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Newegg reportedly begins accepting returns for Gigabyte's "explosive" PSUs
by Sayan Sen
via GN (YouTube) Technology retail giant Newegg has reportedly initiated the process of accepting returns for Gigabyte PSU models GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM. These two SMPS models from Gigabyte have been stated to have a rather "explosive" nature and it was found that the retailer was bundling these units in its Newegg Shuffle package alongside high-end graphics cards.
Apparently, in an email sent by Newegg, the etailer giant has asked eligible customers to respond in case their Gigabyte PSU models fall within the denoted serial numbers (S/N) that Gigabyte had mentioned earlier in its official response to the incident. Below is a part of the statement Newegg has said in the alleged mail:
The Gigabyte GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM units outside of the S/N range have a new OPP (Over Power Protection) setting that reduces the OPP limit down to 110% ~ 120% from an earlier 120% ~ 150%.
However, according to PSU expert, Dr. Aris Mpitziopoulos, simply lowering the OPP triggering point may not be enough to label these PSUs as safe as there were other underlying problems too, at least in his review unit.
Source and image: VideoCardz
By Usama Jawad96
Facebook explains how it will preserve your privacy while serving you ads
by Usama Jawad
Earlier this year, we explained how Google plans to use Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) to prevent individual tracking while still serving you relevant ads. However, it announced that it is delaying this initiative just over a month ago, thanks in part to the massive backlash the company received.
That said, big tech organizations are still investing significant effort in privacy-preserving methods of data collection. Now, Facebook has revealed more details about how it plans to use privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) to power the next generation of digital advertising.
Facebook has stated that it is using techniques based on cryptography and statistics to implement PETs that allow it to reduce the amount of data processed while preserving your privacy, ad accuracy, and personalized preferences. The company has described three methods it is testing in its PETs effort.
The first is secure multi-party computation (MPC) which allows multiple organizations to process parts of your data and then share insights with each other. This essentially means that no single party holds all your data so possibilities of learning about you are reduced. An example of this is one organization holding information about what ads you are seeing and the other seeing information about what purchases you're making. MPC would ensure that both stakeholders would get the data they require without getting access to your entire data. Facebook is working on MPC using a solution called Private Lift Measurement based on its open source framework on GitHub. The company expects to make this solution available to advertisers next year.
Next up is on-device machine learning which ensures that algorithms learn from your data right on your device without sending the data to any external identity, the cloud, or a remote server. This technique is still under investigation and Facebook hopes that it will improve with time, if successful.
Finally, we have differential privacy, which is actually an add-on to existing PETs. The company describes it as:
That said, Facebook has highlighted that these are all long-term efforts and it'll be sharing more information about its progress regularly.
By Usama Jawad96
Google will turn on SafeSearch by default for people under 18
by Usama Jawad
Child safety in online environments seems to be on the top of the figurative priority list maintained by big tech firms. Apple recently announced that it will use its photo scanning technology to detect Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) on iCloud and will also use on-device machine learning to censor sexual content sent or received by children below 13 years of age. You can find out more details here. In the same vein, Google has also revealed today about how it will be offering safer online experiences for non-adults across its range of products.
First up is a policy change through which Google will allow people under the age of 18 or their parents and guardians to request the removal of their images from Image search results. While this obviously won't remove the image in question from the internet altogether, it will definitely reduce its visibility.
Next, Google has announced some changes that it will be making to its products specifically for children under the age of 18 in the coming weeks and months. SafeSearch will be turned on by default for new and existing accounts owned by people under the age of 18. This feature is used to filter explicit results from Google Search and was previously enabled by default only for children under the age of 13 and with Family Link configured. K-12 institutions using Workspace for Education will have SafeSearch enabled by default too and Incognito and Guest modes will be blocked as well. The technology will also be used to restrict mature results surfaced by Assistant on shared devices.
Uploads to YouTube will be private by default. More digital wellbeing features will be made prominent on the service as well, including turning off autoplay, break reminders, and more. On the Google Play Store, the company will be adding a new section for apps which follow Families policies. It will also describe the data that apps collect in more granular detail so parents can make informed decisions.
Finally, Google will improve its advertising practices so that mature ads, including targeted ones, are not shown to teens. The company will also be working on preparing more documentation and guidance for teenagers and parents to understand its data practices.
Newegg Shuffle apparently bundling "explosive" Gigabyte PSUs with GPUs
by Sayan Sen
Newegg is apparently bundling the Gigabyte P750GM and the P850GM power supply units (PSUs) alongside the graphics cards that it is offering via its Newegg Shuffle drawing system for choosing potential buyers.
While this wouldn't be a cause for concern under general circumstances, the P750GM and the P850GM PSUs, however, have been found to perform rather poorly in multiple expert reviews, for example, by TechPowerUp via Hardware Busters (YouTube), and by Gamers Nexus (YouTube). So, with Newegg now apparently bundling these SMPS models with generally power-hungry high-end graphics cards during its Shuffle, it seems there couldn't be a better recipe for some disaster.
via GN (YouTube) Gigabyte has stated that these PSUs feature all the standard protections that are expected in a well-made SMPS, namely:
OVP (Over Voltage Protection) UVP (Under Voltage Protection) OPP (Over Power Protection) OCP (Over Current Protection) OTP (Over Temperature Protection) SCP (Short Circuit Protection) However, it has been noted today by Gamers Nexus (GN) that at least some of these protective features would often fail to trigger in response to such incidents during the lab stress testing leading to several of the GP-P750GM and GP-P850GM units blowing up in the process. The image above demonstrates an example of such an instance where the protection wasn't triggered and the stressed PSU caught fire in GN's lab.
This notorious nature of the Gigabyte GP-P750GM was first brought to attention by YouTuber Hardware Busters via TechPowerUp, who reviewed the model last year and wasn't particularly impressed, referring to the model as "A Power Supply with an explosive attitude".
In the conclusion section of the review, the cons of the unit far outweighed the pros. Here are the points that were listed in its cons:
And today nearly nine months later, it seems these issues still exist in the P750GM and P850GM, according to GN. Apparently, Gigabyte has done little to address these concerns. And while faulty PC components shouldn't surprise anyone, it really is worrisome in this instance since Newegg is apparently pushing these out to users as part of the Newegg Shuffle package.
By Usama Jawad96
YouTube may let you block ads for €6.99 per month in the future
by Usama Jawad
If you're a YouTube user without a premium subscription, you may have noticed the rampant increase in ads on the platform. For those who want a cleaner experience, YouTube offers a Premium subscription that offers ad-free videos, background playback, the ability to download videos, YouTube Music Premium, and YouTube Originals. However, it now appears that the company is trialing a cheaper "Premium Lite" subscription in Europe.
YouTube has confirmed to The Verge that the Premium Lite subscription is currently being trialed in some European countries including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. It offers ad-free viewing for €6.99/month (~$8.3/month), and does not include any of the other benefits offered by YouTube Premium.
It is important to note that YouTube Premium costs €11.99/month in parts of Europe, which means that YouTube is knocking off €5 if you just want an ad-free experience without any of the other benefits. As of now, it supports ad-free viewing across YouTube apps on the web, Android, iOS, smart TVs, consoles, as well as the YouTube Kids app.
While the €6.99/month price tier sounds steep on paper, it will likely be enticing for heavy users of YouTube who just want to get rid of ads. YouTube has emphasized that the offering is currently in experimental phases and will be made available in other countries on a rolling basis. Given the nature of the project, it may also be possible that the cost of the subscription changes based on audience feedback.
Source: The Verge


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Positive Drug Tests Among U.S. Workers Hit Two-Decade High
Fewer employers tested applicants for marijuana last year than in 2020 as companies grappled with nationwide labor shortages
The percentage of working Americans testing positive for drugs hit a two-decade high last year, driven by an increase in positive marijuana tests, as businesses might have loosened screening policies amid nationwide labor shortages.
Of the more than six million general workforce urine tests that Quest Diagnostics Inc., one of the country’s largest drug-testing laboratories, screened for marijuana last year, 3.9% came back positive, an increase of more than 8% from 2020, according to Quest’s annual drug-testing index.
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domain: news


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Soybeans Close Lower Monday on Trade Worries
Soybeans closed lower Monday on concerns about the trade deal between the U.S. and China.
There's both optimism and pessimism as Bloomberg reported that Chinese officials are trying to put the final touches on a plan to resume soybean purchases from the U.S., while Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said this weekend that there was a hard deadline of March 1 to get an agreement in place.
If a deal isn't reached by the deadline date, the U.S. plans to increase its tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25% from 10%.
Analysts have said both sides want to see a deal take shape but ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China continue to crop up.
Last week, Canadian authorities arrested the chief financial officer of Chinese tech company Huawei at the behest of the U.S. government. China has demanded her release while the U.S. said she was arrested on charges relating to violations against sanctions on Iran.
The U.S. agreed to delay raising the tariff rate, while China agreed to resume purchases of U.S. agricultural products, according to a White House statement. So far, China has yet to buy more beans from the U.S.
Still, there are signs of improved demand as the weekly export sales report sent Friday -- a day later than usual due to the funeral of President George H.W. Bush -- showed exporters increased sales by 42% week-to-week.
In the seven days that ended on Nov. 29, sales totaled 890,900 metric tons. That's also up 87% from the prior four-week average, the Department of Agriculture said. China, however, wasn't on the list of buyers.
Soybeans for January delivery fell 7 3/4¢ to $9.09 a bushel on Monday. Soymeal lost $1.60 to $309.60 a short ton, and soy oil was unchanged at 28.74¢ a pound.
Corn futures fell 2 1/4¢ to $3.83 1/4 a bushel.
Wheat declined 6 3/4¢ to $5.24 1/2 a bushel in Chicago while Kansas City futures lost 2 1/2¢ to $5.09 1/2 a bushel.


