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Black Ops 4 is set to be one of the biggest releases of the year undoubtedly and as usual gamers are very excited to find out what Treyarch plans to do with regards to Black Ops 4 Zombies.
Zombies is arguably the main factor in any new Call of Duty game at the moment and now we have our first official taste of the theme or potential storyline that BO4 zombies will adopt, thanks to some teasers from Twitter.
We regularly check the developer’s Twitter page for juicy news about Black Ops 4 and zombie fans will have been given an extra treat with the following image that was uploaded recently:
In true Treyarch fashion, the developer has not revealed much on first glance, but left enough material there to drive fans absolutely wild in waiting to see what it means.
The image has been captioned “So it begins”, while on the image itself reads the text “Mankind’s Reckoning will be its Salvation”.
The good news is that we don’t have long to wait until finding out some more information (hopefully), as the world premiere reveal for Black Ops 4 is happening this week on May 17.
Let us know your own ideas on what you think the image means. A lot of emphasis has been placed on who is behind the mask and the concept of masks itself so let’s see who has the best theory!
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As our team at Cintrifuse continues work on building Cincinnati into one of the top innovation and startup hubs in the Midwest, talent and capability remain top priorities as we take our organization to the next level. Today, we’re excited to announce the arrival of two new members to the Cintrifuse team — Alisa Smith, Director of Innovation Services, and John Stieger, Director of Startup Connections. John joined the Cintrifuse team on July 29, and Alisa will be officially onboard August 19.
Alisa will step into the Director of Innovation Services role. She brings 20 years of extensive innovation experience leading complex, multi-million-dollar consumer product launches at Kao and P&G. She has deep understanding and expertise in strategic planning, consumer understanding and insight, consumer-centered design, product development and innovation, Japanese process methods, and project management.
Alisa is also passionate about helping women entrepreneurs. She’s the host of The Beehive, a podcast she launched nearly five years ago to “bring clarity to the product launch process for aspiring women entrepreneurs” She’s done more than 60 interviews. She understands the ups and downs of innovation and she listens to her guests, intently. She will bring exciting new offerings to our corporate partners, our startup partners, and our team.
John will be leading Cintrifuse work with startups. He has deep experience vetting technology, services, apps, and digital capability. He was a leader of service operations (call, email, social, chatbot, Salesforce integration) for both Gillette and P&G. He brings operational discipline in all these areas. He’s also vetted countless vendors and startups, always with a “Can This Scale?” mindset that we know is so important to VCs considering startup investments.
He has multi-functional experience across marketing, sales, customer service, business services, analytics and research, and creative brand building. Since then, helped successfully exit a tech solutions company here in Ohio, and has spent the last year working at a Silicon Valley-based AI company. In short, John’s experience, expertise and passion will be invaluable to every startup walking through the Union Hall doors.
Our entire team is very enthusiastic about the growth across our team and about the caliber of people we’re bringing onboard. Our ability to achieve our mission and vision depends entirely on our capability, both in terms of experience and expertise as well as passion and energy.
Thanks to all of our supporters as we continue to strengthen Cintrifuse together.

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After the release of the well-regarded Tomb Raider reboot back in 2013, expectations were raised substantially for Crystal Dynamics’s next installment in this beloved action-adventure franchise. Fortunately, the game meets or exceeds those expectations in nearly every way. However, since the game is a timed exclusive for the Xbox One and Xbox 360, it’s no surprise that the performance is hampered by the limited hardware upon release.
The PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight continues to be a comedy of errors. In spite of numerous patches, a complete relaunch, and loads of promises, the game still performs poorly on a wide range of PCs.
Months back, 343 Industries made it clear that a 60fps target frame rate was more important than anything else — even beloved features like split-screen multiplayer. As it turns out, that wasn’t the only thing sacrificed in the name of frame rate.
Assassin’s Creed, as a franchise, has had massive ups and downs over the last decade. From the ambitious first release back in 2007 to this year’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, we’ve seen nine different mainline releases that vary wildly in both setting and overall quality. Last year’s Assassin’s Creed Unity was a low point for the series, so it’s important that Ubisoft nails this year’s game to get everything back on track.
Nearly two years after the launch of the Xbox One, Microsoft has finally gotten around to releasing a USB dongle that allows for its controller to be used wirelessly with Windows PCs. So, is it finally time to step up to an Xbox One controller?
As 2015 enters its final stretch, the hype around Black Friday has begun to build. We’re only about a month away from the biggest shopping day of the year, and some impressive deals have already started to leak. Cheap laptops and HDTVs are no surprise, but the recent revelation of a super-cheap Xbox One has caught my attention.
While The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been an unqualified success both critically and financially, the game has suffered from some performance issues since its launch back in May. Thankfully, the most recent patch (1.10) smooths out the vast majority of the frame rate issues on the PS4.
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The wine auction market has been turned on its head by the new wave of wine buyer coming from China (including Hong Kong). It's not really surprising when one looks at the growth in the number of millionaires in China. According to an annual wealth report recently released, the mainland has 960,000 millionaires with personal wealth of 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) or more, up 9.7 percent year-on-year. Of the 960,000 millionaires, 60,000 have been identified as China's super rich with 100 million yuan or more in wealth, up 9 percent year-on-year. The report's author also noted that "For most luxury brands, the Chinese luxury consumers are now No 1: either representing the biggest market share or the fastest-growing." Of particular interest are the demographics: Chinese millionaires are on average 39 years old, a full 15 years younger than their Western counterparts. (note 3) That thirty percent of the millionaires are women bears out the apparently strong interest shown by women in wine.../...
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LVMH's performance has shown bigger-than-expected salesgrowth particularly for watch and jewellery, whose revenues jumped 30 percent in the first half. Dior offered robust growth even in the aftermath of Galliano´s demise.
Luca Solca, a retail analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Zurich, had predicted that Galliano’s departure wouldn’t greatly affect its financial stability. “Galliano designs the Dior catwalk collection, but the commercial relevance of that collection is very low,” Solca said to Forbes.
The world’s largest luxury conglomerate saw revenue of €10.3 billion ($14.9 billion) in the first half of 2011, up 13% from last year. Profits were €2.2 billion, up 22% from 2010.
“The first half was marked by the agreement with the Bulgari family to strengthen the long-term growth of the famous Italian Maison,” Arnault said in a press statement. “We approach the second half of the year … relying upon the creativity and quality of our products as well as the effectiveness of our teams to pursue further market share gains” in both historical and emerging markets, summed up Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH. He also credited strong brand appeal, consumer attraction to artisanal products and simple business strategy with prompting the growth.
"LVMH was able, as Hermes and Bulgari, to exceed expectations mainly thanks to Asia and the watches division, which bodes well for both Swatch and Richemont," Vontobel analysts say in a note to investors early this week. It was well worth a note to remark that the biggest gains for LVMH came in the watches and jewellery group, which saw a 27% jump in revenue over last year. TAG Heuer, Hublot hgh and Dior saw large jumps in sales.
LVMH gained 1.1 percent, Richemont added 1.6 percent, Swatch scratched 1.4 percent, and Dior offered the best performance within the luxury niche market with a gain of 2.8 percent. Following this trail, PPR upped by 1.5 percent and Hermes won over 2 percent.
Against this promising scenario, Asian stock markets ended mixed Wednesday, as U.S. debt worries maintained their grip on the region's investors.
Luxury brands such as LVMH, Burberry, VF Corporation, Richemond or Tiffany´s posted stronger than forecasted profits thanks to their solid growth within the region, fact that somehow lifted the local markets.
Therefore, whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index managed to breach positive territory for part of the session, weakness in shares of export-focused firms dragged the benchmark to a 0.1% loss. In the same vein, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed the session down 0.5% as a strong yen pressured exporters, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished 0.8% lower after stronger-than-expected consumer inflation data raised the possibility of another interest-rate hike and set the Australian dollar to a fresh post-float high.
Back to the Old Continent, fashion is proving to be a safe and wise investment refuge as British high street giant John Lewis showed Wednesday. Its Waitrose division has just announced its intentions to enter the clothing market, encouraged by its competitors Tesco, Sainsbury´s and Mark &Spencer´s. ASOS, Burberry, Ted Baker and Supergroup were still big news yesterday, topping the winners and losers chapters within the FashionUnited Top 100 Index.


