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Apple vs. Samsung verdict: how will it affect consumers?
The news about the verdict in the infamous Apple vs. Samsung trial has begun to settle in, and everybody is looking forward to the post trial phase. Let’s try to predict what can happen next for the two parties, and most importantly, how will their fight affect consumers.
Is the verdict a crushing blow for Samsung? At first glance, it certainly seems so, but the truth is the war is far from over. Samsung and Apple are engaged in more than 50 other legal actions in ten countries. Moreover, the San Jose trial that Apple just won will be followed by intense legal wrestling over injunction motions and the actual amount of damages that Samsung will have to pay. The jury found that Samsung willfully infringed on Apple’s patents, meaning that Judge Lucy Koh can decide to increase the value of damages up to three times the sum dictated by the jury. In the worst case scenario, Samsung might have to cough up $3.15 billion.
Even if Samsung loses on all fronts in the following weeks, the Korean conglomerate can still appeal the verdict at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s rare that federal judges fully reverse the decisions of district courts, but in many cases, appeal courts have modified the rulings of inferior courts to some extent. Apple will likely appeal as well; the jury let Samsung off the hook for the tablet-related patents, and the damages obtained by Apple are, at least for now, below their initial demands of $2.5 billion. An appeal is almost certainty, at this point.
Assuming that Apple will emerge victorious from the appeal as well, how will that affect the consumers, the two parties involved, and the mobile industry as a whole?
Product bans might become a common occurrence
Don’t expect an immediate effect on the average smartphone buyer. No money will exchange hands anytime soon, and, in terms of product bans, Judge Koh is not expected to tackle the problem sooner than September 20. Some watchers speculate that, given the breadth of the case, the injunction phase might be delayed even further.
Samsung risks being slapped with bans on dozens of products, as every device in question was found to infringe on at least one of Apple’s patents. The Cupertino-based company will have to prove that the availability of the products on the market causes it substantial financial harm. Most of the devices on the infringing list have reached the end of life status, meaning that injunctions will do little harm to consumers (and Samsung). Some however, like the successful Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Ace, can still be found on shelves. In the eventuality of Apple obtaining injunctions for them, these devices will be pulled from the market. However, Samsung might try to obtain stays on the injunctions until the appeal is judged, which should give them some extra time to find workarounds.
But these are just the immediate, superficial effects of yesterday’s ruling. For consumers, the real consequences will be far more pervasive and profound.
Apple’s resolution to enforce its IP rights against Android OEMs will only grow, while the verdict obtained in San Jose will serve as a solid precedent in upcoming trials. Apple is coming out on a fortified position, and competitors will have to scramble to remove any potentially-infringing features from their devices. Given the broad nature of some of Apple’s patents, that might prove difficult if not impossible. As a result, Android OEMs will be forced into paying Apple royalties.
The royalties will be passed to customers, unless phone makers are willing to eat the price hike. Let’s face it, only Samsung is in the position to do that now; the other OEMs are fighting for survival, and profits are already scarce across the industry (unless your name is Apple or Samsung). I believe that Apple’s victory will cause some sort of price increase for Android phones, although it’s impossible to estimate the extent of the inflation.
A wave of change
I also think that the landmark victory that Apple obtained in court yesterday will spur a wave of change (I wouldn’t call it innovation) in the mobile industry. If Apple can patent rectangles with rounded corners (the jury asserted the validity of Apple’s respective patent), no one is safe anymore. Like it or not, Android OEMs will have to think of unique design features that would protect them in case of legal attacks from competitors.
That’s an ambiguous situation. Diversity and originality are important and all manufacturers should strive for them. But where will it stop? What if every phone maker patents the unique design feature that it came up with? Nokia – that flat, square design of its Lumia phones; Sony – the transparent line and the plastic bottoms of the Xperia NXT devices; HTC – the chinned phones?
Samsung has already been accused that it let its legal team interfere with the design of the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 10.1. Unless something is done about it (meaning a sweeping patent law reform), I can see a future where all phone makers overdesign their products, just to ensure originality.
Ten years from now, we will look back at yesterday’s verdict as a momentous event that changed the industry to its core. I am just not sure that it will be for the better. What do you think?


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It looks like Tesla Model X to me. There are some ideas on the web that it can be Tesla Model III, but before the image of Tesla Model III was different. Hopefully, we will find out soon. They are coming! Very soon we all will appreciate very bold vision of Elon Musk for the future of electric cars and why we need not just one, but hundreds of Gigafactories. Boston-Power with our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium already have taken notice.
There are quite a few very interesting bits of information in this interview. Tesla Model X will be priced as Tesla Model S. This year is all about Tesla Model X with launch in the summer 2015. Next year Tesla Model III is coming. Supercharger Network will allow to travel from Quebec to Vancouver! GM Bolt is not the threat for Tesla: "eventually all cars will have to be electric."
"Eric Wesoff reports on very interesting development in China. Boston Power is building its own Megafactory to produce lithium batteries and even the super cheap urban EV for ... $8,000. It will be the game changer for the booming market for EVs in China, where EV sales are up 320% last year. We have discussed LG Chem Megafactory before and now you can appreciate more recent move of our strategic partner Ganfeng Lithium. China is building very fast its new strategic industry - electric cars. International Lithium is the part of the vertically integrated Lithium business with Ganfeng Lithium in China. Read more."
Elon Musk talks about the Gigafactory and incredible numbers behind his vision: "Everything will be fully electric, except for Rockets!" In China his vision can be the only way forward with personal mobility due to the terrible level of air pollution.

domain: news


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Taipei (Taiwan) - Local stainless steel foundries were calm on Tuesday in the face of a recent announcement by the EU that it would launch a probe into Taiwan's alleged dumping of stainless cold-rolled steel plates.
The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, posted a bulletin on Friday announcing its intention to launch an investigation into the alleged dumping of cold-rolled steel plates by Taiwan, China and South Korea, the Bureau of Foreign Trade said in a news release.
The anti-dumping measure was adopted after European steelmakers filed a complaint over exports by their competitors from China, South Korea and Taiwan.
Under the complaint, it is claimed that Taiwan's exports of steel products to the EU grew to 22.94 percent of total EU imports of this kind by last September, up from 18.89 percent in 2006 and 17.51 percent in 2005, according to the news release.
The bureau urged local firms, which have been targeted by the probe, to cooperate with the investigation.
However, Kaohsiung-based Tang Eng Iron Works Co (唐榮), one of the nation's major steel foundries, said the probe would not threaten its operations even if the EU decides to levy punishing tariffs on Taiwan's steel products because the EU had never been one of its major markets.
Yunlin County-based Froch Enterprise Co (彰源), one of the world's leading manufacturers of stainless steel tubes and pipes, and Taipei County-based Hsin Kuang Steel Co (新光), said that the probe would not pose a threat to their exports.
The firms said their exports to Europe have been small because EU demand for steel products differs from other markets in terms of type and size, company executives said.
They also said that they have a wealth of experience handling anti-dumping accusations and see little reason for concern.