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62 companies from Turkey will attend Innotrans as exhibitor this year. This number is 45% more compared to last Innotrans.
After a pandemic break in 2020, Innotrans will open its doors with 62 exhibitors from Turkey in 4 categories. 5 of them will display their vehicles in outdoor display, one of which will be presented as “world innovation”.
Here are exhibitors from Turkey in each category:
There are 7 companies in this category: Albayrak Makina, Asis Electronic, Durmazlar Makina, Karsan Automotive, Mobit Bilisim, Otokar, Piton Software.
Durmazlar manufacturing tram and LRV cars for 3 cities in Turkey and 2 cities in Europe, Otokar and Karsan which will present their buses in “bus display” area are some of the companies in this category.
There are 17 companies in this category: Aktif Electrotechnic, Egemet Egemetal, Elsitel Electromechanic, Emas Demir Celik, Er-Bakır, Guney Celik, Gurmak, Kardemir, Mipsan Makina, MZA, Ozkan Demir Celik, Panel, Sarkuysan, Tac Kaucuk, Ulusoy, Yapı Merkezi Idis, Yapiray.
Elsitel carrying out electrification/signalization projects in Marmaray, Gaziray, Sivas HST line, Tbilisi metro, Yapi Merkezi companies carrying out several railway projects in Africa, Kardemir which recently started producing rolling stock wheels can be seen in fair under this category.
There are 26 companies in this category: Aktas Air Suspension, Asas Aluminium, Aselsan, Avitech, Haci Ayvaz, Babacan, Bimed, Bozankaya, Coskun Kaucuk, Era Makine, Esray Makina, FMC Hidrolik, Gage Otomotiv, Gok Yapi, Kanca El Aletleri, Kaykaç Makina, Ozar Group, Petes Makina, RC Endustri, Sistas Celik, Sonmez Transformator, Ministery of Transport and Infrastructure, TMS Mars Kaucuk, Tubitak, Turasas, Va-Ko Vagon.
Bozankaya presenting its Timisoara tram as “world innovations”, Gok Yapi and RC Endustri which manufacture freight wagons for Europe and present products in outdoor display, Turasas working on electric loco E5000, Aselsan and Tubitak carrying out several hi-tech projects in railway are top on the list in this category.
There are 12 companies in this category: Canray Transport, Epengle Textile, ERA Electronic, Ekta-d, Grebo Automotive, Huroglu Automotive, Orion Leather, Ortakci Cam, Pilot Seating, Sazcilar, Uyguner Leather, Vogelsitze.
There are 35 companies from world under this category in Innotrans. Though there are several world-wide-known tunnel projects held in Turkey such as Marmaray, Avrasya, highway and HST tunnels, there are no exhibitors from Turkey under this category.
Cover photo: Onur Uysal ©
Categories: Railway Events


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By Stefa Alarcon | Remezcla.com
The Vendy Awards have been bringing together the best street food chefs in NYC since 2005 and now they’re getting ready for the 1st Annual Chicago Vendys! After expanding to food meccas like Los Angeles, New Orleans and Philly, stopping by Chicago’s booming street food scene was only natural. With apps like Roaming Hunger, an interactive map helping you track down your cravings infiltrating our smart phones and our cities, cheap eats and food trucks have become a part of our every day.
The Vendy Awards not only brings together people selling from trucks, but sidewalk and stoop chefs are also welcome, which means you’ll get to try the most authentic grub Chicago has to offer. As well as intense cook-offs, The Vendy’s will be raising money forAsociación de Vendedores Ambulantes (AVA), a non-profit organization that unites street vendors and their supporters to fight for regulations that allow them to sell products in public spaces.
The Vendy’s takes place Saturday, October 5th, 2013 from 1pm to 5pm at Kendall College. Tickets are selling fast, so grab them HERE!


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In the wake of the UK’s momentous ban on microbeads, FFI’s Dr Abigail Entwistle looks back at how we got to this point, and where we can go from here…
What does it take to get an effective microbeads ban? Well certainly, collaboration, persistence, expertise and foresight…And of course, the growing national and international recognition of the sheer scale and severity of plastic pollution has helped too.
It’s been a hell of a ride. We at FFI started this journey in 2009, recognising that washing billions of tiny grains of plastic down sinks every day didn’t really seem very sensible.
Back then, the research showing that marine creatures were ingesting these particles was only just emerging, but it was enough to convince us. In 2009 we didn’t know the issue would take off in the way it has. We didn’t expect to see such an upswell of public opinion on this issue, we didn’t expect so many companies to change their policy on microbeads voluntarily in response to our questions, and we certainly didn’t expect to be giving evidence to the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee and to see our criteria informing a UK law banning microbeads.
A lot of the work that has gone on in the background has been laborious and less than glamorous. This picture shows Dilyana Mihaylova (FFI’s Marine Plastic Manager), undertaking “fieldwork” checking the shelves in our local Boots. I always wonder what the salespeople made of the various FFI staff who loitered around the facial scrub section, studying ingredient lists in great detail…..
Over the last five years we have trawled high streets and websites to gather full ingredient lists for a staggering 1,500 products, not just scrubs but also toothpastes, shampoos and shaving cream – all of which can include plastic. Back in 2015, we found 200 products containing plastics, including most of the market leading brands. As of June 2018 there should be no plastics in any of these products. Our recent surveys have suggested that the phase out has already started and we will keep monitoring until we are satisfied that the ban is fully respected.
We are excited to see such a strongly worded ban from the UK government come into effect; this strong and robust policy on microbeads is indeed world-leading, in that it applies to all microplastic ingredients no matter what type of plastic material is used or what their function in a product is. All this is despite the objections from some parts of the cosmetics industry to the ambitious scope of ingredients. It means that no microplastics will leak into the ocean from products termed as ‘rinse off’.
The fact this ban has come into law is culmination of years of hard work, not just by FFI but by a range of others; our partners in the microbeads coalition (the Environmental Investigation Agency, Greenpeace UK and the Marine Conservation Society), the UK’s Environmental Audit Committee – which made the case for a strong ban drawing on principles laid down by FFI based on our in-depth understanding of the issue – and the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) which developed the legislation and managed to keep it robust and world-leading.
Marine plastic pollution Credit: AdobeStock.
However, of course, there is much more to be done.
We will continue to monitor the products on shelves and ensure that plastic-containing products don’t creep through the net. Trading Standards will be responsible for policing the microbeads ban, but we will be offering our support as they take this on.
There are also other products which the current microbeads ban doesn’t cover. These include household cleaners and also make-up – which shockingly can contain a significant proportion of plastic (in face powders, eyeshadows and mascaras) which can all ultimately end up in the sea if people wash their faces rather than removing make up with a cleanser and cotton wool. The government’s Hazardous Substances Advisory Committee is currently assessing these sources of microplastics and we are providing input to their work.
Microplastics can get into our oceans in other ways too, such as through the spillage of the raw plastic pellets (known as nurdles) used to make everyday plastic items. On this, we are collaborating with Scottish NGO Fidra and a range of European NGOs to push for an improvement in the handling of these nurdles, to help ensure that spillages are better prevented and dealt with so that they don’t end up in the sea.
It’s also becoming increasingly clear that microplastic fibres – from clothes and potentially from fishing nets – are having an effect on marine life; even animals recovered from the bottom of deep sea trenches are found to be contaminated with these plastic fibres. We are looking to see what can be done to prevent plastic fibres from being shed from clothes via washing machines, and we recognise the solution will require far-sighted and ambitious collaboration across garment and textile manufacturers, washing machine manufacturers, academia, government and NGOs.
However, tackling microplastics is not enough. We need to see a global change in our relationship with plastic, and systemic shifts in how we use and treat these materials.
At the moment it’s still easier and cheaper to keep using low value new plastics, rather than investing in a system that uses – and reuses – higher value, recyclable plastics. Until that changes, we will be continuing to chip away at the plastic pollution problem issue-by-issue, rather than tackling the root source of the problem. This will require shifts in the way we think about value, convenience and material design.
FFI is currently developing an ambitious strategy to further extend our work to tackle marine plastic pollution, not just in the UK but across the other countries where we work. Blue Planet II made the risk of plastic to marine creatures clear to all of us, and we will be building on this awareness to drive forward other meaningful and innovative changes that can offer a brighter and plastic-free future for ocean life.
The world’s coastal and marine habitats are among the most threatened and – until recently – the most neglected on our planet.


