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News for June 29, 2010
Regulators eye second Minnesota farm in sale of raw milk
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is investigating a second farm in connection with the illegal sale of raw milk.
The Schlangen Family Farm near Freeport in Stearns County also appears to be improperly selling meat and frozen produce, according to a search warrant affidavit. The Agriculture Department last week searched the organic farm, seizing business records and embargoing the sale of some of its products.
[ READ MORE (Star Tribune) ]
Is Interstate Shipping Raw Milk Products Illegal?
In the minds of attorneys for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it's illegal to ship raw milk products for human consumption across state lines. In fact, FDA prohibits such milk in interstate commerce.
But last week, attorneys for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund challenged the federal ban as unconstitutional and outside FDA's statutory authority. FCLDF filed suit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FDS.
[ READ MORE (American Agriculturalist) ]
Raw Milk Bans are About Protecting Big Industry
In Massachusetts, a controversy over raw milk regulations has cast doubt on our seemingly basic right to unprocessed food. Government, public health and dairy industry officials want to restrict the sale and distribution of raw (unpasteurized) milk, citing grave safety concerns. But small dairy farmers, organic consumers' advocates and raw milk drinkers say the issue isn't safety-it's control of the dairy market.
In January, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) proposed new regulations that would ban off-the-farm sale and distribution of raw milk. Prior to making the revamped regulations public, MDAR issued cease-and-desist orders to four milk-buying clubs that buy raw milk directly from small farmers and distribute it among members. MDAR Commissioner Scott Soares insists the clubs' activities are illegal and that the new rules are "intended to be a clarification over what has always been the case."
[ READ MORE (Organic Consumers Association) ]
Can raw milk be safe?
The vast majority of milk sold in the United States is pasteurized -- it's heated to 161 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds to kill bacteria such as Salmonella and E. Coli. Now, a small, but increasingly vocal, group of people advocate eschewing the pasteurization process, in favor of raw, unpasturized milk.
"It all seems very straightforward to me, of course," raw milk advocate and farmer Edgar Plees told PRI's Living on Earth, "you drink the milk that comes out of the cow is going to be better than having it processed, or refined. It comes out of the cow, it's chilled and that's it."
[ READ MORE (PRI) ]
State searches second Minn. farm in raw milk probe
State investigators searched a second Minnesota farm that may have illegally sold raw milk as health officials investigate an E. coli outbreak that sickened several people, officials confirmed Monday.
The state's investigation began after E. coli traced to unpasteurized milk products sickened at least eight people. The southern Minnesota farm blamed for the outbreak - the Hartmann Dairy Farm near Gibbon_ has been searched twice. The farm has disputed allegations that its unpasteurized milk caused the E. coli outbreak.
[ READ MORE (Star Tribune) ]
Milking Parlor: USDA & DOJ Work on Price Concerns
No new news to dairy producers across the country: the industry is being hit hard by historically low prices. In this edition of the Milking Parlor, we listen in to part of the news conference Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney held during a recent joint USDA-Department of Justice hearing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Vilsack pointed out that, in the last 10 years, the dairy industry has gone from 111,000 dairy farms to fewer than 65,000… and it's not because producers got more efficient. He wants to get to the bottom of what is devastating the dairy industry. Varney says they're looking at what role the markets, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, are playing in the price declines. But she's not prejudging at this point and wants the hearings to run their course and show what the problem really could be. Vilsack added that, despite some reports, they don't have a hidden agenda of reformulating the law regarding cooperatives… they just want to make sure producers are treated fairly, and rural America again becomes a great place where people want to live and work.
[ READ MORE (World Dairy Diary) ]
USDA to Help Farmers and Ranchers Expand Habitat for Migrating Birds
State Conservationist Carlos Suarez today announced that USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will work with farmers, ranchers, aquaculturists, non-industrial foresters, and other landowners to develop and enhance habitat for birds making their annual migration south towards the Gulf of Mexico. Under the Migratory Bird Habitat Initiative (MBHI), NRCS will partner with producers to manage portions of their land to provide additional food and habitat for migrating birds. Suarez estimates $200,000 for the initiative in Florida.
"More than 50 million migratory birds traveling south in coming months will instinctively head toward the marshes and coastlands of the northern Gulf of Mexico; including Florida," said Suarez. "With some marshes and shorelines in Florida already degraded and the potential for larger-scale oil impacts in the coming months, it is essential that we provide inland and coastal food, water, and cover for migratory birds before they reach the oil-impacted areas."
[ READ MORE (Southeast Ag Net) ]
Problems With USDA Organic Food Program
There's a warning that government food labels may not always mean what they say. An audit performed by the U.S. Inspector General's office suggests "USDA organic" stickers may not always be a sign of the real thing.
Local organic farmers fill out mounds of paperwork and spend thousands of dollars every year to get their crops certified "USDA organic," but they're now learning that label may not be worth all of the weeding.
[ READ MORE (WSMV) ]
States ease food safety rules for homemade goods
At Wisconsin farmers markets, vendors no longer need licenses to sell pickles, jams and other canned foods, while small farmers in Maine can sell slaughtered chickens without worrying about inspections.
Federal and state laws require that most food sold to the public be made in licensed facilities open to government inspectors. But as more people become interested in buying local food, a few states have created exemptions for amateur chefs who sell homemade goods at farmers markets and on small farms.
[ READ MORE (AP) ]
Driving Under the Influence: Huge Taxpayer Investment in Ethanol Yields Paltry Payoff
Between 2005 and 2009, U.S. taxpayers spent a whopping $17 billion to subsidize corn ethanol blends in gasoline. What did they get in return? A reduction in overall oil consumption equal to an unimpressive 1.1 mile-per-gallon increase in fleet-wide fuel economy. Worse, ethanol's much ballyhooed contribution to reducing America's dependence on imported oil looks even smaller - the equivalent to a measly six tenths of a mile per gallon fleet-wide.
That's the conclusion of Driving Under the Influence: Corn-Ethanol and Energy Security, a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that exposes the truth about the wildly exaggerated claims being made about ethanol's contribution to America's security and energy independence.
[ READ MORE (Environmental Working Group) ]
Reusable grocery bags carry E. coli
They're good for the environment, but reusable grocery bags can be a breeding ground for dangerous food-borne bacteria and pose a serious risk to public health, according to a new report.
Researchers randomly tested bags carried by shoppers in Tucson, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and found bacteria levels significant enough to cause a wide range of serious health problems and even death.
[ READ MORE (Futurity.org) ]


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The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has called for telemarketing firms to embrace strict compliance with best practice guidelines to change consumer conceptions of telemarketing.
The directive is part of the DMA’s new Telemarketing Manifesto which will be unveiled at Call Centre Expo in September 2007, and outlines the methods by which attitudes towards telephone marketing and contact centres can be improved.
Robert Dirskovski, head of interactive media at the DMA, said the association believed a better perception was possible and essential for the industry.
“Over 800,000 people are employed in the contact centre industry in the UK and the industry is vital to the way we live today,” he said.
“It is the most responsive of any communications medium, yet its image is one of unwanted cold calls and bad service.
“We want to change that image by rallying the industry to recognise the importance of best practice and compliance.”
The DMA believes this aim can only be achieved through strict adherence to its Code of Practice and Best Practice Guidelines and through a realistic investment in infrastructure and pay.

domain: news


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Four Latin American countries agree $85 bn free-trade deal
Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico have signed a treaty to eliminate tariffs on 92 percent of goods and services. The Pacific Alliance is free trade area of some 210 million people, accounting for more than a third of all Latin American and Caribbean GDP.
The move is a big step towards strengthening the countries' position alongside the strong neighboring trade pact – Mercosur - which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.
"This translates into more investment, more competitiveness and as a consequence, more employment, and good quality employment. This is the fundamental purpose of this whole exercise," the Wall Street Journal quotes Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos.
Morgan Stanley estimates an average 4.25 percent growth for the new alliance this year, or about $85 billion. At the same time many economists forecast a shrinking Venezuelan economy, weak 2 percent growth for Brazil, along with Argentina falling into recession.
Besides establishing strong economic connections, the deal will also create a fund to finance infrastructure investment and a medicines price monitoring and leverage system.
The Pacific Alliance, founded in June 2012, has set a vital goal to increase trade with fast-growing Asian nations. Accounting for 50 percent of the population of Latin America the union is ready for further expansion. Costa Rica applied for membership at the VIII Summit of the Pacific Alliance. Panama and Guatemala have also expressed interest in becoming members.


