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|By Marketwired .||
|August 14, 2014 07:00 AM EDT||
SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwired - August 14, 2014) - Ayla Networks (www.aylanetworks.com), a leading provider of Agile Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, today announced that Yifang Digital Technology, a leading global manufacturer and innovator of consumer electronics, will use Ayla's cloud services and other technology to power a new line of intelligent products.
The first Ayla-enabled product from Yifang will be the NexTurn Home Control Platform, a starter kit for home automation that will establish new price points for expanding the market. A base set NexTurn devices will launch this year at major retail outlets, to be followed by additional devices, all connecting through a single smart application to iOS or Android devices.
Founded in 1992, Yifang is an ODM/OEM supplier specializing in tablets, wearables, iPhone accessories and other innovative consumer electronics. The company is one of the top eight tablet PC suppliers in the world whose buyers and partners include some of the largest retailers in the world. The Nextbook designed and manufactured by Yifang is the top selling tablet at one of the largest retailers in the United States.
Yifang selected Ayla after a competitive review process that took in to consideration security, compatibility, cost, scalability and other factors. Ayla was selected in part because the company can provide an adaptive platform that supports the connectivity requirements of a broad set of products. Solutions were also evaluated against their ability to provide the end-to-end security and privacy.
"Ayla allows us to get our products out quickly, all leveraging a single platform," said Yin Shujun, Vice President & head of Smart Device Business Unit with Yifang Digital. "The Ayla platform offered us best combination of security, flexibility and costs, as well as enabling us to continuously learn from that data to provide a better experiencer for our users. Ayla's presence in China and ability to provide local support, and ability to scale internationally into all regions we sell, was also a critical factor in our decision making process."
Ayla's mission is to provide the world with the first truly agile platform for the Internet of Things. Ayla achieves its high degree of flexibility through a seamless fabric of interconnected elements, including embedded agents for devices, cloud-based back-end infrastructure and services, and intelligent application libraries.
Ayla collaborates with leading semiconductor and module companies such as Broadcom, STMicroelectronics, USI, NXP Semiconductor and Murata Americas to develop components complete with software compatible with Ayla's cloud that can be purchased in volume through distribution. Ayla has also designed its cloud infrastructure to accommodate a large number of diverse devices simultaneously.
By adopting Ayla's Agile IoT™ platform and technology, Fortune 500 companies to Kickstarter projects can quickly design and develop connected products and move into volume production. Ayla's platform is compatible with the widest possible variety of communication standards and OSes, including leading radio standards such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and operating systems such as Linux, Android, iOS. Enterprise-class security is assured through multi-layer authentication, encryption, and policy control managed through Ayla's cloud services and advanced operational portals.
Built-in data analytics enable real-time learning and a virtual device management system allows manufacturers to quickly react to this learning and modify their products -- even after they are deployed in the field. Enterprise-class features include multi-tiered role based access control, remote firmware update management and customer service visibility tools.
Customers include global producers of air conditioning systems, leading fire and safety equipment vendors and the largest Chinese language web portal in the world as well as emerging innovators in IoT such as LockState and Owlet.
"Leading manufacturers like Yifang Digital are increasingly turning to Ayla Networks because they understand we can enhance their own efforts to provide their customers with innovative products," said David Friedman, CEO and co-founder of Ayla Networks. "With the Ayla platform they can not only improve their speed to market with new and innovative solutions, but it also enables them to collect and analyze usage data to learn how their products are being used and more rapidly innovate to suit their customer and channel partner needs."
About Ayla Networks
Ayla Networks is bringing the Internet of Things to the mainstream. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Ayla has developed technology enabling Agile IoT for manufacturers and service providers to quickly and economically develop, deploy, and learn from connected solutions for industrial markets, commercial customers and consumers. Ayla's investors include Cisco, the International Finance Corporation, SAIF Partners, Crosslink Capital, Voyager Capital, Linear Venture, and SJF Ventures. For more, please contacts us at www.aylanetworks.com
About Yifang Digital
Established in 1992, Yifang Digital is the leading designer and manufacture of mobile lifestyle products and provides one-stop service to big retailers and brand owners worldwide. Yifang's headquarter is in Shenzhen, China with sales branch in California, US and R&D center in Israel. Yifang's flagship product lines are Android & Windows Tablets, patented ultrasonic digital pen, smart wearable and home automation devices. "Nextbook" is the self-brand of Yifang's tablet, and Yifang was listed as the 5th largest tablet provider in the U.S. according to IDC report 2014. For more, please contact us at www.yifangdigital.com
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Windstream, a leading provider of advanced network and cloud communications, has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9–11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN), a FORTUNE 500 and S&P 500 company, is a leading provider of advanced network communications, including cloud computing and managed services, to businesses nationwide. The company also offers broadband, phone and digital TV services to consumers primarily in rural areas.
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ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it is bringing a greater level of control, security and flexibility to cloud-based application development and delivery with a single-tenant version of Bluemix, IBM's platform-as-a-service. The new platform enables developers to build ap...
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The BPM world is going through some evolution or changes where traditional business process management solutions really have nowhere to go in terms of development of the road map. In this demo at 15th Cloud Expo, Kyle Hansen, Director of Professional Services at AgilePoint, shows AgilePoint’s unique approach to dealing with this market circumstance by developing a rapid application composition or development framework.
Dec. 20, 2014 11:00 PM EST Reads: 1,336
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DevOps Summit 2015 New York, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that it is now accepting Keynote Proposals. The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.
Dec. 18, 2014 09:45 PM EST Reads: 1,199
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Dec. 18, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 1,371
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Dec. 18, 2014 06:00 AM EST Reads: 910
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Dec. 17, 2014 11:15 PM EST Reads: 1,406
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Dec. 17, 2014 11:00 PM EST Reads: 1,454
"For over 25 years we have been working with a lot of enterprise customers and we have seen how companies create applications. And now that we have moved to cloud computing, mobile, social and the Internet of Things, we see that the market needs a new way of creating applications," stated Jesse Shiah, CEO, President and Co-Founder of AgilePoint Inc., in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 15th Cloud Expo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 17, 2014 08:00 PM EST Reads: 1,445
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Dec. 17, 2014 11:45 AM EST Reads: 1,557
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Dec. 15, 2014 11:45 PM EST Reads: 1,744
The 3rd International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that its Call for Papers is now open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
Dec. 15, 2014 10:30 AM EST Reads: 6,915
As the Internet of Things unfolds, mobile and wearable devices are blurring the line between physical and digital, integrating ever more closely with our interests, our routines, our daily lives. Contextual computing and smart, sensor-equipped spaces bring the potential to walk through a world that recognizes us and responds accordingly. We become continuous transmitters and receivers of data. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Andrew Bolwell, Director of Innovation for HP's Printing and Personal Systems Group, discussed how key attributes of mobile technology – touch input, sensors, social, and ...
Dec. 15, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 1,989


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Shonda Schilling, the wife of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, has fought for the return of a personal computer purchased at auction.
The Providence Journal reports that ConsignWorks of Dudley, Massachusetts, ran the sale in October 2013.
John Sullivan of Natick, Massachusetts, paid $100 for the computer, saying he wanted to see "how the other half lives."
Sullivan asked for a password for the computer. He was contacted by a lawyer representing Shonda Schilling and told the computer contains personal information belonging to Schilling and her family and was not part of the sale.
Hayes said the Schillings "required that it be returned" and on Friday, ConsignWorks paid Sullivan $1,000 to buy it back. It's not yet been returned to the Schillings.
Sullivan says he spent about $1,500 in legal bills.

domain: news


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The 250 km/h, luxury equipped, carbon fiber bus is the product of the University of Delft in the Netherlands. With 800 horsepower on it, all-electric bus is designed to revolutionize public transport. And it works! the video evidence below.
After getting official over a year ago, missing its original production plan and eventually hitting a wall with respect to production, Tata’s long-awaited Nano vehicle is all set to take to the streets this July. According to a fresh report over at Reuters, the world’s cheapest car (100,000 rupee, or $1,980) is expected to be … Read more$2,000 Tata Nano car to hit Indian streets in July
McLaren SLR Stirling Moss will be one of the most attention – grabbing cars of 2009. It’s the latest product that Mercedes-Benz will officially show on the Detroit Auto Show. This is the last vehicle that will come out from the McLaren – Mercedes partnership.