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Called Circuit City + Napster, the service will cost $14.95 a month and won't be tied to the use of any specific electronic device. Powered by Napster's digital music subscription service, it essentially offers the same thing as an enhanced Napster subscription, plus "continuing access to exclusive songs and new releases on a weekly basis."
Such service presents an appealing alternative for heavy music users, providing access to more than 3 million songs for a fixed price. And for those who don't want to pay the monthly fee, the plan also sells songs at 99 cents, as well as prepaid download cards.
The announcement comes at a time when consumers have flummoxed both retailers and music companies with sweeping changes in the way they buy and listen to music.
While pundits once predicted that online music services such as Napster and iTunes would quickly devour conventional retail CD sales that seems to be only partially true. Yes, retail CD sales are falling, with independent record stores among the biggest casualties. And yes, online sales are skyrocketing. But despite an explosion of choices, consumers seem to actually be buying significantly less music overall.
Last month Nielsen SoundScan said digital sales of individual songs in early 2007 were up 54% from a year earlier, to 173.4 million from the year-earlier period. But CD sales in the same period fell 20% to 81.5 million units, resulting in an overall slide of 10% in music sales.
The Napster deal could give Circuit City a much-needed edge in music sales. Earlier this year, the Richmond, Va.-based retailer, citing holiday price wars on flat screen TVs, closed a number of stores, and laid off about 3,400 workers, replacing them with cheaper employees.
And it could give Napster, a pioneer of digital music sales, greater visibility at the retail level. Napster currently charges $9.95 for a basic subscription, and $14.95 for a subscription that also allows users to download songs onto an MP3 player.


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Earlier this year, a few days after we rung in the new year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency world. In a Facebook post, the company’s CEO outlined his personal goals for 2018 – one of which is learning about cryptocurrency technology and decentralization. The inclusion of blockchain technology in his post, which was centered on improving the social media network during the new year, sparked a wildfire of online speculation. It made us start to think: will we see a Facebook cryptocurrency this year? What about a Facebook ICO timeline, at least?
A Facebook ICO Is Absolutely Possible. Here’s Why:
The world of cryptocurrency is slowly, but surely becoming more and more engrained into our traditional ways of using money. There are already debit cards that withdraw directly from cryptocurrency wallets, for example. Large financial organizations, like Santander and MoneyGram, have been partnering with blockchain companies to collaborate on payment systems.
As the utility and efficiency of blockchain-based payment solutions (and decentralization, in general) is more absorbed into our society, it would only be a matter of time until Facebook embraces cryptocurrency.
There are a number of reasons why it could be a reality sooner than you might think.
Blockchain-based social networks have already been launched
Turning a social network into a platform that supports a cryptocurrency has already been done before. Ever heard of Steemit (STEEM)? Users create content, and other users upvote that content – which rewards the creator with cryptocurrency.
Steemit may be the most popular social media network that focuses on cryptocurrency, but there are a ton of lesser-known ones that have launched – like Social (SCL). There are also active ICOs for blockchain-based social networks, such as SocialX (SOCX). There are also more to come in the ICO pipeline. There’s one called Peerity, for example, and another one called Akasha.
Imagine if a social network with the global dominance of Facebook launched its own cryptocurrency. A Facebook cryptocurrency would certainly eclipse all the aforementioned ones.
The Facebook of China is Doing an ICO
Sure, the biggest corporate giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Google haven’t made public plans to launch their own crypto coins. But there have been a few large players in the market that have, so it’s a slowly-rolling snowball at the beginning of its descent. Overstock.com is even launching a cryptocurrency, called “tZero,” via a subsidiary.
But, more importantly, the “Facebook of China” announced recently that it will be holding an ICO. The company, called Renren, is a popular social networking platform based in China. Even though China bans ICOs, Renren is able to hold one in the US because it’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Its coin will be called the RRCoin.
A Facebook ICO might look similar to how the RRCoin launch goes – so we will certainly be paying attention. The “Facebook ICO of China” can certainly be a glimpse into how a FacebookCoin rollout might be if it were to really happen.
The news of Renren’s ICO, which was made by releasing its whitepaper, drove the company’s public stock 47.4% higher in a single trading day. Can you imagine what kind of profits Facebook shareholders might get on the day that the Facebook cryptocurrency gets announced?
The Facebook Cryptocurrency Could Be Used So Many Ways
We already know how cryptocurrency value works in Steemit (STEEM), but Facebook is a platform that covers so much more of the globe – and much more aspects of our lifestyles. The Facebook cryptocurrency could be earned by attaining “likes,” or maybe by posting content that gets shared the most.
A Facebook cryptocurrency could be a token used by advertisers, or even artists that reach consumers by releasing their content on the social media platform. It could tie into the various games that people play on the site.
A Facebook ICO might even mean the launch of a new type of marketplace or newly-created Facebook product. More importantly, how would Facebook go from centralized to decentralized?
The possibilities are pretty wide-open at this point, but so are the questions they raise.
The idea of a cryptocurrency is exciting, and maybe Mark Zuckerberg will take the idea a little more seriously after the RRCoin launch happens. We are certainly going to sit anxiously waiting.
Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency.


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My grandmother used to say, You can ask for anything if you’re not afraid to take no for an answer.
Grandmother wasn’t talking about asking the media for free publicity, but she could have been.
Shrinking ad revenues and an ever-growing number of cable stations have caused massive cuts in news operations everywhere. And with fewer people doing more work, you can score some big publicity coups simply by making yourself available.
This is especially true with ‘soft news’ or ‘lifestyle’ programs in small-to-medium size TV markets.
These are shows that generally appear in the mid-morning, and focus on relationships, medical, travel, consumer, legal and financial topics rather than murder, mayhem, and traffic accidents (which tend to show up on evening or ‘hard news’ programs).
I recently picked a Tuesday morning and watched ‘San Antonio Living,’ a one hour program airing each weekday at 10:00 AM on my local NBC affiliate.
They did a little hard news and some weather, of course. But the rest of the show seemed like non-stop unpaid commercials for a number of businesses.
Here’s the lineup:
10:06 Guest appearance by designer Carolina Herrera, including models wearing some of her fashions. A full screen graphic with Herrera’s name and phone number closed the segment. 13 minutes
10:21 Live remote with a reporter at a new store called ‘TreefrogEd,’ which sells educational materials for kids. Full screen graphic with name and phone number
included. 8 minutes.
10:30 An appearance by a food specialist from a local supermarket. Live interview on the set. 7 minutes. Once again, a full screen graphic was included at the end of the segment.
10:40 Interview with Dr. Nancy Appleton, author of ‘Lick The Sugar Habit.’ Dr. Appleton not only got seven minutes of airtime, but the station promoted the book throughout the show during teases. Dr. Appleton (wisely) managed to mention her web site and the fact that she would be giving away several free copies of the book at a seminar that night.
10:51 A segment about a charity drive kickoff scheduled for the next day at a local homebuilder’s showroom. The builder, KB Home, had a spokesperson and a banner on the set.
10:57 A quick return to the reporter at TreefrogEd, including another short interview with the store owner and more shots of products sold at the store.
Again, this was a typical Tuesday morning picked at random. People who appeared did not have to buy advertising as part of the deal. The exposure was totally free.
You can do it too. All it takes is a decent press release sent to the producer of the show. Stress the benefit their audience will get by watching (avoid mentioning specific products at this stage).
Will you get the air time you’re looking for? Maybe. Maybe not.
But as my grandmother would tell you, you’ll never know unless you ask.


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Trump issues executive orders that will ban transactions with TikTok, WeChat parent companies
Both apps have been characterized as national security threats.
Gigabytes of 'sensitive' internal Intel documents dumped online
The company confirmed the incident is under investigation.
HHS saw increase in network scanning in midst of COVID-19 outreach
HHS saw an uptick in scanning, and U.S. officials are investigating.
Critical flaw in Citrix applications could allow unauthorized access to internal networks
The company that discovered the flaw says "at least 80,000 companies in 158 countries are potentially at risk."
Wawa says payment processing servers were hacked, potentially affecting all of its stores
Malware affected customer payment card information used at potentially all locations of the East Coast convenience store chain.


