuss why and how ReadyTalk diverted from healthy revenue an...
Oct. 25, 2016 11:45 PM EDT Reads: 3,003


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Rocket seeder incubated companies GoMicro and ConnectOne Platform are collaborating to create an AI certification solution that will de-risk ag trade between Australia and India.
Issues around quality continue to pose significant challenges in agriculture. Quality standards differ from country to country. Buyers and sellers often have incompatible standards - resulting in trade disputes and food loss now estimated to be US$1Trillion.
GoMicro Ltd. has developed patent-pending Ai imaging technology that makes it possible to assess any fresh product at an expert level by simply using your mobile phone.
Dr. Sivam Krish, CEO GoMicro says, "Anything that can be assessed by eye, can now be assessed by GoMicro".
The ConnectOne platform connects buyers and sellers through an online marketplace that can be tailored to the needs of fresh produce organisations.
"We enable farm communities and groups to create their own market palace to reach global markets", says Vijesh Sathyanandan, CEO ConnectOne.
As recent Rocket Seed Incubator participants, both startups focus on reducing food waste. The Rocket Seeder program helps startups to understand and track the complex issues within the agricultural system.
"We encourage our startups to collaborate to create impactful change that would rescue food waste", says Emma Coath, Managing Director of Rocket Seeder.
Adelaide based GoMircro's technology requires only 50 -100 images instead of the thousands of images needed for conventional AI training, delivering 80 - 90% high detection accuracy. The company now has clients in India who are using this technology to assess the freshness of fish and grain.
Sydney based ConnectOne has developed and deployed an auction platform currently being used in India to sell cardamom and mangoes. GoMicro is developing QC technology for assessing cardamoms. The Rocket Seeder program brought these two companies together to help crack the food waste issue.
Combing these two Agtech products provides a powerful tool for the Agriculture community to Aggregate their produce, Automate Quality control processes and connect with buyers. This capability aligns with the recent free trade agreement between India and Australia. The free trade agreement is designed to increase the trade of agricultural goods between India and Australia.
"The future success of Australia's horticulture sector is underpinned by creating and capitalising on export opportunities. Steps the signing of an interim agreement between Australia and India is vital in setting up Australia's horticulture sector for international success", says Michael Rogers, AFPA CEO,
While Australia has well-documented standards for assessing food quality, it is not necessarily compatible with standards employed by other countries. Phone-based AI technology developed by GoMicro will enable buyers to create their own requirements as a purchase standard and make it available to sellers who can QC to the buyer's standards using their own phones with GoMicro devices.
Sivam Krish says, "We believe the ability for buyers to create their own purchase standards, combined with the ability for sellers to QC to those standards, will have the potential to eliminate quality disputes as QC can be carried out reliably on both ends."
Both companies have a presence in India and Australia. They look forward to bridging the quality issues that add risk to global trade. Australia has established a reputation for quality exports through rigorous standards.
The combination of GoMicro's AI with ConnectOne's auction platform will make it possible for Australian exporters to enter into quality assured online trade in a way that was not possible before.
A collaboration between two startups facilitated by Rocket Seeder
Vijesh Sathyanandan, Emma Coath & Sivam Krish at the Rocket Seeder showcase event
Cardamon assessed with GoMicro for ConnectOne trading platform
About GoMicro, ConnectOne, Rocket Seeder
GoMicro is an Adelaide/Singapore based company that develops AI technologies for agriculture. The company is incubated at the New Venture Institute @ Flinders University Tonsley.
contact Sivam Krish email@example.com
ConnectOne is a Sydney based Agtech company developing online trading platforms for farmer communities and groups.
contact Vijesh Sathyanandan Vijeesh@connectoneclub.com.au
Rocket Seeder provides support for purpose-driven, early-stage startups in the Australian food and agriculture sector.
contact Emma Coath firstname.lastname@example.org


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It's strawberry-picking time in North Texas, and local pick-your-owns are just getting underway. To all who are eager to enjoy this fab new North Texas crop, remember that weather can slow or hasten ripening, and all farms are subject to high demand.
Go early; farms close each day once the ripe strawberries are picked out. Typically, strawberry season continues till hot weather sets in. Check the individual websites or Facebook pages for the latest details.
Storm Farms in Arlington (storm.farm) is already open. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, expanding "mid-April" to 2 to 5 p.m. Sundays and 2 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
H Strawberry Farm in Greenville (on Facebook) is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays through the first week in June. The picking season continues this long because this is a greenhouse operation.
