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Paper or plastic used to be a simple question.
But after working two years, Florida's environmental agency found no easy answers for lawmakers on how to shrink the mountain of throwaway bags lining landfills and streets.
So Monday, an agency that in October had seemed ready to approve a ban on the billions of shopping bags used each year in Florida punted the question back to the Legislature.
"It is recommended that the Legislature review the available options and take action," Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole wrote to Gov. Charlie Crist and House and Senate leaders as he handed off a report listing 12 choices the state might try.
Somewhere around five billion bags a year might be used in Florida, an earlier draft of the report said, but no one has a firm number.
Only 12 percent of plastic bags are recycled currently, and about 37 percent of paper bags, said the report. Some of the rest become street trash or get washed into rivers and the ocean, where sea turtles and other sealife can die from swallowing objects they mistake for jellyfish.
"These plastic bags are everywhere," Larry Balch of Jacksonville said as he loaded some into his truck Monday outside a Winn-Dixie in San Jose. The 54-year-old caterer and contractor said he thinks about it often because his eco-conscious wife uses reusable bags and needles him for not doing the same.
But canvas totes would never work for his catering gigs, he said. Besides, he said, he recycles the bags, bundling them in his garage and bringing them back to stores.
State lawmakers told Sole's agency in 2008 to study how necessary and effective new regulations would be in ending bag pollution. Lawmakers froze plans for new laws in several towns while the statewide review was done.
Washington, D.C., and Oakland, Calif., are the big names on a list of about 40 communities nationally that banned bags, sometimes triggering lawsuits that remain unresolved.
Ideas the state considered ranged from outright banning throwaway bags to improving consumer education about the importance of recycling.
Nearer the middle were ideas about setting refundable deposits on bags, making stores offer biodegradable bags and setting bag recycling goals that had to be met to avoid stronger action.
"They're finding it's not the easiest topic to come up with a perfect plan," said Mark Daniels, a vice president at Hilex Poly, a plastic bag manufacturer with about 100 employees at a Westside Jacksonville plant.
There's no way to know yet how much lawmakers will even feel like taking up the subject this year, said Samantha Hunter Padgett, deputy general counsel for the Florida Retail Federation.
The state released a draft report in October that discussed the potential for banning bags after first imposing a nickel-per-bag tax that would grow yearly, topping out at 25 cents.
Retailers said they felt blindsided when that surfaced, and people with no business interests to protect jumped into the discussion.
Pet owners who use shopping bags for scooping poop asked what they were supposed to do. Other people stash diapers, dirty clothes and other items in the bags, said plastic bag defenders who count that as a kind of informal recycling.
Pushing a cart full of plastic shopping bags away from the Winn-Dixie, Mike Greenlee of Jacksonville shared a lot of the conflicts lawmakers will have to manage if they take action.
The 56-year-old pharmacist is tired of finding bags in the street, in storm drains, even in his koi pond. He'd like more recycling and more consumer education, but doesn't want to drive up supermarket costs. A tax on bags would be putting the government's hand in people's pockets, he said.
If it would help, he said, "I'd just as soon go back to paper."


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Red is always in fashion on Valentine's Day! Millie Mackintosh rocks a rouge number as she gears up for London Fashion Weekend
Trends may come and go, but red will always be in fashion on Valentine's Day.
Millie Mackintosh got into the Valentine's spirit on Thursday as she dressed up in a little red dress to celebrate the launch of a Vodafone nail polish created specially for London Fashion Weekend.
The Made In Chelsea star, 23, showed off her slim figure in a fitted red Asos dress as she attended LFW sponsor Vodafone's photocall at Somerset House.
Red alert: Reality TV star Millie Mackintosh wears a red dress for the Vodafone photocall to celebrate London Fashion Week
Lady in red: Millie looked sensational in the fitted red dress, which she teamed with a pair of nude Christian Louboutin heels
As fashionistas will know, the 18th century Somerset House is one of the focal points of Fashion Week and Weekend, hosting dozens of shows throughout the event.
London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2013 kicks off in the British capital on Friday.
No doubt Millie will be front row at many of the top shows over the next few days.
Taking to Twitter ahead of her shoot, Millie said: 'Off to Somerset House, looking forward to the start of LFW #Vodafonered.
She's got the look: Millie looked stunning in the Asos dress
Pop-up nail bar: Millie stands out in her bright red dress as she gets her nails done
'Getting ready for my vodafone red shoot #vodafonevip.'
During the shoot, Millie enjoyed a pampering session as she got her nails done with the new Vodafone red shade.
Meanwhile, Millie recently lashed out at accusations she was a spoiled rich girl.
She told Live magazine: 'I'm not some posh bitch who's been given everything on a plate.
Manicure on the go: Millie has her nails done in the Vodafone red colour
Sitting down on the job: Millie gets an alfresco manicure
'I'm routinely referred to as heir to the Quality Street millions. If only. My family sold the business tears ago.
‘What people don't see is that I work tremendously hard.'
Millie was a make-up artist when Made In Chelsea first started two years ago, although these days she also makes money modelling and doing other promotional shoots.
Vodafone has created a limited edition Nails Inc. nail varnish in their iconic brand shade of red. Vodafone VIP customers can also pick up their free Vodafone Red nail polish from a specially created vending machine at Vodafone London Fashion Weekend, Somerset House.
What's Professor Green going in store? Millie is likely to be spending the evening with boyfriend Professor Green
In demand: Fashionistas can get their hands on this exclusive colour for a limited time from Nails inc. London stores on South Molton Street and Canary Wharf
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Pay TV company, StarTimes, has announced the launch of its Season of Goodness promo for the Easter and Ramadan periods.
According to statement sent to Sunday Scoop, the special offer will contain thousands of juicy contents for less the price, including gripping series on ST Novela, a music reality show– The Voice Nigeria; kids’ channels such as Kartoon and JimJam, with plenty of Nollywood channels, and religion platforms.
It was, however, stated that to enjoy the offer, which will run from March 20 to April 30, 2023, customers who had subscribed for two months on Nova, Basic or Smart bouquets will get an instant boost to the next higher bouquet. On the other hand, Classic and Super bouquet customers will enjoy 10 extra days when they subscribe for two months.
The company’s PR Manager, Lazarus Ibeabuchi, said, “We are delighted to bring our customers quality content for less the price. This promo is a great way for families to enjoy their favourite shows, movies, series and religious programmes.”


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The European Commission (EC) is to establish a new centre charged with centralising efforts to fight online crime and protecting citizens, which could be operational as early as next year.
The new European Cybrecrime Centre will be established within the European Police Office (Europol) at The Hague.
The EC said the centre would take a more aggressive, preventative stance in protecting consumers and companies from hackers.
"We can't let cybercriminals disrupt our digital lives. A European Cybercrime Centre within Europol will become a hub for cooperation in defending an internet that is free, open and safe," said Cecilia Malmström, European commissioner for home affairs.
The EC claimed that if left unchecked, the global cost of cybercrime on businesses and governments could reach an overall total of $388bn.
According to the EC, the cybercrime market is flourishing with credit card details sold for as little as €1 per card, a counterfeited physical credit card for around €140 and bank credentials for as little as €60.
If the EC's proposal is approved by the budgetary authority of Europol, then the centre is expected to begin operations in January 2013.
Despite the EC's affirmative tone, some in the industry remain unconvinced, claiming more must be done.
NCC Group chief executive Rob Cotton reported that while the centre's creation was a move in the right direction, the EC will have to work as a middleman between the involved parties.
"Cybercrime is an international threat that requires an international response, so it's certainly encouraging to see investment in Europe-wide counter measures," said Cotton.
"For the investment to pay off it will be vital for the new Cybercrime Centre to maintain strong links with industry as well as academics, and for truly coordinated action to take place across the EU."
The move comes as a part of the Council of Europe's ongoing Global Project on Cybercrime, which recently received £100,000 of funding.
Within the UK, Oxford University has announced a similar project, unveiling its own cross-departmental Cyber Security Centre on 26 March.
Some parts of Atacama have not received rainfall for 500 years - but a sudden deluge of water upset the Desert's delicate biological balance
Spitzer Space Telescope could not spot Oumuamua, suggesting that it is actually pretty small
Greenland crater one of the 25 largest impact craters on Earth
This long-sought progenitor star was identified in an image captured by Hubble in 2007


