text:
Soft Markets Result in 2Q Loss for Coachmen
“Severe contraction” in the recreational vehicle and manufactured housing markets signaled a second-quarter loss for Coachmen Industries Inc. despite market share gains on the RV side and a return to profitability in its housing group.
“The market declines of 2006 have continued this year, and for the first six months of 2007, total industry shipments of all RV types fell another 12.9%, while in housing, single-family housing starts fell 21.6% from June 2006,” said Rick M. Lavers, president and CEO for the Elkhart, Ind.-based builder. “These continued market declines caused considerable damage to our financial results. Despite these market conditions, it is noteworthy that our sales for the second quarter were down a comparatively modest 3.6% from 2006. Through May we achieved retail market share gains in Class C and rear diesel Class A motorhomes, travel trailers and fifth-wheels.”
Sales for the second quarter, ended June 30, dipped to $149.8 million from $155.3 million a year ago. Net loss during the three-month period was $10.1 million compared with a net profit of $304,000 the year prior.
For the six months, sales fell to $280 million from $317.9 million last year while the net loss totaled $20.6 million compared with net income of $884,000.
During the second quarter, Coachmen reported that selling, general and administrative expenses increased $2.3 million from last year, due in part to the timing of the RV Group’s dealer seminar which occurred in the second quarter of 2007, as opposed to the third quarter of 2006. The bottom line was also impacted by significant legal expenses due to litigation from efforts to recover damages caused by sidewall lamination and camping trailer lift system issues of 2005 along with a non-cash charge of $3.9 million for impairment of goodwill associated with the RV Group.
The RV Group posted sales of $111.2 million during the second quarter, up slightly from the $111.1 million reported for the same period last year. Gross margins for the division fell due to increased discounts, lower capacity utilization and a shift in product mix towards products with lower margins. Including the goodwill impairment charge, the RV Group generated a pre-tax loss from continuing operations for the quarter of $12.3 million compared with a pre-tax loss of $5.3 million for the year-ago quarter.
Coachmen said the RV Group continued to effectively manage its inventory levels, reducing finished goods inventory by $6 million from the end of the first quarter. Total RV finished goods inventory now stands at $23.8 million.


text:
BSO deputy accused of shoplifting from Coral Springs Walmarts
Deputy Dean Korenic, 46, relieved of duty without pay
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – A Broward sheriff's deputy has been suspended from duty without pay after he was arrested last week for shoplifting from two Walmart stores in Coral Springs, authorities said.
According to an arrest warrant, Deputy Dean Korenic, 46, of Margate, was in uniform during at least one of the thefts.
He was arrested Tuesday in connection with seven incidents reported from May 13 to June 18.
Korenic, who earns more than $72,000 a year, is accused of stealing common household items from Walmart, including toothpaste, paper towels, detergent and soap. He is also accused of stealing a carton of eggs, lotion, a bottle of Cool Water cologne and a canister of Maxwell House coffee.
Korenic spent a night in jail and was released the next day on $3,500 bail.
He faces a felony charge of scheme to defraud/obtain property under $20,000.
Korenic has been employed with the BSO for 14 years.
Copyright 2016 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

domain: news


text:
With 59.7 million registered users, Yizhibo became one of the biggest live-streaming platforms in China. While Weibo announces the acquisition of the app, live-stream format turns into the new gateway to reach Chinese millennials audience
The Chinese applications market is increasingly conquering the digital world. Usually, we hear about Chinese apps like WeChat and Weibo, which have now become popular all around the world. However, many other social platforms are gaining more and more popularity among the youngest users and are now ready to cross over to China’s favorite apps charts.
© Yizhibo 一直播. Live-streaming platform Yizhibo has recently moved into Sina’s office and it’s expected to enter an in-depth cooperation with Weibo.
Among the lastest, there is Yizhibo, a live-streaming app, which rides the wave of online video success. This live-streaming platform has recently become the favorite app of the Middle Kingdom’s millennials playing a significant role in the actual information-sharing ecosystem.
32.7% of internet users have registered on Yizhibo, making it the top live-streaming app among Chinese millennials.
Yizhibo 一直播 was launched on Weibo by Yixia Technology in 2016. It works as a live-streaming platform fully integrated into the microblogging site where users can easily start their stream by tapping on the app icon.
The interface is similar to the internationally popular live-streaming app such as Instagram Live or Periscope. In addition to the home feed and video categories, the user can also add filters to the stream that is subsequently posted on the user’s Weibo profile. In this way, followers have easy access to past live-streams that they can share, comment or like.
“I spend lots of time watching videos and live-streamed content on Weibo to kill time. And the best part is, I don’t have to turn on another app or switch between two apps from time to time because they are on the same user interface now,” said the user Zhao Xiaomei to China Daily.
© Yizhibo 一直播. During the month after its launch, Yizhibo achieved an average of 7.73 million daily active users and more than 300 Chinese celebrities have joined in on the live streaming trend.
Thanks to the integration with the social network and the ease of use, the app became soon one of the biggest live-streaming platforms in China with 59.7 million registered users. According to reports, 32.7% of internet users have registered on Yizhibo making it rank first in user acquisition in 2017.
This Chinese new success came from one of the leading video app developers that not only was able to follow the emerging video boom at its early stage but it also contributed to consolidate the trend in the country. In fact, before Yizhibo, Yixia Technology already launched two other video-related popular products: Miaopai, a leading video clip editing and sharing app, and Xiaokaxiu, a video-dubbing one.
Founded in 2011 by Han Kun in Beijing, Yinxia Tech turned from a startup into one of China’s Unicorns after receiving investments from Sina, Weibo’s parent, in 2013. The strategic investment and the integration with Weibo allowed the Beijing company to grow in a very short time. In the meantime, it also allowed the social network giant to acquire more quality content and a further entertainment feature.
Although a competitive live-streaming market, Yizhibo achieved outstanding performance in a short time largely due to its integration into the Weibo platform.
Yinxia Tech’s Yizhibo has recently been in the spotlight when local media announced Weibo’s acquisition of its live-streaming partner.
Actually, Yizhibo’s team has been moved into Sina Plaza, the principal office for Sina Corporation that operates Sina.com and Weibo, where the two companies are now working on strengthening the cooperation. On one hand, the acquisition will help the app to face the impact of short-video apps like Douyin or Kuaishou; on the other hand, the social network will keep its appeal with quality video content while the revenues will benefit from Yizhibo’s video ads.
Even before the acquisition, Yizhibo and Weibo already established a collaborative partnership for content creation and circulation creating a stronger social-interaction based business model supported by the microblog’s huge traffic and social influence.
© Unsplash. Weibo’s video function represents an asset as the video social networking is considered to be the next leading model of social media products.
For what concerns the audience Yizhibo brings to the microblog, it is mainly composed of post-90s and post 2000 tech-savvy users who live in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. The fact that this niche belongs to China’s emerging middle class allows the live-streaming app to become the ideal environment for influencer or content marketing.
With 59.7 million registered users, Yizhibo not only became one of the biggest live-streaming platforms in China but it also turned into a key branding tool for international companies to reach the Chinese audience.
In fact, while many new Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are flourishing among the app’s users, Yizhibo turned into a key branding tool for companies, even if it can not directly lead to sales. Through live-streams, KOLs endorse products or places but the real strength is that viewers can engage in real-time conversations to learn more about the topic.
Travel brands found in the live-stream format the ideal environment to sponsor travel destinations. Through live-streaming videos, users have the chance to become aware of new places and have an up-close view into unknown destinations. It thus works as a buzz-making tool rather than a common e-commerce platform.
San Francisco Travel Association has been the first organization to start a live-streaming program in the app in order to promote their destinations to Chinese travelers. Since December 2016, the association held many live-stream events at various locations such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Napa Valley, and at the city airport.
During one of these events in Yosemite, Hylink – China’s largest independent digital advertising agency – revealed that one of their members’ live-stream was able to gain 148,000 total views collecting viewers’ questions about the park and the city.
A different successful example was the campaign launched by Nutrilite. In order to promote their products and healthy lifestyles, the supplements brand launched a live-stream entitled “Breakfast for Everybody”, which brought in 150 million viewers in total in only 3 days while millions of users shared their breakfasts on Weibo.
© Le Figaro. Taiwanese-Canadian actor Mark Chao launched a live-stream to promote his new TV series. The live-streaming video attracted 154 million viewers.
It has become clear that in China live-streaming has already become a mature industry that includes many business opportunities. Moreover, in this colorful landscape, brands can rely on various kinds of streamer and audience to reach their goals.
Viewers love the app as they can find entertainment and educational videos while KOLs prefer it compared to other platforms because of the exposure to Weibo’s massive user base. On their parts, brands can benefit from Yizhibo’s e-commerce live-streaming, which can host links to Taobao and Tmall.
Since 2016, live-streaming became one of the most popular trends in China and a huge boost for e-commerce. Now, more than ever, Chinese consumers are buying into live-stream and short-form video formats whose attractiveness is that of providing people with entertainment and a glimpse into the lives and experiences of others.
Nevertheless, recent data showed Yizhibo has suffered from a slow growth over the past year but although there are many live-streaming platforms, the Beijing-based app achieved outstanding performance in a very short time also thanks to its partnership with Weibo.
Even though the live-streaming industry is cooling down, the microblog’s acquisition might start new forms of collaboration that will surely consolidate the app in the market and it will open doors to new communication opportunities for Chinese millennials.
In just two years, Yizhibo managed to become one of the biggest live-streaming apps in China and now international brands started to launch their campaigns in the platform.
Did Yizhibo turn the live-stream format into the new gateway to reach Chinese youngest audience?
MORE ON THIS TOPIC


text:
Jay-Z Just Bought a Luxury Champagne Brand
Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z is now the official owner of his favorite luxury Champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, affectionately called “Ace of Spades,” reports The New York Times.
A new, yet-unnamed company led by Jay-Z reportedly acquired the Champagne from Sovereign Brands “just days after the British beverage giant Diageo swapped whiskey for tequila, taking control of the Don Julio tequila brand from Jose Cuervo.”
Jay-Z included a gold bottle of the “Ace of Spades” in his 2006 video “Show Me What You Got,” and hosted a 2012 fundraiser for Barack Obama that included “a tower of 350 bottles of Armand de Brignac Champagne.”
A single bottle of Armand de Brignac Champagne retails for $300, while a hundred-pound, 30-liter bottle can sell for $200,000.
In a statement from Sovereign, the company said that it was proud to have done businesses with “the globally renowned Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter.” In an email exchange with The New York Times, Sovereign’s global director of brand communications, Yvonne Lardner, wrote, “We have had a wonderful relationship with Jay-Z throughout the years since he first discovered Armand de Brignac. He became interested in owning the brand and made us an offer we simply couldn't refuse.”
For the latest food and drink updates, visit our Food News page.
Karen Lo is an associate editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @appleplexy.


text:
|Check out Writer’s Digest.
Great information here!
Even Writer’s Digest agrees, I have not committed career suicide!
In the words of the world’s best English teacher Harriett Gillham: *twirls*
Jane Friedman has posted an article debunking the myth that self-published authors will sabotage their chances at a traditional publishing deal. She indicates that publishers are eager to jump on an already successful bandwagon: fans and followers, on-line and regional sales, buzz. That’s the stuff that matters, not the name of the publisher on the spine. About time! In the past, publishers were in charge; they told us what we ought to read and hoped it would be purchased. Today, readers are in charge, and publishers are listening.
Self-publishing, however, is not for the weak-willed or half-hearted writer. I have found that it is a grueling process. I designed my cover, typeset my interior, and, of course, wrote the manuscript. Every single facet of the book depends on me. Every mistake is mine. And more, I am the marketing force (heh) behind the book too. It is a time-consuming, emotional venture.
Friedman lists several recent self-published titles that have been picked up by large publishers. I hope the list continues to grow in the coming years, and yes, I hope Charlotte Collins is on it!


text:
IKEA FEMTON Clamp Spot Light
17th June 2008
customers who have bought a FEMTON clamp spot light from IKEA are asked you to take it back to the Returns & Exchange department of your nearest IKEA store and you will receive a full refund.
The Swedish National Electricity Safety Board has tested the clamp spot light and have found that the construction of the lamp may lead to a risk of over-heating.
The FEMTON has a flexible stem that allows the light to be directed. The tests have shown that the stiffness of the flexible stem varies meaning some lamps could be positioned with the bulb too dose to a surface area, which could result in over-heating.
No other lamps are affected. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
For more information, please visit www.IKEA.com or contact customer services on 0845 358 3364.


text:
Following an update earlier this year, Microsoft is preparing to retire another version of Windows 10, which is Windows 10 Build 1809, or October 2018, and has been one of the most controversial feature updates to Microsoft’s desktop operating system, which many have effectively described as the company’s biggest failure to date. And it’s all because there was a significant bug at the factory when it was updated in October 2018, which could have led to the deletion of some user files stored in the library, all because Microsoft didn’t actually fix the problem before it introduced a new version to production devices. The software giant eventually decided to temporarily remove the update, only to re-release it about a month later with other errors.
Windows 10’s October 2018 update was due to be retired in May, but the company finally decided to extend its support end date by six months as the global health crisis forced many of us to start working from home. The idea is simple, because it can be very simple. IT administrators therefore have more time to upgrade their computers in preparation for the demise of Windows 10 version 1809.
Microsoft said the final security update for this release will be released on November 10, 2020, not May 12, 2020. In March, we announced that we would suspend the release of optional non-security updates (also known as “C” and “D” versions) for all supported versions of Windows clients and Windows servers to give organizations time to focus on business continuity in the event of a global pandemic.
Now that the time has come for Windows 10 Build 1809 to retire next week, users are again warned to upgrade their devices as soon as possible. But not all SKUs will be affected by the change, and Microsoft will deactive the consumer-specific version. The education and enterprise SKUs of Windows 10, version 1809, will continue to provide services as before.
So what’s next for Windows 10 users who are still running the October 2018 update? Basically, the easiest way to continue receiving updates is to install an updated version of Windows 10. Recently, Microsoft has launched the October 2020 update, which has been updated for two years and comes with the latest features developed by Microsoft, including theme-aware real-time tiles and other improvements.
However, the October update was introduced in stages, and not all devices can now be downloaded from Windows Update. However, other methods, such as the Media Creation Tool, allow users to install the October update without waiting for this version to appear on Windows Update.


text:
BURSTING INTO THE FAST LANE
Burson Auto Parts has announced its Motorvation 38 naming rights partnership
Burson Auto Parts recently proudly announced its partnership as the naming rights sponsor for Motorvation 38, encouraging fans to “brace yourselves, because this year’s Motorvation promises to be fuelled with adrenaline, high-octane excitement, and more tyre-squealing action than ever before.”
Revving up for its 38th instalment across February 2-4, Motorvation will reportedly bring back all the crowd-favourite elements that make this event a must-see on the automotive calendar.
Eighth Mile Racing will see racers go head-to-head in a rush to the finish line. Burnouts will fill the air with smoke and thunderous applause, leaving spectators in awe of the tyre-melting power on display.
Skid Row will challenge drivers to push their vehicles to the limit, showcasing their unparalleled skill in a smoke-filled showdown, and for those who prefer to cruise in style, the Cruising event will bring classic and customised cars for a parade of relaxed automotive excellence.
Burson Auto Parts says it is excited to be the driving force behind Motorvation, a name synonymous with quality, reliability, and passion for all things automotive.
The company says its commitment to excellence mirrors the dedication of all participants and fans of Motorvation, making this partnership a perfect match.
“We are thrilled to be the naming rights partner for Motorvation in 2024,” Burson Auto Parts State Manager SA/WA, Edwin van der Graaf, said.
“This event embodies the spirit of speed, precision, and the love for everything automotive, and we are revved up to be a part of it. Together, we’ll accelerate into the future of auto events.”
“This partnership not only fuels our mutual growth but significantly contributes to the automotive ecosystem in Western Australia. It is a win-win, where Burson’s market outreach dovetails with Motorvation’s ethos of automotive excellence,” Motorvation co-promoter, Andy Lopez, said.
Burson Auto Parts is a leading automotive parts, tools, accessories and workshop equipment supplier in Australia. With a commitment to providing quality automotive products and services, Burson Auto Parts says it is the go-to destination for professionals and automotive enthusiasts.
For event information, visit www.motorvation.com.au
For more from Burson Auto Parts, visit www.burson.com.au


text:
BHMS Student Morgan Jardel Warms Hearts – One Hot Chocolate Bomb at a Time
A TikTok video started Bunker Hill Middle School eighth grader Morgan Jardel on a path to compassion and philanthropy.
After watching a video on making hot chocolate bombs, that were popularized this holiday season, Jardel convinced her mother to purchase molds. After mastering the process, she decided to create a video of her own. That video created a reaction in the community, with people reaching out to purchase Jardel’s creations, and an entrepreneur was born. In a few short weeks, Jardel had made $250 off the sale of her chocolaty creations.
Instead of depositing the money into her own account, the civic-minded Jardel made a donation to Homeward Bound, a charity that cares for animals.
Guess you could say hot chocolate bombs made Morgan “the bomb.”
Jardel also gave hot chocolate bombs and other treats to her principal, Mike D’Ostilio, for the holidays and to just brighten his day. She has since branched out to other yummy creations, including chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels and cookies.
“Morgan is one of a kind,” D’Ostilio said. “She is an incredibly other-centered person. She is constantly using her creativity and talents to give back to her teachers, friends, family members, and philanthropic causes. She is a true Bulldog who understands how to truly lift people up and that a life of purpose is one that is rooted in the service of others.”
“I wanted to continue to give back to the community because I was always taught it is very important by either volunteering or donating if you were able to,” Jardel said.
Jardel has been very busy since the success of the hot chocolate bombs. Community members sought her out to make Valentine treats. She sold them too and will donate another $250 to the Voorhees Animal Shelter. Currently she is working on selling her St. Patrick’s Day and Easter goodies and is coming up with a new charity to donate the proceeds to. She continues to do even more by adopting high school seniors.
“With everything going on today, a Washington Township High School parent started an adopt a senior program,” Jardel said. “It’s something to help brighten their day since they weren’t able to participate in activities their senior year due to the pandemic. I was able to adopt a few TWP seniors and dropped off trays to them to hopefully make their day a little better.”
“She is only in eighth grade, but Morgan seems to have a great pulse for those in need,” D’Ostilio said.


text:
Siri may well sound like it wants to be your friend, but unfortunately it really isn't personal, have a friend pick up your locked iPhone 4S and Siri will spill the beans on almost anything
Apple should have warned its customers about the Apple iPhone 4S Siri security flaw, which enables third parties to access users' personal information using Siri, even when the screen is locked, a security expert said.
Yesterday, T3 reported that potential thieves can ask Siri, Apple's new voice-recognition software, for users' personal details without having to enter a passcode. At the press of the Home button, a person is able to send texts, emails and request calendar information without having to unlock the homescreen.
Alan Goode, managing director of mobile security firm Goode Intelligence, said: “The vulnerability discovered in Apple’s new voice recognition service, Siri, is a serious one, and one that should not have been released into the live.
“The positive thing is that accessing some of the more sensitive services in this manner, such as email, is forbidden.
He continued: “But I could still run up a pretty impressive and annoying phone bill if I had malicious intent and if Apple missed this pretty easy to find vulnerability then what other security threats are hiding in Apple’s latest mobile OS?”
The setting isn't a permanent one - users have the option of switching it off by disabling the option to enable Siri at passcode lock - however Goode argues that because this setting was set at default without users' acknowledgement, many iPhone 4S owners would have been unaware of the potential risks they were exposing themselves to.
He said: “We feel that this option should have been the default option that Apple should have configured on all devices and then let the user decide whether they want to take the risk of someone accessing text, call and appointment services without entering the correct passcode.
Another expert, Graham Cluely, from the security software firm Sophos, summed up his concerns about Apple's decision. He said: "What's disappointing to me though is that Apple had a clear choice here. They could have chosen to implement Siri securely, but instead they decided to default to a mode which is more about impressing your buddies than securing your calendar and email system."
Goode added: "Perhaps by the time that Siri is fully functioning in the UK Apple will have seen sense and change the default setting."
Apple iPhone 4S: Features
With an improved A5 processor and the inclusion of iOS 5 the iPhone 4S has seen phenomenal sales over the weekend, and with Siri embedded so deeply into how the phone operates it'll be interesting to see how everyday consumers will react to the news.
With the upcoming release of Android's Ice Cream Sandwich which also has improved voice-functionality and the unveiling of the Motorola Razr and Samsung Galaxy Nexus the iPhone 4S will certainly start coming under pressure to still be the top dog.
What do you think, have Apple chosen gimmicks over genuine security? Let us know what you think via the comments box below...


text:
New Nationwide Push to Keep GE Salmon Out of Waters, Off of Shelves
Food and environmental campaigners are determined to keep genetically-engineered (GE) salmon out of rivers and oceans and, at the very least, off of seafood retailers’ shelves.
To that end, people across the United States will mobilize this week to press the warehouse chain Costco Wholesale Corporation to publicly pledge that it will not sell genetically engineered salmon in its stores under any circumstances, even if they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Costco is being targeted because it is one of the last holdouts. Over 60 retail and grocery giants—from Target to Safeway to Kroger—already pledged in June not to sell the GE fish, in response to a sustained campaign from labor, community, and environmental groups. But Costco refused to make such a promise, despite the concern of the retailer’s members.
Jaydee Hanson, senior policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety (CFS), told Common Dreams that Costco’s management has not heard the last of these concerns: “What we are asking our members to do is to go to their local Costco store this week and ask to speak to store manager. We are asking them to give the store our letter, urging them to say no to GE salmon, and take a picture outside of the store holding a sign.”
Hanson said he expects large numbers of CFS members to turn out for the week of action.
This is not the first mobilization against the GE salmon, which were engineered by the biotech firm AquaBounty Technologies. According to the estimates of the CFS, nearly two million people have expressed their opposition to the approval to the FDA over threats to human and environmental health. Despite this mobilization, the FDA is still weighing whether to approve the GE salmon.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Click Here: gold coast suns 2019 guernsey


text:
The electronic sports (e-sports) segment needs a governing framework for harnessing its full potential, say industry officials.
The demand comes in the backdrop of the segment recording rapid growth in recent years with the sports headed to the Asian Games and probably, the Olympics.
As per a KPMG report, the revenue of the online gaming market, of which e-sports is a part, may touch ₹11,880 crore in FY23 with hundreds of firms, content developers and millions of players fuelling its growth.
“The proliferation of affordable smartphones, high-speed Internet and falling data prices are the primary catalysts for this rapid growth,” KPMG said.
At the 2018 Asian Games, eSports was a demonstration event and medal events would be included in the 2022 Asian Games. It is also likely to be allowed entry into the Olympics, industry officials said.
e-sports are organised gaming competitions wherein players compete individually or as a team in a competitive gaming environment with the goal to win the tournament.
As with any new field, multiple legal and regulatory issues would need to be addressed for this segment to attain its full potential, the executives said.
“e-Sports is going to evolve in a multifold fashion,” said Bimal Julka, chairman, Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports. “There should be a self-regulatory framework to govern them.
“The Fantasy Sports Regulatory Authority has been formed with eminent people coming on board. We are trying to bring various bodies under one umbrella as we understand what kind of innovations and creativity we need to have,” he said.
“It should be a self-governing body for regulations and ethics. It should not be a burden on the government. It is a nascent industry, problems will arise and we will address them as we go. We need to do much more,” he added.
“The biggest challenge is how to regulate different federations because their memorandum deeds must be different and it will take time to streamline and bring in transparency,” said Vinod Kumar Varma, president, Indian Sports Federation.
He said the policies should be favourable for players and their welfare rather than giving federations and companies unfair advantage.
Traditionally, e-sports ran on consoles or high-end gaming PCs but with increasing internet connectivity at affordable rates, the future of e-sports in India will be powered by mobile, analysts said.
The government is already looking at strengthening this space. Last year, the NITI Aayog had released the Guiding Principles for the Uniform National-level Regulation of Online Fantasy Sports Platforms in India indicating efforts towards setting up of a governing framework for e-sports in India.
Source: Read Full Article


text:
Microsoft may soon enable Xbox games to run on Windows 10
Windows 10 already has support for the Xbox Live service, and, since the Xbox One X integrates hardware that resembles modern gaming PC builds, users of both platforms have been asking for a grand unification that would let them play Xbox games directly on Windows 10 PCs. It looks like Microsoft is finally making a move in this direction, as the latest Insider Windows 10 builds include testing instructions for a special edition of State of Decay. The game is already available on both platforms, but Microsoft actually wants us to test the possibility of downloading and installing it directly from the Xbox distribution servers.
According to testers that had firsthand experience with the latest Windows 10 Insider builds, Microsoft is planning to add a new app called Microsoft Gaming Services that would facilitate the unification of both platforms. The Xbox infrastructure appears to now be integrated with the new Gaming Services app, as the games are downloaded from the Xbox distribution servers rather than from the MS Store. The game packages come with .xvc files that are specific to the Xbox One OS, plus there are two new drivers called Microsoft Gaming Filesystem Driver and Microsoft Gaming Install Filter Driver that offer access to specific Xbox APIs.
Ars Technica reports that the preview for the 2020 version of Windows supports a special Xbox Direct3D API layer that should add extended compatibility between Xbox games and Windows 10. Currently, the Insider build still require testers to install a separate DirectX package, but the 2020 version may streamline the process by allowing seamless game installs from the Xbox servers. Similarly, game developers could soon have access to a unified platform dubbed GameCore that would enable an easier porting process for Windows games.


text:
Property portal Housing.com will invest Rs 40 crore in a year in a TV and digital advertising campaign as it seeks to increase the user base on its platform and simplify the buying-selling and renting journey consumers.
“We have launched our new advertising campaign which captures the ethos on which Housing.com was built – to make it easier for everyone to search and discover until they find their perfect home,” said Dhruv Agarwala. , Group CEO, Housing.com, PropTiger. .com and Makaan.com.
Housing.com seeks to give consumers as many options as possible so they don’t have to settle for anything less than perfect, he added.
The company would invest around Rs 40 crore in this campaign over the next 12 months, Agarwala said.
The ad campaign will run across TV, digital and OTT platforms, Housing.com said, adding that the goal is to reach more than 100 million impressions.
Australian proptech company REA Group, which has three portals in India including Housing.com, has invested nearly A$300 million in the country over the past five years and will inject more funds to establish itself as a leader “clear” from the market, its Global CEO Owen Wilson had told PTI in May.
Since October last year, customer traffic on Housing.com was the highest and the number stood at around 16.5 million in March and was around 2 million more than its nearest competitor, had declared Agarwala in May.
REA Group had in December 2020 acquired a majority stake in Elara Technologies which owns three Indian property portals – Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com – and renamed Elara to REA India.
Founded in 2012 and acquired by REA India in 2017, Housing.com is one of the leading comprehensive proptech platforms for homeowners/housing seekers, landlords, developers and real estate brokers.
It offers listings of new homes, resale homes, rentals, land, commercial spaces and co-living spaces in India.
(Only the title and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


text: Embassy Suites Hotel, Glendale Californa. It has been confirmed that the GHFCW room block will go on sale at PST, that will be 12:01 am tomorrow (Friday December 16th) morning, the code will be active. So to be clear that is tonight/Friday morning at 12:01 AM. Code is GHF. You can either call 1-800-Embassy or do it online at www.hilton.com. Rooms normally sell out quickly!


text:
Innovative and Choice Wireless, the largest telecommunications provider in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is entering a new era with a new brand: Viya.
In commemoration of Easter, the Innovative- Choice Business offices and retail stores on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix will be closed on Friday, April 14 and Saturday, April 15.
The Economic Development Park Corporation, a subsidiary of USEDA will hold a special meeting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 12.
An announcement is expected to be made on Tuesday, April 18, concerning the merged “Better Together” companies of Innovative and Choice Wireless.
International Capital & Management Company (ICMC) in partnership with the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) School of Business will host a free summer Entrepreneur Business Institute (EBI).
International Capital & Management Company (ICMC) in partnership with the University of the Virgin Islands School of Business will once again host the annual Entrepreneur Business Institute (EBI).
The U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority and V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources are partnering in an effort to assist local, small manufacturers in securing locations for their business.
The Sunday, March 26th edition of the popular HGTV series “Beachfront Bargain Hunt” will feature an all-native St. Thomas cast including the buyers and the realtor.
The Virgin Islands Transfer Centennial Commission and Cardow Jewelers have announced the arrival of the limited-edition VI Centennial 2017 timepieces.
The Virgin Islands Workforce Development System Partners will present the second in its series of forums. This one is entitled “Raising the Bar: A Dialogue to Promote Excellence in Customer Service.”


text:
Former Ferrari team principal Marco Mattiacci has been appointed new Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer for Aston Martin.
Mattiacci, was F1 team boss at Maranello in 2014, succeeding Stefano Domenicali, but it was shortlived as he was clearly out of his depth with no F1 experience to speak of and put in charge of the sport’s most supported team with world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen under his watch.
The Italian soon fell out with Sergio Marchionne to be replaced by Maurizio Arrivabene as the Scuderia boss at the end of 2014. Thereafter Mattiacci went off the F1 radar until Aston Martin announced today:
Aston Lagonda has strengthened its global brand and commercial functions with the appointment of luxury brand and automotive product strategy expert Marco Mattiacci as the company’s new Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer.
Mattiacci, who spent over a decade in senior leadership positions at Ferrari – including spells as President and CEO of Ferrari North America, President and CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific, and Managing Director and Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One™ racing team – begins his new role immediately, having recently worked as an advisor to the British ultra-luxury manufacturer.
Prior to working with Aston, Mattiacci spent five years as a senior advisor to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and private equity firms, providing counsel on automotive and mobility topics. His experience extends to electric mobility, having previously served as Chief Brand and Commercial Officer at Faraday Future and as an advisor to green technology business Envision.
The luxury automotive leader – who in 2012 was named winner of the prestigious Automotive Executive of the Year Award in the United States – will spearhead the iconic brand’s global growth, as well as playing a key role in Aston’s future commercial and product strategy.
Mattiacci’s role will also oversee Aston’s ’s industry-leading luxury customer experience and the brand and product integration with Formula One as a key global marketing platform.
Tobias Moers, CEO of Aston Lagonda said: “As we continue this new era for Aston, a key pillar is unleashing the potential of our brand, given its customer loyalty and huge global appeal.
“I’m delighted to welcome Marco to Aston and look forward to working with him and our world-class leadership team to accelerate our breath-taking new product roadmap and unrivalled luxury customer experience.”
Marco Mattiacci, Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer of Aston Lagonda said: “The new chapter for Aston is the most exciting project in the automotive industry right now, and I am thrilled to join the incredible leadership team assembled by Lawrence Stroll and Tobias Moers in this role of Global Chief Brand and Commercial Officer.
“Having enjoyed global affection, passion and loyalty for 109 years, Aston is now igniting a new breed of customers with its next generation of product, ultra-luxury customer experience and return to Grand Prix racing.
“Working as part of a skilled and passionate team, I look forward to being the custodian of this iconic brand, which sits uniquely in the crosshairs of ultra-luxury and high performance.”


text:
Deal of the day : Realme 7 Pro available at discounted price
With 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage and 5% off with Amazon Pay on all bank debit/credit cards
Click here to know moreAdvertisements
Instagram is no doubtedly towering over its parent company Facebook when it comes to the rate with which its user base is growing. The platform just announced that it now has 1 Billion users all around the world and the bullishness of the company is evident in the fact that Instagram will now have a dedicated app for longer videos. Called IGTV, the new app will bring long-form, vertical videos from popular Instagram creators as well as regular users.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom took to Facebook to announce the developments and said that IGTV, which stands for Instagram TV, is built for how people use their phones - vertically and in full screen. While there is a stand-alone IGTV app, users will also be able to watch these long format videos from the main Instagram app, so content made for it will be available to Instagram’s entire community of one billion users.
Borrowing the idiot box’s approach, the IGTV app will mimic how users switch on their televisions and start playing videos as soon as users open the app. The app will include the ability to swipe up to discover new content and switch between different sections namely - “For You”, “Following”, “Popular”, and “Continue Watching”. Users will also be able to like, comment and share videos through Direct messages.
IGTV will have channels, just like YouTube. Creators will be able to collate their videos under their channels and users will be able to follow these channels to get updates when new videos are added. Thankfully, unlike Facebook’s Watch platform, anyone can become a creator for IGTV. Creators will be able to upload their own IGTV videos in the app or on the web to start their own channel.
“Instagram has always been a place to connect with the people who inspire, educate and entertain you every day. With your help, IGTV begins a new chapter of video on Instagram. We hope it brings you closer to the people and things you love,” Systrom wrote in his Facebook post.
How to create videos for IGTV
There are certain guidelines for creators making long-form video content for IGTV. Unlike the universal hour-long video length that was rumoured to hit Instagram, videos created for the IGTV app must be between 15 seconds and 10 minutes long. However, “larger accounts” and “verified accounts” will be able to upload videos up to 60 minutes long, but they must be uploaded from a computer.
Further, the videos will need to be in the MP4 format in vertical (not landscape) format with a minimum aspect ratio of 4:5 and maximum of 9:16. The maximum file size for videos that are 10 minutes or less is 650MB, while that for videos up to 60 minutes is 5.4GB.
Full screen vertical video on IGTV
IGTV channels can be created from the dedicated app or even from the Instagram app. A new TV icon will appear in the top right of Feed and tapping it will reveal a settings icon that will allow users to create an IGTV channel by following on-screen instructions.
Creators will also be able to share IGTV videos on their Facebook Pages, but they will need to have admin rights to the FB page in order to do so.
The IGTV app has already started rolling out globally and should be available to all over the next few weeks on iOS and Android. YouTube, better watch out!


text:
DTiQ Opens New Customer Experience Center in Las Vegas
BOSTON, March 19, 2019 — DTiQ today announced the opening of their new executive briefing and customer experience center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The center includes multiple store kiosks simulating actual customer environments, as well as a state-of-the-art product demonstration and benchmark facility.
The customer kiosks include a retail shop, a quick serve restaurant and a convenience store. The kiosks contain working simulations of the individual business environments, including live cameras feeding monitors with heatmaps and integrated point of sale (POS) systems. DTiQ can demonstrate how their technology will look and feel in a live customer environment. Thus, enabling their customers to realize firsthand the benefits they will recognize and understand how it will operate in their stores.
“Approximately 70% of our customers pass through Las Vegas every year. This new customer experience center allows our clients to experience DTiQ’s product suite and instantly understand how we can positively impact their bottom lines,” says Mark Simson, Chief Operating Officer for DTiQ.
The new facility also includes an executive briefing center, complete with a product demonstration and benchmark facility. Here, integrations with hundreds of various systems and technologies can be tested and experienced in real time. Also included, is the company’s 24/7 customer support center and loss prevention headquarters. The new office will enable DTiQ to scale to meet their growing customer base.
“Our goal has always been to be a trusted adviser to our customers. We couldn’t think of a better way to achieve that than offering our customers a cost-free method to experience DTiQ in a live environment – one similar to their own location,” says Mike Coffey, Chief Executive Officer for DTiQ. “Our new customer experience center enables us to do just that. We can show our customers how they make their stores more efficient.”
For more information, visit www.dtiq.com


text:
(Sao Paulo-NewsHalal, Rabi’II 13, 1438, January 11, 2017) Saudi Arabia, one of the largest poultry importers in the middle east has raised the poultry import tax from 5% to 20%. Several media outlets reported that the Brazilian Animal Protein Association announced this last week. Saudi Arabia is the largest foreign market for Brazilian poultry.
Due to latest tax increase, the tax rate returned to 2008 levels, when it had been reduced to 5%. That year, there was a strong hike in the international prices of food and importing-dependent countries faced times of crisis.
Saudi Arabia imports 57% of the poultry it consumes and Brazil holds an 88% share of these imports. Therefore, Brazilian exporters feel impacts of the tax hike on Brazilian exports to be “marginal”, given the strong presence of the Brazilian product in the market, production size and the great capacity by the country to supply halal meat, which is prepared according to Muslim traditions.
Due to food security reasons and increasing demand of real Halal certified slaughtered meat, poultry producers in Saudi Arabia are focusing to increase local production. Stunning, mechanical slaughtering and electrical waterbath slaughtering of poultry in non Muslim countries including Brazil, France and Australia, serious concern are rapidly growing among Muslim consumers whether the imported poultry meat they are consuming is compatible to Halal standards. Therefore, demands for local poultry, which is free of all kinds of stunning, is on raise in the Muslim countries.
Poultry exports from Brazil to Saudi Arabia totaled USD 1.16 billion last year, a decline of 14.6% in comparison to 2015, according to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC). From a legal viewpoint, there’s not much to do, since the 20% rate is the cap for the product set by Saudi Arabia at the World Trade Organization (WTO), that is, the country has the right to raise the import tax up to this level.
Brazil has remained the dominant supplier of broiler meat to Saudi Arabia for over two decades. In 2015, Brazilian chicken exports to the Kingdom reached 789,302 MT, 82 percent of total Saudi broiler meat imports, followed by France with 15 percent market share, U.S. and Argentina each with 1 percent. The small U.S. market share is mostly due to difficulties the U.S. poultry exporters face in meeting the Saudi import requirements, and the import bans imposed on poultry and poultry products from 15 U.S. states which were rescinded on August 22, 2016. Saudi Arabia banned imports from 15 U.S. states due to the detection of Avian Influenza (AI) in poultry farms in September 2014 to May 2015.
Saudi Arabia also banned imports of poultry, eggs and products from some provinces in Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Holland and France, and from India as a whole. The action was taken due to the emergence of bird flu hotspots in these countries.
The production cost of locally produced broiler meat currently ranges between 6 and 7 Saudi Riyals (SAR) or $1.6-$1.87 per kg of average dressed weight. The Saudi government’s total subsidies account for about $0.50 of the per kg production cost. Often, imported frozen chicken is sold at major retailers outlets for between $1.87 and $2.13 per kg, depending on the products’ brand name.
The GCC imports almost $3 billion of poultry meat annually to satisfy local demand. However, traditional exporters to the region are coming under increasing pressure from rising consumer expectations, expanded local production capacity and new entrants into the market.


text:
DUBAI, UAE, Jan. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 360 VUZ, the leading immersive video mobile app building on the Metaverse, announced today the selection of its Founder Khaled Zaatarah as an Endeavor Entrepreneur as a result of the 23rd Virtual International Selection Panel (vISP). The selection of Zaatarah into the global network will play a major role in scaling 360 VUZ's business and network.
Held either virtually or in person, the Endeavor ISP is the final phase of a multi-step rigorous selection process, where candidates pitch their companies to top international business leaders and investors from the Endeavor network, making those obtaining a unanimous vote officially Endeavor Entrepreneurs.
Khaled Zaatarah, 360 VUZ Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Being selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur is a badge of honor for me personally and for 360 VUZ. There is no doubt that this step will open the doors for us to support other networks, entrepreneurs and startups, scale up our business, drive economic growth, catapult job creation, and exchange ideas with like-minded entrepreneurs in the world."
Historically, fewer than 5% of candidates who enter the initial selection process reach the international selection panel stage, and only those that are unanimously approved by panel experts are selected to be Endeavor Entrepreneurs. The primary objective of Endeavor is to drive economic growth and job creation by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs from across the planet. "High-impact" means those entrepreneurs that are thinking big - those with innovative business models that are seeking to scale up their organization and transform their sector or market. In doing so, these people can support the wider community both by creating job opportunities and inspiring others.
360 VUZ opened a new office recently in Hollywood, Los Angeles, US, expanding its portfolio to a city best known for being home to the entertainment industry, scaling up the business and supporting the entertainment industry by partnering strategically with top media and entertainment entities, and with top content creators in the US that have fans internationally all over the world.
As part of Endeavor's network, 360 VUZ will gain access to comprehensive, strategic, global support services, including introductions to international business mentors, capital, investors, and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms for its hyper-growth and international expansion.
About 360 VUZ
360 VUZ was founded in 2017 by Jordanian entrepreneur Khaled Zaatarah. 360 VUZ has offices in Dubai, UAE, Los Angeles, California, Amman, Jordan, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, counts a team of more than 45 people with specialties in various types of innovation and product development expertise across multiple technology sectors.
SOURCE 360 VUZ


text:
Until 2020, planning and conducting annual shareholder and director meetings were fairly straightforward affairs for corporations. Now, with ongoing governmental regulations, “social distancing,” and health and safety concerns arising from the spread of COVID-19, the management of small and medium sized privately held corporations would be wise to consider how they plan and conduct their annual meetings in 2021 and perhaps in the future. In doing so, they will be following in the footsteps of the vast majority of publicly traded companies that moved swiftly in 2020 to ...
The Small Business Administration (SBA) appears to be making good on guidance announced in April and May 2020, that it would be reviewing on a more detailed basis all Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in excess of $2 million. On October 26, 2020, the SBA quietly revealed in the Federal Register its proposal to use a new Form 3509 (Loan Necessity Questionnaire for For-Profit Borrowers) and a new Form 3510 (Loan Necessity Questionnaire for Non-Profit Borrowers) to scrutinize these larger PPP loans, and sought a thirty (30) day comment period. The SBA has not officially published ...
The Public Service Commission of West Virginia (PSC) granted a solar siting certificate to Raleigh Solar I, LLC, for a $90 million, 90-megawatt solar farm in Raleigh County on October 5, 2020. The PSC’s order is the culmination of steps taken by the Legislature and the PSC to make West Virginia a competitively attractive location for utility-scale solar development.
During the 2020 Legislative Session, Mike Graney, the Executive Director of the West Virginia Development Office, testified to the State Senate that the inability of companies to fuel plants with solar power in the ...
West Virginia has long been known as Wild and Wonderful and Almost Heaven. This rings true not only to her residents, but also to the many visitors who travel through the Mountain State each year. Just last year, 65.5 million visitors traveled through our state. These visitors racked up $4.6 billion in traveler spending and participated in 16.5 million overnight trips and 49 million day trips.
Unfortunately, it seems like those travel statistics come for a time long ago as the COVID-19 pandemic has left our hospitality and tourism industries without guests, visitors and customers for a ...
When I first envisioned opening a restaurant in downtown Charleston, my primary focus was simple: an establishment with great food and stellar service that was open every day of the year. I literally wanted to build the type of place that I wanted to hang out in. I am so grateful that since Adelphia Sports Bar & Grille opened in May of 2011, that vison has come true. We have grown into a downtown destination for families, friends and tourists to congregate, grab a bite and have a cold beverage while watching their favorite sporting events.
Obviously, there are always obstacles to running any ...


text:
Uber vs. Portland is on.
Portland transportation officials are set to issue penalties and fines to several Uber drivers after documenting them over the weekend, just hours after the company launched its service in the Rose City illegally.
[Editor’s note: This story was edited to reflect that penalties have not yet been issued, but that city officials have “documented” drivers in violation of regulations.]
Bryan Hockaday, a policy and communications advisor for City Commissioner Steve Novick, told GeekWire on Sunday evening that the city plans to publish a report on Monday detailing its enforcement action activity from this weekend, along with the total amount of penalties that Uber drivers and the company have received.
Uber began operating in Portland on Friday at 5 p.m., despite not having the permits and inspections required by the city for a taxi service. Uber had previously stayed out of Oregon’s largest city, even though it has a track record for launching in markets without agreeing to some type of regulation required of their business.
On Friday evening, Portland officials issued a public response to Uber, promising to penalize Uber drivers for operating illegally.
“People who pick up passengers for Uber in Portland should know that they are operating illegally and could be subject to penalties,” Novick wrote in a statement. “Public safety, fairness among competitors and customer service are our top priorities. Unlike permitted drivers, Uber drivers do not carry commercial insurance, putting Portland customers at great risk.”
The fines, outlined here, could total close to $4,000 for each Uber driver without a taxi plate, taxi driver permit, and taxi company permit. Uber, the company, will also receive fines.
Hockaday said that city officials hailed rides from Uber drivers and then documented violations once entering the vehicle.
“The very fact that an Uber driver was soliciting a ride and expected it was enough to impose a penalty,” he said.
Regulators on Friday night initially found drivers who kept accepting rides, but then curiously canceling the requests. On Saturday, though, the drivers were penalized.
“We have no other choice but to enforce current regulation,” Hockaday said. “We are obligated to do so and we intend to do so.”
Hockaday said he’s tried to contact Uber, but has not received a response. The company, meanwhile, said it has seen no citation reports thus far. Uber also noted that it facilitated “thousands” of rides this past weekend. Some drivers reportedly made around $300 on Friday night.
“We’ve had a tremendously warm welcome from riders and drivers in and around Portland,” Brooke Steger, Uber Seattle General Manager, said in a statement. “We remain committed to talking with the mayor and city officials moving forward.”
Uber’s strategy of launching in cities without regulation in place has produced mixed results. It started up illegally in Seattle before laws were put into place this past June. However, in Nevada, Uber suspended operations last month after pushback from government regulators.
For the time being, Uber doesn’t appear to be leaving Portland. The company tweeted this on Saturday:
Morning PDX! How did your first rides go last night? Let us know so we can make tonight even better. pic.twitter.com/P5g9FXt0JE
— Uber Portland (@Uber_PDX) December 6, 2014
We spoke to Steger on Friday night, just after Uber launched its uberX service in Portland. She noted the “outcry” from both drivers and riders who want Uber in the Rose City.
“I think launching is not an act of aggression on our part; it’s actually a hope to serve those people’s needs,” Steger said.
Uber, which is operating in four cities around Portland, also published a blog post on Friday with the title “Portlanders Want To Ride.”
“Every day Uber riders from neighboring communities are being dropped off in Portland and we have been working with the Mayor’s office for over a year to get them a ride back,” Uber’s Eva Behrend wrote.
Hockaday said that the city recognizes the increase in need for more private for-hire drivers in Portland, particularly after it found that demand for taxi rides is exceeding supply during peak hours. In response, the city temporarily lifted restrictions throughout December to allow for more taxi cabs.
Officials have expressed interest in convening a task force to re-examine the current taxi regulations. But Hockaday noted that this process will take time, and meanwhile, it will continue issuing penalties to Uber drivers and any other company that tries to conduct similar services without proper licensing.
“We’re not going to come up with new regulations tomorrow,” Hockaday said. “It takes process. Portlanders appreciate the public process and we intend to do so.”


text:
A group of environmentally conscious academics has formed an association to promote more eco-friendly travel.
“Travel should not just mean eating sumptuously and staying in luxury accommodations,” said Tao Yi-huang (陶翼煌), an associate professor at Tungnan University and chief executive of the Taiwan Society of Xu Xiake.
Tao dislikes the way mountain resorts have been promoted, especially TV commercials that show a family driving their sport utility vehicle (SUV) into a lush mountain area and then barbecuing and playing on riverside rocks or grass.
“That is not the way to enjoy ecotourism, but rather a way to destroy the natural environment,” Tao said in a recent interview with a local paper.
His group’s aim is to promote eco-friendly travel styles, he said.
The group is named after Xu Xiake (徐霞客), a famous Ming Dynasty traveler and geographer.
Xu Xiake, who began to travel when he was 22 years old, explored almost half of China. His travel diary, Travel Notes of Xu Xiake, is the earliest such record in China. It details geographical information on the regions he visited and is the world’s earliest record of Karst landscapes and writings on how they were formed.
Xu was an environmentalist, Tao said, because he criticized the rulers of his time for their slash-and-burn agricultural policies that decimated the mountains and forests. He also wrote of how mining, animal husbandry and travel damaged the land.
On his long journeys, Xu endured many hardships and often slept in the open.
“Society needs to learn from Xu’s spirit of overcoming hardships and turning them into low-carbon, eco-friendly travel and lifestyles,” Tao said. “When our group travels, our first choice is to walk or take public transport.”
“We usually choose to eat locally grown farm produce,” he said, adding that restaurants shouldn’t try to offer delicacies from around the world.
The group never stays at hotels or bed-and-breakfasts (B&Bs) that are built on slopes, he said.
“Such accommodations may offer beautiful mountain views, but their construction is damaging to water and soil conservation,” Tao said. “We like to stay at places that were built with locally available materials, which would have saved transportation resources.”
Tao said students once asked his advice about a trip they were planning to Cingjing Farm in Nantou County.
“I told them to choose an affordable B&B that is located in a legally permitted area away from the main roads, is properly equipped to treat garbage and one that adheres to water and soil conservation practices,” Tao said.
His students managed to find accommodation that met these standards, but only after an extensive online search, he said.
“Travel planning should be part of students’ education. Travel should not be just for fun — people should be able to learn something in the process of arranging transportation and accommodations,” Tao said.
Low-carbon travel is becoming increasingly popular in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, and consequently, interest in Xu Xiake is also widening, Tao said.
“Like-minded people in China and Hong Kong have also formed associations to study and promote Xu’s legacy,” Tao said.
Tao said his association has regular contact with other Xu Xiake groups in China and Hong Kong and usually organizes two to three local or overseas trips per year.
“Besides enjoying the natural scenery, we also evaluate whether the tourist facilities and promotional approaches in other countries adhere to the spirit of low-carbon use and energy conservation,” he said.
Most of Taiwan’s tourist spots are not sufficiently “low carbon” in their operations, he said.
One of the exceptions is the Maoao Community in Gongliao Township (貢寮), Taipei County, he said.
“Maoao’s appeal lies in its low-profile development. It used to be a thriving fishing town, but it lost its steam with the migration of its young residents. It is re-emerging by developing ecotourism,” Tao said.
Instead of building new tourist facilities, residents have converted old houses into cafes and B&Bs. Eco-friendly farming is widely practiced and locally produced seaweed is made into jellies and health foods, he said.
Food delivery provider Foodpanda had 564 consumer disputes from January to last month and failed to attend many mediation sessions with local governments nationwide, the Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee said. In a news release earlier this month, the committee said that it investigated consumer complaints and mediations for Foodpanda and rival Uber Eats during the period, when the number of delivery orders jumped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Uber Eats had 80 consumer disputes, the committee said. Of Foodpanda’s consumer disputes, 368 resulted from delivery drivers canceling orders after customers could not be reached, 108 were related to the quality or quantity
‘HONEYMOON’ IS OVER: A political science professor said that the Tsai administration’s popularity peaked after it successfully contained COVID-19, but is waning President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval ratings fell significantly this month in the wake of the government’s handling of the distribution of relief funds and stimulus coupons to people and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll released yesterday by the New Power Party (NPP) showed. The poll showed that 68 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, down 8.9 percentage points from last month, while 21 percent said they disapproved of her performance. Her approval among respondents aged 20 to 29 fell 14.7 percentage points, the largest decrease when compared with other age
Passengers arriving at Taoyuan International Airport will find that most entrances to both terminals have been sealed off as part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts. Follow the signs and directions posted on the doors to find the nearest entry point. The airport has installed infrared cameras and thermometer guns at all open entrances, and all persons with a temperature of over 37.5 degrees Celsius are prohibited from entering the terminal. In addition, staff will take the temperature of those checking in to their flights in advance at Airport MRT stations A1 and A3. In accordance with the Centers of Disease
A 35-year-old man has undergone a 3D endoscopic mastectomy, after having injected himself with more than 3 liters of soybean oil over eight years. The man, whose name was not revealed, had complained that his breasts were becoming loose and losing their shape, said Chunghwa Christian Hospital Endoscopic Mastectomy Center director Lai Hung-wen (賴鴻文), who performed the surgery last year. At age 27, the man began searching for inexpensive breast augmentation methods, before learning about soybean oil injection from a cosmetic surgery Web site, Lai said. Over the past eight years, the man injected himself at home 10 times, starting with about 50ml


text:
What sets e-commerce sampling apart from in-store sampling is the ability to customize samples and target specific groups of consumers based on data collected while those consumers shop online. Another difference is that, while the pandemic has put the brakes on in-store sampling and probably changed it forever, it has only increased the importance of e-commerce sampling.
E-commerce samples are sent to shoppers' homes and arrive as a surprise. According to Brandshare, a company that specializes in sampling, the conversion rates are stellar. Nearly 100% of the consumers who receive such samples open the box they come in. 97% try the sample, and between 14% and 33% convert to the brand.
Marketing research firm Mintel reports that 76% of Millennials think sampling is fun, so there is every reason to believe that E-Commerce sampling will thrive going forward – but to what extent will there still be a market for traditional sampling?


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
NewVoiceMedia lands regional headquarters in San Francisco
NewVoiceMedia, which makes cloud-based marketing and sales support applications, has opened new headquarters for North America operations at One Market Street in San Francisco. The company is based in the U.K.
The company has a business partnership with Salesforce. NewVoiceMedia was founded about 10 years ago and has some 200 customers in 30 countries, with about 300 call centers. Customers include Topcon, PhotoBox, DPD, QlikTech, SHL Group, Parcelforce, Lumesse and Cunningham Lyndsey.
Jonathan Gale, CEO of NewVoiceMedia, said, "San Francisco is a leading hub for high-tech innovation and an excellent location for our regional headquarters."
James Dunn is a senior editor at the San Francisco Business Times. Major projects include editing technology and finance beats, and Best Places to Work.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- Study of potential HIV 'cure' wins FDA nod
- Warren Buffett basks in sweet success of See's Candies, BofA deals
- Tesla revs up hiring spree as it looks beyond cars
- Meet the Chinese developer quickly becoming one of the Bay Area's
- Look inside San Francisco’s new TargetExpress, set to open tomorrow
- 3 things you didn't know about Lumina's $49 million penthouse
- If Chicago flubs it, could $700M Lucas museum land in Oaklnd?
- Exclusive: First look at Google's plans for sprawling sci-fi campus
- Burlingame Point office site sells to Asian investment group for $48M
- Why San Leandro has become a hotbed for makers
Sign up to receive San Francisco Business Times's Morning Edition and Afternoon Edition newsletters and breaking news alerts.
Vice President – Structure-Based Design HarkerBIO | Buffalo, NY
Senior Manager, Community Engagement Skoll Foundation | Palo Alto, CA
Vice President for Commercial Operations HarkerBIO | Buffalo, NY
Director of Communications Ploughshares Fund | San Francisco, CA
Corporate Finance Manager FP&A Insight Global | San Francisco, CA


text:
Earlier in the week, a massive pre-E3 leak sprung, flooding the internet with what seems like future Microsoft announcements. But apparently the company has more up its sleeve! According to Microsoft ladies man Aaron Greenberg:
We have not announced all of our line-up yet for 2008 but will provide more details at E3 next month... Xbox 360 will continue to be the home to blockbuster games and the most exclusives... By the end of the year we will have over 1,000 games available for Xbox 360, which will be 2-3 times more than any other platform.
Bet Greenberg says that to all the girls.


text:
photo via getty.
What is better than enjoying a Popeyes chicken sandwich? Not having to pay for one!
The Louisiana fresh fast food chain has partnered with Doordash to deliver the goods to diners, without having to deal with the lines at the restaurant.
Using the Doordash app between January 13th and January 19th, rack up an order over $20. Then when checking out, type the promo code "CHICKENWINNER" to score the free grub.
Delish points out that the offer is while supplies last. As we have seen in the past, that might not be very long! So just keep that in mind.


text:
The advent of online dating sites and smartphones has generated the trend of delivering intimately explicit photographs or communications via cell phones, called sexting. While attention has mostly dedicated to more youthful individuals and sexting, older women have experienced it.
“Sexting isn’t brand new,” claims Miriam. “It’s been available for decades and I also’ve truly gotten my share of unsolicited cock photos!”
Miriam in addition has delivered erotic communications and nude pictures of by herself. “I’ve been expected times that are many send nude photos via text,” she claims. “But these times we typically say no. Terms can certainly still be enjoyable.”
The excitement of sexting quickly wore down for 61-year-old Wendy*. “It is maybe maybe not instant sufficient she says for me. “we like real details. Continua a leggere The advent of online dating sites and smartphones has resulted in the event


text:
Zynga CEO Don Mattrick has explained the recent swathe of executive departures at the company, and highlighted what he sees as a big miss for the social gaming giant, in his latest interview.
"The fact that we didn't have a mobile version of FarmVille is what created the opportunity for Hay Day," he said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology Conference, as reported by SeekingAlpha.
"So we're just detangling and doing the obvious things. Imagine we went to the schoolyard, left our lunchbox unattended, someone was eating it. We're just kind of picking up our lunch now."
Mattrick joined Zynga last July, leaving behind his role as head of Microsoft's Xbox business.
"Not bringing Farmville to mobile, creating an opportunity for Supercell to have that product in market to build the business that's generating whichever source you want to cite, more than a million dollars a day in revenue, that's a miss. So we're cleaning up some of those misses and getting to a point of view on what categories are important and how to build great teams, great leaders and go after it in the mid-term but in a persistent way."
Mattrick also addressed the recent executive departures that have made headlines, revealing there were 850 fewer employees now than the first day he started with the company. He also had praise for Zynga's most recent acquisition, NaturalMotion, which it picked up for a startling $527 million.
"We were 2,650 people when I joined. We went down to 1,800 people inside of Zynga in January-ish time frame. We acquired a Company based out of Oxford predominantly that added 270 people to the mix and we've on boarded some very sophisticated, very seasoned senior people who are capable of running a company 5x to 10x the size of what Zynga is currently."


text:
Get the digital magazine on your device!
FREE TRIAL – Limited time only
Sony has closed down its Liverpool studio: a veteran games developer of almost 30 years, which has had a hand in iconic franchises like Wipeout and Lemmings »
Bemusement and amusement greeted Liverpool's new augmented reality installation, which squashes or plucks away random pedestrians with a giant virtual hand. »
The eagerly anticipated game will now come out four months later than initially planned, as Rockstar claims it needs further development time »
With its vast tin reserves, the indonesian island of bangka is experiencing a mining rush that has led to environmental damage and human suffering. The cause? global demand for the solder used to make our smartphones and tablets »
There is enough here to make it enjoyable but too many inconsistencies and errors »


text:
TOKYO -- Japanese apparel maker Japan Imagination will close all brick-and-mortar outlets of its core brand, Cecil McBee, Nikkei has learned.
The brand mainly targets young people in their teens and twenties, and has gained in popularity since the 1990s. But sales have been trending down since peaking in 2007. The economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic have also hastened the brand's decline.
The company will close all 43 Cecil McBee stores across Japan by February 2021, with its branch in the fashion hotspot of Shibuya scheduled to close in November.
Japan Imagination will also end several other brands and shutter 92 stores -- nearly 90% of its locations -- and lay off most of its 570 employees.
Cecil McBee launched in the 1980s and gained a huge following among young people. Its flagship store in a popular Shibuya shopping tower recorded monthly sales of about 100 million yen ($932,000) during its peak.
But the brand began to be eclipsed by Forever 21, H&M and other newcomers, falling into the red in fiscal 2020 with sales of 12.1 billion yen, about half of its former high.
The pandemic dealt the latest blow to the brand, as stores in many parts of Japan were shut down for more than two months to curb the contagion. Although stores reopened in mid-May, there are growing concerns over a second wave of infections.
The company decided to shutter Cecil McBee outlets as it would be impossible to cover costs if retail stores are requested to close again. However, the brand will still be available online.