Pecan Creek Strawberry Farm in Pilot Point (pecancreekstrawberryfarm.com) opens 9 a.m. to pick-out Saturday. After that, it's open Wednesdays and Saturdays. Last year was the farm's first year, and it vastly expanded its acreage to meet demand for this year's season. Peak harvest is predicted around May 1.
Pure Land Farm in McKinney, which is growing strawberries for the first time, will probably start this weekend. But you can't just show up. You must go online and book a spot. Yup, demand is that high. Saturday spots are released Thursday mornings, and Wednesday spots are released Sunday mornings. Go to purelandorganic.com.
Highway 19 Produce and Berries in Athens is still about a week away from opening its fields. Check its website at hwy19produce.com or its Facebook page for up-to-the-minute information.
Clearfork Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays. 4801 Edwards Ranch Road, Fort Worth (The Trailhead at Clearfork). farmersmarket1848.com.
Coppell Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays. 768 W. Main St., off Bethel Road. 972-304-7043. coppellfarmersmarket.org.
Cowtown Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays. 3821 Southwest Blvd., Fort Worth, under the tents in the parking lot of Texas Outdoors, on the Weatherford traffic circle (the confluence of U.S. 377, State Highway 183 and Camp Bowie). 817-763-0193. Facebook: Cowtown Farmers Market.
Dallas Farmers Market: The Shed, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Monday-Thursday. The Market food hall, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily (until 8 p.m. Fridays). 1010 S. Pearl Expressway. 214-664-9110. dallasfarmersmarket.org.
Edens Organic Garden Center and CSA Farm: Market days, 9 a.m. to noon first, third and fifth Saturdays through December. 4710 Pioneer Road, Balch Springs. edensorganicfarm.com.
Farmers Market of Grapevine: 325 S. Main St. Year-round store: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. 520 S. Main. farmersmarketofgrapevine.com.
Frisco Fresh Market: Outdoor market 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Nain Street at Frisco Street, adjacent to the east side parking lot of Toyota Stadium, Frisco. friscofreshmarket.com.
Frisco Rotary Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to noon, every third Saturday, November-March. 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays. 8821 4th St., Frisco. friscorotaryfarmersmarket.com.
Four Seasons Market-Carrollton: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. 2722 N. Josey Lane. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Casa Linda: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Casa Linda Plaza, 9440 Garland Road, Dallas. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Colleyville: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. 100 Main St., Colleyville. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Flower Mound: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. 1500 Cross Timbers Road. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Highland Village: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. 2230 Justin Road. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Las Colinas: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. 7701 N. MacArthur Blvd., Irving. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Four Seasons Market-Richardson: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Dal-Rich Towne Square, 101 S. Coit Road. fourseasonsmarkets.com.
Georgia's Farmers Market: Open daily. 916 15th St., Plano. 972-516-4765. Facebook: Georgia's Farmers Market.
Grand Prairie Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Market Square, 121 W. Main St. gptx.org.
Historic McKinney Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays. Chestnut Square Historic Village, 315 S. Chestnut St., McKinney. 972-562-8790. chestnutsquare.org.
Local Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the third Saturday of the month through June, then September through November. Highland Park Village, Preston Road at Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. hpvillage.com/LOCAL.
Lola's Local Market: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Home of Lola the pig. 1771 Kever Main (off State Highway 5), Melissa. Facebook: Lola's Local Market.
Ridgmar Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays. 900 State Highway 183 N. (across from Ridgmar Mall), Fort Worth. 817-246-7525.
West Plano Farmers Market: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Corner of Plano Parkway and Chapel Hill. The Shops at Willow Bend, 6121 W. Park Blvd. Facebook: Red Tent Markets.
White Rock Farmers Market: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Lake Pointe Church, 9150 Garland Road, Dallas. goodlocalmarkets.org.


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Nintendo's first smartphone games will be "free"
Nintendo recently decided that the lucrative smartphone gaming market might actually be worth a look after all and teamed up with DeNA Co. to develop its first batch of titles. At least five are planned so far, leading through to 2017. DeNA has now added that the first few games released under the partnership will be free to play.
Anyone remotely familiar with modern gaming, and not just in the mobile space, knows that free to play is an interchangeable term for free with in-app purchases or micro-transaction riddled grind-fest, if you’re the cynical type. To be fair though, neither Nintendo nor DeNA have detailed exactly how they plan to monetize their smartphone games, so we could just be looking at mostly harmless advertisements or palatable cosmetic in-game items. Although DeNA’s 60 existing apps in the Play Store haven’t set a very promising precedent.