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Armored Warfare – Dev Interview + Behind the Scenes
DizzyPW & JamesBl0nde visit Obsidian Entertainment development studios to see what its like behind the development process on Armored Warfare! There are about 300 developers in the Obsidian Entertainment studio and most of them are building every aspect of the game from the ground up! DizzyPW interviews the lead systems designer and art director about some of the new features coming to the game very soon and I get to see the developers actually working on the latest patch!
About Armored Warfare:
Armored Warfare is a massively multiplayer online tactical modern military video game being developed by Obsidian Entertainment as a free-to-compete experience for PCs. Controlling the power of modern fighting vehicles and heavy military weaponry in Armored Warfare, players battle across cooperative campaigns and team-based matches…. learn more at the game profile HERE!
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The latest reports suggest that Visa, a major digital payment platform has filed trademark applications. It has been confirmed in the report that Visa has submitted an application for two trademarks.
Visa Files Trademark Applications at USPTO
The report suggests that the applications have been filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It means that the payments company is very discreet and serious about the new products it aims to launch.
A trademark attorney, Mike Kondoudis, who is licensed by the USPTO has reportedly tweeted about Visa’s latest submission.
Details of the Applications
While sharing details about the trademark applications, Kondoudis revealed what Visa has asked approval for.
He revealed that Visa is planning to manage virtual environments, virtual goods, NFTs, crypto wallets, digital currencies, crypto transactions, and digital asset transactions as well.
Visa has added that it wants to offer much more to the users while exploring and targeting audiences in the crypto-blockchain spaces.
As confirmed by Kondoudis, both applications have been filed on October 22. The serial number for the first application is 97643605 and the serial number for the second application is 97643607.
In the applications, Visa has added that the company that would own the trademarks would be Visa International Service Association. It is the subsidiary that has been created by Visa Inc.
Content is Not Downloadable
In the application, Visa has remained very transparent as to what it intends to do with the content it wants to create.
As per the application, all the online software, collectible series of NFTs, virtual goods, crypto wallets, and digital transactions it is aiming to create and the host would be non-downloadable.
Visa is a Crypto Proponent
In the past couple of years, Visa has done things that have made it very clear that it is a cryptocurrency proponent. The company has openly supported projects and firms that are linked with the world of crypto.
Visa is among the mainstream financial institutions that have recognized the true potential of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain sector.
Therefore, the company aims to gain as much as it can from the adoption and integrations into cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
In recent years, Visa has partnered with over 65 cryptocurrency firms and the number is rising significantly. Visa has no intentions of slowing down and it aims to continue gaining more momentum.
It is even supporting some of the major cryptocurrency exchanges as they are launching their cryptocurrency debit cards in collaboration with Visa.
So far, 80 million merchants all over the world have access to crypto payments just because Visa has enabled it through its platform.
It is proving to be a pinnacle for crypto adoption and the crypto sector would benefit tremendously from Visa.


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The new Google Pixel 7 Pro benchmark, which has surfaced online, shows the CPU and GPU performance improvements of the Tensor G2 chip. The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are expected to launch during Google’s hardware event scheduled for October 6. A new report has revealed that the Tensor G2 chip is said to use the same a combination of two Cortex-X1 cores, two Cortex-A76 cores and four Cortex-A55 cores like its predecessor. However, the boosted core speed is said to have improved the Tensor G2 SoC and thus boosted the Pixel 7 Pro’s multi-core performance by around 10%.
A recent report by 9to5Google, citing a Twitter leak by developer Kuba Wojciechowski, has suggestions in the CPU and GPU improvements of the Tensor G2 chip. Information regarding the latest Tensor chips has been reported from a Google Pixel 7 Pro benchmark.
As mentioned earlier, the report has revealed that the Tensor G2 chip can use the same combination of two Cortex-X1 cores, two Cortex-A76 cores, and four Cortex-A55 cores as its predecessor. However, the increased speed is said to improve the performance of the Tensor G2 SoC and thus the Pixel 7 Pro’s multi-core benchmark by about 10%.
A report last month has shown that Samsung is developing Google’s next-generation Tensor SoC as well as its in-house Exynos 1380 SoC. The upcoming Google Tensor G2 SoC will be included in Pixel 7 series phones. The Tensor G2 SoC is said to have model number S5P9865.
Again, Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are expected will officially launch on October 6. As we’re getting closer to the rumored launch date, the company is expected to announce more details about the second-generation Tensor chip.
The rear design of Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro was introduced back in May with Pixel 6a at Google I/O. During the event, Google announced that the phone would be launched in the fall of 2022 without specifying a product launch date.


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Recently, Role Mommy had the opportunity to host a fun filled event for parenting bloggers and their families at Atari Headquarters in NYC who attended a preview of the brand new game release for Backyard Sports Sandlot Sluggers. Take a look...
Based on one of the best selling kids' sports video games (my hubby even remembers this one), Backyard Sports is back in an all-new action packed baseball game, Sandlot Sluggers. Available May 25 on Xbox 360®, Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and PC Download...take a look at Sandlot Slugger offers kids and adults too!:
Non-stop action with arcade-style take on baseball, offering up instant playability, comedic commentary, exaggerated animations and turbo-injected gameplay for a one-of-a-kind experience
Feature-rich with multiplayer tournaments, mini games, season mode, quick play and an all new story mode setting, never seen before in a kids sports game
Packed with comic scenarios, kid-style tricks and surprises to keep kids coming back for more
Starring a neighborhood full of fun and diverse kids - both fan favorite characters and new friends.
Super charged power-ups with a twist take the excitement to the next level
Stunning visuals bring colorful and new settings to life making gameplay feel authentically real.
And here's an exclusive preview of the Backyard Sports commercial for Booger Ball...a game which your kids will be clamoring for!


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CHARLESTON, WV (WOAY) – Appalachian Power, along with Wheeling Power, will implement new rates for customers as a result of an order from the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. The 3 percent increase approved yesterday is effective March 6 and is the first change in the company’s “base rates” since 2015.
To address the concern customers have around bills during the winter months, the company will implement a rate discount effective December through February each year. With the new seasonal rate structure, customers with higher winter usage, such as those with electric heat, will see little or no increase, or even a decrease in their bills.
Residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) a month will see a $5.38 increase in their monthly bill and customers using 2,000 kWh a month will see a $1.37 reduction in their monthly bill.
The PSC’s order approves a settlement agreement announced last November between the company, the PSC Staff, Consumer Advocate Division, WV Energy Users Group, Kroger, Walmart and other parties.
“The Commission has the difficult challenge of addressing the needs of customers while balancing the economic realities of the state and the financial health of the utilities it regulates,” said Chris Beam, Appalachian Power president and COO. “We appreciate the hard work that these groups put in to present a settlement agreement to the Commission that is fair and balances the needs of all our customers – residential, commercial and industrial.”
In the settlement agreement approved by the PSC, the company also states that it will not file a base rate case before April 1, 2020.
To encourage economic development, the company said it will work with the Commission and other interested parties to create an economic development program funded by a combination of customer fees and matching company contributions.
“We are seeking out every possible tool that we can provide to support economic growth in our West Virginia service territory,” Beam said. “In addition to this new program, we recently introduced a new economic development incentive rate for new and existing customers that add a minimum billing demand of 500 kilowatts.”
Beam said the company also provided $330,000 to 22 local economic development organizations as part of its annual Economic Development Growth Enhancement grants, plus has set aside $1 million in tax reform dollars for additional economic development grants.
“Economic growth is key to the success of West Virginia and of Appalachian Power,” he said.
Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. The company and its AEP affiliates employ approximately 2,300 people in West Virginia, making AEP one of the largest employers in the state. It is also one of the largest taxpayers in the state. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also operates 224,000 miles of distribution lines. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 26,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP supplies 3,200 megawatts of renewable energy to customers.


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By Guest Author: Kate Farrow, Senior Marketing Manager, Oracle University EMEA
Are you and your customers ready? Are their data secure? How can you be sure?
In the first half of 2018, more than 4.5 billion data records were compromised worldwide - an increase of 133% over the same period in 2017. Many of the targets were in the banking, healthcare, and social network industries - at companies where customers could expect that their data were secured with the highest levels of protection.
According to digital security company Gemalto, North America is still the worst hit for data breaches - with the USA accounting for 72% of all records stolen. Indeed, the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans was compromised during the June 2018 breach at marketing company Exactis. Meanwhile, Europe saw a 28% increase in the number of records breached - and the severity of attacks is increasing worldwide and across all sectors.
Can your business and your customers’ business afford a data breach?
Calculating the cost of data breaches is not easy - it stretches far beyond costs incurred through ransomware. Facebook’s breach in March 2018 knocked more than 100 billion US dollars off the share price within days, while fines imposed by the US Federal Trade Commission could still cost the company trillions of dollars.
Perhaps one of the biggest impacts of a data breach to a company’s bottom line comes from the loss of customer trust. In the retail industry - where 80% to 90% of people logging on to e-commerce websites are using stolen data - customers are switching brands to safeguard their information. Business Insider cites a recent study by KPMG showing that 19% of consumers would completely stop shopping at a retailer after a data breach, while as many as 33% would take an extended break. How would Oracle partners and their customers fare if they suddenly lost one third of their customers overnight?
While there are many factors affecting the overall cost to each business, a 2018 study shows that data breaches are becoming increasingly expensive year-on-year - currently averaging 3.86 million US dollars globally (up 6.4%), and 7.91 million US dollars in the USA. Some reports have estimated that the total annual cost of data breaches in 2020 will exceed 2 trillion US dollars.
Trends in security spend
With so much at stake, and the risks and costs only increasing, companies are investing more resources to counter data security threats. A 2017 Gartner report estimated the total global security budget for 2018 would be 96 billion US dollars - an 8% increase over 2017; while a previous IDC report forecasted spending on security related hardware, software, and services to reach more than 91 billion US dollars - a year-on-year increase of more than 10%.
A significant rise in security spend for 2018 was certainly expected - not least due to stricter data privacy laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - however, the total figure may have exceeded all expectations. The more recent 2018 U.S. State of Cybercrime study cites an increase of 27% in the average IT security budget.
Learning to Boost Security
With data breaches continuing to topple both big and small names like dominoes, companies across all sectors are desperate to tighten the security around their data - and those that aren’t are almost certain to pay the price.
There has never been a better time than now to enhance your business value as an Oracle partner by boosting your IT security knowledge.
As the developer of the world’s number one database, Oracle has a vested interest in both the Oracle partners’ own cybersecurity as well as that implemented by Oracle partners for their customers and it therefore offers the cream of training when it comes to protecting data.
In view of the increasingly sophisticated attacks, it is essential for you as an Oracle partner to keep your security skills constantly up-to-date. Oracle University helps you achieve this by offering year-round training with Oracle Learning Subscriptions, which are continually updated so your knowledge stays fresh.
Enhance your security skill set with Oracle University. Both you and our customers, will be eternally grateful.
Remember: Your Oracle PartnerNetwork discount is applied to standard list prices shown on Oracle University web pages.