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This might be a first … Stian Ytterdahl, an 18-year-old teenager from Lorenskog, Norway, walked into Sabelink Tattoo shop and got a rather long McDonald’s receipt tattooed on his arm. According to The Huffington Post, this tattoo was a punishment for Ytterdahl being too much of a ladies’ man. Apparently, the punishment was either getting this tattoo or getting Barbie tattooed on his butt. Ytterdahl opted for the fast food receipt.
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January 17, 2008
UK phone retailer the Carphone Warehouse had its wrists slapped by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this week for breaching the Data Protection Act.
An investigation by the ICO revealed that Carphone Warehouse and sister company TalkTalk had been opening customer accounts in the wrong name and passing inaccurate information on to credit reference agencies and debt collection agencies.
Security failings also led to customers being able to view other user account details online and the retailer also failed to respond to requests by individuals on information held about them.
The ICO has now ordered Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk to improve their data protection practices or face prosecution for failing to meet the basic principles of the Data Protection Act.
Mick Gorrill, assistant commissioner at the ICO, said: “The Data Protection Act gives us all important rights, including the right to correct inaccurate information and to find out what information an organisation holds on us. Organisations that process personal information must comply with the Act and, where we find that this is not the case, the ICO will take enforcement action.
“Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk’s use of inaccurate and incorrect personal data has caused real damage and distress to customers,” Gorrill said.
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Computer scientists have devised an attack that reliably extracts secret cryptographic keys by capturing the high-pitched sounds coming from a computer while it displays an encrypted message.
The technique, outlined in a research paper published Wednesday, has already been shown to successfully recover a 4096-bit RSA key used to decrypt e-mails by GNU Privacy Guard, a popular open source implementation of the OpenPGP standard. Publication of the new attack was coordinated with the release of a GnuPG update rated as "important" that contains countermeasures for preventing the attack. But the scientists warned that a variety of other applications are also susceptible to the same acoustic cryptanalysis attack. In many cases, the sound leaking the keys can be captured by a standard smartphone positioned close to a targeted computer as it decrypts an e-mail known to the attackers.
"We devise and demonstrate a key extraction attack that can reveal 4096-bit RSA secret keys when used by GnuPG running on a laptop computer within an hour by analyzing the sound generated by the computer during decryption of chosen ciphertexts," the researchers wrote. "We demonstrate the attack on various targets and by various methods, including the internal microphone of a plain mobile phone placed next to the computer and using a sensitive microphone from a distance of four meters [a little more than 13 feet]."


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Get ready for the release of Apple’s highly anticipated AR/VR headset! While it was originally expected to be released at the beginning of the year, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has announced that the release may be delayed due to issues with the mechanical components and software development tools.
However, there’s still hope as Kuo suggests that the headset may be released at the end of the second quarter or even the third quarter. In the meantime, keep an eye out for potential releases at the spring media event on March 7th or 14th, or at the WWDC in June. In the meantime, rumors suggest that the AR/VR headset may feature a Digital Crown similar to the one on the Apple Watch, allowing users to switch between virtual and physical modes.


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Corgenix announces FDA approval for test to measure effectiveness of Aspirin
DENVER Corgenix Medical Corporation on Monday announced the recent introduction of its AspirinWorks Test Kit to doctors following approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
“We are pleased that AspirinWorks testing is now offered nationally through the LabCorp network of laboratories, making the test available to virtually every physician in the U.S.,” stated Corgenix’ clinical affairs director Gordon Ens.
The new test, which was launched nationwide in June following FDA 510(k) clearance, measures aspirin effectiveness on platelets through direct measurement of thromboxane production (aspirin’s target). The stickier the blood platelets, the less impact the aspirin is having. This information allows physicians to individualize a patient’s therapy.
“In the past few months, we have experienced a rapid increase in public interest for the AspirinWorks test,” stated Douglass Simpson, Corgenix’ president and chief executive officer. “There is growing acceptance among physicians to test for aspirin effectiveness, and we expect that by the end of 2007 a significant number of the most important clinical labs will be routinely running this test.”
IMAK appoints NSS as retail sales management team
SAN DIEGO IMAK Products Corp. announced today that National Sales Solutions would be retained as the nationwide retail sales management group for the company’s drug, food and mass merchandise outlets.
Aurelia Koby, president and co-founder of IMAK stated that “we have always had the best pain relief products. Now we have a huge team in place to expand distribution of our unique product line to many more retailers and , hopefully, to all the customers that really need them.”
NSS’ team of seven field managers and more than 50 retail broker organizations will boost visibility for IMAK’s line of supports, braces, splints and therapy wraps. “This new opportunity is one of our most exciting yet,” said Ron Otto, president of NSS.
Founded over 10 years ago, IMAK has been an innovator in the field of orthopedic pain relief products, notably for repetitive stress injuries. The company’s flagship products, SmartGlove and SmartGlove PM are leaders in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. NSS’ broker network provides experienced and effective service to such food, drug and mass chains as CVS, Rite Aid, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart.
Three Sixty to give away 50,000 hangover-relief samples at college football game
ATHENS, Ga. Three Sixty on Wednesday announced that it will hand out 50,000 two-pack trial samples of its newly released 360 OTC Hangover Relief on Sept. 1 in conjunction with the University of Georgia Bulldogs versus Oklahoma State University college football season opener.
“The company plans to give away over 500,000 samples from Sept. 1 [through] Oct. 31 at 10 major college football events,” stated Michelle Shearer, Three Sixty chief executive officer. “Our philosophy is to put our brand in the hand of our potential consumers and let the product speak for itself. We will be supplementing the sampling with a solid week of advertising in the Athens Flagpole College Magazine starting next Wednesday and circulate to 35,000 active students. We plan to purchase several 5-second spots during the game for reinforcement and we will be on the street filming live testimonials in HD Video in the clubs on Friday and Saturday night.”
Three Sixty will also be announcing a viral contest that will allow students to compete for the funniest video or cell phone clip surrounding the use of 360 OTC Hangover Relief and how it saved their situation. The winner of $100,000 in restricted shares of Three Sixty stock will be determined NASCAR Driver Jeremy Mayfield, Craftsman Truck Driver Tyler Walker, Luis Guzman (screen actor), Isurael Juarbe (producer) and Shearer. The winner will be announced Oct. 31.
Next week at a NASCAR race in California, Three Sixty will distribute an additional 50,000 sample packages.


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In 2015, sales reached about $1.75 billion.
Information launched by the state Department of Earnings on Tuesday reveal leisure and medical sales for marijuana represented about $175 million in income in November.
While the month’s income was down about 12% compared to October, the numbers sufficed to assist the state exceed the $2 billion yearly income limit for the year.
The state gathered about $32 million in taxes and charges from marijuana sales in November.
( © Copyright 20 2 1 The Associated Press. All Rights Booked. This product might not be released, broadcast, reworded or rearranged.)


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One cryptocurrency stands out from the exciting recovery process of the year.
XRP tumbled about 20%, while 8 of the top 10 cryptos are posting gains. Even though the currency lost about $3 billion in market cap in 2019, it’s still the third-biggest crypto coin after BTC and ETH.
Majority of the investors are blaming Ripple for the current situation, the payment services provider that controls, along with its founders, about 75% of all XRP tokens, according to Coin Metrics, a data researcher company.
Reports of the company show it’s been trading the coin at an increasing pace. Co-founder of Ripple Jed McCaleb, who is no longer working there, sells 500000 XRP daily.
Co-founder of crypto hedge fund Multicoin Capital in Austin, Texas, Kyle Samani said: “The company has been steadily increasing their sales of XRP over the last three quarters, likely inflicting downward price pressure on XRP. Savvy investors have known this for some time; however, for whatever reason, the market is just now picking up the narrative and reacting”.
There is an online petition on Change.org, which is already signed by more than 2000 users to “stop Ripple dumping”.
Ripple, for its part, opposed the increase. Programmatic sales of XRP “as a percentage of volume and the actual supply inflation rate were lower” than for Bitcoin or Ether, it said in a statement on Friday. Sales had been tied to trading volumes published by exchanges and recognizing that some platforms were misreporting volumes, Ripple has “substantially reduced XRP sales,” a trend that’s supposed to continue this quarter, the organisation said. It also said discrepancies Coin Metrics found to come down “to a timeline issue.”
“We believe in being as transparent as possible,” it said, pointing to its quarterly reports. The pace of reported selling has increased recently.
Eric Turner, director of research at Messari, said: “Ripple has been more aggressive in their selling lately. Last quarter’s $251.5 million was up almost 50% from the $169.4 million sold in Q1.”
“Ripple keeps selling because it is a major source of revenue for them,” Turner mentioned. “I don’t expect them to stop selling any time soon. If someone gave you a printing press that spits out hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter, would you stop using it?”.


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Barco gear? We LIKE!
2 May 2013 was a memorable day for 500 of Europe’s mobile developers. That day, they got a unique chance to meet up with Facebook mobile engineers and product managers at Facebook’s very first non-US developers conference. The Old Truman Brewery in London, where the event was held, featured a wide array of Barco gear to support the Facebook professionals while presenting their tips and tricks.
BanoPro AV rental & staging installed Barco’s DLP projectors, including four of the new RLM W12+ units, for the auditorium main screens. A Barco Encore set-up (5x VP, 2xSC) and several DSC-200 switchers were used for screen control, HD graphics switching and to manage all the signals.
"It goes without saying that image quality was key for Facebook. On top of that, we consider usability and reliability crucial too," said Arjen Kijk in de Vegte, Technical Director at BanoPro. “The Barco technology delivered all that. And much more besides.” London’s former brewery was packed with mobile app adepts, who all went home excited about what they’d learned, as well as about the visually impressive setting…


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Aspen Times Weekly: Amazon Prime
IMAGINE A MEAL where every morsel includes either an ingredient that sounds vaguely familiar but which you can’t quite picture in its raw state or one that is new entirely: macambo, casaba, yuca, açaí, memepa, jiquitaia chile, tucupi preto. These foods, drawn from the 13 countries that share the Amazon rainforest in South America, represent more than novelty to foreign palates, though. As chefs, producers, and activists in this region believe, gastronomy can help save the rainforest.
This is why four top toques from Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru came to town recently: to share cuisine of the Amazon through “Cumari: From Rainforest to Table,” a benefit dinner hosted at the Cooking School of Aspen, and to participate in talks and tastings during the Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight on Health.
“Cumari means, in Portugese, the happiness of the taste,” noted Brazilian chef Paulo Machado, explaining the title, taken from the name of a piquant Amazonian pepper. “It gives you pleasure.”
The Amazon is home to more than 40,000 species of plants, at least 3,000 species of fish, and another 3,000 kinds of fruit. By introducing diners around the world to this vast “Amazon pantry” of nutritious rainforest ingredients—harvested sustainably to support local diets and livelihoods, these award-winning, respected chefs (ambassadors, really) and nonprofit advocacy and research groups such as Forest Trends and Canopy Bridge are turning food production into a tool for forest protection, cultural preservation, and community empowerment.
Their work also serves as an important PSA for improving nutrition and creating sustainable global supply chains for Amazonian products.
“This could be the cuisine of the future,” explained chef Machado, founder of the Paulo Machado Institute for gastronomy research in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and winner of Brazil’s 2015 Dólmã Prize for his work advancing the country’s cuisine through stints in France, Ethiopia, Thailand, China, and Peru.
In showcasing biodiversity through indigenous foods, these superstar Latin American chefs are sounding an alarm on the Amazon’s rapid deforestation, much of it, ironically, a result of large-scale beef cattle operations, cocoa plantations, and vast acreage of soybeans and oil palm. At risk is water and land in the fertile Amazon, which the entire world depends on for its carbon-trapping forests to help mitigate the climate change crisis.
During the event’s cocktail hour, the school’s open kitchen was a flurry of movement and conversation as chefs dished out appetizers and fielded questions from some 50 guests in attendance. Machado scooped up spicy crabmeat with roasted manioc flour and pequi oil (find a primer on Amazon ingredients, opposite).
Alongside him, Lima-based chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino (chef-owner of ámaZ and Malabar) carefully spooned ripe plantain with garlic, mint, and edible flowers into delicate fermented plantain shells. “Plantain taco,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, chef Kamilla Seidler was busy pan-frying a Bolivian street-food specialty: cheesy toasted yuca cakes the size of silver dollars, sprinkled with pink peppercorns. One woman draining a caipirinha—Brazil’s national cocktail, made with the country’s MVP spirit, cachaça—marveled at the cake’s fluffy, creamy texture with subtle tongue-tingling spice. Other folks tried an array of colorful condiments tentatively—lemongrass-scented Brazilian ants, included.
The sit-down dinner that followed was a parade of plates, each prefaced by a personal story told by their chef-creator as guests munched on chewy breads and crispy crackers made from rice and tapioca flours.
Chef Schiaffino presented duck breast with fermented palm fruit and sticky Brazilian rice made from cassava root. The high-protein macambo nuts on top, he told us, are a relative of the coffee bean—affectionately called “monkey brain” due to their shape and texture. Chef Machado—a pioneer of modern Amazon cooking for 13 years—used a centuries-old technique to smoke river fish: he wrapped it in a banana leaf.
Seidler’s artful vegan rendition of a classic Bolivian dish—amaranth “caviar” with açaí, and Brazil nut in a pool of warmed Brazil nut milk (fun fact: Bolivia is the largest producer of Brazil nuts)—was inspired by Madidi National Park, the most biodiverse place on earth.
“There are a lot of logistical issues that need to be solved, but we’re trying,” said Seidler, who moved to Bolivia four years ago from her native Copenhagen to help build a culinary school. Now she’s executive chef at Gustu, a La Paz restaurant opened in 2013 by Noma cofounder Claus Meyer and his Melting Pot Foundation.
“We wanted to try to do the Nordic food movement in a developing country, to see if it can be a model,” she continued. “In the municipality of La Paz you can drive 20 minutes and be in the jungle. When you go into a community, sit and talk with them, and make them realize that what they have is a treasure—all of these things need to be taken care of, but in a sustainable, organized way—we can close the circle by working together.”
Mara Salles, chef of Tordesilhas in São Paulo, Brazil, for 25 years, capped the meal with passion fruit compote, cassava cream, amazón cacao, and drizzled with syrup infused with jambu, an herb known for imparting a mouth-numbing sensation.
“To preserve the Amazon is to preserve our inspiration, our knowledge,” Salles said. “Using whole ingredients is important. And death has to be worthwhile—whether fruit or an animal.”
Interest in food from this region is growing—Food Industry Trends reported in February that Latin American food is the second fastest growing segment of “ethnic food,” based on a National Restaurant Association survey of 1,600 professional chefs. Advocates say that education about this cuisine and culture is key—concerned citizens might consider planning a trip far south to support the restaurants that are putting this concept into practice.
“These chefs are a window into nutrition…these restaurants are incubators for using these ingredients to broader markets,” said Michael Jenkins, president and CEO of Forest Trends. About the Amazon, he added, “It’s like nature’s richest pantry opened its doors.”
Even the chefs’ Spanish cue for diners to dig in—buen provecho!—reinforced the point of the Cumari dinner. Though equivalent to bon appétit! the exclamation translates as, “to good benefit.”
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Two major Statistics Canada economic reports Friday have given policy makers at the Bank of Canada a lot to chew on. With both sides of its policy chops.
On the one side, January's year-over-year inflation rate came in at a hotter-than-expected 2 per cent – smack-dab on the Bank of Canada's long-standing target for inflation, and up sharply from 1.6 per cent in December. If the inflation-targeting central bank was playing things by the book, that suggests that inflation is beginning to point to an eventual interest-rate increase.
On the other side, December's retail sales (seasonally adjusted) slumped a bigger-than-expected 2.2 per cent from November, wiping out November's strong 1.7-per-cent gain and implying that economic growth may have ground to a near-standstill at the end of the year. For those who have grown nervous about the country's fragile economy, that bolsters the argument that the bank should be thinking more about another rate cut.
In the wake of the two reports, economists were similarly of two minds about which one deserves greater weight.
"In our view, the greater market emphasis is to be put on stronger-than-expected inflation readings," Bank of Nova Scotia economists Derek Holt and Dov Zigler said in a research note, calling the inflation report a reminder to the markets and the Bank of Canada "that they have been too light in their treatment of inflation risk."
"In our view, the weak retail report should draw more of the market's focus," countered HSBC Bank Canada chief economist David Watt, who noted that on a volume basis, the 2.3-per-cent decline was the biggest month-to-month drop since December, 2008 – the depth of the global financial crisis. He said the numbers "highlight an economy that has little sustained upward pressure on prices, and that lacks traction heading into 2016, with consumers behaving very cautiously."
Both the inflation and the retail numbers certainly raise legitimate (if very different) concerns. But both reports also come with enough qualifiers that they may not tell us much about the underlying trend.
The weak retail sales unwind an awful lot of the previous good news on December growth from wholesale trade (up 2 per cent), manufacturing sales (up 1.2 per cent) and exports (up 3.9 per cent). Economists now figure real gross domestic product managed little or no growth in December, and probably didn't do much better for the fourth quarter as a whole. (Statscan releases its December, fourth-quarter and year-end gross domestic product figures on March 1.)
And the slowing year-over-year pace of retail sales growth – it was a puny 0.5 per cent on a volume basis in December, the weakest in three years – raises doubts about the capacity of cheap fuel prices to deliver their long-promised boost to consumer spending. The weakness "suggests that spending restraint due to job losses in oil-producing provinces is starting to cancel out more of the spending growth in oil-importing provinces on a national basis," Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce economist Andrew Grantham argued in a research report.
Still, there are reasons to think the December numbers overstate the weakness in retail demand.
Statscan's seasonal adjustments, which are meant to smooth out the lumpy, calendar-linked nature of many spending habits during the year, may not be properly capturing the shifting trends of the huge holiday shopping season – both toward Black Friday (which has increasingly moved purchases into November) and toward gift cards (which shift many purchases into the New Year, as those sales are only recorded when the cards are redeemed). This is the fourth year in a row that seasonally adjusted sales have risen in November and declined in December. (Unadjusted December sales were actually up 10 per cent over November, while November's unadjusted sales were down 2 per cent.)
Often, a weak seasonally adjusted December has been followed up by a retail rebound early in the new year. While the shaky financial markets may have rattled consumer confidence in January, those seasonal distortions may still spell brighter figures – and a reason for the Bank of Canada to remain patient with the retail data.
On the inflation front, there's no doubt that the deep decline in the Canadian dollar has put substantial upward pressure on prices for key imported consumer goods. Food prices in January rose 4 per cent from a year earlier; prices for fresh vegetables (heavily reliant on imports at this time of year) were up by 18 per cent. Meanwhile, with much of the plunge in oil prices having come a year ago, the impact of lower fuel prices is quickly coming out of the year-over-year inflation numbers; indeed, despite slumping gasoline prices in January, they were actually up 2.1 per cent from a year earlier.
But it's been the Bank of Canada's position to look through both the currency and oil-price effects on inflation as "transitory" factors, and consider underlying inflationary pressures aside from them – which continue to look pretty tame, given a sluggish economy that still has ample spare capacity. Whether the central bank can continue to treat the sustained weakness in the currency as a temporary aberration is a legitimate question; but with the currency having rebounded since late January, likely reversing some of its upward pressure on prices, it's not a question the bank will need to answer in the short term.
The Bank of Canada may well consider the data, taken together, as a saw-off. The conflicting numbers and notable asterisks make as good an argument as any to hold the bank's key interest rate at 0.5 per cent and wait for something more definitive to emerge.


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USDA Approves Unregulated Planting of Transgenic Alfalfa
WASHINGTON, DC, January 28, 2011 (ENS) – Over the objections of organic farmers and organic food consumers, and despite a legal challenge, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided to allow commercial planting of alfalfa genetically engineered to tolerate Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide without any federal requirements to prevent contamination of the rest of alfalfa seed and plantings.
The genetically engineered technology is licensed by Monsanto to the seed maker Forage Genetics International, which is owned by Land-O-Lakes.
Announcing the decision Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “After conducting a thorough and transparent examination of alfalfa through a multi-alternative environmental impact statement and several public comment opportunities, the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that Roundup Ready alfalfa is as safe as traditionally bred alfalfa.”
The expected impact of the decision is far reaching, particularly to organic farmers. Christine Bushway, executive director and CEO of the Organic Trade Association, said the decision threatens the $26.6 billion a year organic food industry that employs tens of thousands of people around the country, and helps keep at least 14,540 family farms in business. Except for 2009, the organic industry has experienced double digit growth annually for over a decade.
“This creates a perplexing situation when the market calls for a supply of crops free of genetic engineering,” Bushway said. “The organic standards prohibit the use of genetic engineering, and consumers will not tolerate the accidental presence of genetic engineered materials in organic products yet GE crops continue to proliferate unchecked.”


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Huawei mobile phones users in China will have the first-time-ever opportunity to download Bitcoin wallets onto their devices starting today.
The Chinese-based mega corporation Huawei Technologies Co. is releasing the device-friendly Bitcoin wallet partnered, developed by BTC.com, in its AppGallery app store. According to Alejandro de la Torre, the vice president of business operations at BTC.com, the application will come already installed on new Huawei smartphones.
The new application is the first reported cryptocurrency application to be available on any Huawei devices.
The Chinese government limits the access to cryptocurrency apps similar and has blocked the Google Play Store by Android and parts of Apple’s App Store – making it difficult for mobile phone users to use digital wallets on their devices.
National authorities are relatively strict on cryptocurrency related behavior and have denied cryptocurrency exchanges from operating as well as banning companies from holding fundraising for projects through initial coin offerings. However, individuals are allowed to own cryptocurrencies and de la Torre is optimistic that the market is worth investing in.
The vice-president told Bloomberg that it is “a good opportunity to tap into the Chinese market,” and that the “use of cashless payments with apps is very big and the traditional banking system is lacking, so there’s a good use case for crypto payments to grow there.”
Huawei is the market leader in mobile phone sales in China, which is known to be a hub for cryptocurrency activity so this project is likely to have the most success in the country.
The vice president of Huawei’s services, Jaime Gonzalo, said in a statement that this is “the tip of the spear of mobile payments, [they] expect to see massive growth in global cryptocurrency adoption habits in the near future”.
This follows the announcement that the tech company made last month of the launch of a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform which supports users in creating smart contract applications as well as targeting supply chain and coin securities assets.


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The Scottish red meat sector’s continuing importance to Scotland’s economy, as well as the significance of markets outside Scotland to the country’s farmers and red meat processors, has been highlighted in a publication launched today by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
The latest edition of the Scottish Red Meat Industry Profile covers the 2019 calendar year, providing a snapshot of the shape and scale of Scotland’s red meat sector.
The publication reports that farm output from cattle, sheep and pig production totalled £1.17bn in 2019 and accounted for just under 35% of Scotland’s agricultural output, with the beef sector accounting for just under 24% alone.
Meanwhile, the primary red meat processing sector is estimated to have generated £783.5m of revenue, employed around 3,000 workers and spent £72m on salaries.
Access to skilled labour from the EU remained vital for many processors, accounting for an estimated 43% of the workforce.
Survey information also highlights the importance of the rest of the UK market to the Scottish red meat processing sector, with an estimated 64% of revenue generated there, compared to 25% from a first point of delivery in Scotland.
In some instances, this is part of a wider supply chain where beef, lamb and pork are delivered to processing and packing sites in England, Wales and Northern Ireland before returning to Scotland in shelf-ready retail packs or will be exported from there.
“With the end of the Brexit transition on the horizon, it is important to note the value of export markets to the Scottish red meat processing sector, with 11% of total revenue estimated to have been generated overseas,” said Iain Macdonald, Senior Economics Analyst with QMS.
“However, the sheepmeat processing sector is particularly exposed, with 29.5% of revenue earned outside the UK, highlighting its potential exposure to any market disruption from the beginning of 2021.
“Survey evidence highlights that around 97-98% of beef and lamb export sales were generated from customers in the EU in 2018/19,” he added.
The importance of markets in the rest of the UK and the EU is also highlighted by Scottish lamb consumption per person remaining at below half of the UK average, resulting in Scottish abattoir production being an estimated 228% of local consumption in 2019, while on-farm production was estimated to have been 567% of consumption.
Looking at imports, at UK level, after significant growth in beef imports to the UK in recent years, weak demand and rising domestic production resulted in lower requirements in 2019. Similar pressures also led to lower pigmeat imports.
Reduced lamb imports were the continuation of a longer-term trend, with New Zealand shifting focus away from Europe towards China.
“Domestic production growth, sluggish home demand and a weak sterling continued to support the profitability of the export trade in 2019, with pork exports benefitting from a meat shortage in China,” added Mr Macdonald.
The Scottish Red Meat Industry Profile can be viewed here.


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Opinion: Healthy competition in mobile wireless market benefits public
It is our hope that the CRTC will maintain the policy of promoting facilities-based competition in the mobile market.
On Tuesday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) opened a hearing on mobile wireless services. It is the most far-reaching review of the wireless industry since 2007, when the federal government decided to make it easier for new players to enter the mobile market. Whatever one may think of the Harper government of the time, it cannot be denied that the measures to promote competition in wireless services introduced by the late Jim Prentice, then-minister of Industry and subsequently premier of Alberta, disrupted the mobile cartel, ʺThe Big 3,ʺ controlled by Bell, Telus and Rogers. In Quebec, they paved the way for real competition from Québecor and Vidéotron.
At the time, the federal government listened to our arguments and made the wise decision to set aside spectrum for new market entrants.
In Quebec, the impact has been indisputable and the resulting competition has delivered multiple benefits. Vidéotron began rolling out its own network in 2008, which shook up the market at the time and continues to help shape the wireless landscape in Quebec to this day. Vidéotron invested more than $2 billion in its network and created thousands of good jobs that benefited Quebec’s economy. Since it entered the market, prices for mobile plans have dropped more sharply in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada. In 10 years, Vidéotron has risen to the top of several rankings of network quality and customer service. This is a concrete example of what facilities-based competition can do. Not to mention the billions of dollars the federal government has collected in the spectrum auctions. There is every reason for the CRTC to continue supporting the facilities-based competitive model.
Some try to deny the evidence, but the Competition Bureau of Canada has found that the presence of a strong fourth player such as Vidéotron in a market has a direct effect on prices.
These are not theories or rhetoric, but facts that have been ascertained by the courts or regulatory authorities.
In light of all of these considerations, it is our hope that the CRTC will maintain the policy of promoting facilities-based competition in the mobile market that the government adopted more than 10 years ago. That approach has been shown to deliver significant benefits for the public as a whole. Quebecor will always support fair and healthy competition. At the end of the day, it’s good for everyone.


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5G opens up a world of new potential for companies
Published on 01/07/2019 in Solutions & services
5G is far more than just an upgrade from 4G. Self-driving cars, companies that follow up construction or road works using drones and more. Danielle Jacobs, CEO of Beltug, on the impact of 5G on Belgian companies.
First and foremost: why is a mobile network so important for companies?
Danielle Jacobs, CEO at Beltug: “Because people and devices can no longer do without it. Your employees, customers, suppliers… a lot of people work at home and on the road, at customers’, for instance. They often work with cloud applications which most companies use these days, and which have to be available from various locations via the mobile networks. And a lot of companies fit sensors to their equipment. To find out where a load or a vehicle is, for instance.”
How can a mobile network and Wi-Fi work together?
Danielle: “A mobile network and Wi-Fi are actually complementary. They exist side by side and supplement one another. The mobile network is more for use on the road, when distances are crossed, while Wi-Fi can be used locally. We will soon be able to use Wi-Fi 6. That makes wireless connections faster and better.”
There is a big difference compared with 4G. In theory, 5G is 100 to 200 times faster and there is hardly any delay on the network.
Danielle Jacobs, CEO at Beltug
What business needs does 5G offer an answer to?
Danielle: “The name 5G is not really appropriate. There is a big difference compared with 4G. In theory, 5G is 100 to 200 times faster and there is scarcely any delay on the network. And because quality can be guaranteed, you can conclude a service level agreement.”
“A whole new world of applications is opening up for companies. Just think of the real-time follow-up of trucks, so that unloading can be organized efficiently. Or self-driving cars that have to stop immediately when sensors indicate an object in front of the car, even if it’s a cyclist round the corner who is not yet visible."
How does 5G influence the digital transformation of companies?
“Our members are right in the middle of their digital transformation. The way in which we can serve our customers better and improve their experience is part of this. Thanks to 5G, the possible applications are revolutionary. Pioneering companies are already thinking about the new potential.”
“5G speeds this up enormously. Logistics companies, for instance, now use tracking information. With 5G, they can see in real time where their trucks are, they know exactly when they arrive and they can gear their loading, loading and stocks management to this.”
What role does security play in the success of 5G for companies?
Danielle: “Security is always a priority, but small companies in particular are not yet sufficiently aware of how important it is. Just one-third of all companies secure their mobile devices. So we still have a long way to go. And with 5G security is even more important. A lot of awareness-raising, money and effort will be needed to ensure that all companies realize the importance of security.”
Our starter guide explains everything you need to know about building a successful and secure Enterprise mobility strategy.
Belgian politics are not ready yet for 5G. Are our companies lagging behind?
Danielle: “Sixty per cent of the companies affiliated to Beltug work internationally. If the new applications abroad work with 5G and not in Belgium, then Belgium will suffer a competitive disadvantage. A number of 5G-device providers are already saying that they aren’t starting the roll-out in Belgium because our politicians haven’t reached an agreement on licenses. That’s blocking the country’s economic future.”


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"Slightly higher optimism and stability in Las Vegas" was the takeaway from JPMorgan's spring real estate tour, according to a note out this morning.
However, local builders say the market "feels better than last year."
JPMorgan says declines in new home prices have stabilized, even if they are selling at a significantly higher premium to resales than historical average. Likewise, inventory appears to have stabilized in September, even though it is up strongly YOY.
Ultimately the bank has upgraded its Vegas outlook to neutral. Nearby Phoenix remains slightly negative:
As a result, above-average exposure to Phoenix represents a modest relative incremental negative, in our view, while Las Vegas is a neutral. Builders with the largest exposure to Phoenix, as an estimated percent of their total 2009 closings, include MDC (UW), PHM (N), and MTH (N), at 18%, 13%, and 12%, respectively; SPF (UW) and DHI (N) have more moderate exposure, at 9% and 6%, respectively. Builders with the largest exposure to Las Vegas, as an estimated percent of their 2009 closings, include MDC (UW) at 18% and KBH (OW) at 6% followed by DHI (N) and RYL (N) at 5% each.
Nationwide JPMorgan predicts a 3% decline in home prices, which is a positive stance relative to the market.
Although dangerously high, Las Vegas home inventory has declined since September
The decline in single family home sales has slowed
Likewise the decline in prices has slowed
National home sales may be stabilizing; and the extremely volatile Vegas market will follow
Vegas home prices are relatively affordable; more so than national home prices
Renting has never been a worse idea in Vegas; but it's a good idea nationally
But the bleeding hasn't stopped everywhere
Get the latest JPM stock price here.


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Gold prices today..
Caliber 18 recorded 681 pounds.
Caliber 21 recorded 795 pounds.
Caliber 24 recorded 908 pounds.
The gold pound is 6360 pounds.
An ounce of gold is $ 1805.
Gold sales in Egypt recorded a 50% decline in January 2021, compared to the same month last year, according to what Raafat Farid, a Giza gold dealer, said, and who confirmed that the decline in gold sales came as a result of measures to confront Corona and the decrease in the number of weddings as well as the great rise In the price of the yellow metal.
“The seventh day,” said Raafat Farid, “The seventh day”, that the market is currently witnessing a high demand for gold jewelry of light weights, whose weights range from 2 to 4 grams, of different caliber, especially 18 carat, which is now well received in the market.
He pointed out that the future of the gold price movement is unclear so far, with the approaching US plan and stimulus package estimated at $ 1.9 trillion, which affects the movement of the price of gold, because the dollar is subject to constant change, as well as the continuous rise and fall of the yield of American bonds, which are all factors affecting the movement Precious metal.


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Mobile financial services (MFS), e-wallets, and e-money service providers have been instructed not to broadcast commercials that are offensive to their market competitors.
In a circular issued Sunday, the Bangladesh Bank's Payment Systems Department said it is being noticed that some MFS providers are attacking each other with sarcastic and offensive commercials, which is undesirable.
Commercials, publicities and advertisements will have to be devoid of such attacking behaviour. Those must comply with the National Broadcast Policy-2014, said the circular.
Recently, two MFS providers started promoting commercials and social media contents demeaning each other.
Brac Bank's bKash, Postal Department's Nagad and Dutch-Bangla Bank's Rocket now are at the forefront of the country's mobile financial services.
As the number of active mobile banking customers increased amid the pandemic last year, the volume of daily and monthly transactions also increased simultaneously. Besides, transactions through mobile banking for shopping also have been on a gradual rise.


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Posted by Dale Buss on January 18, 2012 09:04 AM
Airbus raises prices of A320neo plane amid strong demand, as Boeing threatens to compete better in 2012 .
AirTran must reinstate whistleblower pilot.
American Express invests $125 million in China mobile payments startup.
Apple eases into corporate market with Macs, while textbook push draws interest.
BankUnited draws bids from TD Bank and others.
Beyonce and Jay-Z challenged by Blue Ivy trademark applicant.
Burberry sales surge on international demand.Continue reading...


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Rumors has it that the Galaxy S10 could sport five cameras in total next year. Three on the back, two on the front. Samsung’s mobile division CEO DJ Koj confirmed a design overhaul for the Galaxy S10, but didn’t go into details. A recent discovery, however, could indicate one way the Galaxy S10 design will be improved.
A certain Samsung SM-G405F running Android 9 was benchmarked on HTML5 Test. Reports lead us to believe that this could be the upcoming Galaxy S10. Said device has a 19:9 aspect ratio screen, which is taller than the current 18.5:9 aspect ratio employed on the Galaxy S9.
Going with a taller screen would allow Samsung to use a larger screen in a phone with the same physical dimensions. By reducing the top and bottom bezels, a more full screen display effect can be achieved without affecting the general aspect of the housing.
All this seems random for now, and the model number doesn’t look like a Galaxy S model number. Reports claim that this is something Samsung has been doing in the past though. We’ll have to wait a tad more and see. After all, the Galaxy S10 will be Samsung’s iPhone X, a ten-year anniversary model. It should impress!


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The results sent shares of the world's largest farm equipment maker 3% higher in premarket trading and eased some fears around the impact of a worker strike that had hit Deere's operations for about three weeks of the fourth quarter.
Deere & Co
More than 10,000 Deere employees went on strike last week at 14 Deere factories in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia after the United Auto Workers union rejected a contract offer. The longer the strike continues, the greater the impact will be on the communities around the plants.
The tentative deal will cover about 10,100 production and maintenance employees across 12 facilities in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas.
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After facing a tough stance on its India entry and hanging on the edge for over two years, Chinese SUV maker Great Wall Motors (GWM) has finally called it quits by firing 11 Indian employees from its organisation. The company had initially proposed an investment of USD 1 billion (INR7000 crore) and had plans to start manufacturing in 2021.
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- 26m What's keeping oil prices well above $100 for third consecutive month
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Thought leadership: Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi, CEO of IOLCP talks about current issues and their impact on the industry
Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi explains the impact of the current issues on IOL and other companies in the industry in a nutshell.
Dr Chaturvedi said that because of the Russia-Ukraine war they are facing three major issues: 1) Supply chain disruption 2) High costs charged by the shipping industry and 3) Energy crises.
Out the these three, the energy crisis is the most worrisome as it directly impacts manufacturing costs. Moreover, even when the demand is high, the cost of production has also increased drastically, but they cannot increase the price of products as it will impact the existing customers, so they have to manage the crises efficiently. He was of the opinion that the crises will cause more issues for companies that are focusing on global growth.
Recently, Germany’s chemical bemouth announced that it may halt its production curtailing the gas supply issues. Dr Chaturvedi addressed this issue by saying that this move may not impact the ibuprofen industry as BASF’s ibuprofen production takes place in the USA. Even the lockdown in China won’t impact IOLCP’s ibuprofen segment much as they are self-sufficient, but it may impact some other products if the situation remains the same.
Regarding IOLCP’s ibuprofen status, he stated that currently, the demand has reached pre-covid levels. During the pandemic, there was a massive surge but now as the situation subdues there is more demand globally than domestically. He mentioned that IOL has succeeded in growing its non-ibuprofen segment remarkably well. He has a positive opinion about the recent essential drug price increase by the government as it will help small companies sustain and survive.
It won’t affect IOLCP’s margins as these drugs are not in their portfolio. He believes that APIs that have scale, sufficient backward integration and a strong balance sheet will definitely witness a strong comeback soon.
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Hawaiian Island Kauai receives its illumination after dark from Tesla. Probably, it did not hear the doubts of Wall Street investors whether Tesla plans are too ambitious, and it will be able to provide enough electricity. Apparently, it is enough for Kauai.
Power packs from Tesla have already proved their reliability at least in one State.
Cooperative of Kauai Island on Hawaii receives its light at the night from 272 industrial power packs. During the day time, this Island relies on the solar power. At night they are supported by Tesla. During a long time, the main policy of Kauai is to use renewable energy and help the Earth.
With Tesla’s help, this island will be able to save 1.6 million fuel gallons in a year which usually they have used after dark.
According to Tesla representatives, this change will also help to save Island money. People will spend 13.9 cents for the kilowatt of energy instead of 15.50 cents before. The new price is fixed for the 20 next years.
People from Kauai believe that Tesla is the best option for them to cut the expenses on the diesel fuel.
However, analysts from Wall Street do not hurry with the conclusions about Tesla’s new idea. They believe that one island is not enough to talk globally about battery packs.
They believe that future of these packs unclear, like all the renewable energy companies.
Analyst Adam Jonas says that this business did not bring Tesla new value on the market.


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Responsibility Deal Criticized by Children’s Food Campaign
The Children’s Food Campaign of UK has criticized the ‘responsibility deal’ which targets the deal with various food products manufacturing companies.
The association fingers at the incapability of the Government to manage the health plans, since the food industry is not willing to fully comply with the agreement. A document prepared by the campaign reveals that 33 companies denied complying with the guidelines like calorie labeling, reducing the amount of salt in their food items and no usage of trans-fat, at all.
Among the 33 companies, 13 are very popular food selling companies like Birds Eye, Budgens, Domino's Pizza and Nandos. As per Kawther Hashem, the report preparer from the Children's Food Campaign, "Our analysis shows that, unlike its name suggests, the 'Responsibility Deal' is an irresponsible and utterly inadequate response to the public health problems we face”.
Certain edible good companies have signed the deal, but have assured to fulfill only some guidelines. Tea manufacturing company Typhoo has assured to stop using trans-fat in the tea being produced by the company. Similarly, McDonald’s and Tesco have agreed to apply calorie labeling on the food products sold at their outlets. Tesco are the café owners and owns the outlets of Costa Coffee.
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- ElectReon successfully tests dynamic wireless EV charging system on public road in Sweden


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Not to be outdone on the display resolution wars, ASUS has just officially unveiled the ROG GX500 gaming notebook, which sports a 4K resolution display. Furthermore, it measures just 19mm thick and weighs just 2.2kg. Here’s a quick look at this sexy beast.
Intel announced today that products based on the upcoming Broadwell processors will be available in time for this year end's holiday season.
Intel will be releasing an anniversary edition of the Pentium processor to commemorate 20 years of the Pentium brand.
Intel announced their latest processor series, codenamed Devil's Canyon, at its keynote in Computex 2014 earlier today. Representing the updated Haswell "K" series parts, the latest Core i7 processor is the first Core microprocessor to hit the 4.0GHz mark since the Pentium 4.
Gigabyte announces four major motherboard series, launches full range of Intel Series 9 boards for all segments, teases limited edition memory OC board and breaks current overclocking world record, all in one afternoon at Computex 2014.
In celebration of its 25th anniversary, ASUS officially unveiled the new Transformer Book V, a 5-in-1 device that is equal parts phone, tablet and notebook; and also the Transformer Book T300 Chi, a super-slim 12.5-inch hybrid detachable notebook.
Another show is in town, and it's the SG Tech Show! Held at Suntec from 29th May to 1st June, it's the place to be at if you're looking for the latest digital, mobile, and consumer electronics. If you're intending to head down for a look, why not check out our article first for the highlights?
Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 isn't the first tablet to claim that it can replace your notebook. It is however, the first that might actually succeed. We go hands-on with Microsoft's 12-inch notebook killer.
The Dell XPS 11 is an 11-inch convertible Ultrabook that transforms from a notebook into a tablet quickly. It also runs on an Intel Core Y-series processor, which allows it to consume less energy that many other Ultrabooks that use processors from the Intel Core U-series. Let's see how that turned out.
Aftershock has just refreshed its 13-inch XG13 model, which also happens to be our Tech Awards 2014 winner for best portable gaming notebook. Apart from the various hardware tweaks, it now also comes with an optional QHD high-resolution display. We check it out to see if it can handle gaming at such extreme resolutions.


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Hospitality leaders launch auction to raise funds for Ukraine crisis
We’re delighted to be working alongside a collection of hospitality industry representatives to launch Hospitality Auction4Ukraine – an auction of extraordinary experiences to help raise funds for the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
More than 50 incredible prizes have been donated by hotels and hospitality organisations, which include a suite and cocktails at The Savoy, a private dining experience for 12 guests at Corrigan’s, and a one-night stay with breakfast at Claridge’s.
Amongst other lavish experiences on offer is a Vintage Steam Boat Experience at Henley Regatta, two tickets to the extravagant Grand Prix Ball, a South of France Classic Car Road Rally for two people as well as a collection of four Glenmorangie Grand Vintage Whiskies and more.
Proceeds will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which is operating in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to help meet the needs of refugees and displaced people. With four million people expected to be displaced by the Ukrainian crisis, the money raised will provide direct aid to those who need it most.
The auction has been launched in conjunction with Lunch4Ukraine, a fundraising event which will take place at JW Marriott Grosvenor House on 5 April to help meet a £100k fundraising goal. The event is being supported by UKHospitality, The Master Innholders, The Caterer, Gold Key Media, Custard Communications, Hospitality Action and the Institute of Hospitality.
Hospitality Auction4Ukraine is open to all, not just the hospitality industry, with the opportunity to place bids online here. The auction will close at 9pm on 14 April.


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Rec Room Studio is an upcoming PC-based creation tool powered by Unity that allows creators to build higher fidelity worlds.
The upcoming software will allow creators to “quickly add assets and objects to existing ones Rooms and create and share custom textures, animations, audio, and more.” Rec Room, unveiled as part of the Rec Con 2022 event, says the software will also enable collaboration with other players using the Maker Pen.
Rec Room Studio “puts top quality graphics and animations at the fingertips of the creator community,” said the startup. The new software is coming “soon” with Rec Room registrations for a private beta. A company representative said that Rec Room’s recent Showdown original game mode is the current public preview of something built into the tool.
The announcement comes about two weeks before Connect, an event that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would include: major updates to its competing Horizon Worlds creation platform. Rec Room is already available on a wide variety of devices (including phones, game consoles and VR), and the startup says it reached 82 million lifetime users in the first quarter of this year and paid $1 million to creators. Rec Room is now also available as a standalone PC client.
The competition between platforms like VRChat, Rec Room. Roblox and Horizon Worlds seem to be heating up as investors double and engineers at every job to bridge the gap between more user-friendly tools and professional game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this space over the coming months, so come back with UploadVR as we delve into the latest developments.


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The Overwatch community can sadly be a pretty toxic place. Because of that, it’s especially great to see the community come together and participate in Blizzard’s latest charity charge in the name of Breast Cancer. Lasting only two weeks, its success was remarkable, raising over $12.7 million.
The company created a unique pink skin for the strongest healer in the game – Mercy, of course – and sold it as an in-game upgrade for $15 a piece. While that may seem expensive for a cosmetic-only item, it really isn’t compared to the prices of skins in other games. The fact that the earnings will be donated to breast cancer research of course also helped justify the price.
Apparently it worked, since, in just the two weeks after the skin’s release, its sales, as well as those from associated merchandise, managed to bring in over $12.7 million. It’s wonderful to see the often-fractured Overwatch community come together for a good cause like this one. We did a little bit of maths, and after accounting for money earned through t-shirt sales (which cost $30 a pop), we came up with a rough estimate of 825.000 people buying the Pink Mercy skin. Blizzard didn’t report exact numbers but did say that they sold thousands of t-shirts, allowing only for a rough estimate.
The sales are even more remarkable giving the short two-week window in which this all happened. All the earnings are going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. To be more precise, the money will go toward “prevention strategies, improved treatments, survivorship and quality of life for breast cancer patients worldwide,” said Stephanie Kauffman, Chief Strategic Alliances Officer at BCRF. If you are hoping to snag one of these skins now, sadly you are too late. The skin was available from May 8 to May 21.
Given that the usual way to get skins in-game is via loot-boxes that have to be earned or bought, it’s definitely refreshing to see an event like this do well. The $12.7M isn’t even all of it – while they alone make up the biggest single corporate donation the BCRF has received in the 25 years it’s been active, 14 Overwatch Twitch streamers raised another $130.000 on top to add to the donation.
Given the unmitigated success of the Pink Mercy skin, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see another charity-themed skin in the future. Given the wide variety of heroes and characters, there are plenty of opportunities to support plenty of charities. Winston or new hero Wrecking Ball would be perfect choices for an animal rescue charity for example, while Mei would be a good choice for environmental causes.
Whatever future events may come, for now, the huge success that was Pink Mercy is reason to celebrate – whether you bought a skin, t-shirt, both or neither – this is a huge win not only for breast cancer research but also for the Overwatch community. If nothing else, this event has proven that the community isn’t as toxic as it may seem.


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Market report: Monday Close
SUPERMARKETS giant Tescois slowly but surely increasing its stranglehold on food retailing, which is likely to send a shudder through consumer groups and environmentalists.
US investment bank JP Morgan says in a review of supermarket pricing that Tesco, 3¼p lighter at 327¾p, has maintained a 4%-5% differential since last summer with rival J Sainsbury, down ¼p on 282½p, and also improved its pricing position relative to Asda and Wm Morrison, down ¾p to 188¼p, which bought Safeway last year for £3.4bn.
The report warns that Tesco's UK margin has been creeping up in recent years. 'We think that this process has further to go,' it says.
The broker says Tesco's growing price lead over Asda implies it has considerable gross margin 'headroom'. It adds: 'We advocate looking at Tesco as a company trading on depressed earnings, something which we believe justifies a multiple premium relative to the sectors.'
Share prices generally were a touch better for choice in thin trading. This was despite fresh losses on Wall Street this afternoon. The FTSE 100 index was down 1.6 at 5344.20 in thin trading.
Aerospace components group Cobham rose ¼p to 137¾p. Its aerospace systems division has landed a longterm-contract worth up to $200m-110m) to provide passenger service units for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Smith Barney has downgraded television broadcaster ITV, down 1¾p at 115½p, from buy to hold, and cut its 12-month target price from 130p to 105p. The broker made a direct comparison between ITV, a traditional advertising play, and satellite broadcaster BSkyB, which depends directly on consumer spending. Profits growth at ITV will be affected by the sharp slowdown in advertising revenues.
BSkyB was unchanged at 552p, seemingly unaffected by reports that the European Union had begun investigating the company's virtual monopoly of TV football rights.
Computer games retailer Game, which was trading at a three-year high on Friday, dipped 1¾p to 95¼p as several big lines of stock went through on the ticker. They included one of 2.75m at 93p, followed by threem at 92p.
Pan-African oil and gas exploration group Afren jumped 10p to 50½p. It has signed an agreement with Bicta Energy &; Management Systems to develop the Ogedah field, located in shallow water off Nigeria. A nearby well is flowing at 4000 barrels a day.
It was the first day of dealings on AIM for Rockhopper Exploration, the oil and gas explorer with a number of licences in the North Falkland Basin. Broker Arden Partners has placed 35.7m shares at 42p, raising £15m. The price touched 61p before settling at 60p. Rockhopper has signed a farm-in agreement with Desire Petroleum that will give it a 15% interest in two further licences.
Tiger Tiger bars owner Urbium surged 105p to 10010p on news that it is in talks that could lead to a £100m offer. Word is private-equity group Electra Partners is ready to offer 1075p a share. A previous takeover attempt by Regent Inns ended in failure.
Punch Taverns retreated 7½p to 785p after UBS cut its rating on the shares from buy to neutral but raised its target from 800p to 880p. It said the share price already reflects its increased earnings forecast for next year and for 2007.
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The company strongly denies it, but word is that Ha-Lo Industries has been in contact with two competitors about possibly purchasing some of its units.
Whether Ha-Lo, the Niles-based premium products company, will eventually unload some of its marketing services units in order to raise cash is not clear.
FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published Nov. 14, 2000.
But a Ha-Lo spokeswoman late Thursday strongly denied that the company has talked to either party.
Still, sources close to the situation say that Omnicom Group, which owns Irvine, Calif.-based promotions firm Alcone Marketing, and Publicis Groupe S.A., which owns Chicago-based Frankel & Cos., have had preliminary discussions with Ha-Lo regarding the sale of some of its properties, notably Ha-Lo's hot sales promotion firm Upshot.
Ha-Lo acquired Upshot and brand identity firm Lipson Alport Glass & Associates in the late 1990s to go beyond its promotional products business.
Not under discussion is the company's newly acquired Internet promotional firm, Starbelly.com, which the company wants to use to pursue online promotional opportunities.
A spokeswoman from Frankel declined to comment, and Brad Esty, Alcone's U.S. president, couldn't be reached.
So-called below-the-line services firms have become more attractive to giant advertising holding companies as a way to increase revenue.
A published report this week quoted undisclosed analysts saying that Ha-Lo's marketing services businesses, should Ha-Lo decide to sell, could go for $200 million to $300 million.
Such a move would be a complete reversal of the expansion strategy Ha-Lo began pursuing in the late 1990s.
Ha-Lo had been on fire with investors at the time. Since then, however, things have cooled off dramatically: The company's stock traded above $25 a share at the beginning of last year, but on Thursday, closed at $3.44.
Fizdale to retire: As expected, Rick Fizdale, 61, chairman of Leo Burnett Worldwide, said he will retire from active management Dec. 31 but continue to serve as vice chairman of agency holding company B Com 3 Group. Fizdale, who joined the agency as a copywriter in 1969, rose through the ranks before being named chairman and CEO in 1992. He relinquished the CEO title in '93, took it back in a boardroom coup in '97, then gave it up again last year.
Crunch time for Burnett: On Friday, it will be up to newly named Leo Burnett Worldwide chief Linda Wolf to save the $300 million Oldsmobile business. Wolf will lead the Burnett team that will present new creative in a shootout with McCann-Erickson, Detroit, and E. Morris Communications. A decision is expected after Dec. 1.
Shakeup at KemperLesnik: In a major restructuring at marketing/communications firm KemperLesnik, two key executives have left. Out are Jim Martinez, who was named president of the agency's public relations unit just last year, and longtime executive vice president Joel Feldstein. Hud Englehart, president of the firm, said he will oversee the public relations division.
More layoffs: The technology sector shakeout continues to have a trickle-down effect. Leapnet Inc. late last week laid off 45 employees as the Internet marketing solutions company tries to focus core businesses in the wake of this year's acquisition of SPR Inc. The company employs roughly 500 people. Separately, FCB Direct laid off 12 employees as a result of evaporating technology business.
DVC acquisition: Private investment firms Lake Capital and Frontenac Co. and other investors said they plan to invest more than $100 million in equity to acquire DVC Group, a marketing communications firm in Morristown, N.J.
Parent leaves Y&R: Mike Parent, one of two media directors at Young & Rubicam's MediaEdge buying and planning firm, is jumping to Chicago Creative Partnership (the company name as published has been corrected in this text) to become senior vice president, director of media.
On the move: Buffalo Grove-based medical products firm Efora named David Seitelman vice president/sales and marketing, reporting to Chairman David Grosky. . . . Patty Connolly, 38, named general manager of the Radisson Hotel & Suites, from director of sales and marketing for five MeriStar Hotel & Resort properties in Chicago.
Account action: Chicago-based JobsOnline assigned Web design project work to Kurtzman Slavin Communications. . . . Robinson & Maites was assigned to handle a promotion marketing program for Ralston Purina Co.'s Whisker Lickin's cat treats.