text:
We have been informed of a fake payment request scam being sent through PayPal.
The emails, which do come from PayPal, exploit a feature where you can request money from other users through the website.
These requests have the option to add a note, which scammers are using to create a message to pressure the recipient into sending an amount for money for a completely random service.
Fraud Protect Officer Tammy Barnes warned, “If you check the details of who these emails have been sent from, it will appear as the official PayPal address as the emails are sent by the system.
“If you’re not expecting a request for payment, we would advise ignoring these emails and if you think the email may be genuine you should always verify the request via a trusted contact method before making payment.
“This is also a timely reminder to make sure your online accounts are secure by using unique, strong passwords and enabling two-factor authentication ahead of the busy online shopping season.”


text:
MSOE’s World Bike Team has one goal – to create a bicycle that can carry a person and their possessions. People in developing countries have few ways to easily transport food, water, or staple goods due to the lack of cars and paved roads. A cheap, durable bike that can carry goods would be invaluable to thousands of people across the globe in developing countries.
The team spans generations—the first group of students completed Phase I last year and handed off the project to this year’s senior class. These students were tasked with building a working prototype of a bicycle made from mostly bamboo, designed for use in remote countries where access to modern materials like steel would be sparse.
This year’s team took the research from last year’s team and made a large bicycle built for storage using materials very similar to bamboo. The team will hand off their prototype, all their research, and any remaining materials to the next team, who will complete a final prototype from bamboo. Keep an eye out for the finished product at the 2016 Senior Design Showcase.
Take a look at this year’s metal prototype with Mark Heiser:


text:
Tariffs leave nation-leading kidney bean crop in limbo
Published 11:07 pm Friday, September 27, 2019
By Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio News
Minnesota farmers are known for the corn, soybeans and wheat they grow. But the sandy soil of north-central Minnesota is prime kidney bean land — and the state leads the nation in kidney bean production.
Email newsletter signup
Mark Dombeck knows that firsthand. He’s been farming kidney beans on his land just outside Perham for decades.
His 800 acres have helped make Minnesota the national leader in kidney bean production. No state grows more of those small, red legumes that are the cornerstone of everything from late-fall chili to red beans and rice.
And no region in the state grows more dry beans than northwest Minnesota, including a triangle-shaped area around Dombeck’s farm where the soil is sandy and the kidney beans abundant.
“This would encompass everything from Perham, Wadena, Parkers Prairie, Park Rapids area,” Dombeck said. “It’s a major growing area in the world, and it works well with the irrigated sand.”
The conditions are ideal: Kidney beans have a shallow root system, so they do best here in the sandy soil with small, regular doses of water from irrigation sprinklers.
But despite the fact that, here, kidney beans are king, it’s a crop that doesn’t get a lot of attention.
“They don’t look real impressive from the road. It doesn’t look like corn or golden wheat. They look like short stubby soybeans,” said Dombeck. “But they’re a higher-value crop.”
For growers like Dombeck, kidney beans are reliably profitable. But they also require a long-term investment in specialized harvest equipment. They’re not subsidized by the U.S. farm program, and they are susceptible to damage from wet weather. It’s a classic higher risk, higher reward equation.
“The return is probably a little higher per acre,” Dombeck added, “but you need specialized equipment to handle it.”
Because plants grow so close to the ground, a machine scoops the plants up out of the soil and windrows them, leaving neat rows down the field for the specially designed harvesters that follow.
The harvested beans are dumped in an 18-wheeler parked at the end of the field.
The beans are usually harvested starting in early September. This year, the harvest has been delayed by persistent rains, Dombeck said.
A good harvest is 2,500 pounds per acre. That’s about two million pounds of kidney beans on the 800 acres Dombeck plants.
About 60 percent of the beans he’ll harvest are used in the U.S., and the rest are exported, said Dombeck: “Domestically, they’re going down to Faribault, Minn., for canning there, and for foreign export, most of them go to the E.U. or Central America.”
Relationships are important to maintain those export markets. Unlike most corn and soybean crops, dry beans are identity preserved. That means Dombeck needs to provide detailed records about the crop.
“They want to know where the field is, and what we’ve used for any kind of chemicals and what seed we used, they want to know all the details,” said Dombeck.
Sometimes bean buyers from other countries will even visit the farms where the product they buy is grown.
Trade uncertainty casts shadow on bean-growing leaders
Kidney beans are just one of several varieties of beans classified as “dry edible beans.”
North Dakota leads the nation in overall production of dry beans, a broad category of many bean varieties, including pinto beans, lima beans, black beans and navy beans. The state produces about a third of all the dry beans beans grown in the U.S, making the region a bean powerhouse.
“When you take the North Dakota, Minnesota, [and] southern Manitoba growing region, half of the North American dry bean crop is produced in that area,” said John Bartsch, a trader with Kelley Bean Company, who also grows beans on an eastern North Dakota farm.
“And so if they have a good crop or a poor crop, it has an outsized impact on price.”
Because so many beans are grown in a single area, Bartsch said weather is often the biggest factor in bean production and price.
But lately, trade disputes have played a larger role in the direction of the industry.
“Right now, our competition for exports is Canada and Argentina,” said Dombeck. “They don’t have a tariff, so we’re at a disadvantage,”
The European Union has been a steady kidney bean customer for years, he added. But last year, trade disputes disrupted the relationship when the E.U. put a retaliatory tariff on the beans after the U.S. had placed tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“If we have everything resolved and no barriers to trade, we feel we can compete with just about anyone, anywhere,” said Bartsch. “The tariffs and the retaliatory tariffs are a trade disruptor and it leads to a lot of uncertainty.”
The trade uncertainty is casting a cloud over the industry, Barsch said, because some countries where bean exports are not affected by tariffs are expanding their production in an attempt to grab the market share that was, until recently, reliably held by U.S. exports.
He said while prices for crops like corn and soybeans can vary widely from year to year, dry edible beans have long been a dependable money-maker for farmers.
“A lot of growers said it’s paid for the farm over the years,” Bartsch said. “It’s been a consistently good crop. It’s not without its challenges, but it has been a good crop and well-adapted to the area.”
Dombeck said his kidney beans have turned a solid profit nine out of every 10 years. And despite the new challenge of tariffs cutting into his bottom line, he said he’s committed to the standby crop: He still expects to earn a profit on kidney beans this year.


text:
The latest hair trend we are crushing on is “mushroom blonde” and according to Pinterest, it’s the hottest hair color trend right now.
Silver hair has been trending since as long as we can remember and more and more takes on grey locks have been popping up on our Instagrams than ever. From lavender locks to unicorn hair, we assumed we must have seen it all.
Although it initially doesn’t sound particularly dazzling, “mushroom blonde” is the latest take on the hair trend to join the bunch. According to Pinterest, searches for the shade are up by 308% and colorists are describing it as “universally flattering.”
The shade sits somewhere between a blonde and a brunette only instead of highlighting golden tones, it is much ashier and highlights grey and silver tones.
The look is achieved using a balayage or highlighting technique to take the warmth out of the hair and apply and blend darker colors. The versatility of the trend means that it can be adapted to flatter any skin tone. This is even more reason to give the hair trend the Beautiful Trends Today stamp of approval.


text:
We all know that Samsung is currently working on a new foldable smartphone with a clamshell design, which is said to be named as Galaxy Fold 2. Now, some alleged photos have been leaked that reveals the upcoming smartphone.
The alleged photos have been leaked on Chinese social media site Weibo and it shows a clamshell Samsung foldable smartphone. The image reveals that the Galaxy Fold 2 will come with a similar design language as recently seen with Moto RAZR 2019. This means users can fold the smartphone vertically, just like a flip phone.
The top panel of the rear side foldable smartphone comes with a dual-camera setup with an LED flash and there is a small screen that displays the time, date and battery percentage. Furthermore, it might also show some notifications. Notably, there is a punch-hole foldable display. The bezels are quite slim around the edges. The base panel features a USB Type-C port flanked between two speaker grilles The right side of the device features a volume controls. However, there is no way to authenticate the image, so we suggest you take this report with a grain of salt.
Previously, it was reported that Samsung might launch the Galaxy S11 series and Galaxy Fold 2 foldable smartphones on February 18 next year. Samsung will hold an event on February 18 where it will unveil the latest smartphones. The launch event will be held in San Francisco, the same place where Samsung introduced its Galaxy S10 series. The Galaxy Fold 2 will be a clamshell foldable smartphone, which was teased during Samsung’s annual developer conference.