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The IRS has admitted to targeting conservative groups seeking tax exempt status. And yesterday at a House hearing the IRS director of exempt organizations said, quote: "I have not done anything wrong." She then declined to testify. Lois Lerner's brief appearance at the committee was just the beginning of a stormy, five-hour session filled with angry outbursts and allegations of political motives.
NPR's Peter Overby reports.
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Lois Lerner did read a statement that she had done her job properly.
NPR's business news begins with a big payback to the Fed.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: Three years ago President Obama's green energy loan program gave a $455 million federal loan to electric carmaker Tesla. Critics bashed the loan as risky. Yesterday, Tesla announced it had paid that loan back in full - and early. The company was one of five carmakers to get money into the program. Tesla was first to repay it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.
For those who closely follow decisions made by the Federal Reserve, today's marquee event was the testimony of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He appeared on Capitol Hill before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. And some lawmakers asked Bernanke about concerns of chaos in the financial markets once the Fed stops pumping money into the economy. NPR's John Ydstie explains.
Chuck used to sell marijuana in California. But the legalization of medical marijuana in the state meant he was suddenly competing against hundreds of marijuana dispensaries. So he moved to New York, where marijuana is still 100 percent illegal. Since making the move, he says, he's quadrupled his income. (For the record: His name isn't really Chuck.)
In the nearly impenetrable language that comes with his job, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that even though the economy is doing better, the central bank needs to keep giving it a boost.
NPR's business news starts with Home Depot raising the roof.
Home Depot got a boost from the housing recovery in its first-quarter net income. It rose 18 percent; that exceeds expectations. The company acknowledged yesterday that while cool and wet spring weather had a negative impact on some of Home Depot's seasonal business, its core business stayed strong.
Home Depot's stock price rose by 2.5 percent with the news. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
The wait is over for many Xbox fans. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its next generation Xbox gaming console. It's called Xbox One. It's the first major revamp of the gaming system since 2005. In our business bottom line, NPR's Laura Sydell reports the new Xbox is designed to be an all-in-one system, an entertainment hub for movies, TV and games that should appeal as much to grandparents as it does to children.
Finding a parking space, probably not at the top of the list of things you like to do. Well, experts in parking think they might be able to change that. One key, they say, is for developers to think about the parking experience when they're designing malls or apartment complexes, instead of just treating it as an afterthought.
This came up in Florida this week, at the International Parking Institute's annual conference. Reporter Kenny Malone, from member station WLRN, was there.
Here's some news for travelers. If you can't afford - or don't want to pay the price for - a hotel room, maybe you've used the cheap lodging site Airbnb. If so, you have to take New York City off your list. The popular website has suffered a major setback in court. A judge in New York ruled that an Airbnb user in Manhattan violated local laws when he rented a room to an out-of-towner.
Lawmakers are demanding to know what went wrong and who is to blame at the IRS. Two Senate committees held hearings yesterday on the agency's aggressive handling of applications from conservative groups who were seeking tax-exemption. A top IRS official facing a House committee, today, intends to invoke her Fifth Amendment right not to testify. NPR's Peter Overby reports.
Apple was criticized in a Senate committee hearing Tuesday for using complex accounting to minimize the corporate taxes it pays. One key piece of the company's tax strategy: It funnels lots of its profits through subsidiaries in Ireland.
Offering low corporate tax rates has been a fundamental part of Ireland's economic strategy for decades — a way to get foreign companies to set up operations in the country.
It's exactly the sort of futuristic thinking you'd expect from Google and NASA: Late last week, the organizations announced a partnership to build a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center.
If you have a savings account you probably already know this: Your money there is losing value to inflation. Yields are so low that returns are not even keeping up with the cost of living.
I've been watching some of my own savings dwindle. And that prompted me to take up a challenge: I'm taking $5,000 from personal savings and putting it to work. I'm not a financial whiz, pundit or any kind of guru.
Arrested Development returning via Netflix? Just another old-media brand reviving itself on new media.
The TV show, which originally ran on Fox from 2003 to 2006 and unveils new episodes on Netflix next weekend, finds itself in splendid company. Radiohead, Louis C.K., Veronica Mars — all found their audiences with promotion and distribution from big studios and networks. Radiohead was signed to a major music label. Louis C.K. enjoyed HBO specials and TV shows. And Veronica Mars ran on two TV networks for three years.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block.
The top executives of Apple faced tough questions today on Capitol Hill. They came at a hearing about Apple's alleged avoidance of billions of dollars in U.S. income taxes. Yesterday, Senate investigators released a study describing how the maker of the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers used subsidiaries based in Ireland to avoid income taxes on a big chunk of its global profits.
Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has beaten back the most significant challenge to his leadership since he took charge. Company shareholders turned down a proposal that would have taken away one of his titles.
But as NPR's Jim Zarroli reports, shareholders made clear they are unhappy about the performance of some board members.
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
The immigration bill that's working its way through the Senate gives the tech industry something it has long asked for: more visas for skilled workers from overseas. But the original bill also came with something the tech industry didn't like: rules to keep those foreign workers from taking the jobs of Americans. As NPR's Martin Kaste reports, key senators agreed to loosen those rules.
Now, the cash register re-imagined. Paying for things online with your mobile phone can be as easy as paying with cash but digital payment companies, like PayPal and Square, think the big money for them is still at the register. So they're rushing head-long into brick-and-mortar retail, eager for new ways to make old-fashioned money.
From member station WHYY, Zack Seward has the story.
Originally published on Thu November 14, 2013 8:51 am
Microsoft unveiled its new Xbox One Tuesday, displaying a device that takes new steps in game consoles' journey to becoming all-purpose entertainment and communication devices. The new console replaces the Xbox 360, which has been on the market for nearly eight years.
Apple CEO Timothy Cook made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, testifying after congressional investigators revealed that Apple avoided billions in taxes. Reporter Charles Duhigg of The New York Times and guest host Jennifer Ludden talk about how, as Duhigg writes, "technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age."
People who use Airbnb, the web company that pairs travelers with residents who rent out their homes on a short-term basis, are breaking New York City's laws, according to an administrative law judge. The vacation rental business was found to run afoul of the city's occupancy code; it also doesn't conform with a state law.
"At the bank's annual meeting, 32 percent of shareholders voted for a measure that would have required the bank to split the roles. Had the measure succeeded, Dimon would have had to relinquish the role of chairman.
We'll NPR's business news with Boeing still dreaming.
(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC)
GREENE: Boeing's Dreamliner took off yesterday - it was a United Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago. This was the first time the fuel-friendly jet was back in U.S. skies in nearly five months. The 787 planes had been grounded since January because of battery problems, which cost United roughly $11 million in revenue.
And today's last word in business is: almost millionaires.
INSKEEP: Warren Buffett took time yesterday to listen to kids pitching potential new enterprises. These are kids who competed through Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club, a Web and cable series featuring a cartoon.
(SOUNDBITE OF WEB CARTOON, "SECRET MILLIONAIRES CLUB")
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WARREN BUFFETT: Hey, kids, Warren Buffett here. A successful business is always trying new things.
Giant technology firm Apple is paying billions of dollars less than it should in U.S. taxes each year, according to a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In a hearing Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Apple CEO Tim Cook will defend the company.
The subcommittee's report says Apple avoids the tax payments mainly by shifting profits to three subsidiary companies in Ireland. The investigation found Apple is taking advantage of technicalities in U.S. and Irish tax laws to avoid paying any tax on a huge portion of its profits.


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Business lender ProgCap has reportedly raised Rs 10 crore ($1.37m) in a funding round, which was led by Stride Ventures.
The India-based FinTech hopes to use the funds to increase its assets under management and adoption in the market, according to a report from VC Circle. Furthermore, the company will bolster relationships with banks and corporations.
ProgCap aims to helps micro and small enterprises accessed customised financing solutions and digitise their supply chains.
Its real-time credit model evaluates and scores a client’s credit worthiness, without the need of credit history.
ProgCap previously raised $5m in a funding round back in 2019. The capital was supplied by Sequoia India, GrowX Ventures Fund, CIBIL chairman MV Nair and former Freecharge founder Sandeep Tandon.
Earlier in the month, fellow Indian FinTech company Eduvanz raised $10m in debt to support its growth. The company leverages technology to help students get credit scores based on their socio-economic and demographic backgrounds.
Copyright © 2021 FinTech Global


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Did Harley-Davidson Stock Deserve to Be Up 32% in 2016?
Considering Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) hasn't been able to sell more motorcycles from one year to the next for the past two years, the fact its stock has grown in value by 32% in 2016 should cause investors pause to consider if the increase was justified.
Data source: YCharts.
A bad case of road rash
Harley-Davidson motorcycle shipments have declined 26% since they hit a record high of 361,600 in 2006, coming in just over 266,000 bikes last year, and are forecast to register somewhere between 264,000 and 269,000 motorcycles for 2016. That's likely just wishful thinking, because if we extrapolate the sales Harley has made over the first three quarters of the year, it looks as if it will miss those targets by a wide margin.
Motorcycle revenue fell 3% in the third quarter to $789 million, while unit sales in the U.S. market, which represents two-thirds of its total business, tumbled 7% for the period. And despite holding the line on the discounting rival Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) and others in the industry were engaged in to steal or maintain market share, profits fell 7% on a per-share basis.
Yet that's only because Harley's heavy share repurchases are masking the true impact of its stumbling business. Buying back millions of shares concentrates the bike maker's net profit among the fewer number still outstanding.
Image source: Flickr via Nacho.
That shrinking feeling
Since 2011, Harley-Davidson has reduced its diluted outstanding share count by some 56 million shares, or 24%, while it's reduced its shares outstanding by some 25 million in the past year alone, or nearly half the five-year total.The motorcycle maker also borrowed $750 million to buy back 14 million shares in 2015.
The immediate, practical effect of the buybacks is it boosts per-share profits. For example, had the share count last quarter been kept constant from the year-ago period, Harley would have posted earnings of $0.56 per share instead of the $0.64 that it did, an increase of 12.5%. The question investors have to ask is, did they get their money's worth?
There are very valid reasons a company will buy back its stock beyond just engaging in financial gymnastics. For one, it's an easy way to reward shareholders, whose slice of the ownership pie grows larger as the size of the pie shrinks. It can also be a good investment for the company if it buys its shares low and the value increases. For instance, Harley repurchased 2.1 million shares in the third quarter at a cost of $104.6 million, or an average of about $50 a share. With the stock currently sitting above that level, it would seem it got a good deal. Same also with the purchases made in the second and first quarters, too, where it paid an average of $46 and $42.50, respectively.
A pricey stock
The problem is, based on its sales record and the problems confronting the industry, its stock really doesn't deserve to be trading at $59 a share, even if that translates into just 14 times next year's earnings estimates.
Where its earnings might have grown at a rate of about 27% over the past five years, they're forecast now to grow just 9% annually over the coming five years. That means Harley's stock price, in relation to its earnings and their projected growth rate, is overvalued. It also trades at over 21 times the free cash flow it generates, suggesting again it's no bargain..
Polaris Industries has been smoking its tires, posting double- and triple-digit sales growth for its Indian Motorcycle brand, while Harley's sales have fallen. Much of that exponential growth came as a result of Polaris starting from a nearly nonexistent base, since it bought the nameplate out of bankruptcy a few years ago, it's clear its business has gotten traction and expanded while Harley's has shrunk.
Data source: Harley-Davidson quarterly SEC filings.
Themotorcycleindustry is in the midst of a slowdown, one thateven Polaris is feeling. On its third-quarter earnings call with analysts, Polaris CFO Michael Speetzen forecast that motorcycle sales would only rise by low-single-digit percentages, which is lower than was previously expected, because of the spreading weakness in the industry.Harley said it was causing it to "streamline our operations to be even more focused, aligned, and agile."
So what we're looking at is a motorcycle manufacturer that consistently pumps out more bikes than the market can handle while its own sales fall.
In short, the discount Harley-Davidson got for its shares when it bought back its stock was unwarrantedbecause their subsequent increase in value wasn't justified based on its business. With the bike maker's fourth quarter now at an end, if sales are as bad as expected -- not least because it's historically one of its weakest quarters -- it doesn't bode well. The gains Harley-Davidson recorded in 2016 may soon vanish.
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Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Polaris Industries. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Check out all the latest news on Canon, our products and more
In commemoration of World Environment Day, Canon Oceania is excited to announce that its 2018 Grants Program is now open for nominations.
Canon has announced that the Company has signed a contract to provide special sponsorship as the title sponsor of the Bledisloe Cup 2018
The countdown begins—500 days until Rugby World Cup 2019
After four wonderful years helping people get more out of their Vivid Sydney experience, Canon has decided that the relationship with the festival has run its course and it’s time to move on.
Recently, CPU vulnerabilities known as Meltdown and Spectre were made public.
Australia’s Leading Female Photographers Band Together For New Major Exhibition – ‘AGENDER: Women in Photography. A platform for change.’
Revolutionary new technology intelligently calculates and manoeuvres the flash head position automatically to create optimum lighting
From stunning stills and 4K movie footage to ‘autosave’ to your phone, the ultra-compact EOS M50 mirrorless camera is the perfect companion for the modern traveller
Canon’s new entry level DSLRs make it easy to step into interchangeable lens photography
Ian Kiernan OA, founder of Clean Up Australia, will visit Canon employees as they prepare to pick up rubbish at ELS Hall Park in North Ryde as part of Business Clean Up Day 2018.
Canon Inc. announced that six Canon product designs were recognised by iF International Forum Design GmbH at the prestigious 2018 iF Design Awards.


