text:
Ford (F) after the bell on Thursday reported better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter. Revenue of $36 billion (-9% YoY) topped estimates of $33.89 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.34 (+$0.22 YoY) exceeded estimates of a loss of $0.07.
In addition to the headline results, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes was $1.7 billion (+$1.2 billion YoY), well ahead of the $230 million consensus, at an adjusted EBIT margin of 4.6% (+3.6 percentage points YoY). Adjusted free cash flow was also much better than expected at $1.9 billion with a consensus sitting at $159 million.
"The transformation of Ford is happening and so is our leadership of the EV revolution and development of autonomous driving," Ford president and CEO Jim Farley said in the release. "We're now allocating a combined $29 billion in capital and tremendous talent to these two areas, and bringing customers high-volume, connected electric SUVs, commercial vans and pickup trucks."
By region, revenues from North America were $22.0 billion, generating $1.074 billion of EBIT -- well above estimates of $401 million -- for an EBIT margin of 4.9%. Driving the 53% YoY increase in EBIT was yield management and the non-recurrence of 2019 UAW contract costs, partially offset by planned lower volumes from the all new F-150 changeover. Management said its North America portfolio transformation is near complete with 97% of mix from trucks, vans and utilities.
Europe's revenues were $7.1 billion, generating $414 million of EBIT -- also well above estimates of a $223 million loss -- for an EBIT margin of 5.8%. This was the highest quarterly profit in the region in more than four years, as all three business focus areas (commercial, passenger and import) were profitable. Profitability is improving here through restructuring efforts, and Ford said its first phase of restructuring has reduced its annual structure costs by $1.1 billion.
Revenues from China were $0.8 billion, generating a $66 million loss before interest and taxes and -- slightly worse than estimates of -$38 million -- for an EBIT margin of -8.3%. What's notable here is that retail sales increased 30%, outpacing the overall industry as Ford enjoyed its fourth straight quarter of share growth, thanks to the popularity of locally produced versions of the Lincoln Corsair and Aviator. And, even though the loss before interest and taxes was worse than expected, the result represented the third consecutive quarter of year-over-year profitability improvement.
South America's revenues were $0.9 billion, generating a $105 million loss before interest and taxes, which was roughly in line with -$101 million estimates -- for an EBIT margin of -12.2%. This was the fifth consecutive quarter of YoY EBIT improvement. It's striking how poorly this region was run under previous management, losing more than $4.5 billion over the last decade. Farley said on the earnings call that this was "not acceptable."
Changes have been made, and we remind you that in mid-January, Ford announced a major new restructuring for South America and closed three facilities to position the region into a leaner, asset-light business model.
International Markets Group revenues were $2.5 billion, generating a loss of $62 million before taxes and interest -- slightly better than estimates of -$70 million -- for an EBIT margin of -2.5%. If India were excluded, Ford would have been profitable in the quarter with pronounced strength in Australia and Vietnam. Still, the $62 million represented a significant improvement from the $174 million loss last year.
Lastly, in Ford Credit, EBIT came in at $912 million, representing growth of 48% that topped expectations of $662 million.
In addition to the better-than-feared results, Ford shared some excellent news regarding their electric and autonomous ambitions. Ford now plans to invest at least $22 billion in electrification through 2025, roughly twice what the company had previously committed to.
Ford is "all in and will not cede ground to anyone," said Farley in release, in developing connected electric vehicles and services in the vehicles that Ford makes best: pickups, commercial vans, and SUVs. Separate from the EV investment is Ford's new plan to invest about $7 billion on autonomous vehicles over 10 years through 2025. This figure includes the $2 billion that was spent through 2020, so basically $5 billion going forward.
"We are accelerating all our plans -- breaking constraints, increasing battery capacity, improving costs and getting more electric vehicles into our product cycle plan," Farley said in the release. "People are responding to what Ford is doing today, not someday."
The company noted how the Mustang Mach-E has received great customer and critical reviews, and even an analyst on the earnings call said that, "this thing is going to sell super fast, so Bravo to the team."
What's next in the EV pipeline is the first E-Transit commercial van in late 2021, an all-electric F-150 pickup in mid 2022. And the Lincoln luxury brand will be part of the EV lineup in the future.
What will help Ford accelerate its transformation to enhance the connected car experience is the new, six-year partnership with Google that was announced earlier this week that you can read about here.
As for the outlook, management said Ford was on pace to earn $8 billion to $9 billion in adjusted EBIT (including a $900 million on cash gain on its investment in Rivian) and generate $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion in adjusted free cash flow in 2021. Backing out the Rivian gain, Ford's EBIT outlook is much stronger than the roughly $6.75 billion consensus estimate.
Take the outlook with a grain of salt, however, because the global semiconductor shortage, which has impacted multiple industries including autos, has created uncertainty and will impact Ford's 2021 operating results. Management said it is "premature" to try to predict what availability will mean for full year performance and that estimates from supplies suggest losing 10% to 20% of planned first quarter product. As to what it means for Ford's forecast, if the chip shortages extend through the first half of the year, Ford's 2021 adjusted EBIT outlook could be impacted by $1 billion to $2.5 billion, net of some offsets in cost and volume make ups. Although the news does not come as a surprise because what is happening in the chip industry is well document by now, this potential hit to EBIT is significant and we could see Ford's stock trade lower tomorrow.
Longer term, CFO John Lawler said in the press release that Ford's third and fourth quarters were evidence of the progress made to turn around the company and improve profitability. Of their financial objectives, one target is an 8% company adjusted EBIT margin, with 10% in North America and 6% in Europe with all regions profitable. We think that if you look at the actions that are being made and the progress that has already been achieved, we believe Ford will be successful on delivering this goal even as they continue to invest in their EV future.
Overall, this was a very strong quarter for Ford and was highlighted by profitability that came in much stronger than expected and the news that management doubled down on its investment in electrification and autonomous capabilities. The only real issue we see here is more of a near-term concern related to the chip shortage that is impacting auto original equipment manufacturers around the globe. But longer term and as evidenced by the quarter, Ford is doing exactly what you want to see in terms of steadily improving profitability in each region, and the stepping up of investment in electrification and autonomous capabilities, this latter part being so important to the stock's multiple because EVs are the future and the market is ascribing less and less value to ICE vehicles each year.
Shares are up slightly in after-hours trading largely due to excitement around the EV/autonomous commitment, but if concerns over the chip shortage take the stock down tomorrow we would view that pullback as a buying opportunity.


text:
TracFone has agreed to pay $40 million "to settle charges that it deceived millions of consumers with hollow promises of 'unlimited' data service," the Federal Trade Commission announced today.
Despite advertising unlimited data, the company's various prepaid wireless brands "drastically slowed or cut off consumers’ mobile data after they used more than certain fixed limits in a 30-day period," the FTC said.
"Beginning today, consumers who had a Straight Talk, Net10, Simple Mobile, or Telcel America unlimited plan before January 2015 can visit http://ftc.gov/prepaidphones to file a claim for a refund," the commission said. "Refunds will be paid to consumers whose data service was slowed or cut off. Consumers who had an unlimited plan but are unsure if their data service was slowed or cut off should still file a claim to find out if they are eligible for a refund."
TracFone did not admit or deny guilt in the settlement. Besides agreeing to the financial penalty, TracFone was ordered to stop deceptive advertising of mobile data plans.
TracFone admitted in 2013 that it throttled unlimited data plans after customers hit 2.5GB of data in a month.
The FTC's complaint against the company says that TracFone has been promising unlimited talk, text, and data for $45 a month since 2009 under the brand names mentioned above.
"In numerous instances, TracFone failed to disclose or adequately disclose its practice of enforcing fixed limits on the amount of mobile data service its customers could use in a thirty-day service period," the FTC said. "In fact, until at least September 2013, TracFone did not state in most of its advertising or terms and conditions that it would suspend or throttle its customers’ mobile data service if they used more than a fixed amount of mobile data in a thirty-day service period. In September 2013, TracFone began to include this information for all of its 'unlimited' offerings, but often has tucked it away in small print that is not proximate to its claims of 'unlimited' mobile data service."
The data limits "were not driven by technological constraints" and were not "a response to real-time network congestion," according to the FTC. TracFone cut its customers off from network services in order to save money.
"As a reseller [of network access], TracFone must purchase the mobile data service that it sells to consumers from mobile network service providers," the FTC wrote. "Because TracFone offered its 'unlimited' mobile data service at a fixed price, more data usage by its customers meant more costs, and less profit, for TracFone."
TracFone is the largest prepaid mobile phone service provider in the US with about 25 million subscribers, of which about 25 percent subscribe to unlimited plans, the FTC said.
"The reduced speed from throttling significantly impaired the ability of many consumers to engage in online mobile activities. For example, throttled consumers often could not use mobile applications such as YouTube, Netflix, or Skype," the FTC complaint said.