text:
AdReady, a Seattle-based provider of software solutions for digital display advertising, has raised $5.3 million in Series B funding. Return backers include Madrona Venture Group, Bain Capital Ventures and Khosla Ventures. The company previously raised $10 million.
AdReady, a pioneering technology company that delivers powerful yet easy-to-use software solutions for digital display advertising, today announced it has raised $5.3M to help meet the growing demand for its display advertising technology platform for agencies, advertisers and publishers. The company had full participation from current investors Madrona Venture Group, Bain Capital and Khosla Ventures.
AdReady also announced the addition of software industry veteran Steve Singh to the Board of Directors. Singh, chairman and CEO of Redmond, WA-based Concur (NASDAQ: CNQR), the world’s leading provider of on-demand Employee Spend Management solutions, has extensive experience growing technology businesses into market leaders. His expertise will be important as the company grows its customer base and seizes new opportunities around the display advertising sector – a market expected to reach nearly $17 billion by 2014.
“We are thrilled to receive another round of funding and to be adding another technology pioneer to our board,” said Karl Siebrecht, President and CEO of AdReady. “Steve’s experience taking enterprise software and making it accessible and affordable to companies of all sizes will be invaluable to AdReady as we continue to drive widespread uptake for display advertising among businesses.”
“I’ve been fortunate in my career to work with amazingly talented and dedicated people,” said Singh. “Building a business that transforms sophisticated, complex and expensive applications into on-demand services for organizations of all sizes is incredibly rewarding. I’m excited to join the board of a company that shares my passion for innovation and delivering value to the customer, and I look forward to offering my perspective to help AdReady’s continued growth.”
AdReady’s platform delivers the power and sophistication of multiple best-in-class enterprise software solutions for digital display advertising in a simplified, cost-effective, yet highly powerful next-generation platform. The platform is for large agencies and companies trying to efficiently reach micro-targeted segments and mid-sized companies trying to cost-effectively go digital. AdReady provides centralized, single-point control across all major publishers for end-to-end display advertising management. AdReady’s technology platform was recently named “Best Ad Delivery Platform Innovation” by the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference (DPAC). The company was also named “Service Provider of the Year” by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA). To learn more, please visit www.adready.com, follow us on Twitter @AdReady, or find us on Facebook.


text:
Ordinarily, Apple’s September event would give us the new iPhone range, but 2020 is different than most years so new Apple Watches and iPads have to work for now. However, we still have to see the debut of the Apple A14 Bionic chipset, which will power the upcoming iPhone 12 smartphones.
This is the first chipset in the world based on the new 5nm process and outperforming the Android competition that are still using 7nm SoCs. It comes with a 6-core CPU and a quad-core GPU, but strangely enough, Apple compared its performance numbers to those of the A1
However, since we know that Apple achieved a 20% speed increase over the A12 Bionic with the A13 Bionic last year, we can assume that the 2020 chipset will have a 17% faster CPU and 8% better GPU than its predecessor having.
These aren’t big wins, but some of the efficiency gains achieved by the new manufacturing process resulted in lower power consumption.
While Apple kept its tradition and didn’t talk about clock speeds, it promises the same 10 hour battery life on the new iPad Air 4 as on its predecessor. However, the new Slate has a 28.6 Wh battery compared to the 30.8 Wh battery of the previous year’s model, which indicates an 8% lower power consumption. We’re not sure how much of this is due to the new screen and how much is due to the chipset, but it’s still a good sign of the iPhone 12 range’s battery life.


text:
Switzerland produces its own silk
For the first time in 100 years, silk is being produced in Switzerland. (SRF/swissinfo.ch)
There are records of silk being made in Zurich as far back as the Middle Ages, and a number of workshops sprang up all around the country, but in 1914 the last silk factory was closed in Ticino.
In 2009 a group of innovative farmers got together with the aim of promoting the breeding of silkworms and reintroducing the manufacture of silk products.
Led by Ueli Ramseier, a farmer and textile engineer from canton Bern, they set up the Swiss Silk Association.
So far the association has produced 20 kilograms – enough to make 150 ties and 30 scarves, which are being sold under the label `Weisbrod’.
Breeding silkworms is quite challenging. The insects only thrive in the right climate.
The creatures mate quickly after emerging from their chrysalis, and die a day or so after laying their eggs. There are 12 silkworm breeders in Switzerland.


text:
Jul 01, 2015 11:39 AM ET
Nikkei average in Japan and extended weekly gains and the yen hovered near its recent low. Aeon Co, the retailer, estimated first-quarter revenues and profit rose more than expected. Retailer Lawson also reported improving sales and earnings.
Jul 01, 2015 10:46 AM ET
ACE agreed to acquire the Chubb Corp for $28.3 billion. Acuity Brands net surged 47% on 13% increase in revenues. AZZ net soared 34%. General Mills profit plunged 53%. Paychex net and revenues climbed. Peabody tumbled 22%. UniFirst net jumped 5%.
Jul 01, 2015 10:43 AM ET
Australian market indexes rebounded 1% on the hopes that the deepening crisis in the euro zone may be averted on a last minute deal. Asciano surged after it confirmed a takeover offer from a Canada based fund.
Jul 01, 2015 10:36 AM ET
Airbus secured contract from China Aviation Supplies Holding Company to supply 75 A330 wide-body jets. Anite net surged more than three-fold to £45 million. Greene King profit declined 7%. Northgate profit soared 67%.
Jul 01, 2015 3:22 AM ET
Maruti Suzuki said June unit sales rose 1.8%. The Supreme Court of India said that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has no power to set retail gas price of gas companies. Rajesh Exports is in talks to acquire a Switzerland-based gold refinery.


text:
What do sports cars, art, boats, antiques and jewels have in common — other than all being the things Gwyneth Paltrow doubtlessly casually bought over the weekend online?
They are also ways criminals in the U.K. are hiding the profits of their criminal activity.
Money laundering rules are generally not terribly well-understood among the purveyors of luxury items nor are the signs that someone is buying a high-cost good to hide criminal profits, such as paying in cash, not retaining a lawyer and wanting to get the transaction done as soon as possible.
According to Transparency International UK (TI), there are “major compliance issues" in the luxury sector, encouraged by the fact that enforcement is not a priority.
TI is also handing out blame for the lackadaisical enforcement, calling particular attention to HMRC, which has oversight of anti-money laundering rules for high-value dealers in the luxury goods and auction houses, arts and antiques sectors.
“HMRC have an institutional bias towards secrecy and confidentiality, and that hampers their effectiveness as an AML supervisor,” Nick Maxwell, TI’s head of advocacy and research, told Financial Times. “All of their sectors are the worst-performing, and all of that does come down to the supervisor.”
“The cornerstone of the problem is with the institutions that should be supervising the anti-money laundering rules in the U.K.,” TI said. The current system, which relies on 22 separate agencies with oversight of the rules in different sectors, “is structurally unsound.”
TI is now pushing for the U.K. to redesign the supervisory system to better bolster efforts at pushing compliance, particularly among senior managers that routinely deal with high-value goods.
"While many luxury goods items are expensive enough to require some form of customer due diligence checks, there is little evidence of awareness or compliance of AML obligations, making the sector a significant loophole in the U.K. economy for illicit funds," the group stated.


text:
Business Owners Want Clean Water Rules
The majority of small business owners favor federal protection of clean water and agree that clean water is necessary for a healthy economy and job creation, according to a national poll released by the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC).
Key findings from the poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners for ASBC, include:
- 80 percent of small business owners favor federal protection of upstream headwaters and wetlands as proposed in the new Waters of the US clean water rule of the EPA.
- 71 percent of small business owners said that clean water is necessary for jobs and a healthy economy.
- 67 percent of small business owners are concerned that water pollution could hurt their business in the future.
- 62 percent of small business owners say that government regulation is needed to prevent water pollution.
Energy Manager News
- Clauses to Consider in Green Leases
- Bahama Yacht Club to Generate Power from Solid Waste
- Duke Energy, USF Launch Solar Battery Research Initiative
- Energy Storage Helps Hotel Reduce Demand Charges by 10%
- EU Smart Campus Pilot Achieves 30% Energy Savings
- Uline to Operate 130 GenDrive Fuel Cell Units from Plug Power
- Los Angeles Shopping Center Installs 504 kW Solar
- SustainCo Wins $575,000 Contract for Energy Management Controls


text:
Voice assistants and doorbell cameras are not the only devices multiplying in homes. IoT devices are as well. They are also popping up in offices throughout Connecticut and across the rest of the country.Read More
One of the major IT security problems at a business (regardless of size) is access security. Passwords are often the only thing keeping hackers out of everything from company cloud storage accounts to remote server access.Read More
Year end is when many companies are doing reviews in order to plan ahead for the new year. One area where it is vital to do this is cybersecurity.Read More
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and the main theme is, “If you connect it, protect it”. This year’s campaign focuses on device security for all endpoint devices both at work and at home.
The makeup of today’s networks look very different than those of just a decade ago. Computers and servers used to be the main endpoints that businesses had to worry about protecting. Now they have been eclipsed by mobile devices.
60% of the endpoints in an average office are mobile devices.
Are you using OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox as a backup system? If so, you may be surprised to find out that cloud storage systems are not the same as a data backup.
In fact, 1 out of 3 companies have lost data that is stored in SaaS (Software as a Service) applications. Often this data loss comes out of the blue and it is only then that a business owner realizes that data in cloud services needs to be backed up just like data on computers or servers.
Just one ransomware incident can cost a business an average of $732,520 and that is if they don’t have to pay the ransom. If they pay it, their losses are nearly doubled!
Ransomware is a form of malware and it can be one of the most costly for a company because it can bring operations to a standstill. This will cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in downtime.
One recent attack that happened in Stamford was at the Pitney Bowes headquarters. Ransomware encrypted some of their data which disrupted customer access to some of the company’s services like the ability to refill postage meters.
The password isn’t nearly as secure as it used to be. Hackers have begun to take advantage of extremely powerful solutions designed to brute force their way into accounts by using software to rapidly guessing thousands of passwords per second, making it extraordinarily difficult to prepare yourself for them.Read More
Data security isn’t a matter to be taken lightly, as too many businesses have found out the hard way. Unfortunately, there are far too many simple ways to correct common security issues - enough that it’s foolish not to do so. We’ll review a few ways to fix security issues, after discussing one of, if not the, most egregious security failings in modern history.Read More