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Coffee is one of those essentials in life for many people and it may be more beneficial than was previously thought according to the Annals of Internal Medicine. Two recent studies that they published have indicated that coffee consumption could reduce one’s risk of dying from various diseases including stroke and heart disease. Over the decades coffee has been widely researched and much of the work is revealing that coffee drinkers may enjoy a longer life.
One study encompassed over 185,000 American participants and found that coffee was associated with a reduction in risk of dying from heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and kidney disorders. These results were consistent across a variety of ethnicities and it didn’t matter if the coffee was regular or decaffeinated. One researcher indicated that these results give stronger biological backing to the notion that coffee is good for you. Follow Organo Gold on Facebook.
The strongest results were achieved by those who consumed two to three cups of java per day and showed an 18% reduction in the odds of dying over those who drank no coffee whatsoever. While it can’t be said conclusively that drinking coffee will prolong your life, there is a strong association.
The other study was done in Europe and it surveyed more than 520,000 people across ten countries with similar findings. Those participants who drank several cups of coffee per day had a lower risk of death than those who did not. Despite all this good news, researchers were unable to determine a causal relationship as to why coffee apparently has all of these benefits.
Organo Gold is a network marketing company that seeks to improve the lives of many and provide substantial and unique business opportunities. They offer premium products such as coffees and teas that help people achieve balanced lives by enhancing health and ramping up a sense of well-being. Visit crunchbase.com to know more about Organo Gold.
Many of the products that are available at Organo Gold feature Ganoderma Lucidum which is better known as the Red Reishi mushroom. It enhances the flavor and also has unique health benefits such as triterpenoids and amino acids. Organo Gold has grown exponentially since their founding in 2008 and they currently have over 400,000 independent distributors.


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MLive.com Business Center
Michigan Business news, local business resources, events & more
- Surprisingly, the majority of people are OK with a proposed $88 million Capitol welcome center 7:03 AM
- Whitmore-Lake based Al Dente introduces gluten-free pasta 5:35 AM
- 'My Michigan' snags top award from International New Media Association 6:14 PM
- Michigan by the numbers: Census shows a Detroit decline, unemployment hits milestone 9:08 AM
- Bigger is better for new home buyers in West Michigan 8:25 AM
Business news by region
Michigan Business Columns & Blogs »
Business Resources »
State, county & regional Chambers of Commerce & business associations:
- General Motors CEO Mary Barra: Detroit bankruptcy decision is 'a validation for everyone' committed to the city DETROIT, MI -- General Motors CEO Mary Barra, a 52-year-old Metro Detroit native, made it clear Friday afternoon where she stands on the city's historic bankruptcy ruling made by Judge Steven Rhodes.
DADA Courageous Persuaders awards
Takata airbag recall: NHTSA trying to remedy parts shortage
- Service that matches disabled people with jobs to be hit with layoffs The layoffs impact the entire staff of Employment Service Interviewers, who work with small businesses and organizations to employ people with disabilities.
First of its kind Holiday Inn Express in Alpena gets state approval for brownfield incentives
340-job Magna plant opens; General Motors supplier's new plant to bring almost 300 jobs to Lansing area
Michigan Business Videos »
The Michigan baseball team gathered Monday, May 25, 2015 to watch the NCAA Selection Show. It earned an automatic bid ...


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LA Gear’s celebration of the Unstoppable line from ’89-’90 continues, with its limited edition release of the Stardust. BUY LA GEAR
The LA Gear Originals silhouette was a hit in Europe not long ago; now
, LA Gear and Sportie LA are bringing the Stardust to the US, in five colors – light grey, white/blue, white/grey/green, white/lilac/green, and light pink.
With its classic look, rhinestones, and bow-tie in the back, the Stardust was one of the most popular women’s styles to
come out of LA Gear in the late 80′s. The styling is quintessential late
80′s, bringing back memories of leg warmers and aerobic workouts. Accessorizing sneakers was novel, and LA Gear led the way with the Stardust. “We are very excited to expand the relaunch of the Unstoppable line with one of the iconic women’s shoes of the 1980′s,” said Director of LA Gear specialty product Lance Jackson.
The limited edition run consists of 89 pairs, said Sportie LA co-owner
Isack Fadlon, in tribute to the 1989-90 Unstoppable line. “We actually did 90 pairs, but the first one went to my mom for Mother’s Day!” he explained.
The Stardust goes on sale the night of May 12, at 11:59PM PST at www.sportiela.com/lagear/stardust.html, and is available exclusively at Sportie LA. For more info on LA Gear, stay tuned to www.LaGearNews.com.
Iconic brand LA Gear is back, with a line of sneakers reviving many of the brand’s signature styles from the ’89-’90 Unstoppable line, while updating some colors and materials. LA Gear-owner ACI teamed up with top indie retailer Sportie LA for the relaunch, which was announced December 8. 2008.


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MERIDEN — The small grocery store and deli next to the train station on Colony Street is taking advantage of the potential in the city’s transit-oriented district.
La Poblanita Grocery & Deli at 39 Colony St. recently started to build a dining area in vacant space at 41 Colony St. next door, a former coin shop.
The city planner’s office approved plans to open a wall separating the commercial spaces to make room for at least six new tables to add to the existing three tables in the small store and deli.
The owners hired Prestige Construction, owned by City Councilor Miguel Castro, as general contractor for the project.
”They have people coming in Saturday and Sunday that can’t fit in the area,” Castro said. “People wait outside and sometimes there is a line outside. Rather than lose business, they took the opportunity to expand.”
La Poblanita will rent about 900 square feet in the vacant space owned by landlord K & S Meriden LLC of New Jersey bringing the total space to greater than 1,500 square feet.
After cutting the concrete wall for an opening, the next phase is repairing and coating the walls, updating tile and electrical and building a new prep area in the rear, Castro said.
Castro and other city officials are impressed with the business’ growth.
“It’s a decent little shop with good food,” said City Planner Renata Bertotti.
Originally the shop started as a deli, added a couple of tables and applied for a kitchen, a range hood, and a handicapped-accessible bathroom, Castro said. It serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“People can come in, order and go into the dining area,” Castro said. “They are hiring more waitresses. There is a great demand for their food.”
The expansion is part of several investments in expansions and new eateries in the city’s TOD, despite the newest commercial construction at 24 Colony St. remaining empty.
“I am certain we will get there,” Castro said. “This is indicative that the TOD is working. Twenty-four Colony Street is a different conversation. We need to help and assist them to fill those spots and spaces. Whatever it is, maybe its marketing issues, where and how can we bring this to fruition? I’m going to continue to have this conversation.”
Castro points to The Downtown Coffee Shop, the expansion of other small stores, Banana Brazil, Bentley’s and the new Mr. Taco in the TOD as evidence growth is happening downtown.
Lisa Biesak of the Making Meriden Business Center is excited to see La Poblanita occupy some dormant storefront space.
“We’re really excited about it. They do a great job with the space,” Biesak said. “It’s becoming a little hub down there. Very good food for the price. I’m really exicted for them. It’s great to see them expand.”
Georgina Ponce, who co-owns the business with her brother, has embraced the TOD’s beautification program and actively participates in downtown events, Biesak said.
La Poblanita’s location next to the train station, and the amount of walk-in traffic helped push the family’s decision to expand, Ponce said.
“Especially because of the train,” she said.


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Full-truckload specialist Waberer´s International (Budapest/Hungary) has established a subsidiary in the Netherlands to further improve its market position in the Benelux states. The group, operating the largest own asset fleets of road trucks in Europe, took this step to respond to local business demand for its services which has grown year-over-year in the region.
In 2014, revenues generated from the markets of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg increased by 15 per cent as compared to the previous year. Following the significant growth in 2014, Waberer’s revenue generated from the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg increased by 10% in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014.
Waberer’s truck-trailers mainly carry automobile parts, food products, textiles and plastics from Belgium; machinery, aircraft parts, chemicals, electrical goods from the Netherlands and automotive parts, iron, steel, glass and porcelain products from Luxembourg to the European markets.
“Large enterprises and major manufacturers in the Benelux supply chain have been our traditional and satisfied customers” – says Mr. Ferenc Lajkó, Waberer’s deputy CEO in charge of transport and delivery on the occasion of the inauguration of the Oosterhout company, adding that the company have had a reputation for reliability of services in this region as well. “We have been expanding our presence in the Benelux market for years. The newly established company will allow us to offer our customers an even more comprehensive service”.
Mr. Remco van Staaijeren has been appointed to lead Waberer’s Benelux B.V. operations as Business Development Director. His principal task is to increase Waberer’s revenues in Belgium, in the Netherlands and in Luxembourg.