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Chobani LLC needs to halt marketing that bashes rivals' use of some artificial ingredients in light Greek yogurts, a judge ordered Friday, but the company says it has already stopped running such ads and vowed to "fight the good fight' as the cases proceed.
In early January, Chobani began running commercials for its Simply 100 Greek yogurt, calling out some of the artificial ingredients found in Yoplait Greek 100 and Dannon Light & Fit Greek. A full-page print advertisement also focused on the rivals' ingredients. General Mills, which makes Yoplait, and dairy company Dannon, swiftly sued.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge David Hurd granted motions from both General Mills and Dannon seeking preliminary injunctions. Chobani may not make certain claims about its rivals in marketing and advertising, such as what the judge called false messages "that sucralose renders Dannon's products unsafe to consume" or "that potassium sorbate renders Yoplait Greek 100 unsafe to consume."
Still, "Chobani is free to continue to spread its message about the value of selecting natural ingredients," the judge wrote in each of the orders.
Chobani, in a statement titled "Chobani Continues to Fight the Good Fight," said it would continue to promote the use of only natural ingredients.
"This is not a marketing campaign, it's a mindset campaign, and it outlines the difference between using only natural ingredients versus artificial ingredients," said Chobani Chief Marketing and Brand Officer Peter McGuinness. "While we're disappointed by the preliminary ruling, we're committed to continuing the conversation and it's good to see big food companies like General Mills starting to remove artificial ingredients from some of their products, like their cereals. In the end, if we can give more people more information while helping other food companies make better food, everyone wins."
The commercials in question, two 30-second spots (below) that began running in early January, are no longer on the air. Instead, Chobani is using 15-second spots that do not call out the rivals. Also, its print ad has not been repeated since earlier this month.
General Mills and Dannon expressed satisfaction with the court's ruling.
"We are pleased by today's court ruling requiring Chobani to stop their false ad campaign attacking Yoplait Greek 100 yogurt. General Mills supports fair and vigorous competition between companies, but false advertising only misleads and harms consumers." -- General Mills spokesman Mike Siemienas
Dannon said Chobani's "misleading advertising" was causing fear about safe ingredients.
"Dannon considers this first step a victory for consumers who love Light & Fit. Contrary to what Chobani has said, its Simply 100 ad campaign is not about providing consumers with choice. We have always used only safe ingredients to make a wide variety of yogurts that are enjoyed every day by millions of people … We take all attacks on the reputation of our Light & Fit products as well as our brand seriously, and will work to ensure our competitors are truthful and not misleading in their advertising." -- Dannon spokesman Michael Neuwirth
Chobani has been offering $1 off coupons on its web site where it showed the different ingredients in the three yogurt brands. Now, the Greek yogurt maker's online marketing is set to ask other food makers to join its mission of using only natural ingredients. Coincidentally, Yoplait maker General Mills recently began boasting about removing artificial flavors and colors from cereals such as Trix.
Here are the 30-second commercials that Chobani said it has already stopped airing:


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SCENT OF LEATHER: Manuel Puig, Nina Ricci president and a scion of the Puig fragrance empire, took in the Bottega Veneta show Saturday morning, but waved away the rumor wafting through the room: Could a Bottega Veneta perfume be in the offing?
“I’m here just to say hello to Tomas,” he insisted, referring to Bottega’s designer Tomas Maier, adding, “He’s doing a good job here.”
This story first appeared in the March 2, 2009 issue of WWD. Subscribe Today.
Asked if fragrance could be a near-term project for Bottega, chief executive Marco Bizzarri said, “We’re keeping our eyes open.”
Preempting further speculation, Puig said he would also attend the Marni show because his wife operates four Marni stores in Spain.


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Despite Trails of Cold Steel IV’s English release still being a month away, we already have a release date for Ys IX too. Well, Ys IX on PS4 anyway.
Adol’s latest adventure will be making its way to the West next year, arriving for the PS4 February 5 in Europe. North Americans get it a few days earlier on February 2, while PC and Switch users must wait until Summer for their chance to play.
Considering that the PS4 version of Ys IX seemed to have a few framerate issues, it’ll be interesting to see how these two new versions perform.
PC porting is being handled by PH3 GmbH — a company formed by Durante, the guy who made the PC release of Dark Souls actually good — so it’s in safe hands. Ys VIII also had a solid Switch port, though the more demanding nature of Ys IX could prove an issue for the underpowered system.
To tide us over until Ys IX’s launch next year, NISA have released a new trailer to show off the game’s combat system. Looks a lot like the last game, with some nifty new movement abilities.
Disclosure: Some links in this article may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on them. This is at no additional cost to you and helps support Rice Digital!
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet releasing November 18 - June 1, 2022
- White Day: A Labyrinth Named School coming to PS5, Xbox Series, Switch September 2022 - May 31, 2022
- Ib Remake adds English support - May 18, 2022


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Kylie Jenner Supports Ex Travis Scott With an Enviable Style Statement
By Antoinette Bueno
Kylie Jenner is letting everyone know it's still all good between her and her ex-boyfriend Travis Scott with a major style flex in her latest Instagram post.
On Thursday, the 22-year-old makeup mogul shared a photo of herself on a private plane, but it's her shoes that caught fans' eyes. Jenner is sporting 27-year-old Scott's new Nike SB Dunk low-top sneakers, which haven't been released yet. Jenner completed her look with her new honey-colored 'do that she debuted earlier this month, gray sweatpants, a leather jacket and a purple Hermes Birkin crocodile bag that retails for $45,000.
"Kylie and Travis are both young, but they are very mature and have been handling parenting post-breakup really well," a source told ET that month. "Kylie and Travis don't want any drama, and are on the same page of keeping Stormi happy."
"Kylie and Travis truly enjoy one another and are in love, but it can often be hard navigating their lives at such a young age," the source said. "The couple needed to take a step back to reevaluate many things, but in doing so they are better now than ever."


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DHAKA: After visiting 837 ready made garments (RMG) factories, US-based ‘Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety’ said that the factories do not have sufficient fire safety measures.
It also said that around Tk1,600-crore need to be invested to install fire safety measures in those factories.
Alliance managing director Mezbah Robin came up with observations in a press conference on Saturday.
The conference was organized to brief media about three-day international expo on fire and building safety starting at Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in city on December 7.
Mezbah Robin further said the Alliance visited 837 garments factories around the country but did not find any fire escape in any of them. “Moreover, the Alliance observed other errors related to building safety,” he added.
He also said that in average, there is a need for $2.5-lakh (over 1.95-crore) to construct fire escape and other renovation works of each factory building.
This means, the renovation of all 837 factories will require about Tk1,633-crore, he added.
Robin added that 28 factories out of 837, have already applied to the banks for loan facilities.
The Alliance top official also informed that a total of 36 brands, including 13 foreign, on building and fire safety will participate in the three-day expo at BICC.
BDST: 2146 HRS, DEC 05, 2015


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Mike Pfeiffer didn’t come up with the idea to sell his pigs individually on his own.
The Ashton farmer was watching TV and learned of a South Carolina couple that did the same and had success.
“I told my wife that we had to do it,” Pfeiffer said. “We had to avoid euthanasia and burying them.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed meat packing plants around the country, interrupting the supply chains and leaving farmers like Pfeiffer without anywhere to offload their pigs.
When too many are crammed into a pen, it encourages cannibalism among the herd and food costs rise. The only other option is paying to euthanize and bury the pigs.
Pfeiffer’s wife, Joan, took to Facebook last week to advertise the pigs for sale to individuals at a cost of $100 a head.
“I was overwhelmed by the people that called and asked,” Pfeiffer said. “We had to turn people away. We had people from Missouri, Kentucky and Minnesota call about the pigs.”
On May 2, Pfeiffer sold just over 200 pigs that he had available. Buyers had to bring their own trailers and pay in cash.
The buyers will have to process the pigs themselves. Pfeiffer said he checked with local processors and was told there was no availability. He said the buyers must have access to someone to process them the way a deer would be after being killed.
Pfeiffer’s pigs were market ready and between 270-300 pounds. They were locally grown on his family farm and non-GMO and antibiotic-free. Normally, he’d get around 45 cents per pound for the pigs. Selling them for $100 basically amounts for him to break even, he said.
“My Tyson buyer told me to wait four weeks ago,” Pfeiffer said. “That’s when we last sold. Usually it’s once a week. He had to refuse 25 semi loads that week.”
President Trump signed an executive order last week mandating that meat packing plants stay open. Pfeiffer believes social distancing will cut down on capacity.
Pfeiffer has been raising pigs for over 40 years and usually produces about 3,200 a year. Usually, pigs support his grain farming operations. That’s another aspect of his business that has taken a hit with the ethanol market down and bad weather last year.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Pfeiffer said. “I hope I never see anything like it again.”