domain: news


text:
Australians are renowned for their love of good food and excellent wine, which is perhaps just one of the reasons why the Rutherglen Winery Walkabout event has been attracting 12,500 wine lovers annually to the Rutherglen region for over 40 years.
We spoke to Natalie Ajay, Rutherglen’s Executive Office for Wine and Tourism - the woman currently responsible for making one of Australia’s oldest wine festivals happen. Natalie joined the team 18 months ago and 2016 will be her second year of organising this legacy event.
We uncovered the logistics that go into making an event like this happen, the challenges she faces as an event manager and how online ticketing has impacted the future of this event.
“Logistically it’s a real challenge”
From speaking to Natalie you quickly start to get an idea of just how logistically challenging this event is. The numbers alone are enough to send any experienced event managers mind into overdrive.
Just consider more than 13,000 wine glasses and 10,000 bottles of water that need to be allocated to each of the 18 independent wineries in the weeks leading up to this event. Travel around the region alone requires an extra 30 dedicated event shuttle buses and 400 privately registered buses that move people between cellar doors.
“The logistics of this event will always be difficult, but we’re definitely managing it better”, says Natalie. We asked her to share her tips on how she’s managed to achieve this. “This is the first year we’re selling all event tickets online, and being able to scan the event tickets really helps the wineries. Before ticket scanning there was money flying everywhere, tills, eftpos machines and more. All that can now disappear.”
“Ticket scanning just streamlines the process and makes it easy to manage.”
Other tools that have helped Natalie to manage the Winery Walkabout efficiently include some free online tools such as Cognito forms that enable her to collect all the registration details for private buses in an online form. Post event feedback is invaluable for any event manager and Natalie recommends Typeform and eSurv to send out surveys after each event she runs, “they are great for post event survey analysis, and it allows me to do detailed data exports and facilitate mass communication to event participants”.
“The event attracts people to the region, helping businesses to flourish”
It’s not only the sheer size that makes this food and wine event truly unique, but also the length of its tenure and it’s personal ties to the local community and businesses. As with any event of this size it has a noticeable impact on the local economy, in fact it’s what Natalie finds most satisfying about the job “I’m helping to improve the sustainability, profitability and viability of many small local businesses in the region, which is rewarding”.
“People here have a formula – they go into Winery Walkabout mode”
“It’s a small town that’s quite close knit”, says Natalie. Natalie openly shares that there have multiple generations of people doing this event a lot longer than she has, “the wineries really know how to perform best at busy times, it’s all hands on deck - they call in family and friends.” They service a huge amount of people over one weekend, but with a small town vibe.
Getting the word out
So what’s the secret of promoting such a long running event that continues to pull in such big numbers year after year?
“Word of mouth is our strongest tool”, says Natalie. “This event draws people from all over Australia and all over the world, with many wanting to book months in advance of the event happening.”
Social media has been a game changer for Natalie who talks to us about the benefits of being able to target a younger audience in metro areas who have already shown an interest in food and wine events. Social media, in particular Facebook and Instagram, also gives Natalie the opportunity to express the event visually with some of the beautiful images they’ve collected of the region, “it’s the best way to sell the dream of a winery escape”, she says.
So what’s next for the Rutherglen Winery Walkabout?
This is the first year they’ve moved to 100% online ticket sales and so there’s more work to do in the upcoming months around educating people about the new way of buying tickets. The aim in the future is to have all tickets online and sold out a month in advance of the event, “that’s my dream! Getting everything locked away – it would make my life much more predictable.”
Natalie also has plans to attract more young people to the event from the major cities, “now we’re learning how to communicate more effectively through online channels it’s really helping, combined with the fact that they can now buy their tickets online and lock in the weekend early.”
Of course the ultimate goal lies around attracting more and more people to visit this beautiful region outside of event time. However, building the reputation of the region as a major regional tourist destination, on the back of iconic wine festivals and other events, is a great foundation from which to deliver this goal.
UPDATE: We are pleased to report Natalie’s "dream" has been realised with the festival now sold out (3 weeks out from the festival weekend): looks to us like Walkabout’s patrons have truly embraced the move to 100% of tickets being pre-sold online.


text:
A crucial vote in Europe this week could cause a revolution in transparency among Britain’s wealth managers.
On 20 November, the European Council, which represents the governments of the 28 member states of the EU, is expected to vote in favour of the introduction of a Total Cost of Investing, forcing investment managers to reveal all the costs they charge – including often hidden items such as performance fees or additional entry/exit costs – as a percentage on an annual basis.
The proposal is part of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, a broader piece of legislation on the financial services industry, which is expected to be approved in the next few months. It follows a two-year campaign to increase transparency in the investment sector led by Alan and Gina Miller of wealth management firm SCM Private.
Gina Miller thinks that although the legislation will represent a major change in the industry, UK fund managers don’t understand the impact it will have on the sector: ‘It will fundamentally change the way consumers see costs and liability, and access information prior to purchase [of investment products]. But in the UK, they don’t see it coming,’ she told Spear’s.
The London-based firm also campaigned to introduce an online calculator to allow private investors to better understand the total fees charged by fund managers and to compare products between different providers.
Thanks to SCM Private’s efforts, a calculator was introduced in the Packaged Retail Investment Products, another European draft regulation that tries to increase investment products’ transparency. If PRIPs is approved in coming months, the European Securities and Markets Authority will be asked to develop an easy-to-use fee calculator to compare the costs and services offered by European investment managers.
Fund managers and fund distributors operating in the EU will also have to submit detailed information about their fees on a quarterly basis.
‘The Investment Management Association and the Association of British Insurers are trying to come up with codes that are a partial answer to the lack of transparency in the sector,’ said Gina Miller, ‘but still aren’t giving consumers a full ticket price of what the real cost will be. While they’re tinkering, Europe is actually doing something that will completely change the sector.’
Initially, the Millers asked UK politicians, regulators and fund managers to pass similar legislation. However, they were told that not much could be done in absence of a European directive. So they decided to bring the issue to Europe while at the same time independently developing their own calculator.
Called the True and Fair Calculator, the online tool was launched last May in the UK and provides an estimate of how fees and other costs will affect clients’ investment returns, both in pounds and as a percentage of the assets invested. Miller said more than 42,000 people have already used it.
In Europe, they succeeded in making transparency in the financial sector a crucial issue. Their first success arrived on 21 October, when the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, chaired by British MEP Sharon Bowles, voted in favour of it.


text:
Bharti Retail has been crying itself hoarse that its tie up with Wal Mart to launch a slew of retail stores in India will not affect mom-and-pop stores—a euphemism for small time neighbourbood retails shops. Not so, it seems. A report in BusinessWeek looks at what Wal Mart's "calculated decision to break the $1,000 barrier for flat-panel TVs" in the US did to retail outlets there:
...triggered a disastrous financial meltdown among some consumer-electronics retailers over the past four months. The fallout is evident: After closing 70 stores in February, Circuit City Stores (CC) on Mar. 28 laid off 3,400 employees and put its 800 Canadian stores on the block. Tweeter Home Entertainment Group (TWTR), the high-end home entertainment store, is shuttering 49 of its 153 stores and dismissed 650 workers. Dallas-based CompUSA is closing 126 of its 229 stores, and regional retailer Rex Stores (RSC) is boarding up dozens of outlets, as well as selling 94 of its 211 stores. "The tube business and big-screen business just dropped off a cliff," says Stuart Rose, chief executive officer of Dayton-based Rex Stores. "We expected a dropoff, but nowhere near the decline that we had." Clearly, these retailers are taking such drastic measures because they don't see any respite in sight.
Bharti says that their model will encourage small retailers to lease their space to the new entity and will therefore be beneficial to them. But this looks more like an entry level bonus than a long term strategy for the sector. Small operators may be in for a rude surprise once the corporate entity spreads its tentacles to the heartland.


text:
POLICE ARREST THREE MEN IN CONNECTION WITH DATA BREACH ON THREE MOBILE NETWORK
The company said details, including names and addresses, had been accessed by using a login to its database of customers eligible for a phone upgrade.
It said the breach then allowed upgrade devices to be “unlawfully intercepted”.
On Wednesday the National Crime Agency (NCA) said it had arrested two men from Manchester and one man from Kent as part of its inquiries.
A 48-year-old man from Orpington, Kent, and a 39-year old man from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, were arrested on suspicion of computer misuse offences, the NCA said.
The third man, a 35-year old from Moston, Greater Manchester, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
All three have been released on bail pending further enquiries, an NCA spokeswoman said.
Three, which has nine million customers, is investigating how many accounts were accessed, but said the database did not contain payment, card or bank details.
A spokesman for the company said: “Over the last four weeks Three has seen an increasing level of attempted handset fraud.
“This has been visible through higher levels of burglaries of retail stores and attempts to unlawfully intercept upgrade devices.
“We’ve been working closely with the police and relevant authorities.
“To date, we have confirmed approximately 400 high value handsets have been stolen through burglaries and eight devices have been illegally obtained through the upgrade activity.”
He added: “In order to commit this type of upgrade handset fraud, the perpetrators used authorised logins to Three’s upgrade system.
“This upgrade system does not include any customer payment, card information or bank account information.”
The company said it has since strengthened its data controls and is contacting the eight handset fraud victims.
The use of a login to access the Three database marks it out from a hacking attack on Talk Talk, which led to the theft of the personal data of nearly 157,000 customers.
Talk Talk was fined £400,000 last month after hackers targeted vulnerable web pages to steal customer information in October last year.


text:
West Palm beach, Florida— Walmart, Walmart, and Krogens stores are moving forward with plans to build a new “marbled” salamanders “store” in the West Palm area, the West Florida Sun Sentinel reported Wednesday.
The plans call for a new store to be built in the town of West Palm and the West Lake Village in West Palmetto County.
The proposed site would have a landscaped courtyard, a water feature and “an area to house a small collection of salamandras,” according to a press release.
The new store would be constructed from the ground up and would have retail space for “approximately 1,500 people, a community garden, a fountain, a waterfall, and a nature walk.”
The proposed development would also include a public art exhibit, a sculpture garden and an outdoor play area.
The development is a joint effort between Walmart and Kroeger.
It is also a result of the merger of the two companies.
Kroeger acquired Walmart in 2011 for $1.9 billion.