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SAN JOSE (AP) - Cisco Systems is preparing to lay off about 1,300 workers just a few months after the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment warned that growing economic uncertainty is making it tougher to close sales with its customers.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Netflix will provide an update on the growing popularity of its Internet video service and the death march of its DVD-by-mail rental service Tuesday when the company releases its second-quarter earnings.
Q. I enjoy reading your column, but I must complain that sometimes you are too long winded in your answers. Why can't you answer a simple question with a simple answer?
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A widespread drought that's forcing ranchers to sell off animals has helped shrink the nation's cattle herd to its smallest number in at least four decades.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Viacom and DirecTV fought a bruising bout over fees to a draw Friday and agreed to a long-term deal that ended a 10-day channel blackout.
DETROIT (AP) - Ford says a plug-in electric version of its new C-Max small van will be able to go more than 20 miles on battery power alone, and have a range of 550 miles on a tank of gas.
NEW YORK (AP) - Verizon Communications Inc., parent of the country's largest cellphone carrier, on Thursday said its net income rose 13 percent in the second quarter as its wireless arm pulled in record profits.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (AP) - Google is getting even better at showing online ads to the right people at the right time. That enabled the Internet search leader to hit analysts' earnings target for the second quarter and reassure investors about the company's moneymaking prowess.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Microsoft posted its first quarterly loss in its 26 years as a public company on Thursday as it declared a struggling online ad business a bust and prepared for one of the biggest product updates in its history.
SAN JOSE (AP) - Yahoo is giving its new chief executive Marissa Mayer a compensation package worth more than $59 million over the next several years.
PLEASANTON (AP) - Safeway Inc. said Thursday that its net income fell 16 percent in the second quarter, as the grocery store operator spent more on advertising and rolled out a new loyalty program to stave off growing competition.
NEW YORK (AP) - The Walgreen pharmacy chain will begin filling prescriptions from customers in the Express Scripts network again starting in September under a new multiyear contract that ends a costly impasse between the companies.
DENVER (AP) - Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.'s earnings soared more than 61 percent in the second quarter but its shares plunged in Thursday after-hours trading after the popular restaurant chain's revenue growth missed expectations.
SUNNYVALE (AP) - Trouble in the global economy dragged Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s net income down 40 percent in the second quarter, and the world's second-biggest chipmaker warned that revenue will continue to be hurt through the rest of the summer.
SAN JOSE (AP) - EBay Inc. more than doubled its second-quarter net income thanks to higher revenue from its PayPal online payments business and its e-commerce websites.
NEW YORK (AP) - Some of the newest incarnations of fantasy football look a lot more like gambling than intricate, outsmart-your-opponent strategy games.
NEW YORK (AP) - Amazon is hoping to become the ESPN of video games.
NEW YORK (AP) - Here's a sign more households are going without cable or satellite TV: TiVo Inc. is making a digital video recorder just for so-called cord-cutters.
SAN JOSE (AP) - Chip supplier Fairchild Semiconductor is eliminating about 1,350 jobs in the U.S. and Asia - about 15 percent of its total workforce - to reduce costs.
NEW YORK (AP) - Forget bad weather, traffic jams and kids asking, "Are we there yet?" The real headache for many travelers is a quickly-growing list of hotel surcharges, even for items they never use.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Americans are doing a better job of making timely credit card payments, even as many lenders increasingly extend credit to more people with less-than-stellar credit.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A fourth straight monthly increase in sales of existing homes provided the latest evidence Thursday that the U.S. housing market is rebounding from a weak start to the year.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's food safety agency said Thursday that it was checking McDonald's restaurants around the country, a day after several branches of the chain were shuttered in Moscow.
NEW YORK (AP) - A report from the Census Bureau is the latest evidence that the rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Gap Inc. said its profit rose 10 percent in the second quarter as the clothing retailer cut expenses and managed to lift sales.
NEW YORK (AP) - Burger King is getting rid of its lower-calorie french fries at most restaurants after less than a year.
NEW YORK (AP) - Amazon is taking direct aim at mobile payment systems such as Square by introducing the Amazon Local Register, a credit-card processing device and mobile app designed to help small business owners accept payments through their smartphones and tablets.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals during the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest commitment to protect the factory workers who build its trendy devices.
SAN JOSE (AP) - Cisco said Wednesday that it will lay off up to 6,000 workers, or 8 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The PBS series "Antiques Roadshow" says it hit a home run with a collection of 1870s Boston baseball memorabilia.


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Earn 8% p.a secured returns.
Invest Tax-Free through the CrowdProperty ISA.
Finance for property professionals made
simple by property experts.
The team are excited to announce that we are finalists in the category 'Tech Entrepreneur of the Year' at the Go:Tech Awards for 2022, bought to you by Business Leader.
The Go:Tech Awards celebrate entrepreneurs and businesses leading the way in innovation and technology across the UK. We are proud to be among those named this year.


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The end of the commercialization of the halogen spotlights boosts the consumption of this technology more efficient.
The end of the commercialization of the halogen spotlights since last September in the European market has had a clear winner. The best-selling light bulbs today are those of led technology (light-emitting diodes). “They are replacing the old directional or incandescent halogen lamps and are also outperforming the low-power fluorescents,” explains Alfredo Berges, general director of the Spanish Association of Illumination Manufacturers (Anfalum).
In fact, the market share of these bulbs has gone from being 10% of the billing of the lighting sector in 2010 to representing 51% in 2015. “This sorpasso compared to traditional lighting has exceeded all expectations Were managed from Europe, which placed this moment in 2017, “says Berges.
The objective of the European Union in banning halogen bulbs is for the consumer to opt for more efficient solutions, since it is a type of bulb that lasts less hours than the rest and consumes more electricity.
Even so, on the shelves of shops and large stores, these products are still sold until stocks are exhausted. It is estimated that the stock will last eight to ten more months. “In 2017 we will continue to work on our range of halogen lamps that have not yet been banned from manufacturing (for example, R7S). The fundamental reason is that the LED technology does not have as much light power on these bushes, so the customer May be unsatisfied, “they say in Leroy Merlin. The number of references that this DIY firm has in halogen technology is approximately 5% of the total range. In addition, not all halogen bulbs are prohibited. Non-foci can continue to be marketed until 2018.
Spend less light
This is not the first time that the European Union has gotten involved in this matter. The incandescent was definitely eliminated from the market in 2012. The impulse that is being given to led light bulbs is because they are the most efficient, saving about 85% of energy compared to the old incandescent, say in Leroy Merlin. A savings that compensates quickly its greater cost and that not only depends on the types of lamps or bulbs, but of the own installation.
“With the change to led, the savings can reach 70% or 80%, and if we add the regulation that allows this technology we could reach savings of more than 90%,” according to Anfalum. And Berges, its general manager emphasizes: “The old technologies only allowed the on and off, and with this we can regulate the illumination up to 10% of the total power.”


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We’re shortlisted for the 2022 Bologna Prize!
Owlkids Books has been shortlisted for the 2022 Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year!
The prize, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, is awarded annually to a publisher “at the forefront of innovation in their activity for the creative nature of the editorial choices they have made during the previous year.”
Every year, the prize is given to one publisher in each of six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, North America, and Oceania. Nominated publishers are selected by their peers—publishers, publishers’ associations, and institutions devoted to reading promotion worldwide.
You can find the full shortlist and more information about the prize here. The winners will be announced during an event at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair taking place from March 21 to 24, 2022.


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Mexican fintech start-up Mendel bags $60m in fresh funding
B2B spend management start-up Mendel has landed $60 million in capital and debt funding from existing backer Industry Ventures and new investors Infinity Ventures and Victory Park Capital.
Other existing investors ALLVP and BTV also took part in the funding round.
With the fresh funds, Mendel plans to accelerate the development of its corporate expense management platform and boost its growth in the Mexican market.
Mendel was founded in 2021 in Mexico City as a B2B platform for large corporations to help them digitise their finances. The firm allows clients to issue virtual and physical corporate cards and also provides credit lines for business operations as well as budgeting and invoice tracking features.
Last year, the company raised $35 million in funding, consisting of a $15 million Series A round and $20 million in debt financing.
Mendel says the role of chief financial officers (CFOs) has become “increasingly strategic” in recent years, but “data management and digital tools have not evolved at the same time”.
“Today, CFOs must make use of various disintegrated solutions; therefore, unifying them is key to the future of efficient financial management.”


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The people in Bentonville, Arkansas always have enough time on their hands to figure out how to make their workers even more miserable. Today's Wall Street Journal has a front-page article that reports on the Beast's plan to use computers to figure out when to schedule workers, even if that means workers can never count on knowing what their schedule will be from week to week.
Wal-Mart Seeks New Flexibility In Worker Shifts
By KRIS MAHER
The nation's biggest private employer is about to revamp the way it schedules its work force, in a move that could shake up many employees' lives.
Early this year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., using a new computerized scheduling system, will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on the number of customers in stores at any given time. The move promises greater productivity and customer satisfaction for the huge retailer but could be a major headache for employees.
The change is made possible by a software system that can crunch an array of data, part of a shift toward computerized management tools that can help pare costs and boost companies' bottom lines. But it also could demand greater flexibility and availability from workers in place of reliable work shifts -- and predictable paychecks.
Wal-Mart began implementing the new system for some workers, including cashiers and accounting-office personnel, last year. As the world's largest retailer, the Bentonville, Ark., company often sets the standard for others, and many chains already are heading in the same direction.
The way this whole system works is so 1984 or "Modern Times" or whatever ugly term you can think to give it:
A company using these fine-tuned programs might start the day with a few employees on hand at many stores, bring in a bunch more during busy midday hours, and gradually pare down through the day before bulking up for the evening rush.
Staffing is the latest arena in which companies are trying to wring costs and attain new efficiencies. The latest so-called scheduling-optimization systems can integrate data ranging from the number of in-store customers at certain hours to the average time it takes to sell a television or unload a truck, and help predict how many workers will be needed at any given hour.
And here's where it hits the workers:
But while the new systems are expected to benefit both retailers and customers, some experts say they can saddle workers with unpredictable schedules. In some cases, they may be asked to be "on call" to meet customer surges, or sent home because of a lull, resulting in less pay. The new systems also alert managers when a worker is approaching full-time status or overtime, which would require higher wages and benefits, so they can scale back that person's schedule.
That means workers may not know when or if they will need a babysitter or whether they will work enough hours to pay that month's bills. Rather than work three eight-hour days, someone might now be plugged into six four-hour days, mornings one week and evenings the next.
Some analysts say the new systems will result in more irregular part-time work. "The whole point is workers were a fixed cost, now they're a variable cost. Is it good for workers? Probably not," says Kenneth Dalto, a management consultant in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Yeah, I'd say it's not good. Check this out:
Some workers say the form has been used to pressure them to be open to more shifts. Tami Orth, a full-time cashier in Ludington, Mich., says she used to work a regular schedule of nearly 35 hours a week, with Mondays and Wednesdays off. In May, managers began to assign her as few as 12 hours a week, and her shifts began to fluctuate. "You can't budget anything," says Ms. Orth, who earns $9.32 an hour.
Some longtime workers also say they believe managers use the system to pressure them to quit. After working 16 years at a Wal-Mart in Hastings, Minn., Karen Nelson says managers told her she had to be open to working nights and weekends. After she refused, her hours were trimmed, though they have been restored in recent months. "The store manager said he could get two people for what he pays me," says Ms. Nelson, who earns about $14.50 an hour.
Welcome to the next wrinkle in the "free market" wonders of our economy.


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Second-Quarter Sees Media and Technology Brands Struggle29 Jul, 2009 Response This Week
LOS ANGELES – Leading technology and media companies are each struggling in this turbulent economy. The New York Times Co., Microsoft, AT&T, Amazon and Disney were among a number of large companies in the space to report a drop in second-quarter results. How each plans to address financial distress remains, for the most part, insider information.
While the New York Times Co. earned $39.1 million, an 85-percent increase from the same period last year. But the profit may be misleading, as the company’s advertising revenue plummeted 30 percent, or $137 million, a greater decrease than in 1Q 2009, when ad sales fell 27 percent.
Microsoft Co. met Wall Street expectations — excluding money budgeted for the October release of Windows 7 — with a 29-percent 2Q decline in profits due to weak computer sales, according to the company. Meanwhile, AT&T Inc. reported a 15-percent decrease in second-quarter earnings, primarily due to wireless business declines and heavy subsidies to sign up iPhone customers.
Amazon.com Inc.’s 2Q profit fell 10 percent. The Seattle-based company said net sales would have grown 20 percent, but yearly changes in foreign exchange rates made an unfavorable impact on profit. The company this week bought privately held online shoe store Zappos.com Inc. in an $850 million deal.
Disney Co. hopes to boost profit by preparing a subscription online video site that will offer Disney movies, TV shows and games on a monthly subscription-based mode.


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The deal was one of the largest ever in the private apparel segment.
Vuori, a clothing brand specializing in the production and sale of activewear, raised $400 million in investment with a business valuation of $4 billion.
The deal was one of the largest ever in the private apparel segment, which made Vuori one of the most expensive nonpublic brands on the market. The company was founded in 2017 and was already profitable two years later, writes Retail Dive.
The funds raised will be used for international expansion in key markets in Europe and Asia-Pacific in 2022 and for an ambitious plan to expand to the U.S., where 100 stores are expected to open within five years.
"With a strong e-commerce business, thriving retail stores, and a network of best-in-class wholesale partners, Vuori, unlike many other digital brands, has been profitable since 2017," the company stressed.
Vuori also expects to launch an omnichannel business in several countries and expand its product portfolio. At the same time, the company will continue to invest in its team and infrastructure and allocate funds for a sustainability program.
Vuori also has supply contracts with major retailers such as Nordstrom and REI. The brand has become increasingly popular in recent years and has taken market share from giants like Lululemon.


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The company is targeting more than $100 million in revenue from its Centre of Excellence for Analytics Platform & Solutions within three years. With this launch, the company aims to be among the top three players in India's big data and analytics market, which is expected to grow eight times to $16 billion by 2020.
"We are creating strong partner ecosystem to support customers in India and Asia-Pacific region... India is a focus market for us. Given the need, it is a right time to be in this space,” Tomoyasu Nishimura, senior vice president of system platform business units at NEC, told ET. While the centre will kick off operations with 30 people, the company plans to hire 70 more employees.
Nishimura said that the company is looking at alliances with universities to get fresh talent on board.
"The centre will leverage the computational power and scalability of NEC’s specialised hardware for big data and analytics in order to flexibly handle the ever increasing demand for storage and computation by Hadoop,” the company said.
The big data and analytics market is expected to reach $210 billion by 2020. Hadoop alone is expected to reach $50.2 billion by 2020. With the industry already facing a shortage in talent, specifically in Hadoop and analytics areas, the establishment of the COE-APS will help NEC leverage India’s strong talent base, the company said.
“Our solution is a mix of hardware and software, which coupled with consulting services will act as a one-stop-shop for customers in India,” Nishimura said.
Friday, 01 Dec, 2023
- Surprise Boost: Economy Grows 7.6% in Q2, Beating Estimates
India's economy expanded 7.6% in the September quarter from a year earlier, exceeding expectations as manufacturing posted strong growth and investments gathered pace. Private consumption was tepid while a patchy monsoon dented farm growth, according to government data released on Thursday.JSW, SAIC Ink JV to Run MG Motor Operations in India
The Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Group and SAIC Motor announced an India joint venture aimed at expanding the operations of MG Motor, owned by the Chinese company, in the country. JSW will hold a 35% stake in the joint venture, they announced on Thursday.UltraTech to Buy Kesoram’s Cement Unit
Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech will acquire the cement business of the BK Birla Group’s Kesoram Industries in an all-stock deal at an estimated enterprise value of around ₹7,600 crore, which includes debt.


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David McInnis of PRWeb dropped me a quick note this a.m. about a new strategic partnership between PRWeb parent, Vocus Communications and Business Wire that includes the licensing of a private label version of PRWeb for use by Business Wire clients.
“Vocus will create and host for Business Wire a co-branded version of the PRWeb direct-to-consumer and SEO service. Business Wire members may disseminate press releases so they will be indexed by major search engines, distributed to thousands of news sites, including Google News and Yahoo News, and delivered through more than 20,000 RSS feeds that collectively reach tens of millions of consumers and thousands of journalists daily.”
This partnership will give Business Wire a leg up over other wire services looking into the optimized press release space. It will also give Business Wire clients the opportunity to take advantage of the new media press release features pioneered by PRWeb.
I agree David, this is big news. Congratulations!
About the author
Lee Odden has been recognized as a top B2B Marketing professional by Forbes, The Economist and the Wall Street Journal. For over 20 years he's worked with his team at TopRank Marketing to help elevate the B2B marketing industry through creative marketing programs that deliver more authentic, experiential and inclusive content for brands like LinkedIn, Dell and Adobe. Lee is the author of Optimize and has published over 1.4 million words on his agency's B2B marketing blog. As a trusted marketing thought leader, he has given nearly 300 presentations in 19 different countries on B2B content, search and influencer marketing. When not marketing, Lee is probably running, cooking or traveling.


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Reader’s Digest has been bought out of administration in the UK by a private
equity vehicle owned by Jon Moulton.
Better Capital’s BECAP fund backed a management buyout of the business in a
deal worth £13m.
Stephens had been appointed in February to the UK arm of the
business after plans to deal with its pension liability fell through.
The UK arm will have no bank debt through the deal, and publish the magazine
through a licensing deal with its US counterpart.
“It’s rare to have an opportunity to back a dynamic management team to run a
business with the heritage and brand strength of Reader’s Digest,” said Mark
Aldridge, CEO of Better Capital.
Head of Editorial Kevin Reed looks at the week's news, including the BHS and Austin Reed administration, Accountex and much more.
MPs launch probe into the sale of BHS that will look at role of auditors and accountancy firms in sale process
A short moratorium will give struggling companies a chance to be open with their creditors and negotiate a way out of their problems transparently, says Sykes
Out of a dozen sectors profiled only oil and gas and manufacturing were deemed to have a higher than normal risk of insolvency