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E-commerce: A fierce competition in the domestic market
An exciting year of Vietnam's e-commerce industry has passed, with a forecast of retail sales (B2C) of about 6 billion US dollars. However, it is worth noting that the expansion of foreign enterprises in the domestic market, along with the difficult steps of domestic enterprises.
No longer in a struggle like every year, the group of retail e-commerce businesses, following the model of foreign marketplaces (Marketplace) is increasingly dominating the group of domestic businesses by creating barriers to spending. Very expensive fees.
Year-end shopping season is an opportunity for competitive e-commerce companies to attract foreign users and business groups to effectively take advantage of this time to show their financial potential. As always, Lazada Vietnam, an enterprise invested by Alibaba, is the unit to activate the year-end shopping season. With the goal of 5 times the revenue compared to the normal day, Lazada Vietnam brings 150,000 promotion items from 9-11-11. After that, the company continued to organize the event entitled "Online shopping revolution" on 12-12. This is Lazada's biggest discount year with many promotions, discounts, all orders are delivered for free on this day.
Shopee, a big rival of Lazada from Singapore, also launched a campaign called Super Sale to compete with Lazada's shopping revolution. From December 12 to 14, at Shopee, there are hundreds of products with Flash Sale discounts, along with additional discounts for bank card owners, from 10 to 20% of order value. Meanwhile, fashion retailer Zalora also launched the Online Fever program across Southeast Asia. After Zalora Vietnam was acquired by Central Group (Thailand), this unit continues to implement this discount program for four days from 12 to 15 December. The focus of the event is December 12 with thousands of discounted fashion and accessories.
Not to be outdone, two domestic enterprises, Adayroi.vn and Tiki.vn, also chose 12-12 for their big discount event. Adayroi's promotion lasts from 12 to 14 December, in addition to high discounted items, there is also a 25% cashback program for online payment orders.
In Tiki, promotions last from December 12 to December 15.
To prepare for the busiest shopping season of the year, Lazada Vietnam has put four new order processing centers into operation to minimize the "congestion" of orders as in previous years. But the special point of this year is the first time, Lazada Vietnam offers a 50% discount program for sellers on this platform. The program also did not publish a time limit to stop applying.
The move to support delivery and discount discount of Lazada Vietnam is to deal with the growth of Vietnam Shopee. Although new to the market for only two years, Vietnam Shopee is experiencing impressive growth with many policies to support sellers and buyers. For example, for buyers, this unit supports free delivery, no collection of household fees. As for the seller, besides not charging, Vietnam Shopee also offers training programs on sales skills, customer care ... for free. "We do not have a plan to stop supporting sellers and buyers in the near future," said Tran Tuan Anh, Director of the finance and operation section of Shopee Vietnam.
Previously, Shopee Vietnam was C2C platform (customers with customers), now they have opened Shopee Mall service to attract brand-name businesses. Promotion season at the end of 2017, Vietnam Shopee participates with more than 100,000 products, expected to increase five times sales compared to normal days.
The advantage of "players" has large capital
It can be said that Vietnam's e-commerce market is strongly affected by foreign enterprises in the capital market. In the SWOT business analysis model, there is a factor that challenges the entry into the industry, but the race for market between Lazada Vietnam and Shopee Vietnam is creating a big barrier for domestic enterprises. .
Accordingly, if Lazada Vietnam creates a barrier with huge investment costs in advertising campaigns to attract users, Vietnam Shopee will spend a lot of money to support delivery and collection services. Although both businesses did not disclose the amount of investment in both advertising and delivery sectors in Vietnam, experts in the e-commerce industry could estimate.
According to the report that Sea, the parent company of Shopee, said in the first three months of this year, Shopee averages 30,000 orders a day in Vietnam. For every order Shopee Vietnam supports VND 50,000 for delivery and VND 30,000 for collection fees. Not all orders are eligible to be supported by Shopee, but only 50% of the above orders are qualified, Shopee's support costs have reached tens of billions of dong per day.
Thus, in order to be competitive and survive, domestic enterprises need the support from foreign investors, but the cost barriers created by Shopee Vietnam and Lazada Vietnam also make many investors must falter.
Since receiving nearly VND400 billion of VNG's investment in 2016, Tiki.vn has invested heavily in infrastructure, warehousing and human resources. Some sources say the unit is in talks with Amazon.com (USA) or JD.com (China), which is most likely JD.com. These are the two units that Tiki.vn's operating model is closest to.
Except Adayroi, which is still a strategic project of Vingroup and Sendo.vn, still cared for by FPT, the existence of other domestic e-commerce floors is also precarious due to the dominance of foreign groups.
Similarly, niche markets such as agricultural products and specialties of Sandacsan.com (Viettel) or Badasan.com.vn (VNPost) are also difficult to make a mark on the market without breaking the above barriers.
The "key" comes to success
At the seminar "E-commerce solutions - For businesses to be more successful" organized by the Trade Promotion Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on December 12 in Hanoi, the speakers gave data showing Vietnam Nam is considered one of the fastest growing e-commerce countries in the world, at 35% per year (2.5 times higher than Japan).
According to the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade), if small and medium enterprises spend more than 30% of their budget on technology, it is likely that revenue will increase 9 times compared to enterprises with less than 10 %
Citing current trends, Ms. Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of E-Commerce and Information Technology, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that one of the "keys" to export growth during the public era. The current technology is e-commerce.
Viet Anh said many micro businesses have effectively utilized Facebook and e-commerce to sell goods to many countries, helping them reduce intermediaries and reduce costs, thereby bringing goods. Direct chemistry to consumers and achieve the highest profit.
If small and medium enterprises spend more than 30% of their technology budget, it is likely that revenue will increase 9 times compared to enterprises spending less than 10%.
Statistics on Alibaba floor showed that 10 million small and medium enterprises worldwide participated and about 70% found opportunities on this floor, while Facebook has 50 million businesses participating. Since then, Ms. Viet Anh said that small and medium enterprises have an advantage over large enterprises in reorganizing their business model based on information technology foundation. There are many support packages on the market to help businesses optimize their business strategies.
Data from the E-Commerce and Digital Economy also showed that 55% of businesses said that revenue from B2B online sales increased more than 10% in 2016 and 22% of businesses have more. 40% of customers choose to order online.
Statistics on Alibaba, which is 10 million small and medium enterprises worldwide, about 70% found opportunities on this floor, while Facebook has 50 million participating businesses. Since then, Ms. Tiếng Việt được biết mà một small và Medium Enterprises có một đối số lớn hơn trong cơ sở dữ liệu này Có nhiều gói được hỗ trợ trên chế độ ứng dụng cơ sở dữ liệu nội bộ.
Data from the E-Commerce and Digital Economy also shows that 55% of businesses said that from B2B online sales increased more than 10% in 2016 and 22% of businesses have more. 40% of customers choose to order online.


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Today Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail developer HoYoverse had some juicy reveals to share with the fans of both popular games.
We start with Genshin Impact, and we get a really intriguing trailer teasing the upcoming new region Fontaine, which is coming with version 4.0. We also get to see some of its characters, alongside the reveals of their voice actors.
The English cast is as follows:
- Freminet — Paul Castro Jr.
- Egeria — Courtney Steele
- Lyney — Daman Mills
- Lynette — Anairis Quiñones
- Navia — Brenna Larsen
- Charlotte — Maya Aoki Tuttle
- Wriothesley — Joe Zieja
- Sigewinne — Sarah Williams
- Clorinde — Crystal Lee
- "The Knave" Arlecchino — Erin Yvette
- Furina — Amber Lee Connors
- Neuvillette — Ray Chase
... And here's the list of the Japanese actors.
- Freminet — Shunichi Toki
- Egeria — Sayuri Yahagi
- Lyney — Hiro Shimono
- Lynette — Yu Sasahara
- Navia — Aki Toyosaki
- Charlotte — Azumi Waki
- Wriothesley — Daisuke Ono
- Sigewinne — Hina Kino
- Clorinde — Yui Ishikawa
- "The Knave" Arlecchino — Nanako Mori
- Furina — Inori Minase
- Neuvillette — Hiroshi Kamiya
Below you can watch the trailer in English, and you can find the Japanese version on the official YouTube channel.
Moving on to Honkai: Star Rail, we learn that the reveal of version 1.2 will be on July 8. You can already find the livestream ready to go on YouTube. Interestingly, from the thumbnail, we can see that the new playable characters introduced will likely be Kafka and Blade. The title of the update has also been revealed and it's "Even Immortality Ends."
If you're unfamiliar with Genshin Impact, it's currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android.
A Nintendo Switch version has been announced a long time ago, but HoYoverse has gone under the radar with it and has not said anything since despite confirming multiple times that it hasn't been canceled.
Honkai: Star Rail is a turn-based RPG available for PC through a standalone client and the Epic Games Store, as well as on iOS and Android devices. Although the developers have announced that they are working on a PlayStation 5 port, no specific release date has been shared besides "Q4 2023" for now.


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A software fix Apple released to close a serious Mac security bug may not have fixed the problem on some machines.
The bug meant anyone with physical access to a Mac running High Sierra could get admin access to the machine.
Wired magazine has found that the bug returns if Mac owners upgrade to the latest version of Sierra after applying the patch.
Apple issued an apology for the appearance of the bug saying its users “deserved better”.
The bug let anyone obtain high-level access to a Mac simply by typing the username “root” and leaving the password field blank.
The problem was present on Mac computers running version 10.13. and 10.13.1 of the latest version of Apple’s operating system known as High Sierra.
Apple produced a patch to close the loophole less than a day after it was first reported.
Now it has emerged that the order in which people installed updates and patches for their Mac can mean the problem is not fixed.
The bug would still be present on a Mac that:
- was running High Sierra 10.13
- applied the security patch
- upgraded to High Sierra 10.13.1
- had not been rebooted
“You could easily have someone who doesn’t reboot their computer for months,” Thomas Reed, a security researcher at Malwarebytes, told Wired. “That’s not a good thing.”
Writing in Wired, Andy Greenberg said it was “not clear” how many users might be exposed by this particular set of circumstances.
Apple has yet to respond to a request for comment about the circumstances under which the root bug would reappear.
However, Apple’s support page about the loophole stresses the importance of making sure that the security patch is “applied properly”.


