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Amid Growing Concerns Over AI, Luján Pushes NTIA to Create and Implement Responsible Guardrails to Protect Americans
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, urged National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Administrator Alan Davidson to create responsible guardrails around Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, governance, and use.
Senator Luján specifically outlined language equity, artist and consumer protections, and privacy as key areas where responsible regulations are needed. Senator Luján submitted his comments to Administrator Davidson as part of a public comment period on AI system accountability measures and policies.
“It is time for Congress and the Administration to create and implement responsible guardrails around AI development, governance, and use. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband and member of the Consumer Protection and Science Subcommittees under the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I want to ensure online platforms that use AI models or offer them for consumer use are doing so in a responsible way,” said Senator Luján.
“A responsible AI framework is critical to ensuring that this rapidly advancing technology is used in ways that promote digital equity, creativity, democratic integrity, and economic equity,” Senator Luján continued. “I urge you to use this well-timed and thoughtful docket to support the creation of responsible AI frameworks and principles.”
Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:
Dear Administrator Davidson,
I applaud your commitment to accountable and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems (AI). AI is a critical technology that stands to transform all aspects of society. It is time for Congress and the Administration to create and implement responsible guardrails around AI development, governance, and use. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband and member of the Consumer Protection and Science Subcommittees under the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I want to ensure online platforms that use AI models or offer them for consumer use are doing so in a responsible way.
In particular, audits or certifications of AI must include transparency, disclosure requirements, and tools to assess and incentivize language equity and protections for artists and consumers.
Any certification, audits, or assessments of artificial intelligence systems must include requirements that the AI performs consistently across languages. There are well-known cross-sector biases in AI systems with respect to race, gender, and other characteristics. With the recent explosion of large language models, language equity is an increasingly important issue that developers and auditors of AI must assess prior to making a model available for commercial or consumer use. Large language models likely do not work as well in low-resourced languages in which there is less high-quality training data, leading to widespread misinformation, disinformation, scams, and fraud amongst immigrant communities.
I introduced the Language-inclusive Support and Transparency for Online Services (LISTOS) Act to improve multilingual large language models, automated decision-making systems, and content moderation practices online to better protect non-English speaking communities. To enhance and cement these protections, I urge you to incorporate language equity and investment questions and requirements in any and all recommendations for audits, assessments, or certifications of AI systems.
Protections for Artists
Powerful generative AI models can create extremely convincing text, images, and audio, making it a powerful tool for not only creators and consumers, but also for fraudsters and scammers. Creative industries, especially music and visual arts, are very concerned about copyright infringement and subsequent market dilution. OpenAI has openly acknowledged that its programs are trained on “large, publicly available datasets that include copyrighted works.” Creating such copies without permission from copyright owners may infringe copyright, and powerful AI models can easily create sound, images, or videos that are indistinguishable from artists’ own voice, name, image, or likeness.
I urge you to include questions and tools in audits of AI that protect artists. These protections should include existing copyright protections, but also recommendations related to how model developers of AI and users can appropriately credit and compensate artists when (1) their art is used to train AI models, or (2) AI-generated outputs are created that “in the style of” artists, leading to name, image, likeness issues or market dilution.
Generative AI enables the creation of false content quickly, cheaply, and at scale. AI-generated images and voices are already extremely realistic, sometimes indistinguishable from the real thing, and AI-generated video quality is rapidly improving. AI-generated photos are flooding social media and the internet and are being used to spread false narratives. Scammers are using generative AI to clone individuals’ voices and use those fake recordings to scam family members, a problem so widespread that the FTC recently put out a consumer alert on the issue.
Assessments of AI must pay particular attention to models that can generate content and the intended use cases for those models. I urge you to include questions regarding what types of guardrails AI model developers include in their products to track or prevent users from contributing to fraudulent, false or misleading information related to elections, civil rights or public health, harassing or abusive content, or to clone individuals’ voices or likenesses. For example, do model developers include watermarks in their AI-generated content to provide some form of evidence that the content was AI-generated? Do they include enforceable terms and conditions in generative AI products to prohibit these types of uses?
AI poses the same privacy questions as social media and the internet age with increasing urgency. Large AI models are trained using vast amounts of data, much of which is scraped from the internet with no regard for data privacy. Further, there are no standard documentation requirements relating to data sourcing and sensitive information that might be found in datasets, making it difficult to ascertain just how much sensitive or personally identifiable data is in AI models and what might be accidentally revealed. The data users input into consumer-facing AI models like chatbots are also rife for privacy breaches – a ChatGPT leak in March revealed users’ personal and financial data. Tech companies themselves have banned the use of ChatGPT by employees due to fears that OpenAI would access and use sensitive company information input into the chatbot.
Audits and assessments of AI tools must ensure privacy protections. Methods of detecting and masking sensitive and personally-identifiable data, both in training datasets and data input by users after model release, should be a core part of any AI model. AI model developers should also be required to enforce a “right to be forgotten” and provide avenues for individuals and users to request and verify deletions of sensitive and private data.
A responsible AI framework is critical to ensuring that this rapidly advancing technology is used in ways that promote digital equity, creativity, democratic integrity, and economic equity. I urge you to use this well-timed and thoughtful docket to support the creation of responsible AI frameworks and principles.


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Today poultry giant Tyson Foods announced Raised & Rooted, its new brand selling alternative proteins.
Raised & Rooted’s first products will be plant-based “chicken” nuggets (made with a pea protein blend) and blended burger patties (which combine beef and pea protein). The products have lower calories and saturated fat than traditional chicken nuggets and beef burgers, respectively.
In addition to the new Raised & Rooted brand, Tyson is also introducing new alt-protein products through its existing Aidells brand, which sells meaty sausages, burgers, and meatballs. Aidells Whole Blends’ new sausages and meatballs contain a blend of chicken and protein-heavy plants such as quinoa, black beans, and lentils.
Raised & Rooted’s plant-based nuggets will launch in retailers in late summer. The blended burgers will follow this fall. Outside the grocery channel, Tyson will also sell its new alternative protein products through foodservice partners. Aidells’ Whole Blends are already available.
“For us, this is about ‘and’ – not ‘or,'” said Tyson Foods CEO Noel White in a press release emailed to the Spoon. “We remain firmly committed to our growing traditional meat business and expect to be a market leader in alternative protein, which is experiencing double-digit growth and could someday be a billion-dollar business for our company.”
Tyson’s venture capital arm, Tyson Ventures, has invested in mushroom protein company MycoTechnology and cell-based meat startups Memphis Meats and Future Meat Technologies. They had purchased a 6.5 percent ownership in Beyond Meat but quietly dissolved their ties in April — likely since Tyson (understandably) didn’t want to compete directly with one of its portfolio companies once it started developing its own line of plant-based protein.
When the second largest meat processor in the world creates its own line(s) of plant-based and blended chicken and burgers, there’s no longer any doubt that alternative proteins are a profitable opportunity. This news also comes a day after Perdue, another large poultry producer, launched its line of Chicken Plus products: chicken nuggets, tenders, and patties blended with vegetables and proteins sourced from Better Meat Co.

domain: news


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Grant to help spruce up sand beach in downtown Detroit
A popular sand beach in the heart of downtown Detroit is getting a little sprucing up.
The Downtown Detroit Partnership says a $125,000 grant from the Southwest Airlines Foundation will be used to improve the beach at Campus Martius Park.
Beach furniture, toys and games, lighting and landscaping will be enhanced. Beer and wine tastings will be among new events at the beach, which opened in 2014.
Additional funding will be used to support existing events like the Friday Beach Party which features local bands performing reggae and Caribbean-style music.
The Downtown Detroit Partnership works with the city, businesses and foundations to create a vibrant urban core.


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B2B e-commerce unicorn Udaan has raised $120 million in convertible notes and debt from existing shareholders and bondholders, among others.
With this round, the total funds raised by Udaan through convertible notes and debt in the last four quarters have crossed $350 million. The company is also aiming to become IPO-ready in 12-18 months, according to an internal email sent by company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Aditya Pande, which BusinessLine has reviewed.
In this email, Pande said, “Despite the funding-related challenges being experienced by the larger start-up ecosystem, this fundraise reflects the confidence of investors in our business model and their endorsement of the journey to unit economics, driven by great progress in evolution of our business model and cost efficiency, that we initiated last year.”
He added that these steps have helped the company in achieving positive unit economics last quarter, and also improved efficiency in the system, “with huge cost benefits, which is key to building a sustainable business and being public market ready in 12-18 months.”
Repeat buys improve
The company is said to have improved its unit economics by ~ 1,000bps (basis points) and Udaan’s cash burn has reduced by over 60 per cent. Further, the company’s monthly buyer repeat rates have also improved by 500+bps (basis points) in the last 2 quarters.
“The success of our various initiatives and endorsements from investors further strengthens our commitment to continue making focused interventions that are critical to our plans of achieving profitability,” Pande added.
According to a September 2022 report by Redseer, Udaan holds about 46 per cent of the market share in B2B ecommerce, followed by Jiomart. The report added that India’s B2B e-commerce market is expected to reach $90-100 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2030 as compared to $5 billion market in 2021.