“Games currently in the pipeline are all free to play,” – DeNA CEO Isao Moriyasu
Various industry reports have indicated that the free to play segment of the gaming market is by far the most profitable, especially in the Android ecosystem and even more so in Japan. This is sure to have caught Nintendo’s attention, as the company failed to hit its recent profit forecast for the three months ending in September. DeNA, on the other hand, has been fairing a little better despite struggling to break into foreign markets. DeNA saw its April to September net profit jump up 50 percent from a year earlier, reaching ¥16.2 billion ($132 million) for the quarter.
Back in October, the two companies announced that their first mobile app will be called Miitomo, which is more of a social network/messaging app that uses virtual Mii characters than an actual game. Both companies’ share prices fell following the announcement.
Are you looking forward to Nintendo’s free smartphone games?


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Here’s a question: Is “mayo” mayonnaise?
It may sound like a riddle, but it’s a serious query—potentially millions of dollars serious. And it lies behind a recently filed lawsuit that reveals a David-and-Goliath struggle between a giant, established manufacturer of mayonnaise and a “mayo”-making start-up that has captured the attention of foodies, chefs, animal-welfare activists—and some significant funding of its own.
On Halloween, Unilever—parent corporation for both Hellmann’s and Best Foods mayonnaises—filed suit in New Jersey district court against Hampton Creek Inc., a San Francisco company whose chief product is Just Mayo, a mayonnaise-like spread. Just Mayo is vegan; instead of using eggs to make the characteristic mayonnaise emulsion, it uses a protein extracted from a legume, Canadian yellow peas. Therefore, Unilever said, the company is not entitled to use the term “mayo”—because by federal standard, something that calls itself mayonnaise must contain eggs.
Just Mayo isn’t the first mayonnaise alternative on the market, nor the first to flirt with alternative spellings for the spread. If you’ve ever shopped in a Whole Foods or even an indie health-food store, you might have seen Walden Farms’ Miracle Mayo, or Earth Balance’s Mindful Mayo, or Follow Your Heart’s Vegenaise. But of all those spreads, Just Mayo has become the target of Unilever’s legal action. That may be because, though the newest to market, Just Mayo appears to have soared past the others. Hampton Creek does not divulge its earnings, but it boasts of being the best-selling mayonnaise at Whole Foods, has received backing from Bill Gates and Asia’s richest man, and has secured distribution at Safeway, Costco, WalMart and Target.
It’s that market reach, as much as the ingredient list, that the suit appears to focus on. Unilever did not respond to my email asking for comment, but here are some things the lawsuit says. (The suit was grabbed from the court database and posted by food-law attorney Michele Simon, who writes at EatDrinkPolitics.com.)
“Hampton Creek sells a sandwich spread named Just Mayo in direct competition with Unilever’s Best Foods® and Hellmann’s® brands of mayonnaise. Despite its name, Just Mayo does not contain just mayonnaise. In fact, it is not mayonnaise at all.”
“‘Mayo’ is defined in the dictionary and in common usage as ‘mayonnaise.’ Under federal regulations, common dictionary definitions and as consumers understand it, ‘mayonnaise’ or ‘mayo’ is a product that contains eggs. That ingredient does not exist in Just Mayo. By calling its vegan sandwich spread Just Mayo, Hampton Creek falsely communicates to consumers that Just Mayo is mayonnaise, when it in fact, it is not.”
“The Just Mayo false name is part of a larger campaign and pattern of unfair competition by Hampton Creek to falsely promote Just Mayo spread as tasting better than, and being superior to, Best Foods and Hellman’s mayonnaise. The opposite is true.”
“Hampton Creek’s literally-false name and its unsubstantiated superiority claims have already caused consumer deception and serious, irreparable harm to Unilever and to the product category the industry has taken great care to define in a way consistent with consumer expectations. On information and belief, Just Mayo already is stealing market share from Hellmann’s.”
The suit asks that Unilever be allowed to recover Hampton Creek’s profits and three times Unilever’s damages, and that Hampton Creek be permanently enjoined from using the words mayo or mayonnaise.
I asked Josh Tetrick, Hampton Creek’s founder, what he made of this.
“There’s a legal response, and a broader ethical and moral response,” he said in a phone call. “The legal response is that we believe the Food and Drug Administration standard pertains to ‘mayonnaise’—which is why we called our product ‘mayo,’ as other manufacturers have done.