text:
The progressive movement has prided itself on its ability to get its messages out by harnessing the Internet, through organizations like MoveOn.org and blogs like Daily Kos or The Huffington Post.
But now a liberal-minded group is returning to an old-fashioned model: a book club.
Starting on Monday, the new Progressive Book Club is inviting readers to join and buy three books at $1 apiece in exchange for the obligation to buy four books over the next two years.
The brainchild of Elizabeth Wagley, a former fund-raiser and communications adviser for nonprofit groups including Doctors of the World, the Progressive Book Club is trying to update the paradigm of such familiar institutions as the Book-of-the-Month Club, as well as the 44-year-old Conservative Book Club.
Ms. Wagley said that she believed the new book club would fill a void for progressively minded readers. “The right has always understood the power of ideas, the power of books as legitimizers of ideas,” she said. “I see the opportunity with the book-club structure to create a powerful tool to showcase the ideas of the left.”
As with a classic book club, members of the new club will be offered a slate of books each month, reviewed and chosen by a panel that includes the novelists Michael Chabon, Erica Jong and Barbara Kingsolver; John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress; Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine; and Todd Gitlin, the author and a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University.Continue reading the main story
The first lead selection is “The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker” by Steven Greenhouse, a reporter at The New York Times. Other offerings for June include “Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy” by Jeffrey Feldman, and “Mudbound,” a debut novel by Hillary Jordan. The club will also offer about 200 older titles like “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine and “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson.
The new book club, which is being financed mostly by individual investors, is entering the market at a time when the publishing industry is struggling and the book club segment in particular has come under significant pressure. Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate that owns the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Doubleday Book Club and the History Book Club, among others, last year reported severe losses in its American book clubs as membership plummeted.
In the early days of book clubs discounts were a large part of the appeal, but competition from online booksellers like Amazon.com has eliminated that advantage. And recommendations, once another draw, are now easily found on the Internet. “When we started we were bringing people information about books that they wouldn’t have heard about otherwise,” said Andy Schwarz, general manager of the Conservative Book Club, a sister company of Regnery Publishing, a Washington imprint of conservative books. “Now it’s much easier to get information and learn about books.”
Mr. Schwarz, who said the Conservative Book Club sells an average of 30,000 books a month and has a total of 90,000 members, added: “It’s getting harder to get new members. We’re holding steady, but we’re not growing as much as we’d like.”
Ms. Wagley said that it was not so much the number of members that mattered as the influence that the club’s selections could have on intellectual debate. The Conservative Book Club, she said, “has been able to shine a spotlight on the books that are in the club.” In doing so, she added, the ideas in those books have spread to “the universe of conservatives.”
Readers sympathetic to progressive causes can already learn about books on blogs or by reading reviews in newspapers or on any number of book-related Web sites. But Ms. Wagley said that the new book club would provide a central place for title recommendations and would promote books by smaller publishers that might have difficulty receiving attention elsewhere.
Michelle Berger, the Progressive Book Club’s chief operating and marketing officer and a 10-year veteran of Bertelsmann’s book clubs, said readers still wanted someone to “cut through the clutter” of titles. The new club, she said, would also improve on the old model by eliminating paper catalogs and offering a social networking component on its Web site, as well as the opportunity for members to form local book discussion groups.
Steven Waldman, a founder of Belief.net, a faith and spirituality Web site, and author of “Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America,” another June selection, said he was most excited by the possibility that club members would meet one another. With traditional book clubs “it was always sort of a fiction that you were in a club,” Mr. Waldman said. “It was just a marketing arrangement. You never met the other people in your club. Now you can meet them. I love the idea of people who are buying my book talking to each other.”
As with other book clubs, authors will receive royalties of 4 percent of the cover price for books sold for $1 apiece, and 8 percent of the cover price for books sold at regular club prices, which will be competitive with prices on Amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble. Typically authors are paid about 15 percent of the hardcover price after they have paid off the cash advances they receive when they sign book contracts.
Margo Baldwin, publisher of Chelsea Green Publishing, which produces books about progressive politics and environmentally sustainable living, said authors may forgo some royalties on the book club sales, but they would enjoy promotion they might not otherwise receive.
To make buyers feel as if they are contributing to something more than book sales, club members can designate one of 33 organizations to receive $2 from any book that a member buys at regular club prices above $10. Participating organizations, which will also advertise the Progressive Book Club on their Web sites and help recruit members, include the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law; the Foundation for National Progress, which publishes Mother Jones magazine; and the Wellstone Action Fund.
Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, publisher and founder of Kos Media, which publishes the Daily Kos blog and is one of the book club’s “alliance partners,” said he did not expect the club to generate much revenue for his company. “I’m not doing this for financial reasons,” he said. “I’m doing it for movement-building reasons.”
Some in the publishing industry questioned whether liberals need a specific book club. Voicing an oft-repeated maxim, David Rosenthal, publisher of Simon & Schuster, said, “One might say the entire book industry is largely a progressive book group.”Continue reading the main story


text:
Kerby Jean-Raymond, founder of luxury brand Pyer Moss, launched the Reebok x Pyer Moss “Collection 3” at Sole DXB on December 6, 2019.
The collection is inspired by the Twi word from Akan tribe in Ghana, Sankofa, which translates to ‘Go back and get it’.
Alongside the “Collection 3” drop, Reebok also celebrated its collaboration with Adidas, combining two iconic technologies into one product; the Instapump Fury BoostTM.
Continuing to create the unexpected, the union between the iconic vector and the three-stripes has come to life with the highly exclusive and limited drop of the InstaPump Fury Boost, “Black and White”.
Sole DXB is one of the most anticipated end of year festivals in Dubai, hosting fashion, music, art, and lifestyle. This year’s Sole DXB is set to celebrate the influence of Jamaica on fashion, music and culture.


text:
Apple's chief financial officer made $700,000 in salary, and matched that with a $700,000 bonus. His 2010 pay was exactly the same as it was in 2009.
Some of the biggest names in tech make just $1 a year.
|Every Chipotle will close Monday for a 4-hour food safety meeting|
|CBS uses Super Bowl to announce 'The Good Wife' is ending|
|U.S. running out of space to store oil|
|Bernie Sanders meets Larry David as 'SNL' debuts 'Bern Your Enthusiasm'|
|Those new USB-C cords can fry your laptop|


text:
Hyundai Motor India has launched a variable warranty option called “Wonder Warranty” for customers of its KONA Electric Vehicle to enhance the after-sales experience. All the existing customers have an option to choose Wonder Warranty and get the benefits without paying any extra cost.
Hyundai customers can opt for any of the following Wonder Warranty options, such as – three-year/unlimited or four-year/60,000kms or five-year/50,000kms. However, the battery warranty for eight-years/1,60,000kms remains applicable irrespective of the Wonder Warranty option chosen.
Commenting on the scheme for KONA Electric, Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing & Service, said, “Hyundai has always kept its customers at the highest pedestal and offered unmatched customer experience. The Hyundai KONA has pioneered in the Future Mobility and Green Mobility space. In line with the response we have received for India’s First Fully Electric SUV, we have introduced the Wonder Warranty scheme which elevates the after-sales customer experience by offering them the freedom of choice and providing a Complete Peace of Mind.”
More Charging Stations To Be Installed
To further provide unparalleled customer delight to KONA EV customers, Hyundai Service has ensured the installation of 7.2KW AC chargers at more than 50 Dealerships in 30 cities. Further, each Hyundai Kona is provided with a 7.2 KW AC charger to ensure charging at the customer’s residence in 6 hours 10 minutes. The industry’s first ‘Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V)’ charging facility has been developed and implemented by Hyundai to provide customers anywhere anytime charging at Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Additionally, for emergency charging support, customers in Delhi and Bengaluru can reach out to portable chargers through Hyundai’s roadside assistance partner. From online service booking, vehicle status update via WhatsApp, pick and drop from home/office and online payment facility, a ‘contactless service experience’ is ensured for the customers wherever they are and whenever they want to.
Hyundai Kona EV, the country’s first fully electric SUV was launched last year and is currently retailed at Rs 23.75 lakh (ex-showroom) onwards and directly competes with the likes of MG ZS EV and Tata Nexon EV. Hyundai has had a string of new launches this year starting from the compact sedan Aura earlier in January to the recently launched Tucson SUV.


text:
6 Reasons Why the Release of Facebook Stories Could Threaten Snapchat
Sure, you can accuse Facebook of stealing Snapchat’s idea and pledge to neglect Facebook’s new feature out of a passionate allegiance to Snapchat. You can campaign for Snapchat and deem Facebook the social media villian. It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is Facebook just released its Facebook Stories feature on their mobile app and its initial release includes most of the features that made Snapchat unique; but, packaged into Facebook Stories is something that Snapchat has no answer for, prestige.
Facebook, founded in 2004, has deeper, more well-established-roots than Snapchat, founded in 2011. Facebook’s 1.23 billion daily active users is nearly eight times more than the 158 million daily active users on Snapchat. Facebook has gained 500 million daily active users over the last two years. Snapchat? Sixty-seven million. Facebook reported $27.638 billion in revenue in 2016, significantly more than Snapchat’s reported revenue of $404 million.
Continued growth, that’s hard to match; especially when what you’re known for is sniped, and implemented, by your giant competitor.
Though the initial release of Facebook Stories is missing a couple notable components which Snapchat is known for (geofilters and voice changers), it’s close enough to already pose a threat to the story-sharing platform, especially when you consider the prestige of Facebook.
Unless Snapchat releases another dimension to their app, they could be in trouble. Snapchat has survived Instagram Stories and story features in other Facebook-owned services like WhatsApp and Messenger. So other than prestige, why is Facebook Stories a bigger threat?
Snapchat’s bread and butter are their lenses (filters). Instagram Stories lack filters, but Facebook Stories not only includes filter capabilities, they offer a lot more than Snapchat.
Posting is similar to Instagram Stories
As stated before, Snapchat has 158 million daily active users. Instagram has 400 million daily active users, 150 million of who use the stories feature daily. That’s not a huge gap. Facebook Stories looks a lot like Instagram Stories, with the stories located at the top of the screen. There won’t be a frustrating learning curve and the popularity of Instagram Stories will translate to Facebook Stories, surely surpassing the daily active users on Snapchat.
Videos can be longer
Facebook allows users to video for up to 20 seconds when posting to stories. Instagram gives users 15 seconds. Snapchat only allows 10 seconds of video.
You can save stories to camera roll
This is an option for all three platforms, so nothing gained, nothing lost
You have more posting options
Facebook Stories integrates the ability to post a story directly to your timeline. If you want a story to stick around for longer than 24 hours, all you have to do is select that you want to post it. You can choose to post a story to your profile, your 24-hour story, or send as a direct message.
Along with their lenses, ephemeral content was the other huge thing Snapchat had going for it. Snapchat makes content posted using their platform seem urgent by making it disappear after 24 hours. Users know content will be gone after 24 hours, so they constantly check to see if there’s any new content, knowing it won’t be there for long. This is no longer unique to Snapchat.
It’s obvious, Facebook landed a solid punch to the jaw of Snapchat, knocking them to their knees, by studying their strengths and incorporating them into their own regime. The ref has begun his 10-count on the bloodied Snapchat. One, two — they must find new strength in order to get up — three, four, five — they see their opponent standing over them, nearly unscathed — six, seven — they stumble to their knees, blood and sweat dripping down their face and into their eyes — eight, nine, te…– just before the final count, they use the ropes to pull themselves up. Weakened, disoriented, and bereft of their once unique fighting style, they continue on, knowing they must formulate a new tactic that will counter the seemingly constant onslaught of punches thrown at them.
They’re against the ropes, but they’re still in the fight.
Originally published on designworksgroup.com


text:
Boston social game company Disruptor Beam has named a new COO and vice president of business development, the company announced Monday.
The Facebook game development studio, co-founded by former GamerDNA co-founders Jon Radoff and Angela Bull, has tapped Hank Howie, the former founder and president of independent computer game developer Blue Fang Games, to lead the company that brings together fan communities and online games. Blue Fang Games is the developer behind the Zoo Tycoon games franchise.
Before joining Disruptor Beam Howie founded social and mobile media developer Beach Cooler Games LLC, which created Universal Movie Tycoon. “With Beach cooler, we did some great work and I’m very proud of that,” Howie told Mass High Tech.
“When Jon (Radoff) got in touch and they started talking about it ... it was too exciting to pass up,” he said of his new role.
At Disruptor Beam, Howie will be responsible for licensing, publishing and building partnerships. He will also be tasked with running future projects, including the upcoming Game of Thrones Ascent social game currently under development by Disruptor Beam in partnership with HBO and author George Martin.
“I think what Disruptor Beam is setting out to do is to create the next level of social game,” Howie said.
An earlier version of this story mis-stated Howie's title at Disruptor Beam. He is chief operating officer (COO).


text:
The New York Times has a lengthy article which begins with the story of Stephanie Smith, who became paralyzed after contracting a deadly E. coli O157:H7 infection, and continues by detailing the flaws in the way ground beef is processed which allows contaminants to spread.
Meat companies and grocers have been barred from selling ground beef tainted by the virulent strain of E. coli known as O157:H7 since 1994, after an outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants left four children dead. Yet tens of thousands of people are still sickened annually by this pathogen, federal health officials estimate, with hamburger being the biggest culprit. Ground beef has been blamed for 16 outbreaks in the last three years alone, including the one that left Ms. Smith paralyzed from the waist down. This summer, contamination led to the recall of beef from nearly 3,000 grocers in 41 states.
Since meat preparation is supposed to be under the supervision of federal food safety inspectors, where are the potential sources of contamination?
Federal inspectors based at the plant are supposed to monitor the hide removal, but much can go wrong. Workers slicing away the hide can inadvertently spread feces to the meat, and large clamps that hold the hide during processing sometimes slip and smear the meat with feces, the workers and inspectors say.
Greater Omaha vacuums and washes carcasses with hot water and lactic acid before sending them to the cutting floor. But these safeguards are not foolproof.
“As the trimmings are going down the processing line into combos or boxes, no one is inspecting every single piece,” said one federal inspector who monitored Greater Omaha and requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The E. coli risk is also present at the gutting station, where intestines are removed, the inspector said
Every five seconds or so, half of a carcass moves into the meat-cutting side of the slaughterhouse, where trimmers said they could keep up with the flow unless they spot any remaining feces.“We would step in and stop the line, and do whatever you do to take it off,” said Esley Adams, a former supervisor who said he was fired this summer after 16 years following a dispute over sick leave. “But that doesn’t mean everything was caught.”
Another problem is that processors do not want to get the individual slaughterhouses in trouble, or they will lose them as a supplier.
The food safety officer at American Foodservice, which grinds 365 million pounds of hamburger a year, said it stopped testing trimmings a decade ago because of resistance from slaughterhouses. “They would not sell to us,” said Timothy P. Biela, the officer. “If I test and it’s positive, I put them in a regulatory situation. One, I have to tell the government, and two, the government will trace it back to them. So we don’t do that.”
Although some processors may not be carrying out enough inspections, the problem is really that the final ground product is what gets inspected in most cases, not the batch of trimmings coming in from any particular supplier. Meat from different suppliers are mixed together. A contaminated batch of ground beef can therefore be traced to a processor, but not to a specific supplier.
The sad part of this whole tale is the conclusion presented by the New York Times reporter:
Dr. Petersen, the U.S.D.A. official, said the department had adopted additional procedures, including enhanced testing at slaughterhouses implicated in outbreaks and better training for investigators.
“We are not standing still when it comes to E. coli,” Dr. Petersen said.
The department has held a series of meetings since the recent outbreaks, soliciting ideas from all quarters. Dr. Samadpour, the laboratory owner, has said that “we can make hamburger safe,” but that in addition to enhanced testing, it will take an aggressive use of measures like meat rinses and safety audits by qualified experts.
At these sessions, Felicia Nestor, a senior policy analyst with the consumer group Food and Water Watch, has urged the government to redouble its effort to track outbreaks back to slaughterhouses. “They are the source of the problem,” Ms. Nestor said.
We find it curious that a major newspaper can publish a lengthy story which is clearly the result of careful research and somehow come to a conclusion which is exactly the same as it would be if Food and Water Watch wrote the entire article. Please note that no other possible solutions to the problems are written about in the article.
As we have previously revealed, the best kind of advocacy pieces masquerading as journalism or science do not commit crimes of commission, rather, they simply omit pertinent data which the average, non-expert reader would otherwise be unaware of.
In this particular case, there are two simple answers which can deal with the problems posed by the article simply and effectively without the need for more government regulation, inspectors, and taxes.
The first answer comes from Reason:
What solution? Irradiation. That is, treating foods with gamma, electron beam or X-ray radiation to kill bacteria that might be found on food before it is offered to the consumer. It is no more dangerous than pasteurization of milk and would prevent tens of thousands of food poisoning episodes if widely adopted.
According to research by the CDC, irradiation works and is safe:
Treating raw meat and poultry with irradiation at the slaughter plant could eliminate bacteria commonly found raw meat and raw poultry, such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. These organisms currently cause millions of infections and thousands of hospitalizations in the United States every year. Raw meat irradiation could also eliminate Toxoplasma organisms, which can be responsible for severe eye and congenital infections. Irradiating prepared ready-to-eat meats like hot dogs and deli meats, could eliminate the risk of Listeria from such foods. Irradiation could also eliminate bacteria like Shigella and Salmonella from fresh produce. The potential benefit is also great for those dry foods that might be stored for long times and transported over great distances, such as spices and grains. Animal feeds are often contaminated with bacteria like Salmonella. Irradiation of animal feeds could prevent the spread of Salmonella and other pathogens to livestock through feeds.
Reason’s conclusion is markedly different than the one reached by the New York Times:
Why should Americans be forced to trust their health chiefly to the good will of politically well-connected corporations and a bunch of bureaucrats when applying a simple elegant inexpensive technnology can go a long way toward solving the problem?
The second solution is: get to know your butcher. Go and visit a local butcher shop that makes their ground beef on the spot. It will cost more than the premade patties you can find in major supermarkets because it is made fresh on the spot with higher quality ingredients. As we have found, making friends with the butcher can also help you snag really high quality cuts of meat which are rarely available outside of high end steakhouses.


text:
Patient access, lower costs, accountability and collaborative care: those are the watchwords that define the nation’s overextended web of health care in 2015. And community pharmacy — the true face of neighborhood health care — offers some timely solutions to all of them.
When hurricanes, tornadoes, foods and other disasters strike, where do people turn for help? Retail pharmacies have become a critical community resource in times of great stress, offering food, water, emergency items, medical supplies and healthcare services when most other local businesses are still struggling to reopen or rebuild.
Members of the Global Market Development Center attended more than 8,000 scheduled meetings in the span of five days at the 2014 General Merchandise Marketing Conference held in San Antonio from Sept. 5 to 9, GMDC has announced.
Mission Pharmacal on Thursday announced that it has begun the promotion of Elestrin (estradiol gel) 0.06% in the United States through an agreement with Meda AB. The drug is a used as a topical hormone replacement gel to help treat hot flashes caused by menopause.
Mission Pharmacal Company on Thursday announced the availability of a new, patented dual-iron version of its prenatal vitamin, CitraNatal Harmony, a single-pill prescription supplement with calcium citrate.
Eileen Breslin, dean and professor of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, has been elected to serve a two-year term as president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
The American Dental Education Association has announced the first class of the ADEA/TheraBreath Student Research Fellowships, recognizing five dental and hygiene students for their proposed clinical research project in the areas of xerostomia or halitosis.
Grocer H-E-B has introduced in March its own line of organic products that focus on everyday pantry staples such as canned tomatoes and vegetables, cereal, crackers, fruit and specialty spreads and coffee.
Mission Pharmacal Co. on Tuesday announced its “ABCs of Medical Management of Stones,” a step-by-step approach to the diagnosis and treatment of nephrolithiasis, or kidney stones, is now available as a mobile application for Apple devices.
As part of an initiative started in time for American Diabetes Month, H-E-B is helping customers make carb-aware food choices by labeling food with 0 g to 15 g of carbohydrates per serving with their new Carb Aware Nutritional Icon, according to a Nov. 6 Facebook post on the Texas grocer's site.