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Market research firm IDC has whipped up some microprocessor shipment estimates for the third quarter of the year, and it says the market grew "modestly"—but well below the average growth rate. IDC has also found that both AMD and Via have both nabbed a tiny bit of market share away from Intel.
Reportedly, global unit shipments of PC microprocessors went up a measly 2.1% between the second and third quarters, with overall revenue rising 2.5%. By contrast, IDC explains, "average sequential change in unit shipments between a calendar year's second quarter and its third quarter is an increase of 10.6%." (Revenue is supposed to grow 9%, too.) Nothing to get terribly excited about there, it seems.
On the market share front, I've taken the liberty of comparing IDC's latest figures to those from previous quarters:
|Q3 2009||Q2 2010||Q3 2010|
IDC has worked out share estimates specific to the desktop, mobile, and workstation and server markets, too, and says AMD saw its piece of the desktop pie grow half a point to 27.8%. AMD still has the same slice of the mobile market, 13.7%, and its portion of the server and workstation market has dropped 0.2 points to 6.3%.
|ROG Strix X299-XE Gaming motherboard is rather groovy||3|
|Miniature Golf Day Shortbread||5|
|GeForce 385.69 drivers are Game Ready for a ton of titles||1|
|Thursday deals: big external drives, a sweet case, and more||3|
|Google acqui-hires 2,000 HTC employees for $1.1 billion||19|
|Some of AMD's next chips will arrive on GloFo's new 12LP process||32|
|The Tech Report System Guide: September 2017 edition||57|
|Intel shows off 10-nm Cannon Lake wafer and talks process tech||26|
|AOC Agon AG322QCX offers 32" of gaming goodness on the cheap||24|


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Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched its haphazardly named streaming radio service, Google Play Music All Access, in May for a $10 a month subscription price. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) launched its free iTunes Radio in September, although the service requires a $25 annual subscription to iTunes Match. While iTunes Radio has gotten a fair amount of traction, Google Play Music All Access has not, and a rumored introduction of a YouTube-branded radio and video service probably spells the end of the ill-named service
Read more: Apple, Google Fail to Dominate Internet Radio; Spotify Makes a Move – Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) – 24/7 Wall St.
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Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi has filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) on either the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DIDI, the company said in a Form F-1.
The form didn’t disclose the number of shares, value of those shares or how much money the company plans to raise through the IPO. Goldman Sachs of Asia, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and China Renaissance are listed as underwriters.
According to Crunchbase, since its founding in 2012, Didi has raised $23.2 billion.
Didi operates in 15 countries and said it had 493 million active users in Q1 2021 and 15 million active drivers. The company reported a $1.7 billion loss on $21.6 billion in revenue in 2020. In the SEC filing, Didi said it had 5.2 million bikes, 2 million electric bikes and 1 million-plus electric vehicles operating in China, accounting for 38% of all electric miles driven in the country last year.
In a Founder’s Letter provided with the documents, the company’s founders reflected on the early days of the company.
“People are constantly on the move. But doing so is increasingly stressful and expensive, especially in big cities. We experienced firsthand just how trapped you can feel when you don’t have easy access to transportation. We started Didi because we believed that if we could all count on being able to find a convenient, comfortable and affordable ride — anytime, anywhere — life would be so much better,” they wrote.
As the company grew, it expanded into other areas, including intra-city freight, community group buying and food delivery.
Didi is backed by SoftBank Corp., Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings. Uber holds a 12.8% stake in Didi.


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In 2013, Apple's senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue wanted to bring the iMessage service to Android, but the idea was nixed by other Apple executives, including Apple's SVO of software engineering Craig Federighi. Ever since, there have been a lot of people who wish it could have happened.
Of course, this would have had an impact. Many people think iMessage is the best messaging app available, and with the iPhone holding a large portion of the market in the U.S. and the U.K., sales numbers might look a little different. But neither Google nor Apple is the winner here. Instead, both lost the battle to Facebook because Apple didn't make iMessage cross-platform.
Apple's future would have changed
There are people who won't use any messaging app except iMessage. In fact, those people sometimes refuse to talk to someone who isn't sending a blue bubble in the app because they are using a different platform.
It's a good service. It's not the end-all-be-all Apple likes to claim it is and it has more than a handful of technical faults, but it's the default app on the iPhone, and it's pretty good. That's a formula for success, and I'll bet that most iPhone users in the U.S. use iMessage as their chat and texting app. And if you're Apple, this is more than enough reason to keep it away from Google.
Apple uses iMessage as a lock-in to keep users from switching away from iOS. Or, as Federighi puts it, "[it] would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones." And he's exactly right. There are plenty of ways to chat from the same account on every device in the world, but there is only one way to chat over iMessage: buy Apple products.
A look at global market share doesn't tell the story, but a look at U.S. market share (and to a smaller extent the U.K and Japan) does. Three of the richest countries in the world have about half of the smartphone users holding an iPhone, which is something that Apple places an enormous value on.
If there were one less thing to keep users in the Apple ecosystem, these numbers could be a little different. You can buy an Android phone with a better screen than an iPhone. You can buy an Android phone with a bigger battery than the iPhone. You can buy an Android phone with a better camera than the iPhone. In fact, outside of the chip inside, the iPhone's hardware is far from the best available.
On the software side, iOS is extremely polished, and Apple does a lot of work to keep things simple to use. A lot of folks value these things and wouldn't let hardware influence any decision to switch. There's also a perception that iOS is better than Android, and while that might have been true years ago, it isn't really the case today.
One thing a lot of people want to overlook is how Google could help Apple to improve iMessage. For some reason, in 2021, if you try to reply to a group iMessage chat using SMS, everything breaks, and the entire thing defaults to an SMS conversation. There is no real technical reason for this, and I have a feeling Apple likes it being this way. If not, Google has some of the best network engineers on hand and would happily investigate the issue if asked.
All things considered, Apple would have lost market share to Android had it allowed iMessage to come over. How much is up for debate because the iPhone does offer other benefits, but having a good messaging app means a lot. Especially when you keep telling the world that it's better than everything else and you have a user base that agrees.
Android would look different, too
Messaging on Android isn't as cut and dried as it is on iOS. There is an overwhelming selection of different services and apps, and even the carriers are in on the action. Google is unable to fix it. It will never be able to fix it because once you give people plenty of choices trying to corral them away from what they like isn't going to happen. People find what they like and will keep using it.
But what if iMessage was an option for Android faithful back in 2013? Would users have decided they wanted in on it and stuck to it? Yes.
In 2021 iMessage isn't nearly as special as it was in 2013. Back then, SMS was the standard in the states, and that meant your carrier got to decide what type of media you could send, how big a file could be and took no measures to keep your messages safe. That's changed a little but if you look back and remember, messaging was bad in 2013. Really bad.
What made iMessage great in 2013 was that it was a gateway for SMS that could send messages as data. That means photos and videos didn't look like garbage, and your carrier didn't get to see anything not sent over its SMS channel. Compare that to the alternatives, and you can see how iMessage could be very appealing. So appealing that Google tried to emulate it when it announced in 2013 that Hangouts would act as an SMS app in Android KitKat.
Where Google failed was the user interface, which was a lot busier than iMessage. This alone would have influenced many a decision to install and use iMessage, as evidenced by Hangouts being depreciated in favor of multiple failed attempts at a universal messenger. While some people like iMessage because Apple makes it, others just like using it without changing any settings or fiddling inside any menus.
Google finally got things together and drove the change to RCS. Now you can use the Messages app on your Android phone, and as long as the other party has an RCS-capable app installed, there is no line between SMS and chat. Google might not have tried to bring this change if half the customer base was using iMessage. That's important because RCS is a far better service than SMS, and we all should be happy to watch the latter die off.
What about market share, though? Would removing "an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones" actually have happened? Absolutely.
Most parents would happily buy one of the best Android phones under $200 for the kids and have less headache to deal with when kids do what they do best and break it. Those parents could also use iMessage to talk to their kids, who could use iMessage to talk to their iPhone-using friends. Android market share, especially in the under-18 group, would have grown significantly. And as the kids grow up and buy their own phones, there is a much better chance they will keep using Android because of similar lock-in on the Google side of things.
I'll go as far as saying I think U.S. market share would look a lot like global market share had iMessage come to Android. Android getting iMessage is a nightmare situation that Apple was wise to avoid. Mostly.
The real winner is Facebook
Yes, you read that right — Facebook. While we can speculate how much market share Apple would have lost or how Google could have changed its attempts at building an iMessage-like service to Android but we know one thing: without iMessage on Android WhatsApp took over the world.
According to Statista, in 2013, WhatsApp had 200 million active users. In 2020 the service topped 2 billion users. Do you know what happened during that time? Smartphones ended up in almost everyone's hands.
WhatsApp grew with Android. Without an iMessage of its own, users — especially outside of the U.S. — needed a good way to chat that didn't cost 5-cents per message after the first 500 every month. As more and more users got an Android in their hands, they installed WhatsApp to talk with friends and family, or even to order food or to call a taxi. WhatsApp seemingly does everything.
WhatsApp also has matured into a great app with features that rival those of iMessage and anything Google has to offer. This potential is what made Facebook buy the service. Outside of a few blunders from Zuckerberg and company, WhatsApp is filled with really happy users. That's a lock-in in and of itself.
And by now it's too late to change anything. As long as WhatsApp stays around (and it's not going anywhere anytime soon), it will continue to draw more and more users because of two things: it's a good service, and it works in every country on every smartphone. When Android reaches the 3 billion user mark, WhatsApp will soon follow.
There are plenty of great services you can use to chat with friends and family that aren't tied to any one particular brand of smartphone. But iMessage is still what you hear about most, even though you're probably using WhatsApp.
Messaging will continue to evolve, and iMessage will keep considerable mindshare even though it doesn't have the market share to back it up. But things would have looked very different had Eddy Cue been allowed to move forward and release the service to Android, and by extension, Windows.
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Apple is currently engaged in a major court battle with Swedish telecoms manufacturer Ericsson. The iPhone-maker has refused to pay rates set out for the use of 4G technology owned by Ericsson.
Ericsson insists that the patented technology is "essential" if a smartphone or device wishes to use the 4G or LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard.
Apple disagrees and is now refusing to pay the royalties set out for these patents by Ericsson having called them "excessive". While it's not known how much the royalties are, the Wall Street Journal reveals that the Swedish company had licensing revenues of $1.3 billion in 2013.
In response to Apple's complaint, Ericsson is now filing a claim which will determine if it has made a “a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" offer for the patents.
Speaking to the WSJ an Apple spokesperson made their position clear saying, “We’ve always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to standards essential patents covering technology in our products,”
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last resort, we are asking the courts for help.”
Apple, along with many other companies have been using Ericsson's technology in their phones and tablets and according to the Inquirer, Apple's deal with the company ran out a few years ago. Since then the two companies have been struggling to find a fee that Apple is willing to pay.