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The newest shop at Easton Town Center is more than a retailer – it will be a learning experience. But curious customers had better act fast.
Students from the Columbus College of Art & Design will operate a Forthmade store from 1 to 9 p.m. May 4, where students, staff and alumni can sell their creations. For the 10 students who created it, the shop will mark the culmination of a new program at the Columbus school.
“This is 10 really dedicated, involved students,” said Lillie Templeton, business project manager. “There’s a real desire to see this become a legacy.”
Forthmade will take over the former Shadowbox Live theater at Easton Station. The so-called pop-up store will sell a variety of CCAD-made products – apparel, sculptures, hand-sewn bow ties, original paintings, glass-blown vases, jewelry, ceramics, photography and stationery.
“There’s a lot of cool stuff,” Templeton said. “It’s a nice balance.”
This also becomes the second pop-up event for CCAD students, who opened a one-day store on campus last December. That shop was the product of an honor studies class that led to a new class geared toward developing, merchandising, pricing and marketing a shop. The first venture counted seven students, four of whom took the new class led by instructor Marcia Tabler. Ten students from five majors are in the class.
“This is a true multidisciplinary effort,” said Cynthia Gravino, director of CCAD MindMarket, the school’s business incubator.
MindMarket took the idea to Easton, which invited the students for a second go-round.
“We were all over that,” said Beau Arnason, executive vice president at Easton co-developer Steiner & Associates. “We’ve never had something like that, and can’t wait to see how they’ve designed it.”
CCAD and the Easton Community Foundation have had a long relationship that includes sponsoring an annual award for the school’s top designer. It also hired students to redesign the development’s umbrellas.
Unlike the campus store, Templeton said, Easton will offer a real-world challenge. The shop will sit in a huge retail complex where there is intense competition for consumers. And Easton will represent a more diverse market than found around CCAD’s downtown campus.
“You’ll work in these settings in the real world,” Gravino said.
Profits will be directed back into the program to fund future stores.
Gravino hopes the store can become a semi-annual event, though students may develop a website to sell online between pop-up events.
The heart of the program, however, will remain developing and executing the store.
“This hits all the missions of the MindMarket, which is to encourage and sustain entrepreneurship in the art and design community,” she said.


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There is a vibrant emerging business tourism sector in Ireland that is adding greatly to Ireland’s image internationally. Opportunity, the annual global IIBN conference, taking place in New York this week will discuss the new influencers fueling this growth. Events such as the Dublin Web Summit and the recent One Young World international event are making Ireland an increasingly valuable location to host business events.
Read more stories from IIBN Opportunity on IrishCentral.
Alison Metcalf, head of Tourism Ireland in New York said “Business tourism is an extremely important, high yield sector and Tourism Ireland is working hard to promote the island of Ireland in the US as a premier destination for business travelers, working with decision-makers in the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events), highlighting destinations like the Titanic Quarter and successful global summits.”
Ireland is building on the success of the Gathering, in 2013, and the launch of the Wild Atlantic Way this year. The Gathering delivered more than $200 million in revenue as well as 270,000 additional visitors. Tourism visitors to Ireland in 2013 were up 10% on the previous year. Early indications are that the Wild Atlantic Way, opened earlier this year is having a big impact on tourism numbers in the west of Ireland.
Other successes to point to are the recent Croke Park Classic college football game featuring Penn State and University of Central Florida. This was built on the Notre Dame vs Navy game two years ago.
Maura Kelly, developer of this content for the conference said “Side by side with the traditional tourism attractions and events mentioned above, Ireland is developing a world class reputation for business conferences and events.The annual Dublin Web Summit, the recent One Young World Summit as well as the European Business Angel Network have put Dublin and Ireland on the map in terms of conference locations.”
There are a number of entrepreneurs and companies disrupting the event and conference sector, none more visible than Paddy Cosgrove, founder of the Dublin Web Summit. Cosgrove is applying the practice of data science and analytics to streamline and improve his attendees’ experience. Is this the future for attending events?
IIBN Opportunity will discuss this development with a panel of event and tourism professionals. Led by Paul O’Kelly, this panel includes, Alison Metcalf, Head of Tourism Ireland, New York, Valerie McGrane, KPMG, Aoife Roche, The Doyle Group (Irish hotel chain), and Mary Ann Pierce, CEO of MAP Digital events company.
They will review the world-class facilities and digital infrastructure on the island. In addition to this, the panel will be exploring the recent success experienced in Northern Ireland with the filming of the popular series “Game of Thrones” and the resulting boost in tourism.
Business tourism is an extremely important, high yield sector, which can deliver significant economic benefits for Ireland. How can Ireland expand its traditional tourism brand to include other activities to win new visitors to Ireland? The benefits are obvious - job creation, startups, new investment opportunities.
There are a few tickets for Opportunity remaining. Get them here.


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When Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff delivered the commencement address at the University of Southern California earlier this week, he was his usual impassioned and evangelical self. (It's a great motivational speech and worth a look here BTW!)
It was a somewhat more low-key version who turned up yesterday on the firm's quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts - and that had nothing to with the numbers.
Salesforce.com turned in a better-than-expected 37% rise in quarterly revenues to $1.23 billion from $892.6 million a year earlier, although the net loss continued to widen, to $96.9 million from $67.7 million in the comparable quarter last year.
But Wall Street was happy enough to boost the stock by 3% in after hours trading on the back of some bullish projections. For the year, the company now pitches revenue between $5.30 billion and $5.34 billion, up from the prior projection of $5.25 billion to $5.3 billion.
Some highlights from the numbers:
- Americas revenues up 39% to $876 million.
- Europe grew 42% in dollars and 35% in constant currency to $231 million.
- Asia Pacific rose 21% in dollars and 26% in constant currency to $120 million.
- 900 new bodies joined in the quarter to bring total headcount to 14,200, a 38% increase year on year.
The resulting analyst conference call didn’t really break any new ground, other than marking the debut appearance by former Oracle sales boss Keith Block in his new role as Salesforce.com’s President and vice-Chairman.
Block took a very active role in the call, with the result that it was far less of ‘the Benioff show’ than previous interactions with Wall Street. It was down to Block, for example, to close off a question about breaking out ExactTarget’s contribution to the overall revenues. (They're not telling us!)
It will be interesting to see how this double act plays out longer term.
The message - and the challenge
As the man charged with building in-roads into more large enterprises, Block also outlined the messages he’s taking to customer meetings:
“There are several messages that are important, not the least of which is our corporate messages around the Internet of customers and connected customers and how we sell and service in market and how we are a company of system engagement.
“Those are all very strong messages that certainly resonate with our customers and our partners. But the other set of conversations that take place are around a dialog around having a strategic relationship with those customers and what does that mean.
“That is all around predictability and transparency…It’s about trust, it’s about being an advisor. It’s about how do those contribute to how our customers unleash the power of social and cloud and mobile in our technologies to change their business models, to transform their businesses and really unshackle them from old technologies.
“These are messages that truly resonate with customers. They want these conversations. They want this impact that we can bring to the table and they’re excited about our opportunity to partner with them.”
This point was picked up by Jillian Mirandi, Senior Analyst at Technology Business Research, who argues:
Salesforce.com will differentiate by evolving its messaging and portfolio, positioning itself as a strategic advisor for customer engagement.
Salesforce.com is reaching a saturation point in the US CRM market, and will diversify by evolving into a customer engagement business platform, managing the customer engagement from marketing through sales and services.
This more holistic, integrated approach also maps to changing customer purchasing patterns from own-and-control buyers to outcomes buyers; Salesforce.com has been selling a CRM outcome, and now is selling a broader customer engagement outcome.
Such a tweak to the strategic emphasis will bring its own challenges, she adds:
By expanding its value proposition to enter the self-proclaimed “trusted advisor” role, Salesforce.com faces challenges in training its sales team to manage customers like partners, and focus on the bigger picture rather than product sales.
Account executives are already bundling products together according to customers needs, and the next step for Salesforce.com to move into the strategic role outlined requires sales force training and/or professional services personnel brought into deals early on. TBR does not anticipate the latter as Salesforce.com has stated they want to leave the vast majority of professional services to partners. However, if the company chooses to expand its services team, SI partners like Accenture may feel threatened.
For his part, Benioff went over the Marketing Cloud pitch, dismissed the idea of Salesforce.com treading on Workday's toes in HR, but didn't really touch on the Internet of Customers meme (which meant no intelligent toothbrush references!).
His most enthusiastic contribution to the analyst call centred on Salesforce1. As well as the by now standard ‘I run the company from my phone’ riff, he cited Home Depot as a prime example of how others use the offering:
“We have made a huge investment on the Salesforce1 platform over the last couple of years and so many customers now have deployed it.
“One of the applications that I saw that got deployed this quarter was with Home Depot where they rolled out this amazing new, How-To application.
“You go to [it] right on homedepot.com, you will see our platform poking through, where it gives them the ability to have deep engagement with all of their customers who are building and cloud sourcing and interacting with Home Depot employees and all in real-time.”
Benioff added that he sees Salesforce1 as the new competitive differentiator:
“We are seeing now where companies can take all of this and build their own apps well. That’s really exceeded what could happen. I really think it’s given us this huge leg-up against the competition.
“A lot of our competitors, it’s not that they haven’t move to the phone. They have moved into cloud. Here we are, we have a solution that not only runs great as a cloud service, running billions of transactions every single day, that service is available in whatever device you are using.
“It runs the way the any other cell-phone network would work, like a Facebook or Twitter, but it’s your own private company network or with your partners or with customers.”
Good numbers, no competitive name-calling, Wall Street happy, modest uptick in the share price, job done.
But a curiously low-key Benioff contribution to the call with Block as the new kid on the, er, block. This could prove an interesting dynamic in future quarters. An Ellison/Hurd double act?
Disclosure: at time of writing, Salesforce.com is a premium partner of diginomica.