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Tata to make budget cars for Volkswagen and the global markets based project is reportedly codenamed as Economy Car
A report emerged on Manager Magazine’s July 22 issue stated that world’s leading automaker Volkswagen will be recommencing its budget car project as showed at the brand’s stock market chart. The German auto giant had been negotiating with Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors for kick start the new project which would give VW a competitive edge over its rivals in the affordable car space globally.
Tata Motors should be developing the global ‘budget car’ completely from its own expertise or partially for Volkswagen according to the report. It is believed that Volkswagen has been developing the assignment on its own internally but the move to seek Tata Motors’ assistance would have come to grab market share in the volume churning entry-level segments in countries like India and China.
Also Read: Volkswagen Ameo Won’t be Shared with Skoda
The reinstating of the project has been codenamed as Economy Car. The main trick in the box for a budget car is bringing the development costs under control and positioning it effectively in the market. Volkswagen designers and developers could not achieve the targets set which led to repeated hindrances in the project.
The car will be sold as the cheapest model in the Volkswagen lineup and the man responsible for the development of the project is none other than the company’s CEO Herbert Diess reportedly. The corporate strategy and contract stipulations with Tata will be dealt by Thomas Sedran, Head of VW Group Strategy. The Economy Car project could spawn three models a compact sedan, a MPV and an estate.
Volkswagen might put its old platforms into test across its group brands with this project and the idea of budget car will have huge appeal, as unlike many automakers, the brand is considered by potential customers as a premium outfit. Tata Motors is giving its best to expand presence in global markets and the cheaper models will only aid the cause.
Tata gained global recognition with the launch of the cheapest car in the world, Nano, and could use Volkswagen’s expertise to strengthen its portfolio. Following the JLR buyout, Tata is slowly feeding in the British brand’s technologies into its upcoming vehicles. The mooted Economy Car project could play a game-changing role for the Indian company’s future.
Source: Manager Magazine


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Fortune 500 company protects 3 petabytes of data across 12,500 virtual machines
Veeam announced that Rabobank, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company based in Utrecht, Netherlands, chose Veeam Availability Suite as its European standard in data protection. Veeam delivers enterprise scalability to protect a vast virtual estate, ensures business continuity by backing up and recovering critical banking systems up to four times faster and saves 50% in licensing costs annually. Veeam has also helped Rabobank increase data security by creating immutable backups that protect against ransomware.
'Our customers expect 100% data integrity, and Veeam underpins our ability to provide it,' said Colin Chatelier, manager of storage and compute, Europe, Rabobank.


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Aldi’s new concept store in South London
Aldi has launched a new and smaller “Local” concept store in South London as part of a trial that could potentially see a roll-out of the sub-brand.
The Aldi Local concept is only being trialled at Balham for the time being, and the results would be evaluated before deciding whether to roll out the concept and branding. Aldi stressed that this was not a move into convenience retailing, and that the Balham store – at 6500sq ft – is still twice the size of a typical convenience store. However, the store in question sells 300 fewer products than a regular-sized Aldi.
Loading Maps Please Wait...


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Lowball price for TrueCar IPO, but shares up in trading
Feeling a bit like the car dealers in its car-selling network, auto research and sales outfit TrueCar got horse-traded down to only $9 a share in its IPO, from the $12 to $14 range the company had forecast.
The initial public offering was 7.78 million shares, raising $70 million, which the company plans to use for marketing new products and expanding awareness of the TrueCar brand.
Investors decided the stock is more valuable than that, though, and the newly public company's first day of NASDAQ trading opened at $9.70. Shares peaked at $10.76, and closed at $10.10, which was up $1.06 or 12.2% from the IPO opening price.
That's a strong initial showing on a day when major indexes struggled heroically to close above flat.
TrueCar operates TrueCar.com, an online car-shopping and research site, and also owns ALG, the leading service forecasting the value of cars over coming years for lenders and leasing companies.
The TrueCar.com site shows a range of good, bad and average prices that others are paying in your area for the new car or truck you want and offers to direct you to one of its affiliated dealers. It claims to be involved in 3.2% of new-car sales in the U.S., even though, TrueCar executives say, just 8% of people have heard of the company.
Most of its revenue comes from fees its network of 8,000 dealers pay when a referral turns into a sale -- $299 for a new car, $399 for a used car.
Initially the site was able to give shoppers guaranteed prices from its affiliated dealers. But Honda pushed back, telling its dealers in 2012 that they couldn't do that if the guarantee resulted in advertising cars for less than the invoice price. Some states also called the arrangement illegal under their dealer-franchise laws.
So TrueCar overhauled its approach in 2012 to focus on information about what buyers generally are paying instead of offering a guaranteed price. That's made it less distinctive, because some competing car sites do about the same. Main rivals include Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com and Cars.com, which are not public.
TrueCar founder Scott Painter has been involved with a number of other car-shopping and -buying companies, such as CarsDirect and Auto-By-Tel.
TrueCar President John Krafcik, late the CEO of Hyundai Motor America, and industry veteran Larry Dominique, head of TrueCar's ALG unit, are well-regarded, seasoned players in the car business.


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A Canadian AI startup, Twenty Billion Neurons Gmbh (or TwentyBN for short), is touting a virtual salesperson called Millie to major retail brands that are looking for ways to boost flagging in-store sales. Millie is trained to recognize what people are doing and interact with them in ways that will drive up sales.
Millie was unveiled at the NeurIPS 2018, a major AI conference in Montreal. The life-size digital avatar created by TwentyBN “is just like a game character, but with the difference that it can see you and respond,” says Roland Memisevic, CEO of TwentyBN. “It’s really something new and exciting that shoppers are going to want to see.”
Millie appears on a slightly larger-than-life screen, makes eye contact and tracks one’s movement with her gaze to tell where in the store a customer is looking and respond accordingly. Speech recognition and natural language processing software allow her to understand and answer simple questions or have a back-and-forth conversation with the same fluency as Alexa.
Millie can also act as a store greeter and show customers how to use products like tech hardware or sports equipment. She even learns to recognize frequent visitors by name with the help of facial recognition technology. Reviewers of the new avatar were entirely sold. However, “it’s just a promotion system right now,” and Millie’s communication skills are a bit “crude and basic,” they said.
The idea, however, isn’t new. Amazon is already testing stores where vision software alleviates the need for checkout. Also at NeurIPS, Alibaba demoed software that takes spoken orders from customers in Chinese KFC restaurants.


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Apple has officially opened its historically private bug-bounty program to the public, while boosting its top payout to $1 million.
Bounty hunters seeking that $1 million will need to provide a working exploit for a zero-click remote chain with full kernel execution and persistence on Apple’s latest shipping hardware. The exploit will need to include a bypass for Apple’s kernel pointer authentication code (PAC), which is a cryptographic signature mechanism.
Other payouts range from $25,000 to $500,000 across a range of products, including Macs, iPhone and iPad, and Apple TV. Vulnerability types encompass those that enable lock-screen bypasses; unauthorized iCloud account access; attacks that require physical access to the device; and network-based attacks with or without user interaction that result in information exfiltration, code execution and more (these include attacks carried out via both physical and wireless/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth networks).
Apple is also offering payouts for vulnerabilities that can be exploited via malicious applications. These include bugs that would allow an app to access sensitive data; execute kernel-level code; or carry out CPU side-channel attacks.
Importantly, Apple Pay is not in scope.
“In order to be eligible for an Apple Security Bounty, the issue must occur on the latest publicly available versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS or watchOS with a standard configuration and, where relevant, on the latest publicly available hardware,” Apple said in its final published eligibility rules, issued on Thursday.
In addition, developer betas and public betas are eligible for a 50 percent payout for the above-mentioned bugs.
Bug hunters reacted to the $1 million reward news with a mix of positivity and regret:
To claim a full reward, bug hunters must be the first to report an issue, provide a clear report with a working exploit (proofs of concept will garner a half-bounty) and not disclose the problem before Apple issues a security advisory for the bug in question. Bug hunters are also not allowed to “hack” any account, device or service other than their own.
According to the bounty page, “Apple is particularly interested in issues that: Affect multiple platforms; impact the latest publicly available hardware and software; are unique to newly added features or code in designated developer betas or public betas, including regressions, as noted on this page when available; impact sensitive components; [and] are novel.”
Apple first announced that it would make its bug-bounty program public back in August, at Black Hat 2019. The move commanded attention thanks to the tech giant promising bigger payouts and an expanded list of in-scope products for its public endeavor. Its existing program has been invite-only, with rewards only as high as $200,000 on limited platforms.
Apple also at the time confirmed a report that it will give security researchers special iPhones that will make it easier for them to find weaknesses in its smartphone, in a new program called “iOS Security Research Device Program.” The phone will have special features – such as advanced debug capabilities – and will be available to researchers in 2020.


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December 13, 2009 News
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West African Countries Cut Tax to Combat Increasing Food Price
Aug 08, 2012 03:17 AM EDT | By Sharon Robinson
In an effort to mitigate the effects of food inflation on the people, Niger, the Ivory Coast and Mali have either lowered or cut taxes completely. Several basic imported foods will now cost a lot less than they did before. These countries faced civilian unrest in 2008 due to rise in food prices.
Several countries fear that rising food prices will lead to riots and protests, as it did five years ago. But, the FAO believes that adequate rice supply may appease people.
"I know we are in a period of rising prices, especially when it comes to basic foods like sugar. But I call on businesses to respect promises that they made with the ministry of trade," Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou, said in a speech late on Thursday, referring to meetings between the government and traders last month, according to Reuters.
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Niger has removed all taxes on imported cereals, but compared to their prices this time last year, it is 43 percent higher. A quintal of millet now costs 30,000 CFA Francs, or $55.61. Last month, it was CFA 25,000, or $47.25.
The neighbouring Mali, which is under civil strife, has already brought down tax on imported rice to around 2.5 percent, including value added tax. The import tariff on sugar is 2.5 percent, as well.
"This year I was surprised to buy a kilogram of sugar even cheaper than the price fixed by the authorities," said Moussa Doumbia, a stonemason, to Reuters. "Long may it continue."
The drought in the mid-western farm belt in the US, and in the Black Sea region has the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization worried. But, it does not believe that the world will see another food crisis.
Russia's heat wave has analysts speculating about a possible ban on the export of grains. The US corn and wheat prices, meanwhile, rose by 50 percent in six weeks. Speculation is rife that a bushel of corn will soon be around $10.
Rosh Hashanah Food – The Jewish New Year celebration is coming very soon, on Sept. 24th at Sunset and Sept. 26th at Nightfall, to be exact. And what better way to celebrate it than with some good recipes made of Apple and Honey, which are t
A lot of information on the sugar and calories contained in alcohol is hidden behind fancy advertising, eye catching labels and deceptive tag lines such as 'lite' or 'diet.' Alcohol offers plenty of fun and plenty more calories. Here area few facts I bet you did not know.
There is a high alert mode for people suffering from allergies to peanuts, as some of the biggest and most important walnut crops around the world have been damaged, which could cause providers to “cheat” their way through and send out peanuts instead of walnuts – which could lead to many tragic mishaps across the planet.
Two U.S. lawmakers are calling for action to rein in antibiotic use in livestock in response to a Reuters investigation showing how top U.S. poultry firms have been administering drugs to their flocks.
The benefits of food go beyond just physical well being into a deeper dimension of emotional well being. Certain foods have actually been found to reduce stress and anxiety in human beings. Eating has been shown to bring a sense of calm onto a person.
Leaders of some of the biggest U.S. corporations, from Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) to Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), unveiled a campaign on Tuesday to reduce the nation's healthcare costs, urging their peers to embrace wellness programs to improve employee health.


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THE WHAT? Avon Products has ended all regulatory-required animal testing, making it the first global beauty company selling in China to stop all animal testing of ingredients and products across all its brands.
THE DETAILS The direct sales giant will no longer conduct regulatory-required animal testing in any country, including China, and is set to work with its suppliers to ensure no ingredients are tested on animals.
Jonathan Myers, Avon’s Chief Operating Officer, said, “We do not believe that animal testing is necessary to substantiate product safety and do not test products on animals anywhere in the world. We will continue to push for greater acceptance of alternatives.”
Animal rights charity PETA has recognized the company achievements by adding it to its list of companies “Working for Regulatory Change.”
Myers continued, “We’re pleased and proud to receive this recognition from PETA. We appreciate PETA’s willingness to engage in dialogue and we want to continue our relationship. PETA’s recognition acknowledges our long-standing, active involvement in developing and promoting non-animal test methods but also reflects an understanding of Avon’s deep commitment and willingness to drive change developed over months of discussions.”
THE WHY? Regulation animal testing laws in China have inhibited cosmetic companies from being able to declare themselves cruelty free should they distribute in the country. Avon’s decision to end all animal testing is a pioneering move that will undoubtedly have industry-wide consequences.
Kathy Guillermo, Senior Vice President at PETA said, “We welcome Avon to our Working for Regulatory Change list and have been impressed with the company’s commitment to ending tests on animals and promoting the development and acceptance of non-animal methods. We are delighted to continue to partner with the company as it works with its suppliers on their animal testing policies for ingredients used in Avon’s products.”


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Pilots cannot legally strike unless a federal mediation board says both sides are at an impasse. There must also be a 30-day cooling off…
Frontier Airlines is having an air fare sale TODAY (Thursday, August 24) ONLY that'll get you to Orange County, California, and back for…
Frontier Airlines is expanding its offering of non-stop service in Colorado Springs.
The deal is only set to last for a day, so those who are interested better book quickly.
Flight attendants file EEOC complaint against Frontier Airlines.
United Airlines, which recently made headlines for forcing a passenger off a flight, also ranked near the bottom.
Frontier Airlines has been named the worst airline for consumer complaints.
Frontier's COO resigned for personal reasons, spokesman says.
Frontier Airlines has already canceled more than a dozen flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday because of the oncoming winter storm,…
Frontier Airlines said they don't tolerate inappropriate conduct and will take further action if necessary.
The Vice President of Customer Experience at Frontier Airlines left the job Wednesday, after resigning last week


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CES is here, and over the next few days we are going to be swamped with gadgets from big brands as well as small start-ups you probably haven’t heard from before. And perhaps never will again. Fast forward a few months, and some of these hyped-up gadgets would have vanished without a trace, while others would have come and flopped. A few will even pop up again at CES 2018, with feature enhancements and a brand-new marketing spiel. Tech trends evolve.
So it is rather tricky to pick up winners from the gadget menagerie on display at CES 2017. However, we can more reliably look on CES as a crystal ball, stare squinty-eyed into it, and predict broader tech trends for the year ahead.
Incidentally, the official CES site has put up a What’s Trending page that delivers an overview of trends emerging from the #CES2017 hashtag. Last time we glanced at it, cars and amps were the hot words scrolling across the screen. And yes, “proactivity” zipped by more than a few times. So our first prediction is that, in 2017, you will be hearing that word often, doled out by tech CEOs and CMOs during the launch of their smart – and proactive – gadgets.
Let’s look at five proactive trends likely to proactively dominate tech talk in our brave new proactive 2017.
Smart speakers for smart homes
The next big thing seems to be a smart speaker that you can chat with and ask for advice on everything from cooking up a storm to planning your next vacation. The battleground has drawn in bigwigs like Google, Samsung, LG and Amazon. The tech will also be gradually customised for users in the UAE, and will form the default interface that you use to interact with other gadgets and utilities. So forget about touchscreens and mobile apps – you will be talking to the smart speaker and ordering it to shut the lights, turn off the washing machine, or even water the smart potted plants in your smart home.
Cars will get smarter
CES is now a proper car tech show, and this year we will get to see what the BMWs, Nissans and Hondas have in store for 2017. Self-driving technology has emerged as a big thing, and the likes of Nvidia, Clarion, Delphi and Renesas are likely to wow audiences with the latest in automated driving, parking assist, collision avoidance and emergency braking – yes, we are still a few years away from having self-driving cars on Dubai’s roads, but some of this smart technology will surely make its way into models available this year.
Elsewhere, Faraday Future, which The Telegraph describes as a “mysterious start-up”, has been talking about the world-fastest accelerating car for a while now, and the company took the wraps off it at CES. Called the FF91, this electric car can go from zero to 60mph in just 2.39 seconds and comes with more sensors and smarts than anything currently out there. Though, rather amusingly, its self-parking demo failed on stage with the car refusing to budge, let alone park itself – according to Nick Sampson, the company’s SVP of engineering and R&D, the car was being “lazy”. So maybe that is another buzzword that you will hear in 2017, used to describe smart tech that snubs you or refuses to follow your orders.
TVs to gape at
It is incredible how TV manufacturers continue to come up with fresh reasons for you to junk your existing set – with which you have zero issues – and switch to the latest version that delivers sharper, brighter and more detailed visuals. This year, you will be hearing a lot about HDR, OLEDs and Quantum Dot TVs. And QLED – at CES, Samsung announced this new panel technology that delivers thinner TVs that are 1500 to 2000 nits brighter. Arch-rival LG is also out with an OLED TV that is “impossibly thin”, has wide viewing angles, and comes packed with Dolby Vision for HDR and Dolby Atmos for a theatre-like audio experience. Panasonic too has packed everything but the kitchen sink into its second-generation OLED TV – including Hybrid Log Gamma, which is the upcoming evolution of HDR tech.
VR will go mainstream
What started out as a niche curiosity that required dorky-looking headsets strapped to your face will finally become a common sight in 2017. The headsets will still be clunky affairs, but they will get cheaper and better. While Google will improve its Daydream VR offering, and Samsung is expected to add AR to its next gen Gear VR, it will most probably be Microsoft that steals the limelight in 2017. It has brought VR to Windows 10 computers, even those with mediocre specs. The company will no doubt leverage its substantial base of Windows 10 users, while affordable VR headsets will be manufactured by the likes of Acer, Asus, HP and Dell. At CES 2017, Lenovo has already shown off its Windows VR headset that offers a higher-resolution experience than the high-end Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive. And it’s less than $400 (Dh1,470).
The robots are coming!
Fortunately, these mechanical critter will be gunning after your coffee machine, and not your job. Well, not in 2017 anyway. Looking at the number of invites he has received, Tim Bajarin, a veteran tech industry analyst and futurist, writes that personal robots will be an interesting highlight of CES this year. These task-oriented machines include robotic vacuums and coffeemakers, as well as robots that follow you around and become your sidekick cum personal assistant. For example, the Kuri robot unveiled at CES 2017 apparently possesses personality and awareness to add “a spark of life to any home”. It can even recognise people and respond to questions, while making facial expressions and bobbling its head. Though there is no word yet on whether it can whip up better coffee than humans.