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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Here at BlackBerry Live 2013, BB10 devices weren't in short supply though vendors hawking compelling consumer apps were few and far in between. … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla. -- One of the most memorable moments from BlackBerry Live 2013 was when CEO Thorsten Heins jumped into a special Bentley luxury auto tricked out with BB10 software. That's why I decided to see what the fuss was all about personally.
Luckily BlackBerry was thoughtful enough to provide the premium car for display on the BlackBerry Live show floor. And yes, after spending a short time behind the wheel of this fine automobile, I can report it's a sweet ride. Specifically I'm speaking to the Bentley's smooth integration of phone features, though the vehicle'… Read more
Google's annual I/O showcase returns to San Francisco's Moscone Center West on Wednesday, and CNET will be there in full force to tell you what's being announced and what it means for the company, for technology, and for you.
Join CNET's Jessica Dolcourt, James Martin, Maggie Reardon, Stephen Shankland, and myself, as we report and comment live on all the I/O announcements.
The live blog kicks off at 9 a.m. PT here:CNET's live coverage of the Google I/O 2013 keynote on Wednesday
CNET editors Molly Wood, Brian Tong, and Donald … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla.--If there's one message BlackBerry wanted to convey at its annual confab, it's this: "We're back."
"It hasn't been that easy, and there's still a lot of work to do, but man, have we reached solid ground with this company," CEO Thorsten Heins said during his keynote address at BlackBerry Live on Tuesday.
BlackBerry was busy Tuesday, offering a smorgasbord of news. There was the device announcement in the form of the budget-friendly BlackBerry Q5. There was the updated BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10.1 for the business-minded. There was … Read more
Every week, we compile the best new reviews, products, and features from the Download.com software catalog and blog, package them up in a tidy little newsletter, and e-mail it out to all of our lovely subscribers.
If you are a registered CNET member, you can sign up for the newsletter yourself (it's listed as "CNET Download.com Software Dispatch" under "Software News and Reviews"), or check back every Tuesday to read our latest roundup.
Top Download News and Features
Mozilla Firefox updates to version 21 with a new Health Report and additional Do Not … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla.--OK, so is BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins a fan of tablets, or isn't he?
Heins, who made waves last month when he said he didn't see a place for tablets in five years, made some seemingly contradictory comments on tablets when he spoke on Tuesday during a Q&A session with the media while at the BlackBerry Live conference.
"We believe in a single element of mobile computing: one on your hip," Heins said.
Roughly 15 minutes later, Heins said BlackBerry was looking at the future of tablets and investing R&D … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla. -- More news rolled out of BlackBerry Live 2013 today, including the company's plans to offer BlackBerry Messenger toand iOS devices.
The BBM platform will hit these products by summer, but best of all, the service will be offered as a free download. The BlackBerry CEO sounded very excited about the move, a first for the service. He said, "It's a statement of confidence. We are confident time is right for BBM to be independent."
Those are bold words indeed and certainly a great tactic to lure users back to BBM. The … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Here at BlackBerry Live 2013, the long-rumored BlackBerry Q5 handset became legitimate. The midrange device will sport a design reminiscent of the old Curve models but use materials less pricey than what's in the current Q10 flagship.
That means the BlackBerry Q5 boasts a full QWERTY keyboard but won't sport the premium keys you'll find on the Q10. Instead, the Q5's buttons are flatter and more bubbly, not chiseled typing surfaces expertly angled for message-punching perfection. … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla. -- BlackBerry needs to convince developers that they aren't wasting their time working on its platform.So what better way to state its case than by throwing out a few impressive statistics? BlackBerry spent the better part of Tuesday morning during its BlackBerry Live conference attempting to drum up support and enthusiasm for its platform.
Oh, and the venerable handset maker also used the occasion to unveil its BlackBerry Q5 phone, a device intended for emerging markets that will arrive sometime this summer.
Here are the highlights from BlackBerry on how well it's doing:Number of … Read more
ORLANDO, Fla.--At BlackBerry Live 2013, the phone maker announced that it would roll out BB10.1 software to its Z10 handset. The upgrade will also include access to the Skype video chat application.
BlackBerry also handed out the Z10 device to attendees here at the BlackBerry Live show so many folks no doubt will be able to enjoy the fresh infusion of software. Stay tuned as he get hands on with our upgraded Z10.


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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Sportswear group Nike Inc. NKE, +1.79% said Tuesday that it's agreed to buy the U.K.'s Umbro uk:umb for 285 million pounds ($583 million), or 195 pence a share including an already planned 1.9 pence-a-share dividend. Nike said the offer represents a premium of roughly 61% to the closing price on Oct. 17 before Umbro announced that it had received an approach. Nike said the acquisition will help it significantly expand its presence in the soccer market.
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Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) reported Friday a steep drop in third-quarter net profit, hit by costs related to its diesel emissions scandal.
Volkswagen said net profit fell to 1.06 billion euros ($1.25 billion), down from EUR2.28 billion for the same period in the previous year. Revenue rose 5.8% to EUR55.0 billion, up from EUR52.00 billion in the year-earlier period.
Operating profit before special items rose 15% to EUR4.32 billion, up from EUR3.75 billion a year ago.
The German auto maker took charges of EUR2.6 billion in connection with diesel emissions issues.
Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter said he was optimistic about the full year but the effects of the company's diesel scandal weren't over.
Mr. Witter said "the diesel issue is nowhere near an end and will continue to necessitate great efforts throughout the entire group."
The company raised its operating margin guidance for the full year, saying it expects it to be slightly above the previously expected 6% to 7% range. Volkswagen also confirmed its revenue guidance for 2017.


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On the job-creation front, 2019 was a good year for Johnston County.
In all, the county’s economic-development director announced more than 3,000 jobs and some $350 million in investment last year.
And “this doesn’t include the millions invested by our small businesses that are located in our towns,” Chris Johnson, director of economic development, said in a year-end email to the Johnstonian News.
By far, the biggest jobs announcement in 2019 was Eastfield, a proposed mixed-use development near Interstate 95 and U.S. 70 in Selma. The development includes a commercial and industrial area, but plans also call for single-family homes, multifamily housing, retail shops, hotels, medical offices and a senior living community.
One part of Eastfield is already taking shape, in the JR Cigar Outlet building, which the developer has renamed Triangle East Collaborative. Among other tenants, the building will be home to Old North State Food Hall, which is on schedule to open in late spring or early summer of this year.
In December, the food hall announced its first vendors — the award-winning Redneck BBQ lab, which has a restaurant near McGee’s Crossroads, and Boulevard West, a Clayton shop offering specialty coffee, teas and desserts. The shop will call its Selma location Boulevard East.
When fully developed, Eastfield could be home to more than 3,000 jobs, according to county officials. The developer has said he expects to spend $287.5 million on the multi-year project.
Elsewhere in Johnston last year, an Ashley HomeStore licensee said it would build a $16 million distribution center, retail outlet and call center near I-95 in Four Oaks. Broad River Retail, the licensee, said its Four Oaks location would employ about 160 people.
In May, Broad River joined county and Four Oaks leaders for a ground-breaking ceremony. By year’s end, the exterior walls of the distribution were up, and construction crews were moving on to the building’s interior. Broad River has said that it hopes to have the distribution center and retail outlet open by June of this year.
Johnson said his office is working with other towns to certify industrial sites. “The Johnston County Economic Development Office is continuing to partner with all of our municipalities to ensure that product is available for future job growth and investment,” he said. “We are currently working with the towns of Benson and Kenly and local property owners to certify sites for industrial growth.”
Also last year in Johnston, Morrisville-based Blue Line Aviation said in January that it would build a $13 million flight school at Johnston Regional Airport near Smithfield. That project, which broke ground in September, calls for hangar space, a pilot-training center, a restaurant, a full-motion simulator room, a playground, briefing rooms and offices.
“Johnston Regional Airport is an asset for people and companies across Johnston County and the Research Triangle,” Johnson said at the ground-breaking ceremony. “I am very pleased to have Blue Line Aviation partner with Johnston County as we work to develop and expand the potential of JNX as the premier location for economic development, business travel and now aviation training.”
Also last year, discount retailer Dollar General said it would bring 105 jobs to the Carolina Distribution Center, which is the former Winn-Dixie distribution center on Shotwell Road in Clayton.
Dollar General said it planned to lease 320,000 square feet of cold-storage space in the distribution center and pay an average yearly wage of $33,280.
“We’re excited to welcome this national retail name and the jobs and investment it intends to make in Clayton,” County Commissioners’ Chairman Ted Godwin said when Dollar General made its announcement in February. “Dollar General’s plans for cold-storage operations here highlight several key Johnston County assets, including convenient proximity to a growing consumer base, affordability, diversified labor assets and supportive local government.”
Eastfield and Dollar General made their announcements in February, which proved to be a good month for job creation in Johnston. That’s same month, Canada’s second-largest maker of automotive components, Linamar Seissenschmidt Forgings Group, said it would bring 24 jobs to an existing building in Selma’s Oak Tree Industrial Park. The company also has a plant in Wilson.
Wages for the jobs announced last year varied, with Linamar paying the highest at $55,000 a year, well above the county average of about $39,000.
Incentives to the companies varied too, with the county promising the most — $1.528 million over seven years — to Eastfield, assuming the developer meets its investment target. Dollar General will receive $234,000, Blue Line will get $100,000 and Linamar will receive $58,500, the county said in announcing those projects.