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The concept of “ambush marketing” is quite tricky and, in some ways, relatively brilliant. Essentially, it is a marketing campaign developed by a non-sponsor company that interferes with an event sponsored exclusively by a competitor. Major sporting events, such as the Olympics, have fallen prey to these gorilla tactics in the past. The bigger the event, the more money involved, the bigger the deal.
“Events like the Olympics and the World Cup are hugely expensive to put on, so they need big-money sponsors and this in turn means that the organizers must protect aggressively against ambush marketing,” — Phillip Johnson, a visiting senior fellow at Queen Mary, University of London. “But this means there is potentially huge exposure for anyone who manages to outwit them.”
This year, the 2010 World Cup’s exclusive beer sponsor, Budweiser, found itself to be the latest victim of “ambush marketing.” Despite the fact that Budweiser had spent millions of dollars to become the sole authorized beer sponsor of the tournament, 36 women in orange mini-dresses, representing the Dutch brewery Bavaria, infiltrated South Africa’s Soccer City Stadium during the Netherlands versus Denmark match.
The women were captured on video, causing a scene by demanding the attention of the crowd by stripping layers of clothing off and waving them around in the air.
The stunt was quickly ramified, as all of the women were ejected and two were arrested. But this did not stop it from getting the reaction it wanted. The irony is that, although Bavaria did get attention for pulling off the stunt, Budweiser also received increased exposure in the process.
The incident is currently under criminal investigation and FIFA is filing charges against the Dutch brewing company.


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Merc chases lost youth
A new baby aimed at those aged under 50
THE baby Benz that went missing in 2011 is coming back with a vengeance.
The A-Class was dropped after falling sales in Australia, but an all-new A will show a new style direction, and a more youthful side, when it returns to local showrooms in 2012.
It is previewed at the Shanghai and New York motor shows next week with the promise of a racy hatchback body to replace the boxy fridgelike look of the outgoing car. And more excitement.
Mercedes-Benz Australia denies it lost faith in the A-Class, but it says the new A, and the B-Class that comes with it, will renew buyer enthusiasm.
The A-Class went into hibernation. We took it out of the catalogue because the B-Class was predominantly meeting that need,’’ said Benz spokesman David McCarthy.
The volume has encouraged us to bring both the new A and B-Class to Australia when they are released.’’
The worldwide emphasis is on the A, with the B continuing as a family-focused hatch. There will also be a compact SUV as Mercedes leverages an all-new compact-car platform for the future.
The third-generation A-Class is much lower and livelier than before, comes with a class-first anti-collision system and has an adventurous cabin with a dash inspired by an aircraft wing.
But it’s still only a concept car and the motor show machine could change before production next year.
McCarthy said the objective with the new A-Class is to get younger people to add a baby Benz to their shopping list.
Not only is this a new market for Mercedes-Benz, it will also lure people to the brand who have never considered us before,’’ he said.
He refused to be drawn on price or exact timing, or on speculation that the A and B-Class cars will have a joint arrival next year.
It will be great value. It will be sometime in 2012 for Australia,’’ he said.
Concept view: The A-Class isnowlower and livelier


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Sony may have established itself as the newest expert when it comes to waterproof devices ever since the advent of the Xperia Z series, but it still wants to push the aquatic boundaries even more. In their latest teaser before the start of the IFA 2014 in Berlin, they hinted that they may be going to a deeper level with the new devices that they will be announcing at their upcoming press event during the ubiquitous tech expo.
“We’ll be getting deep at #IFA2014. But how deep…?”, was the tweet that Sony sent out last August 31, with an underwater image in a swimming pool. The 2m and question mark text in the image may very well refer to the fact that the new devices they will be revealing may be immersed in 2 meters or more of water. The Xperia M2 Aqua, billed as having the “world’s highest level of waterproofing available in a smartphone” can only be dunked in 1.5-2 meters of freshwater for around 30 minutes, with its IP certification of IP68.
Now if indeed the new devices can go deeper than 2 meters, that would be a watery feat for the Japanese OEM. It can also boost the Sony Underwater apps, which they released last month and allows users of the Xperia Z1s or Xperia Z to enjoy underwater games with their devices. The apps will only work when the smartphone detects that it is underwater through the power of spectrograms.
The Sony event will be on September 4, in what promises to be another highly competitive exhibition of the latest gadgets that tech companies have to offer. So far Sony seems to have cornered the market in waterproof devices so let’s wait and see what they have to offer.
VIA: Xperia Blog


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Banker's Toolbox Announces — ACQUISITION OF LOAN LOSS RESERVE POWERHOUSE, MAINSTREET TECHNOLOGIES
Banker's Toolbox, Inc., leaders in compliance solutions for financial institutions, announced the acquisition of Georgia-based MainStreet Technologies (MST). MST is an industry leader in the loan risk management space. This acquisition adds to a strong and growing portfolio of compliance-related solutions and will continue to enhance the value Banker's Toolbox brings to both their customers and the industry. (Read full press release here.)
White paper on synthetic ID fraud
The Federal Reserve's FedPayments Improvement Task Force has released Synthetic Identity Fraud in the U.S. Payment System—A Review of Causes and Contributing Factors, a white paper on the growing problem of synthetic identity fraud in the U.S. payment system. The paper is a compilation of insights from Federal Reserve and industry subject matter experts. It’s intended to be a resource for industry professionals on the current state of synthetic identity fraud, including the scope of the issue, causes, contributing factors and its impact on the payments industry.


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NEW DELHI: Prosus NV has agreed to acquire Indian online payments service BillDesk for 345 billion rupees (US$4.7bil or RM19.5bil), making its largest global acquisition to date in the Asian nation.
The European investment powerhouse’s PayU unit has struck a deal to buy the 11-year-old startup, creating a digital payments giant with a total volume of US$147bil (RM612bil).
It will take Prosus’ investment in India to more than US$10bil (RM42bil) to date, the company said in a statement.
Prosus, whose biggest investment is Tencent Holdings Ltd, will be getting in on an Indian payments arena on the cusp of taking off. More than 200 million more people will adopt digital payments there over the next three years, fuelling a 10-fold increase in annual transactions per person to 220, Prosus said, citing Indian central bank estimates.
The Prosus deal could intensify competition in the teeming sector.
Hundreds of startups from BillDesk to Walmart Inc’s PhonePe and Ant Group Co-backed Paytm are pitching customers everything from micro-loans to gold trading.
BillDesk, backed by Visa, was one of the pioneers of online payments in India alongside larger rival Paytm.
Its services are common especially among retailers in the country.
Investor interest in India is accelerating as Beijing pursues a campaign to rein in tech sectors from online commerce and financial technology to gaming.
Unlike China, where online usage is much more developed, many of India’s 625 million Internet users are just dipping their toes into the world of video streaming, social networking and e-commerce.
Opportunities in online shopping are particularly attractive, as e-commerce accounts for less than 3% of retail transactions.
Tech startups in India are still paying to build supply chain and delivery networks.
India had a record US$6.3bil (RM26.2bil) of funding and deals for technology startups in the second quarter, while funding to China-based companies dropped 18% from a peak of US$27.7bil (RM115bil) in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to data from research firm CB Insights.
The acquisition would be Prosus’ largest to date, eclipsing its roughly US$1.8bil (RM7.5bil) Stack Exchange Inc investment, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Its PayU unit grew total payment volume 51% in the year ended March to US$55bil (RM229bil), Prosus said. — Bloomberg


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"My dad told me to give you a application to get a job in google."
Some European regulators are not happy about Google's handling of the controversial "right to be forgotten" ruling.
Google's media streaming device Chromecast launched one year ago, and announced it has streamed more than 400 million casts and sold "millions" of devices.
Google has acquired a Finnish firm that will help the search giant tailor its software to a variety of hardware smartphone options.
Facebook is responsible for 55% of all social logins, a dominant market share and well above Google's 27%.
Here's a whole different kind of Google bus -- one that could help change the lives of San Francisco's most needy.
Apple's got CarPlay, Google has Android Auto and Microsoft has Windows in the Car -- but which connected vehicle is closest to the assembly line? In our latest Mobile Minute video, we take a look at the tech players contending for our dashboards. App...
Schools bought more than 1 million Chromebooks -- budget laptops that run Chrome OS -- in the second quarter of 2014, Google announced on Monday.


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Scientists have created the world’s first living, self-healing robots using stem cells from frogs.
Xenobots: First living robots created from stem cells – CNN
Posted in Biology, Materials, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged ethics, frog, living robots, robotics, robots, science, stem cells, technology, xenobots |
Nuro, the self-driving startup founded by two ex-Google engineers, is expanding its pilot robot delivery service in Houston, Texas, to include Walmart customers. The company has been making grocery deliveries in Houston with its fleet of autonomous Toyota Prius vehicles since March. Now the company plans to roll out its custom-built R2 prototype vehicle to help supplement its delivery duties.
Nuro’s driverless delivery robots will start serving Walmart customers in Houston – The Verge
Posted in Business, Gadgets, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged car, delivery, driverless, grocery, Houston, Nuro, robot, science, shopping, technology, Walmart |
The prosthetic enabled a test subject to pick up an egg without cracking it, send a text message, peel a banana and hold his wife’s hand.
Robotic Hand Restores Wearer’s Sense of Touch | Smart News | Smithsonian
Posted in Computers, Gadgets, Health, Medicine, prosthetics, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged control, cybernetics, feeling, hand, health, medicine, prosthetics, robotics, science, technology, touch |
A team at the University of Maryland is developing drone technology to deliver organs faster and give doctors timely updates on their transit.
Posted in Health, Medicine, News, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged delivery, drone, health, kidney, medicine, organ, science, technology |
A prosthetic voice decodes what the brain intends to say and generates (mostly) understandable speech, no muscle movement needed.
Posted in anatomy, brain, communication, Computers, Health, Medicine, prosthetics, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged artificial intelligence, brain, brain signals, communication, health, medicine, neural networks, prosthetics, research, science, signals, speech, technology, voice, voice synthesis |
Two years after surviving a car crash but losing his arm, Junius Moore — the first recipient of DEKA Research and Development’s “LUKE Arm” — will be able to work in his restaurant and play with his 7-year-old son again.
Posted in Biology, Computers, Gadgets, Health, Medicine, News, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged amputee, bionics, cybernetics, DEKA Research and Development, health, Junius Moore, LUKE Arm, medicine, prosthetics, science, technology, thought-controlled |
In an attempt to harness the power of pop, researchers went against the grain to push the boundaries of this staple starch
Popcorn-Powered Robots? Get ‘Em While They’re Hot! | Smart News | Smithsonian
Posted in News, Robotics, Science, Technology |
Tagged engineering, food, mechanical engineering, mechanics, popcorn, robotics, science, technology |