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Why Henry Blodget Has a ‘Buy’ on Media (and Slideshows)
Publishing models are undergoing challenging reformations as digital technologies continue to aggressively compete against traditional print formats.
Business Insider’s CEO and editor-in-chief Henry Blodget sat down with Digiday’s editor-in-chief Brian Morrissey at last week’s Digiday Mobile conference to explain the advantage he sees upstart publishers have over legacy players. Blodget also defended TBI’s brash headlines and penchant for slideshows, pinning the backlash against the latter on the Silicon Valley echo chamber.
“I think that slideshows are actually a wonderful, native storytelling tool for mobile, and the Internet itself,” he said. “So many things that we’ve done with them, you cannot do [in print or on television].”
The former stock analyst who now helms a burgeoning media company believes that despite the many challenges facing publishing now is a great time to find new models for media businesses.
“The need for content is greater than ever; it is not going to go away,” he said. “As of yet, Google has not figured out an algorithm that can tell you a good story. It can point to good stories, it can figure out good stories people are passing around, and, yes, now a new company has figured out how to write earnings briefs automatically … so some storytelling may go that way, but human beings are storytelling animals. We want to know what’s going on, we like to hear that. So far you cannot do that with an algorithm.”
How NBC’s News Group is shaping NBCUniversal’s commerce bets
The nearly 50-person group now oversees two shopping shows, commerce sub-brands across three NBC News properties and direct deal-making for a growing list of sister brands.
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: How publishers with teen audiences are making their Instagram presences more inclusive
In this week's Media Briefing, media reporter Sara Guaglione reports on what Bustle and Teen Vogue are doing to make sure their Instagram accounts don't contribute to the platform's reported negative impact on teen girls' wellbeing.
‘Levers being pulled that are unseen’: Measurement errors inside Amazon’s OSP program setting publishers on edge
A series of reporting errors has become emblematic of a program that has grown increasingly frustrating for its participants over the past year.
SponsoredHow publishers can future-proof their contextual advertising strategy
Sal Cacciato, managing director, North America, video intelligence The discourse on contextual targeting has moved from “if” to “how.” Publishers are well aware that they need to be packaging their audiences in ways that enable contextual targeting, but many are still asking themselves what is the best way to achieve that goal. In a telling […]
Axios has made $1M in revenue from its eight-month-old software licensing business
Less than a year in, Axios HQ is bringing in more revenue than expected, but the challenges of a tech company are different than those of a media company.
Why The Telegraph thinks retiring some newsletters will actually help grow subscriptions
After shuttering a half-dozen newsletters this year and consolidating others, The Telegraph produces over 40 editorial newsletters, eight of which are exclusive to paid subscribers.


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🚀 Zinken is Go
The latest eth2 phase 0 “dress rehearsal” testnet, Zinken, is now live and producing blocks! Network participation is at 86% with 126,240 gETH staked and finalization is happening! This is great news as if all continues going well, the will be the last dress rehearsal before an eth2 phase 0 mainnet release date is given – we may even see a date given within the next few days along with the deposit contract going live!
In case you missed it, Matthew Leising published his new ‘Out of the Ether’ book which you can check out and purchase here.
Have a great week everyone!
News of the Week
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against crypto investor and promoter John McAfee for his past promotion of initial coin offerings (ICOs) on social media.
Per the complaint:
“From at least November 2017 through February 2018, McAfee leveraged his fame to make more than $23.1 million U.S. Dollars (“USD”) in undisclosed compensation by recommending at least seven “initial coin offerings” or ICOs to his Twitter followers. The ICOs at issue involved the offer and sale of digital asset securities and McAfee’s recommendations were materially false and misleading for several reasons.”
Specifically, McAfee was accused of not disclosing “that he was being paid to promote the ICOs by the issuers,” that he “falsely claimed to be an investor and/or a technical advisor when he recommended several ICOs,” that he “encouraged investors to purchase the securities sold in certain of the ICOs without disclosing that he was simultaneously trying to sell his own holdings and had paid another third-party promoter to tout the securities” and that he “engaged in a practice known as “scalping” as to at least one digital asset security, by accumulating large amounts of the digital asset security and touting it on Twitter without disclosing his intent to sell it.”
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today officially banned the sale of cryptocurrency derivatives and exchange-traded notes to retail users, more than a year after first proposing such a ban.
The FCA said these products are “ill-suited” for retail consumers due to various reasons, including “extreme volatility” of cryptocurrencies. There is no legitimate investment need for retail consumers to invest in these products, said the regulator. Hacks, inadequate understanding, and cryptocurrencies’ “no reliable basis for valuation” are some other listed reasons for the ban.
“This ban reflects how seriously we view the potential harm to retail consumers in these products,” said Sheldon Mills, interim executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA. “Consumer protection is paramount here.”
The ban will come into effect on January 6, 2021. The FCA estimates that retail consumers will save around £53 million (~$68 million) from the ban on these products.
The previous spec and attacknet programs are now deprecated in favor of this general program for all of eth2. Head here to learn more.
This update covers the team’s work on the Zinken tsetnet, improvements to key management, API work and much more.
Lots of information in this thread about the recent implementers call including updates from implementers, testnet progress, research updates and more. Tim Beiko also published a community outreach report for EIP-1559 here.
The new OpenEthereum bug bounties goal is to deliver a stable and secure Ethereum client while rewarding the community for helping us find and address significant security gaps.
MetaMask’s swaps feature will seek the best exchange rate for any given trade, accessing all the best-known places to conduct an exchange. Services such as Uniswap, Kyber, ParaSwap, 1inch.exchange and dex.ag will be used.
MetaMask also published an update announcing that they have reached 1 million monthly active users.
Espresso is a small, flavorful network brewed under pressure. It builds off the geth team’s work on Yolov2, and supports EIPs 2537 and 2539
Kyber put together this strategy update to share some thoughts with the community regarding how they perceive the current environment and elaborate on their plans for Kyber moving forward.
The Graph announced that they are bringing generalized state channels to the Ethereum mainnet, through a collaboration with State Channels in the Consensys Mesh R&D group and Connext.
The Graph also announced their new foundation structure.
This week, The Matter Labs and Curve revealed a zkSync layer 2 smart contracts testnet with Curve Finance as the first resident app. Check out the live demo here.
The Shell Protocol launched its first stablecoin liquidity pool that offers deep stablecoin liquidity, reserve weights, protections against a broken peg, dynamic fees and interoperability with aTokens and cTokens.
Aztec 2.0 is a layer scaling solution for Ethereum with privacy at its core. It uses zkRollup technology, social-key recovery baked in, provides a 200x gas reduction compared to Aztec 1.0 and much more.
Catnip is built on Augur and hopes to deliver a prediction market experience with less friction and more fun for everybody, including those new to the world of crypto.
The funding round was co-led by investors Woodstock Fund, 1kx Capital and Mechanism Capital. Other strategic investors – AU21, Brilliance, TRGC, Alameda and CoinGecko also participated in the funding round.
Fubuloubu from the yEarn team submitted a YIP that proposes a redesign of the Yearn Vaults system to accommodate several improvements meant to increase the robustness, security, and flexibility of the Vaults moving forwards.
The Index Coop is s a global community that will launch and maintain the world’s best crypto index vehicles on Ethereum.
Gauntlet Network has raised $4.3 million in a new funding round led by venture firm Paradigm. First Round, IA and Polychain — existing investors in Gauntlet — also took part in the round, as did Standard Crypto.
Quadraticvote.co is the easiest quadratic voting tool on the planet – you can check out the demo tool here.
This new release includes over 60 DeFi indicators which will provide analysis about different segments of the market such as lending or DEXs.
This update brings with it debt pool snapshots, the re-enabling of paused synthx, a bug fix and a rebalance/unpause of the s/iDeFi products.
RGT is a governance token native to the Rari Protocol with a focus on sustainability as 87.5% of the supply going to early supporters.
Flamingo is the first DAO incubated and formulated by The LAO community. Flamingo will support the expanding NFT metaverse, applying the hive mind approach of DAOs to opportunities in this emerging space.
In this update, LeverJ gives clarity on their tokenomics and supply, they announce a key initiative to bootstrap growth via liquidity rewards and ecosystem incentives, and detail their progress towards further decentralization.
Authereum is out of beta and v1 is now live. You can check out the brand new Authereum here.
Endaoment is the first Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) provider built entirely on Ethereum.
NFTs & Rarible with Alex Salnikov – Zero Knowledge
Meme of the Week
After several months of rigorous mathematical analysis I figured out under which price conditions it is generally good and bad to provide liquidity on @UniswapProtocol
October 9th 2020
106 Retweets553 Likes
Looking for Work?
Top jobs listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs this week:
Senior Frontend Engineer – Zerion
Senior Front-End Engineer – MyCrypto
Devcon.org Fullstack Web Developer – Ethereum Foundation
Technical Recruiter & HR Manager – Horizon Blockchain Games
+1000’s more on the Cryptocurrency Jobs website!