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The relatively new Xbox One is still slightly struggling to compete with its rival the PlayStation 4 in both sales and general popularity, however, last month (June 2014) was a great month for Microsoft's latest console, they saw am impressive sales jump of more than double, chances are the largest boost came because they started supplying the new Xbox One without a Kinect.
As most of you will know, the Kinect is the element of the console which allows the user to control and interact the console using voice commands and control gestures.
Originally at E3 2013 Microsoft had announced that the console would not operate at all without the Kinect accessories attached to the main device. However after pressures from the community regarding privacy and pricing Microsoft have now finally decided to back down form this condition and are now allowing users to purchase the device without Kinect. This now means that the Kinect is optional in the same way it is for the previous generation of Xbox, the Xbox 360.
This news was quickly followed by announcements that the Xbox One would now be available at a more affordable retail price without Kinect. Don't forget you can find the latest Xbox One Prices on our homepage.
Originally, the head Microsoft's Xbox division, Phil Spencer, said "Kinect remained an important part of Microsoft's vision, but that the company was responding to demand from gamers for more options in their hardware selection." Clearly Microsoft are taking feedback on board and hence their reason to offer a better value option to gamers.
And it seems to have worked, Microsoft have now reported that the decision to allow a Kinect free console bundle had prompted "a strong spike in interest" in the Xbox One, hence the sharp increase in sales and demand.
"We’re excited to welcome so many fans to Xbox this summer and we can’t wait for them to get their hands on the wide selection of new games available this year on Xbox One," Microsoft said in their recent online posts.
"Gamers love the holidays and we are lining up incredible deals and special promotions to celebrate." Hinting at possible upcoming holiday deals? GTA 5 bundle anyone?
The news comes ahead of market research company NPD Group's June report on the games industry. According to their latest sales figures, the more popular Playstation 4 console, which costs £350, has beaten the Xbox One in console sales for five straight months.
Don't forget if you still haven't picked up your new console we have some great advice for picking up your new Xbox One Interest Free from Littlewoods.


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Soon you could be buying your Tim’s coffee through an app and not have to wait in line!
The parent company of Tim Horton’s and Burger King plans to launch this Canada-wide app where you can pay in advance on your phone. Restaurant Brands International is doing what Starbucks is already doing.
This is following the whole automated customer service trend like pre-selecting movie tickets online or self check-out at a grocery store or making reservations for something. “…and for those immersed in their own world, possibly avoid unwanted human interaction,” says David Hardisty, an assistant professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Convenient? Yes. You could avoid something like this:
But this puts someone out of a job and we’re already so disconnected from one another that this is yet another thing that we can do without having to talk to a real person. This prevents what could be a lovely little interaction between a cashier and customer. You could be missing this:
Call me old fashioned but I like the little interactions I have with the Tim Horton’s cashiers and I feel like an app could take that away.
Read more here.
What do you think?


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Google’s ChatGPT rival Bard is open for early access – and here is how YOU can sign up now
- Google has opened a waitlist for the public to use its AI-powered chatbot
- The tech giant announced Bard in February, opening it to ‘trusted testers’
- READ MORE: Google unveils AI-powered ‘magic wand’ for Workspace:
Google is allowing more people to access Bard, its ChatGPT rival that has only been limited to ‘trusted testers,’ by launching a waitlist in the US and UK Tuesday.
Users can now signup at bard.google.com and Google will send you ‘an email when it is your turn’ – but the tech giant has not revealed a date for the official rollout.
Google is providing access to Bard through a separate site from its search engine but has a connected query box, allowing users to cross-check Bard’s responses with other information on the web.
The California company has been cautious with the rollout not to have its technology churn out inaccurate facts, but Bard’s first impression showed the company had rushed it to market.
Bard’s error happened when the chatbot was asked what to tell a nine-year-old about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and its discoveries.
In response, it said Webb was the first to take pictures of a planet outside Earth’s solar system. However, astronomers quickly pointed out that this was done in 2004 by the European Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
It is yet to be seen how Bard will fair against the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing.
Google is allowing more people to access Bard, its ChatGPT rival that has only been limited to ‘trusted testers,’ by launching a waitlist Tuesday. Users can now signup at bard.google.com and Google will send you ‘an email when it is your turn’
However, Google has much more to lose if Bard responds with false information or takes users down a dark rabbit hole due to its Search Engine becoming a go-to service for billions of people worldwide.
Despite the technology’s pitfalls, Bard still offers ‘incredible benefits’ such as ‘jumpstarting human productivity, creativity and curiosity,’ Google said in a blog post written by two of its vice presidents, Sissie Hsiao and Eli Collins, with assistance from Bard.
The tech giant announced its Bard in February after months of watching Microsoft make waves in the industry with its Bing chatbot.
Google is taking a page from Microsoft’s playbook by limiting the amount of interaction that can occur between Bard and its users.
Microsoft was forced into this tactic with ChatGPT after media coverage detailed instances when the technology likened an Associated Press reporter to Hitler and tried to persuade a New York Times reporter to divorce his wife.
The initial release of Bard uses the tech giant’s lightweight model version of LaMDA, which requires significantly less computing power, enabling us to scale to more users and allowing for more feedback.
And Bard is powered by a research large language model (LLM).
Google is providing access to Bard through a separate site from its search engine. The company showed a demonstration of the new Bard
The results show Bard provides an outline of answers, along with different drafts that users can choose from
‘While LLMs are an exciting technology, they’re not without their faults. For instance, because they learn from a wide range of information that reflects real-world biases and stereotypes, those sometimes show up in their outputs,’ Google shared in Tuesday’s announcement.
‘And they can provide inaccurate, misleading or false information while presenting it confidently.
‘For example, when asked to share a couple suggestions for easy indoor plants, Bard convincingly presented ideas…but it got some things wrong, like the scientific name for the ZZ plant.’
Bard has been in the works at Google since 2015, but the tech giant aimed to ensure it would provide trusting and unbias information before releasing it to the masses
Bard has been in the works at Google since 2015, but the tech giant aimed to ensure it would provide trusting and unbias information before releasing it to the masses.
Eli Collins, Google’s vice president for research, told the New York Times: ‘We are well aware of the issues; we need to bring this to market responsibly.
‘At the same time, we see all the excitement in the industry and the excitement of all the people using generative AI.’
Last week Google announced it will be adding the technology to WorkSpace, which includes Docs, Sheets and Presentations.
AI is also making its way to Gmail to help people curate the perfect emails.
The system will be able to summarize message threads in Gmail, craft slide presentations, personalize customer outreach and take meeting notes – all on its own.
Source: Read Full Article
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Arabsat and Selevision to launch HbbTVFriday, September 12th, 2014
Arabsat and Selevision to launch the first Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) service to the MENA region
Selevision and Arabsat have announced today that they have entered into an exclusive long-term partnership to deliver the first Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) service to the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) The Service will be provided to Arabsat customer base from three different locations; Jordan Media City in Jordan, Du in UAE and Overon in Spain. The Arabsat Satellite based HbbTV service will be complimented by the Selevision OTT platform and content library of Selevision to provide different viewer experience for the 26deg Arabsat hotspot. Broadcasters will enjoy different standardized applications in addition to the wide possibilities of customized applications. The service will be available to viewers on all HbbTV compatible set-top-boxes in the market. Furthermore, Arabsat and Selevision will launch the first HbbTV Channel in the region as a pilot to present the concept to the customer base of Arabsat.
Dr. Raed Khusheim, Chief Executive Officer at Selevision said: “We are delighted to enter into this strategic partnership with Arabsat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators. We are constantly looking forward and committed to delivering engaging new services for customers, The HBBTV service will be compatible with all available HBBTV-ready boxes in the market, furthermore, we have also announced REDO, Selevision new invention; the first hybrid android unit with approved C.A.S system platform: REDO unit will allow us to provide a variety of interactive new hybrid services to the market before any other provider in the region”.
Khalid Balkhyour, President & CEO of Arabsat said: “Arabsat is always keen to deliver new experience to its viewers and facilitate access to new technology for its broadcastors base customers; this partnership with Selevision will add value to Arabsat hotspot at 26deg E with its growing neighborhood that will benefit both the broadcaster and the viewer. This platform will leverage on Arabsat reach and on Selevision extremely competitive offerings and services. Both Parties have invested in this platform to provide an excellent cooperation model in the industry’


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Vox’s MV50 adds a new level of innovation and a touch of modernity to a classic amplifier design, boasting an...
Combining Aston Microphones’ Swift shock mount and Shield pop filter into one handy bundle, the Aston...
The signature microphone for legendary ZZ Top guitarist and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons captures your voice...
Multi-Effects and Sound Modules
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The seemingly fake headless guitar that gained online notoriety has turned out to be real after all, and it's even been put...
Unveiled at NAMM 2018, the new D-Series range is now available and promises attainable guitars based on Framus' heralded...
Announced back at NAMM in January, the 18-string guitar introduced as a collaboration between YouTube mega metal fan Jared Dines...
Cort has given the guitar world a sneaky peek at the brand new X500, the flag-bearer for the brand's recently rebooted X-...
In essence, the Pitch Pilot - recently launched as a Kickstarter campaign - is a miniaturised whammy bar for each individual...
The Ebow has been around for almost five decades now, and is way overdue for some innovation. Thankfully, TC Electronic has...
For a limited time only, Darkglass is issuing a special run of its Microtubes 900 bass head.
This April will see the latest offering from Audio-Technica in the form of the new AT-LP7 - a record player designed to be...
A new update to powerful polyphonic octave pedal sees already formidable specs further focused in Walrus Audio's Luminary V2.
Following its reveal at NAMM earlier this year, Ernie Ball has announced its new Expression Tremolo pedal is available in the USA...
Audio-Technica has revealed its brand new ATH-M60x headphones at Musikmesse 2018, offering optimum isolation and premium sound...
Finding a way to sample original recordings without landing yourself in a legal nightmare is a headache most producers face, but...
In the midst of all the Musikmesse announcements, Line 6 has added its name to the pack by sharing details of two new products:...
Eight months after revealing the first guitars in its Family Reserve collection, Ernie Ball Music Man has shared its April...
After its reveal at NAMM earlier this year, the Seymour Duncan Silver Lake Dynamic Reverb pedal is soon set to arrive in stores.