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Apple’s AirDrop technology could leak users’ phone numbers and email addresses, according to researchers who said that they had first informed Apple of the vulnerability in 2019. AirDrop is Apple’s proprietary wireless technology that is used for sharing files such as photos and videos wireless across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices and used to be introduced in 2011. It uses both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to set up a wireless connection and exchange files. The mutual authentication mechanism used by AirDrop can, alternatively, be misused to steal the phone number and email address of a user.
Researchers from Germany’s Technical University of Darmstadt has found the vulnerability that could affect any of the Apple users who share files the usage of AirDrop. The researchers found that the problem exists inside using hash functions that exchange phone numbers and email addresses all over the discovery process.
Despite the fact that this is moderately concerning, users are only affected in particular circumstances. For one object, anyone who has set their receive settings to Everyone is at risk. But other than that, even though you have your settings set to Off or Contacts Only, when you’ve got your share sheet open with AirDrop (where your device is searching for other devices to connect) are at risk, according to the researchers.
Apple uses the novel SHA-256 hash functions to encrypt the phone number and email address of the user accessing AirDrop. Despite the fact that the hashes couldn’t be converted into the cleartext by a novice, the researchers found that an attacker who has a Wi-Fi-enabled device and is in physical proximity can initiate a process to decrypt the encryption.
The researchers group that consists of five experts from the university’s Protected Mobile Networking (SEEMOO) lab and the Cryptography and Privacy Engineering Group (ENCRYPTO) detailed the vulnerability in a paper.
As per the main points given in the paper, there are two particular ways to exploit the flaws. The attacker could, in one case, gain access to the user details once they’re in proximity and open the share sheet or share menu on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. On the other hand, in the second one case, the attacker could open a share sheet or share menu on their devices and then look for a nearby device to perform a mutual authentication handshake with a responding receiver.
The second one case is only legitimate whether the user has set the discovery of their devices on AirDrop to Everybody. This isn’t as wide as the first case where someone who’s trying to share a dossier over an Apple device could be attacked.
Along with detailing the flaws, the researchers have developed a solution called “PrivateDrop” that uses cryptographic private set intersection protocols to process sharing between two users without exchanging vulnerable hash values.
The researchers also said in a commentary that they privately informed Apple approximately the AirDrop flaw in May 2019, though the company didn’t acknowledge the issue and replied back.
AirDrop exists as a preloaded service on more than 1.5 billion Apple devices that each one allegedly stand vulnerable because of the flaw discovered by the researchers. Apple didn’t respond to a remark on if it is fixing the problem at the time of filing the story.
This isn’t notably the first time when AirDrop is found to have a security issue. The service in August 2019 used to be noticed to have a problem that could allow attackers to access information approximately the phone status, battery information, Wi-Fi status, buffer availability, and OS version. At that time, AirDrop used to be also shown to send partial SHA256 hashes of phone number, Apple ID, and email addresses. The company did not respond to that finding as mannered.
That said, until the issues receive official fixes, Apple users can keep away from getting caught by an attacker through AirDrop simply by turning it off when they aren’t the usage of the feature.
We dive into all things Apple — iPad Pro, iMac, Apple TV 4K, and AirTag — this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is to be had on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.


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Better than expected growth for the Chinese economy in 2017 – but what does it mean for the year ahead?
China’s economy grew by nearly 7 percent last year – almost half a point ahead of its projected growth rate.
It’s the first time since 2010 that the economy has grown more than the previous year. While the Chinese government projection for 2018 remains at 6.5 percent, many observers wonder if China’s solid 2017 growth will carry throughout this year.
But a series of challenges confront the economy, the markets and policymakers this year and there are very few simple solutions.
CGTN’s Joel Flynn reports on that economic outlook for China in 2018.
To discuss China’s economic growth and the road ahead:
- Xu Sitao is chief economist and a partner with Deloitte China.
- Amy Celico is a principal and hed of the China team at the Albright-Stonebridge group.
- Yan Liang is a professor of economics at Willamette University.
- Adam Posen is president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
As more Chinese crave Western-style diets, the booming nation rushes to industrialize an agricultural economy long built around small farms.https://t.co/DKNQbqxcue
— National Geographic (@NatGeoMag) February 15, 2018


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The Mount Airy Christmas parade is scheduled for Nov. 24 at 9 a.m., according to a representative of the Mount Airy Downtown Business Association.
The parade will feature all the sights and sounds of the upcoming holiday season in the setting of downtown Mount Airy.
This year’s honorary parade grand marshal will be Eric Chilton. As a WFMY2 TV personality and Mount Airy native, Chilton is looking forward to seeing old friends.
Scheduling of the parade on Small Business Saturday is no coincidence. The nationwide campaign is targeted to promote the countries’ small businesses.
The parade, organized each year by the Downtown Business Association, also will benefit the Foothills Food Pantry.
Immediately following the parade, those in attendance are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History’s annex on West Oak Street where Eric Chilton will be on hand to greet visitors and children can visit with Santa.
Upcoming holiday events also scheduled by the Downtown Business Association include a Holiday Open House on Dec. 1. For more information, visit www.mountairydowntown.org, or contact the Downtown Business Association at 786-4511.


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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk acknowledged a full-page ad given by a New York couple in a local Silicon Valley Newspaper on Sunday. Musk said that he is determined to execute many of the changes suggested by this couple.
Suggestions for Tesla
Header of the advertisement was “Automotive visionary, open letter to Elon Musk.” The couple thanked the company for making such a great American car, which is fun, comfortable and has an advanced reliability into a phenomenal driving experience. However, the recommendations in the letter that the caught attention of Musk, and he said that changes suggested would soon feature in the car.
Last year was a bumper year for hedge fund launches. According to a Hedge Fund Research report released towards the end of March, 614 new funds hit the market in 2021. That was the highest number of launches since 2017, when a record 735 new hedge funds were rolled out to investors. What’s interesting about Read More
Some of the modifications that this couple suggested to the company are adjusting cup-holder in the front, center console redesign and introduce sensors that should warn the drivers when the objects are close to the car. To enhance the safety of the car, the couple suggested blind spot monitors and cross traffic monitors other than sensors to indicate the proximity of the object. Also, the larger touch interface is suggested in the letter for answering the calls to avoid disconnecting the calls, when the driver fails to touch the right spot.
Couple claims that they are very satisfied Tesla owners from Southhold, New York and asked the company to ramp up its marketing strategy a bit. The letter read that people are fascinated by the Tesla cars owned by both husband and wife. They said, “Promotion of your cars to the general public could only have a positive effect, creating many additional enthusiastic Tesla owners.”
Musk determined to make changes
The CEO has taken the suggestions positively and looks keen to include some of those in the car. Elon Musk tweeted the picture of this letter to around 860,000 followers. As of now, Tesla is quite about the changes that it will filter from the letter and wish to make include them in the car.
Tesla fans and customers applauded the response of Musk after he posted the letter on the Twitter. Although few might be against the vision and strategies of Musk, it does not stop him from being a unique CEO. Such gestures have hardly been seen from a CEO of an automobile or any other company. There are just handfuls of auto companies who listen to the suggestions made by their customers.


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therufus writes: A few days after the release of Assassin's Creed II, naughty piracy sites were announcing they had cracked Ubisoft's Online Services Platform. Turns out, that wasn't entirely true. While it was possible to load into the game, players were unable to advance past a certain memory block. But now, it seems like they'll need to draft a new response. Less than 24 hours ago, a crack began circulating that removes the DRM entirely. PC Powerplay Australia has been covering the development. Link to Original Source
"The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the
sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment."
-- Richard P. Feynman


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LVM expands furniture display
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The organisers of the Las Vegas Market (LVM) have announced its expects more than 300,000 square feet of new, expanded and renewed household furniture showroom space will be on display when the summer edition of the twice-yearly trade event opens here on July 30. A sizeable portion of that space will belong to Canadian furniture and mattress resources.
Since the close of the winter market this past February, LVM executives said they have signed commitments to nine new showrooms, six expanded showrooms and eight renewals as well as an early sell-out of home furnishings temporary exhibits on B2.
“Debuts, expansions and renewals by industry-leading suppliers are reflective of the home furnishings industry’s confidence in the state of the industry overall, as well as a strong indication of their commitment to the Las Vegas Market in particular,” said Scott Eckman, president of furniture and home décor leasing/ chief strategy officer for International Market Centers (IMC), the event’s owner and operator. “No other U.S. market offers such a depth and breadth of key furniture, casual/outdoor and bedding resources, alongside such a wealth of complementary home décor and lifestyle gift offerings.”
Among the nine new showrooms set to open is one for mattress producer Marshall Mattress of Toronto, which will take a 2,384 square foot space on the ninth floor of Building ‘B’.
The others belong to: case goods and upholstery supplier Apricot Sofa on B6; leading foam bedding manufacturer Carpenter on C15; furniture supplier Healthtec on A10; bedding resource MLily USA on B9; motion furniture manufacturer OKIN on A7; casual and outdoor furniture supplier Seaside Casual in on C4; case goods manufacturer Starway on B6; and, upholstery and case goods manufacturer Vanguard Furniture on A1.
In addition, eight leading furniture resources are expanding showrooms in time for summer market, including LH Imports, the Vancouver-based case goods and upholstery supplier, which will almost quadruple its display space to 20,000 square feet with a showroom on the fourth floor of Building ‘C’.
Other expansions include: casual indoor and outdoor furniture resource Crosley Brands on A10; contemporary case goods and upholstery manufacturer Diamond Sofa on B7; bedding and casual furniture supplier Fashion Bed Group on B13; luxury bedding vendor Malouf on C15; adjustable bedding and accessories manufacturer Reverie on B7; home furnishings manufacturer Bella Esprit on B12; and, Home Insights and Turnkey, which is also relocating to A9.
Two Canadian upholstery producers were among those who renewed their showroom commitments including the Toronto-based Décor Rest, which has a 9,984 square foot display on the fifth floor of Building ‘A’; and, the Winnipeg-headquartered Palliser, which occupies 19,051 square feet on the tenth floor of Building ‘B’.
Others renewing include: affordable and functional furniture manufacturer Jofran on A8; solid wood furniture manufacturer A-America on A5; case goods supplier Crown Mark, on A6; case goods and upholstery producer Flexsteel Industries on A5; solid wood furniture manufacturer RSF Home Trends & Design on B1; motion, upholstery and case goods producer Lifestyle Solutions on A7; and, custom upholstery producer Skyline Furniture on A9.
Eckman also noted the temporary home furnishings exhibition space on B2 is sold-out for the summer event with a record 85+ companies exhibiting. Included is one Canadian resource, Reemka Home Furnishings of Mississauga, Ontario.
The organisers maintain LVM is the largest furniture market in the western United States, with some two million square feet of furniture resources presented on 33 showroom floors, along with nearly 200 temporary exhibitors showcasing home furnishings on B2, on C13 and in The Pavilions. It is also seen as the largest bedding market in the U.S., with the top 15 producers represented; and a growing resource for casual/outdoor furniture following its 2015 launch of two new, dedicated floors for the category.
Key furniture categories presented at LVM are: case goods, dining, bedroom, upholstery/motion, leather, juvenile furniture, and casual/outdoor.
The summer 2017 edition of the Las Vegas Market runs from July 30 to August 3. For more information, visit www.lasvegasmarket.com.