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The AHR Expo (International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition) returned to Chicago for a lively week of learning, reconnecting, perusing and demoing eve...
AHR Expo Now Accepting 2020 Innovation Awards Submissions
The AHR Expo (International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition) announces its call for entries for the 2020 Innovation Awards Competition. The annual competition honors the most innovative and original products, systems and technologies showcased at each year’s AHR Expo. Exhibitors are encouraged to submit new or upgraded products for consideration through August 6, 2019.
ABOUT THE INNOVATION AWARDS & PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
The Innovation Awards debuted in 2003 to highlight the HVACR industry’s efforts to push boundaries with innovative solutions for new and existing challenges. The awards point attention to products, systems and technologies that disrupt the industry and set the bar for future momentum.
Winners will be selected from each of the following products categories: building automation; cooling; green building; heating; indoor air quality; plumbing; refrigeration; software; tools and instruments; and ventilation. Winners are evaluated and selected by a panel of third-party judges representing ASHRAE. Companies demonstrating true innovative design, creativity, application, value and market impact will be deemed winners in their respective category.
The Innovation Awards also recognize an overall Product of the Year, selected from the pool of winners from all categories. The winner of this award is selected based on their exceptional level of leadership in HVACR innovation.
“The Innovation Awards aim to recognize companies within the HVACR industry that demonstrate leadership through design, construction and execution of products and technologies that propel the industry,” said Mark Stevens, manager of AHR Expo. “Each year’s submissions give us a true indication of just how much progress is made from year to year, and we look forward to highlighting those that are taking the lead with innovation.”
Winners in each of the product categories, as well as the winner of the overall Product of the Year Award, will be recognized in a ceremony during the 2020 Show on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. Additionally, winners receive acknowledgment in print and online features about the Innovation Awards in major industry publications and on the AHR Expo website.
SUBMISSIONS & JUDGING
Exhibitors at the 2020 AHR Expo are eligible for the Innovation Awards and may submit one product in each category. Submitted products will not be considered if they have previously won an award. To be considered, products must be exhibited at the 2020 Show and must be available for sale by the end of February 2020. Completed entry forms along with a $100 entry fee must be submitted online at ahrexpo.com by Tuesday, August 6, 2019.
ENTRY FEES DONATED TO LOCAL CHARITY
Entry fees for the Innovation Awards (approximately $20,000) are donated each year to a charitable organization serving the local community where the Show is held. The donation is generally used to provide HVACR repairs or upgrades.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the 2020 AHR Expo or the Innovation Awards Competition, please visit ahrexpo.com. Specific questions regarding Innovation Awards submissions can be emailed to [email protected]
ABOUT THE AHR EXPO
The AHR Expo is the world’s largest HVACR event, attracting the most comprehensive gathering of industry professionals from around the globe each year. The Show provides a unique forum where manufacturers of all sizes and specialties, whether a major industry brand or innovative start-up, can come together to share ideas and showcase the future of HVACR technology under one roof. Since 1930, the AHR Expo has remained the industry’s best place for OEMs, engineers, contractors, facility operators, architects, educators and other industry professionals to explore the latest trends and applications and to cultivate mutually beneficial business relationships. The next Show, co-sponsored by ASHRAE and AHRI, will be held Feb. 3-5, 2020 in Orlando, and is held concurrently with ASHRAE’s Winter Conference. For more information, visit ahrexpo.com and follow @ahrexpo on Twitter
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The AHR Expo (International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition) has released their 2024 Trend Report here. It covers regulation updates, IoT and AI, supp...
The AHR Expo (International Air-Conditioning, Heating, Refrigerating Exposition) today released the full schedule for the 2024 AHR Expo Education Program. This year’s pro...


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April 25, 2022
DETROIT– April 25, 2022 – TiiCKER, the world’s first verified investor and shareholder rewards platform, has announced an endorsement deal and influencer sponsorship of high-rising and fast-climbing Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) athlete, Logan Webber.
“We want to reach consumers and shareholders everywhere they live, play, shop and invest, and sports is a great venue for getting our message out: if you own stock, you should be rewarded!” said Jeff Lambert, founder and CEO of TiiCKER. “Logan’s stock is on the rise and his winning combination of tenacity and talent is a great fit with this shared philosophy at TiiCKER. We’re sure he’s going to kill it for us.”
Fresh off a win on the beaches of Florida in the Panama City: AVP America, Webber won three AVP Next Gold Series events in 2021, including New Orleans, Oshkosh, and Seaside, Oregon., finished second in AVP Rookie of the Year votes in 2019, and is currently a top AVP player and Olympic hopeful. Like TiiCKER, Webber is a product of Michigan, growing up playing on the beaches of West Michigan. After achieving All-American status in 2018, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a professional beach volleyball career and ended up qualifying for his first World Tour event – the Huntington Beach FIVB. The following year, Webber qualified for his first AVP Main Draw at the Huntington Beach AVP, placing ninth, as well as four additional Main Draws, including Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Chicago.
“It’s an honor to be sponsored by a national brand like TiiCKER, and as an everyday investor, it’s awesome to work with a company I believe in,” Webber said. “The relentlessness and grit it takes to make a startup successful parallels the mindset and drive that I need to have to get to the podium as an AVP player, and I’m confident we’re both going to win together.”
The TiiCKER mobile apps and web-based platform provide access to product discounts, VIP events and exclusive perks to shareholders, as well as commission-free trading and editorial content. Perks are available at TiiCKER.com or in the TiiCKER app and can be redeemed when a shareholder creates an account and connects their brokerage account, verifying their stock ownership. To learn more about TiiCKER, or to claim shareholder rewards, please visit TiiCKER.com.
For public companies, TiiCKER is the only direct-to-consumer platform for CMOs and marketers who previously could not reach their millions of owners, and for investor relations executives to grow and engage their previously ignored retail investors.
Launched in 2020, TiiCKER invented verified stock perks and direct-to-shareholder marketing through its web-based and mobile app software platforms, providing consumers and investors a revolutionary way to engage with the brands they love. For America’s 130 million retail investors, TiiCKER provides unique access to shareholder perks, commission-free trading and custom articles and content. For its public company partners, TiiCKER creates and markets shareholder loyalty programs, helping companies engage and reward their consumers and owners to maximize Shareholder Lifetime Value™. For more information, please visit TiiCKER.com.


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Nov 18 , 2020
The current pandemic combined with holiday shopping will make shipping a task of enormous proportions this year. Shoppers need to be wise.
Since online shopping has grown exponentially during the lockdowns of the last few months and with the holidays quickly approaching, the convergence of online shopping and the pandemic will create an experience know as... Shipageddon — chaos and delays as every parcel and delivery company hustles to keep up with the surge in holiday packages.
Large retailers and small businesses alike are racking their brains to figure out how they are going to get their products delivered for their customers in this uncharted territory. Many are encouraging customers to order early, but most may not heed that call.
Shipping and delivery managers we spoke to are already taking their antacids and their headache medicine.
"This is going to be different than all the years before," said Tim Rourke. He owns a small shipping company new to the market. In fact, the company is only one part-time helper and himself. Tim is looking to grow and expand his business through the opportunities presented by this pandemic.
What about you? What are you doing this season to make sure your products and gifts arrive on time? What opportunities do you see in the upcoming months? Are you taking advantage of them?