“The broader response is that, we live in a world in which millions of people go to bed hungry every night, and obesity and Type 2 diabetes are rising, and that is not the world we want to live in. Sustainable transformation of the food system is required.”
The sustainability at the back of Hampton Creek’s concept lies in Just Mayo being plant-based and egg-free. That makes the spread not just cheaper than egg-based mayonnaise, but in the company’s view, more humane. As an unrelated campaign against Hellmann’s and Best Foods highlighted last summer, in order to make those mayonnaises, Unilever buys 350 million eggs per year. But only female chickens lay eggs; as part of hatching new laying hens, the egg industry kills and discards millions of male chicks per year.
Watch Farm Forward’s campaign video, which was released to raise awareness of the plight of male chicks in the egg industry.
An odd footnote: Following the campaign, which was led by the nonprofit Farm Forward, Unilever—which was already converting its operations to cage-free eggs—also committed to funding new technology that would prevent male chicks from being killed. That commitment instantly made the company a leader in animal welfare, in line with commitments that its CEO Paul Polman had already made to auditing its supply chain and combatting tropical deforestation.
“The main thing we’re trying to do is give every brand we sell… a social purpose,” he said earlier this year, accepting the CGD/Foreign Policy Commitment to Development “Ideas in Action” Award — the first business leader to receive it. Later in his remarks, he added: “It is desperately needed that we build a new economic world order where we live within planetary boundaries.”
It is odd to see a corporation that bases its operations on sustainability—while measuring its earnings in billions of dollars—going after a smaller company that appears to be following the same path. Does sustainability fall before market share? The legal system may have to sort that out; Tetrick said Hampton Creek will be filing a response.
In the meantime, though, Unilever’s own efforts to walk a sustainable path probably have been obscured by reaction to the suit, which earned headlines earlier this week such as ”Unilever is suing Silicon Valley’s favorite” and “Big Food’s weird war.” Here’s how celerity chef Andrew Zimmern phrases the battle, in an online petition that reached 20,000 signatures Wednesday night:
“When a $60 billion company flexes its muscles to prevent a good-for-the-world startup company from succeeding, there are only two words for that: corporate bullying.”
Update: Unilever emailed me this statement:
“We are a strong supporter of innovation both within and outside our company. Our concern here is not about innovation, it is about misleading labeling as it is not accurate to label the Hampton Creek product as ‘Mayo’ or to reinforce the link with images of ingredients, in this case eggs, that are not even used. In contrast, our Hellmann’s brand is made from real eggs. We simply wish to protect both consumers from being misled and also our brand.”
This story is part of National Geographic’s special eight-month Future of Food series.


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BSNL Launches India’s Longest Validity Plan: Get 600 Days Of Validity For Rs 2399! But There Is A Catch..
BSNL has now introduced a new prepaid plan with a validity of 600 days – and the plan is priced at Rs. 2,399. Reportedly, this plan will be available everywhere in India.
Find out what the new plan by BSNL offers its customers right here!
BSNL Offers New Prepaid Plan For Rs. 2499 With Longest Validity Ever Of 600 Days
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Chhattisgarh has announced the plan on Twitter. The plan is valid for 600 days, which is the longest duration of validity for a plan announced by BSNL. This plan will be priced at Rs. 2399 and will have a FUP (Fair Usage Policy) of 250 minutes per day on any outgoing calls in India and to any network.
Once the FUP limit is reached, customers will be charged normal call rates of Rs. 1 per minute for all local calls and Rs. 1.3 per minute for any STD calls.
The plan also offers its customers 100 free SMSes per day.
However, the plan does not offer any data benefits. As per reports, every MB will cost around 25 paise.
If you want internet connectivity, you will be required to pay normal rates for the data or you can also pay for any add-on internet pack.
Also, this plan will come with free BSNL Tunes (caller tune) that will be on the phone for the first 60 days after activation. After this, the charges for the caller tune will be Rs. 42 per month.
Long Terms Plans From Jio, Airtel
Rs 2399 plan for 600 days from BSNL is the longest validity plan available in India right now.
Airtel had recently launched a long term validity plan for Rs 2498, which provides 2GB data per for 365 days, along with unlimited voice and a host of other features and advantages like Airtel Xstream Premium subscription, and Zee5 subscription.
On the other hand, Reliance Jio too has launched a long term validity plan for Rs 2399, whihc also provides 2GB data for 365 days, and access to their suite of entertainment apps such as JioSaawan, JioMovies and others.