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There's still growth in plastics packaging, but it is getting harder for Graham Packaging Co. LP and other similar companies to find.
``It used to be no problem to find 10-20 percent growth, but lately it's been 3-5 percent,'' Graham's Mark Leiden said at the Packaging Conference in Las Vegas.
Leiden serves as vice president of global marketing for York, Pa.-based Graham. The firm ranks as North America's largest blow molder with $2.5 billion in annual sales. About 60 percent of Graham's sales are generated by food and beverage containers made of PET or polypropylene.
Total North American container sales for all packaging materials - based on retail scanner data - was a bit downcast in 2007. Carbonated soft drink sales were down almost 8 percent, the segment's fourth straight annual drop, Leiden said. Sales of refrigerated juices were down 13 percent.
Bottled-water sales were up almost 11 percent, but are slowing down after posting a 27 percent growth rate in 2006. The growth rate for isotonic drinks fell from 15 percent to less than 3 percent, and energy drink sales checked in at 24 percent, after being close to triple digits in 2006.
Sales of auto lubricants - a big market for Graham - also are declining in size by 8 percent per year, even though that segment still tops the $100 million mark.
``There are very few growth opportunities that don't rely on conversion,'' Leiden said. ``In yogurt, going from spoonable to drinkable is a great opportunity. Dairy is a big opportunity in developing countries, and there's also potential growth in beer and tea.''
Sustainability score cards being used by Wal-Mart and other firms ``are real, and they're impacting decisions,'' he added.
``Pound for pound, PET is disadvantaged vs. glass [in sustainability], but it does well on freight cost and weight reduction,'' Leiden said. ``Greenhouse- gas performance also is favorable for PET.''
Graham has found some success with its Sustainer-brand family of containers, rolled out in 2007. The line offered to reduce package weight by 8 percent with no compromise on performance. Graham has set a two-year target for Sustainer to cut container weights by 10-20 percent for single-serve, multiserve, wide-mouth and beer markets.


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Netflix is a high-growth name that is “starting to finally show some chinks,” Blake Bath, CEO of Bay Bridge Capital Management, a tech, media, telecom fund that typically invests in cash-rich companies, told CNBC Thursday.
Market watchers are always looking for a sign of capitulation, that the economy has hit rock bottom. This may be the clearest sign yet that we've touched down.
One of the original investors in Japan’s second-largest social media company, Gree, says investors are too focused on ‘old Japan’ – the Toshibas, Sonys, Toyotas – that made Japan what it is today. Instead, he believes, they need to focus much more on the country’s fast growing sectors such as the Internet in order to get bigger returns.
CNBC's Jon Fortt has the latest details on Facebook's IPO date and Yahoo's board meeting.
CNBC's Herb Greenberg reports the online real estate company's stock dropped a bit today but is still up seventy-five percent since its IPO.
The stats tell us that women are faring worse than men in terms of landing new jobs as the economy creaks into recovery.
We’re entering an era where outsized egos are a warning sign of impending failure. Fail to keep yours in check and the only thing you’ll be leading is the search for a new job.
CNBC's Tyler Mathisen reports on a Justice Department investigation into Ebay employees who allegedly misappropriated confidential information from the classified ad service, Craig's List..
Microsoft kicked off its developers conference Tuesday with a preview of its new Windows 8 operating system. CNBC's Brian Goode has the details.
Apple's third co-founder has no regrets after leaving Apple early on and selling his 10 percent stake for $800. Discussing his new book, "Adventures of an Apple Founder," with Ronald Wayne.
CEOs - even fired CEOs don’t have the luxury of publicly undermining a company or its board.
When bad things happen to you and your career - it's up to you to take the initiative to control the story and protect your brand.
Like newspapers, portals like AOL and Yahoo are confronting the cold fact that there is less general interest in general interest news. Readers have peeled off into verticals of information — TMZ for gossip, Politico for politics and Deadspin for sports, and so on. The New York Times reports.
Angela Tucci, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer at Symantec says that the danger of cyber crime is growing quickly.
Employers are understandably concerned about social networking on the job. They’re losing sleep—I know because they tell me. In their eyes, the combination of work plus social media is a lose-lose. It’s a time suck for your sales guy to be social stalking a crush. Tagging photos is a big work distraction. But are these the real reasons behind businesses’ ban of online chatter?
Yahoo has hired UBS and Allen and Co. to help it navigate a period in which it is dealing with an activist shareholder and trying to determine ways it can enhance value, according to people close to the company. While the investment banks have not been hired to try and find buyers for the company, they will also help the board navigate any offers, should any arise.
Yahoo landed back on the Fast trader's radar after Third Point's Dan Loeb bought up shares and slammed the board. So is now the time to jump in on the Internet giant?
Americans are finding it tough to land a job. Or are they finding it tough to land a job they want?
CNBC's Kayla Tausche has the story on Wal-Mart Stores eyeing growth through acquisition, with Asher Edelman, Edelman Arts, who also discusses the business of art.
Carol Bartz’s blunt statement that she had been fired from her post as CEO of Yahoo immediately ignited a debate regarding whether her email brought more transparency to corporate America or was merely an unprofessional tirade, the New York Times reports.


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The update to UAC (Universal App Campaigns) gives publishers and developers more options for performance-based campaigns.
The UK IPA director-general, Paul Bainsfair, said Google and Facebook have been too slow in tackling the brand safety problem.
In an effort to aid qualitative clickthroughs, Google AdWords will offer advertisers the ability to display links to key website destinations for mobile users.
Democratizing access, Google has launched a voice based interface for users of Google Analytics, lowering barriers to entry for those unqualified or unfamiliar with the system.
Google and Kantar TNS underscore how brands have the chance to engage consumers all through their purchase journey thanks to mobile, though being top of mind is still critical.
Following the amalgamation of Yahoo and AOL into Oath, a community of advertisers has spoken in favour of competition that challenges the duopoly.
Top news, insights and analysis every weekday
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Hi: 9° Lo:1°
By IH Tuesday 18 December 2012 Updated: 03/01 08:48
TO eat or not to eat is the only question the winner of a Shakespeare-themed birthday cake being raffled by Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.
The cake was made by Ally Colledge, who runs Rugby-based Mrs Crumbs the Baker, to celebrate the first anniversary of the air ambulance's fund-raising shop in Stratford.
Shakespeare himself sits on top of the four-tier fruit cake, overseeing many of his most famous characters including Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, and the Witches from Macbeth.
It took about two weeks to make, and the charity shop has been selling raffle tickets all week.
The only problem the winner is going to have is whether to cut into it as it looks so good, but The Observer has been assured it tastes every bit as good as it looks.
Mum-of-two Ally said: "I love Shakespeare so this really was a labour of love."
Ally, who has been baking from an early age, specialises in custom-made celebration cakes. For further details visit Facebook and search Mrs Crumb the Baker.
POLICE are warning people to be on the
FOR those struggling to make ends meet last
ENGINEERING enthusiasts gathered to mark the 175th anniversary
POLICE have named the man found dead on
INDEBTED rugby club Wasps want to raise up to £30million ...
WORKS on the next stage of the Solihull Gateway Project ...
RESIDENTS and traders are being asked for their ideas for ...
STRATFORD District Council has handed over £2,215 worth of unused ...


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To celebrate its 50th year anniversary, Technics has decided to bring out a special version of the SL-1200 series. Technics plans to hold the live event on April 7th, 2022, and the fans will be capable of learning all about the new SL-1200M7L, which is the 50-year anniversary model of the OG series.
The original model, which is the SL-1200MK7, came out in 2019. It continues to inspire generations of DJs. And now, the new anniversary model will bring seven limited-edition colors. All of the available colors have one goal: to reflect the street culture of the DJs.
To do that, Technics has first focused on the tonearm. Instead of having a boring anodizing, it is now anodized in a golden hue. That will bring some bling to the turntable. No matter which color option you get, you will notice the same tonearm. And it blends well with the color options that the special version comes in.
But that is not the only flare that the anniversary edition has to bring to the table. On the top panel of each, you will notice a special badge. It will have an engraved serial number, representing that the model is a limited edition.
Furthermore, the turntable will come with special accessories. That includes a slipmat that has a 50th-anniversary sticker along with a gold-colored technics logo. And when it comes to availability, only 12000 units will be available globally for the new 50th-anniversary model.
Now, when it comes to the features, the SL-1200M7L is still based on the SL-1200MK7. That means you can expect to have the same features as the SL-1200MK7. And among the seven colors, there are red, blue, black, white, beige, green, and yellow.
Additionally, the new edition has a coreless direct-drive motor. Thanks to that, it achieves a powerful torque and a stable rotation that is free of cogging. The tonearm is highly sensitive yet robust. It can read the signal engraving on the grooves with higher overall accuracy.
Moreover, there is a two-layer structure platter. It can provide an improved overall damping performance. Also, you will find a high damping insulator and high rigidity cabinet for a thorough shut-off of vibrations. Thanks to that, even during harsh operational conditions, the vibration level will be minimal.
You will even have total control over the rotation. There is a starting brake/torque brake speed adjustment mechanism. The new edition even has a pitch control function, enabling stable and accurate pitch adjustment. It even has a reverse play function that will expand the overall flexibility of the DJ.
Slava is a man of mystery and no-one seems to know exactly where he is at any point in time. When he isn't enjoying writing about all things audio and technical he can be found researching his next project of interest. The man never rests.


