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The FDA issued the warning after the New York State departments' of Health and Agriculture and Markets, and local health departments in northern New York suggested the recent foodborne disease outbreak could be due to the consumption of unpasteurized apple cider.
Under FDA regulations, most juice processors are required to use Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles to increase the protection of consumers from illness-causing microbes and other hazards in juices.
The FDA pointed out, however, that products that have not been treated to kill harmful bacteria, may be sold in bottles or by the glass in supermarkets, at farmers markets, at roadside stands or in some juice bars.
The government body noted that untreated products that are sold in bottles are generally displayed on ice or in refrigerated cases and are required to carry a warning label stating that the product, "may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness in children, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems".
Untreated, freshly squeezed beverages that are sold by the glass are not required to carry the warning label.
The FDA last month published the final 2004 Produce Safety Action Plan aimed at minimizing the number of foodborne illnesses that are contracted each year through the consumption of fresh produce.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the US each year, 76 million people become sick, more than 325,000 people are hospitalized, and 5,000 people die from foodborne illness, and believes that, in the 1990s, at least 12 percent of foodborne-outbreak-associated illnesses were linked to fresh produce.


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VMware To Challenge Microsoft With Free ESXi Downloads
VMware unveiled the plan Tuesday during an update to its third-quarter finances. VMware said revenue for the quarter is expected to be between $462 million and $468 million, compared to analysts forecasts of $497 million.
Next week, VMware plans to start offering free downloads of its ESXi server virtualization technology, said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions.
ESXi, formerly known as VMware ESX Server 3i, is the embedded version of VMware ESX. ESXi has all the functionality of ESX Server, but was shrunk to fit in 32 Mbytes of memory instead of the previous 2 Gbytes in order to let it be embedded on server motherboards "We want to make virtualization available to everybody," Raghuram said. "So with advances in hardware and now software, we've eliminated any technology hurdles."
With the move, VMware also helps eliminate cost hurdles, Raghuram said. "We want to make this as ubiquitous as possible and open new opportunities," he said. "Now you get the best hypervisor at the best price in the market. There's no need to use another hypervisor."
Raghuram declined to mention any specific competing vendors or their hypervisors by name, but VMware is seeing its 80-plus percent share of the server virtualization market challenged by none other than Microsoft, which late last week said it has released its Hyper-V technology to manufacturing, the last step before it goes to market.
Hyper-V is slated to be included with Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 operating system at no extra charge, increasing pressure on VMware, whose hypervisor licenses have traditionally cost over $400 each. Other companies, including Citrix with its XenServer technology, are also in the market with low-cost or no-cost hypervisors.
Rolf Strasheim, director of client solutions at Peak UpTime, a Tulsa, Okla.-based solution provider, called VMware's action a brilliant move that will allow it to continue its dominance of the marketplace.
"Why would you buy what you can get free?" Strasheim asked.
VMware solution providers currently find margins for the product to already be low, especially given how much it costs to become certified, and having that free download of ESXi will help.
"It's all professional services for solution providers," he said. "VMware's giving the hypervisor free seeds the market, and helps customers become more educated on the product."
Peak UpTime has not yet experimented with Microsoft's Hyper-V, and would not recommend customers put it in production yet until all the bugs are worked out and more technicians get experience with it, Strasheim said.
VMware's dominance of the market is expected to continue, he said. "People are starting to say, are you going to 'VMware' that server yet?" he said.
Raghuram said that solution providers should benefit from the free downloads because of the need to tie in additional features to make the hypervisor more useful for many companies.
With ESXi, customers can manage multiple virtual servers on a single hardware server. However, in order to tie the virtual servers provisioned on multiple hardware servers, customers will require the VMware Infrastructure Suite.
Despite making ESXi available free of charge, VMware is still continuing to develop its VMware Server product, a free version of its server virtualization technology.
Version 2.0 of VMware Server is currently in beta testing, Raghuram said. "It's for customers who want virtualization that runs on top of Windows or Linux operating systems," he said. "ESXi is for doing server virtualization on bare metal."