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Time running out for Windows XP. Now there are less than 900 days until support Microsoft does not continue for decades-old operating system.
More precisely, there are 893 days until the Redmond company pulled the plug on its predecessor Windows Vista.
In a sense, XP will live on borrowed time, because mainstream support for the operating system ends on 14 April 2009.
But as this is the case with a number of products, XP move the Extended Support phase, which is scheduled to expire on April 9, 2014.
Microsoft warns customers about Alex Guy deadline is near when XP support was "flicked off, and no support Windows XP mean to be a significant risk to your business. After April 8, 2014 there will be no new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support online update option or technical content, "he said.
Microsoft made sure to mark the moment that XP support expiration date is 1000 days away, and the company has driven customers to upgrade earlier this week.
On October 25, 2011, XP already 10 years old, but although it is still a major presence in the operating system market.
Like it or not, XP is all but obsolete, and using Windows 7 for example may prove this. It's about time for Windows XP still plans to upgrade.
"It's hard to believe, but ten years have passed since first launched Windows XP, and place of work has changed a slight bit," added Guy.
"Businesses today, large or small, the trend of mainstream not face a decade ago - a highly mobile workforce and distributed, in compliance with new regulations, more consumer devices in the workplace, and an increased emphasis on operational efficiency. Modern workplace requires modern technology to support and embrace all of these changes.
Less than 900 Days Until Windows XP End of Life


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Unilever named non-executive director Nils Andersen as its new chairman to utilise his deep experience across consumer goods and logistics industries. Nil Andersen will replace Marijn Dekkers. Unilever is Europe’s seventh most valuable company.
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Stellantis has launched what it claims is the UK’s first multi-brand approved-used programme called SPOTiCAR. The new initiative combines ‘approved-used’ models from four Stellantis group brands at launch on a single platform, along with other brands a SPOTiCAR retailer chooses to offer.
Available from launch across the Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroen networks, SPOTiCAR allows buyers to view potential purchases online, arrange part-exchange valuations on current vehicles and configure a finance package. Customers can also visit retailers to view cars and arrange test drives.
DS Automobiles used vehiles will also be included in SPOTiCAR but will remain a separate brand under the DS Certified programme.
The new website launches on 16 June, giving access to 12,000 approved-used vehicles on a single platform.
Stellantis said the launch “comes at a crucial time for the UK’s car industry, with the latest research finding that while the majority of buyers are increasingly comfortable completing their purchase online, nearly 65% still value the physical experience of viewing and test driving vehicles before signing on the dotted line”.
SPOTiCAR vehicles have a one-year comprehensive warranty cover, provided by the brands’ existing warranty providers. A year of RAC roadside assistance cover is also provided and there is a 30-day exchange commitment.
Used vehicle operations director Nick Richards said: “Stellantis is always looking at new ways to innovate the market, and with the launch of SPOTiCAR we bring our excellent used-approved programmes across our brands into a single platform.”


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Well, if you’re here, you may have watched Jim Browning’s video on how scammers launder money.
You can now find us on Apple News in the Apple News App on your iPhone, iPad and iPod. We know how much you wanted a portable news format, so, … Read More “We’re now on Apple News”
You may have seen all over the news about these “bully hunters” and about their action to try to prevent bullying against women, when in fact women aren’t just the … Read More “Bully Hunters… a waste of streaming bandwidth…”
It has come to our understanding that there is an email scam is going around that looks like its coming from Telstra, and it contains something nasty. An updated version … Read More “Telstra Email Scam”


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Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News back in 2005. Martin started his career as a tech support representative at a large German financial corporation which he used to finance his college education in English, Information Technology and History.
He quit college and his job when Ghacks began to attract a large enough readership. He made the decision to become a full time blogger and webmaster, and has not looked back since.
Martin is interested in all things tech. His primary focus is on desktop operating systems, web browsers, Internet services, and privacy related topics.
He published the book The Complete Windows 10 Privacy Guide: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update version in 2017. Martin writes a weekly column for fellow tech site Betanews as well.
Martin has been quoted or mentioned in many major online and print publications, including Forbes, Lifehacker.com, ComputerWorld, LinkedIn, Reddit, Betanews.com, Bleeping Computer, TechCrunch, PC World, Tom's Hardware, Slashdot, Hacker News, The Register, and more.
Martin's articles on Ghacks
Google's Chrome web browser supports password saving and management options just like any other modern web browser. The browser offers to save passwords by default when it recognizes that a user enters […]
AdGuard is a popular ad-blocking solution that is available for various desktop and mobile operating system, browsers, and DNS solution. It can be run on the system level instead of in a […]
Acronis True Image 2020 is the latest installment in Acronis' long-standing backup product series. It is a commercial backup program, a trial version is provided on the Acronis website that interested users […]
Facebook started to roll out a new privacy tool called Off-Facebook Activity to users from Ireland, Spain, and South Korea earlier today. Designed to give users of the site better control over […]
Several add-on developers criticized Mozilla in 2015 when the maker of Firefox revealed that it would drop the classic Firefox add-ons system to replace it with a new system based on WebExtensions. […]
Opera Software released a new version of the company's desktop web browser Opera to the public on August 20, 2019. Opera 63.0 improves the browser's private mode among other things. Opera users […]
Vivaldi Technologies released Vivaldi 2.7, a new stable version of the company's Vivaldi web browser, on August 21, 2019 to the public. The new release refines features of the web browser and […]
The plain text editor Notepad has been turned into a Microsoft Store application in the latest preview builds of the next major feature update for Windows 10, version 20H1. Notepad is certainly […]
The Google Analytics Certification: Get Certified In 2 Days is designed for users of all experience levels; ideal for beginning webmasters and those that want to use Google Analytics to its fullest […]
Microsoft released the monthly rollup previews KB4512478 and KB4512514 for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 this weekend. The release on a Saturday is a deviation […]
If I had to name one thing that I really, really dislike about Netflix I'd pick the auto-playing trailers on the site. Netflix calls these video previews, and they play automatically whenever […]
VideoLAN, the organization behind one of the most popular media players VLC Media Player, released VLC Media Player 3.0.8 today. VLC Media Player 3.0.8 is a security update that patches a total […]
Remember Opera Touch? Opera Software released the first version of the mobile browser Opera Touch in April 2018 to the public. The browser was available for Android initially but it is now […]
Windows supports autostart functionality; the autostart on startup feature is the better known variant but there is also an option to autostart on shutdown. Some programs add entries to the autostart list […]
Windows 10 20H1, the first feature update version of 2020 for Windows 10 and the first major update for Windows 10 after Windows 10 version 1903, will introduce quite a number of […]
Microsoft released the cumulative update KB4512534 for its Windows 10 version 1809 operating system on August 17, 2019. The update follows the release of the updates KB4517297 for Windows 7 and Windows […]
Microsoft released updates for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 version 1709, as well as Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 and 2012 R2 that addresses the recently discovered Visual Basic […]
Google Chrome 82 won't support FTP anymore according to the recently published "Intent to Deprecate: FTP Support" document by Google. All modern web browsers support FTP at the time of writing. Users […]
Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.


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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2, or at least a sequel to the first Jedi: Fallen Order game, has been confirmed to already be in development at Respawn Entertainment by EA. This long-awaited sequel will follow on from Respawn’s action-adventure game and is expected to follow on from Cal Kestis’ hunt for the Jedi Holocron. With fans eager to dive back into a Galaxy Far Far Away, we have the latest on a Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 release date, gameplay, and more below.
Star Wars video games are few and far between at the moment, despite the fact that we’re seeing a slew of Star Wars content from Disney through series such as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. For a long time, Star Wars fans have wanted more from games set in this beloved universe – now, it looks like that’s exactly what we’re getting. Both a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake and a new Star Wars FPS from Respawn Entertainment are on the way. It’s never been a better time to be a Star Wars-loving gamer.
With Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order having received next-gen updates following its launch in November 2019, we’re now looking forward to the sequel and what the future holds for Cal Kestis and the Jedi Order. Here’s everything we know about the rumoured Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 release date and what’s next for the Star Wars Jedi series.
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order 2 release date rumours
At the moment, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 does not have a release date from EA. The publisher has confirmed that the next game in the Star Wars Jedi series is already in development with Stig Asmussen returning as game director for the project.
Jeff Grubb has claimed that we should “hear about [Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2] in a significant way” before 2022’s Summer Games Fest, which is expected to take place in mid-June. Current rumours suggest that it will appear at Star Wars Celebration on May 26, 2022.
In an investor presentation, EA also listed a “major IP” set to release sometime between January 2023 and March 2023. This is reportedly Jedi Fallen Order 2, which is called Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, according to Jeff Grubb.
FY23 line-up includes 4 undisclosed titles releasing between January and March 2023.
Major IP = Fallen Order 2
Remake = Dead Space
Partner Title = ?
Sports Title = UFC/NCAA? pic.twitter.com/3m9JA8R6aX
— MauroNL (@MauroNL3) May 10, 2022
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order 2 platforms
EA has yet to confirm the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 platforms. It is likely, though, that we will see this title released simultaneously on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
At the moment, we don’t know whether the game will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles – a rumour does say that it will not be released on last-generation consoles.
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order 2 gameplay
We haven’t seen any gameplay for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 yet – however, EA has confirmed that the Star Wars Jedi series will be continuing as an action-adventure game.
Therefore, we’re expecting the core aspects of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2’s gameplay to be similar to the original game.
Well, that’s all there is to know about the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 release date right now. Respawn is keeping its cards close to its chest, but if the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is anything like the original then we’re in for another fantastic adventure.