text:
The holiday season officially kicks off in just a few days, but an analysis of 2014 email marketing trends suggests that small businesses may have already missed their peak engagement day.
The sports media company debuts an app-to-app implementation that enables sports fans to purchase tickets to upcoming games.
The company's surprise announcement to leave the marketing applications business could become a trend among enterprise software vendors.
Mobile has been a game-changer for this tire company. Here's how the organization spins the channel to capitalize on key moments throughout the shopper journey. Plus, six tips on how to get started.
Cameron MacDonnell is unsure as to whether his campaign test results are an anomaly. Should he retest or just run the campaign as is? Read the full story and provide your advice.
Morgan Stanley CMO Mandell Crawley is on a mission to get his colleagues to view marketing as a commercial asset rather than as merely a creative asset.
Or, perhaps your company has a few skeletons in its closet that keep its marketing from achieving its full potential.
Costume company BuySeasons leverages predictive analytics to generate engagement and conversion results that are so good, they're scary.
Fox took the brunt of criticism--and Maytag and Snickers took advantage--during a coverage interruption in last night's World Series broadcast.
Privatize them and free big mailers from subsidizing them, says the former Under Secretary of the Commerce Department.
In the age of the customer it's no longer about the Internet of Things or The Analytics of Things. Marketers today are working with The Analytics of Everything.
High rates on market dominant products prop competitive businesses and create an unfair marketplace, says a UPS-sponsored report.
Sailthru releases its Personalization Engine, with the goal of helping marketers coordinate personalized communications across email, Web, and mobile.
A new study shows that the number of items a consumer purchases in his first visit to an e-tailer is telling of his future buying behavior.
First Class Packages increase 12.8% over three years. More substantial increases loom for Commercial Plus service, which is slated for elimination in 2017.
Company of the Week
SK&A is a leading provider of U.S. healthcare information solutions and databases. As part of IMS Health, SK&A researches and maintains contact and profiling data for over 2 million healthcare providers, including 800,000+ prescribers. SK&A's data supports research and marketing initiatives for life sciences, medical device, managed healthcare, direct marketing, publishing, education and more. SK&A's proprietary databases are telephone-verified twice per year from its world class Research Centers. SK&A enables multi-channel marketing and sets the standard for data quality and reliability. SK&A's customers include many of America's most recognized healthcare, publishing and pharmaceutical institutions.
SK&A is a leading provider of U.S. healthcare information solutions and databases. As ...


text:
From Green Right Now Reports
But a coalition composed of hundreds of health and environmental groups, known as Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, has stepped forward to help get the toxics out of everything from your shampoo to your couch cushions. Its campaign, launched today, attempts a big end run around the lack of chemical regulation in the U.S..
The new program enlists major retailers to help purge toxic chemicals from the consumer products they sell; and asks consumers to play along, nudging and cheering the retailers into action.
Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, Home Depot and Best Buy are participating in the “Mind the Store” program, by promising to identify hazardous chemicals in the products on their shelves and develop plans to remove chemicals of concern.
The chemicals targeted include formaldehyde, ethyl and methyl paraben, Bisphenol A, vinyl chloride, styrene, a variety of phthalates, solvents, preservatives and metals that the group has identified as among the most hazardous. These hazardous substances turn up in household items, furniture, cosmetics and body products because the U.S. provides little oversight of toxic ingredients in the realm of non-food household goods.
Unlike pesticides and pharmaceuticals, there’s no regulatory system for thoroughly checking out all these chemicals before they are added to common products, the coalition noted in an announcement of the program.
“The federal government isn’t ‘Minding the Store’ when it comes to chemicals so retailers have to. They can protect their customers and move the marketplace toward safer products at the same time.” said Andy Igrejas, Director of the coalition Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.
The coalition has created a list, “The Hazardous 100+ (pdf),” that is intended as the guidepost for the participating retailers.
Many of these chemicals have been implicated in cancer, infertility, respiratory ailments, cognitive impairments and even diabetes. Several are considered endocrine disruptors that can impair child and fetal development.
Mind the Store aims to take the issue directly to the public, because efforts to pass legislation to control the proliferation of chemicals has so far been blocked by the chemistry lobby, Igrejas said.
“We’re confident that consumers can enlist their favorite retailers in confronting this problem,” said Igrejas. “The links between many common chemicals and the chronic diseases that burden so millions of families give this issue a great moral urgency that motivates people from all walks of life.”


text:
We’re excited to announce that our friends at Bottles Beverage Superstore in Mt. Pleasant have just launched their Brew Good, Do Good campaign! Now through Labor Day weekend, a portion of sales from EVERY Freehouse Brewing crowler or growler purchase will be donated to Charleston Waterkeeper.
Enjoy great local beer while supporting a great cause! Visit their Mt. Pleasant store today to see what Freehouse beers are on tap at the growler station and pick up a growler or crowler of your favorite. Cheers!


text:
Following the frenzy of the shopping phenomena that was Black Friday, pre-Christmas promotions are continuing albeit at a lower rate. According to SalesGossip, the website and mobile app which advertises fashion and beauty promotions in one place, it‘s the retailers who are avoiding the blanket discounts that are the ones to watch.
Black Friday was used to create momentum in the run up to Christmas and capture early Christmas shoppers and SalesGossip saw more than double (a 137% increase) in the number of retailers with Black Friday offers compared to the same time last year. This, and the subsequent pre-Christmas promotions where SalesGossp has seen a 48% increase compared to last year, indicates just how competitive the current retail market is. The sale site is also predicting that this level of competition is pulling pre-boxing day sales and promotions to as early as Sunday 21st December this year.
Certain retailers‘ tactical marketing departments have planned engaging campaigns to drive pre-Christmas online traffic and in-store footfall. Using advent-style calendars and the ‘12 days of Christmas‘ theme, these retailers are offering a different deal every day or discounts on specific product categories for one or two days only in the run up to Christmas. This is flash sales at their best, attracting shoppers back each day to find out what the new promotion is before tempting them to buy in both that category as well as full price categories. Because these retailers are using the appealing carrot of promotions on new season stock, it has the added advantage of being attractive to a wide range of shoppers.
Elizabetta Camilleri, CEO and co-founder of SalesGossip, comments:
“Following Black Friday, we‘ve seen a lot of retailers running pre-Christmas promotions. Understandably, many of them are doing so to respond to promotions from their direct competitors. For me, retailers who are using flash sales and discounts on specific product categories to pique shopper interest and maximise returning traffic and footfall are incredibly smart – they‘re competing without killing their profits.”
Going forward, although some Boxing Day promotions will start as early as December 21st, Boxing Day will still remain key and offer new promotions for a wide variety of retailers. SalesGossip expects to have at least 900 brand and retailer promotions live that day and also estimates that Christmas Day will be as popular as ever with all Christmas Day inventory sold faster than any other day of the year so far. It‘s possible Christmas Day and Boxing Day will surpass the Black Friday weekend in terms of number of live promotions.


text:
Have you already put aside plastic in favor of glass food containers and reusable shopping bags? Regardless of your personal plastic policy, you’ll be happy to know that by the year 2015 plastic bags will consist of 40 percent recycled content. At least that is the goal of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), which has invested $50 million to that end. Although bag recycling increased by 27 percent from 2005 to 2007, the EPA reports that in the US, the majority of plastic bags still end up in landfills or in natural wildlife habitats. Do your part to reduce unnecessary waste by remembering your reusable or recycling your plastic!
Subscribe now to the world’s #1


text:
Weekly 5: Brunswick stock upgraded
Christopher Gerber (CGerber@BoatingIndustry.com)
December 11, 2012
Filed under Weekly 5
Editor’s Note: The BI Weekly 5 is a collection of tips, news and data affecting the boating industry this week. Be sure to look for the BI Weekly 5 every Tuesday on BoatingIndustry.com
1. Brunswick stock upgraded
TheStreet has upgraded Brunswick Corporation’s stock from hold to buy. The ratings report cited the company’s revenue growth, return on equity and good cash flow as points of strength.
2. Small business owner optimism plunges
The National Federation of Independent Business’s Small Business Optimism Index dropped 5.6 points in November to one of its lowest marks on record.
The biggest reason for the decline, according to the NFIB, was a precipitous drop in owners’ expectations for future economic growth.
NFIB chief economist said the election caused the drop in optimism: “Nearly half of owners are now certain that things will be worse next year than they are now. Washington does not have the needs of small business in mind. Between the looming ‘fiscal cliff,’ the promise of higher health-care costs and the endless onslaught of new regulations, owners have found themselves in a state of pessimism.”
3. Taking your business to Pinterest
Heard of Pinterest but not sure what it is or how to take advantage of it in your business? Social Media Examiner has a great guide to getting your business started on Pinterest.
4. 4 Ways to Deal With the Fiscal Cliff
You can’t control fiscal policy, but you can take steps to position your company for whatever happens with the fiscal cliff, says sales consultant Tom Searcy.
5. Identifying the “nightmare employee”
Almost every company has employees that are sucking the life out their bosses and their coworkers. Here are some tips on determining if you have a nightmare employee draining your company.


text:
Indiana will be disproportionately affected when the federal medical device tax goes back into effect in 2018. The state is second only to California in global life sciences exports.
The medical device tax went into effect with the Affordable Care Act. It’s an excise tax, which means companies can’t pass the cost on to consumers. Instead, the 2.3 percent levy comes off the top of all medical device sales, regardless of whether companies turn a profit.
After pressure from medical device manufacturers, Congress passed a two-year suspension of the tax in 2015. Companies hoped an extended suspension or permanent repeal of the tax would be included in the GOP tax reform bill, but it wasn’t.
With the two-year suspension set to expire, that means companies will start paying the tax again in 2018.
George Telthorst is director of Indiana University’s Center for the Business of Life Sciences. He says Indiana medical device manufacturers will likely have to cut back on expansion and innovation.
“They’re going to pull back on whether they’re going to make investments in new equipment, or hiring people, etc. until they see which way things are going to shake out,” Telthorst says.
Telthorst says while repealing the tax has bipartisan support, efforts to do so have failed because they’ve been attached to other legislation. He says without a suspension or repeal, medical device manufacturers will feel the impact immediately in 2018
“The way the tax is structured, companies have to pay as you go, I believe on a monthly basis,” he says. “So, they’re going to need to start diverting funds from their cash flow right away to the treasury.”
Bloomington-based Cook Medical says in a statement “a full repeal is needed for long-term investments in growth and innovation across the industry.”
U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) introduced a bill earlier this month that would expand the suspension of the tax through 2022.