domain: news


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What You Need to Know
- Regulators are key to expanding the market for cryptocurrencies.
- Eyes are on the SEC for possible approval of a Bitcoin ETF.
- Questions remain about volatility and speculation, illicit uses, energy consumption and demand.
Regulation and greater public confidence are keys to the broad adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to a new report from S&P Global Ratings.
The report notes the “wave of excitement about cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular, which have become more acceptable as investments or as a means of payment,” but also the limits imposed on their broad-based use due to the lack of new regulations and the excessive price volatility.
Until there is more regulation and greater public confidence, S&P Global Ratings analysts expect cryptocurrencies will “continue to be speculative instruments, which investors mostly use as a store of value rather than a means for commerce.”
To date, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has ruled that national banks and federal savings associations of all sizes may provide custody service for crypto assets, participate in public decentralized networks and accept stable coins to settle payments.
The SEC is letting special purpose broker-dealers custody digital assets, under certain conditions, while it solicits comments on “evolving standards and best practices” for the custody of digital asset securities.
And the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved the trading of Bitcoin futures contracts while also declaring that cryptocurrencies are commodities.
In addition, central banks around the globe, including the Federal Reserve, are considering issuing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as means of payment, not as investments.
Once CBDCs are established, S&P Global expects to see their large-scale adoption, rather than that of private digital currencies, as a means of payment. In the meantime, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Tesla have plans to accept Bitcoin as payment on their platforms. Tesla has also invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin while MassMutual, a more traditional financial firm, has invested $100 million.
Will the SEC Approve a Crypto ETF? Canada Has
Proponents of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. are now focused on whether the Securities and Exchange Commission will approve a cryptocurrency ETF. It has rejected past applications, but two are pending before the agency: the VanEck Bitcoin Trust and the NYDIG Bitcoin ETF.
Several SEC observers expect that the SEC under Gary Gensler, President Joe Biden’s pick for chairman who has yet to be confirmed, will be more amenable to approving a cryptocurrency ETF than was his predecessor, Jay Clayton.
Gensler is a former chairman of the CFTC and currently a professor at MIT, where he teaches and researches blockchain technology, digital currencies, financial technology and public policy and is a senior advisor to the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative.
Canada has already approved two Bitcoin ETFs, which trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and are priced in Canadian dollars, and a third will reportedly start trading soon. “Traditional asset managers are becoming more open to the idea of investing in cryptocurrencies or in taking positions,” according to the S&P Global analysts.


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Fuel costs were supposed to be one of the major headwinds for carriers entering 2020. Implementation of the new low sulfur requirements—IMO 2020—on marine fuel were supposed to deplete diesel inventories dramatically, putting upward pressure on the price of diesel, the main fuel for heavy duty class 8 trucks that move freight. So far, the opposite has occurred with wholesale diesel prices plummeting almost $0.40/gal in January, while retail prices have been slow to follow—dropping just $0.12/gal. This should give carriers some needed cost relief in the slower first quarter of 2020.
Earlier this month, award winning energy market journalist, John Kingston, wrote about why the price has not increased as anticipated. With the domestic trucking market experiencing its typical winter lull as spot rates fall rapidly from the holiday peak, the spread between rack or wholesale price of low sulfur diesel and retail jumped above a $1.20/gal for the first time since January 2019, lowering many carriers’ fuel costs in relation to fuel revenues.
The reason the spread between wholesale and retail diesel price is important for trucking operators is due to the fact many carriers buy fuel off the rack —or at some derivative of the rack price—and charge their customers based on retail price. “Rack” is the term used for the facility where refineries hold the oil prior to distribution, normally picked up by a tanker truck.
The charge carriers pass along in the form of a fuel surcharge is based on the average retail price in most cases, which is reported by the Department of Energy (DOE) every Monday. When these two values diverge—as they have been doing—carriers get the added benefit in the form of decreased net fuel expense (fuel costs less fuel surcharge revenue).
These fuel surcharges, at least for truckload carriers, do not necessarily recover the entire cost of fuel. They are designed to offset the volatility of the price of fuel, which is why they are based on the average retail price, a transparent publicly available figure.
Truckload carriers normally have a sliding scale that increases or decreases the fuel surcharge for every $0.03 to $0.05/gal movement in the retail price reported by the DOE. Retail prices are slow to adjust to the wholesale price and are far less volatile due to hedging and inventory management by the retail providers.
In other words, the fuel surcharge is sticking at a higher level due to the slow decline of the reported retail average, while those who buy off the rack are getting the benefit of rapidly falling prices—costs are declining faster than revenues.
Rack prices are heavily influenced by speculation on the futures market and the price of crude, which has been falling rapidly after peaking in early January, ironic since this is when the new regulations for marine fuel were implemented.
Maritime Fuel Gets Debunked
Diesel is a distillate, which along with other fuels like jet fuel and kerosene are derived from processing crude oil. There are variances of crude oil that lend themselves better to distilling one fuel over another. The marine or “bunker” fuel is no longer allowed for the container ships. Bunker fuel is a heavy fuel that could be made from higher sulfur containing “sour” crude. “Sweet” crude contains less than 0.5% sulfur and is easier to distill into diesel.
In order to mitigate the potential increase of fuel costs many maritime shipping lines have been retrofitting container ships with “scrubbers”, which are designed to clean the exhaust fumes of pollutants, but there are problems associated with this and not all ships have been equipped.
Now that the container ships are required to use a lower sulfur fuel, there is more pressure on low-sulfur diesel inventories. There are still many who think diesel prices will expand later in the year, which will have the opposite impact to carriers’ bottom line.
Want to get a jump on diesel prices? FreightWaves has developed next day price of diesel that will tell you what the rack price of diesel will be tomorrow, which could save thousands in fuel costs. Learn more here.
About the Chart of the Week
The FreightWaves Chart of the Week is a chart selection from SONAR that provides an interesting data point to describe the state of the freight markets. A chart is chosen from thousands of potential charts on SONAR to help participants visualize the freight market in real-time. Each week a Market Expert will post a chart, along with commentary live on the front-page. After that, the Chart of the Week will be archived on FreightWaves.com for future reference.
SONAR aggregates data from hundreds of sources, presenting the data in charts and maps and providing commentary on what freight market experts want to know about the industry in real time.
The FreightWaves data science and product teams are releasing new data sets each week and enhancing the client experience.
To request a SONAR demo click here.


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CCH purchases NZ accounting tool vendor - Updated
Mt Maunganui-based accounting tool provider Business Fitness NZ has been purchased by CCH, and will continue to operate as a product line of its new parent company.
The firm offers practical, ‘how-to’ documents online to assist New Zealand accounting practitioners. Regular updates are provided to make sure the information on offer is in line with current tax laws.
Business Fitness NZ founder and CEO, Viv Brownrigg, says in a statement she is looking forward to joining CCH under parent company, Wolters Kluwer.
"This acquisition demonstrates a clear commitment to investing in leading New Zealand intellectual property,” Brownrigg says, "and builds on the strengths of both organisations, as well as enhancing our services to clients.”
CCH will retain all of Business Fitness NZ’s employees, with Brownrigg herself staying on in an advisory role.
The transaction will be completed on August 31 subject to regulatory requirements.
Pictured: the Business Fitness NZ team.
Update: Business Fitness founder Viv Brownrigg says she will continue to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the organisation following its acquisition by CCH.
"I can recall having the conversation with Russell via email saying I wanted to stay on board as an advisor,” Brownrigg told Techday.
"I’ve been in practice for many years, I’m still a go-to person for a lot of people in the industry, so I can keep CCH updated on what’s happening.”
Brownrigg says the response from her staff and Business Fitness has been ‘terrific’.
"My staff handled the announcement that I made to them last Friday extremely well, they’re all excited about the benefits of having access to the CCH team.
"I also had the opportunity to ring some clients yesterday and they’ve been terrific, they’re all very congratulatory, and saying they’re proud of what Business Fitness has achieved.”
Asked to comment on the state of the market, Brownrigg says there is definitely room for growth.
"Like so many busy professionals accountants can be time-poor, but they’re smart people, and they’re smart about investing in products and services that are going to help them work smarter.”
CCH Asia-Pacific CEO, Russell Evans, is equally confident.
"Business Fitness is such a strong brand, they have such a strong connection within the professional market, and this is a great opportunity to introduce Business Fitness across a broader customer base.”
Evans says CCH has ‘had its eye on’ Business Fitness for around two years.
"When we look at acquisitions we start by surveying the marketplace and talking to clients, we ask what problems they’re seeing, what vendors they’re using.
"When we put those questions to our New Zealand accounting base, Business Fitness was always number one or two for providing practical tools for becoming more effective.
"Most said they couldn’t run their business without Business Fitness.”


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Deep tech and enterprise focussed seed fund Angular Ventures has announced the closing of its debut fund at $41m for early-stage enterprise companies with global expansion plans based in Europe and Israel.
The firm, which has been operating in stealth mode for nearly two years, has already built a portfolio of 12 companies with plans to make 5-7 new investments per year.
The fund’s current portfolio spans Israel, the UK, Finland, Romania, and other countries.
Over 50 per cent of the fund’s capital comes from the US, and 74 per cent of the fund’s capital base is institutional, including two US-based endowments, several leading fund-of-funds, and sophisticated family offices from around the world.
The fund’s approach is to drive start-up growth and scale for early-stage companies from across Europe and Israel by rapid expansion into the United States.
Its General Partner and founder Gil Dibner said: “We invest early – from ‘first check’ to Series A, and our LPs have given Angular the green light to invest anywhere in Europe and Israel.
“This broad geographic mandate coupled with our specific industry focus and long track record in enterprise tech investing provides Angular Ventures with a distinct sourcing advantage: for example, we recently backed Valohai, a Finnish company building a version control platform for AI/ML.
Through his career, Dibner has backed 40 companies, and of these 28 have raised capital from US-based VC firms or been acquired by US-based acquirers. Eight have exited, and two, JFrog and SiSense, have reached unicorn status.
The VC’s roster of advisors include JFrog founder Fred Simon, Jerry Dischler who leads the product team for Google’s core ads business and Phil Wickham, founder of Sozo Ventures.
“One of our recent investments is Candu, a UK-born company in the customer success domain, founded by an American and an Italian,” continued Dibner.
“Taking advantage of Angular’s global network, we recently connected them with a senior advisor in our Israeli network who served as CTO and VP Product for a related company.
“His experience was best placed to support Candu. They are now successfully working closely together to tackle product challenges. This sort of cross-border high-touch value-add is a unique capability that Angular brings to the table for enterprise tech companies.”
Of Angular’s first 12 investments, seven have US VCs as co-investors, seven were led or co-led by Angular, and four have already raised follow-on capital at a significant mark-up in valuation.


text: Restaurant and canteen operator Fairwood Holdings beat off rising rents with improved cost control and increased prices to double first-half net profit before extraordinaries. In the six months to September, profit from business operations jumped 102 per cent to $24.15 million, the company reported yesterday. After adding an extraordinary gain on property disposal of $16.95 million, earnings were up 93 per cent to $41.09 million. The company declared an interim dividend of 10 cents per share and a special dividend of eight cents for the property disposal. Chairman Dennis Lo Hoi-yeung admitted the business environment was becoming challenging, saying some leases signed during the low-rent period of Sars would be renewed early next year and rentals would increase significantly. High rentals have been blamed for eating into the profits of local retailers. However, double-digit growth in revenue and an improvement in profit margins from 8 per cent to 11.8 per cent helped Fairwood counter the negative impact of rentals, Mr Lo said. Rentals account for about 17 per cent of the company's revenue, down from 21 per cent two years ago. Fairwood planned to add 10 more retail outlets in Hong Kong by the end of this financial year, lifting the total to 70. Six of them are due to open soon. The company said about $70 million was earmarked for capital expenditure this year and half of that had been spent on renovating outlets in the first half.


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Numerous people on Facebook and Twitter posted that Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah stepped down after rumors about sex trafficking made waves on the internet, but the rumors are false.
“Breaking News: Wayfair’s CEO just stepped down amid child trafficking allegations,” wrote one Facebook user, in a post that racked up more than 250,000 views in two days. “WAYFAIR CEO STEPS DOWN If you..
VERDICT. False. Wayfair CEO has not stepped down. This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here.
Wayfair CEO Steps Down, Wayfair CEO Resigns, Wayfair CEO Child Trafficking. The theory had everyone googling and searching for more evidence to stabilize the approach. The hashtag #Wayfair trended on Twitter..
Despite the human trafficking theory being debunked, it has sparked a number of related claims about Wayfair on social media. This particular Facebook post claims Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah has resigned over..
Shah is CEO and co-chairman of Wayfair after co-founding the company with Steve Conine in 2002. The company generated $9.5billion in net revenue for the twelve months ending March 31, 2020, according to..
Shah is CEO and co-chairman of Wayfair after co-founding the company with Steve Conine in 2002. The company generated $9.5billion in net revenue for the twelve months ending March 31, 2020 ...
Instagram's CEO responds to questions about if the app listens to users conversations. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner John Sanders has stepped down. Wayfair employees are planning a walk ...
When The Wayfair CEO Steps Down We Will See If Their Story Changes. Snopes did not even address the children’s names. They ignored the fact that the same SKUs were duplicated at varying prices with no..
Currently, he is the CEO and co-founder (alongside Steve Conine) of Wayfair, the world’s largest online retailer of houseware, furniture, and other home improvement goods in the United States. The company..
Wayfair’s revenue increased $542.3 million to $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2019, up 39 percent year over year. The company reported a net loss of $200.4 million.
(Also check: Niraj Shah Wayfair CEO Resigns/Steps Down? Truth or Hoax: Wayfair Child Trafficking Conspiracy Theory.) When we dive more deeply into the incident, Wayfair is among the large businesses of..


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Earlier this week, Nippon Ichi Software announced that they’ll be bringing Disgaea 3 to the Vita in the form of a port appropriately titled Disgaea 3: Return. Today at the Akihabara Denkigai Festival in Japan, the developer shed some light on the game, revealing a number of interesting details.
For those that are unfamiliar with the series, Disgaea is a strategy role-playing franchise that made its debut on the PlayStation 2. The third installment was released on the PS3 and will be remastered for the PlayStation Vita. A number of enhancements will be headed to the Vita version, including trophy support, 20 additional characters, all of the DLC from the PS3 version, four new scenarios and 40 additional music tracks. That’s a lot of value in one pretty little package.
In addition to releasing a trailer (which you can check out below), the developer announced that Disgaea 3: Return will be one of the PlayStation Vita’s launch titles. According to Amazon Japan, the game will cost 6,090 yen ($79).
[youtube width=”560″ height=”349″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiuBXJTRCqA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


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Touch ‘n Go eWallet expands cross-border payment to China
Touch ‘n Go Group, via TNG Digital Sdn Bhd owner and operator of Touch ‘n Go eWallet, announced the expansion of its cross-border payment capabilities to China.
GHL, Alipay+ to connect Malaysian retailers with Asian travelers
Foreign travelers visiting Malaysia can now pay using their domestic mobile e- wallets at over 40,000 retail outlets powered by GHL Systems Berhad.
Touch ‘n Go eWallet expands cross-border payments with Alipay+
Touch ‘n Go Group, via TNG Digital Sdn Bhd announced the expansion of its cross-border payments capability to Singapore, led by the eWallet’s acceptance at ComfortDelGro taxis.


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Two weeks ago we invited the UK’s car press to test drive and review the new MG6, and we’re overjoyed with the positive feedback!
The motoring press were so intrigued with our new car that we had to spread the review over 4 days, each day bringing an array of eager car journalists - hungry to test drive the MG6. Each day started at the home of MG, in Birmingham, with an introduction to the new car from Guy Jones, Sales and Marketing Director and then it was out in the car, testing the cars’ limits on country roads and motorways on a planned route via Leamington Spa.
The specialist motoring journalists included AutoCar, Auto Express, Top Gear and many more. They were able to answer the big question on everyone’s lips, “is the MG6 a ‘real’ MG?” And the answer was:
John Simister from the Independent on Sunday said:
“To drive, the MG6 is thoroughly pleasing. Better than expected? Yes.”
Edward Stephens from the Birmingham Mail said:
“It’s a car which will put a smile on the face of MG enthusiasts.”
Nick Gibbs from Auto Express said:
“The handling and steering impress.”
The team here at MG Birmingham are delighted with the positive and also constructive feedback the MG6 received, and believe the responses will help pave the way for the successful launch of the MG6 and future MG cars.
Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mgmotor
Lincolnshire dealership, NT Shaw of Louth MG, is gearing up for a sizzling summer of family fun to celebrate its 40th anniversary. From classic car shows...
South Shields dealer joins MG network Last week, South Shields dealer, Vic Young MG, ran a week-long celebration to promote its new partnership with MG...
Budgen MG, one of Shropshire’s leading car dealerships, has renewed its sponsorship agreement with PGA Champion Luke Towler. The annual deal sees Luke benefit from...


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I briefly tried the myTouch 3G and then went and bought the T-Mobile Touch Pro2 thinking these would be the best T-Mobile USA 3G smartphones for a while. We then saw the Nokia N900 announced with support for T-Mobile's 1700 MHz 3G network and I preordered one for myself. Today at the Mobilize 09 conference we heard from Motorola that the CLIQ will be coming to T-Mobile USA this Fall so we will get yet another powerful Google Android device and 3G smartphone on T-Mobile. I was thinking Sprint customers were lucky with all of their new devices (Palm Pre and Pixi, HTC Hero, Touch Pro2) and now we are seeing T-Mobile USA having plenty of options for the smartphone fan and as a long-time T-Mobile customer I couldn't be happier.
Smartphones and Cell Phones
It seems everyone in business has a smartphone today to keep connected to the office and enjoy their time away from the office. Matthew Miller provides you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile phones sporting iOS, Android, Wi
Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.
Readers know how I feel about my T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 and as I stated before it will be coming to all four main US wireless carriers. Today we get the official press release that the Verizon version is coming tomorrow for just $199.99 after $100 mail-in rebate. This price leaves you wondering about the $350 that T-Mobile and Sprint are charging, but I find the device to be a solid performer and think the $350 I paid is still a good value for such a powerful device.
Facebook is an extremely popular social networking site that continues to increase in popularity. I personally can hardly stand the web version of Facebook and prefer to use a more efficient mobile version on my smartphones. With the new official Facebook client for Android just being released I decided to create a post that discusses the official Facebook clients (there are 3rd party alternatives in some cases) running on the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android, Sidekick, and BlackBerry platforms. While there is some slick Facebook integration on the Palm Pre and WebOS, there is not yet any official Facebook client. As you will see in the following comparison, there is one client that is clearly the leader with most all of the others at about the same level of functionality.
I was a guest on the Geek.com podcast that my buddy Joel and I recorded this morning. We talked about all things mobile and I mentioned that I had an iPhone 3GS running with my T-Mobile SIM in it and was able to use MMS with the native iPhone text messaging application. Joel thought this was pretty slick and asked if wanted to put together a guest post on the subject and that post is now live on Geek.com.
As I have mentioned many times in the past I do not have a huge music collection and prefer to use streaming clients to listen to music. My favorites on my T-Mobile G1 Google Android device have been imeem Mobile and Last.fm. I was pleased to read Paul's post today that revealed Pandora is now available for the Google Android platform.
Larry posted on some of the initial news regarding the upcoming Palm Pixi and you can now find all the info on the Palm website. The Palm Pixi will be coming to Sprint in time for the holidays and should be more of an entry level device like the Palm Centro. The Palm Pixi has most of the same features as the Palm Pre and will be exclusive to Sprint. Speculation is that it will run in the $99 range while the Pre will drop to $149. Michael Gartenberg had a chance to get some hands-on time with one and posted his first thoughts.
Wouldn't you know it, the day I don't have my T-Mobile G1 with me is the day the official Facebook application for the Android platform is released. The best client I have found so far has been Babbler and a cursory look at the official Facebook application indicates Babbler may still have a leg up in terms of video upload functionality. I plan to install the Facebook application on my G1 later tonight and am planning to post a comparison article of offical Facebook apps running on Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry platforms.
There is something about the Google Android character that I really enjoy and I have seriously been considering getting a tattoo of it on my arm or leg. Today, HTC announced a device that I think my wife would approve of first and that is the HTC Tattoo Google Android device running the slick HTC Sense UI. As stated in the press release the HTC Tattoo is taking a page from the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and focusing on the personalization aspects of the device with the ability to create a custom skin and make it your own.
If you read my Clash of the Touch Titans series back in April you would see I awarded the HTC Hero as the device to stand out from the rest and today Sprint announced they would be the first US wireless carrier to offer the device. The HTC Hero on Sprint will be the first time we see a carrier other than T-Mobile with a Google Android-based device and Sprint will now have two Linux-powered smartphones with the Hero and Palm Pre. It will be available beginning 11 October for just $179.99 after a $50 instant savings and $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year service agreement.
Last week I talked about the summer Windows Mobile lovefest, but it is not quite over yet as both HTC and Sony Ericsson announced Windows Mobile 6.5 devices launching as early as 6 October. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 has a form factor very similar to the X1 with some improvements in specifications while the HTC Touch2 takes a bit of a step back from the latest HTC devices we already see on the market. The Touch2 should be the first WM 6.5 device available though with launches in Europe and Asia.