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This morning, news is circulating regarding claims of a September iPad launch, gold iPhone 5S scratch tests, Apple products being allowed to be imported into Iran, and Apple potentially disrupting the way that mobile carriers work. Let’s take a look at each of these claims…
1) First, Apple is now rumored to reveal its next-generation iPads alongside the new “iPhone 5S” and “iPhone 5C” at its September 10th media event. This is based on the following paragraph from today’s Bloomberg story about an upcoming Tokyo Apple Store:
Apple, based in Cupertino, California, plans to introduce new versions of its phone and tablet at a Sept. 10 event, a person familiar with the matter has said, and the company promised “several more game changers” in the product pipeline as it tries to fend off Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) and Chinese makers selling cheaper handsets.
The above paragraph makes mention of both new iPhones and iPads arriving at this upcoming event. First of all, it is highly unlikely that Bloomberg would bury such a scoop several paragraphs down in a story about a single new Apple Retail Store (Apple already has over 400 stores).
This also directly contradicts a report from the very-well-sourced Bloomberg West. The Bloomberg report from two weeks ago explicitly states that the next-generation iPads will be unveiled after the new iPhones.
The new iPhone will be unveiled at a Sept. 10 event, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who asked not to be named because the timing isn’t public. Updated iPad models, including an iPad with a thinner body design and an iPad mini with a high-resolution screen will be unveiled later, two people said.
It also contradicts everything we’ve heard thus far about Apple’s fall iOS Device launch plans from our sources. Apple plans to announce at least two new iPads and two new iPhones this fall, and it would be highly unprecedented for Apple to reveal all four models at a single media event. In fact, Apple announced its 2012 iPhones and iPads at two separate events: the iPhone 5 was unveiled at a September 12th event, and the new iPads were announced at an October 23rd event.
Why would Apple couple the launch of its two blockbuster products when it could own the news cycle for two consecutive months? They almost certainly would not.
2) Next, gold iPhone scratches. A video has made the rounds this morning showing “brutal” scratch testing to a purported gold iPhone 5S shell. The video shows that the gold iPhone 5S scratches are much more noticeable on the backplate than those to a slate/black iPhone 5 backplate. Of course, there’s no telling if the gold iPhone 5S shell is legitimate or if it is even properly anodized to Apple’s manufacturing requirements. Until someone does a scratch test on a gold iPhone 5S sold by Apple, there is no way to tell how susceptible the device is to damage.
3) Also making the rounds today is news of Apple being granted the ability to sell products to customers for use in Iran. This is mostly old news. The United States embargo over bringing products into Iran was lifted on May 30th of this year, and Apple updated its website to reflect this back in early July. This is based on our searching through search engine caches and web archives. Nonetheless, it seems that Apple felt now was the best time to comment on the matter.
4) Lastly, news is spreading this morning regarding an Apple trademark filing for the word “Startup” in Australia. Some have gone as far to say that Apple has trademarked this word to disrupt the global phone carrier industry.
This is not true. “Startup” is a word that Apple trademarked all the way back in 2011 in the United States. It refers to the area in Apple Stores in which Personal Setup is conducted. This is the process in which an Apple Store employee will help a new Mac and iOS Device customer with setting up their purchase.
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All Points East
East Side Pies grows beyond east Austin
Pizza Today’s visit to East Side Pies in Austin, Texas, in the spring, came at a pivotal time in the pizza company’s history. Co-owner Noah Polk was away overseeing the grand opening of an airport location at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Co-founder Michael Freid joined Pizza Today at its farthest outpost northwest of the city center with their newest additions to the ownership team, JW Cox and Colin Hawthorne. We sat down with Freid and Cox to hear the pizzeria’s story. Later, we caught up with Polk to hear his story of co-founding the pizzeria in 2006.
Today, East Side Pies operates five locations, including the airport unit. Last year, the pizzeria was No. 65 on Pizza Today’s Hot 100 Independent Pizzerias list, reporting $3.45 million with its three units and set to rise even higher in 2019.
The concept was envisioned at a coffee shop over conversations between Freid and Polk on a shared desire to bring food options to the emerging east side of downtown Austin. Freid had the culinary background, graduating from Culinary Institute of America in New York with extensive experience working in bakeries. Polk had vast restaurant and bar experience but his favorites were the pizzerias he delivered for growing up in Dallas.
Neither Freid or Polk wanted to go solo in a restaurant venture. Their partnership became a natural fit. “Michael and I being who we are, I knew that it was going to be a funky little joint,” Polk says. Freid stumbled upon an old counter-service fish fry restaurant available. They found a good deal on used pizza-making equipment, had a friend help build out the space and opened the takeout and delivery pizza spot with walk-up slices within seven months.
“The reason we did such a small place between the two of us,” Freid says. “What could happen if we fail? It just goes away, we’re not out a lot.”
Freid knew what kind of pizza they would serve: his variation on Chicago thin, something that was not found in Austin. “I’m from Chicago and in Chicago and the Midwest we know pizza is cut into squares and pretty thin,” Freid says.
Polk boasts on Freid’s pizza dough during a later phone call. “The thing that separates our crust besides how thin and crispy it is, it comes from Michael’s starter dough that he took to every bakery he ever worked at,” Polk says. “It’s over 30 years old now. When we started, that starter was right at 17 years old.”
From its first menu, East Side pies has been known for eclectic pies with creative topping combinations and sauces. At one point, the pizzeria was up to 51 pizzas with 11 sauce options. Today’s menu features 44 pies and six sauces, including a red, chimichurri, ricotta, black bean, rosemary-infused extra virgin olive oil and pesto.
Creative pies include the Chimi 13 with sweet potatoes, red onion, broccoli, feta, chimichurri sauce, mozzarella and Romano. There is the red-sauced Nicola with house-made meatballs, red onion, jalapeños, roasted red peppers, Gorgonzola, mozzarella and Romano. The White Pepper features the ricotta sauce with pepperoni, pineapple, goat cheese, red onions, mozzarella, Romano and habaneros.
Not only was the pizza innovative for the area, Freid initiated a farm-to-table focus and recycling program, that while commonplace now, was cutting-edge in the mid-2000s.
Since the beginning, Freid has sourced as much as the business can locally, reaching and building relationships with farms. East Side Pies has built a reputation on its product transparency with a focus on local produce.
East Side Pies features a farm-to-table pizza weekly and monthly. During Pizza Today’s visit, Cox shared the featured slice with white sweet potatoes, savoy cabbage, fermented jalapeño and golden beets. He even found a unique way to use the beet greens. “I wound up cooking them down like a cream of spinach and using our ricotta for these dollops,” he says.
With the additional locations and availability of the local product, they re-evaluated their selection process. “We’ve definitely refined it quite a bit,” Cox says. “It sort of started with we’ll basically get whatever we can and just get it on some pizza. So it was constantly changing which was cool because there was a huge amount of variety but we wouldn’t have even the same pizza the same day. There are a lot of reasons to want to give it a little bit greater focus. One is delivering on consistency so somebody can hear that we’re featuring a certain type of produce that is available locally. They can see it on Instagram or they can see someone else’s post about it. They can go the next day and try that. Trying to deliver a product with some reliability.”
From its inception, delivery has been a keystone of the business. Today, it makes up 65 to 70 percent of sales. Freid says, they do not partner with any third-party delivery services. It’s all done in house through their delivery program where they can control the accuracy and quality.
Austinites have gravitated towards the originality of East Side Pies pizza menu, giving Freid and Polk the wherewithal to bring on a general manager and shift manager. That step made it possible to plan a second location. The partners opened a takeout and delivery spot with walk-up slices on Airport Blvd. in 2010.
The Airport Blvd’s 3,000 square feet made it ideal to also serve as a commissary. Today, the commissary services all East Side Pies locations. A third East Side Pies opened on Anderson in 2012.
It was when Freid and Polk opened their fourth location in 2018, they decided to bring in new partners from inside the business. Cox and Hawthorne had worked for the pizzeria nearly since the beginning and are co-directors of operations. “They both went from regular pizza guys and worked their way up,” Polk says. “They are both amazing. Opening this fourth shop, we really wanted to (no pun intended) give them a piece of the pie.”
The flagship East Side Pies has gone through a renovation that is close to completion. “The new kitchen will be pickups and slices with seating inside, seating outside and seating on the side,” Freid says.
With all of the growth and updates, Polk says he’s unsure when they will add another location. “With four and a half shops, we just want everything up and humming and be happy with what we got before we even think about anything else again.”
Denise Greer is Executive Editor at Pizza Today.