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Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Facebook’s digital currency Libra, may herald the future of payment systems, or even how we will exchange value over the Internet in the years to come. But for citizens across the planet and financial supervisors, these digital assets that have flourished over the past decade, are promising technologies but are, at best, difficult to grasp.
At worst, they have become synonymous with highly volatile assets that could put at risk the financial stability of the planet, and even the monetary sovereignty of nations, like many fear Libra could bring about.
The European Commission will unveil this autumn its long-awaited proposal on cryptocurrencies in order to seize the opportunities brought by these tokens powered by networks of computers: these include lower fees and almost instant transactions. Europe will become the first major jurisdiction to regulate these new means of payment.
“I believe that Europe is in a position to lead the way on regulation,” Commission executive vice-president for financial services, Valdis Dombrovskis, said in June.
In the EU executive’s thinking, new rules won’t scare developers and investors away, but rather the opposite.
The lack of legal certainty is often cited as the main barrier to developing a sound crypto-asset market in the EU, Dombrovskis recalled.
By becoming the first region to put its house in order, the EU expects to attract a market worth almost $350 billion spread over more than 6,700 digital currencies.
The Commission expects to achieve the holy grail of rule makers: to come up with legislation that will not only protect customers but will also spur innovation by designing a clear framework.
But before seeing what rules would be needed to rein in this fast evolving cutting-edge field, we need to take a deep dive into the past.
In February 1637, the Dutch were caught up in ‘tulipmania’. Tulip prices skyrocketed from December 1636 to February 1637, with some of the most prized bulbs seeing a 12-fold price jump. Tulips were not only exotic flowers but a speculative investment, with some wealthy individuals paying for bulbs what they would pay for a comfortable house.
The wild rush suddenly ended in February 1637, leaving some investors penniless in what is considered the first bubble-and-burst episode in investment history.
For some, the irrational fever that struck the Netherlands is a cautionary tale for the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies, as the story of Bitcoin reveals.
The obscure payment method became a primary target for speculators. The price of one Bitcoin skyrocketed almost 10-fold in the second half of 2017, reaching nearly 20,000 dollars (16,960 euro) at the end of that year. In December 2018, one Bitcoin was worth around 3,300 dollars (2,800 euro), around 75% less compared with the all-time high.
Since then, Bitcoin prices recovered some of the lost ground (price as of early September is just below €9,000), but doubts around crypto-assets persist.
Created in 2009 after the housing market crash by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym), Bitcoin brought lower fees for online payments and a decentralised authority, aligned with the libertarian spirit firing the digital world.
Bitcoin balances are kept on a public ledger, supported by a network of computers that everyone on the network can see. This is the blockchain technology that powers every cryptocurrency.
For some, blockchain is the greatest technological breakthrough since the Internet. Author and consultant Don Tapscott told top EU analysts back in 2015 about its potential, when the technology was still nascent. While the first generation of the Internet enabled us to communicate information only, the second generation, based on blockchain technology, allows users to communicate value and money in a peer-to-peer way, he said.
Bitcoin’s rollercoaster ride in the markets eclipsed the potential of blockchain. But regulators across the world are not only concerned about the volatility of these digital tokens and the impact that the Bitcoin frenzy could have on users. They are also wary of some of its beneficiaries, as the anonymity provided by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies made them an optimal payment method for drug dealers and other illegal activities.
The slow progress of authorities in Europe and elsewhere to regulate it and the struggle to fully understand and legislate without killing it, significantly changed in the summer 2019.
That June, Facebook announced that it would launch in 2020 a ‘stablecoin’, a digital currency backed by the “best performing independent currencies”, to offer cheap and fast means of payment to users.
The announcement provoked an immediate backlash from governments and central bankers. Users were also uneasy with the social network’s intentions to build an alternative global system for instant payments, in light of its poor record respecting their private data.
The irruption of the social network pushed cryptocurrencies to the top of the priority lists for regulators across the world, concerned not only about their price instability and dodgy users, but also the implications for the global economy as a whole.
The reason is that Libra is a “stablecoin”, a type of cryptocurrency backed by a reserve asset, in this case a basket of sovereign currencies.
By being tied to national currencies, Libra wants to address the high volatility of cryptocurrencies. But national authorities fear that it could destabilise the global economy, especially when you can reach potentially 2.7 billion users around the world.
“We will not accept that Libra is transformed into a sovereign currency that can endanger financial stability,” French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, told us in an interview in July 2019, on the eve of the G7 finance ministers meeting, where France sent a strong warning to Facebook.
Dante Disparte, deputy chair of the Libra project, said in December last year that “we have always said that the project would seek to be regulated.”
But he asked for the “same risks, same rules” principle that regulators defend in Europe.
“Don’t push Fintech innovations of any size offshore from the European market because, in the long run, it is going to be bad for the economic competitiveness of the region,” he stressed.
The concerns erupted across the world, and the withdrawal of some initial partners from the Libra project, including Visa and Mastercard, led the Libra Association this spring to lower its ambitions, by offering primarily stablecoins backed by only one sovereign currency, becoming in practice digital versions of national money.
By scaling down their plans, Facebook intends to convince financial supervisors of their reasonableness in order to win their approval when it is finally launched in the EU. But it won’t be easy.
While US authorities apply existing rules on cryptocurrencies, the Commission drafted new legislation (announced for autumn 2020) to rein in these digital assets.
The rules will come after more than two years of slow but steady progress to regulate cryptocurrencies, a Commission official told The Brussels Times magazine. “Libra was a ‘wake-up call’ to take seriously these developments.”
The EU executive was wary from the outset of the risks of over-regulating because of Libra, as Europe could strangle the innovation brought by smaller Fintech firms.
As a result, the Commission designed a set of rules that will be proportionate to the level of risks. Less risky cryptocurrencies will face lighter legislation, while for global cryptocurrencies such as Libra, rules would be stronger, given that they are likely to raise challenges in terms of financial stability and monetary policy, warned Dombrovskis before the summer break.
The new European framework will substitute the national rules that are starting to emerge in a few member states, including France, Germany and Malta. Once the cryptocurrencies win regulatory approval at EU level (by following a series of requirements, depending on their risks), they would obtain a EU-wide ‘passport’ to operate in the bloc.
Our central bank’s account
Libra also became a ‘wake-up’ call for central bankers. A recent survey among 66 central banks by the Bank for International Settlements showed that more than 80% are working on central bank digital currencies, including the ECB.
Yves Mersch, member of the executive board of the ECB said last May that Frankfurt wants to be ready “to embrace financial technological innovation, which has the potential to transform payments and money faster”.
Although most of the money issued by central banks is in fact already digital, it is accessible only for banks. Their new digital currencies could make their balance sheets accessible to citizens, a true game-changer. In other words, we could have a deposit account in our central bank.
This scenario would have major consequences for the banking industry, as savers would prefer to have their money in the safe hands of the ECB or the Federal Reserve, given the long history of banking crises.
For that reason, central bankers are thinking twice about how to design their digital currencies without provoking a financial earthquake.
The journey won’t be either short or easy, as every step forward in the crypto-world has brought new challenges. While ‘stablecoins’ addressed the volatility of Bitcoin and the first cryptocurrencies, Libra still does not meet the standards of commercial bank money.
Meanwhile, central bank solutions still raise “profound questions about the shape of the financial system and the implications for monetary and financial stability”, and their own role in the system, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said on 3 September.
Like every new technology, cryptocurrencies must overcome numerous obstacles and address many outstanding risks. But the sense of direction is clear. The future of money is already here.
By Jorge Valero


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The stock market is about to finish its worst year in decades. But every cloud has its silver lining. Eventually, every bear market throughout history has represented an opportunity for patient investors looking to pick up shares in desirable names at bargain prices. The question isn’t “if” you should be looking for stocks to buy, but which stocks to buy.
Amid unrelenting inflation and a strong potential for a recession, volatility is widely expected to continue as we head into the new year, making the job of selecting stocks difficult. A logical move in times like these is dividend stocks, which pay you just to hold them. Dividend-paying companies regularly reward investors directly with a portion of the cash flow.
The most desirable dividend stocks have a history of raising payouts over time as the company’s profits grow. Today we’ll take a look at a high-yielding stock that seems ripe for the picking as we head into the new year.
The 12-million-mile battery that already exists…
This technology already exists, and it’s rolling out to manufacturers at this moment. The one company behind it is on the cusp of an enormous surge… [Click here for the full story…]
With shipping rates down from record levels, it’s unsurprising that many shipping stocks have been whacked hard this year, creating opportunity for investors looking for dividend stocks. According to the International Chamber of Shipping, 90% of global trade passes through the maritime shipping industry. This is a very volatile sector, but it’s essential to the world’s supply chain.
Anyone who has kept tabs on the global supply chain and shipping saga that’s been unfolding since the outbreak of covid is probably familiar with Genco Shipping (GNK). The company owns a fleet of 44 ships it leases for dry bulk transportation of goods like grain, coal, and iron ore. The going rate to rent one of Genco’s ships is no less than $27,000 per day, which provides some solid cash flow that the company uses to reward its shareholders.
Dry bulk shipping rates, along with GNK’s share price, have fallen in recent months. Still, as China recovers from recent lockdowns, it’s hard to see the pullback in share price as anything less than an opportunistic bargain. This is a very volatile sector, but it’s essential to the world’s supply chain.
GNK’s share price is up 6% over the past month. Although the company missed consensus EPS and revenue estimates in the third quarter, it remained consistent with its previously outlined value strategy. The company’s prudent cargo coverage in Q2 resulted in significant benchmark freight outperformance in Q3, allowing Genco to pass the savings onto its investors via a 56% quarterly dividend increase on a sequential basis. Over the last four quarters, the company has declared dividends of $2.74 per share, delivering on its commitment to return substantial capital to shareholders. GNK currently pays a 20% yield.