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Intuit Inc., the maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, said Thursday that Brad Smith will step down as chief executive later this year with the head of its small-business division set to succeed him.
The company announced Sasan Goodarzi, who is currently general manager of Intuit’s small-business and self-employed group, is set to become CEO on Jan. 1. Mr. Smith, who also serves as chairman, will take on the executive chairman role. Mr. Goodarzi, who has been with the company since 2004, will also join the board in January.
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One thing hidden in plain sight is that cameras are doing different things in various regions of the world. The whole “mirrorless versus DSLR” battle is taking place on differing fronts with dissimilar results. Canon’s recent comments during their fiscal year report clearly indicate that the camera companies are aware of this regionality issue.
Let’s look at the CIPA data for 2015 (through November) in graph form for camera type by region:
Or another view, camera type within regions:
See the clear differences? Europe and the Americas tend towards higher DSLR percentages and lower mirrorless numbers.
Worldwide mirrorless has risen overall to one for every three DSLRs sold, but not in Europe and the Americas, where the number is one mirrorless for every four DSLRs sold. Hmm. Sure enough, in Japan and Asia it’s almost one mirrorless for every two DSLRs.
It’s important not to put your own view of the world on various camera models that get introduced. The whole mirrorless versus DSLR has a clear regional component to it. For example, Fujifilm recently revealed that the X-A2 sells quite well in SE Asia, but not at all well in the US. We can chalk that up to only one of two possible (big) things: (1) better marketing in a region; or (2) regional preferences. I think it’s #2, which then drives #1.
In an interview with dpreview, Fujifilm’s Toshihisa Iida said: “Asian consumers care more about [smaller] size but for Americans the quality and performance are the priorities.”
So what’s this mean for Canon and Nikon, the duopoly in cameras, or Canon/Nikon/Sony, the overwhelming triopoly?
Obviously, with their strong emphasis on DSLRs, Canon and Nikon need to watch out or become more regional towards Europe and the Americas. Sony, with its fast dwindling DSLR reliance, is likely to make more inroads mostly outside those two big markets. Companies such as Fujifilm, Olympus, and Panasonic are truly dependent mostly on Asia at the moment.
The problem for the mirrorless companies, of course, is that Europe and the Americas require a big infrastructure to support. Breaking down the established conventions and preferences towards DSLRs in these markets is costly, as Samsung recently discovered. But another problem is this: economically, almost everyone is predicting strength in the US for 2016, recovery in Europe for 2016, and serious economic malaise or worse for the rest of the world, including China. Factor in the regionalization of cameras, and you get yet another problem to deal with if you’re a camera maker.
Which brings me to a statement: regionalization impacts are yet another volume issue for camera makers to deal with. Overall, unit shipments are seriously on the decline, and especially at the two extremes, compact cameras and to a lesser extent DSLRs. But regionalization puts even more trickiness into those declines. Regionally, some declines make for really troubling volume situations.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll do so again: the camera business hasn’t hit bottom yet. Not even close. Having a few regional “wins” sounds good, but the truth of the matter is that the number of dollars being spent on traditional cameras is still declining overall and causing big stress issues on every company.
The question now is when those declines become high enough to begin killing off the infrastructure in ways that create snowball effects. Pentax, for example, has very little dealer presence now in the US. Hard to recover from that. But as overall camera sales go down, we’re going to see more outlets for cameras shrinking or closing. That has a circuitous impact on sales volume: fewer outlets equals fewer sales equals fewer outlets equals fewer sales, ad infinitum.
Sadly, there’s not much you personally can do about this. Basically:
- Support your local camera dealer when you can.
- Don’t put off upgrades too long.
My assessment is that we’re deep into the same type of collapse that HiFi gear went through. Yes, we’ll still have such gear in the future. No, the market for it won’t be anything like it was. Your choices will likely all be higher priced and more geeky. The places you can find such gear will be fewer. Plus companies you’ve been relying upon may disappear or at least shrink.
Please don’t shoot the messenger. I’ve written for a long time that the camera makers needed to rethink their product. For the most part, they still haven’t yet figured out how dedicated cameras live in a connected world, let alone perfected that. Until (and unless) they do, the message is going to pretty much continue to be a dismal one.
Yes, Nikon’s use of Bluetooth for Snapbridge on the D500 has some interesting intersection with that previous sentence. But the problem isn’t just enabling another wireless connection, it’s the software that works via that connection that will determine whether Nikon has broken the code and found the right solution to begin turning things around a bit.


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Cape Town - For a long time, African countries have struggled with infrastructure problems, which have made financial services less accessible.
Cryptocurrency could, therefore, be a good alternative to traditional banking in Africa, because this only requires a smartphone, writes Tim Fries.
Interest in cryptocurrency, a form of digital currency, is growing steadily in Africa. Some economists say it is a disruptive innovation that will blossom on the continent.
Cryptocurrency is not bound by geography because it is internet based; its transactions are stored in a database called blockchain, which is a group of connected computers that record transactions in a ledger, in real time.
According to Brookings, because cryptocurrency platforms bypass traditional banking services by introducing decentralised peer-to-peer lending services, they can help level the economic playing field and expand finance options to under-served customer markets.
In fact, a recent report by Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform, found that between July 2020 and June 2021, Africans received $105.6 billion worth of cryptocurrency payments – an increase of 1 200% from the year before, citing a Brookings report.
The big cryptocurrency global brands include Bitcoin, Litecoin, XRP, Dash, Lisk and Monero, but Bitcoin leads the pack in Africa.
Recently, the Central African Republic became the first African country to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency, becoming only the second in the world to do so, The Independent recently reported
A bill governing the use of cryptocurrency was adopted unanimously by Parliament, said Obed Namsio, chief of staff of President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
The Central African Republic is one of six central African countries that share the CFA franc – a regional currency that is backed by France and pegged to the euro.
There will be government-issued cryptocurrencies in Africa in the near future, predicts Shireen Ramjoo, CEO of Liquid Crypto-Money, a South Africa-based cryptocurrency consulting firm.
Although the African continent receives only 2% of the global value of all cryptocurrencies, their rapid growth will transform financing in an increasingly digital and urban sub-Saharan Africa, writes Brookings.
Meanwhile, internet penetration rate in Africa, as of December 2021, compared to the global average of 66.2%.
The World Bank hopes to help the continent achieve universal connectivity by 2030, but huge hurdles stand in the way, according to economists.
Whereas countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya boast impressive internet penetration, South Sudan has an internet penetration rate of only 8% – one of the lowest in the continent.
Moreover, mobile network coverage is feeble in Africa's youngest nation.
According to a report by Deutshe Well, over the past decade, African leaders working with various local and international partners have made great strides in making the internet accessible for the continent's 1.4 billion people.
But – with just 22% internet connectivity – the continent remains significantly behind other world regions.
IT experts have long argued that the cost of data is too high for most people. In addition, lack of digital skills and literacy remains a stumbling block for many, particularly those living in rural areas, said the report.


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Jeep Cherokee production slows; 500 laid off in Toledo
The Bottom Line
Other Business Features
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- County may renovate health department office space
- OWU students hit by police cruisers in separate incidents
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DETROIT — Chrysler Group, the U.S. automaker majority-owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, said yesterday that it has temporarily halted production of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and laid off 500 workers at a factory in Toledo.
The company said it halted production after building a sufficient number of 2014 Cher-okees at the Toledo North plant to satisfy demand once they are shipped to dealers.
“We will temporarily idle the second shift so as not to put additional strain on our logistics partners,” Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email.
The company is supposed to launch the 2014 Cherokee this month.


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Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards were initially introduced in China in 1992. The standards provide basic rules and requirements pharmaceutical manufacturers in Mainland China must abide by in order to ensure the quality of drug products. In order to obtain GMP certification, companies are required to submit applications to the appropriate provincial or municipal drug authorities. Qualified assessors would then be sent to the manufacturing site and if the facilities pass inspection, a Chinese GMP certificate would be issued by the state administration and would be valid for five years.
However, GMP standards have not been strictly enforced in China. Many drug manufacturers operate in China without having GMP certification although they are by law required to hold this certification. China’s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) is planning to change this by announcing their plans to strictly enforce this requirement by next year. According to a circular that was recently published by the central government in early November 2003, companies utilizing raw materials or producing drugs not reaching GMP standards must halt production by July 1, 2004. However, pharmaceutical products produced up to June 30, 2004 can continue to be sold until their expiration dates when they must be withdrawn from the market.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers need to apply for GMP certification and register their manufacturing facilities with the provincial and municipal authorities. Those who fail to register by December 2004 may have their business and production licenses revoked.
Whether or not the SFDA’s increased initiative to strengthen pharmaceutical production quality in China will be a success is not yet known. The problem lies in the government’s ability to enforce the requirements. Experts in China predict that the worst offenders of GMP requirements will not be deterred by the new initiative and will continue to manufacture drugs illegally. Yang Shaogang, a lawyer in Shanghai dealing with high-profile cases involving the pharmaceutical industry, comments, “The disorder of the drugs market is due to governmental mismanagement. They must clean it up. The lives of thousands of people depend on it.”