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Herbal medicines found to contain toxic metals
Common in India, treatments are gaining popularity in United States and Europe
Ayurvedic medicines - herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West - are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published today.
A fifth of the nearly 200 concoctions tested contained levels of the toxic metals.
Dr. Robert Saper, a Boston University professor of family medicine who led the study, said the findings should spur the Food and Drug Administration to start clamping down on the largely unregulated world of pills, herbs and powders classified as dietary supplements.
"It shouldn't be me trying to figure this out," Saper said.
Ayurveda is a traditional Indian practice that takes a holistic approach to wellness, employing herbal medicine, meditation and exercise to promote good health. It exists alongside modern medicine in India, with its own network of clinics, hospitals and colleges serving hundreds of millions of patients.
It has spread to the United States and Europe with the migration of South Asians around the world and been popularized by figures such as Deepak Chopra.
There are about two dozen ayurvedic training programs in the United States. A 2002 survey estimated that 750,000 U.S. residents have used the herbal preparations, sold under traditional Indian names or more marketable labels such as GlucoRite and Ezi Slim.
Saper got interested in the supplements in 2003 after a man of Indian origin showed up at a Boston-area emergency room with seizures. The cause was lead in the man's ayurvedic medicines. In an initial study published in 2004, Saper bought 70 ayurvedic herbal products imported from India and found that the toxic metals were common components.
It was an unsettling finding, because most of the medicines are intended to be taken as a daily regimen to improve health.
"Many, many studies are showing that even small levels of lead in the blood can increase the risk of high blood pressure, kidney dysfunction and decreased IQ," Saper said.
Ayurvedic practitioners lashed out at the research as alarmist, saying that it only showed that there were problems with mixtures from India and not with U.S.-made products.
They pointed out that in India, many of these metals are purposely blended with herbs as part of the medicinal recipe. Those metallic mixtures are rarely used in the United States, they said.
In the new study, Saper and his team analyzed 193 medicines purchased from 25 Web sites for Indian and U.S. manufacturers. The vast majority supposedly contained only herbs and no metals.
About 80 percent of the samples showed no detectable metal content.
But among the remaining samples, the toxic metals showed up at similar rates in U.S.- and Indian-made products.
Of the U.S. products, 21 percent contained lead, 3 percent contained mercury and 3 percent had arsenic. Among the Indian-made medicines, 17 percent had lead, 7 percent had mercury and none contained arsenic.
The researchers and other experts surmised that the contamination had less to do with the manufacturing process than the soils in which the herbs were grown.
"The raw material is all coming from India," said Kush Khanna, who runs Bazaar of India in Berkeley, a manufacturer of ayurvedic medicines started by his father in 1971.
Heavy metals showed up in 17 of the products the researchers ordered from his company.
Khanna said two labs in India routinely test the 80 or so ingredients he imports. The problem is that there is no unified standard for what is safe.
The researchers found only two products that exceeded the World Health Organization standards for lead content. Both mixtures were from India and purposely prepared with metals as ingredients.


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The Department of Justice has hired its old anti-trust boss from private practice to head up a probe into Google's advertising business.
Sandy M Litvack ran the DoJ's antitrust division under President Jimmy Carter. He left in early 1981.
Litvack was working as a partner at private law firm Hogan and Hartson for both plaintiffs and defendants, and has also been vice president at Walt Disney and a board member at Compaq.
It is still not clear if the DoJ's interest goes beyond an investigation into Google's advertising partnership with Yahoo! or will be a wider anti-trust probe, Dow Jones reports.
The formal investigation into the advertising deal is already unusual - the DoJ normally requires a full merger before such an investigation. At the same time though, the DoJ's antitrust division's overall remit is to enforce US antitrust laws and promote competition.
A US Senate committee is also looking at Google. The search giant has also skirmished with Europe on privacy issues. ®


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updated 09:23 pm EDT, Fri June 22, 2012
Apple now 'so mainstream,' Google says
For over five years, Google has offered a dedicated blog that detailed any changes, updates or additions to its line of products and services for Mac and (later) iOS users. The rise of Apple over the last few years, however, has prompted to the company to fold such announcements into its main blogs instead, leaving no reason for a dedicated Mac and iOS blog, and thus the company has filed a final post.
The last post informs readers that "our Mac and iOS support has now become so mainstream that we realized we just don't need to keep Mac news on its own blog, so we won't be posting here any longer." The acknowledgement of Apple's popularity and move into the mainstream of consumer electronics is not unusual for the company, which has been quick to take pride in its offerings for Mac users and until recently generally debuted new apps on both iOS and Android simultaneously.
Currently the company offers a total of 22 different iOS apps, including the new Google Offers, of which seven are dedicated iPad apps. In addition, services such as Google Mail, Google Maps and the search engine continue to be popular (and in many cases the default) choices with Mac and iOS users, though Apple has been gently phasing out its reliance on Google for external services. The company is expected to continue offering those services for Mac and iOS, but perhaps as standalone apps (like its Picasa photo service) rather than as part of existing Apple products (for example, maps in the Mac version of iPhoto).
Google's post steers Mac and iOS users to its blogs for its own web browser Chrome and the Lat Long blog, which focuses on developments with Google Maps and Google Earth.


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BEIJING (AP) -- More than 300 Chinese workers at a garment factory that supplies international brands such as Uniqlo have been protesting for about two weeks what they say is a unilateral decision by the management to close down.
The strike is one of more than 1,000 collective actions since January by Chinese workers, who are increasingly turning to group actions in fighting for their rights.
Workers at Shenzhen Artigas Clothing & Leatherware said the management is forcing them to move to another factory and they demand a proper negotiation for the relocation.
Officials at Lever Style Limited, which manages Artigas, have refused to comment, while Uniqlo Co., Ltd. has issued a statement urging for a peaceful resolution.
The Japanese retailer said it could terminate its contract with the supplier if the matter is unresolved.
"We are concerned by the reported strike, and have urged Lever Style Limited to undertake thorough discussions with the workers, for a peaceful resolution," said the Uniqlo statement.
Workers said the management is yet to agree to a group negotiation. They said they would like to receive proper payouts, including back payments for social security, overtime work, and unused holidays, before they would sign new contracts to work in the new location, which is 20 minutes away by public transportation.


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TORONTO — The Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Greek National Tourism Organization joined forces for last night’s industry event, celebrating these two gems of the Mediterranean with presentations, networking and more.
Taking place at Toronto’s Windsor Arms Hotel, the in-person event was marked by an air of celebration and optimism as Greece and Israel, and the travel industry at large, get ready for plenty of pent-up demand.
Jerry Adler, IMOT’s Deputy Director for Canada, had everyone at the event stand up and give themselves a round of applause. The relief was palpable after two long years of the pandemic, and even though many challenges remain, at least recovery is finally underway.
A key marketing message for Israel, underlining its Mediterranean ties, makes the country a perfect partner for joint promotions with other Mediterranean destinations. In the past IMOT has also partnered with Med tourism boards including Italy and Spain. Israel’s partnerships go east too. Later this month, IMOT will hold another joint event, with Dubai.
But last night it was Greece in the spotlight alongside Israel, and Sofoklis Savvas, Exhibitions & Trade Coordinator with the GNTO, made sure to highlight all the helpful information and assets – including free downloadable images – available at the GNTO’s website, at visitgreece.gr.
Both Greece and Israel have come through the pandemic with strong policies and good vaccination rates.
Greece kicked off its tourist season promotions on March 1, 2022, a month earlier than usual, as it works to make up lost time from the pandemic. Fully vaccinated visitors to Greece don’t need a negative COVID test to enter the country.
Meanwhile Israel is welcoming all tourists, vaccinated and unvaccinated, of all ages with an ease of entry restrictions that took effect March 1.
Gal Hana, Consul for Tourism and Director for Canada’s representative Israel Ministry of Tourism office, says it’s time tourism took a turn in the driver’s seat.
“Travel has been taken for granted for many years,” said Hana at last night’s event. “People didn’t understand the value of travel except that it was fun.”
And the trade hadn’t worked overly hard to reframe travel in a different light, he added. “There was a feeling of comfort in the industry, a sense of, why rock the boat if everything works.”
Now after two years of the pandemic, with its restrictions and worries that kept most of the world home-bound, people have a new and strong appreciation for travel and how it changes people, and can change the world. It’s the perfect opportunity for the travel and tourism sector to get proactive, said Hana.
Meaningful travel can now take centre stage, said Hana. And that includes travel outside the periphery, to lesser-visited destinations, and outside the usual seasonality with a move to year-round travel instead of high season / shoulder season.
“Tourism cannot remain in the passenger seat,” he said. “It has a vision, a purpose. We’ve had two years to think about what are the values we want to promote.”