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In looking at disruption in other industries, ThinkLab predicts the biggest future innovations in the design industry will come from process innovation, not product innovation with Kelly Weertz, Elizabeth Von Lehe, Matthew Lieb, and AJ Paron.
This episode is sponsored by: Cargenie Fabrics.
For more information on their positive disruption to the industry, visit: https://carnegiefabrics.com/design-ally-landing
Want to join big thinking happening in the design industry? Become a ThinkLab Insider today by visiting: https://info.thinklab.design/insider-program


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Australia’s Department of Industry, Science, and Technology has given major project status approval securing U.S.-based Allied Corp. agreements with an Australian medicinal cannabis company. This is the first of its kind agreement allowing exports of Colombian-produced cannabis flower.
5 Kilograms of CBD isolate & 5 kilograms of cannabis flower on supply
Allied has signed two agreements with the unnamed Australian company, according to a press release, to supply an initially five kilograms of CBD isolate, while a second agreement allows for the supply of five kilograms of cannabis flower.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently relaxed regulations covering CBD Australia products, and many are now available over-the-counter. The country has seen CBD prescriptions double to approximately 10,000 per month in 2021.
Allied Corp. cites several successful exports from Colombia, which it says demonstrates the advantages that its Colombian operations bring to the international export community and accounts for a “97% success rate on its plant propagation system” in that country.
Allied clones and phenotypes its genetics through several rounds of selecting the strongest plants and “euthanizing” the rest, delivering in this way, a consistent 900 gram per plant average yield, with each hectare being harvested six to seven times per year.
Cannabinoid & psilocybin products in pharmaceutical development
“Supplemental lighting system and proprietary nutrient delivery system provide Allied’s cultivation fields a continuous replenishment of flowering plants already four weeks into their 12-week growth cycle. A steady supply of vegetative plants which replenish the flowering plants for harvest leads to a consistent weekly supply of flower that can be offered to international markets,” the press release states.
“We applaud [Colombian] President Duque for signing the decree, lifting the prohibition on exporting dried cannabis flower from Colombia. We have not spared any time in locking in our early supply agreements for the provision of cannabis flower to the international marketplace and into countries where it is legal to export. Producing and exporting flower is logistically and financially so much more streamlined from a production and import/export perspective. We are excited to continue to scale with the sale of flower out of Colombia,” said Calum Hughes, CEO of Allied.
Allied Corp. has three CBD brands on the U.S. market and has cannabinoid and psilocybin products on the pharmaceutical development track, seeking pharma drug indications for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


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The agreement is now set to go ahead under the condition that Aetna divests its Medicare Part D prescription drug plan business, the department said.
Aetna announced on Sept. 27 it agreed to sell its standalone Medicare Part D business to WellCare Health Plans.
The Justice Department said the move resolves competition concerns.
“Today’s settlement resolves competition concerns posed by this transaction and preserves competition in the sale of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans for individuals,” Asst. Attorney General Makan Delrahim said. “The divestitures required here allow for the creation of an integrated pharmacy and health benefits company that has the potential to generate benefits by improving the quality and lowering the costs of the healthcare services that American consumers can obtain.”
Under the agreement, Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini and two other directors will join the CVS board of directors. Aetna will become a standalone business unit within the larger company.
CVS Health announced the merger in December. It will pay $207 per share for Aetna and its debt, and Aetna shareholders will receive $145 per share and 0.84 for each Aetna share.
The deal combines CVS’ 9,000 pharmacy stores and over 1,000 walk-in clinics, with Aetna, an insurance company that covers 22 million customers. The merger has been promoted as a new cost-efficient way of delivering care through one-stop health care services with onsite nurses and pharmacists.
The merger is expected to close later this year. It is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
read more http://tinyurl.com/ybaqn9rh


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Cognos results boosted by web products
- 06 January, 1999 12:01
Business intelligence solutions specialist Cognos has reported 36 per cent growth in the Australian market during the three fiscal quarters of last year, ended November 30 1998.
According to Cognos officials growth has been driven by web based based products and increased demand for Business Intelligence licenses.
"[Our] Web products have continued to show dramatic, market-leading growth in this country. Worldwide, 33 per cent of Cognos' Business Intelligence business is coming from our Web-based products - and in Australia the figure is 35 per cent" said Sam Clarke, vice president Asia Pacific, Cognos.
Cognos' worldwide revenue for the third quarter was $US76.3m, a 23 per cent increase over the same period last year.


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Smartphone ownership has reached a tipping point in the United States, and two-thirds of financial institution’s banking customers now own some form of a smartphone. Consequently, mobile banking has become popular. With the consequent convergence of the online and mobile banking channels under way, the era of digital banking, which includes the best of both channels, has arrived. Banking customers now have a wide variety of choices as to how, when, and where to bank, including ways to access their accounts via computer, mobile phone, or tablet.
In this report, The State of Digital Banking in 2015, Mercator Advisory Group reviews how digital banking is blossoming into a robust, full-featured suite of solutions across various deployment options, from computers to smartphones to tablets.
“Households are using a wide variety of devices when banking, from computers to smartphones to phablets and tablets, depending on preference and the types of transaction or interaction desired,” comments Ed O’Brien, director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Banking Channels Advisory Service and author of the report.
This research report is 21 pages long and has 11 exhibits.
Companies mentioned in this report include ACI Worldwide, Alkami, Ally Bank, BBVA, BMO Harris Bank, Capital One 360, D+H, Discover, Envestnet, Euronet, FIS, Fiserv, GoBank, Malauzai, Meniga, Monitise, USAA, and Wintrust Financial.
Highlights of this report include:
in the online and mobile banking channels over the past five years
overview of the evolving digital banking market
Advisory Group’s CustomerMonitor 2014 survey statistics on U.S. consumers’
ownership and use of smartphones and tablets
importance of the customer experience in developing digital products and
value of digital personal financial management (PFM) tools to financial
banking and the direct bank concept
of digital banking vendors and products


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Nathan’s Famous Inc. today reported that first quarter net income increased 25.7 percent to $2 million on a 12.8 jump in revenue to $20.2 million.
The firm, for the quarter ended June 24, said sales of branded products, including hot dogs to the food service industry, increased by 16.4 percent to $11.8 million. Retail license royalties increased by 13.3 percent to $2.2 million.
Revenue from franchise operations slipped to $1.43 million from $1.44 million in the one soft point in the firm’s sales. Thirteen franchised units, including eight branded-menu program outlets, opened during the quarter.
Continuing its global expansion, Nathan’s signed two master development agreements for the Republic of Turkey and Mexico City, Mexico.
More breaking news
- US manufacturing slows as output and hiring weaken
- LI gas prices skyrocketing
- Added tax season hassle for some due to health form errors
- Stocks open slightly higher
- Jury: LI billionaire looted mining firm
- Road to growth
- PSEG lowers March power charge
- Personal touch still relevant in business world
- US consumer sentiment slips in February
- As tastes change, big food makers try hipster guises


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DHgate steps up anti-counterfeiting messaging; denies business relationship with Superbuy
Major Chinese online marketplace DHgate has published a stringent defence of its anti-counterfeiting efforts and – following the discovery of a possible link to Superbuy – denies any relationship with the popular Chinese shipping agent.
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Post Malone has secured himself two huge endorsements. He is the current face of both Bud Light and Doritos. Who wouldn’t want an unlimited supply of free beer and chips? Definitely not Post Malone. The “Circles” hitmaker’s partnership with Bud Light dates back a few months, resulting in special edition cans and performances on the Bud Light Dive Bar Tour. Now, they’re teaming up to fill a highly-coveted commercial slot during this weekend’s Superbowl.
Post Malone shot two ads for the beer brand and now they need your assistance deciding which one should air during the big event. The winner will be selected based on which one receives the most engagement (likes, comments, shares and hashtag uses) on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. #PostyStore and #PostyBar both dive into the Grammy-nominated artist’s brain, revealing the chaos that ensues among his tattooed cells as they react to sightings of Bud Light’s new seltzer. However, something tells me that Post is more of a standard beer drinker.
That marketing money is rolling in for Post, as his new Doritos commercial also just premiered during last weekend’s Grammy Awards. The cleverly-titled “Post Limón” campaign promotes Doritos’ new flavor, “Flamin’ Hot Limon.” In a new interview about that partnership, Post revealed his plan to release another album this year to follow 2019’s wildly-successful Hollywood’s Bleeding.


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Don't-Miss iPods Stories
Apple will announce its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. And while the company will put much of its focus on holiday season sales, analysts will likely want to learn more about Steve Jobs's leave of absence.
Apple chief operating officier Tim Cook is taking over for Steve Jobs for the third time. Here's a crash course on what to expect from the man tasked with taking over the day-to-day duties of Apple's CEO.
No surprise: the International Consumer Electronics Show continues to be an Apple-loving audiophile's dream. Sennheiser and dB Logic have both announced new products.
If one thing has become clear in the early going at CES, it is that there are lots of companies competing to keep your iPhone and iPad powered up and protected.
Macworld's Dan Frakes and Jonathan Seff are in Las Vegas, keeping their eyes peeled for new gadgets and gear that appeal to iPhone and iPod users. At the show's Digital Experience press event, they found a number of speakers, headphones, and mobile accessories that deserve your attention.
Apple's new Support Profile site makes it easier to check the warranty status of your Apple computers and devices, as well as track ongoing repair issues.
The app from Qualcomm Services Lab uses the iPhone's GPS and Wi-Fi signals to record a user's location, automatically notifying friends and family where you are.
Mac users in the UK will pay more to buy an Apple product after the company raised its UK prices in line with the hike in VAT.
Audio vendor iHome is using this week's International Consumer Electronics Show to unveil new speaker systems and radio alarm clocks that feature the iPhone and iPad at their core.
Monday could be the last day for UK customers to get the best deal on a host of Apple products with a VAT increase due to come into force on Tuesday.
2010 proved to be yet another successful year for Apple with its main attractions being the iPad and iPhone 4. Steve Jobs' criticism of Adobe's Flash technology was an ongoing story, and products such as the iPod nano and MacBook Air got smaller.
2010 brought us a totally revamped Apple TV, a new crop of iPods, iTunes 10, and much more. Here’s a quick wrap-up of some of the big events of the past 12 months in the world of Apple and entertainment.
Here are some tips about how to reduce the hassle when you need to return a tech product that you don't want to keep.