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HTC has partnered with Optus to release the first mobile phone in Australia based on Google's Android platform, the Dream.
Microsoft for the first time has said it will pay a financial penalty if it doesn't reach its service-level goals for a technical support product.
Google is teaming up with NASA and world-renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil to create a university designed to help people learn how to handle "humanity's grand challenges."
Supercomputer designers spent years chasing after the elusive petaflop barrier - the ability to perform one thousand trillion calculations per second.
Danish and Australian researchers have developed a chip that efficiently reads 640Gbps optical transmissions and could help pave the way to terabit Ethernet.
VMware this week announced VMware View Open Client and claimed that it advances its vClient Initiative toward universal clients.
Microsoft has ramped up a new Windows support assistant nearly three months after it quietly debuted the automatic repair and configuration tool.
In 10 weeks, Microsoft will begin to retire Windows XP by shifting the seven-year-old OS into a more limited support plan.
An economic stimulus package going through the U.S. Congress has provisions that could start a trade war and fails to address U.S. competitiveness, Dell's chairman and CEO said Tuesday.
Sun Microsystems plans to detail on March 18 its grand entrance into the cloud computing space, Sun officials said Tuesday morning.
Employees at U.S. federal security agencies are being notified that their personal information may have been compromised after hackers planted a virus on computer networks of government contractor SRA International.
Motorola Tuesday said its mobile phone revenues fell by 51 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, and said it plans to improve phone sales in 2009 by developing fewer new handsets with a focus on smartphones that run the Android operating system.
Microsoft's advertising developers have built a new gadget that mimics a similar feature on Yahoo pages and launches a small window of information when users hover over or click on an underlined word on a Web page.
Ericsson and STMicroelectronics have completed a deal announced last year to combine their mobile chip operations.
Sennheiser's newest headphones, the range-topping HD800, were launched last night at the Sydney Opera House.
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For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.
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High-speed Internet access just got cheaper: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) based in New York City is rolling out a new plan for DSL service starting at $29.95 a month when purchased with other Verizon phone service packages.
That's a $20 a month decrease for residential users.
"Customers are looking for the best value when they consider broadband, and Verizon is determined to provide just that," said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon CEO.
Verizon Online DSL and MSN 8 have joined together to provide the service.
The new service, which unlike high-speed cable access operates over the phone network, will include spam filters, parental controls and automatic e-mail virus protection service.
"Verizon Online DSL with MSN 8 will help speed the adoption of broadband by providing customers with communication and information services that enrich the online experience while addressing important issues like junk e-mail and online safety," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corp.
Internetnews.com said Verizon's move follows a similar DSL package offered by Yahoo! and SBC Communications, which signed up about 1 million subscribers. Internetnews said the MSN DSL push is an indication the company is not going to fight America Online's lead in dial-up Internet connections.


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NAGS HEAD, NC (WITN) Firefighters in Nags Head responded to a fire at the well-known Christmas Mouse store Friday.
The fire left at least one section of the store destroyed.
The fire department received the call around 2:15 pm.
Firefighters from Kill Devil Hills were also there to assist.
The store was engulfed in flames with smoke billowing into the sky.
Firefighters had the flames extinguished by 4:30pm.
It is unclear at this time what caused the fire. No injuries were reported.


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Luxury cruise retailer based in Lancashire on track for significant growth in 2023 with support from Rosebud
Panache Cruises, a Chorley-based digital business that started selling luxury cruises in the height of the pandemic, is set for a stellar new year. The success has been driven forward thanks to a second round of funding from Rosebud Finance – a product provided by Lancashire County Developments Ltd (LCDL), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lancashire County Council (LCC) and is delivered by GC Business Finance (GCBF).
Founded by James Cole in July 2020, Panache Cruises crafts luxury cruise holidays for travellers looking for a bespoke experience. The company’s team of 40 – grown from 14 at the beginning of the year – is based across the world, but its hub remains in Chorley.
Panache Cruises first received support from Rosebud in September 2021, when it secured a loan to facilitate a move to Strawberry Fields Digital Hub in Chorley. Fourteen months on, the business has outgrown its current premises and is moving to a new larger office on the same site.
The second round of funding brings the total amount lent to Panache Cruises to £500,000, marking the highest level of support that the funding vehicle has provided to a Lancashire business.
Alongside the move to a larger office, the loan from Rosebud will be invested in new marketing initiatives and recruitment to ensure the business can keep up with growing demand.
Panache Cruises has already experienced significant success, achieving a turnover of over £10m in 2022. The firm’s Top 40 customers have spent £3m with the company and booked over 220 holidays, figures demonstrating plenty of repeat custom that Panache Cruises is very proud of.
Despite launching when global travel came to a halt, Cole sees lots of potential in the luxury travel market. He said: “Following the pandemic, we’re seeing a shift in the priorities of travellers. Primarily, they are seeking the reassurance that all aspects will be dealt with, which is what we can provide with our bespoke service at Panache Cruises. There’s also a sense that people are making up for lost time, with greater demand to travel further, reach more destinations, and stay in more luxurious rooms.”
He added: “We’re happy to have worked with Jonathan and the Rosebud team and are grateful for their support as we establish our business. We’re also proud of our Lancashire roots, so it made sense to work with a Lancashire-focused finance provider.”
Jonathan Nelson, senior loan manager at Rosebud, said: “For us, supporting Panache Cruises made total sense. This is a Lancashire business that has got off to a great start, despite the circumstances seeming to go against them. James’ bravery to take a risk in 2020 has truly paid off, and we’re pleased to have been on this journey with him and the team.”
Cllr Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth, Lancashire County Council, said: “This is a brilliant success story not just for James and his team, but for our county as a whole. Panache Cruises has embraced modern working, with team members being based worldwide, whilst retaining its Lancashire roots. We’ll be following Panache Cruises closely over the coming years and look forward to seeing significant growth.”
Find out more about Panache Cruises at: https://www.panachecruises.com
Get in touch today!
Interested in finding out more about rosebud and if it's right for your business?


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While the result is promising, recent developments in trade with China and the COVID-19 pandemic may see the joy short lived.
According to Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), the value of beef exports for the first quarter was A$2.57 billion, up 22 per cent on the same period in 2019. The quantity of beef exported in the first quarter was only slightly up, meaning that the 22 per cent increase in value was attributed mostly to the lift in export prices.
Significant rainfall events in February and March triggered a surge in restocker demand and a tightening of slaughter livestock supplies, pushing key cattle indicators to record levels.
These supply side forces, combined with favourable shifts in exchange rates, competing international demand and increasingly positive consumer perceptions of Australian beef, all pressured export prices higher in the first quarter.
While demand from China eased after the Lunar New Year and the impact of COVID-19 began to show, the value of first quarter beef exports to the market increased 30 per cent on the same period last year, to A$560 million, according to MLA.
Strong demand was also evident in a number of other key markets early in the year, such as Japan and Indonesia, which also helped to foster this growth.
A similar trend is evident for sheepmeat. Exports of sheepmeat were back two per cent on 2019 in terms of volume but were up 17 per cent in terms of value, totalling A$1.13 billion for the quarter.
While lamb experienced an 11 per cent lift in export prices, mutton prices grew by 31 per cent, supported by surging restocker demand driving livestock prices, along with the appetite of the Asian and US market driving price competition. With lamb and sheep supplies expected to drop in the coming months, this should continue to lend support to prices.