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The European Parliament will vote on the adoption of an EU-wide in-vehicle emergency call system next week. The proposal is to fit all new cars with a device by 2009 that automatically calls the nearest...
'Trained' DeepMind AI can accurately diagnose 50 eye conditions from OCT scans in seconds
Google claims it's all part of improving the user experience
The Decentralized Web Summit is over - what's next?


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On this episode of Digital Trends Live, host Greg Nibler breaks down the top tech news of the day, including the U.S. government’s $1 billion investment in A.I. and quantum computing, DJI’s new tech-packed gimbal, Apple’s new AR content, the discovery of 50 new planets, and more.
DT’s John Velasco joins the program to discuss how to get your smart home started for around $100, and the three types of smart home products to get you started: Smart speakers, lights, and security cameras.
Nibler then speaks with Yun-Hee Kim, technology editor for the Wall Street Journal, who talks about the WSJ Tech Live virtual conference, which features unscripted interviews with some of tech’s biggest game changers.
Finally, we find out what’s TBD this week, as Dt’s Jess Surbaugh and Adrien Warner talk about the future of grocery shopping and delivery.
- Apple reportedly working on a new iPad-like smart home display
- Apple adds new colors for the HomePod Mini to brighten your day
- App store battles, Amazon’s palm payment, and more | Digital Trends Live
- Amazon’s fall hardware, top 5 tech predictions, and more | Digital Trends Live
- YouTube vs. misinformation, apps v.s App Store, and more | Digital Trends Live


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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Sacramento Metropolis Corridor is battling back again against blight by attempting to ban some enterprises from a chaotic corridor.
The city needs to crack down on two sections of Folsom Boulevard in close proximity to the University-Glen neighborhood in East Sacramento. Men and women who dwell there say the transfer is very long overdue.
It’s a contact for improve that rings loud and distinct throughout the railroad tracks on Folsom Boulevard, where by Annette Deglow bought her residence more than 50 many years back.
“Ever considering that light-weight rail arrived in, we’ve had a challenge acquiring the kind of corporations we’d like to come in,” she explained.
Now, Deglow is primary the School-Glen Community Affiliation battle versus blight on the boulevard.
She’s backing a city ordinance to ban massage parlors, test cashing facilities, pot shops and smoke shops from opening up on this corridor.
“You keep filling this area with smoke stores, with therapeutic massage parlors and look at cashing, we’re not likely to get any respectable firms right here,” she reported.
The proposed special planning district comes a calendar year following Sacramento police produced a Raley’s grocery store a long term law enforcement put up. The so-called police cease over is Sacramento’s very first-ever police halt in excess of inside of a grocery retail outlet to support address protection worries even though creating a safe location to live and to function.
“We have a whole lot of neighbors that really don’t want to go procuring in the night soon after the dark hrs,” Deglow reported.
Now, individuals who dwell in the vicinity of Folsom Boulevard could get some new equipment to tackle their difficulties.
The Folsom Boulevard exclusive district goes just before the town council for a vote on Tuesday.


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The global home and garden pesticides market was valued at US$ 19.4 Billion in 2020, which is projected to reach US$ 26.3 Billion by the end of the forecast period, expanding at a CAGR of 4.5% during the period from 2021 to 2027. Home garden pesticides stand for pesticide products that are specifically used for the garden area inside a residence. The scope of the study includes the major pesticide products for gardens such as herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, miticides, and fertilizers. The growing landscaping industry is one of the major factors augmenting market growth of the home garden pesticides market. The trend of gardening is notably visible in the populace aged 25 and above. Further, the geriatric population in several countries have cited lawn care and gardening activities as their hobby and are spending more on law maintenance. North America and Europe are prominent markets for home garden pesticides, as these regions captured a major part of the market. The trend of gardening is prominent among Americans and Europeans. However, Asia Pacific is projected to display the fastest growth during the review period.
The research report analyses the ecosystem of the home garden pesticides market and categorizes the home garden pesticides market to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following below-mentioned market segments
Growing Trend of Gardening across Countries is Driving Market Growth
The urban population in the U.S. is increasing rapidly. As such millennials and generation Z have a penchant for the urban lifestyle. Along with this, they have also developed a trend for gardening. The degree of urbanization in the U.S. stood at 82.5% in 2019. The landscaping services industry in the U.S. generated revenue of more than US$ 100 Bn in 2019. The average spend on lawn care and gardening activities amounted to US$ 523 per household in the same year. This has further boosted the home garden pesticides market.
Meanwhile, in Germany, garden care displayed growth in 2019. Growth in the housing market has allowed the home & garden sector to record growth as well. Moreover, the growing demand for urbanization in the country has augmented the demand for gardening activities in the country. German residents are also adopting the idea of cultivating crops in their homes using techniques such as vertical gardening and hydroponics. It is expected that the gardening trend in Germany is expected to remain strong throughout the forecast period as well. The trend of gardening is a key factor supporting the market growth of home garden pesticides in Germany
In Canada, growing employment, increase in household spending combined with healthy GDP growth of the country are factors contributing to the growth of gardening activities in the country. Although new home purchases decreased in the country between 2018-2019, house renovations took a steady pace during the same period.
The home garden pesticides market in Spain displayed a positive trend in 2019, despite economic and political uncertainty. Purchase of new and old properties remained steady among the Spanish population. Further, along with the purchase of properties, demand for small-sized gardens witnessed a steady increase among the Spanish populace. This is driving the market growth of home garden pesticides among the Spanish population
Further, due to the pandemic, and the remote working protocol set by most organizations, more people stayed at home in 2020 than in the prior years. As a result of which, spending on home & garden products increased significantly in 2020 as opposed to 2019. Moreover, millennials and generation Z make up for more than 30% of the gardening demographic in the U.S
Growing Trend of Hydroponics Driving Market Growth of the home garden pesticides market
Hydroponic is a promising practice and a viable alternative farming method and a key segment of the home garden pesticides market. Off-late, hydroponics have emerged as useful for both commercial food producers and gardeners. The use of hydroponic systems can help increase overall productivity with very little input. The growing trend of urbanization has resulted in decreasing arable land, resulting in a decrease in farming activities. However, hydroponics can display the same level of productivity by using approximately 10% of the total land
The steep increase in population has led to rapid urbanization, consequently, the amount of arable land has decreased over time. The steep increase in population has also paved the way for greater food production as well. Considering the decrease in arable land, hydroponics has emerged as an effective alternative to conventional farming techniques. Moreover, hydroponic techniques can deliver 25% more yield as compared to conventional farming techniques
Australia to Display Significant Growth in the Home Garden Pesticides Market in the Coming Years
The home garden pesticides market in Australia was valued at US$ 278.9 Mn in 2019 and the number is expected to touch US$ 395.2 Mn by the end of the forecast period, expanding at a CAGR of 4.9% during the period from 2020 to 2027. The country represented a share of 5.1% in the global home garden pesticides market in 2019, and 25.2% of the home garden pesticides market in the Asia Pacific.
Moreover, urban farms have cropped up all over the country, to make affordable and nutritious food accessible to the citizens. Inner-city spaces have proved to be fertile ground for edible gardens that help the communities with fresh and nutritious produce
Further, the outbreak of COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown resulted in a major disruption in the entire supply chain of the food & beverage industry, thus widening the demand and supply gap. To tackle this, demand for homegrown vegetables and fruits shot up rapidly, as homegrown produce eased the food security concerns among people.
|Trend Name||Country||Nature||Impact (%)||Impact|
|2 Years||4 Years||6 Years|
|Organic ingredients are at the top of the minds of Mexican consumers, and the current health crisis accelerated this trend. Mexican consumers began looking for products with natural ingredients||Latin America||Positive||XX%||Low||Mid||High|
|Mexican consumers prefer fragrant home garden pesticides, which led to manufacturers exploring the opportunity of adding innovative fragrances in their products||Latin America||Positive||XX%||XX||XX||XX|
|Hot temperature in the UAE and the emergence of new species of insects are augmenting demand for home garden pesticides. Humidity is a major factor that draws insects into the country||Middle East & Africa||Positive||XX%||XX||XX||XX|
|The sale of home garden pesticides was not hampered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This continuity of sale is attributed to the hot and humid weather in the country||Middle East & Africa||Positive||XX%||XX||XX||XX|
|Demand for home insecticides in South Africa was adversely affected by the reducing insect population in the country||Middle East & Africa||Negative||-XX%||XX||XX||XX|
The key players operating in the home garden pesticides market are:
Priyanka has been writing chemicals & material market research reports for the last 12 years. A post-graduate, her specialization is in the chemicals sector. Preparing end-to-end reports covering minute details for market insights, competitive intelligence and trend analysis in the CMFE sector.


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Last February, when Dick’s Sporting Goods boss Ed Stack announced he was restricting gun sales at the country’s largest sports retailer, he knew it’d be costly.
At the time, Dick’s was a major seller of firearms. Guns also drove the sale of soft goods—boots, hats, jackets. What’s more, Stack, the retailer’s chief executive officer, suspected the position could drive off some of his customers on political principle.
He was right. Dick’s estimates the policy change cost the company about $150 million in lost sales, an amount equivalent to 1.7 percent of annual revenue. Stack says it was worth it.
The Reopen America Back to School Special is now live! Save up to 60% on our most popular items!


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Top stories in today’s VentureWire:
U.S.-based lithium-ion battery maker Boston-Power Inc. has added $125 million in Series F funding to make a major expansion into China, after failing to receive incentives from the U.S. government. The new money will be used to build a research and development center in China for developing batteries for electric vehicles, as well as a manufacturing center, creating hundreds of jobs.
GRP Partners is marketing its fourth early-stage fund with an aim to raise $250 million, people familiar with the situation tell VentureWire. As it markets the fund, the Los Angeles-based firm can point to returns on its second vehicle from 2001, which is generating a close to two times net multiple, the people said. One of the partners is Mark Suster, who is often mentioned in this space thanks to his prolific blogging.
Also in today’s VentureWire: New Enterprise Associates wanted to sell solar company HelioVolt, until it got a $50 million investment offer from South Korean conglomerate SK Group…Simpirica Spine Inc., a maker of devices to treat lumbar spinal stenosis that has been in stealth mode for the past five years, has raised $22 million from new and returning backers as it begins to sell products in Europe and gears up for clinical trials in the U.S…and ramping up its efforts to take on daily deals giant Groupon Inc., Google Inc. has acquired German daily deals company DailyDeal.de.
(VentureWire is a daily newsletter with comprehensive analysis of all the investments, deals and personnel moves involving start-ups and their venture backers. For a two-week trial, click here.)
Elsewhere around the Web:
One of the founding fathers of the semiconductor industry has passed away. Julius Bank, who was one of the “Traitorous Eight” who in 1957 left the Mountain View laboratory of William Shockley to start Fairchild Semiconductor, died at the age of 86, reports the Mercury News.
Venture capitalists might want to pay attention to Babson College. The Massachusetts school ranks as the top graduate entrepreneurship program in the country, according to the Princeton Review, which compiles the top 25 graduate and top 25 undergraduate programs.
This is no Solyndra scandal, but the Charleston Daily Mail questions the prudence of the West Virginia government mixing with venture capital. It takes a sour look at a 2002 program that allocated $25 million in loans to venture capital firms, and so far has lost $20.8 million in taxpayers’ money. “It turned out to be like striking flint to start a fire in a blizzard,” the editorial says. But a government official points out there’s still time for the fortunes to change: “We are looking for a substantial upside from the current book loss. We won’t know how it all settles out for another three or four years,” he said.


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Top, from let to right: Özlem Dalga, Corporate Communications Manager in BU MED and Arzu Ekiz Akyol, Ekol Logistics Turkey Country Manager.
Bottom, from left to right: Zeybek Atabek, Tur Transit Executive President Şebnem and Berna Akyıldız, Association of International Forwarding and Logistics Service Providers Board Member.
BU Med’s DFDS Academy, where customers familiarize with DFDS’ brand, network, and way of doing business, came back after a long break. This time to demonstrate the impact of Covid-19 outbreak with leaders of logistics sector and monitor the Covid-19 period most effectively.
DFDS Academy has successfully completed two webinars regarding “The Definition of New Normal in Logistics” and “The Continuity of Trade During Covid-19 Period” with the participation of board members of key accounts such as Ekol Logistics, Mars Logistics and associations like UTIKAD, Association of International Forwarding and Logistics Service Providers. Alongside sales and operations employees from different companies, DFDS Academy extended the target group with the webinars and reached 890K people (approx.) through press and social media channels.
DFDS Academy is re-designed as an online platform where people working in logistics share knowledge. For the upcoming weeks, more webinars and several online initiatives are planned by the BU MED Corporate Communications team.
Özlem Dalga, Corporate Communications Manager in BU MED, says: “Now that international offline events are out of the question for a while, we found the best solution was to carry our marketing and communication events online in order to help people to network and have discussions on topics of the industry through arranging webinars and online events. And we realised that there is a need for our community to keep engaging. With the use of the webinar schedule and online events, we are underlining our company’s position as the sector leader during the post COVID-19 stage in order to accelerate the recovery process.”
June 9, 2020


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MADISON (WKOW) -- A Florida-based moving firm is defending its business practices as more complaints arise from Madison residents waiting weeks for their belongings to arrive on company-arranged moving vans.
Jean LeBlanc, 79, says a van was loaded with her valuables from her Buffalo home in mid-July and set out, but there's still no sign of the precious cargo.
LeBlanc says without so many of her personal belongings, her move to Madison still feels in limbo.
"I feel my life's on hold," LeBlanc says.
Brooke Hackler's personal possessions were loaded up in Fort Collins, Colorado in June, but have also failed to arrive at her Madison home.
Both women contracted with Ft. Lauderdale-based All Pro Moving Group.
Hackler, 25, says she's spent endless time calling, texting, emailing to try to get a delivery date or find the location of her valuables.
"I'm exhausted," Hackler says. "I'm mentally and physically drained."
Hackler went as far as returning to Colorado to join movers of one of All-Pro's subcontracting firms in checking a Denver storage area in an unsuccessful effort to locate her van load.
All Pro Moving Group General Manager Andrew Bennett responded to requests for comment from 27 News with insistence his company is well regarded, and disputing Florida's Better Business Bureau's information on complaints.
BBB says one hundred complaints against All Pro Moving Group have been received since 2019.
"We only have ninety and we've been in business for years," Bennett says.
Bennett says he's working diligently to locate LeBlanc's belongings and will initiate a search for the location of Hackler's valuables.
"We're a broker," Bennett stresses, and deflects concerns over long delivery times to his subcontracted movers.
"Sometimes they don't do their jobs great," Bennett says. "We compensate customers if something is wrong."
"I believe that they misrepresented to me initially as the moving company themselves," Hackler says.
Both Hackler and LeBlanc say they've already paid several thousand dollars for the move of their belongings. They've both filed complaints with the BBB and federal and state agencies.
Bennett maintains the moving industry is beset with the same woes that have caused delays and cancellations in the airline industry.
"COVID, and it's also a labor shortage," Bennett says.
"They took a lot of money from me," Hackler says. She says her missing valuables include irreplaceable items from her late mother. "They have one job...and they've done no service for me."


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When Apple announced that it sold 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones during the first three days of availability, the sales tally didn’t look all that impressive compared to the 9 million iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C smartphones sold during the same period a year earlier. A closer examination of the details showed that neither of Apple’s new smartphones were available in China, which has become a huge market for the Cupertino, California-based company.
The reason for the holdup on Chinese sales was that Apple was awaiting approval from Chinese regulators to sell the handsets. In addition, Apple had to ensure that the operating system used on the smartphones, iOS 8, is free from any backdoor access that could grant U.S. spy agencies the ability to snoop in on the private data of regular Chinese citizens and government officials.
Apple was able to convince Chinese regulators that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus don’t pose a security threat, and as a result the smartphones will be available for sale in China starting on October 17. That means that Chinese wireless subscribers on China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom can purchase the devices — in total, Apple will have access to nearly 1.3 billion customers.
However, Chinese buyers will have to fork over a lot more money than U.S. buyers to get their hands on the new devices. The 16GB iPhone 6, 16GB iPhone 6 Plus, and the range-topping 128GB iPhone 6 Plus are already the most expensive smartphones on the market at $649, $749, and $949 respectively in the U.S. However, those same smartphones will set you back $860, $990, and $1,267 respectively in China.
“We are thrilled to bring iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to our customers in China on all three carriers at launch,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “With support for TD-LTE and FDD-LTE, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus customers will have access to high-speed mobile networks from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom for an incredible experience.”
Apple has been going toe-to-toe with the Chinese government over matters relating to security and privacy as far back as July of this year. The company responded to claims that its Frequent Locations feature in iOS 7 could be compromised by hackers, stating, “Unlike many companies, our business does not depend on collecting large amounts of personal data about our customers. We are strongly committed to giving our customers clear and transparent notice, choice and control over their information, and we believe our products do this in a simple and elegant way.”
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Facebook has confirmed that it is working on the new Oculus Quest VR hardware, due to Facebook's surge in sales when the Oculus Quest 2 launched in October 2020.
During Facebook's earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated the Quest 2 is the first mainstream virtual reality product, and it's doing quite well. With its success, Facebook will continue to work on Quest 2 content, titles and "new capabilities" for the VR headset.
Zuckerberg then confirmed that Facebook is continuing to work on new hardware, one that will "kind of fit the same platform" as the Quest 2. While no official name for the new device is stated, Zuckerberg did mention that the "content that works on Quest 2 should be forward compatible." Dare we say an Oculus Quest 3? Or maybe something more along the lines of a Quest 2 Plus?
What we do know is Facebook is looking to create a VR and AR ecosystem, making virtual reality a "long-term investment," which we're pleased to hear. The Oculus Quest 2 is one of the best VR headsets in the market today, and one of the most popular given Facebook's revenue is up 156% due to strong holiday sales of the product.
Zuckerberg went on to state, "Facebook has done more than any other company to help bring virtual reality to the mainstream." He has a point, as Apple is now currently working on its own VR headset, along with Samsung and its bizarre bug-eyed VR concept.
The Oculus Quest 2 came out a few months ago, so don't expect to see the new VR hardware anytime soon. But who knows? It might be time to invest in one of the best VR-ready laptops.
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Darragh Murphy is fascinated by all things bizarre, which usually leads to assorted coverage varying from washing machines designed for AirPods to the mischievous world of cyberattacks. Whether it's connecting Scar from The Lion King to two-factor authentication or turning his love for gadgets into a fabricated rap battle from 8 Mile, he believes there’s always a quirky spin to be made. With a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from The University of Sheffield, along with short stints at Kerrang! and Exposed Magazine, Darragh started his career writing about the tech industry at Time Out Dubai and ShortList Dubai, covering everything from the latest iPhone models and Huawei laptops to massive Esports events in the Middle East. Now, he can be found proudly diving into gaming, gadgets, and letting readers know the joys of docking stations for Laptop Mag.


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The guests on Episode 31 of Hashing It Out mediate passe finance has damage innovation in the African fintech space and that cryptocurrency can breathe some life into it.
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Sooner than the Africa Money and DeFi Summit, Hashing It Out host Elisha Owusu Akyaw (GhCryptoGuy) spoke with Andrew Fassnidge, founding father of Africa Tech Summit, and Enoch Antwi, CEO of Dnar — a finance application that has decided to rebuild and reenter the Ghanaian market this quarter. The dialog covered the intersection between cryptocurrency traits on the African continent and the financial abilities sector. Fassnidge shared his trip from the standpoint of an investor and convention organizer who has viewed the genesis of a few unicorns on the pronounce, and Antwi offered his tips from the standpoint of a founder in both sectors.
Fassnidge opened the podcast with an explanation of the divulge of fintech in Africa, explaining that no topic the expansion of business abilities positive aspects on the continent, the upward thrust of failed startups that raised astronomical capital has solid a unlit shadow over the ecosystem. The lack of sustainability of improvements in the space has harmed investor self belief and made the plenty cautious of the employ of native financial positive aspects. Additionally, the divulge of native currencies has created an appetite for storing wealth in international change. This pattern is making decentralized finance and stablecoins popular in African markets.
Antwi also explained that the ecosystem has reached a tipping point where the innovation that follows will likely be exponential. He also believes honorable guidelines will likely be developed in the subsequent few years. He acknowledged:
“I’m listening to some fair issues popping out of varied markets across Africa which weren’t happening three or four years ago in phrases of legislation and protection against digital sources. And on the total, it used to be factual, ‘Let’s ban it, let’s quit it.’ And now they designate, ‘Truly, neatly, we can no longer quit it attributable to us are the employ of it anyway.’”The episode also discusses issues touching on fundraising by African startups and the employ cases of decentralized finance on the African continent.
Eavesdrop on essentially the most up-to-the-minute episode of Hashing It Out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn. That it’s likely you’ll maybe presumably furthermore discover Cointelegraph’s entire catalog of informative podcasts on the Cointelegraph Podcasts web page.
Journal: Crypto legislation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler occupy the final verbalize?
This text is for overall knowledge positive aspects and isn’t very any longer supposed to be and may maybe no longer be taken as lawful or funding advice. The views, tips, and opinions expressed here are the author’s by myself and attain no longer necessarily replicate or symbolize the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.


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Peter Kafka over at All Things Digital reports that Apple has yet another hurdle to overcome before iTunes cloud streaming can become a reality — getting musicpublishers to sign off. Although Apple has been negotiating and finalizing deals with the music labels, including Sony now, that’s apparently not enough.
While Apple came to terms with Warner Music and EMI Music weeks ago, and has now struck a deal with Sony Music, industry sources tell me the company doesn’t have agreements with the labels’ associated publishing companies–Warner/Chappell, EMI Music Publishing and Sony/ATV. The deal Apple is about to sign with Universal also won’t include publishing, I’m told.
Kafka explains how labels and publishers alike both receive compensation from digital sales, which is why Apple needs to take additional steps for securing deals with publishers before going live.
According to the report, this additional obstacle shouldn’t have any real impact on Apple rolling out their cloud streaming service — which is suspected to be announced at WWDC alongside iOS 5 — because labels and publishers are essentially on the same page. Apple simply started negotiations with the labels first because those agreements were considered to be the more difficult arrangements to secure over publisher contracts.
Do you think Apple will have any trouble getting publishers to agree? And do you find who owns which rights to what music and how it can be sold or streamed as confusing as we do?


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TL;DR – With great innovation and disruptive technologies, governments need to be more adaptive. In the case of Indonesia, Uber and Grab have two months to either partner with a licensed public transport operator or establish their own legal companies. Essentially, integrating and accepting disruptive innovation is the first step in moving to take advantage of it and play in the modernisation of the economy’s structure.
For most Jakartans commuting to work in the central business district, 22nd March 2016 began like every other day in the Indonesian capital – with gridlock. Traffic on this particular occasion, however, was brought about by events far removed from the typical causes for congestion in the city; namely, a demonstration by more than 12,000 protestors primarily comprised of employees from the country’s leading taxi cab operators as well as motorised rickshaw drivers from the informal sector. Uniting this odd pairing in protest was a shared uneasiness over the continued emergence of ride-hailing apps such as Uber, Grab, and Go-Jek – tech-driven enterprises leading a new wave of disruptive innovation in the passenger transport industry in Indonesia that have thus far taken advantage of legal grey-areas aplenty in offering cut-rate prices to gain market share.
The government’s approach in seeking to defuse flaring tensions has largely been cautious and noncommittal, understanding that any course of action taken is likely to be seen as an industry-redefining milestone that will impact the future entry of similar disruptive technologies down the road. Though a patient approach in this regard is warranted, prolonged indecision and a lack of clarity have begun to breed negative sentiment in a market in which other innovative firms such as Netflix have recently faced unexpected barriers to operate.
A controversy calling for consensus
The root of the dispute currently dominating Indonesia’s transportation industry boils down to the following: as app-based businesses, Uber and Grab posit that they should not be subject to the same regulations as conventional taxi cab operators, nor should they even have to register as public transport service providers. Having seen their customers drawn away by the lure of lower fares and greater convenience offered by ride-hailing apps (See Mobile Apps in Indonesia Clicking into Gear), the market’s firmly-entrenched taxi firms have strongly opposed this thinking, specifically pointing to Law No. 22 of 2009 Concerning Road Traffic and Transportation and its mandate that only vehicles designated for use as public transportation are permitted to transport people in exchange for money.
With highly-publicised discourse between policymakers and relevant parties on this issue having failed to yield any clear results, tensions spilled over in late March and have placed an international spotlight on the Indonesian government’s ability to adapt to disruptive innovation. Though the country is not alone in dealing with controversies related to the emergence of Uber and similar technologies (one needs only to look at similar protests initiated by cab drivers in Paris, Rome, Brussels, London, Melbourne, Sao Paolo, and Kuala Lumpur to see that this is very much a hurdle to be cleared on the global stage) mixed messages from senior members of the government have not helped the situation.
While President Joko Widodo has been forthright in stating that innovation in transportation should be embraced for its role in filling gaps in the industry’s ability to meet the people’s needs, cabinet members such as the current Minister of Transportation, Mr Ignasius Jonan, have proven less supportive. In the months preceding the mass protest, Mr Jonan went to considerable lengths to explain that insofar as Uber remained unregistered as a public transport provider, the company should be considered ‘illegal’ – a phrase picked up on by aggrieved taxi cab drivers and used as their rallying cry during protests.
Patchwork policymaking and reactionary rulings
Certainly, it would appear that the government is itself caught in two minds in deciding to appease industry titans by subjecting ride-hailing apps to existing regulations or to employ a more laissez-faire approach to encourage the continued growth of tech-driven businesses. Contributing to the conundrum is a general reluctance to take any action that could lead to further unrest over job security amidst rising layoffs across key sectors (See Indonesia’s Garment and Textile Sector; Short Term Woes) as well as lofty tax revenue targets that add an extra incentive to classify Uber and Grab as conventional transportation service providers.
A compromise of sorts was hashed out in the immediate aftermath of the protest, with Uber and Grab being set a two-month deadline to either partner with a licensed public transport operator or establish their own legal companies. Though neither option is ideal – particularly the latter, in requiring these companies to set up in a manner that runs counter to their asset-less and borderless business model – there are potential positives to come out of partnering up with local players, irrespective of the government’s insistence to serve as an unsolicited matchmaker. Spotify’s recent move to enter the market was precipitated by its decision to partner with Indosat, specifically agreed upon with a view towards the Indonesian telecommunications firm providing legal support. As suggested by Telkom following on from its move to block Netflix from its platforms, some of the US-based streaming service provider’s legal issues might have been avoided had it sought out a prominent local partner.
Integrating disruptive innovation
In seeking to fine-tune its balancing act between welcoming firms offering disruptive technologies and placating longstanding players who stand to get disrupted, Indonesia needs only to look back upon its approach to e-commerce (See E-commerce Incoming; An Industry on the Rise). Presented from the outset as an area of opportunity instead of an impediment to the future success of brick and mortar retail businesses, this particular disruptive innovation faced very little opposition and was instead quickly integrated into the business strategies of conglomerates that stood to lose out considerably if they failed to adapt. Lippo Group’s recent $500 million USD investment to launch MatahariMall – the online offshoot of its chain of department stores under the Matahari brand – stands among the most poignant examples of a business choosing to move in lockstep with technological progress instead of hoping to fight it off by hiding behind the government. This vigour in opening up to e-commerce has undoubtedly played a role in the industry’s meteoric rise in valuation in Indonesia, from $8 billion USD in 2013 to a projected $25 billion USD by end-2016 (Google Indonesia, idEA, and Taylor Nelson Sofres).
A similar mindset is needed to move past the speed-bumps facing ride-hailing apps in the transportation industry, and the same applies for other sectors in which ‘business as usual’ will soon be challenged by the rising popularity of new disruptive innovations. Hospitality and property businesses, for example, will likely soon need to anticipate a future in which Airbnb and other peer-to-peer platforms become serious competition. Accepting disruptive innovation as an unavoidable aspect of Indonesia’s ongoing development is the first step in moving to take advantage of it and play a role in the modernisation of the economy’s structure, instead of prolonging its stasis.
It is not in Indonesia’s interest for the country to develop a reputation as a market seriously unprepared for – or worse yet, hostile to – disruptive innovation. McKinsey projects that up to 12% of ASEAN’s GDP is to come from disruptive technology and Indonesia would be well-served to embrace this eventuality, particularly if the country is to achieve its goal of creating 1,000 tech new startups by 2020. Following on from his visit to Silicon Valley in February 2016, President Widodo reiterated his vision of Indonesia becoming the largest digitalised economy in the ASEAN. In working to resolve recent issues related to a fear of disruptive innovation, he now has an early opportunity to prove that this is more than just rhetoric.
Global Business Guide Indonesia – 7th April 2016