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Goyard opens flagship store in New York
French luxury maison of Goyard has recently opened a new mono-brand flagship store in New York, at 20 East 63rd Street. The New York store will join the brand’s flagships in Paris and London along with a very select group of high-end retailers.
Established in 1792, Goyard is the oldest Parisian trunk manufacturer still in business and remained family-owned for generations before French businessman Jean-Michel Signoles purchased the house in 1998.
The New York store will feature Goyard’s signature monogrammed bags and signature trunks. In the U.S., in addition to its newly opened New York store, Goyard is available at select Barneys New York locations, Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills and Bergdorf Goodman’s men’s and women’s department stores.


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Apple is trying to make it easier to share health information with first responders in emergencies. The next version of Apple's iOS software includes a feature that lets you automatically share information from your Medical ID when you call 911 from your iPhone or Apple Watch.
The feature, called "Share Medical ID During Emergency Calls," is available with the iOS 13.5 beta software developers can access now. It will roll out to consumers in the coming weeks.
Apple's devices include a Medical ID, which you can load with important health information like drug allergies, medications you take and your existing conditions. It also includes emergency contact information that. The data is encrypted and can't be read by Apple, and you have to manually fill out the data for it to be included in the Medical ID.
You can learn how to do that.
If you enable the new feature for iOS 13.5, your information will automatically and securely be shared when you dial 911 -- if you live in a location where Enhanced Emergency Data services are supported. It will work in tandem with Apple's Emergency SOS feature on iPhones and Apple Watches and its Apple Watch Series 4 and Series 5.technology on
The aim is to speed up the sharing of important health data during the, when health responders are already overtaxed with patients. It could help reduce emergency response times, making it clear immediately that you're allergic to ibuprofen, for instance.
Apple is one of the tech giants taking steps to help people during the novel coronavirus pandemic. As of Wednesday, COVID-19 has killed nearly 260,000 people worldwide and infected more than 3.7 million. Tens of millions ofAmericans have filed for unemployment, and the US economy shrank nearly 5% between January and March. Apple has helped health workers and others through the crisis, donating millions of dollars, more than 30 million masks and 7.5 million face shields to help combat the coronavirus.
Along with the new SOS feature, Apple's iOS 13.5 includes Google who've been infected and identify people they've come into contact with. With iOS 13.5, public health organizations can build apps to alert people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus.. The company and
Before rolling a feature out broadly, Apple first makes it available to developers in a beta version. That lets the company make sure the technology doesn't have bugs or other issues before introducing it more broadly. It also allows Apple to get feedback to make improvements to the technology's various features before it's rolled out to more developers.


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Gartner: Blackcomb Delayed, Longhorn on Tap
Market research firm and consultancy Gartner Inc.
warned that the version of Windows which Microsoft Corp. plans to ship after Windows .NET Server – code-named “Blackcomb” – would probably be delayed through 2003.
Gartner says Microsoft's interim version of the OS – code-named “Longhorn” and planned for release sometime in 2003 - will focus on reliability.
The news generated barely a ripple in the Windows user community, however.
Bill Tillson, a Windows NT systems operations manager with Primus Managed Hosting Solutions, says that his company has only recently started to think about .NET. As a result, he says, the prospect of a delay in Blackcomb doesn’t even begin to register with him as a problem – he’s not even sure whether or not he’ll move to Windows .NET Server.
“If future releases of Microsoft OSes push [.NET] out to consumers with positive results, then the market will force us to respond and implement and support this type of service,” Tillson says. “My personal opinion is that we are much further away from this than the release of Blackcomb.”
Gavin Burris, a visualization systems programmer with the Pennsylvania State University’s visual computing group, offers a more frank assessment.
“[Microsoft] should probably just can [Longhorn] and just work on beefing up the quality and the reliability and security of Windows 2000,” he says. “They’ve never caught on [to the fact] that most of us don’t want to upgrade every two or three years, so they keep on pushing new products and features on us. Or maybe they have caught on, but they don’t care.”
David Smith, vice president of Internet strategies with Gartner Group, says the interim Longhorn release will be intended primarily as a means to shore up the OS’ reliability and stability.
“The major focus of Longhorn is reliability. It’s supposedly the major focus of many releases, but they’ve really spelled it out on this one,” Smith says.
Smith says that Blackcomb is being held up by, among other things, a new unified storage feature that Microsoft plans to bundle with the OS. In this respect, Smith contends, Blackcomb resembles another oft-delayed and ultimately undeliverable Microsoft operating system, code-named “Cairo.” Microsoft began touting Cairo in 1993, and Cairo was also slated to include so-called “unified storage” features.
“Blackcomb smacks awfully similar of Cairo. The big thing that Blackcomb is supposed to deliver is exactly what Cairo was supposed to deliver, which is unified storage,” according to Smith.
“Unified storage” describes a method of storing conventional relational data, unstructured data and individual files in a single repository. According to sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans, the software giant plans to bundle a version of its SQL Server database with Blackcomb as a means to facilitate unified storage services. Some industry watchers have suggested that such a move would open up a whole new can of antitrust worms, but Gartner’s Smith cautions that it’s too early to raise the red flag on a bundling issue of this kind.
“It might be a little premature to get excited about anything like that, because packaging decisions can be very different than technology decisions, and just because an OS might include some technology to implement something, doesn’t mean that that would include the licensing and storage capabilities of a full scale enterprise database on it,” he says.
Microsoft currently offers a spin on unified storage – dubbed “Web store” – in its Exchange 2000 messaging and collaboration platform. Exchange 2000’s Web store repository has apparently been so (un)successful that the software giant has floated the idea of augmenting it – or of replacing it altogether – with a unified storage repository that it plans to incorporate in the next version (code-named “Yukon”) of SQL Server.
But despite Microsoft’s bully-pulpit preaching, or perhaps because of it, analysts such as Gartner’s Smith continue to question the compelling necessity of technologies like unified storage.
“Microsoft thinks it’s important because Bill Gates thinks it’s important. It’s one of Bill’s pet projects,” he says. “There are some theoretical benefits that you can get from it, such as a commonality of how you would address information, but a lot of its [purported] benefits have yet to be fully explained.”
Andrew Baker, director of Internet operations with educational testing service Princeton Review Inc., agrees.
“To me, unified data [equals a] huge security issue,” he says. “The main problem with all of these ‘advances’ is that they require significant infrastructure changes to be realized, and you need to have some decent training to even begin to articulate the benefits to those who will ultimately fund the migrations.”
Like PSU’s Burris, Baker says that Microsoft needs to stop focusing on developing revolutionary new features and start concentrating on delivering consistent, reliable software upgrades.
“We need to get a few upgrades where features we've always wanted to have are made to work properly or more effectively,” he concludes. “ I can think of a lot of things like this which we could do with now, rather than adding yet another buzzword to the feature pot.”
Stephen Swoyer is a Nashville, TN-based freelance journalist who writes about technology.


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Start-up India is an initiative first announced by Prime Minister Modi in August 2015
Start-up India is tasked with promoting bank financing for start-up ventures, as a way of encouraging entrepreneurship, and thus job creation. One of its aims is to remove obstacles to start-up creation such as land permissions, and environmental clearances.
Arun Narayan, part of the UK India Business Council team in India explains some of the key benefits of the scheme;
The Start-up India initiative by the Ministry of Commerce is a significant step in the direction of promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The government through its partners like incubators, funding institutions and others is looking to provide support and growth impetus to the fledging start-up ecosystem in India. A fund in excess of £1 billion has also been set up to provide seed and growth stage capital to the companies.”
“This is a great time for UK VCs and businesses to participate and benefit from one of the biggest growth stories of this decade. Opportunities exist for funding, technology exchange and frugal innovation among others. All of which can help reignite growth and bring market efficiencies, thus driving down cost in a developed market like UK.”
Next in this series: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan


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Elon Musk admitted in court on Monday that he wanted Tesla shareholders to rely on his infamous 2018 tweet that he had “funding secured” to take the automaker private, despite his repeated attempts to say that he only believed he could secure the money.
Why it matters: One of the questions the jury is tasked with deciding is whether the Tesla CEO’s tweets were material — that is, significant information that could impact investor decisions.
Catch up quick: The Tesla CEO is being sued by investors over his false 2018 tweet that he had secured funding to take the company private.
- The trial kicked off last week with two, with Musk beginning his testimony at the end of Friday’s proceedings after two investors and one expert took the stand.
- On Friday, he argued that “it’s difficult to say that the stock price is linked to a tweet” when discussing posting tweets as official company communications, adding that sometimes, the stock has behaved in surprising ways.
What he’s saying: “I expected that there [would] probably be some increase in the stock price — seems likely,” he said, per the Financial Times.
- “If you say that you’re considering taking a company private or acquiring a company, … there is going to be some premium.”
The big picture: Musk also testified that he posted the tweet because he was worried the Financial Times might publish information about his plans and wanted all Tesla shareholders to know that he was considering the transaction.
- He also said that following his conversations with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, he believed they were committed to investing as part of a take-private transaction.
Go deeper: What’s at stake for Musk in shareholder trial over 2018 Tesla tweets
#Elon #Musk #admits #Tesla #investors #rely #funding #secured #tweet