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U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) last week sent a letter to the computer software and data analytics company Alteryx after it was disclosed in December that the company failed to properly secure sensitive consumer data and accidentally exposed personal information affecting 123 million American households.
The data breach by Alteryx comes after a series of high profile data breaches including the disclosure of consumer data by the credit reporting agency Equifax and the ride-share company Uber.
In the letter to Alteryx, Luján and Shakowsky wrote:
“On Dec. 20, 2017, Alteryx revealed that the company had accidentally exposed nonpublic marketing data on 123 million U.S. households from the consumer reporting agency Experian. The unsecured files also included publically available data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Alteryx stored the files online using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and left them accessible to anyone with a free AWS account…
“Companies in the consumer data industry collect and sell vast quantities of personal information that, if exposed, can leave consumers vulnerable to fraud, identity theft, and other abuses. The Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection has a longstanding interest in safeguarding the privacy and security of consumer information. We therefore request a briefing on this incident with our staff and Committee staff before Jan. 31, 2018.”
The lawmakers also posed a series of questions to the company including:
- How long did Alteryx leave the files exposed on AWS? When and how did Alteryx discover that the files were exposed? When did Alteryx remove the exposed files?
- What specific categories of consumer information were exposed, and what are the sources of the information?
- Does Alteryx know who or how many people accessed the exposed files while they were publically available?
- What were Alteryx’s internal data security policies at the time of this incident? Has the company conducted an investigation to determine how and why the incident occurred? What were the results of any investigation?
- Is Alteryx changing its privacy and data security policies in light of this incident?
- Is Alteryx offering or planning to offer any type of post-breach consumer protection service to consumers?”
Luján and Schakowsky noted that as massive data breaches become more frequent, companies must do more to protect their databases from intrusion. They also said consumers need a reliable way to get information about whether their personal information was compromised and the ability to take steps to protect themselves once a data breach is discovered.
“Given the frequency of these massive data breaches, it is simply unacceptable for companies and the credit agencies who sell them this sensitive personal data to treat it so casually,” Luján said. “We must give power back to consumers by requiring credit reporting agencies, and the companies to whom they sell sensitive consumer data, to properly address privacy and data concerns. They must also have procedures in place to notify consumers immediately when they become aware of security violations.”
Last year, Luján, Schakowsky and their Democratic colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee wrote a letter to Equifax chairman and CEO Richard Smith seeking detailed information about how their massive data breach occurred, what steps Equifax was taking to make affected consumers whole, and what the company is doing to safeguard against security breaches in the future. Last month, the two legislators also wrote to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expressing significant concerns regarding Uber’s privacy and security practices.


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JMC Papers, an Offshoot of JMC Paper Tech, to Establish 150 TPD Kraft Paper Mill in North America
JMC Paper Tech Private Limited, a renowned Indian machinery manufacturer within the pulp and paper industry, has recently unveiled plans to expand its presence in the market through the launch of its subsidiary, JMC Papers. This new venture aims to establish a strong foothold in the North American region by initiating the operations of a state-of-the-art recycled fiber-based kraft paper mill with a capacity of 150 TPD.
Scheduled for inauguration by mid-2024, the upcoming mill represents a strategic move for JMC Papers, poised to enrich the company’s global footprint and unlock a multitude of growth opportunities. Dr. Yesha Patel, the CEO of JMC Papers, emphasized the significance of this endeavor, stating, “Our paper mill in North America serves as a pivotal milestone in our journey towards becoming a world-class leader in the pulp and paper industry. With JMC Papers, we are inching closer to realizing our vision and catering to the diverse needs of our customers.”
Based in Sanand, Gujarat, JMC Paper Tech Private Limited specializes in the design, manufacturing, supply, erection, and commissioning of new pulp mill and paper machines, along with the modernization of existing ones. Over the years, the company has cultivated a robust customer base across various continents, including Africa, Asia, and the United States. Its clientele spans across nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Canada, Bangladesh, and more.


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Billon pitched its idea of financial revolution before the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, Deputy PM and Minister of Development Mateusz Morawiecki, and top public companies at the second edition of the “Start-ups in the Palace” event.
This year’s edition of the event, held in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on March 14, presented the most promising young Polish companies operating in the B2B model. 241 start-ups signed up to participate in the meeting. 10 of them, including Billon, were chosen for a 4-minute pitch to a group of investors, business angels and representatives of corporations.
Andrzej Horoszczak, Billon founder and CEO, said at the meeting: “The time to change thinking on how we use money is now. European Central Bank and Bank of Japan work together on introducing digital currency that in 2022 can be used as widely as cash. Cecilia Skingsley, Deputy Governor of the Swedish Central Bank, announced Sweden will adopt the digital krona in two years. Thanks to our technology and us all, Poland can reach that goal in one year and stay at the front of financial revolution.”
The time to change thinking on how we use money is now.Andrzej Horoszczak, Billon Founder & CEO
Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, said in his speech: “Start-ups are indispensable for Poland’s growth. Let us remember that big global firms have not grown from large companies. They grew from small ventures set up by friends. Only one in ten start-ups can turn out successful but this one success may decide if the country becomes a European and world leader.”
Billon, together with other companies present at the event, received as a gift a special “passport” from the President The “passport” gives the right to participate in one of the economic overseas missions of the Polish head of state.


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The application is powered by ArkansasRazorbacks.com and joins the recently released iPhone and Android applications. The Arkansas Razorbacks iPad app is available for purchase in the iTunes App Store.
Some of the features include live stats of Arkansas Razorback games, news updates, photo galleries, scores, schedules, rosters and biographies.
With the Arkansas Razorbacks app for the iPad you can also watch live video of select events and on-demand video from the RazorVision library, as well as enjoy access to live audio of all RazorVision Radio Network broadcasts. A RazorVision subscription is needed to watch and listen to live events.
The iPad app is $7.99 and all purchases help support Arkansas Razorback Athletics.
Download the app here.


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Chinese actor, Li Chen, and Chinese actress, Fan Bingbing, will front the 2017 Chinese New Year campaign of H&M (Hennes & Mauritz).
Commemorating their 520 days together (520 means “I love you” in Mandarin), the power couple kick-starts its first campaign together on January 19, 2017 by unveiling an image from the campaign shot by renowned fashion photographer, Chen Man. The collection will be launched exclusively in nine markets in Asia: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays on the lunar calendar, and what better way to celebrate the season than with your loved ones? I’m so excited to be fronting H&M’s Chinese New Year campaign together with Fan Bingbing. We hope that the warmth and joy from the campaign shoot by Chen Man will resonate with our fans,” says Li Chen.
“I am very happy to front H&M’s 2017 Chinese New Year campaign with Li Chen. During the Spring Festival, everyone wants to stand out in style when the streets are awash in auspicious red. We hope our campaign with H&M will bring the Year of Rooster alive in style to different cities of Asia,” says Fan Bingbing. #HM2017CNY #lunarnewyear
Visit us on Instagram To be You; Facebook: To be You; e-mail [email protected]


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Bay of Plenty Police are seeing an increase in the use of counterfeit money in the region.
On Wednesday, Tokoroa Police arrested a 38-year-old local man after he allegedly paid for goods with counterfeit notes.
The man was in possession of a large amount of these notes and it is likely more are still circulating in the community.
In the past few weeks Police have responded to a number of incidents where counterfeit notes have been presented at small businesses.
There have also been reports of counterfeit money being used across the North Island from Hamilton to Wellington.
The notes are printed on paper which can tear easily as opposed to legal tender which is printed on polymer.
When accepting cash retailers are advised to take a “look, feel and tilt” approach to identify a genuine banknote.
Information on this can be found on the Reserve Bank of NZ website.
If you find you’ve already received a counterfeit banknote, put it in an envelope to avoid handling it further, and get in touch with Police.
Anyone with information about the manufacture or distribution of counterfeit banknotes is asked to contact Police on 105.
Information can also be provided anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


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With the rapid advancements in communications networks, social media, and internet users, the Asian market is expanding at a much quicker rate than any other region, making it crucial for the gaming industry’s growth and consumer consumption.
One of the major drivers of growth in the gaming industry is mobile gaming. Online mobile games are readily available free of cost on application stores, and the popularity of multiplayer mobile games, particularly MMO games with a large number of players, is a key driver of the mobile gaming market’s growth. Game developers are constantly developing new genres of MMO games to enhance the gaming experience of users. This has resulted in The Asia-Pacific region to host the most prominent mobile player base globally, with an average session duration of 34.79 minutes in 2022, which is 14% higher than the global average of 30.5 minutes. This factor, coupled with the rapid rise of smart devices and internet users, has made the APAC region the go-to destination for mobile game creators.
Esports has also become a significant market in the APAC region, generating nearly half of the global esports revenue in 2019. The Asian population plays a vital role in the number of esports viewers and athletes, with projections indicating that over 50% of esports viewers in 2025 will be from the APAC region. China and Korea are the major esports markets in the region, but other countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan are also emerging as powerhouses of esports.
The region’s influence on the gaming industry is set to continue growing, with governments and businesses in the region investing heavily in esports and mobile gaming. The Asia Pacific Blockchain Gaming Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 69.1% during the forecast period (2023–2028). The introduction of Qglobe’s new platform, Tilted, is set to leverage this growth. The app’s innovative tools will provide game streamers and Esports corporations with a unique way to monetize their content and traffic. With these developments, it’s clear that the gaming industry in the Asia Pacific region is poised for continued success in the future.