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Once Just a Site With Funny Cat Pictures, and Now a Web Empire
SEATTLE — Three years ago Ben Huh visited a blog devoted to silly cat pictures — and saw vast potential.
Mr. Huh, a 32-year-old entrepreneur, first became aware of I Can Has Cheezburger, which pairs photos of cats with quirky captions, after it linked to his own pet blog. His site immediately crumbled under the resulting wave of visitors.
Sensing an Internet phenomenon, Mr. Huh solicited financing from investors and forked over $10,000 of his own savings to buy the Web site from the two Hawaiian bloggers who started it.
“It was a white-knuckle decision,” he said. “I knew that the first site was funny, but could we duplicate that success?”
Mr. Huh has since found that the appetite for oddball Internet humor is insatiable.
Traffic to the Cheezburger blog has ballooned over the last three years, encouraging Mr. Huh to expand his unlikely Web empire to include 53 sites, all fueled by submissions from readers. In May, what is now known as the Cheezburger Network attracted a record 16 million unique visitors, according to the Web analytics firm Quantcast.
A more recent success for the company is a site called Fail Blog, which chronicles disastrous mishaps and general stupidity in photos and video. The network’s smaller sites include Daily Squee, with pictures of cute animals, and There I Fixed It, for photos of bad repair jobs.
Mr. Huh said his company, which makes most of its money from Web advertising, has been profitable since Day 1.
“Then again, it was just me and Emily in the beginning,” he said referring to his wife, who also works at the company. Cheezburger now has more than 40 employees and has not sought additional investment.
As the company has grown, so have the opportunities to make money, said Todd Sawicki, the company’s chief revenue officer.
“Only 1 percent of what gets submitted goes on the Web site,” he said. “The rest we can turn into T-shirts, books and other content that the audience loves.”
This year alone, Mr. Sawicki said, the company will generate a seven-figure sum from advertising, licensing fees and merchandise sales.
The company has published five books based on its blogs, one of which, a collection of the cats-with-misspelled-captions images known as Lolcats, hovered on the New York Times list of miscellaneous paperback best sellers for 13 weeks. Three more books are in production, along with a line of greeting cards and desktop calendars.
One secret to the company’s success is the way it taps into the Internet zeitgeist. It seeks clues to what is funny right now by monitoring the Web for themes bubbling up on community forums, blogs and video sites. Then it spins off new sites devoted to the latest online humor fads.
“Cheezburger figures out what’s starting to get popular and then harvests the humor from the chaff,” said Kenyatta Cheese, one of the creators of a popular Web video series called “Know Your Meme” that documents viral online phenomena, known as memes. “Things like Lolcats and Fail are easy to make, easy to spread and hit on an emotional level that crosses a lot of traditional boundaries.”
Most of the material the company posts is created by readers, who can Photoshop a funny caption onto an image or remix a popular video in minutes and submit it to one of the Cheezburger sites for consideration. The company says that each day it receives more than 18,000 submissions from readers.
Joe Olk, 28, is one of two dozen staff members who spend their days deliberating over exactly what makes something laugh-out-loud worthy.
Skimming through images on a computer monitor in the company’s spacious office in downtown Seattle, Mr. Olk paused over one photograph of a neon sign advertising services described as “Internet Massage.” “Now that is just weird,” he says with a snicker. “But also funny.” And with a click, it is posted online.
Employees do not check to see whether the person submitting content actually owns it before they put it on a company site, but they will remove it if they receive a complaint after the fact. The company says that before it puts an image into a book or calendar, it does seek permission from its creator, who might receive a free book or T-shirt.
Submissions that are funny but don’t fit into any of the current blog themes can inspire new blogs. For example, after noticing an influx of photos featuring comically bad knock-off toys and other products, the company decided there were enough to warrant a new site, which is slated to be introduced in the next week or two.
The tricky part, said Kiki Kane, 36, who oversees new site development for the network, is gauging whether an Internet trend has legs. She aims to introduce a new blog every week.
“We’re constantly monitoring the Web for new memes,” she said. “Those bits of cultural shorthand, inside jokes that you get right away just by seeing a visual image.”
Not every new site is a hit. One called Pandaganda, which collected images of pandas looking comically evil and sinister, fizzled after a few weeks, so Mr. Huh pulled the plug. “We kill about 20 percent of all the sites we start,” he said.
The idea of quickly tailoring a blog network to satisfy the fickle tastes of a Web-savvy audience, generating new sites to capitalize on a viral sensation and dropping the ones that don’t catch on, is what convinced Geoff Entress, a noted angel investor in the Seattle area, to help Mr. Huh purchase the original company.
“Being flexible and able to change as the environment changes is a huge asset to a consumer Web site,” said Mr. Entress, who has backed more than 35 local start-ups, including an online community for booklovers called Shelfari that was eventually bought by Amazon.
“The risk wasn’t that people wouldn’t like the product,” he said. “We already had the numbers showing they did. The risk was whether or not we could prove this was more than a fad.”
If the wacky cats are a fad, they are one that has had surprising staying power, as shown by a recent Cheezburger happy-hour event at Safeco Field before a Seattle Mariners game.
More than 1,000 fans turned up to listen to cat-themed songs blasted over the loudspeakers, snack on miniature cheeseburgers, slurp from plastic cups of beer and pose for pictures with Mr. Huh.
Tess Mattos, a 41-year-old knitting instructor who traveled up from Portland, Ore., for the event, said she had been a fan of the network’s flagship site for three years.
“It’s just a good, simple break from real life,” she said, adjusting the pair of sequined cat ears she was wearing. “It’s clever, but not mean-spirited.”
“People think we’re weird,” she quipped. “But have you seen the fans of ‘Twilight?’ ”