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With almost 12 years gone since the Xbox 360 landed on the Marketplace, support and features for it are in a steady decline. Microsoft has announced that support for the Kinect Share feature has become officially disabled.
Posted 1 year ago by Kelly Packard, 153 comments
We all love free things, don't we? Well, the latest free Kinect Fun Labs app has hit the Xbox Marketplace without warning. Developer Asobo, recently known for their family Kinect title http://www.tru
Posted 7 years ago by Rebecca Smith, 27 comments
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Copyright © 2019 TrueGaming Network
Ltd, All Rights Reserved
Xbox, Xbox Live, and all other Xbox Live specific terms are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
TrueAchievements is a proud member of the Xbox Community Developer Program
Concept, Design, Programming and Server Stuff by Rich Stone
Site version: 5.1.3, also available on Mobile


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Android alert! Eagle-eyed phone fan Mauricio Reyes got a surprise when he spotted a poster advertising 3 on Oxford Street, showing the and apparently rocking the Android interface.
Don't get too excited though: it's clearly a snafu by a dozy designer. Just this month, Nokia officially nixed suggestions it would employ Google's operating system. Instead, the Finnish company is sticking with the Symbian OS, and MeeGo, jointly developed with Intel.
Tell us your thoughts, phoneketeers: is Nokia on the right track? The company's profits plunged a hefty 40 per cent in the second quarter of this year. Meanwhile premium phones such as the iPhone are earning a healthy profit for the likes of Apple.
Perhaps it's time Nokia stopped spending money on developing its own operating systems, and got involved with open source OS Android. With Android gaining traction in the US, it could be a shrewd move.


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Krishnan and Meena Ganesh, the Bangalore-based entrepreneurial couple, have bet big on a simple mantra: Do what the competition is doing, but do it perfectly. And that is the foundation of their company, GrowthStory, one of India’s largest startup platforms.
The next few months will be crucial as they plan to launch four new ventures and expand their two-month-old food services business—all under the GrowthStory umbrella. But their challenge lies in the first half of their mantra: Do what the competition is doing. By entering markets that are relatively crowded, the husband-and-wife team cannot afford any misstep.
They are developing app-driven startups that operate in areas such as technology education, home improvement and handyman services, food and catering and cloud-based software, all of which already have several players jostling for consumer attention. But they believe that they have what it takes to grab a large chunk of the market-share.
They are not only gearing up to take on local (and later national) competition with their food and on-demand home services businesses, but they are also setting the stage so that their three tech startups can compete with established international players in mature markets in the US and Australia. But GrowthStory, set up in 2011, can take comfort from the second half of the power couple’s mantra: Do it perfectly.
“We want to operate in a space where we will have an unfair advantage. Today, if you want to build a billion-dollar business, you need an unfair advantage,” Krishnan tells Forbes India. “We are trying to create each venture under GrowthStory as a billion-dollar company in the next five to seven years. And this requires rapid scaling up, capital, strong network and corporate governance. Each business should be able to bring disruption in the space it operates by using technology and the internet, which are our core competencies.”
Meena and Krishnan are aiming high, say those who have been tracking their business model. “He (Krishnan) is certainly pursuing a super-ambitious model of taking multiple concurrent bets and promising to work hard to accelerate his ventures, to connect them to talent, ramp up early customers, and raise good-sized doses of early funds at attractive valuations,” says Ravi Gururaj, chairman, Nasscom Product Council, and co-founder of HBS Alumni Angels (India chapter).
However, Gururaj feels that GrowthStory has all the elements of a new generation venture capital (VC) firm, including in-house seed cash, proven hands on entrepreneurial expertise, common operational capabilities and an inherent ‘to-go-big-fast’ approach. “It’s an audacious way of doing business, one which only the Ganeshes seem uniquely qualified to drive at hard,” he says.
The results of GrowthStory’s ambitious incubation plans will be visible only after three to four years. In the early stage investment segment, a portfolio is a mixed bag when it comes to the growth and sustenance of its firms. The rule of thumb is that a third of an early-stage portfolio is expected to fare very well, one-third is expected to be average-performing, and the remaining usually fail or die. “Incubation is a high-risk and high-reward game. In no portfolio can every firm become a $1 billion business,” says Mukul Singhal, vice president of SAIF Partners, a sector agnostic investment firm. “When I do a seed stage deal, I know that 75 percent firms will fail. It’s a law of nature that cannot be defied.”
But Krishnan and Meena aim to break this rule. They have considerable experience in the entrepreneurial space, having built and successfully exited three startups: Customer Asset (a call centre and offshoring services company) which they sold to ICICI Bank for $20 million in 2003, Marketics Technologies (a data analytics firm) acquired by BPO company WNS in 2007 for $63.5 million, and online education venture TutorVista. The couple made headlines in 2011 when they sold TutorVista to the UK-based Pearson Group for $213 million.
The year they sold TutorVista, they founded GrowthStory, which already promotes and runs five companies. The platform’s more notable successes include e-grocery BigBasket (valued at an estimated Rs 1,000 crore), online jewellery store BlueStone (with investments from Accel Partners, Ratan Tata, Saama Capital and Kalaari Capital, and valued at about Rs 600 crore), Portea Medical (Meena is founder-CEO of the Rs 600-crore home health care service firm, which raised $9 million in 2013 from investors such as Ventureast, Qualcomm Ventures and Accel Partners), and online education company Avagmah funded by Capital18. (Disclosure: Capital18 is part of Network18, which also publishes Forbes India.)
Now that these companies are up and running, Krishnan is focusing on the next wave of potential “billion-dollar businesses”. He’s undeterred by the fact that he’s yet to nurture a billion-dollar startup. Three of the four businesses to be launched, says Krishnan, are in “stealth mode”.
An Essential Diet
The couple’s immediate agenda is to scale up their recently launched Bangalore-based FreshMenu. It is a meal kit delivery service aimed at the busy urban individual who seeks nutritious food, but may not have the time or inclination to prepare one.
Experts that Forbes India spoke to acknowledged that while food services businesses are “promising”, driven by the ever-evolving urban consumer’s lifestyle, they come with their own set of challenges. Diversity of food (to create a menu that caters to a number of Indian requirements), meeting taste parameters of home-cooked food and maintaining consistent quality and hygiene across the supply chain are some of the key concerns.
FreshMenu’s ready-to-serve and ready-to-cook food meal plans are similar to US startups such as Blue Apron, Munchery and SpoonRocket, all of which rely on apps to deliver meals to customers within 30 minutes of an order being placed.
“In this kind of business, where physical delivery is involved, one has to deal with a strong service-level-agreement which is formally defined. When you promise to deliver in 30 minutes, you need to show up on time. There are plenty of variables against this, such as food not being prepared on time, traffic and lack of delivery personnel during peak time. All these bottlenecks come into play.
Operationally, it is an intensive business and requires stringent timelines,” says Alok Goyal, partner at Helion Advisors. In September, Helion led a Rs 200-crore funding round for Ganesh’s BigBasket venture.
In India, FreshMenu has to play catch-up: Established players such as Mumbai-based Calorie Care (started in 2005) delivers healthy nutritious food, and online marketplace Imly (launched in 2013) offers crowd-sourced home-cooked food to patrons. Started by Abhishek Singh and Pavan Mishra, Mumbai-based Imly is operational in over 10 cities. There’s also Delhi-based FoodCloud—started by Vedant Kanoi and Shamit Khemka in September 2013—which connects customers with local chefs from their neighbourhood. Similarly, Noida-based Langhar is a marketplace for people in search of home-cooked food. “Only a handful of brands will be successful. As a consumer, I’m not going to download 20 different apps for food services,” says Goyal.
For now, FreshMenu caters to only three neighbourhoods in Bangalore, but will cover the entire city in three months. Krishnan has given himself a year to expand to 10 cities starting with Mumbai and Delhi. He started this venture in October 2014 with Rs 1 crore, and is trying to raise $10 million (about Rs 60 crore).The Services Play
The couple’s next bet is in the home services space. Their startup will be driven by a mobile app, which promises to resolve household problems such as leaky faucets and faulty wiring by allowing customers to get timely “handyman services”. The business model is not new, and is similar to on-demand home services startups such as US-based Thumbtack, Handy and TaskRabbit, a mobile marketplace for odd jobs. Rajesh Sawhney
Closer home, Timesaverz, founded two years ago by entrepreneurs Debadutta Upadhyaya and Lovnish Bhatia, has a head start with the launch of Mumbai- and Pune-centric online marketplaces for home services. Expansion to other cities is on the cards. In his own turf, Krishnan will be competing with Bangalore-based startup Honestcollars, founded by Nischay Nahata and Rajat Garodia in August 2013.
“Success will also depend on how each player uniquely uses the smartphone to provide a distinctive value to the consumer. It’s like how Uber is using mobile technology to provide taxi services,” says Rajesh Sawhney, founder of GSF Accelerator, a seed funding platform that backs startups in the mobile, social and cloud space. (In October this year, Timesaverz raised an undisclosed seed funding led by angel investor Neville Taraporewalla and Sawhney.)
Sawhney says the current market for on-demand home services in India is largely unorganised, and there is “immense potential” for startups to grow. That said, he admits that the success of a business is dependent on efficient coordination of agents and service providers in different cities.
Krishnan, who is not ready to reveal his company’s name just yet, plans to take his startup national after a soft launch in Bangalore. The service and app will be ready to go live in two months. “We want to cover the top 50 cities in India within 12-18 months. There will be rapid scaling up because the model allows us to enter multiple places at a low cost,” he says. He estimates that it will cost Rs 1 crore to launch in every new city. For now, the couple is investing their own money into the venture.
Technology education is the focus of the next startup, AcadGild, which provides online Android programming courses. The Bangalore-based startup has been operational for two months, and much like the TutorVista model, it maximises the Indian cost advantage and resources in the form of tutors who teach students how to code.
“Our focus is large online markets like the US and Australia where there is a demand for such services. Today, everything is driven by an app, which makes coding a huge requirement in the job market. Professionals in their 30s and 40s, who are not necessarily from a software background, are learning Android coding,” says Krishnan.
This is a crowded space, especially in the US. In October 2014, The New York Times reported that 60 such computer coding institutions have been established across the US since 2012. Krishnan believes that there’s room for one more competitor.Tech Play
Targeting the US market, which has an ecosystem that supports small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Krishnan’s next unnamed venture is based on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. He hopes to launch the startup in 2015. “We are currently undertaking market surveys for the product and developing a prototype.”
Krishnan is hoping to cash in on the India cost advantage and its strong resources in technology to compete with the biggies (namely Salesforce.com Inc, Zendesk, Wave Apps and UserVoice) in the US. “Our USP will be simpler usage from a consumer perspective, a lot more categories and instant service delivery,” he says.
Though market feedback suggests a huge potential in the category, he is cautious. And with good reason, too. Many Indian startups such as Zoho Corporation, Freshdesk, FusionCharts and WebEngage have already established a strong international presence. “There is a 20 percent chance of failure, though I’m confident that it will go through,” says Krishnan.
Targeting the US with a new tech offering is a smart move because the market there adopts new technologies very quickly, says Anil Joshi, a venture partner at the angel fund Unicorn. “Entering such markets makes sense. It is a low risk proposition if one has access to customers there,” he says.
The last startup from the GrowthStory platform—slated for a 2015 launch—is an education enterprise, which will provide test preparation modules for competitive exams like the GRE and GMAT. The vehicle for this startup will be smartphones, and here, too, Krishnan intends to compete in the international arena.Potential Giants
All of GrowthStory’s startups have one thing in common: A strong technological core that allows them to tap the internet and smartphone users. KP Balaraj, co-founder and managing director of WestBridge Capital India, says Meena and Krishnan have a complementary set of skills, and together they make a formidable team. “He (Krishnan) is extremely sales- and market oriented; he is the big picture person. Meena is more detail oriented and is very hands-on. She is data and execution driven,” says Balaraj. “Their presence on the board of a company increases investors’ confidence.”Image: Bmaximage
In previous avatars, the now 52-year-old Krishnan served as CEO of the erstwhile Bharti British Telecom, and was executive assistant to HCL founder Shiv Nadar. Meena, 51, has an equally impressive résumé. She was CEO of Tesco Hindustan Service Centre (the UK retail chain’s IT services operation in India), and has worked with Microsoft India, PwC and NIIT. Both husband and wife are IIM-Kolkata graduates.
In India, they are one of the rare wife-and-husband teams who are not only successful entrepreneurs, but are also handholding many fledgling firms beyond just capital. GrowthStory has made angel investments in over 20 startups across sectors in the last three years.
“They keep tracking and tweaking a business model if need be. While most entrepreneurs in India create products first and then look at selling it, Krishnan and Meena will have a macro picture of the industry as it is now and how it will evolve in the future,” says Joshi of Unicorn.
Perhaps the real passion for building successful India-based global businesses lies not in the boardroom, but at their dining table. “We discuss work at home as well. I like the idea of the Indian startup environment, discussing the problems and opportunities,” says Meena. “We even talk to our children about it. They tend to know about the whole business because we talk to them as adults who understand the space.”
She lets Forbes India in on one such discussion when the family was talking about a well-known online realty platform that was running television ads. As the conversation progresses, the younger of their two children, 14-year-old Atishay, says, “It (realty startup) must have raised a Series B funding. That’s why it is advertising.”
The couple’s older daughter, Akshita, 23, is studying at IIM-Ahmedabad and wants to be a part of the startup world once she graduates. Whether she joins her parents or, braves it out on her own, there’s no denying that the Ganesh family is building a next wave of businesses and entrepreneurs.
(This story appears in the 12 December, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)