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US: Retailers' January 2013 sales roundup
The following is a general roundup of US apparel and shoe retailers' January 2013 sales results.
Action sportswear and footwear retailer Zumiez has raised its fourth-quarter guidance after booking a 57.9% increase in net sales to US$50.3m for the five weeks to 2 February. This compares to $31.8m in the same period of the prior year. The company, which operates 500 stores across the US, Canada and Europe, said comparable store sales climbed 2.6%.
Denim specialist The Buckle saw net sales jump 30.7% to $78.8m from $60.3m last year. Comparable store sales, however, slipped 2% for the company, which operates 440 stores.
At teen clothing retailer The Wet Seal, total sales rose 23.3% to $40m. The company said overall sales were below expectations due to a comparable store sales decline at the Wet Seal chain, partially offset by improved performance at Arden B. Comparable store sales at Wet Seal and Arden B were down 13.4% and up 22.8% respectively, resulting in a total comparable store sales decline of 9.4%.
Limited Brands, owner of lingerie labels Victoria's Secret and La Senza, posted a 9% increase in same-store sales during January. Net sales rose 27.4% to $986.4m, compared to $774.5m the year before. The retailer operates 2,619 specialty stores in the US.
For specialty clothing retailer Gap Inc, comparable store sales grew 8% during the five-week period. Net sales reached $1.13bn, up from $833m in the same month last year. The San Francisco-based retailer, which operates around 3,000 stores, said it was "pleased" with the continued momentum of its North American brands.
Over at upscale department store operator Nordstrom, same-store sales increased 11.4%. Total retail sales jumped 38.4% to $951m in January, compared to $688m last year. The company, which operates 240 stores, said it plans to open two more Nordstrom Rack stores this autumn.
Kohl's posted a 13.3% increase in comparable store sales for the four weeks to 26 January. Total sales reached $1.13bn, up from $844m the prior year. The Wisconsin-based retailer, which has 1,146 stores, said it accomplished its goal of clearing seasonal merchandise.
Department store retailer Macy's has raised its fourth-quarter earnings guidance after what it described as "an outstanding month". The company booked a 34.6% jump in total sales to reach $1.80bn in January, compared to $1.34bn the prior year. On a same-store basis, sales rose 11.7%.
Meanwhile, Bon-Ton Stores saw comparable store sales edge down 0.4%. Total sales grew 15.2% to $200.8m from $174.4m the same month last year. The retailer, which operates 271 department stores, said it strategically managed its inventory to generate profitable sales and reduce the level of clearance inventory.
Department store retailer Stage Stores reported total sales of $100m, up from $85m a year ago. Comparable store sales increased 10.5%, with accessories, home, intimates, junior sportswear and misses sportswear posting gains that exceeded the company average. The group said it remains optimistic about the year ahead after its strong performance in January.
At Ross Stores, sales jumped 39% to $672m, compared to $483m the year before, while same-store sales were up 4%. The company said it was "extremely pleased" with its growth, which was ahead of expectations. It has also raised its fourth-quarter earnings per share to range from $1.06 to $1.07, up from previous guidance of $1.05 to $1.06.
Discount retailer Stein Mart recorded a 4.6% rise in comparable store sales in January. Sales increased 31.3% to $78.9m during the five weeks to 2 February, from $60.1m the prior year. The company, which operates 263 stores, said linens and men's furnishings posted the strongest sales for the month, while women's accessories, special sizes and casual sportswear were more challenged.
Off-price retailer The TJX Companies posted a 3% rise in comparable store sales, driven by a rise in customer traffic. Total sales surged 35.7% to $1.9bn from $1.4bn last year. The company has lifted its full-year earnings per share guidance to $2.53-$2.54, compared to earlier guidance of $2.44-2.47.
For value-priced fashion retailer The Cato Corp, sales increased 26% to $63.8m in January, compared with $50.5m last year. However, comparable store sales decreased 12%, primarily due to the timing of tax refunds and the effect of higher payroll taxes. The company, whose brands include Cato, Versona and It's Fashion, opened three stores and closed four during the month.
And Target Corp saw net retail sales increase 29.6% to $5.97bn from $4.61bn last year. January comparable store sales climbed 3.1%, which was in line with company expectations. The Minneapolis-based discounter said customers responded to clearance prices on holiday merchandise.
Companies: Wet Seal Inc, Nordstrom Inc, Zumiez Inc, Buckle Inc, Limited Brands, Victoria’s Secret, Gap Inc, Kohl’s Corporation, Macy’s Inc, Bon-Ton Stores Inc, Stage Stores Inc, Ross Stores Inc, Stein Mart, Cato Corporation, TJX Companies Inc, Target Corporation
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The publication every five years of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans customarily provokes heated debate, with different lobbies within the food industry, campaigners, academics and others putting forward their views on how they believe the US government should advise the nation about their diet.
So it has again proved while the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has been preparing its report for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the two government agencies responsible for the guidelines.
Following a series of public meetings last autumn, a comment period closed at the end of December, and the DGAC will submit its report early this year, with the 2015 edition of the guidelines expected to be published in the autumn.
There is intense debate sparked by the expectation the 2015 guidelines will include stronger advice to consumers than before to reduce consumption of foods containing added sugars, salt and saturated fat and may also no longer include lean meat as a constituent of a healthy diet.
However, a further, arguably defining, characteristic of the guidelines has also been much discussed, namely the possibility environmental criteria might now be included in what the US government advocates as a good diet.
Some campaigners have been lobbying for this for many years but this time the DGAC has been considering the option seriously. In particular, it appears drawn by the idea that foods that would generally be viewed as healthier also tend to have lower environmental impacts.
The DGAC food sustainability and safety working group noted that “a dietary pattern higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and lower in animal-based foods, is more health-promoting and is associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average US diet”.
By that token, the possibility of environmental impacts being included would represent something of two-pronged threat to the meat industry, with meat-based protein being questioned both on health and environmental grounds.
The response from the meat production lobby was therefore understandably forthright. The North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the meat and poultry trade association formed this month by the merger of the American Meat Institute (AMI) and North American Meat Association (NAMA), said: “The Committee wrongly assumed if production animal agriculture were eliminated, the food supply as a whole would be more sustainable.” It said the DGAC appeared to be “acting on incomplete data”, citing a November 2014 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that noted many analyses have focused on environmental impact per pound produced rather than per calorie supplied. When viewed in the latter manner, NAMI suggests, meat and poultry are “quite green”.
Those opposed to environmental criteria being included also stress it would lie beyond the statutory remit of the Dietary Guidelines. The DGAC’s focus on sustainability is “objectionable because it is not within the committee’s expertise”, NAMI said.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) also stressed environmental criteria lie beyond the DGAC’s purview. “Sustainability is not a consideration of the guidelines as set out by Congress,” a spokesperson for the NCBA, told just-food.
As appealing and logical as such a development of official dietary advice may appear to some, it is this factor which is likely to be most telling, and most probably means that environmental criteria will not feature in the 2015 guidelines.
Indeed, the DGAC has already received a warning shot on the issue from Congress. A directive within the recently passed Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill 2015, stated: “The Committee [on Appropriations] is concerned that the advisory committee for the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is considering issues outside of the nutritional focus of the panel. Specifically, the advisory committee is showing an interest in incorporating sustainability, climate change and other environmental factors and production practices into their criteria for establishing the next dietary recommendations, which is clearly outside of the scope of the panel.
“The Committee directs the Secretary to ensure that the advisory committee focuses only on nutrient and dietary recommendations based upon sound nutrition science and not pursue an environmental agenda. Should environmental or production factors be included in the panel’s recommendations to USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, the Committee expects the Secretary to reject their inclusion in the final 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”
Consumer advocacy group the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) conceded this early political intervention made the inclusion of environmental criteria “uncertain”.
As is so often the case, the fact political opposition will probably sound the death knell for this development should not be seen as a reflection of its validity. Simply because environmental criteria have not been part of the remit until now should not immediately disqualify this from the discussion. Arguably one of the key strengths of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, first introduced in 1980, is that they are reviewed every five years by a panel of experts to take into account “the scientific and medical knowledge current at the time”. In other words, the guidelines are meant and expected to evolve.
It cannot be denied the emphasis since 1980 has been on health attributes. The USDA states the guidelines are intended to “provide the basis for federal food and nutrition policy and education initiatives” and “encourage Americans to focus on eating a healthful diet – one that focuses on foods and beverages that help achieve and maintain a healthy weight, promote health and prevent disease”.
What is viewed as constituting a “good” diet has changed considerably over the years, and substantially even within the lifespan of the guidelines, and rightly how the US government advises its people on what they should eat has taken account of this and will hopefully continue to do so. However, even more fundamental changes have been witnessed regarding what represents a sustainable diet, particularly in light of climate change and global food security.
The mooted inclusion of environmental sustainability within the Dietary Guidelines speaks not only to the growing importance being attached to environmental impacts and stewardship, but also to the inexorable convergence of human and environmental factors in how sustainability is viewed.
The logical consequence of this is that to be fit for purpose official dietary advice should take into account environmental impacts inherent in food production. This may well not happen with the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans but it seems inconceivable that, as food security and climate change become ever more urgent and pressing considerations, official advice from governments will not increasingly focus on what constitutes both a healthy “and sustainable” diet, particularly given the apparent synergy between what is healthier for the individual and better for the planet.


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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 21-Oct-19
There is general agreement within the media industry that the proposed sale of Pacific Magazines to Bauer Media Australia is necessary for the two businesses to be sustainable. Both publishers have been hard hit by the decline in advertising revenue and circulation over the last 10 years. Magazines now account for just one per cent of the industry’s advertising revenue, compared with seven per cent in 2009. Meanwhile, Bauer’s revenue fell 13.7 per cent to $224.3m in 2018, while Pacific Magazines’ revenue fell 7.2 per cent to $129.4m in 2018-19. Sources have suggested that a deal could be struck within days.
BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PACIFIC MAGAZINES PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM