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We interrupt your regularly scheduled 8-6 day stories to bring you some news from the American Le Mans series. On Saturday thousands of spectators were on hand at a very hot and humid Mid Ohio to witness one of the most highly anticipated racing car debuts in recent memory – the return of the Dodge Viper. Fortunately I was one of the many present to experience the spectacle and bring back the details for the Speedhunters audience.
It’s been just over a decade since the Viper has been seen rubbing shoulders with the likes of Porsche and Corvette on the global racing scene and I will say, although I was never a huge Viper fan, it is great to see them back in action! After viewing the cars up close I have a new found appreciation for them, and I will attest that they are much better looking in person than they appeared in early press release photographs.
The brunt of the build, design and subsequent R&D over the next few years has been taken up by Riley Technologies, best known as a manufacturer of Daytona Prototypes. Their track record speaks for itself – eight overall victories in as many years at the Rolex 24h of Daytona. Powering the cars is a Roush-built V10 which, even downsized from eight-point-four to eight liters, is by far and away the largest displacement in ALMS and required special permission to breach the 5.5L rule imposed on the GT class.
The SRT team have chosen to partner with Michelin who are the most abundant tire manufacturer in sports car racing by a landslide. This should help alleviate some of the development process by allowing the team to focus on the car and not have to worry about tires. TWS Forged has come in as a sponsor supplying wheels for the effort. Although I’ve seen many of their designs on Japanese Super GT cars, I believe that these are a bespoke wheel for the Viper.
Despite what some may view as a disappointing weekend at Mid Ohio, there is no doubt that the Viper stole the show in terms of fan excitement. We must keep in mind it is still very early in the development phase for these cars and the fact that they finished the race at all is a breakthrough. With a driver lineup consisting of Dominik Farnbacher and Kuno Wittmer in the #91 car and Marc Goossens and Tommy Kendall in the #93, there is certainly a very bright future ahead for the Viper. Long live the snake!
2013 SRT Viper GTS-R
|HP:||455 HP (Restricted by Series)|
|Trans:||XTrac Transaxle, Paddle Shift|
|Brakes:||Front, Brembo 6-Piston, 380mm rotors
Rear, Brembo 4-Pison, 330mm rotors
|Wheels:||TWS Forged, Magnesium|
|Safety Equipment:||Sabelt On-Board Fire Suppression System
Sabelt Driver Restraint System
FIA Roll Cage
FIA Approved Race Seat
FIA Approved Fuel Cell
|Top Speed:||182 mph|
|Curb Weight:||2850 lbs|
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer


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Customs officers have seized over 16,000 counterfeit ‘hoverboards’ worth an estimated $6 million.
The so-called hoverboards, which are actually two-wheeled scooters, were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Chicago.
“Not only are these hoverboards a serious safety hazard but they also threaten our economic security by hurting legitimate businesses who invest significant amounts of resources into development and protection of their brands,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Director of Field Operations William Ferrara, in a statement released Wednesday.
The final seizure total in Chicago is expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks due to the massive amount of shipments still being processed, according to officials.
Reports continue to swirl about hoverboards catching fire.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating a number of companies that make or sell hoverboards. In a statement released last week U.S. CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye also noted that Amazon is offering hoverboard refunds.
On Wednesday New York City banned hoverboards from all subways, trains and buses, citing fire concerns.
“The safety of our customers and employees is always our top concern,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Safety Officer David Mayer, in a statement. “For obvious reasons, it is not safe to use hoverboards, skateboards or other personal wheeled vehicles on station platforms. We’re equally concerned about the safety risk of bringing devices that pose fire hazards into the confined spaces inside trains and buses.”

domain: news


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After the failure of Shadowlands, the developers of World of Warcraft, as in the case of Draenor, reduced the amount of content and threw all their efforts into the next expansion. Dragonflight was announced in April, but only now Blizzard has opened pre-orders for the expansion. Players are offered three editions of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.
Any purchase opens access to a new combination of race and class, awakening draksters, and a bonus pet Drakx. The standard version was estimated at 2299 rubles.
The Heroic Edition for 3,299 rubles includes the Braided Dream Weaver flying transport and Murkastraz‘s pet. And Epic customers will get a new effect for the Homecoming Stone, headgear and back decorations, and 30 days of playtime.
You will have to pay 4,299 rubles for all this. The company is also preparing a collector’s box edition for $130 with a mouse pad, an artbook, five thematic pins and an epic edition code.
It will not be available in all countries. Blizzard promises that World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will be released no later than December 31, 2022.
Buying in Russia is only available through Battle. net if you have enough money in your wallet.
More on Gambling To Weird West released a free update The Miners and the Restless The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle add-on came out on Xbox and PlayStation The creators of Ghost of Tsushima are working on an open world stealth game.


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The first French Disney+ Original movie has been announced and will see Disney team up with Chi-Fou-Mi, to produce “Une zone à défendre”.
François Civil (“The Stronghold”) and Lyna Khoudri (“Papicha”, “The French Dispatch”), will co-star in “Une zone à défendre”, which tells the story of Myriam (Khoudri), a militant fighting against the construction of a roadblock, and Greg (Civil), a police officer who goes undercover to gather intelligence on this movement of protesters which Myriam belongs to.
Filming has recently started and is being produced by Hugo Selignac and Bruno Dumont at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions.
This environment-themed thriller romance is being written and directed by Romain Cogitore (“L’autre continent,” “Nos resistances”) and it will launch on Disney+ in 2023 in France and around the world.
Pauline Dauvin, VP of programming, production and acquisition at The Walt Disney Company France said in a statement,
“It’s a brand new adventure which begins for us today, an ambitious project with a prestigious cast and a great collaboration with the entire team. This story, which charts a romance and is set against the backdrop of a civic rebellion, completes perfectly the previous local original productions that Disney+ launched this year and strengthens our position as leading partner for French production,”
Romain Cogitore added:
“With ‘Une zone à defendre,’ I have the ambition to tackle environmental and political themes within a romance and venture into a double genre — the undercover thriller and the melodrama to tell a moment of our contemporary history which (militants) are calling the ‘collapse of the old world,’”
He added that Disney+ was the ideal platform to shine a spotlight of this politically-minded spy melodrama in France and abroad.
Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom.


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Pretty soon you’ll be able to use Apple Pay in a phone call
The Apple Pay team continues to find new reasons to tap itself on the back (despite some the nonsense), and while adoption in the US is (as expected) a little slower than in those parts of the world in which contactless payment infrastructure was in place prior to the launch of Apple Pay, things remain on track for Apple to replace the wallet.
In a new twist to the Apple Pay story, contact center solutions provider Eckoh has performed the world’s first Apple Pay payment via a telephone call. Developed in collaboration with WorldPay, this means you will be able to use Apple Pay rather than your payment card to purchase goods and services over the phone.
In other words, you will be able to pay various bills without ever trusting your bank or payment card details to anybody else. This should be good for a range of real-world tasks, from telephone shopping to pizza delivery to paying utility bills.
“While the customer is on the phone to an agent, a message is sent to their device linking to their Apple Pay app,” Cameron Ross, director of payments strategy at Eckoh told NFC World. “The customer is asked to confirm the payment on their device. The contact center then receives an alert confirming that the payment has been made.”
“The ability for callers to authorize payments via Apple Pay is more secure than a traditional telephone transaction. The card is tokenized by the Apple system and the device-based fingerprint authentication is utilized,” he said.
This will be a significant addition to the Apple Pay arsenal, which is already capable of payments online and in person using compatible terminals. Intuit this week announced a new QuickBooks feature designed to allow you to take and make invoice payments for your small business, and the service is being made available in new territories at a rapid rate. In future, you can expect Apple Pay payments in iMessage, and now over the phone.
Each one of these implementations takes the service closer to becoming the “wallet replacement” Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook referred to last week. Speaking in Japan, he said, “We would like to be a catalyst for taking cash out of the system,” he told Nikkei.Dear reader, this is just to let you know that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


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The Range Rover will be available with only hybrid powertrains from the 2024 model year, which also brings upgraded plug-in hybrids and a new V8 option.
A new 215bhp electric motor boosts the 434bhp P440e to 454bhp, while the 503bhp P510e has been uplifted to 542bhp. As such, the two PHEVs are now badged as the P460e and P550e, reflecting their outputs in PS.
The upgrade means the P550e can dispatch the 0-60mph sprint in 4.8sec, down from 5.2sec in the P510e. It also boosts official electric-only range to 75 miles – a five-mile increase – or 59 miles in real-world conditions, according to Land Rover.
The new motor also allows the long-wheelbase Range Rover SV to be equipped with a PHEV powertrain for the first time.
The new P615-badged 4.4-litre V8 option produces 607bhp and 553lb ft, thanks to twin turbochargers and electrical assistance, meaning its emissions and fuel efficiency are almost identical to those of the 523bhp 4.4-litre V8.
That lesser version, badged P530, has also been given the mild-hybrid treatment, boosting its official fuel efficiency from 24.3mpg in to 25.0mpg (in the standard-wheelbase car).
Inside, every MY2024 Range Rover receives JLR's updated 13.1in Pivi Pro touchscreen infotainment system, which is claimed to perform 80% of functions within two taps from the home screen.


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4 Tops Billboard Charts
The first week sales of Beyonce’s new album 4, were enough to put the pop superstar atop the Billboard 200, despite it being the worst opening week in the diva’s career.
Queen B pushed 310,000 copies of her “Run The World (Girls)” fueled LP, according to Nielson SoundScan, making 4 her fourth album to debut at No. 1. Only rapper DMX, and pop star Britney Spears have achieved the top spot in their first four albums.
B has the third highest first week sales figure this year, coming behind Lady GaGa and Adele who sold 1.1 million and 351,000 in their first week, respectively.
G.O.O.D. Music rapper, Big Sean also managed to crack the top 10 at No. 3, moving 87,000 copies of his debut Finally Famous.


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The departure of the Celebrity Eclipse was delayed for “enhanced sanitation” after dozens of passengers returning to Southampton at 5am yesterday morning from a 11-night eastern Mediterranean cruise had been struck down by the Norovirus.
Sick passengers disembarking the cruise ship at the city's Ocean Terminal reported seeing “people walking around in Ghostbusters suits” ready to disinfect the vessel and the terminal.
Passengers waiting to board the 14-deck, 122,000 tonne vessel for its next cruise were delayed by hours.
Celebrity Eclipse, which can accommodate up to 2,852 passengers, had joined another Royal Caribbean vessel, Independence of the Seas, in Southampton for the first time.
But they left separately as the scheduled departure of Celebrity Eclipse at 4.30pm for a 16-night Western Mediterranean and Adriatic Coast cruise had to be put back by about half an hour.
A spokeswoman for Celebrity Cruises said “in an abundance of caution” it conducted “enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next sailing”.
She apologised for the delay and thanked passengers for their understanding.
“The health and well-being of our guests is very important to us and we believe that these additional measures will further assist in ensuring that our guests enjoy a fun, relaxing and healthy experience,” she said.
The spokeswoman said a small number of passengers onboard the Celebrity Eclipse had fallen ill with gastrointestinal illness, but had responded well to over-the-counter medication administered onboard the ship.
Norovirus is an extremely common gastrointestinal illness which frequently strikes cruise ships. Only the common cold is more prevalent.
According to health specialists, about 300 million people in the world are affected by Norovirus every year


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Dennis Anderson, who had been the Montrose Daily Press advertising manager, has been named publisher/ad manager of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman in Wasilla, Alaska.
Dennis began his career with Wick Communications as an advertising representative in Montrose, Colo., in August 2004. He was an advertising representative until November 2012 when he was promoted to advertising director by then publisher, Francis Wick. Anderson was key to several successful revenue concepts with the Montrose Daily Press, including three yearly editions of the high school sports preview, Valley Health, Valley Living magazine, the official visitor guide of Montrose, Visit Montrose, and a TMC product, Montrose County Shopper. Prior to joining Wick, he worked in the retail store industry for 19 years, including 16 years in store management. He also served three years in the U.S. Army.
Anderson’s first day in The Frontiersman’s office will be Monday, April 25.
Interim group publisher Ken Harty, said, “We are pleased to have Dennis as our next publisher/ad manager of the Mat-Su-Valley Frontiersman. We know he will be an asset to the newspaper and to the community it serves.”
“We’re excited for this next chapter at Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and for Dennis Anderson,” said Wick Communications President and CEO Francis Wick. “Anderson will be a marvelous leader helping steward the organization, through dynamic information that will keep the community engaged and informed, and assisting local merchants in ways to develop their brand and message to customers.”
Dennis and his wife, Melissa, have three children, Jonathon, Matthew and Victoria plus two grandchildren, Landon and Joey. Dennis has been heavily involved in youth sports in Delta Colorado, including starting a youth football program in 2004 that is still active today. He also enjoys gardening and spending time with family and friends.


text: New York City lawmakers are proposing a highly localized digital cash. The digital cash will run on a peer-to-peer payment platform called the "Inclusive Value Ledger." The digital cash proposal comes from New York State Assembly member Ron Kim, Senator Julia Salazar and Cornell University law professor Robert Hockett. Among them, Robert Hockett published a white paper in November 2019 detailing the digital cash proposal. The white paper mentions that this digital cash will realize peer-to-peer payment, and the goal is also to remove intermediaries. Although similar to cryptocurrencies, this is not a truly decentralized cryptocurrency.


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Samsung has announced the launch date of a new smartphone in India. The rumoured Galaxy F22 will finally become official on July 6. Samsung has also confirmed the smartphone will be available on Flipkart, Samsung’s online store and select retail stores when it launches in India. A teaser site for the Galaxy F22 has gone live on Flipkart and Samsung India’s website.
The Samsung Galaxy F22 India launch event is scheduled to take place on July 6 at 12 pm.
Samsung Galaxy F22 features
The teaser site for the Galaxy F22 confirms some features of the smartphone. The Galaxy F22 will feature a 6.4-inch HD+ sAMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The smartphone will also feature an Infinity-U cutout notch. The Galaxy F22 is also confirmed to pack a 6,000mAh battery. It will feature a quad-camera setup with a 48-megapixel primary sensor. The smartphone is also seen in black colour but there could be more colour options at launch. It also has a side fingerprint sensor.
According to this listing, the Galaxy F22 will pack 4GB of RAM, and it will be powered by MediaTek’s Helio G80 processor. On the software front, it will run Android 11 out-of-the-box.
As for the rest of the specifications, the Galaxy F22 is expected to feature an 8-megapixel secondary sensor, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. It could also house a 13-megapixel selfie camera. The Galaxy F22 is also expected to house a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Is it a rebranded Galaxy A22?
The Galaxy F22 has been rumoured to launch in India for quite some time. Some reports also suggest that it will be a rebranded Galaxy A22. The smartphone was spotted on the Google Play Console listing as well.
Recent launches by Samsung
Galaxy F22 will be the fourth smartphone in the Galaxy F series in 2021. Samsung has so far launched Galaxy F62, Galaxy F12 and Galaxy F02s. Samsung is rumoured to launch the Galaxy A22 in India as well. Considering the Galaxy F22 will be identical to the Galaxy A22 4G, Samsung could bring only the 5G model to India. Or it may just launch both the phones since Samsung is known to do so.


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LAS VEGAS — Pubmatic has long offered premium publishers the ability to sell their display and mobile ad inventory using real-time systems. Now it’s about to offer video ad sales in the same way, too.
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Redwood City- and New York-based company president Kirk McDonald tells Beet.TV Pubmatic will launch the offering this week.
“Up until now, publishers had to go to multiple vendors,” he says. “We have promised Pubmatic was going to be a one-platform solution, incorporating display, mobile and video all on one platform for publishers. This week, we kick that off.”
Pubmatic hired more than 100 people through 2013, taking it to nearly 400 staff, as demand for private ad exchanges and real-time management grew. After international expansion, McDonald says the outfit will set up office in Japan soon.
“Programmatic has entered a new year,” he says. (It’s) no longer a ‘Why?’ question. Now the conversation has gone to how to be vey successful.”
We interviewed McDonald at the MediaLink party at CES.


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Boris Johnson is to announce the first review of the UK’s food strategy in 75 years as he seeks to tackle food security and the cost of living.
Officials have been working on the report, which has been delayed twice, since the publication of an independent review by Henry Dimbleby, the founder of Leon, last July.
A leaked draft seen by The Telegraph sets out plans to increase the productivity of UK farms, offer vegan meals to school students and prisoners, and tackle shortages of migrant workers.
Mr Johnson is expected to announce the “grow for Britain” strategy on a visit to the southwest of England on Monday.
Vegan school meal drive
All pupils will be given a vegan school dinner option, under plans to reform public sector meals contained in the strategy seen by the Telegraph.
Prisoners, hospital patients and workers in government buildings will also be given the option under the proposals, which are designed to encourage low-carbon meals.
“We would like public sector menus to make it as easy as possible for people to make sustainable choices,” reads the consultation document seen by The Telegraph.
“Evidence shows that plant-based food products are generally less carbon-intensive to produce than livestock products.
“There is good evidence to show that changing food environments and providing more vegetarian options can encourage individuals to make more sustainable food choices.
“Furthermore, increasing consumer choice of vegetarian and vegan options would reflect the rising trend of flexitarianism, vegetarianism and veganism in the UK.”
The idea is set to be subject to a consultation to be launched in the coming weeks, as part of a “school meals revolution” previously announced by Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary.
On Friday, Defra sources suggested the vegan school meals plan had been dropped by political officials since it was drawn up by civil servants.
A source said: “Meat is an important protein source, and our children should eat healthy and locally-sourced produce."
Following recommendations from Mr Dimbleby, the Government has acknowledged that meat farming is carbon-intensive and is also exploring ways to support “alternative proteins” including lab-grown meat and beans and pulses.
“British-grown beans and pulses are another great example of low carbon sustainable proteins that provide healthy diets, contribute substantially to farming objectives and are recognised as valuable break crops in arable cropping,” it states.
The public is also set to be urged to eat venison from culled deer that would otherwise be discarded.
Deer stalkers will be encouraged to sell carcasses of animals that are killed after a shoot, which can then become “responsibly sourced wild venison”, according to the strategy.
Animal welfare warnings on menus
Pubs and restaurants could be forced to give customers animal welfare warnings on menus if they use factory-farmed meat.
Monday’s food strategy is set to announce plans to increase “food data transparency”, involving retailers submitting data on the sustainability, healthiness and animal welfare of their products to a Government portal to name and shame bad practices.
But the plans could also see changes to food labelling requirements to “help consumers identify when products meet or exceed our high UK animal welfare standards”.
The system could work in a similar way to recent plans to put calorie counts on menus.
Meals served in public spaces such as schools, prisons and hospitals may also be told that 50 per cent of their products must come either from local farms or meet high environmental protection standards, in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint of public sector meals.
The announcement is set to also set out how countries signing post-Brexit trade deals with the UK could be given preferential terms if they are supplying meat that comes from farms with high animal welfare standards.
“Those wishing to access the UK market must objectively demonstrate their approach delivers an equivalent level of health protection to our domestic standards,” it states, pointing to plans for “more generous liberalisation for products certified as meeting certain key animal welfare criteria specified in the agreement”.
Migrant workers to be replaced with robots
Mr Johnson is also expected to announce plans to deal with a shortage of migrant workers that is reducing Britain’s food security.
Ministers are concerned that since Brexit, many farms have been unable to fill seasonal vacancies for poultry preparation and fruit picking because of strict requirements on migrant labour.
The strategy is set to announce that poultry workers will be eligible for a Seasonal Migrant Visa, which is currently only available to foreign horticulture and pork butchery staff.
The draft also states that the Government will also launch a new independent review on how to fill migrant worker vacancies, which will explore how to encourage Britons to take jobs in the sector and how many of the roles could be automated.
Officials are interested in the work of robot farm workers in Japan and elsewhere, and developments in intensive crop farming, which can take place in trays in warehouses rather than in fields.
“Recognising that the sector cannot sustainably rely on migrant labour, especially in light of global pressures elsewhere, the Government will also in the coming weeks commission an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain,” the strategy states.
Johnson scraps nanny state interventions
Calls for a salt and sugar tax to improve the nation’s health look set to be formally knocked down in the announcement on Monday.
Ministers are set to respond to an earlier independent review last July, which proposed a series of radical policies to cut “ultra-processed” foods from diets, including a dramatic reduction in meat consumption and action on sugar and salt.
It is thought that recent concern in Downing Street about “nanny state” policies and rising concern about the cost of living has led to the policies being formally scrapped, alongside other plans to reduce promotions on high-fat products such as chocolate bars.
The draft strategy concludes that “further research is needed” on ultra-processed foods to “determine their exact role in driving obesity” while noting that “government intervention can cause unintended consequences”.
Plans to reduce cows’ flatulence
Ministers are planning to launch a formal investigation on cows breaking wind, amid concerns that methane emissions from cattle are warming the planet, according to the draft strategy.
Officials believe that changing the formula of cattle feed could reduce their methane emissions, and are set to announce plans to “help the livestock and protein sectors embrace ‘climate-smart farming’ and innovative technologies”.
The plans would begin with a formal government call for evidence “to better understand the challenges associated with the use of feed additives and materials that can reduce methane emissions from livestock”.
The National Farmers’ Union has said that methane emissions from UK agriculture account for around 5.5 per cent of Britain’s total greenhouse gas emissions.


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|Kona Grill's Thai beef noddle salad weighs in at 500 calories|
Only the number of lower-calorie items, not the waistlines, are expanding at Kona Grill Inc.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Kona Grill introduced its “Get the Skinny” menu in May 2010. It is now expanding the variety of dishes offered this month by launching a “Slim Chance” menu, which includes four entrees that have no more than 500 calories and three cocktails at less than 85 calories each.
“We wanted to grow this menu to include even more items for our calorie-conscious guests,” said Zach Bredemann, Kona’s executive chef.
Last year's menu featured three sushi entrees at 200 or fewer calories and three cocktails at 100 or fewer calories.
The new menu offers Thai beef noodle salad at 500 calories, $14.50, scallop and white fish sashimi at 120 calories, $11, seared scallops at 460 calories, $21, and an ahi-salmon cucumber roll at 160 calories, $14. The new cocktails range from 34 calories to 76 calories. They are priced between $6.50 and $7.


text: BEIJING, Dec. 11, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SINA Corporation ("SINA") (Nasdaq:SINA), a leading online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities, and AutoNavi Holdings Limited ("AutoNavi") (Nasdaq:AMAP), a leading provider of digital map content and navigation and location-based solutions in China, today jointly announced a strategic partnership to integrate and enhance each other's social, location and mobile ("SoLoMo") offerings. As a result of this partnership, AMAP, AutoNavi's mobile map application, users will be able to sign on using Weibo Connect and access content directly from SINA Weibo. SINA Weibo users will also have access to the content and functionality of AMAP. The companies expect such content and product integration will enhance the social networking and navigational aspects of each other's mobile offerings. "Over 70% of SINA Weibo users access the social media platform at least partially via mobile devices," said Gaofei Wang, Vice President and General Manager of SINA Mobile. "LBS (location based services) and mapping services will play a key role in Weibo's mobile strategy, and we are excited to be partnering with AutoNavi to leverage their expertise in these areas." "In teaming up with SINA, we are proud to provide our mapping and location-based services to over 400 million SINA Weibo users, while at the same time integrating SINA Weibo's social content and SNS features into AMAP," said Mr. Congwu Cheng, chief executive officer of AutoNavi. "We believe our collaboration with SINA Weibo will benefit both of our users and we look forward to future cooperation between our two companies as we continue to bring new features and functionalities to our users." About SINA We are an online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities. Our digital media network of SINA.com (portal), SINA.cn (mobile portal) and Weibo.com (social media) enable Internet users to access professional media and user generated content in multi-media formats from the web and mobile devices and share their interests to friends and acquaintances.


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GENEVA- Venezuela has on Tuesday filed a "complaint" against the United States to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to denounce US sanctions and other "coercive measures of trade restrictions" against Caracas.
"Venezuela files WTO complaint on US measures on goods and services," the WTO said on its website.
As stipulated by the operating rules of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, Caracas specifically requested on Tuesday the opening of consultations with the United States on measures affecting goods and services of the WTO. Venezuelan origin.
The request for consultations is the formal starting point of the dispute settlement procedure in the WTO. The consultations provide an opportunity for the parties to consider the issue and, where possible, find a satisfactory solution. After 60 days, if the consultations failed to resolve the dispute, Venezuela may request that the matter be brought before the adjudicative process of a panel within the WTO.
In a document circulated by Venezuela to the WTO on Tuesday, Caracas defended his case with the dispute settlement body arguing that "the United States has imposed certain coercive trade restrictive measures against Venezuela , in the context of attempts at economic isolation of this country. "
According to the WTO, Venezuela has alleged that "certain United States laws and regulations relating to goods of Venezuelan origin, to the liquidity of the Venezuelan public debt, to transactions in Venezuelan digital currency, and to the Schedule nationals and other specially designated persons are incompatible with the international rules of the International Organization based in Geneva.
Relations between the United States and Venezuela are currently very tense, while Hugo Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, is facing a serious political and economic crisis.
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, but is suffocated by a deep economic crisis and is under financial sanctions from the United States that have been strengthened since 2015.
Washington on Tuesday imposed new financial sanctions for bribery against several individuals and companies in Venezuela, a statement from the US Treasury said.
In early November, the White House also imposed new "hard" sanctions, particularly in the gold sector, against Venezuela, accused of being part of, with Cuba and Nicaragua, a "troika of tyranny" in Latin America.


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Urban Outfitters, never shy to be evocative in its product development, is currently selling anti-Donald Trump shirts, mugs and stickers at its retail stores.
The company joins a number of retailers that have recently started to capitalize on the 2016 presidential election, including American Apparel’s “Make America Gay Again” T-shirt campaign, a play on Trump’s campaign slogan and an effort to support LBGTQ rights. The Trump garb includes a shirt with the phrase “IDK Not Trump Tho,” a pin that reads “Trump 20Never,” anti-Trump mugs and a book of Trump quotations designed to look like Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book. The gear is currently being sold alongside seemingly pro-Hillary Clinton shirts, including one that reads “Hillary Runnin’ Thangs Tour 2016.”
To read the rest of the story, please visit Glossy.
More in Marketing
Women’s sports are having a moment. Brands, media companies and agencies are looking to get in on the action.
The Hollywood strikes were supposed to be a game changer for many of them, but the situation hasn’t quite lived up to the hype.
Given the rise of short-form video, agencies that focus on the format, rather than specific platform expertise, will reap the rewards.


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The latest Notifiable Data Breaches Quarterly Statistics Report confirms that Australian legal practices are at risk of cybercrime with phishing as the main threat.
This research report demonstrates how domain name abandonment poses a significant cyber threat to the legal profession and other businesses. This report also makes recommendations as to measures legal practices and other businesses can take to stop this threat.
The recent media reports of fraud against conveyancing practices suggest that professionals should be taking measures for protecting their businesses from cyber attacks. Cybercriminals primarily rely on an email-based attack know as phishing to help commit payment redirection fraud.
Malicious actors operate command-and-control (C&C/C2) servers to interact with their victims’ computers. These C2 servers are intended to instruct the compromised PCs to do undesired things, such as stealing the user’s passwords, encrypting the files for ransom or attacking other computers on the network.
We learned from the previous article that SOCs/Incident Response teams should be looking for threats that represent high-level risks to the normal business activities.
We know the who, but how can we define what needs to be protected?
Assume your company has over a thousand business applications. They are hosted in multiple data centres as well as in the cloud. There are Windows and Linux hosts, and many of these are not patched of course. On top of that, nobody knows who owns them.
The following article cuts through this complexity and explains a simple approach.


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Electric vehicle owners will get a charge out of 13 charging stations in BC
Stations provide a charge up to 80% in less than 30 minutes.
VANCOUVER—Electric car owners in BC will get a real charge out of this.
The provincial government is spending $1.3 million to set up fast-charging stations in 12 communities.
The stations can give a car an 80% charge in 30 minutes or less, compared to other kinds of stations that require up to eight hours for a full charge.
The stations are being set up in various cities including Vancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, Whistler, Hope, Merritt, Nanaimo and Saanich.
Environment Minister Terry Lake said providing electric vehicle owners with more charging options will make electric cars even more attractive.
The government says setting up the stations will complete the BC portion of the West Coast Green Highway, an agreement with three American states to ensure electric vehicle charging is available along the West Coast from BC to California.
©The Canadian Press


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The rise and rise of Bangladesh – but is life getting any better?
The country has undergone an economic miracle in recent years, albeit at huge cost to its garment workers.
Tasnia Akter has come home. It’s a public holiday in Bangladesh, the one time of year the 25-year-old can leave the mayhem of the city behind and see her family: her mother, her aunt.
And her daughter.
“There she is!” Her little girl is standing in front of the two-bedroom tin hut in a remote village 200km (125 miles) north of Chittagong, south-east Bangladesh. Mother and daughter embrace.
If she could, the young seamstress would still live here. The air is fresher, there is more space, and some of her friends still live in the village. There’s just one problem: “There isn’t any work.” Agriculture has ceased to be a feasible source of income. Money doesn’t grow on trees – it is spun in the textile looms of the city.
And so this family copes as best it can, the older women raising the child while Tasnia works six-day weeks, sewing T-shirts and jeans for global consumers, for about 8,400 taka (£80) a month.
These three generations are a neat microcosm of an entire nation. The older women, who grew up in the years after independence in 1971, worked in unpaid labour, trying to survive in the grinding poverty for which the country became renowned in the 1970s.
The young girl, a 21st-century child, schooled and spirited, will in all probability enjoy better prospects. And in the middle, Tasnia Akter, from the “factory generation”, one of approximately 4.5 million textile workers who have transformed the fortunes and reputation of Bangladesh.
The crucial question is this: is Akter a glorious paragon of the “rise and rise” of Bangladesh, with its 50-year journey to becoming a middle-income nation powered by hard-working women? Or is she a sickening example of an exploited labourer who ruins her health for companies making high margins and consumers who buy cheap jeans?
The answer: perhaps a bit of both.
“Sure, Tasnia suffers a lot, she has to support her family – but I had to suffer much more,” says her aunt, Honufa Begum. After her husband died, Begum worked as a maid in Chittagong. “Just provide food and lodging for me and my daughter,” she recalls asking the family. They did. But they did not pay her. Begum did not complain.
“I am uneducated,” Akter explains, sitting on a bed in her aunt’s house under a fan. “In the city I could work as a maid. But I don’t want to be a slave. I don’t want to always be on my toes, waiting for orders. At least when I come home in the evening from the factory, I am done for the day.”
When the history is written of how much of humanity was lifted out of poverty in the decades after 1980, Bangladesh will provide one of the biggest chapters. GDP has soared vertiginously since 1980.
The number of people living below the poverty line has fallen from more than 44% in 1991 to less than 13%. Numbers for neonatal and maternal mortality have dwindled. Family sizes have fallen.
People now live on average one-third longer than they used to 40 years ago – a gain in longevity that is practically without rival anywhere in the world.
But it has not come without tragedy, toil and exploitation. Six years ago, the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Dhaka, killing more than 1,100 people, injuring more than 2,300. Rana Plaza became synonymous with textile workers’ atrocious working conditions; for the blood, sweat and sacrifice so easily overlooked by western consumers hunting bargain T-shirts on the high street. Bangladeshi workers are still among the lowest-paid in the world.
Over the years, however, activists, workers and researchers have fought for at least some change in the garment industry. The minimum wage has doubled. Safety improvements have been made. Many workers are able to put a little aside to ensure that their children get a proper education.
And for Akter and the millions of other women who make up around 80% of the textile workforce, the industry represents a possibility to earn money. They can attain at least some economic freedom in a society where women typically are housewives; where the only option in the countryside is to marry.
The vast industry generates myriad sub-industries too. The market along the dusty main road in Chittagong is usually bustling with people. Opposite the Clifton garments factory, Jallal Uddin, 38, is selling cake, bananas and tea to the workers on their way home. The father of two has had his stall for eight years now. He is proud of not having accumulated any debt. His formula is simple: the more garment workers there are, the more business for him.
Tasnia Akter has been working for her factory for the past four years. The small premises is owned by one of the country’s big manufacturers: there are more than 30,000 employees, with brand customers such as WalMart and H&M. For Akter, working in the factory means progress: it is a means of paying the debts of her family, to support her seven-year-old daughter, and to earn a living after her husband left her – a fate that many garment workers share.
“I don’t really have a choice,” she says. She sends around 2,000 taka home every month, as well as the occasional windfall: a rice cooker is stored in her parents’ cupboard; the company awarded it to her for not missing any days and for working quickly.
But if she can’t save anything for herself, is she really getting on? Is progressing from slave-like working conditions to meagre salaries really enough? Or is the country’s sweatshop image still accurate today?
Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a thinktank in Dhaka, shakes his head. “Not at all.” The economist believes that – at least in a broader sense – the textile industry has lifted millions out of poverty. In the 1980s, workers lived in shacks and toiled in factories with no toilets or safe drinking water. Now even a cursory look at their lunch boxes will show they are eating better than in the past, he says.
But he adds that many workers are malnourished and some still sleep on the floor. “Most workers can’t save anything for their post-work years.” Nevertheless, there are small indications that the quality of life is improving. “Workers like to spend the last penny for the betterment of the family: some send their children to private kindergarten, or to private tutors.”
It was the Rana Plaza disaster that arguably triggered the biggest safety improvements. Following a broad deal between unions and more than 200 garment companies such as Primark and H&M, more than 1,600 factories were inspected and hazards identified and dealt with. Factory owners invested in fire doors, sprinkler systems and electrical upgrades. Some tore down factories and built them anew to keep their business going. A general manager of the company where Tasnia Akter works says the new rules of business are simple: “No compliance, no contracts.”
“If you compare pre-Rana Plaza and post-Rana Plaza, the one thing that really has changed is safety,” says Kalpona Akter (no relation to Tasnia), a labour activist and executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS). Between 2005 and 2012, more than 500 workers died in textile factories. After 2014, the annual number of fatalities has remained “well under 30”, according to the Stern Centre for Business and Human Rights at New York University .
“Workers are now more aware of their rights,” says Kalpona Akter. When she founded BCWS in 2000, few workers knew they had any rights at all.
“Now workers perhaps won’t die in the factory – but they will nevertheless slowly die of malnourishment,” Hasan Maruf Rumi says. The activist and politician explains how it is impossible to feed a family on the new minimum wage of 8,000 taka.
While the minimum wage has indeed been doubled, it is still only half of what the unions had suggested – and far from a living wage. A study by CPD found that the overall cost of living for garment workers had increased by 86% between 2013 and 2018, with food costs up 57%. Last December the influential manufacturers’ association BGMEA made it clear that owners would close factories if the minimum wage increased further. It called on brands to increase their prices as a result. Nothing happened.
When asked how much she thinks she deserves, Tasnia Akter says: 10,000 taka, around £96.
In Chittagong, many workers live near the factories. The streets, turned muddy by the rain, are lined with corner shops, barbers and vegetable sellers. Nadira Begum, a 26-year-old sewing operator, shares a room with her three-year-old daughter in a compound with other families. Her husband shows up from time to time; he has another wife as well.
“As soon as there is a raise, everything gets more expensive,” she says. She already pays around 3,000 taka per month for the room. While Begum earns about nine times as much as her mother, she is unsure whether her purchasing power has gone up much. She does have amenities such as a fan and a fridge. She joined the union after it helped her when she was about to be fired for being pregnant, she says. Now she has lost her job. Begum believes it is primarily because she is a union member. But she doesn’t seem too fazed. One thing that has changed is her self-assurance, the pride in her abilities: “I am not worried. I am a skilled worker; I will just go and get another job.”
• Tasnia Akter’s name has been changed
This article is part of a series on possible solutions to some of the world’s most stubborn problems. What else should we cover? Email us at email@example.com
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010


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While some industries are experiencing an economic slowdown currently, US online casinos aren’t bothered. The American Gaming Association‘s latest release for the second quarter of 2022 shows that the market conditions impacting food service and hospitality businesses aren’t having an effect on US online gambling.
The AGA says the total of all commercial gambling activity across the US hit a new high across the quarter that ended with July 2022. While brick-and-mortar casinos still represent the greatest part of that sum, online casinos are keeping pace in their own right.
US online casinos surpass record at first opportunity
The first three months of this year were a stellar showing for US online casinos. However, the second quarter was just a tad bit better.
The AGA’s revenue tracker shows online casinos and online poker play across the six states in which they are legal in the US produced $1.21 billion in gross revenue in Q2 2022. That’s an improvement of over 34% from the second quarter of 2021. It’s just a slight improvement of a few million dollars over Q1 of this year, though.
Still, that quarter-over-quarter comparison shouldn’t dampen the spirits of any online casino operators. The AGA also says for the first half of 2022, the total of $2.42 billion in online casino revenue is an increase of 43.5% as compared to the first half of 2021.
This performance contributed to an all-time best quarter for all commercial gaming across the country. For example, two of the six states that allow at least some online casino play, Nevada and Pennsylvania, reported their best overall quarters ever.
Physical casinos in the US cashed in, too
The fears over online casinos cannibalizing retail casino gaming continue to be unfounded. Physical slots and table games from all commercial gambling properties in the US produced a record $11.24 billion in revenue from April through July 2022. The record was for those segments both combined and individually.
That total includes an increase of less than a percent from the first quarter of this year for slots but an impressive uptick of more than 18% on the table games side. For the first half of 2022, the total of $23.67 billion rose nearly nine percent in terms of slots and almost 29% for table games compared to H1 2021.
With revenue from both online and retail sports betting figured in, the second quarter of 2022’s total commercial gaming activity came to $14.81 billion. The AGA says that’s an improvement of more than three percent from Q1. Thus, 2022 remains on pace to become the most lucrative year ever for commercial casinos in the United States.
There’s no guarantee that the third quarter of 2022 will surpass that $14.81 billion mark. However, even if that doesn’t happen, 2022 could still be the single greatest year to be in the gambling business in the United States yet.


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News Tech: Leading online travel service MakeMyTrip said Wednesday that ultra-luxury and luxury hotel bookings are up 150% during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels as more Indian travelers seek a premium travel experience said to have increased in the near future. Her 1 in 3 Indian travelers have searched and booked premium or luxury accommodation during the pandemic. The average cost per night for him was 13,000 to 15,000 rupees.
According to MakeMyTrip, bookings for Tier II, III and higher luxury homes have increased by more than 30%. Top destinations searched and booked by luxury seekers include Jaipur, Udaipur, Coorg, Goa, Mumbai and Kolkata. The supply of new luxury homes has also been on the rise as demand for luxury accommodation has surged over the past two years, with inventory coming from Tier I, II and III markets, she added. To capitalize on this trend, the company also said it launched Luxe Selection, a themed collection of nearly 300 super-premium and luxury properties.
His Vipul Prakash, Chief Operating Officer of MakeMyTrip said: However, the pandemic has accelerated the trend towards premium, super-premium and luxury real estate. It’s interesting to note that people outside of metropolitan areas are also interested in the idea of rejuvenating and vacationing in luxury. He went on to say that over the past year, luxury accommodation bookings have increased by about 90% after the first wave and about 40% after the second wave.“During the pandemic, he saw a nearly 150% increase in ultra-luxury and luxury hotel bookings compared to pre-pandemic,” he added.
“Through Luxe Selection, we hope to increase the visibility and discoverability of luxury properties across the country by bringing all luxury properties into one platform. We want to make it the premier haven for finding and booking luxury stays in between,” said Prakash. Abhishek Logani, Chief Business Officer of MakeMyTrip-Hotels, said the company offers spas, airport transfers, happy hours, room upgrades, early he check-in and late his check-out, nature and leisure such as his He said he offers packages that include activities under Luxe Selection. Plantation walks, bird watching, yoga sessions and more.


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The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is pleased to announce that Sean Culey will be presenting a special CILT webinar on the 9th of September. Sean is a world leading futurist, keynote speaker, globally recognised business transformation expert and author. His most recent book Transition Point: From Steam to the Singularity is an in-depth examination of the causes of technological progress and how the current wave of change will disrupt our business models, economy and society at large. Ahead of his webinar, I caught up with Sean to preview his presentation, and discuss the implications of Covid-19 and his thinking on the future of our industry.
Sean’s interest in the way ideas and technologies interact began at the University of Hull where he studied Business Information Systems. ‘It was actually the UK’s first degree that combined business studies and information technology. Up to that date everything was either IT related or business related. That’s what attracted me to it was it was a mash of business and IT, trying to bring the two together.’
After graduating he held worked in a range of capacities and environments, including working as a systems analyst and latterly IT manager at Dunlop Oil & Marine, a business analyst at Redland bricks, and as a consultant, first for Sony Music UK and Sony Professional Broadcasting, and then Cadbury Schweppes, where he worked on a global SAP system implementation. ‘I was focused on what was called customer to cash, but really I was focused on bridging the gap between planning and execution…and that allowed me to develop quite a deep understanding of how the different parts of the supply chain needed to operate.’
This was not always plain sailing, and Sean would regularly come up against internal resistance. ‘I had to learn a lot of the softer skills, change management skills. It wasn’t just about understanding supply chains, I had to learn very quickly the more emotion based change management skills. Convince people that I wasn’t there to disrupt their world, I was there to help make things better.’
Several years later was perhaps the most crucial breakthrough. In the late 2010s Sean was asked to join the Supply Chain Council’s European Leadership Team. Part of that role involved occasionally chairing SCC events, including one in Madrid. ‘Whilst chairing that event I noticed something. As chairman I had to sit in every session, and we had people talking about robotics and big data, new types of collaborative robot in manufacturing, 3D printing was becoming hot…and I realised everyone was talking about each technology and no-one was talking about what happened when they connected.’
The interaction of technologies and ideas has since become the main focus of Sean’s research, and resulted in his latest book Transition Point – From Steam to the Singularity. Starting with an examination into the drivers of technological change and the social, economic and political factors that both enable or suppress it, Transition Point explains why industrialisation happened where and when it did, why progress comes in waves, and why the technologies in the current wave, such as robotics, blockchain and AI, are likely to be the most disruptive of all.
The ideas discussed in the book will also form the core of Sean’s webinar. During our interview, as an introduction to intellectual landscape of Transition Point, Sean paraphrased part of an article he wrote for the P3 Logistics website. ‘We find ourselves at another transition period – the Digital and Robotic Age. Technologies are combining together to transform both the way we shop, and the way goods are delivered. A new type of digital supply chain is emerging, one that I name the PAL supply chain – Personal, Automated and Local – and it is arising because of the convergence of three major forces. Firstly an increase in efficiency through automation, AI, and the ability to facilitate small-scale production of goods and provision of services using robotics and 3D printing. Secondly an increase in speed and availability of internet connectivity, creating a more connected supply chain and a less centralised workforce. Finally a dramatic fall in the cost of physical transport caused by autonomous and electric or alternative fuel powered transportation. This convergence of new technologies is being utilised to create a logistics network capable of providing an on-demand, ecommerce marketplace in both urban and suburban locations.’
No conversation in the current climate can go long without touching on Covid-19 and the long terms implications such an event poses. For Sean, the pandemic, and in particular the associated lockdowns have serious implications of logistics and transport, and has sped up the transition to a new social and industrial paradigm. ‘The pandemic has forced a population to live in isolation and avoid crowded places; and in doing so also forced them to learn how to order everything online, work remotely, and embrace non-group activities. Children and students are being taught via Zoom, gyms are setting up remote and virtual offerings, restaurants and cafes are offering only delivery and take-out options, movies are being released online via streaming services – basically every company has had to either rethink their business model or their ways of working, accelerating the digital and online revolution.’
For Sean, this acceleration has also affected the move to a cashless society. ‘Now, physical currency is seen as a biological nightmare…The social distancing rules also mean that the simple act of handing over money is problematic, for you have to be next to someone to do that. People are therefore having to overcome any natural resistance they may have felt towards contactless and digital payments methods, creating a preference for these methods in even the slowest of adopters.’
The act of work itself, and how companies manage their workforce has also been greatly affected, with many people now working from home, and in Sean’s mind, this is a change that is likely to stay. ‘Companies have decided it’s just as effective, and actually they don’t need all that prime real estate in the middle of the city centre.’ Instead they will ‘strip it down to the bare minimum of real estate that we need, and everyone else can dial in from home.’
Alongside the promise of technology, Sean is wary of a darker side to the ‘new normal’. ‘It’s going to accelerate the “Isolation Economy” as I call it quite dramatically…the pandemic has told you stay at home, wear a mask, avoid people. It’s accelerated the more negative social implications of the new paradigm…isolation, social anxiety, depression’. He references the Japanese phenomenon of hikikomori, ‘people through technology have access to a whole raft of media, through apps have the ability to order in food, through gaming have the ability to interact with other humans, albeit at a distance. They create an entire lifestyle that basically doesn’t involve them going out much into the physical world and actually meeting other humans.’
Despite this, Sean remains optimistic about the future, largely due to faith in the ingenuity of humans. ‘The pandemic has forced us to think differently, and that’s a good thing. Necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s a lot of necessity out there at the moment.’
Sean has 25 years of experience in supply chain transformation, including 10 years as the Design Authority on a $600m global SAP implementation, 6 years as CEO of a boutique business consultancy and VP of Marketing for a supply chain analytics company. He is a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (FCILT), and a Transformation Advisor for the Association of Supply Chain Management (ASCM). He is the UK’s only certified SCOR Master Instructor.
Sean’s webinar is open to all members and will be broadcast on the 9th of September. Follow this link to register.


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Auto companies spend years drawing up plans for what vehicles to build and where. They have to negotiate with the United Automobile Workers union and with state and local governments over many details, making it impossible to roll out anything in a matter of days as Trump demanded in a phone call with GM chief executive Mary Barra on Sunday.
GM is pumping $300 million into its Orion Assembly plant in the Detroit suburbs to build a new electric car. The company did not disclose any details about the car but did say 400 jobs would be added at the Orion factory, which already makes the electric Chevy Bolt and a self-driving vehicle.
Barra, wearing safety glasses, spoke Friday at the Orion factory alongside UAW leaders and workers. She said the expansion in Michigan is part of a $1.8 billion investment in the United States. About $1.4 billion of that is money that was not previously announced.
The domestic investment comes on the heels of an announcement this week that GM is spending $2.7 billion to expand its production in Brazil.
Auto industry experts point out that GM’s contract with the UAW expires in September, and it is typical for major automakers to announce sizable new investments around this time as the companies and the union agree on pay and production details for the next several years.
In the spring of 2015, GM announced $2 billion in additional investments, according to the Center for Automotive Research, but many of the details about which plants would get the money did not come out until after the union agreement had been finalized.
“We’re probably looking at a couple of years of discussions for GM to get to this point to be able to make Friday’s announcement,” said Kristin Dziczek, a vice president at the Center for Automotive Research.
GM hoped to assuage Trump, but the company did not commit to anything in Ohio.
Trump did not tweet about GM’s announcement Friday, a notable difference from his praise for Ford earlier in the week after that automaker said it would invest $1 billion at a facility in Michigan.
But Larry Kudlow, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, said the GM news is welcome. He spoke with Barra on Thursday about it.
“It’s a big plus. There’s no two ways about it,” Kudlow said. “GM is building in America, and they’re investing in America.”
Trump had demanded that Barra either reopen the Lordstown facility immediately or sell it to another company that would build something else in the massive plant, which has been a bedrock of eastern Ohio’s “Steel Valley” since 1966.
“And what’s going on with General Motors? . . . Sell it to somebody or open it yourselves. Get it going now, and the UAW will help you,” Trump said Wednesday on a visit to Ohio.
The Lordstown area had voted for Democrats for president for decades before swinging to Trump after he promised to bring jobs back from abroad.
“Lordstown is a great area. I guess I like it because I won so big there,” Trump said Wednesday.
The manufacturing sector added the most jobs last year since 1997, according to Labor Department data, with many corporations crediting the president’s tax cuts and deregulation policies, although most are not fans of his tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Trumbull County, where Lordstown is located, has not benefited as much from the strong economy in recent years. The unemployment rate in the county is 7.7 percent, more than double the national rate and little changed from 8.1 percent when Trump took office.
The president has made clear he wants another vehicle produced in Lordstown.
In the phone call with Trump, Barra tried to explain that the fate of the Lordstown plant will be decided this year when union negotiations are finalized, but Trump didn’t like that response, according to two people familiar with the call.
GM cast the news as an indication that the company is embracing the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which incentivizes production of vehicles in North America.
“We are excited to bring these jobs and this investment to the U.S.,” Barra said Friday.
But some Ohio lawmakers were not satisfied with Friday’s GM announcement. “After GM pocketed billions of dollars in tax cuts, they can certainly afford to do right by their workers, retool the Lordstown plant and invest in the Valley as they did in Orion Township today,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
GM workers in Lordstown face a difficult choice of whether to seek other jobs in the area, go back to school to retrain or accept GM’s offer to move elsewhere in the country.
Though GM has allowed several hundred Lordstown workers to transfer voluntarily to other factories, some are being sent letters that say a worker must transfer or else be restricted to working only at the GM Lordstown plant in the future, a risky bet, since the facility might not reopen.
“It’s just a very stressful place to be,” said David Green, president of UAW Local 1112 in Lordstown. “We’ve had like 100 people getting letters forced to transfer to Wentzville, Missouri. They said no. They are just not interested.”


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Enough is enough – that’s the call from Lytham traders over a recent surge in the number of charity shops on the town’s main street.
Members of the Lytham Business Partnership fear the stores – which now total nine, with two charities represented twice – are damaging the image of the town as well as undermining their businesses because of rate advantages for the charities. They are ready to take their battle to the highest level of Government.
With charity shops relying on volunteers, there is also little chance of job creation at the premises.
The Group’s initiative has been backed by the Federation of Small Businesses, which hopes that expected new Government legislation to allow local councils to limit the number of betting shops in high streets might provide an opening for a similar decision over charity shops.
Robert Silverwood, vice-chairman of the Lytham Business Partnership, said: “It really has got to the stage where we have to say enough is enough and if it requires direct lobbying to the Prime Minister, we need to do it.
“The number of charity shops has increased notably over recent times.
“Lytham is over-saturated with them and we feel it is bad for the image of the town in terms of lack of choice for shoppers.
“There is also the question of competition for other retailers in the town in terms of new goods on sale and the rate concessions that the charity shops receive.
“As the current regulations stand, there is nothing that can be done at local level about the situation and it is very frustrating because we feel it is unfair on our established traders.
“We have absolutely nothing at all against the charities themselves but we feel we have to do something to stop the proliferation of them.
“It is not as if any shops which come empty in Lytham would remain vacant for long.
“It is an attractive town for businesses with plenty of visitors but the landlords are happy to let the charities take up the properties because they feel they will be getting regular rental.”
Phil Parkes, a member of the Lytham Partnership who has traded at Clifton’s in Clifton Street for 20 years, said: “It isn’t a level playing field and something needs to be done.
“The charity shops get the advantages of substantial rate concessions because of their charitable status but a substantial proportion of their goods on sale are new so they are direct rivals with other businesses in town.
“It is as if we are losing out twice over and there is no regulation over the number of such shops.
“Charities can also move in without having to apply for change of use which would be the case if someone wanted to take over a vacant shop, open a cafe and add a little extra variety to the town centre.”
Amid increasing concern over the effects of electronic gaming machines housed within most betting shops, the Government has this week been set to detail the creation of a new planning class for betting shops, allowing councils to vet applications more stringently than for other retailers.
Up to now, betting shops have required the same permission as banks and building societies but, in welcome the prospect of that change, a local spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses hopes that, if and when introduced, it might set a precedent for local councils to also look at the proliferation of charity shops.
Gary Lovatt, FSB regional chairman for Lancashire and Cumbria, said: “We are aware of the growth in number of charity shops in Lytham over the last couple of years.
“This is symptomatic of the economic situation we have seen up and down the country.
“While charity shops play an important role within communities and are welcomed there is a balance to be met. When there are in some areas more charity shops than small business retailers, and some of those charity shops are selling new goods, then things have clearly gone too far.
“This is also coupled with the favourable tax treatment for these shops make it a very unfair playing field.
“We would welcome an extension of powers to local authorities to ensure that the high street remains predominantly about private sector retailers, and that growth in number of charity shops on our high streets can be controlled, as has been announced with regards to the number of betting shops.”
A spokesman for the Barnardos charity, which has two shops in Lytham, said: “It’s important to remember that charity shops provide an additional dimension in the community.
“They have an important role in raising funds for local charitable services; they ensure volunteering and training opportunities for local people and provide recycling retailing, preventing many of the items they sell going to landfill.
“The funds raised by Barnardo’s stores go directly to supporting our services for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people and families in the UK.”


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LG Electronics is teaming up with video game developer and distributer Valve on a new VR headset. Valve announced that it will be showing off a prototype this week at the 2017 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.
Valve Corporation first confirmed the partnership with LG with RoadToVR earlier today. The company says that the new VR headset will use SteamVR Tracking technology, and possibly be built on the OpenVR platform.
LG intends to spend its week at GDC 2017 talking with game developers to collect feedback. The VR headset will be available to view at Valve’s booth at GDC 2017, but pricing, availability and launch dates will be shared at a later time.
Valve hasn’t given out the specifications of the device, but it said that it will be “designed to deliver a high fidelity, next generation VR experience,” according to Polygon. The company also confirmed that the new VR headset will be wired and will run on PCs.
This will be LG’s second attempt at penetrating the virtual reality market. It’s first attempt was the 360 VR headset from last year which only worked for its flagship smartphone, the LG G5. Although the device delivered a more compact and lightweight mobile VR experience, it mostly generated negative reviews from critics and never really caught on with mass consumers.
With this new VR headset, it appears as though that LG is planning to take a different approach when it comes to virtual reality. This approach is somewhat similar with HTC, which also partnered with Valve for the Vive VR headset.
LG will officially be the second third-party manufacturer to utilize Valve’s royalty-free SteamVR tracking system, which was previously known as Lighthouse. This makes LG’s upcoming VR headset a direct competitor to HTC Vive in that regard.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.


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Despite the fact that the smartwatch marvel detonated various years prior, it appears as though the “better than ever” highlights have gone to a slight end: we’ve seen wake up timers, telephone warnings, movement following, and so on., yet what come next?
The appropriate response might just be sunlight based power. Presenting LunaR, the Kickstarter venture that is hoping to make the world’s first sun oriented controlled smartwatch.
The LunaR brags various cool highlights that come standard with smartwatches: it can screen your rest designs, set alerts, track your development movement, and can interface with your messages and online networking warnings.
“Sun based controlled” may seem like LunaR must be charged amid sunlight hours, yet the watch has been built to charge in manufactured, indoor lighting and in addition open air light, so you’ll never need to stress over a dead watch again.
A typical day, LunaR style:
LunaR as of now met its objective on Kickstarter, however there’s still time to back it and get those brisk riser costs. It begins sending in December, making it the ideal a minute ago present for actually anybody. Look at LunaR here.


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Just days after the launch of the iPhone X, problems are starting to emerge with Apple’s latest handset. Users are reporting various issues with the screen including the fact that it becomes unresponsive in cold conditions.
On top of this, other iPhone X users have found that the screen suffers with a green line appearing at the side of the display. These reports are in addition to Apple’s own warnings of the OLED-centric screen burn-in problems, and in spite of the fact that the iPhone X has been found to have the best display of any smartphone.
Apple has said that it is aware of the problem when the iPhone X gets cold, adding that it will be fixed in an upcoming update — it was not fixed with the release of iOS 11.1.1. While the company says that the handset should operate perfectly well in the temperature range 32 degrees F to 95 degrees F, some users have experienced issues even within these parameters.
In a statement given to The Loop, Apple said:
We are aware of instances where the iPhone X screen will become temporarily unresponsive to touch after a rapid change to a cold environment. After several seconds the screen will become fully responsive again. This will be addressed in an upcoming software update.
The green line problem appears to be rather more limited, but it is concerning nonetheless. A number of iPhone X owners have posted photos of their handsets showing a green line down either the left or right-hand side of the screen, although a few have shown it appearing nearer the middle. The number of affected handsets appears to be relatively small, but that will come as little consolation to those who find themselves with the issue after dropping a grand on a phone.
The problem does not appear to be limited to a particular region, or even a particular type of iPhone X. Apple has not issued a statement about the green line issue, but has been replacing handsets when affected users get in touch.
Apple issued a software update that fixes an annoying problem some people who live in cold climates were having with their new iPhone X devices.
After installing iOS 11.1.2 users shouldn’t suffer from frozen screens in cold weather, Apple said. The update “fixes an issue where the iPhone X screen becomes temporarily unresponsive to touch after a rapid temperature drop,” Apple explained in notes to the software.
The problem occurred when the iPhone X’s OLED screen did not register the user’s finger swipes in cold weather. According to Apple’s guidelines, the iPhone X is designed to work normally at temperatures between of 32 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (or zero to 35 degrees Celsius).
Some users quickly found a workaround for the frozen screen problem. Locking the phone and unlocking it via Face ID seemed to cure the issue and allow the device to recognize swipes and touches properly instantly.
Apple (AAPL, -0.15%) introduced the iPhone X back in September alongside its iPhone 8 models, but the new, most-expensive-ever iPhone didn’t go on sale and get into the hands of regular customers until the beginning of November. The phone is also Apple’s first with an OLED display.


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Buzz is the buzzword of the moment. Mighty Google introduced Google Buzz to compete with the buzz engines that are Facebook and Twitter. Nielsen Buzzmetrics monitors the social chatter. Recently, a company called Meltwater that helps big corporations and nonprofits monitor news sites acquired a startup called BuzzGain to track social media in a new service called Meltwater Buzz.
Why all the buzz about buzz? Think of the streams of data that flow on Facebook, Twitter and good old e-mail. You might notice the little glimmers of marketing and advertising value tucked within. Now Internet companies large and small are searching for the mother lode, suggests Tim Schigel, founder and CEO of ShareThis, a Mountain View startup.
Search, Schigel points out, wasn’t much of a business until Google figured it out and made it the Web’s biggest business.
Facebook and Twitter are big names in the buzz business. ShareThis, backed with $21 million in investments led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, is among the companies after that mother lode. “Our whole business is about proving the value of the sharing economy,” Schigel said.
You might know ShareThis as a handy icon on Web sites that has helped people share items via social networks and e-mail since late 2007. This week, ShareThis unveiled its own Live Stream to help publishers follow sharing trends. (On Wednesday, Mashable’s “Top Ten Funny Videos on YouTube” was a hit.)
At first blush, “sharing” might seem too altruistic to inspire much of a business model. A few years ago, when Mark Zuckerberg would talk about Facebook as means to help people “connect and share,” the question was always, “Yes, but how you will make money?” Back in 2005, Schigel said people “looked at me like I had three eyes” when he talked about the “sharing” opportunity.
Schigel was well versed in Internet marketing as a Cincinnati-based venture capitalist whose startups often worked with the city’s best-known company, Procter & Gamble. He was an investor in Advertising.com, which was acquired by AOL in 2004 for $485 million, and in another startup that was folded into Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
“What we set out to do is find something that has the same value as search. What marketers love about search is that it represents user intent,” Schigel said. But research, he said, showed that Internet users are typically more engaged by online items sent by friends via e-mail or Facebook than information they found in their own search. Twitter, Schigel said, generates less engagement for individuals, but its “retweet” function amplifies the sharing.
A few years ago, Schigel said, a prominent Sand Hill Road venture capitalist asked him, “How often do people share?” Remarkably, given that so much Web activity is quantified, nobody knew how often people were copying and pasting URLs on e-mail. Computer scientists working with Schigel devised the ShareThis application to streamline the function — thus enabling Web publishers to better understand how material on their sites is being passed around.
And while Schigel and ShareThis are still searching for the best way to make money, their service has caught on. When ShareThis launched in November 2007, it hoped to have 200 publishers using it by the end of the year. “We got a thousand in our first week,” Schigel said. Now it’s up to 130,000.
more buzz biz: NetBase, a Mountain View startup that provides semantic search technologies to help makers of major consumer brands do market research and develop new products, this week announced it had raised $9 million from Altos Ventures and Thomvest Ventures to complete third-round funding.
Contact Scott Duke Harris at firstname.lastname@example.org or 408-920-2704.


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Consider it a one-time event. Or two food-related trade shows that just happened to be in adjoining halls of Chicago's McCormick Place.
Whichever scenario, there is no future for a combined Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo with the Food Processing Suppliers' Assn. (FPSA) Process Expo. But this past one appeared to do reasonably well.
The combination that was billed as a dream team a year ago unraveled even before the dual show opened its doors this July 18. FPSA already said it would hold its own show, a biennial event, starting in November 2011, also in Chicago's McCormick Place. IFT next year will return solo to New Orleans in June.
IFT, which was responsible for most of the logistics of the joint event, reported a healthy crowd this year: 21,500 attendees. There apparently was no practical way to figure how many came for the ingredients show versus how many showed up for the equipment. For IFT alone, that's close to previous Chicago events (IFT seems to always draw better than 20,000 in the Windy City) and far above the 15,000 who attended the 2008 New Orleans event and the 2009 Anaheim, Calif., show.
IFT reported for its hall more than 1,000 companies exhibiting in some 2,100 booths and taking up 230,000 net sq. ft.
FPSA had 333 exhibitors taking up 100,080 sq. ft. The association also conducted onsite sales for its 2011 show, and said it already had signed up 200 exhibitors requesting 156,400 sq ft.
Here are some of the developments we found interesting at the twin shows:
Barry Callebaut AG introduced Acticoa, a high-flavanol chocolate to meet increasing consumer demand for functional foods. Available in milk and dark chocolate, Acticoa has guaranteed levels of flavanols, linked to health benefits such as skin nourishment, protection against cell damage from free radicals, and maintenance of cardiovascular health. And the manufacturing process preserves up to 80 percent of flavanols found naturally in raw cocoa beans.
Bunge Oils won an IFT Innovation Award for its PhytoBake shortening. This vegetable-based plastic shortening includes phytosterols, which not only add structure to the shortening but have been proved to help lower blood cholesterol. PhytoBake adds zero trans fats and can lower saturated fats by 46 percent in some formulations. Parked outside McCormick Place was Bunge's M.O.E. (mobile oil experts) truck, which fried treats with Bunge oils, then used some of the spent cooking oil as a biodiesel fuel. It follows upon the food truck craze in some areas of the country.
Butter Buds Food Ingredients debuted Butter Buds-Bacon, a natural flavor concentrate made without animal products. Ideal for vegetarian products, seasonings, snacks, soups, salad dressings, cheese and prepared foods, it was developed using enzyme modification of sunflower oil to create the Kosher Parve-certified ingredient, which is heat stable and has an 18-month shelf life.
The price of cocoa has been steadily rising, while its supply is frequently in question. Issues surrounding insecure cocoa sourcing range from political instability and industry underinvestment, to drought, insect damage and plant disease. It all adds up to major worries about price pressures and supply shortages for consumer product manufacturers whose products rely on cocoa as a key ingredient. Comax Flavors developed a range of cocoa extenders and replacers, available in both powdered and liquid form, which can replace anywhere from 10 parts to 75 parts dutched cocoa in the finished product with one part Comax flavor. The results range from a rich chocolate taste with deep, complex notes to a light caramelic-type cocoa flavor.


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Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli stated that 2019 was a productive year in terms of water production and said, “Thanks to our efforts and the supports we provided to the sector, our fisheries production broke a historical record and exceeded 836 thousand tons.” said.
Minister Pakdemirli made a statement on 2019 aquaculture production data.
Expressing that they have left a fertile year behind in terms of aquaculture production, Pakdemirli said, “Our fisheries production volumes increased by a record increase in 2019 compared to previous years due to the decisions taken by the Ministry for the protection of fisheries resources, inspections, incentives to increase production and technological developments. It increased by 33,1 and reached 836.523,7 tons. 55,4% of the total production consisted of aquaculture and 44,6% of aquaculture products. The highest total production amount entered in the statistics was 2007 thousand tons in 772. ” found the assessment.
SEA FISHING INCREASED 47,5 PERCENT
Minister Pakdemirli stated that in 2019, 463.167,7 tons were produced through hunting and 373.356 tons through aquaculture, and that hunting increased by 47,5% compared to the previous year.
Expressing that there is a significant increase in anchovy and sprat fishing, there is a decrease in the catch of fish such as bonito and bluefish, and that this change in fish hunting is due to species biology, nutritional status and environmental conditions.
Pakdemirli stated that aquaculture production continued to grow last year, as every year, and in this context, sea bream, sea bass and trout production increased significantly.
INCREASE IN CHAPTER PRODUCTION IS 30 PERCENT
Expressing that there has been a rapid increase especially in marine fish farming in recent years, Pakdemirli said, “In 2019, sea bream production increased by 30 percent to 99,7 thousand tons and sea bass production increased by 17,5 percent to 137,4 thousand tons. Total aquaculture production has grown by 18,7 percent. ” said.
EXPORT OF FISHERIES EXCEEDED 1 BILLION DOLLAR
Underlining that the increase in aquaculture production and aquaculture is also reflected in exports, Pakdemirli said:
“In 2019, exports increased by 12,8 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 200 thousand tons and increasing by 7,8 percent in value, reaching 1 billion 30 million dollars. Our imports were 90 thousand tons and 189 million dollars in value. Our country is a net exporter country in seafood foreign trade. We have exported fish products to nearly 100 countries. ”
LEGAL REGULATION WILL REFLECT POSITIVE TO THE SECTOR
Minister Pakdemirli stated that some changes in the Fisheries Law No. 1380, which was made in November, will reflect positively on the sector. Our marine resources will be much better than today in the next 4-5 years. We have revised our 2023 target, which we have already reached. We will achieve this goal by making effective use of our distinguished resources, taking into account the balance of protection and use. ” he spoke.
Minister Pakdemirli also stated that seafood, which is an indispensable source of protein for human nutrition, contributes significantly to economy and employment.