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The UK’s longest running index of disruptive new startups, the Startups 100, has released its 2020 lineup, and Swytch Technology has been listed at number 25.
Swytch co-founder Oliver Montague came up with the concept of converting ordinary bikes into eBikes using a Swytch kit. He and Co-founder Dmitro Khroma believe that 99% of the 1.1 billion bicycles in the world can be converted using their invention.
They claim their Swytch kit is lighter, smaller and more affordable than anything else out there. It is also very sustainable - to manufacture a regular bike uses over 200kg of CO2 during manufacturing and a heavy eBike is double that. A Swytch eBike kit takes just 50Kg of CO2 to manufacture.
After creating the first prototype, Oliver patented the drawings and schematics and launched on Indiegogo raising over $500,000. They used this to develop, manufacture and distribute over 3,000 eBike kits to over 45 countries in the world.


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This was reported the press service of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine (MIP) on Wednesday, July 4.
"In the course of the event, State Secretary of the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine Artem Bidenko spoke about the creation of the brand within the framework of the Commission on Promotion of Ukraine under MIP," the report reads.
The participants of the meeting discussed key ideas relating to the use of the Ukraine NOW brand to attract investments in business, tourism, and cultural projects.
Earlier, on July 2, Bidenko presented the Ukraine NOW brand to regional media.
On May 10, 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Ukraine NOW brand, designed by the Ukrainian agency Banda within the framework of the Commission on Promotion of Ukraine in the World under the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine.
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Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced Tuesday that a Hyatt affiliate has signed a management agreement with IHHR Hospitality Private Limited for five Ista hotels in India to be rebranded by Hyatt.
Under the agreement, the fully operational Ista hotels will be known as Hyatt Bangalore, Hyatt Pune, Hyatt Hyderabad, Hyatt Ahmedabad and Hyatt Amritsar. The rebranding effort is expected to be completed by March 2013.
“As a company we see a perfect fit with IHHR’s forward-thinking philosophy and vision,” said Ratnesh Verma, senior vice president, real estate and development, for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts in Asia Pacific. “This opportunity allows Hyatt to further consolidate its distribution in India and offer its customers a choice in new markets such as Bangalore, Amritsar and Ahmedabad.”
The re-branding of the five Ista hotels as Hyatt Hotels will mark the entry of the fourth brand from the company’s portfolio into India, Hyatt said. Currently, India has five Hyatt Regency hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata; two Grand Hyatt hotels in Mumbai and Goa; and three Park Hyatt hotels in Goa, Chennai and Hyderabad.


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Stylish bistro The French Broad in downtown Hendersonville opened late last year to much fanfare. Among its distinguishing attributes was a massive community table in its high-ceilinged downstairs wing. Now, the Main Street venture has rebranded a bit, calling itself the French Broad BookBar & Kitchen. Fine French dining is still the theme on the upper level, but down below, that big table was literally split into little ones; the space now has the vibe of a creative café, with new and used books for sale, pastries and desserts, coffee and espresso drinks, and lunch fare (via counter service), including the menu’s famous hot sandwiches. “We’re better utilizing the downstairs space,” says owner Janna Watson, who notes that wine is, “of course,” still served everywhere on site.
The BookBar is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9am-9pm and Sunday from 9am-8pm. The upstairs kitchen is open for dinner 4-9 pm Tuesday through Friday and 12-9pm Saturday and Sunday. 342 North Main St. 828-595-9797. For more information, see tfbhendersonville.com.


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As Uber broadens its mission to champion mobility for smart cities, it has started to integrate wildly fun alternative modes of transportation including Bird scooters and JUMP Bikes, which it acquired on Monday for an impressive $200 million.
Both electric and dockless, these toys are providing rides starting as low as $1 an hour for scooter and $4 an hour for bike which will revolutionize the way people think about their daily commute and their physical relationship with the world around them. Not only are these rides promoting clean air, they are accelerating the end of the era of car ownership era which will have a dramatic effect on land use.
At SXSW, Waymo’s John Krafcik shared surprising statistics on the effect car ownership has on our society. “Right now the number of cars in our national fleet in the U.S. compared to the number of licensed drivers has never been so out of whack, we have many more cars than licensed drivers, and the multiplicative effects on our society are pretty huge. Each car has four parking spaces, so you have about 300 million cars in our national car park. At 1.2 billion parking spaces in the U.S., that’s crazy. Some cities have 20-30% of their total land space being dedicated to the automobile which is terrible, and maybe the best indication of the waste in this way of using the automobile is the fact that 95% of the time our cars are just sitting idle. So you have 300 million cars, that’s a massive stock of capital and yet 95% of the time they’re just sitting there, and the other 5% of the time being driven about, typically, it’s more car than we need, 75% of the time we are driving alone.”
Land use transformation is expected to be so dramatic, that visionary Uber founder Travis Kalanick just invested $150 million in City Storage Systems, a startup focused on repurposing abandoned strip malls and parking lots into exciting new spaces that support the digital era.
Keep an eye on the category as more partnerships and acquisitions are expected. Additional companies to watch include LimeBike, Spin, Motivate/Ford GoBike and Scoot. For more details, check out Product Hunt’s test rides.


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Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the Government is currently spending £100,000 a week on "pumping operations" in the moors and levels in Somerset.
Mr Paterson was responding to an urgent question in the Commons.
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Owen Lambert, 18, and his friends were on a university trip to Parliament when they were hit by the Westminster attacker's speeding car.
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