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Samsung has today announced the impending launch of its Galaxy Tab 3 range of Android tablets in 10.1in, 8in and 7in models, claiming the array of size options will not confuse consumers but instead offer them choice.
Once offered as a premium device that cost almost $1000, Telstra today slashed the price of the original Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet to just $299.
Samsung today announced that its latest tablet device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v, will be available exclusively through Vodafone in Australia from "mid-April" for $729 -- but for a "limited time only."
Thanks to a global arrangement with Samsung, Vodafone will be the exclusive seller of the flagship Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet in Australia.
We love a good rumour or leak, and this time it's Samsung's plans for its Mobile World Congress (MWC) announcement in Barcelona next month.
Samsung will soon unveil a luxury Galaxy Tab model that comes with a leather case and Bluetooth headset for about $US1000, according to reports.
While Samsung’s Galaxy Tab isn’t as big a hit as Apple’s iPad, it has sold briskly and has reached the 1 million mark less than two months after its first release.
Almost three weeks after its rivals launched Samsung’s hyped Galaxy Tab Android tablet on Australian shores, the nation’s biggest telco Telstra has come to the party, launching the same device on a range of monthly plans.
While not quite ready to declare the Galaxy Tab a true Apple iPad killer after looking inside the new 7-inch touchscreen tablet computer, teardown specialists at iFixit confirm that Samsung has delivered some technology to die for.
Vodafone this afternoon released pricing details for Samsung's Galaxy Tab Android tablet, which will go on sale tomorrow.
Today sees the Australian launch of the tablet device which global gadget blog Engadget has labelled "the first true competitor to Apple's iPad" -- Samsung's Galaxy Tab.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab, a 7in Android tablet that will compete with Apple's iPad, will launch in Australia next week and will come preloaded with full turn-by-turn navigation capabilities.
In the largest survey on tablet devices to be undertaken in Australia, GfK Australia has found that 188,000 tablets have been purchased in the last six months, with the majority of these being Apple iPads.
The future is now with Samsug's Galaxy Tab and the Home Watcher remote, if a Samsung demo that made its way onto YouTube is anything to go by.
Korean electronics giant Samsung announced tonight that its hyped iPad rival -- the Galaxy Tab -- will be available to Australians in November this year through all the major mobile carriers.
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Madison County sets online process for vendors
EDWARDSVILLE — Anyone wanting to do business with Madison County now must register online.
The county annually spends about $35 million on goods and services, buying items such as vehicles, toilet paper and office supplies as well as contracting for services such as building renovations and parking lot repairs.
On Thursday, the county announced it was changing how it does business with vendors in an effort to increase competition and save money.
For years, the county relied on a list of vendors and, whenever the county’s purchasing department would receive a request to buy items, it would seek bids from four to five vendors on the list.
The process is now changing, with Chairman Kurt Prenzler seeking to create a plan so more vendors could do business with the Madison County.
“After nearly two years it’s up and running,” Prenzler said Thursday. “The process will be easier for vendors and contractors to see the needs of the county. It will increase competition, which will lead to better pricing and, therefore, save the county and taxpayers money.”
Madison County will accept bids and quotes online for everything it needs to buy. Any business can sign up to receive e-mail notices when an opportunity becomes available.
The county will still be required to advertise bids for goods or services that are more than $30,000.
The Madison County Purchasing Department worked with the county’s information technology department to create the online registration and e-mail notification system. Application Support Programmer Anton Strickland wrote the code for the new support system.
Purchasing Director Linda Ogden said the process for the online vendor registration took nearly two years to complete. The first step, she said, was researching software and companies that deal with government procurement processes.
“There were some great companies out there, but it really wasn’t the savings we wanted to see,” Ogden said. “Most were free for the county to post its information. However, a vendor was required to pay a fee to receive the information.”
Ogden said smaller businesses would have been prevented from signing up if they were required to pay to get the information.
“It’s not what the chairman wanted, for business to pay to get the information,” she said.
The second step was building the online registration system.
“It took more than a year for it to all come together,” she said.
Ogden said her department will continue to notify its regular vendors about upcoming bids. However, she hopes to end that practice once the new system becomes established. She said some bids won’t be submitted simply with the press of a mouse button because officials will be required to hold a pre-bid conference.
“Some of the contracts we do require pre-bid notification before the vendors receive a bid packet,” Ogden said.
Prenzler said he’s proud of the product the county put together.
“With the exposure that comes through the internet, we hope that more vendors will learn of the county’s needs, which should bring lower prices,” he said.
To receive e-mails inviting bids and quotes, vendors must open an account through the county home page at www.co.madison.il.us; go to Departments link and select Purchasing. Select the “Bids and Proposals/Vendor Registration” button. Next, select “Vendor Login” in the left corner to create a new account.


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Over the years, Google I/O has largely focused on software that affects the Google universe. From Android to ChromeOS to Google Assistant to the web, Google I/O is – at its core – a developer conference. Yes, material has been announced and even distributed at the event in the past, but this is the exception: not the norm.
In 2019, Google chose to unveil the Pixel 3a, but even though that phone set the trend for an annual update to the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5a in subsequent years, those later phones weren’t announced at I /O. And yes, Google announced the original Google Home at Google I/O 2016 and also gave out Chromebook Pixels to all attendees in 2013, but other than those few examples, hardware at I/O each year has been scarce.
And that’s to be expected, right? After all, this is a software developer conference, not a hardware event. Still, every year we hope that Google will finally take the lead at Apple’s WWDC and start using this big, very public event to at least announce a few products that best showcase this software. And every year we are generally disappointed.
This year, more than I can remember, there’s a ton of hype around Google-made hardware that “looks like it’s likely to launch” at Google I/O and I’m getting more and more skeptical as the speech is approaching. In about a day or so we’ll have our answers, but for now we’re all wondering if this will be the year that Google uses this big stage to announce a few products that – frankly – shouldn’t be kept until October for a material event. That said, let’s take a look at all the possibilities, most or least likely to pop up in my opinion.
Most likely: Pixel 6a
Of all the things looming in Google’s hardware portfolio, the Pixel 6a makes the most sense to grab the attention of Google I/O. The Pixel 3a was announced at Google I/O and the fact that it’s part of the hardware for Android, Chrome and Google Assistant makes it a very easy link for Google to include in this event. The leaks are all there and it’s clear this phone is about to launch, so the I/O makes a lot of sense.
Quite likely: Pixel Watch announcement
The Pixel Watch is just as hyped and just as leaked as the Pixel 6a, but the ties aren’t as deep. Sure, there could be a section in the keynote about Wear OS and people would lose their minds if Google just teased the Pixel Watch, but that’s still not a foregone conclusion in my mind. Rumors continue that we’ll see at least one announcement or announcement this week, but I could also see Google holding this one out until the fall as well.
Possible, but unlikely: new Nest Hub
The new Nest Hub is expected to be a detachable device that could be a wild new form factor for Google’s home hardware, but the lack of recent activity or leaks around it make me doubt it’ll break the cover at Google I /O 2022. We heard a report back in March about this device, but not much since then. As much as we see big leaks from Google, I would expect a little more action around this one, and it just isn’t there. Possible? Sure. Likely? Not really.
Unlikely: Chromecast with Google TV HD
Along those same lines, the rumored Chromecast with Google TV HD hasn’t popped up very often since it was discovered in January. This downgraded but cheaper Google TV device will probably work fine when it arrives, but I could see Google dropping this one in an article on The Keyword and just shipping it to stores over time. I’d be surprised to see a lot of announcements at any event for this device, so making time for Google I/O seems highly unlikely at this point.
Highly unlikely: Pixel Buds Pro
Finally, we have the Pixel Buds Pro. While I’m 100% thrilled to hear that Google is working on a proper upgrade to the bug-prone Pixel Buds, it seems highly unlikely that a product we didn’t hear about until last week will be launched on a specific non-material-event. I could be wrong, but the timing just seems wrong, and the headphones just aren’t the software-related hardware you’d expect to see at a developer conference. Without going through things like the Bluetooth SIG and the FCC, Google’s unlikely to even mention these headphones until the fall.
There are so many exciting things happening on Google I/O every year that have nothing to do with hardware, and we can’t wait to see what Google announces in this year’s release. As always, there are tons of sessions and a few keynotes that will likely be filled with all sorts of software updates, so the next few days will be very busy here. The first keynote kicks off at 1:00 p.m. EST / 10:00 a.m. PST and you can watch alongside everyone else on YouTube or the Google I/O 2022 site. We will be there for sure!


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Just 2-years ago, the thought of having a bespoke solar roof home system was considered niche home investment – more of a middle-upper class type of investment. Now, we are seeing a rapid downward trend in the spot price of solar panel equipment, coupled with the unprecedented rise in global energy bills as a result of the Russia-Ukrainian war, thus making the feasibility of solar roof home systems for everyone and everyone.
Across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Africa, homeowners can now expect to completely pay back on their solar roof system in under 4 years – if solar is being sold at current market price. As such, we are now seeing a rapid demand influx for solar roof systems amongst homeowners in the U.S., Europe and parts of Africa, as these homeowners are chasing meaningful energy savings that can be derived from the solar roof system over time.
PVRoof (www.pvroof.io) has created a way for homeowners to fast-track solar roof adoption. They have created a free platform for homeowners to help them understand how much they can save on their home energy bills by switching to a solar roof system. This platform goes further by providing various finance options for the homeowner should they want to secure funds via a loan or lease option.
To find out how much you too can save on your energy bills, visit PVRoof at www.pvroof.io or follow the link and fill out the quick form to get your customised solar savings report.


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One reason many people say they don’t eat as healthy as they’d like is that it costs so much more to buy the healthier foods at the grocery store. However, according to a new government study that just isn’t the case anymore. Buying fresh foods like fruits and veggies or whole grains normally costs less than the processed foods that are high in fat.
In this study, researchers took a look at over four thousand different types of foods around the country. They took into account different factors such as price per portion, price per calorie and edible weight.
Generally speaking, they found that based price per portion and portion size, the cheaper healthy foods are:
Less healthy foods and proteins come very close in price. So how can you combat this if you want to eat healthy and follow the government’s recommended dietary allowances? One way is to start thinking of your proteins as an addition to your meals rather than the main focus since meats and proteins are on the higher end. Focus on grains and fresh fruits and veggies that are topped off with or sprinkled with a protein that’s complimentary to the dish. You can also substitute meats with other ingredients that offer similar nutritional value. Here’s a substitution guide from the Mayo Clinic.
One of the biggest things that you can do is to buy fruits and veggies that are in season and locally grown. Visit your local farmer’s markets. If you find produce that you aren’t used to cooking, that’s ok! Try it. It may become a new favorite, you’ll be helping your local farmers and you’ll eliminate extra costs that come from packaging and shipping. You can use this in-season produce map to find out what’s in season in your area at any given time. What’s even cooler is that it gives you information about each fruit or veggie and possible recipes that can be used with it.
Do you find it hard to resist a chunk of sweet, decadent chocolate? If so, there’s good news. According to a new study, it appears that those who regularly consume chocolate are normally skinnier than those who don’t. Although the weight difference is slight, it gives a shimmer of hope to researchers in finding out just what causes it. The exact cause isn’t yet known. On another note, they say it could just be a statistical flute.
The study that shows chocolate lovers as being thinner those who don’t regularly indulge in chocolate consisted of about 1,000 participants. Each participant, nearly 70 percent of which were men, completed a survey. The survey included details about how regularly they ate chocolate and researchers then went to work trying to see what they could find.
On average, the participants had a BMI (body mass index) of about 28. At 28, they’re classified as overweight, but not necessarily obese. As researchers analyzed the data, they figured out that those who ate chocolate the most often actually had a lower BMI than the others.
This is by far not the first time there have been benefits found that relate to eating chocolate. It’s one food that holds quite a bit of mystery for health experts and researchers to still figure out. We know that it’s full of antioxidants. Eating chocolate has also been shown in a variety of studies to hold other health benefits too, such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar. By reading these studies, you’d never guess that chocolate was full of fat and carries a whopping number of calories…
They said that on average, how often you eat chocolate could account for around a five pound difference in your weight. Before you run off and start chowing down on chocolate, think twice though. For one, it’s a delicate balance to eat enough but not so much that the calories and fat take a toll. For two, they aren’t positive about what kind of chocolate participants ate.
Also, they stress that chocolate isn’t going to help you lose weight.


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An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on ICBC's posts on the projected launch. The lender is set to be joined by a raft of peers: Apple's China website lists 19 Chinese lenders as official Apple Pay partners, and state media reported two other lenders will also go live with the service from Feb. 18.
The launch would make China the fifth country to get Apple Pay. ICBC is the country's biggest lender by assets and China is Apple's second largest market. The country already has dominent and entrenched players in the mobile payments business so it will be interesting to see how the service does.
Notably, China's state radio is also reporting that China Guangfa Bank Co Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp have announced plans to launch Apple Pay on February 18th.


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Nothing Bundt Cakes continues building out its senior leadership team with the appointment of new Chief Development Officer Chris Tarrant.
Tarrant most recently served as Senior Vice President of Retail Store Development and Design at Starbucks and was responsible for overseeing all facets of store development in the United States and Canada. He also served on the leadership team that oversees the operation of Starbucks stores in the United States.
At Nothing Bundt Cakes, with nearly 500 bakeries operating throughout the U.S. and Canada, Tarrant will oversee all aspects of strategic growth and development of the franchise system. The company set a record for new development deals in 2022 with 147 commitments sold to open new bakeries and expects to exceed this milestone in 2023 with the signing of over 200 commitments in new and existing markets.
“Nothing Bundt Cakes is growing exponentially, and Chris knows how to aggressively grow a brand in a purposeful way to bring our quality cakes to more guests nationwide,” says Nothing Bundt Cakes interim CEO Sarah Spiegel. “Our franchisees opened over 50 bakeries last year and expect to open more than 100 in 2023, so Chris is joining the team at a pivotal point as Nothing Bundt Cakes continues down its path of intentional growth.”
Chris has also held significant positions with several major brands, including McDonald’s and Panera Bread, and has extensive real estate and development experience in both the U.S. and Canada that will amplify Nothing Bundt Cakes’ growth trajectory.
“Nothing Bundt Cakes continues to perform at impressive levels. Its continued success is driving lots of interest from existing and prospective bakery owners, and I look forward to helping the company meet the challenges of rapid expansion while maintaining our focus on care and quality of our cakes that guests love,” says Tarrant. “Anyone who has ever tasted the brand’s signature cakes knows the joy they bring to all of life’s special moments, and I’m honored to be joining the leadership team to continue spreading that joy while accelerating the company’s growth.”


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Ford is set to up the ante on its next-generation Focus RS. Power is likely to come from a newly developed 2.3-litre four-cylinder EcoBoost engine – which could also power the 2015 Mustang – producing as much as 350bhp sent though a manual gearbox. That’s over 100bhp more than the new Focus ST and will drop the 0-60mph time below the magic five-second mark.
Ford’s European performance division, Team RS, has ruled out developing the 247bhp 2.0-litre EcoBoost from the new ST, as an increase in power would mean making the turbo bigger – and there’s a reluctance to do this.
“If it’s too big and capable of too much power, you lose bottom- end torque and response,” said Team RS powertrain engineering manager Len Urwin.
The RS will send power to the front wheels, as on the previous model. That made 300bhp from its five-cylinder turbo engine, but this time the RS could use a clever active limited slip differential – a so-called E-diff.
Said Unwin: “You could drop a mechanical diff in as we did with the old Focus RS, but an E-diff would take that a step forward in that you can really optimise traction in all situations.”
A manual is a certainty, but Ford is debating whether to also offer a dual-clutch auto version using its PowerShift technology. “There is a trend to go to dual clutch, but they are heavier,” said Chris Caven, calibration controls engineer at Team RS. “Whether we should have a manual and a PowerShift is still up for debate.”
With the price set to be around the same £25,000 mark as the last model, the stage is set for the new RS to humble performance cars costing twice its price when it arrives in early 2014.


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Yelp VP Mike Ghaffary: We Are Now a Household Name
Last month, Yelp officially entered the commerce business. The reviews site bought Eat24, a delivery company who was an early Platform partner, pitching the company in direct competition with GrubHub, Eat Street and some of its own partners.
Mike Ghaffary, vice president of business and corporate development, spearheaded the acquisition of Eat24 and has led the Yelp Platform initiative from the start. We caught up with Ghaffary recently to talk about what the acquisition means for its Platform initiative, concerns among investors about slowing growth, and what makes “local” local.
Walk me through the acquisition of Eat24. The move seemed to fly in the face of the partnership-driven approach that defined Yelp Platform initially. Did the buy represent a change in Yelp’s thesis when it comes to commerce?
No change in the thesis. In fact, we just did another announcement a couple of months ago that we added hotel bookings, winery bookings, and we’ve been building up several different categories. We have a bunch more coming, so we’ve really gone pretty broad across platform and we are hoping to have several food delivery partners.
It’s a similar thesis and vision, but we saw food delivery was going so well and much like with a lot of platforms, when something’s doing really, really well, we decided to double down on it and go even further. We said, “Hey, food is a really important category for Yelp.” We were really impressed with what we had seen on our platform and we decided that taking a step even further to be able to expand coverage and further improve the user experience would make sense.
But there’s undoubtedly a conflict between Eat24, a Yelp-owned property, and the handful of other food delivery services on the platform, correct?
I think what you’ll continue to see from us is that if we can improve the experience for consumers by having more partners on the platform, we’ll just keep bringing on more partners. If an acquisition can continue to improve the experience, we’ll do that, too. That’s why you’re seeing all our food delivery partners still excited to work with us, still getting transactions, and still doing well in our platform. When they’ve got either restaurants that we don’t already have or for whatever reason they can offer a better experience, we’re going to work with them on that.
The growth of Yelp’s total unique visitors has been declining on a year-over-year basis for a few quarters now. And last quarter, we saw a sequential decline in those numbers. How are you dealing with growth on mobile — where there’s not Google to provide as much traffic?
One of the nice things with the shift to mobile is that we don’t have such a concentration of traffic coming from Google. People find us through a variety of sources, and we continue to see the organic distribution and downloads that we get from people finding out about our app from word-of-mouth. We continue to see a lot of traffic that way. In addition, nearly every major kind of mobile OS platform hardware manufacturer has realize how critical Yelp is and has built it into their local experiences. We have a major Apple integration — we now we’ve continued to double down as on our Amazon integration, Samsung integration, and Microsoft integration.
Talk a little about what those integrations mean for the company beyond just reach.
Yelp has become a household name that people just expect to see tied to local. When they find a local business — whether it’s a restaurant or a dentist — they expect to know that there’s a Yelp branding for that business. You hear it now on television. You hear it in media, in conversations, just to a scale that was never the case when I first joined Yelp.
There’s plenty of other ratings out there, but the Yelp rating is the most reliable that you can keep coming back to and consistently get an experience that reflects the rating you thought you were going to get.
As the web and real-world converge, the very concept of local is being muddled. The terms can means small business for some or brick-and-mortar for others. How do you think of local?
I think that’s a great question. My definition of local commerce has evolved to keep up with the times. It’s any time one person transacts with a business and has some sort of face-to-face interaction with another person or place. So that could be you go to a restaurant, that could be you go to the doctor’s office, it could also be and always has been your plumber comes to you. A physical storefront is certainly a hallmark of it, but somebody could come to you and it would still be local.
Ecommerce, I think, is more about goods being shipped to you from a warehouse. That’s a valuable business. I’m a big user of ecommerce stores and I ship things to my house all the time. It’s certainly convenient, yet I think people crave local experiences. I think what’s really interesting is in the era of massive ecommerce, you’ve seen a premium placed on local downtowns and what I would call like Yelp-y businesses.
Let’s talk international. Yelp has made a handful of international acquisitions recently, but growth has been slower than some expected.
Luckily for us, our bread and butter revenue-wise and the majority of our focus in sales and other areas has been the U.S. As you know, there’s over $3 trillion of local commerce in the U.S. alone. That’s where the majority of revenue and growth has been, but again, there’s two kinds of growth. There’s revenue growth and there’s also users growth. Revenue growth for us just keeps going up and up and up and it’s largely driven by the U.S. and I think that’s great.
We, of course, want to bring this valuable experience to as many users around the globe as possible and eventually monetize that when and where possible, but we’ve always known that the monetization comes with a delay, too, so that’s a nice thing is that we can just continue to launch these markets.
Steven Jacobs is Street Fight’s deputy editor.


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Azamara Announces Plans for 155-Night Around-the-World Cruise
Azamara this week unveiled plans for its new 155-night World Cruise, set to sail in 2024, an epic 40-country itinerary that includes 22 overnight stays and 27 late nights in port.
The voyage will kick off on Jan. 5, 2024, on Azamara Onward, the brand’s newest ship and the former Pacific Princess that was sold to Azamara earlier this year.
Just like Azamara focuses on immersive experiences on its shorter journeys, the world voyage will be no different—land excursions will include a three-night Great Wall of China experience, a three-night Taj Mahal experience, a six-night Christ the Redeemer experience in Rio de Janeiro, and more, which are all at an additional cost to guests. Those extended stays in ports will allow guests to make deeper connections with the people and places they encounter on the 155-night voyage.
The World Voyage comes with $22,000 in amenities, including the line’s AzAmazing Evenings, $7,000 in onboard credit, business class air travel, pre-cruise hotel stay, premium beverage packages, and more.
Azamara is the second line to announce plans for a World Cruise, showing the rising demand for this kind of bucket-list trips. Royal Caribbean recently unveiled plans for its own 274-night Ultimate World Cruise that will be the longest world cruise ever, visiting all seven continents and more than 150 destinations in 65 countries.
And Viking recently announced its intention to add a second World Cruise in 2023-2024 because of “strong demand.”
Source: Travel Market Report


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State World Campus turned 25 this year, and an ice cream flavor at Penn State Berkey Creamery is marking this sweet occasion.
The birthday cake–flavored ice cream has been temporarily renamed “Penn State World Campus 25th Birthday Bash” and will be available for purchase starting August 1.
“Birthday Bash” is yellow cake batter ice cream with frosted cookie freckles and swirls of blue frosting. The Creamery’s website contains its complete ingredient list and allergen information.
The flavor will be available for scoop purchases in the Berkey Creamery’s retail store through November 30. Half-gallons featuring a label with Penn State World Campus branding will also be available for purchase in the store and online.
The renaming of the ice cream flavor is the main celebration to mark the 25th year since Penn State World Campus launched in 1998.
“Penn State World Campus has been an integral part of Penn State for 25 years, and what better way to celebrate this milestone than with another symbol of the University — Creamery ice cream,” said Renata Engel, vice provost for Online Education. “We hope that the University community will celebrate with us by grabbing a cone or a dish.”
25 years of online education at Penn State
Penn State launched World Campus in January 1998 when the first course, in turfgrass management, made its debut online. All that students needed at that time was a computer and an internet connection.
In the subsequent semesters, Penn State added courses in new fields, such as supply chain management and nuclear engineering. The courses expanded into certificate and degree programs, giving students credentials for their achievements.
Within the first decade, the University launched more than 20 associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree programs. Students who wanted a Penn State degree but could not go to a campus had options in business, liberal arts, law and public policy, education, nursing, and more.
Today, World Campus offers a comprehensive selection of online programs, with more than 175 degree and certificate programs available. To date, more than 35,000 students have graduated, and there are almost 14,000 students currently enrolled.
“We at the Berkey Creamery are excited to celebrate such a momentous occasion for Penn State World Campus, and this partnership shows how we are all part of the University,” said Jim Brown, manager of sales and marketing at the Creamery. “We cannot wait to share this with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors.”
Visit the Berkey Creamery website for store hours and online ordering information.


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Launches hold the key for Mahindra's sales turnaround.
The next-generation Mahindra Bolero, codenamed U301, might get a launch ahead of the new compact SUV S101, according to sources. Though fixed timings haven't been revealed, IAB has come to learn that the U301 is tentatively scheduled to be launched around September 2015 and the S101 around December 2015.
Both cars come at a time when Mahindra is trying to gain its market share in the UV segment which dropped to a seven-year low last fiscal.
The U301 is believed to be the next-generation Mahindra Bolero that has been spied several times over the last year. The compact SUV will get a centre console that is similar to the one on the SX4 S-Cross. The console will feature a polygonal cluster that houses the aircon vents and a 2-DIN music system. Reports also state that the top-end variant may not feature automatic climate control, but ABS and dual front airbags will come.
The S101, on the other hand, is a compact SUV that will feature bench seats at the front and a dash-mounted gear lever. The compact SUV will compete against the likes of the Maruti Swift in price, and a test mule has been spotted with an AMT lever.
Both SUVs will get power from a new family of engines developed with Ssangyong. While base variants are reported to get a 1.2L three-cylinder petrol and diesel engine, the utilitarian U301 could also be a beneficiary of the Quanto's 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine.
Mahindra Bolero became the top-selling SUV for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, retaining its spot for the 9th year in a row. Over 100,000 units were sold that year, keeping with its record that began in 2012.


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Gary McDonald Editor-in-Chief
05 August 2022 03:00
First car registrations in Northern Ireland fell 15% in July, a further sign that the cost of living crisis is steadily eroding disposable incomes.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal that just 2,759 new motors left showrooms last month.
That was down from the 3,243 recorded the same month in 2021.
Year-to-date, however, the auto market in the north is generally where it was a year ago, with 23,898 sold compared to 24,096 at the same time 12 months ago.
That’s a drop of less than 1%, while in the UK as a whole – which in June recorded its lowest new car sales for more than a quarter of a century – sales are down 11.5% compared to a year ago.
James Fairclough, managing director of AA Cars, said the numbers are “a bitter pill to swallow”.
He added: “The steady improvement in EV sales is a rare crumb of comfort in a mostly dismal sales data set, and the second half of the year is off to a bad start.
“However, the overall slowdown in sales is accompanied by more positive signs of a recovery in the supply of new cars for sale.
“Separate SMMT data released last week showed the number of vehicles rolling off UK production lines has now increased for two consecutive months.
“While global auto production is still below normal, the improved supply will be welcome among many dealers who struggled to meet demand from new car buyers in the first half.
“As supply improves, attention is returning to consumer demand – and how the slowing UK economy will affect people’s willingness to make major purchases.
“As disposable incomes shrink, the desire for better value has led many potential buyers to focus on the used market, and many dealers are reporting that used vehicle sales continue to outpace those of new models.
“In today’s fragile market, used cars have one distinct advantage over their newest rivals: availability.
“And while growing demand has pushed up used prices in many parts of the country, there are competitive used deals, especially for buyers who do their research and plan to look outside their local area. .”
The top 10 new car registrations in Northern Ireland in June were:
1 Hyundai Tucson
2 Dacia Sandero
3 Renault Capturs
5 Volkswagen Golf
6 Ford Kugas
7 Ford Ecosport
8 Ford Fiestas
9 Ford Puma
10 Nissan Qashqai


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WEST SPRINGFIELD - Firefighters extinguished a fire inside in health products store at 440 Main St., stopping the fire before it could spread to adjoining businesses in the same commercial block, Fire Chief William Flaherty.
The business, Anteka Health Products, sustained heavy interior smoke and fire damage, and firefighters had to cut a hole in the roof for ventilation. Businesses on either side of the store received some smoke damage and water but no fire damage, he said.
The estimated cost of the damages was $20,000 to $30,000, he said.
There were no injuries.
Firefighters were called to the scene at about 11:10 a.m.
Upon arrival, firefighters saw heavy smoke coming from the block and rising through the eaves.
Anteka Health Products was not open at the time and firefighters had to forced their way in through the front door to get at the flames, he said.
Flaherty said firefighters were delayed initially because the nearest fire hydrant was frozen and it took a few moments to get it open.
The city Department of Public Works was also called to the scene to spread sand on the road and sidewalks because water from fire hoses quickly turned to ice.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the West Springfield fire department, he said.
The health products store will likely have to be closed for some time while extensive renovations are done to the interior, but the neighboring businesses should be able to reopen once any smoke and water damage is cleaned up, he said.


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News by Topic
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- Viral Marketing
- Trends & Ideas
- Internet Marketing 101
Mobile local search quadrupled in 2012
Local search via mobile devices more than quadrupled in 2012, according to a new report by comScore released by the Local Search Association.
The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets has driven a significant rise in mobile local search, concludes the Local Search Association, whose members comprise of digital, print, mobile and social companies.
According to the recent report, prepared by comScore, traffic to online directories and other local resources more than quadrupled in 2012, accounting for 27% of total non-PC web traffic in December 2012 compared with just 6% in December, 2011.
"Growth in local mobile engagement, particularly via online directories and other local resources, presents a clear opportunity for local search companies to promote their innovative tools to connect businesses and consumers," said Neg Norton, president of the Local Search Association. "While consumers are showing a preference for apps over browsers, offerings on both platforms deserve attention and investment."
In particular, the report found that Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) mobile app users were of a particularly desirable demographic. More than half (53%) are between 25 and 44 years of age and are 51% more likely to have an income greater than $100,000. They are also far more likely to make a purchase via their mobile device at least once per month - 41% versus just 19% of all smartphone users.
"IYP mobile apps are a powerful tool for local businesses to reach ready-to-buy consumers," said Norton. "As the market continues to evolve, IYP mobile apps represent an easy first-step for local businesses to expand their integrated advertising efforts into the mobile space."
More information about the report can be found on Local Search Insider, the blog for the Local Search Association.
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- By Haifa bint Anu Al-Hersek
Apple is considering legal action against Donald Trump
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple is considering legal action against Donald Trump’s travel ban.
The iPhone and MAC maker has already said it opposes the ban on people from Muslim countries travelling to the USA, but could take this a step further with a legal challenge.
Cook said that he would press “very, very senior people in the White House” on Mr Trump’s ban.
The policy has provoked an outcry among Silicon Valley tech groups.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal Cook added: “More than any country in the world, this country is strong because of our immigrant background and our capacity and ability as people to welcome people from all kinds of backgrounds. That’s what makes us special. We ought to pause and really think deeply through that.”
Cook did not elaborate on how exactly Apple would resort to legal action, but said at the weekend that the company opposes the ban. “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do,”
Cook said in an email to staff: “I share your concerns. It is not a policy we support.”
The biological father of Apple’s founder Steve Jobs was an immigrant from Syria, one of the countries most affected by Trump’s executive order along with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Steve Jobs (Apple’s founder and long time CEO) was the son of a Syrian refugee
Many tech companies have vocally opposed the ban. Amazon and Microsoft have already backed a challenge in their home state of Washington, while thousands of Google employees staged a protest on Monday.
Cook had sought to establish a relationship with the Trump administration in its early days. He held a private meeting with Trump after a tech summit featuring the bosses of Google, Microsoft and others in December 2016, and spent much of last week in Washington DC.
Trump criticised Apple on the campaign trail for making its products abroad, and Foxconn, which assembles iPhones in China, is reportedly mulling a factory in the US. It is rumoured that Trump is offering undisclosed cosessions to Apple should they relocate the assembly and physical manufacturing of their products to the USA where their R&D, HQ and design centres are based.
This story is available on:
APPLE NEWS | GOOGLE NEWS | AL-SAHAWAT TIMES
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Analog Devices (ADI) reports after the close and I expect a pretty decent quarter. Analysts think the company can earn $0.60 a share on revenue of $760.5 million.
After a tough summer, the stock rebounded when the company reported a better fourth quarter last August. Just before Thanksgiving, Analog Devices beat the consensus first quarter estimate by $0.01, which kept the summer rally going.
Because ADI is one the best-managed semiconductor companies in the world, investors have always felt safe buying the stock despite a rocky semiconductor market. First quarter revenue was driven by strong a communications business. The company had good demand in the industrial, auto and global 4G LTE businesses, too.
The strength from the summer and Thanksgiving should continue, but ADI's valuation is giving me pause. At $57 the stock is trading at 18x fiscal year estimates of $3.16. That's for a company that is only expected to grow revenue 8%. ADI grew 13% in fiscal 2015 only because of the acquisition of Hittite Microwave (HITT).
The company struggles to grow its top line in the double-digit range because much of its growth is dependent on economic activity as a whole and not on hot semiconductor markets.
The largest part of the Analog Devices revenue comes from the industrial market. Over 47% of revenue is industrial, with communications making up the next largest segment at 24%. The rest, about 18%, is automotive. For ADI to boost its growth, it needs more of its revenues to come from faster-growing markets. That's always been ADI's toughest problem -- the company's success tied to GDP growth.too closely.
Because its end markets tend to be stable, however, the company is able to consistently produce mid-$60s gross margins, which makes ADI one of the most profitable semiconductor companies around.
I would be more interested in purchasing ADI around $50.


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Those who work on quality control for Apple’s Siri voice assistant “regularly hear confidential details” about users, according to a contractor paid to assess responses to Siri recordings.
The news: The whistleblower told the Guardian these workers routinely hear sensitive information like drug deals, confidential medical details, and people having sex.
Why are they listening in the first place? Just like Amazon and Google, Apple employs people to listen to a sample of recordings from people’s conversations with Siri, transcribe them, and grade the responses according to a set of criteria. These include whether the voice assistant was activated deliberately or not, whether Siri could help with the query, and whether its response was appropriate.
However: Apple, again like Amazon and Google, does not explicitly disclose that it is doing this in its consumer terms and conditions (which are virtually unreadable, anyway). Apple likes to pride itself on being a privacy-conscious company, so this revelation may be more damaging for it than for other firms. Unlike the other two companies, Apple provides no way for users to opt out of their recordings being used this way, other than to just not use Siri at all. Apple told the Guardian that fewer than 1% of Siri recordings are used for training and that they are not associated with a user’s Apple ID.
Do consumers care? There’s been some online outrage about this practice and the fact it’s done without customer consent (and so could be illegal within the European Union), but adoption of voice assistant technology shows no sign of slowing.
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While coronavirus may have impacted sales for Capri Holding Ltd., the parent company of Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors, it still reported better than expected financial results this week for the first quarter ended June 27th.
The company saw its sales drop across all brands with Versace down 55% to $93 million, Jimmy Choo down 68% to $51 million, and Michael Kors down 69% to $307 million.
The net losses amounted to $180 million, or $1.21 per share. This is versus the prior year’s $45 million, or 30 cents per diluted share. On an adjusted basis, net losses were $1.04 per share which were narrower than the $1.11 per share that analysts had been expecting.
Revenues declined 67% to $451 million, but was stronger than the company’s own expectations and better than Wall Street’s expected $427.3 million.
“Looking at our progress in the fiscal first quarter, we were encouraged by trends across all three of our luxury houses, with sales and margin performance ahead of our initial expectations,” stated Capri chairman and CEO John Idol. “We were particularly pleased with the strong growth of our eCommerce business, as well the sequential improvement in overall revenue trends through the first quarter and into July.”
“During these unprecedented times, we plan to continue to execute on our strategic growth initiatives and remain confident in the long-term opportunities for each of our unique global luxury houses,” Idol said. “Capri Holdings has a portfolio of three iconic, founder-led fashion luxury brands that have enduring value and a long history of successfully navigating challenging periods. We will continue to carefully guide our business through the current retail environment, while positioning the company to resume its growth trajectory in fiscal 2022.”
The company declined to provide an outlook for fiscal year 2021 and said that there was a “lack of visibility surrounding the pandemic, macroeconomic fundamentals and tourism.”
Shares of Capri were up over 8% in premarket trading on Wednesday morning as Wall Street digested the results.
Disclaimer: We have no position in Capri Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: CPRI) and have not been compensated for this article.


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If there was ever a campaign that demonstrates the possible perils of crowdfunding, it may well be the story of the Kickstarter agonies involving the Buccaneer 3D printer from Pirate3D.
The company scored $1.44 million in crowdfunding back in 2013, and everything looked rosy indeed for the Singapore-based 3D printer manufacturer. But a series of delays in delivering their printers and manufacturing problems led the company to return nearly 15% of their campaign funds to angry backers. If that wasn’t enough, they also suffered through dealing with a “copycat” crowdfunding campaign which popped up on Indiegogo and muddied the waters even more.
But it appears the company will arise from the ashes and ill will.
Pirate3D has just raised $2 million in a round of seed funding from individual investors, and one of those investors is heavy-hitting investment firm Low Capital Management of Singapore.
“Mistakes were made, but overall it’s been great,” says Roger Chang, the CEO and co-founder of Pirate3D. “Our new round of fundraising is just about done. We are ramping up to high volume production, and we are preparing for retail sales.”
Chang says that the process of building a hardware prototype and then making sure it can be effectively manufactured was a “very long, technically challenging, and resource intensive process.”
Pirate3D says this latest infusion of capital will go toward fulfilling orders and refund requests, expanding the company’s research and development team, and speeding manufacturing processes.
Brendan Goh, the co-founder of Pirate3D, says this latest round of funding will not only help his company survive the challenges they’ve faced, but it will ensure that Pirate3D delivers on their Kickstarter commitments, in an interview with Tech in Asia.
According to Goh, one key strategy for the company is expanding markets to include the Middle East and Africa and adding marketing channels via retailers and distributors.
“We realize that 3D printing doesn’t fare too well on plain big box retail,” Goh said. “Retail becomes more of a showroom which is something most brick and mortar retailers are seeing with most products actually.”
He says Pirate3D also plans to add new product lines and adds that a larger version of their 3D printer, the Buccaneer, is in the works.
Goh says this new model will be aimed at professional users such as architects and designers, and he adds that success will mean a shift away from consumer markets toward higher-end users.
“I wouldn’t say consumer printers won’t work but when you deal with a certain segment and you see some needs there, why leave money on the table?” he says.
The FFF-based Pirate3D Buccaneer features a max print volume of 136 x 100 x 146 mm, highest layer resolution of 50 microns, using 1.75mm filament and a 0.4mm nozzle diameter. It is a good-looking product which features an extruder machined from a single piece of aluminum and a removable, non-heated platform. The Buccaneer has a current price tag of $1,099 (USD).
Crowdfunding is generally a great way for nascent companies to raise funds to build their dreams. The Pirate3D story? A different animal. Let us know if you were a backer or your thoughts on such crowfunding efforts in the Pirate3D forum thread on 3DPB.com.
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Can you tell me what went wrong in the Global Payments breach? Any lessons for other enterprises that fall under...
Ask the expert!
Have questions about enterprise information security threats for expert Nick Lewis? Send them via email today! (All questions are anonymous.)
Brian Krebs, who chronicled the Global Payments data breach on his blog, reported the breach of the payment card processing firm went as far back as January 2011 and may have included more than 10 million card numbers. Global Payments issued a press release stating 1.5 million card numbers may have been exposed.
There have been few technical details released by any of the reports as to the source of the breach. Global Payments stated that it believes the incident has been contained. Krebs reported that Global Payments was compromised by attackers in 2011, though it switched to a different hosting company in 2012, when the attackers bypassed the end-to-end encryption Global Payments employed. The attackers stated they were able to bypass the encryption by gaining full access to the systems where card numbers were decrypted. The attackers also stated they went back every month to retrieve the captured data.
Global Payments could have moved hosting companies in an effort to eradicate the attackers from its network, but this seems unlikely unless Global Payments rebuilt all of its systems in use, reset all passwords, and re-secured all of its systems. Changing the hosting provider and potentially changing the IPs in use, but not performing the other actions, makes it difficult to prevent attackers from reentering its systems or maintaining an existing data exfiltration effort. Other enterprises that must comply with PCI DSS will only learns lessons from this data breach when Global Payments releases more details, but no new technical details have been released as of September, 2012. Many of the actions by the attacker could have been detected by careful review of logs or instrumentation of Global Payments' network security monitoring.
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Since the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) suspended the license of Ryding-Regency Meat Packers in September, almost 900 beef and veal products have been recalled across the country for possible E. coli contamination. This week, the CFIA officially terminated the Ontario-based meat plant’s license, along with two others from the region.
In Alberta, grocery chain Planet Organic is facing multiple allegations from more than a dozen suppliers for reportedly not fulfilling its invoices. Although the allegations have yet to be proven, at least one lawsuit against the company has been made public. Planet Organic has until December 11 to respond.
Finally, the results to Canada’s annual Food Price Report were released this week and it appears that the average Canadian family will pay up to an extra $487 for food in 2020. Researchers at Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph have cited climate change as the primary culprit for the increase, and are urging Canadians to address the issue.
Here are five stories you might have missed in food news this week.
Three Canadian meat producers have license cancelled by CFIA
Earlier this week, the CFIA terminated the licenses of three companies that were closely tied to a nationwide meat recall that affected nearly 900 beef and veal products, mainly due to E. coli contamination. Toronto-based meat producers, Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd., St. Ann’s Foods Inc.: Canadian Select Meats, and The Beef Boutique Ltd. are no longer permitted to slaughter animals or prepare meat products.
Get the full story at CTV News.
Planet Organic faces lawsuit for failing to pay its suppliers
After CTV News published the details of a dispute between Planet Organic and Edmonton-based food supplier Honest Dumplings regarding unpaid invoices, 13 of Planet Organic’s suppliers got in touch with the news network to share similar stories. Despite continuing to expand its retail operations, Planet Organic is facing numerous accusations of delinquency and at least one lawsuit has been issued to attempt to recover the money.
Find out more at CTV News.
Canada’s Food Price Report 2020 says climate change is causing rising food prices
According to Canada’s annual Food Price Report, Canadian families will pay up to an extra $487 for food next year, and researchers have suggested that climate change is a major reason why. The report cites droughts, forest fires, heavy precipitation, reduced freshwater access, and rising sea levels as indicators that changing weather patterns are drastically impacting Canadian food systems.
Black Diamond institution struggling to stay afloat
Marv’s Classic Soda Shop has been a fixture in southern Alberta since the turn of the century, but in recent years, the landmark diner has seen a gradual decrease in business. Seventy-four-year-old owner Marv Garriott says the diner is of great historical importance to the region, but is worried that after exhausting all of his savings, he won’t be able to stay afloat beyond this winter.
Find the full story at Global News.
Ontario residents with full and part-time jobs increasingly reliant upon food banks
Feed Ontario recently shared the findings of a report that tracked usage data among the 510,000 Ontarians who used a food bank in the last year. The report indicates that the number of food bank users with jobs has increased by 27 per cent over the past three years. Additionally, the report found that one third of food bank users were children under 18, which was an increase of 4.2 per cent from the previous year.


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Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI), marketer of Caltex brand of fuels and lubricants, has appointed Billy Liu as its new country chairman and general manager. He succeeded Louie Zhang, who recently retired after 31 years of service in the company.
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
|PNB credit card holders can now enjoy rebates when fueling up at Caltex stations using their PNB credit cards.|
Caltex, marketed byChevron Philippines Inc. (CPI),and Philippine National Bankteamup for a new rewardfortheir loyal customers.PNB credit card holders canenjoy rebates on their fuel purchases made at participating Caltex stations starting November 1, 2020.