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December 13, 2012 The singing superstar's Feb. 11 death sent fans rushing to the Web. Searches for information about her top those for "Gangnam style" and other hot topics, Google Says.
December 11, 2012 A new study concludes that a mobile app can help boost weight loss, if it's used as part of a more comprehensive strategy. The findings speak to the importance of blending two successful weight loss strategies: tracking and group support.
December 10, 2012 Cash registers may be on the wane in some stores as more retailers help customers complete purchases using mobile devices. It's convenient for shoppers, and retailers benefit by leaving customers less time to change their mind about a purchase.
December 10, 2012 The agency says that among its most troubling findings is that many apps for kids share such information as geolocations with third parties. Developers need to do more to improve privacy protections and to tell parents what they're doing, the agency reports.
December 10, 2012 The latest addition to the field of smartphone apps that help people eat responsibly is designed for diners who care about the plight of the people who prepare and serve the meals. The restaurants were rated on pay, sick days, and opportunities for advancement.
December 9, 2012 The next time you are about to post a scathing review of a business on a site like Yelp or Angie's List, you might want to think twice. This week, a housing contractor sued a former customer for $750,000 in defamation charges after she posted a negative review.
December 7, 2012 Customer loyalty programs offering discounts in exchange for a bit of personal information are nothing new. But now Verizon and AT&T are launching programs allowing customers to receive rewards based on information their smartphones share with the carriers. Not surprisingly, privacy advocates are alarmed.
December 6, 2012 The anti-virus software pioneer is wanted for questioning in a murder. He says he's innocent and is trying to avoid being sent back to Belize, where the murder occurred. Remarkably, he's being allowed to blog from his jail cell.
December 4, 2012 Ever get that odd sensation that someone's watching you? Well, if you're online, someone always kind of is. Conceptual artists Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman are exploring that idea in photographs.


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California, Here We Come
The Golden State, which boasts the world’s fifth-largest economy, is a center for supply management activity — from manufacturing to exporting and importing — thanks to its location and infrastructure.
By Sue Doerfler
Welcome to California: Home to Hollywood, Disneyland, beaches, redwood forests and great weather — and a hotbed for all things related to supply management.
The state has more than 38,000 manufacturers, whose goods range from tortilla chips to aerospace components. It boasts a robust infrastructure that includes an expanding warehouse sector and the nation’s two busiest ports — the world’s 10th-largest port complex. California accounts for 11 percent of the nation’s exports. On the talent side, it has a sound educational system, decreasing unemployment and workers with a penchant for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Not to mention the state’s strong economy: “If California were its own country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world,” says Braden Baseley, lead research analyst with ProcurementIQ, a division of IBISWorld, in Los Angeles. With a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$2.75 trillion at the end of 2017, California ranks above the United Kingdom and behind the U.S., China, Japan and Germany in GDP.
The thriving economy — the state’s most recent economic growth rate was nearly double the U.S. average — isn’t isolated to any one region or sector, says Sam Chiu, spokesman for the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). Every economic sector except agriculture contributed to the growth, he says: “Financial services and real estate led the pack at $26 billion in growth, followed by the information sector, which includes many technology companies, at $20 billion. Manufacturing was up $10 billion.”
The numbers tell a part of the California supply management story. Location, opportunities and challenge tell others.


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The TechCrunch Global Affairs Project examines the increasingly intertwined relationship between the technology sector and world politics.
Europe has a well-deserved reputation for regulating big tech and is a leader in privacy, data protection and especially competition. Now a new antitrust law is winding its way through the European Parliament, introducing criteria for identifying large online gatekeepers. But while the Digital Markets Act is expected to target a number of US tech companies, the DMA – and European antitrust and competition policies – when applied strategically, can also be a tool to compete with China.
In recent years, Europe has slowly become aware of China’s challenge to transatlantic technology leadership. Although many Europeans are slowly …


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The social network is hoping to prevent further misuse of ill-gotten data after Dr. Aleksandr Kogan’s app that pulled data on 50 million Facebook users was passed to Cambridge Analytica in violation of Facebook policy.
Facebook is scrambling to add safeguards against abuse of user data as it reels from backlash over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “And not at all aligned with the truth”.
Zuckerberg went on to say that Bosworth is a ‘talented leader who says many provocative things, ‘ but said the memo was something that ‘most people at Facebook including myself disagreed with strongly’.
Zuckerberg and Facebook had already been feeling the heat from all sides – politicians, advertisers, shareholders, former employees and more – in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, which put the company in the spotlight as a platform that helped spread Russian-linked disinformation and propaganda. He also called into question how honest Apple really is when it comes to caring about customers, at least in relation to Facebook. I think it’s… privacy to us is a human right.
“If you really don’t want all your data and all your contact information to be constantly quantified, your best bet is to move out to Idaho, throw away your phone and never get connected to the internet again”, he said, adding that Facebook is not the only platform using personal information to target users. He said, “There are companies that work hard to charge you more, and there are companies that work hard to charge you less”.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal has added further to the woes of the social networking giant, which was already facing scrutiny over the alleged use of the platform by Russian trolls to impact the USA presidential election. Klein asked Zuckerberg during the Vox interview. In what is touted as the nadir in the social media world, the internet giants expressed deep pain in terminating Facebook but said business as usual could not have gone on in such an environment of mistrust where in government after government was hell bent to destroy Facebook. The resulting outrage has led to a decline in the company’s stock price.
Whether the damage to Facebook’s reputation with its users, including news organizations, can be alleviated is the question no one is yet prepared to answer. The settlement required Facebook to take several steps to make sure it maintained promises in the future, including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers’ express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established.
That would be Channel 4 in London, which along with the Guardian newspaper broke the story of Facebook’s data disaster earlier this month, leading the company to lose $100 billion dollars U.S. in value since it’s yearly high in early February. Facebook’s tactics were also an unpleasant reminder of the way it and other huge corporations – including Google and Apple – have avoided paying tax with the same offshore jurisdiction defence.
“If you were in alignment with them, then they’d make their products a lot cheaper”, he said.