text:
June 17, 2019 – XenomatiX, a true solid state lidar technology provider is awarded the 2019 CLEPA Innovation Award in the category of Connectivity and Automation for SMEs.
CLEPA, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers recognizes outstanding contribution and excellence in the automotive supply industry in the fields of Environment, Safety, Cooperation, and Connectivity & Automation.
“We are proud to win this award and be recognised for our innovation. We see the CLEPA Award as a confirmation of our unique, innovative and outstanding lidar technology, as we work towards our goal of becoming a disruptive Tier II lifting ADAS and AD to the next level”, said Filip Geuens, XenomatiX’s CEO
Tesla, one of the biggest and the most renowned name in the technology sector with great innovations transforming the world was latest in talks due to innovation of automated drive cars. This technology gives an option to the driver to set the destination and route, car set the driving skills and techniques based on the routes and also sense driving skills, speed of other cars on the way, and other aspects of roads to make the driving best and safest. For innovate and execute this technology, Tesla used HW3.0 chips which is termed to be the best technology for designing automated cars.
From past few days, Tesla is aging a big topic to talk about among the owners of latest automated drive Tesla cars. In various social media platforms, Tesla car owners were spotted saying their car is designed using HW2.5 chips which is less advanced than HW3.0 chip, and hence makes automated drives risky too.
This is a result of the most dangerous infection spread all over the world in recent days “Corona virus”. Tesla’s biggest chip manufacturing plant is in Shanghai where approx. 3000 folks are report death due to the virus and this has affected the supply of HW3.0 chip.


text:
Stella McCartney was joined by A-list sports and film stars to celebrate summer in an explosion of bright colours and graphic textures on 5 October... ...http://www.ibtimes.co.in/paris-fashion-week-lewis-hamilton-among-stars-celebrating-summer-with-stella-mccartney-649290
NEW YORK American designer Ralph Lauren, who built a fashion powerhouse on luxury designs inspired by country club chic, announced Tuesday he is... ...http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/09/30/ralph-lauren-ceo-idINKCN0RU0GL20150930
1 /16 Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Manish Malhotra Image: Vogue Alia Bhatt in Zara and Promod Image: Vogue... ...http://www.vogue.in/content/best-dressed-this-week-aishwarya-rai-bachchan-and-alia-bhatt/
September 24, 2015 Hollywood London, Sept. 24 : One Direction band members has enthralled their fans with their performances during... ...http://www.siasat.com/news/1d-enthralls-fans-15-song-set-during-apple-music-fest-gig-841932/
Fashion designer Stella McCartney has launched a variety of lingerie supporting the Breast Cancer Awareness Month and its survivors.The 'Louise... ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/stella-mccartney-launches-mastectomy-bra-for-breast-cancer-survivors-115092400467_1.html
Situated louis vuitton factory outlet...


text:
Office Home & Student 2021 and Office Home & Business 2021 are now available. These are the perpetually licensed editions of the next version of Office, priced at $149.99 and $249.99 respectively.
The Home & Business edition includes everything in the Home & Student edition as well as Outlook for the PC/Mac and commercial use rights. Unlike their Office LTSC 2021 business counterparts, these editions include Teams and some collaboration tools too.
Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3ArUlbr.
Microsoft announce that a commercial preview of Office LTSC, the next perpetual release of Office, will be available in April 2021.
This release of Office will align with Windows 10 LTSC for use in specific, limited scenarios, and will be supported for five years. It will be released in the second half of 2021 and there will be a 10% price increase. Microsoft confirm that there will be another release in the future too.
There are also plans to release Office 2021 for personal and small business users later in the year, and there are no plans for a price increase for these products.
Find the announcement article here: http://bit.ly/3aKyTEC.


text:
Exquisite 'Hari Raya' decorations at River View Hotel
Article from Borneo Bulletin Weekend. Published on Saturday Sep, 13 2008
Share this news with friends:
Although Muslims in the sultanate are still fasting, the festive mood of the upcoming "Hari Raya" celebrations
is evidently in the air as shopping complexes and hotels elegantly adorn their respective establishments with
colourful decorations to further enliven the festive cheer.
River View Hotel, Gadong took the effort to decorate their lobby area by using coconut leaves to welcome
the "Hari Raya" celebrations.
The decorations, complemented by colourful neon lights, look dazzling in the evening. The Front Desk
Manager told the Weekend that decorations were specially made by their own staff and members.


text:
You are here
RICHMOND, Va. -- Virginia state leaders will announce new restrictions for stores selling cold and allergy medicines commonly used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine by the end of the week, according to an Associated Press report.
Under the emergency regulations -- which could take effect later this month -- consumers will have to show identification when purchasing pseudoephedrine and other nonprescription drugs used to make meth.
Pharmacies and other stores that sell the medications must keep them behind the counter and keep a list of names of people who buy them.
Legislators plan to pass state laws to make those regulations permanent.
Thirty-seven states impose restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine and a federal law limits consumers to purchasing three packages of the drug in any single transaction.


text:
A new retail business has opened a storefront in South Charleston and its owners are hoping to offer enough unusual items and gifts to keep customers coming back.
Village Chic, a vintage store focusing on refurbished furniture, home decor and other items, hosted an open house this week at its location at 164 N. Chillicothe St., where it shares space with a handful of other businesses including the Village Salon.
Owners Karman and Jennifer McKee focus on selling home decorations with a farmhouse theme, as well as restoring used furniture.
“Our love of vintage items and all things repurposing led us down this path,” Jennifer McKee said.
The business sells a roughly equal mix of new and restored decorations and furniture. It also works with area businesses like North Shore Primatives in Washington Court House and local artists to sell jewelry, scented candles and other items.
Karman McKee had already been collecting and refurbishing furniture in her home, so it was an easy transition to the business. There are few similar businesses in the area, so it offers customers a new place to shop for gifts and home decorations, Karman said.
Because they’re always working on new products, they expect enough turnover in the storefront to make sure customers will find something new on most visits.
In most cases, they scour auctions, antique shops, flea markets and other venues for the items they restore, but often get donations from friends. Although they want their business to thrive, they hope starting the retail store encourages other potential business owners to take a closer look at South Charleston.
“We’ve both lived in other cities,” Jennifer said. “But this is a bonus to get to come back here to South Charleston and do it here together in our hometown.”
The business isn’t the only vintage store in town, and other business owners agreed they’d like to encourage more small business. Adam and Stephanie Robinson opened 5Rs Cars and Collectibles at 17 S. Chillicothe St. in downtown South Charleston about a year ago.
Adam started the business part-time after he began collecting various items with his grandfather. While it started by focusing on vintage collectibles, signs and similar items, it has expanded to sell DVDs, gifts for children, comic books and even lawnmowers, strangely one of the store’s most popular items.
The store originally was open once a week, but has expanded its hours from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
“It seems like people want to put more businesses back in town,” Adam said. “People want to shop local.”
Thank you for reading the Springfield News-Sun and for supporting local journalism. Subscribers: log in for access to your daily ePaper and premium newsletters.
Thank you for supporting in-depth local journalism with your subscription to the Springfield News-Sun. Get more news when you want it with email newsletters just for subscribers. Sign up here.


text:
For the past few years, CBD has been riding a wave of good press, owed primarily to the glowing testimonials given by satisfied users. Both derived from the cannabis plant, cannabidiol was often lumped together with its infamous cousin THC, which is responsible for cannabis’ psychotropic high. However, it has become apparent that cannabidiol is quite different from THC, and it has very different effects. Only once in a while do you come across a medication as versatile as CBD, and it has only taken a short while for word to spread; cannabidiol is the new wonder drug, and everyone wants in on it.
UK brand Blockhead has been the latest to join the fray with the launch of what it claims is UK’s first-ever CBD infused chewing gum. The gum contains 3mg of CBD per piece, and the company states that this allows people to absorb the CBD much faster than other methods currently available on the market. The gum is also vegan and sugar-free.
The brand used menthol and peppermint to negate CBD’s notoriously strong taste. “We had to get that out of the gum. There’s none of that horrible pondwater taste to it at all,” said Blockhead CEO Danny Lowe. “If you were to have the gum without the CBD and hemp oil, it would be one of the strongest gums you could possibly taste. So much peppermint and menthol, but when you chew it, it feels almost like a sweet mint because of the way the CBD and hemp dull the flavor.”
According to Lowe, CBD isn’t just used by one specific age group. “Plus,” he adds, “ chewing gum is a really fun and enjoyable way of getting CBD into your body.” The product has already been rolled out to major retailers, and it will soon be announced for sale at £4.99 ($6.48) per pack.
Plenty of anecdotal evidence has surfaced over the years claiming that CBD is an effective solution for a series of maladies from chronic pain, anxiety, and depression to insomnia and epilepsy. There has been limited conclusive scientific research on whether these claims are factual or not, and brands that sell CBD-infused products are not allowed to make any health claims around CBD products. Still, demand for cannabidiol products is continuously on the rise, and experts suggest that demand will keep on increasing.
Lowe said he expected consumers’ and regulators’ understanding of CBD to change over time. “At the moment, you are just relying on people’s individual responses to CBD.”
Analysts think CBD industry players like ChineseInvestors.com Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX) and Geyser Brands Inc. (TSX.V: GYSR) still have a lot more products to bring to market as there seems to be no shortage of what can be made using CBD.
CBDWire (CBDW) is a specialized information provider focused on (1) reporting CBD-related news and updates, (2) releasing CBDNewsBreaks crafted to keep investors abreast of the latest and greatest in the CBD market, (3) refining and enhancing corporate press releases, (4) delivering end-to-end distribution and social media services to client-partners and (5) constructing effective corporate communication solutions based on the unique requirements of CBD companies. CBDW is exclusively positioned in the burgeoning CBD sector with a proven team of journalists and researchers working to deliver high quality content to an expansive target audience of investors, consumers and industry news outlets. Our dissemination network of over 5,000 downstream distribution points allows us to deliver unparalleled reach, visibility and recognition to companies operating in both cannabidiol and the wider cannabis space. CBDWire (CBDW) is where CBD news, content and information converge.
To receive instant SMS alerts, text CBDWire to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.CBDWire.com
Do you have a questions or are you interested in working with CNW? Ask Our Editor