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The United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security defines food security as a situation where all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their preferences, and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.
Food and medicines remain the basic needs of man.
However, with the partial and total lockdown across the world arising from the coronavirus pandemic which by origin; is a zoonotic disease arising from interactions between humans and wildlife, many businesses including restaurants have been affected due primarily to social distancing and restriction of the movement of humans, goods, and services from one location to another.
It is no longer news that many countries have even banned the export of food, and other commodities, so, they can remain self-sufficient. This has led to food logistics challenges, deliberate hoarding by some greedy individuals and panic buying. This may pose a serious threat to food security in no distance time, particularly to the vulnerable population including; children, pregnant women, senior citizens, obese, and underweight persons, and those with immune-compromised status.
Many people have already started noticing a hike in prices of staple foods like wheat, garri, rice, and beans.
Tubers, meats, fruits, vegetables, and perishable commodities, are not exempted from the price increase. Government around the world has made a lot of effort in maintaining food security over the years, but more can still be done particularly at this time.
To ameliorate these challenges, adequate price control mechanisms and price monitoring systems for food products is necessary. Quality supervision of food items by the appropriate organs of government is very important in guaranteeing their safety and quality, especially during this pandemic.
Logistical support to encourage unhindered transportation of food items from source locations to destinations, home deliveries to help reduce human interactions and prevent the possibility of getting infected is also required in this regard.
Strict regulation of the sales of wildlife, especially in designated markets to prevent further spread of other diseases, special concession, more subsidies and rebate for indigenous farmers would also go a long way in cushioning the impact of this pandemic. Palliatives from government, religious bodies, traditional rulers, non-governmental organizations, private individuals, and from all and sundry will also help to maintain food security during this period.
Clinical Pharmacist, Nigeria.


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• CCPC Act prohibits any owner to display any sign that purports to disclaim any liability that a consumer has.
• The Commission uses its authority in accordance with Section 48 of the Act.
• There has been a drastic reduction of display of disclaimers in many parts of the country.
Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) says it has continued to enforce the law on erring enterprises that engage in unfair trading practices such as the display of disclaimers among others.
Responding to Money FM’s Press Query, Commission Public Relations Officer Rainford Mutabi said the Commission conducts quarterly inspections of trading premises across the country, not only to enforce the law on offenders but also to educate enterprises and consumers on the display of disclaimers and other unfair trading practices.
Mr. Mutabi however noted that there has been a drastic reduction of display of disclaimers in many parts of the country.
“As you may be aware, the Commission under Section 48(1) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) No. 24 of 2010 prohibits any owner or occupier of a shop or other trading premises to display any sign or notice that purports to disclaim any liability or deny any right that a consumer has under this Act or any other written law. As such, the Commission uses its authority in accordance with Section 48 of the Act to ensure that any person or an enterprise which contravenes this section is penalized.
“However, it is worth noting that there has been a drastic reduction of display of disclaimers in many parts of the country. In our quarterly and impromptu inspections, display of disclaimers is hardly ever a concern raised by the inspectors,” Mr. Mutabi said.
And Mr. Mutabi stated that the Commission has put in place a deliberate strategy to train business houses on provisions of the CCPC Act to equip them with knowledge on competition and consumer protection issues and ultimately enhance compliance with the Act.
“Therefore, the Commission wishes to thank the big community for following the law as regards display of disclaimers,” he added.


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We saw something similar accompany Apple. Apple runs its own app store. You must pay Apple a commission to get your app on the i, OS app store. Apple developed a community for designers that makes it easy for them to distribute and monetize their apps. It provided developers a kit of tools they can use free of charge to develop apps.
3 billion on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps in the Apple App Store. That's about 28% of its total $260 billion revenue a substantial chunk http://simonrock629.tearosediner.net/teeka-tiwari-executive-chairman-strategy-board-defi of business." Given that the app store launched, Apple has actually paid over $150 billion to developers who offer digital products and services through the app store.
In other words, developing an app store Have a peek at this website is an excellent way to generate income. And one platform is currently strengthening itself as the most significant d, App store. Using the d, App area at the best time might generate substantial returns. The trick, of course, is trying to anticipate the next decentralized app store.
Greg and Teeka Tiwari are confident that the token for the d, App store of crypto will be the world's next trillion-dollar coin: "If it can do what Apple did, Daily editor Teeka Tiwari believes it will be [the] next trillion-dollar coin. It will take crypto to [the] next level and send smaller sized coins up 25x or even 50x much like Apple provided for some breakout apps on its platform." You might not have the ability to make exponential gains on bitcoin.
Nevertheless, there's still prospective for smaller sized coins to offer returns Click here to find out more of 25x to 50x, according to Teeka Tiwari and Website link his group: "While the mainstream media and Wall Street are focused on bitcoin volatility and other market sectors, tech billionaires are quietly going all-in on this coin and embracing its innovation to boost and fund their jobs.
The d, App shop of crypto isn't a theoretical thing: it's a real platform that's Visit website already here. In fact, the platform currently hosts 80% of all d, Apps, according to Wilson: "Today, d, Apps are establishing the way apps did in 2008. And there are numerous jobs adding brand-new d, Apps on a monthly basis.
It's accountable for over 80% of d, Apps. Throughout the webinar, Teeka will expose the name and ticker sign of his suggested coin. This is the coin Teeka thinks will be the next to reach a trillion-dollar market cap.
You don't have to purchase anything, sign up for any paid subscription services, or enter your charge card details to go to the webinar. During the lead-up to the event, you'll get promos from Teeka Tiwari and the Palm Beach Research Group team. You'll likewise get details after the webinar, including info for the company's crypto-focused investment newsletter, Palm Beach Confidential.
Teeka has actually been an outspoken advocate for bitcoin over the last few years, regardless of the rate of bitcoin. Teeka Tiwari and other investment experts lead the company.


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Google and Univision, the leading Spanish-language content and media company in the United States, today announced a new, multi-year, strategic partnership to accelerate growth across Univision’s portfolio of media and content properties, providing solutions that will enable it to build the media company of tomorrow.
Google Cloud will help drive Univision’s digital transformation, deepening the media company’s relationships with Hispanic audiences and communities, and enabling it to continue creating market-defining content for the next generation of Spanish-speaking viewers. Univision will also collaborate with other Google product areas, such as Android, Android TV OS, YouTube, Google Play, Google Ad Manager, and Google Search to enhance its capabilities and improve the overall viewer experience.
Google will help Univision consolidate its multiple digital distribution platforms, modernize its production systems, create a new customer data warehouse, and migrate key enterprise applications to Google Cloud. This will allow them to apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) across its content libraries to provide customers with proactive, personalized recommendations. It will also enable the company to forge stronger advertising relationships with its audiences via insights derived from data.
“Increasing demand for digital media and streaming content is a huge opportunity for media companies to connect with audiences in new ways,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “We’re excited to partner with Univision to use Google Cloud’s technology and platforms like YouTube, Play and Android, to inform, entertain, and engage the next generation of Spanish-speaking viewers around the world.”
As the media landscape evolves, Google will also help Univision expand its growing streaming offerings, allowing the company to reach more consumers on the devices of their choice, wherever they are in the world. For example, Univision will expand its global YouTube partnership in the coming years and will integrate with entertainment features on Google Search that help people discover TV shows and movies. The company will also use Google Ad Manager for ad decisioning globally and Google’s Dynamic Ad Insertion for PrendeTV and future video-on-demand offerings. Finally, Univision will distribute its content and services on Google Play across Android phones and tablets, as well as Google TV and other Android TV OS devices. Yahoo Finance


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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: You probably wouldn’t know it but this is National Alternative Fuel Autos Week. According to a new report Americans bought a record 1.5 million alternative fuel vehicles last year. That’s 50 percent more than automakers expected. From the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, here’s Sarah Gardner:
SARAH GARDNER: These alternative fuel cars and trucks accounted for 9 percent of U.S. sales last year.
That included everything from hybrids like the Toyota Prius to cars that can run on ethanol like the 2006 Lincoln Town Car.
Morningstar analyst John Novak believes next year, the numbers should be even bigger.
JOHN NOVAK: The general trend is toward more of these types of vehicles and you’re gonna see more and more options from the automakers.
Analysts say high gas prices will fuel production and sales of these cars.
Thad Malesh at Automotive Technology Research Groups expects clean diesel to grow more popular the next few years and automakers will push it.
THAD MALESH: That’s the way they can save the sales of these large SUVs and their light-duty pickups. There’s a huge profit margin on these large vehicles. The manufacturers are simply not gonna let that go away.
As of last summer, the state of Texas led the nation in alt-fuel vehicles. California was a close second.
I’m Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.


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Plans in the works to demolish Miller's Market for a residential/commercial project
One of the two full-service grocery stores in Golden Hill, Miller’s Market, will soon close for redevelopment. Slated to be demolished, the store has been in business for over 50 years.
The lot on the corner of 30th and C, along with two adjacent lots, will be the site of a new mixed-use project, with 40 residential units above and 5000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Eight units will be allocated for low- to moderate-income residents aged 55 or older, and all units will be handicap accessible and wired for solar power.
Rendering of new development at 30th and C Streets in Golden Hill; plans are pending approval
The new structure, designed by architect William Hedenkamp, includes a partially subterranean parking garage and a play area in the inner courtyard. Owner Saad Hirmez said it is yet to be determined if a food market will occupy the new retail space. Plans are pending approval and no start date has been set for the construction.
Hirmez, whose family business bought the lot and began operating the market in 1970, said in an interview several years ago that the plans to redevelop that property have been in the works since they purchased it. He declined to share details about current financing.
“When we bought it, the former owners had been there for 15 or 20 years,” said Hirmez. “I started working there when I was 11.” The Hirmez brothers also owned the IGA supermarket in South Park, which they leased to Target for development of TargetExpress. Earlier this year the brothers reopened Apple Tree Market in Ocean Beach after being forced out of their previous location in the same neighborhood. Hirmez sits on the Golden Hill Community Planning Group but recused himself from the vote to approve this project.
3035 Cedar Street, San Diego
2511 C Street, San Diego
Golden Hill residents who frequent Miller’s Market can shop at Krisp on 25th and C, on the number two bus route, or visit neighboring South Park to shop at Food Bowl or TargetExpress. Several convenience stores and produce stands are also available as alternatives.