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This Week in Crypto Games: Saga Airdrop, Notcoin Trading, and PlayStation NFT Plans
The crypto and NFT gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!
Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re debuting This Week in Crypto Games.
Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.
Saga airdrop begins: Saga, a layer-1 blockchain with a huge focus on gaming, launched its SAGA token last week and began the airdrop claim for over 200,000 unique wallets. Some of those wallets come from its play-to-airdrop campaign across games on Saga, Solana, Avalanche, and beyond, while others get tokens for DeFi staking across Cosmos, Celestia, and elsewhere. Click here for more details.
Notcoin trading: Viral Telegram game Notcoin is quickly becoming the buzziest thing in crypto gaming ahead of its upcoming token mint on The Open Network (TON), and the hype only grew last week as the project launched pre-market trading. Users with Notcoin balances of at least 10 million can convert them into NFT vouchers and then trade them to speculate on the future value of the on-chain NOT token.
PlayStation NFTs: Will PlayStation embrace NFTs for user-owned assets? Sony is considering it, at least, according to details from a patent application that was recently published. It points to a “super-fungible token” format that bundles up NFTs for in-game assets and makes it possible for users to port them across games—and potentially trade them too. We’ll see whether Sony actually does anything with the concept… but this isn’t its first gaming NFT patent push.
Prices surge: As Decrypt’s GG reported earlier Sunday, gaming tokens are skyrocketing in value this weekend, with Pixels (PIXEL), Beam (BEAM), and Parallel (PRIME) hitting new all-time high prices while Gala (GALA) and Immutable (IMX) set multi-year peaks. Click here for the full rundown of the biggest gaming gainers right now.
- Gaming giant Ubisoft is bringing its Watch Dogs gaming franchise to card-battler Cross the Ages via NFT cards that will be sold in April.
- Ubisoft double-dipped on crypto announcements last week, also announcing that it will join the XPLA gaming network as a validator.
- Coinbase and Base—the Ethereum scaling network that it incubated—are giving out free in-game cards and currency for NFT game Parallel.
- Avalanche first-person shooter Shrapnel announced last week that it has revised its token unlock schedule, and about 75% less SHRAP will unlock in April.
- One week after dropping its token, Portal announced that it will host an esports tournament for popular PC game Dota 2 this month, complete with collectibles and loot boxes. No other details have been revealed yet.
- BloodLoop, an Avalanche-based hero shooter akin to Overwatch, launched its play-to-airdrop campaign last week and says it now has 100,000 players signed up.
- Apeiron, a hybrid god game and roguelite on Ronin, will launch a sale for its APRS token beginning March 12. The game’s play-to-airdrop campaign is currently underway.
Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:


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Today we officially release our high-performance lightweight UI Platform- Coherent GT 1.0! For the last months, we have been working
Hey guys, today I would like to introduce a new feature of Coherent GT that has been in development in
Virtual reality is changing the way we learn, play and interact. Exciting companies such as Oculus, Meta, Valve make this
We have exciting news for all mobile game developers. We are open sourcing Coherent UI 1.x on Wednesday next week.
Coherent GT is powered by HTML and gives you the unique possibility to prototype your UI directly in Adobe Photoshop
We are happy to announce that we are releasing Coherent GT 0.9.7. This is one of the last milestones we
GDC 2015 is already behind our backs and now I have the chance to share my impressions from the whole
Now it is possible with FaceRig! FaceRig is an entertaining software which uses image based tracking technology to map your


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(IT-NEWSWIRE.COM, July 14, 2015 ) Wilmington, Delaware -- However, the company stated that where international shipping was not available there were high instances of credit card and bank fraud.
This list of countries that Stunning Gadgets ships to is immense and is based on a number of factors, with obviously fraud being one of them. That said with the majority of countries being shipped to Stunning Gadgets has joined an elite group of tech companies to offer international shipping to over a hundred countries around the world and includes the very sought after Solar Panel Power Bank.
Stunning Gadgets shouldn't be mistaken for an online store. However, it is one of the few growing tech companies that brand, manage and ship all of its own products. This is often rare because there is a lot of work that goes into managing orders and shipping to individual customers. That said the company's latest hiring and a growing number of people being recruited for the shipping department is what allows for Stunning Gadgets to work as efficiently as an e-commerce store while being a tech company at the same time. While it has taken some time for Stunning Gadgets to start offering international shipping people in the tech industry believe that it is certainly an excellent step and will help the company bolster branding efforts in other parts of the world.
"International shipping has been on our agenda for a very long time. However, there are challenges associated with shipping internationally and not just sending the items but also processing warranties and payments. So, it has taken a concerted and long-standing effort of perhaps over a dozen people to make it possible for us to ship to customers across the globe. We strongly believe that this move will help take the brand to new heights." said the CEO for Stunning Gadgets "While we are not happy with the fact that there are some parts of the world where people will be unable to buy our products, this itself is beyond our control. But we rejoice in the fact that the company has yet again achieved another milestone which was once thought to be near impossible."
Stunning Gadgets' international shipping options are already available on the company's website. Though the company has asked people who buy from other countries to make sure to choose the right shipping method and the fact that shipping may take a bit longer than expected owing to delays on the courier's end which at times can be inevitable.
About Stunning Gadgets
Stunning Gadgets is a company that sources various products from all over the world. Its objective is to provide niche consumers with the best products manufactured in the top facilities worldwide using the finest materials available.
Stunning Gadgets combines the highest quality materials with innovation and a great warranty ensuring that people get the highest return on their investment. This approach has made Stunning Gadgets one of the leaders in the phone gadgets industry.


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New York, Feb 6 (ANI): American singer songwriter Bruce Springsteen has slammed Ticketmaster for its inappropriate way of selling tickets for his "Working on a Dream" tour.
In an angry letter posted on his website on February 4, Springsteen slammed the ticketing company for duping his fans when the tickets went on sale on February 2.
"The abuse of our fans and our trust by Ticketmaster has made us as furious as it has made many of you," the New York Daily News quoted him as having written in the lengthy letter to his fans.
"We will continue to do our utmost now and in the future to make sure that these practices are permanently curtailed on our tours," he stated.
Ticketmaster had irked Springsteen after fans complained that it was directing ticket buyers to an affiliated company that sells seats at a premium cost of 700 dollars a pair instead of 95 dollars.
"They did this even when our seats remained available at face value," Springsteen said.
"We condemn this practice.
"We perceive this as pure conflict of interest. Ticketmaster is there to ensure that we have a good, fair sale of our tickets at face value plus normal ticketing charges," he added.
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission earlier this week, warbled an unlikely duet with the Boss.
"The speed with which tickets were made available on Ticketmaster's official resale affiliate site raises questions about whether TicketsNow brokers were given preferential treatment," Pascrell wrote.
According to Springsteen, Ticketmaster agreed to immediately stop directing ticket buyers for his shows to the TicketsNow site.
"Some artists or managers may not perceive there to be a conflict between having the distributor of their tickets in effect 'scalping' those same tickets through a secondary company like TicketsNow," he wrote.
"We do," he stated.
Ticketmaster spokesman Albert Lopez did not return calls or an e-mail for comment. (ANI)


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The luxury fashion sector is gradually opening up in terms of cryptocurrency adoption. While crypto still has to go a long way to become a payment option, it’s certainly gathering momentum. While cryptocurrencies were shrouded in mystery when they first emerged, there is now more awareness regarding crypto, thanks to its adoption by Elon Musk and other high-profile entrepreneurs. In 2021, NFTs have become popular, particularly among artists and designers. As a result, several well-known luxury fashion brands are participating in NFT creation and trading. For example, Nike has created digital shoes that are linked to their real-world shoes. Louis Vuitton is another high-profile brand that uses NFTs for tracking luxury goods provenance.
While the use of crypto for completing mainstream payments is still a distant dream, luxury brands are not ignoring it totally. Great examples of this are luxury watchmakers like Hublot and Franck Muller. These brands have started to sell timepieces that are meant for Bitcoin purchases only. Hublot’s chief executive Ricardo Guadalupe said that the brand pre-sold 210 timepieces, which reflected the interest among luxury watch buyers and increased demand. According to Guadalupe, the brand is likely to start accepting crypto payments either this year or from next year onwards.
Many luxury brands are also relying on crypto to reward their fan communities. For example, in 2018, Lolli created a platform, which facilitates customer earnings through Bitcoin. Lolli collaborates with more than 1,000 high-profile brands such as Nike, Ulta, Sephora, and Saks. Every time Lolli’s customers shop through one of the platform’s partners, Lolli rewards them with Bitcoin. Bitcoins are sent by Lolli directly to the wallets of customers.