text:
It looks like Motorola ATRIX 4G pricing revealed recently when Amazon prematurely posted a product page might not be so deeply discounted after all. Instead, the $149.99 price point could be standard among discount retailers at launch. An alleged photograph taken of Costco’s inventory system reveals the same price point for AT&T’s upcoming Android superphone. The Motorola ATRIX 4G features a 4-inch display, a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM and Google’s Android operating system. It also features an optional dock accessory that converts the device into a full-sized smartbook. Motorola confirmed that the ATRIX 4G will become available late next month, and AT&T has not yet revealed pricing for the phone. More →
AT&T has yet to reveal launch pricing for two of its most highly anticipated smartphones, but it looks as though Amazon is already preparing to undercut the carrier at launch. Both announced at AT&T’s press conference during the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, the Motorola ATRIX 4G and Samsung Infuse 4G each went live on amazon.com last night. Both listings have since been pulled, but not before the world caught a glimpse of Amazon’s intended pricing. Known for its deep discounts, the online retailer plans to price the Motorola ATRIX 4G at $149.99 while the Samsung Infuse 4G will be even more affordable at $99.99. Full retail for the phones is listed as $599.99 and $499.99, respectively. The ATRIX 4G is expected to launch at the end of February for an estimated $199.99, and the Infuse 4G will launch sometime in the second quarter, possibly at $149.99. More →
In keeping with its custom of issuing competitively priced promotions — and to help celebrate the launch of the new Amazon Kindle app for Windows Phone 7 devices — AmazonWireless has dropped the prices on three great smartphones from AT&T. The Samsung Focus, LG Quantum and HTC Surround are now each just 1¢ on contract from the discount retailer. Each of these devices represents a fantastic modern option for smartphone customers looking to make a move with AT&T. This is a limited time promotion that only runs through January 17th, though, so interested parties have just under two weeks to take the plunge. More →
Amazon released its “Best of 2010” lists on Thursday, highlighting the major retailer’s best-selling, most wished-for and most gifted products of the year. In the best-selling category, Amazon’s own Kindle topped the electronics category. This was a foregone conclusion, of course, as Amazon announced earlier this week that the Kindle is now the best-selling product of all time on Amazon.com. AT&T’s Samsung Captivate was Amazon’s best-selling device in the Wireless & Accessories category, reaffirming Android’s remarkable growth in 2010. Call of Duty: Black Ops was Amazon’s best-selling video game, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro topped the computer category and Sherlock Holmes was the company’s most streamed movie of 2010. Hit the break for Amazon’s full press release. More →
Amazon announced Monday that its third-generation Kindle eBook reader is now the best-selling product of all time on the Amazon.com website. It replaces Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the previous Amazon.com sales record-holder. Amazon still has not revealed official sales tallies for any of its Kindle devices, though recent estimates suggest Amazon is on pace to sell 8 million Kindles this year. The company currently offers two versions of its popular Kindle eReader — a Wi-Fi-only version for $139 and a 3G-equipped model for $189. Hit the break for Amazon’s full press release. More →
The Amazon Kindle’s position as one of the top electronics gifts of the 2010 holiday season is reaffirmed today as Amazon notes that the Wi-Fi-only version of its popular eBook reader is currently sold out. New orders will not be delivered until after Christmas, and Amazon suggests interested parties purchase the more expensive Kindle 3G instead, if delivery by Christmas is desired.
Due to overwhelming customer demand, Kindle (Wi-Fi) is temporarily out of stock. Orders placed today will arrive after December 24th. Order now to reserve your place in line. Our Kindle 3G for $189 is still available in time for Christmas.
Amazon’s Kindle Wi-Fi is very affordable at $139, and it currently sits at No. 2 on Amazon’s list of best-selling products. The Kindle 3G — which, at $189, costs $50 more than the Wi-Fi-only version — is No. 1 on the list.
Thanks, Mike More →
According to new third quarter figures issued by market research firm NPD Group, Apple’s iTunes music store now accounts for 66.2% of online music purchases, up from 63.2% in the same quarter last year. Apple’s biggest competitor in the space, Amazon, currently holds 13.3% of the market. Executives from major labels suggest the disparity could be even larger, with Amazon owning just 6% to 10% of the market while Apple’s share is nearly 90%. Pricing, often a major factor in retail sales, does not appear to have a major impact on digital music sales. Amazon’s strategy, beyond various distribution deals, is to undercut iTunes. Amazon’s average selling price for popular albums is significantly lower than the $9.99 to $14.99 Apple often charges, and even deeper discounts can be found regularly through promotions like “Daily Deals.” Despite Amazon’s best efforts, however, iTunes’ digital market share continues to grow and Apple’s service remains the global leader in music sales, having surpassed Walmart to take the No. 1 spot in 2008. More →
In a post on Amazon.com’s Kindle user forums Monday morning, an Amazon official has shed some light on Kindle sales in Q4. Posting via an official Amazon user account called “The Amazon Kindle team,” the company official stated that Amazon has sold “millions” of Kindles so far this quarter. He or she goes on to say Kindle unit sales so far in the fourth quarter of this year have already surpassed Amazon’s 2009 sales total.
Thanks to you, in just the first 73 days of this holiday quarter, we’ve already sold millions of our all-new Kindles with the latest E Ink Pearl display. In fact, in the last 73 days, readers have purchased more Kindles than we sold during all of 2009. We’re grateful for and energized by the overwhelming customer response.
The Amazon company official also wrote that the new Kindle is “far and away” Amazon.com’s best-selling gift item so far this holiday season.
[Via Daring Fireball] More →
Global hacker group “Anonymous” announced its plans Thursday morning to launch a cyberattack on Amazon.com. The attack is part of a larger endeavor called “Operation Payback,” which targets the websites of companies the group believes to have impeded WikiLeaks’ efforts to disseminate information. Recent targets include Visa and Mastercard.
Anonymous’ cyberattack on Amazon.com was scheduled to commence at 11:00am Eastern, yet Amazon.com has not experienced any downtime as of 11:20am. As a result, it appears as though the attacks on Amazon.com have been unsuccessful.
UPDATE: Shortly before noon, the group gave up on its plan to attack Amazon.com. Instead, it is currently focusing its efforts on Paypal, though the site has not yet gone offline.
A global, ever-expanding team of hackers called “Anonymous” has announced its next target in a series of cyberattacks that have taken down multiple websites over the past few days. Among its targets were the websites of both Visa and Mastercard following news that the institutions would cease delivery of funds that had been donated to WikiLeaks. Using Twitter to announce the attack, the group is preparing to take down Amazon.com, presumably due to the company’s abrupt cancellation of its hosting agreement with WikiLeaks after being pressured by the Department of Homeland Security. The attack on Amazon.com will begin at 11:00am Eastern.
Amazon is gearing up to launch a web-based Kindle service accessible from any computer, Computerworld is reporting. Going on record, Amazon said that the new Kindle for the Web will “enable users to read full books in the browser and [enable] any Website to become a bookstore offering Kindle books.” While the service should be announced at some point today, it’s said that it won’t be commercially available until possibly January, right around the Consumer Electronics Show. With Amazon being a leader in the eBook store world, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t want a piece of every addressable market, and that includes desktop-type computers. Yesterday, Google announced and launched its eBook service called Google Books, which currently has over 3,000,000 available books. More →
According to an unconfirmed report in The Wall Street Journal Monday, Amazon.com is in the early stages of developing a subscription streaming service that will compete with Netflix’s “Watch Instantly.” Citing anonymous sources, WSJ reports that the service will look to undercut Netflix’s offering, though no other points of differentiation were mentioned.
Amazon.com Inc. is developing a Netflix-like subscription service that would offer TV shows and movies, according to people familiar with the matter. That service would be included as a bundle with its Amazon Prime shipping service, which costs $79 a year, those people said.
Amazon Prime gives members free two-day shipping on all Amazon.com orders. It also offers overnight shipping for $3.99 per item. Lumping in streaming movies and TV shows for free with this unrelated service would be a peculiar move at best, though it would mirror Netflix’s original strategy, in a way. Though the company recently launched a streaming-only plan for $7.99 per month, Netflix first introduced Watch Instantly as a free add-on for its DVDs-by-mail service. At $79 per year, Amazon.com’s service would be $17 less expensive per year than Netflix’s least expensive streaming package. More →
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Amazon.com may have ended its hosting agreement with controversial website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks returned to the spotlight recently when it published a bevy of confidential diplomatic cables. Following the release, dubbed “Cable Gate,” WikiLeaks fell under cyberattacks and has been offline sporadically all week. According to the official WikiLeaks Twitter account, DDOS attacks that exceeded 10Gbps targeted the site earlier this week. While the origin of the alleged attacks remains unknown, WikiLeaks has reportedly been taken offline by its host, Amazon.com. Though the site’s homepage remains live, all subdomains appear to be down. Amazon.com did not confirm or deny the AP’s report.
UPDATE: According to a statement from Senator Joe Lieberman, Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Amazon.com has agreed to stop hosting WikiLeaks. More →


text:
NEW MARKET, MD - It was like show and tell, except this one was for antique cars and prizes were handed out for "Best Choice."
It was like taking a trip down memory lane. Cars from the 50s and 60s were brought back to life.
Adventure Park USA, one of Maryland's largest family fun centers, hosted its Finest Car and Truck Show that takes place twice a year.
A portion of the car show proceeds went towards raising awareness for the needs of severely injured service men and women.
"They're gathering cars and trucks and motorcycles. They have a show for the cars and have stunt shows and vendors," says Tom Hubert, vice president of the Christian Motorship Association.
Owners of the cars spent hours freshening up their vehicle while some soaked up the sun, with hopes of winning a trophy for "Best of Choice" or also known as the "Bosses' Choice."
"It's a very original car. They look for originality when they do their judging so they look for headstamps on bolts and things like that. They're very picky. Six judges spent about three hours going over the car," says Wayne Sullivan, a member of the National Corvette Restorers Society.
They had everything ranging from the chubby minivan, the trendy sports car and the old fashioned truck.
Some snapped pictures of the antiques while some also came for the adrenaline rush from the amusement rides.
"A lot of nice cars, riding rollercoasters, laser tag, just having a good time," says Eric Foelber, who came to enjoy the show and rollercoasters.
Over $500 in cash prizes were awarded and vendors were on standby for food specials all day long.
Adventure Park USA also offers families a variety of entertainment and will be hosting many upcoming Halloween events. For more information on these attractions, click here.


text:
Spring is in the air – but not necessarily for Pound
15 April, 2013
As we start to see some warmer weather in the UK at last, businesses have been counting the cost of the long cold snap – the British Retail Consortium last week said the number of people visiting shops was down 5.2% compared to last year, and the Federation of Small Businesses reckon the freeze cost UK businesses £174m. These figures will obviously not help the upcoming data which is due out in the UK, thereby also possibly affecting the Pound.
After a quiet week in the UK last week, we have several key pieces of news due out this week, starting with inflation tomorrow, then unemployment, Bank of England minutes and retail sales all out later in the week. These will all give clues as to the next direction for sterling, and with the crucial reading of Q1 GDP out in 10 days, markets may be jittery to any further clues pointing to the dreaded triple dip recession which will be confirmed or not with that GDP release.
We also have consumer inflation figures out in Europe, the USA and New Zealand tomorrow, all of which have the potential to move their respective rates.
Meanwhile rates for the Pound remain relatively good for those of you sending money abroad. If you are considering buying your currency for a future requirement, or locking into a rate before this week’s raft of data, talk to us at Currency Index and don’t forget that sterling is almost certainly still vulnerable to poor data releases and that prospect of another period of recession.
- 2020 (59)
- 2019 (190)
- 2018 (229)
- 2017 (253)
- 2016 (254)
- 2015 (253)
- 2014 (252)
- 2013 (287)
- 2012 (270)
- 2011 (576)
- Brexit deal to be done, or going, going, gone? 25 November, 2020
- Sterling starts the week down from the highs of last week 16 November, 2020
- Votes are in – albeit still being counted, will Donald trump Joe? 4 November, 2020
- No categories


text:
Great article on the New York Times on the favourite technology from emerging economies. It's not the iPad or fancy tablets. It's actually just a simple cellphone--a device which more human beings today have access to than the United Nations says have access to a clean toilet.
What if, globally speaking, the iPad is not the next big thing? What if the next big thing is small, cheap and not American?
America went into a frenzy last weekend with the iPad?s release. But even as hundreds of thousands here unwrap their iPads, another future entirely may be unfolding overseas on the cellphone.Forgotten in the American tumult is a global flowering of innovation on the simple cellphone. From Brazil to India to South Korea and even Afghanistan, people are seeking work via text message; borrowing, lending, and receiving salaries on cellphones; employing their phones as flashlights, televisions and radios.
|Eclectic Methods Video Montage of What the Future Will Look Like According to Movies|
|Landline Phone Service Must Die|
|Google's Project Glass: Augmented Reality Eyeglasses|
|"This is the first time that Americans are going to be relatively worse off than their parents or grandparents in old age."|
|Climate Change: By 2047, the Coldest Year Will Be Hotter Than Any of the Hottest Years From the Past|
|“How do you communicate wirelessly with WiFi using only plastic?”|
|“Tesla's Model S has outsold traditional high-end models from established European brands.”|
|The 24 Carrot Cake|
|“A modern trade route between Asia and Europe is under construction.”|
|Japanese Robot Serves Ice Cream From Inside a Vending Machine|
|“There are over a billion people who have no access to energy what-so-ever.”|
|CaptchaTweet: Write Tweets in Captcha Form|
|How to Avoid Jury Duty|
|“We estimate the dynamical lifetime of the Tesla to be a few tens of millions of years.”|
|The (Very Scary) People of Public Transit|
|“We are considering public transport free of charge in order to reduce the number of private cars.”|
|"Automation will disrupt millions of Canadian jobs, not far in the future, but in the next dozen years."|


text:
Raidirys Rivas McCray defines herself as “a borderline activist, but cute.”
Dressed in a fashionable cream sweatsuit with pink shoes, she warmly greets everyone she comes across at the Andrew Freedman Home – a massive and historic artist hub in the Bronx’s Concourse neighborhood.
On Wednesday nights, the grand space is filled with stomach-tempting scents from the Caribbean, China and the American South, all coming together for one reason – to make vegan cuisine accessible in the Bronx.
Rivas McCray started the Bronx Vegan Bazaar in 2020, just a few blocks away from where she was raised on 176th and Concourse.
Her life changed drastically when she began to study at Manhattan’s Institute of Culinary Education, discovering how consuming fresh food everyday boosted her mental capacity.
“I noticed a difference in my ability to have conversations and my ability to think and my ability to discern,” Rivas McCray recalled. “We don’t have that awareness in the Bronx.”
She quickly became “spiritually driven” to spread awareness about healthy living, from practicing veganism and yoga in her own life to founding Bronx Vegan Bazaar – the Bronx’s first vegan expo – to promote plant-based food.
Rivas McCray also yearned to boost her neighbor’s immune systems during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The news was just giving us one option, which was the vaccine,” she said. “We were all for it, but we also know that what you put in your mouth is important. You’ve got two options – poison or medicine.”
Originally set on the front lawn of the Andrew Freeman Home, the Bronx Vegan Bazaar is now housed inside, creating an intimate space for both chefs and food lovers.
Dez Mears, founder of Who Made the Kale?, is a staple of the Bazaar. His recipes are heavenly to the senses, including small plates featuring scallion mac and cheese with coconut rice, peas, curry cabbage and smoked jerk jackfruit. He also offers szechuan jackfruit with broccoli, fried rice and ackee – a Caribbean plant that mimics eggs.
“I wouldn’t sell anything I wouldn’t eat,” Mears proudly proclaimed. “It’s about putting love in the food.”
Mears’ plates range from $20-25. More affordable options are also available from chefs like Thomas Hong, who cooks up vegan spring rolls filled with noodles and succulent veggies. With a side of duck sauce, three of Hong’s spring rolls will only set you back $5. Hong also has a brand of vegan mushroom jerky called Vegky, which he sells at Bronx Vegan Bazaar and online.
But Bronx Vegan Bazaar doesn’t just offer healthier substitutes for food. Venus Hilton sells a health-conscious line of candles – Ethereal Aura – made from soy wax and clean fragrance oil.
“Our mission is to bring awareness to people about the dangers of paraffin wax,” Hilton explained. “Candles that are lit with paraffin wax release carcinogens into the air, those fumes are compared to those from your car engine.”
The Bronx is the most food insecure borough in New York City and one of the most food insecure areas in the United States. Additionally, the South Bronx has roughly 18-25 bodegas per one supermarket, which means access to fresh produce is limited.
Bronx Vegan Bazaar has received public support from Mayor Eric Adams, who has strived to increase access to healthy food across New York City. The Andrew Freeman Home also remains in Bronx Vegan Bazaar’s corner as a continued partner.
“We’ve been very happy with the Bronx Vegan Bazaar,” said Andrew Freeman Home event planner Rhonda James. “If Bronx Vegan Bazaar wants to continue here in 2024, they have a home.”
“We want to stay here long term,” said Rivas McCray. “We don’t want to be just a pop-up or an event, we want to be an installation that the community can come to every Wednesday.”
The Bronx Vegan Bazaar will be held each Wednesday at the Andrew Freeman Home at 1125 Grand Concourse from 4-9 p.m. until Dec. 27. For more information and to keep up with future events, head over to the Bronx Vegan Bazaar’s official website.


text:
BitDefender Finds Exposed Social Media Credentials Often Provide Access to Email Accounts
Study reveals that 75 percent of social networking username and password samples collected online are identical to those used for email accounts
BitDefender®, an award-winning provider of innovative internet security solutions, today warned those using social networking platforms to pay particular attention to how they set and secure their login credentials.
A study, conducted by BitDefender over the course of a week, revealed more than 250,000 email addresses, usernames and passwords can be found easily online, via postings on blogs, collaboration platforms, torrents and other channels.
In a random check of the sample list consisting of email addresses, usernames and passwords, 87 percent of the exposed accounts were still valid and could be accessed with the leaked credentials. Moreover, a substantial number of the randomly verified email accounts revealed that 75 percent of the users rely on the same password to access both their social networking and email accounts.
BitDefender warns of the numerous security implications - from additional personal and sensitive data theft, to email and social networking account hijacking for spamming and malware dissemination purposes, and even more serious and costly e-troubles. BitDefender is advising consumers to be very careful how they choose their passwords and where they choose to share that information.
No private information from this study will be kept, disclosed or used against the persons that revealed it. All trademarks or product names contained herewith are registered trademarks of their owner companies