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Physicists at the University of Sussex in England have developed a new technology that could resolve the persistent problem posed by brittle smartphone screens.
This new technology, which combines silver nanowires with a two-dimensional carbon material called graphene, could be used to produce smartphone screens that are “cheaper, less brittle, and more environmentally friendly.” The technology could also lead to development of devices that are more energy-efficient, more responsive and tarnish-proof.
The paper is published in Langmuir.
The problem with current smartphone screens lies not just in their brittleness, but also in their high manufacturing costs and the resulting damage to the environment. Currently, smartphone screens are made primarily with indium tin oxide, which is both brittle and expensive. Extracting Indium, which is a rare metal, also has an impact on the environment. While silver could be used instead of indium tin oxide, it too is expensive. Another drawback of using silver is that the metal tarnishes when exposed to contaminants in the air.
The new technology avoids all these issues without sacrificing performance.
This is the first time that a hybrid material has been used for smartphone screens.
“While silver nanowires have been used in touch screens before, no one has tried to combine them with graphene,” Professor Alan Dalton, from the university’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, said in a statement. “What’s exciting about what we’re doing is the way we put the graphene layer down. We float the graphene particles on the surface of water, then pick them up with a rubber stamp, a bit like a potato stamp, and lay it on top of the silver nanowire film in whatever pattern we like.”
Because the technology could be easily scaled, the researchers believe it could lead to the demise of brittle smartphone screens.
“It would be relatively simple to combine silver nanowires and graphene in this way on a large scale using spraying machines and patterned rollers,” Dalton said in a statement.
This means that brittle mobile phone screens might soon be a thing of the past.
Combining the two materials results in superior performance and energy savings.
“We think that this new approach is really exciting,” Dr. Matthew Large, lead researcher on the project within the university’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, told The University Network (TUN). “We are able to use tiny amounts of silver and graphene to make a coating which performs far better than either on their own. On top of that, all of our processing is done at room temperature using low-energy processes; the standard material, indium tin oxide (ITO), needs to be deposited at high temperatures to get the very best performance. In this way we make a big energy saving.”
The combination also reduces production costs of smartphone screens significantly.
“The combination of graphene with the silver nanowires also makes for a dramatic materials cost saving,” Large told TUN. “The price for the existing technology is somewhere near $50-100 per square metre. Silver nanowire-based technology is now competitive with that; however when we add graphene (which costs cents by comparison) the amount of silver we need falls and we can now make comparable coatings at $5-10 per square metre.”
Even though the new technology involves the use of silver, tarnish would not be an issue as the graphene layer protects the silver nanowires from contaminants in the air.
Another advantage of the hybrid material is that its flexibility does not hamper performance.
“What we’ve also seen is that when we bend the hybrid films repeatedly the electrical properties don’t change, whereas you see a drift in the films without graphene that people have developed previously,” Large said in a statement.
This paves the way towards one day developing completely flexible devices.
The process hasn’t all been easy, though.
“In terms of the technology itself, it has been a fairly straightforward development from our understanding of the nanomaterials we are using,” Large told TUN. “The bigger roadblock for the technology is the fact that it is disruptive; in order to tempt industry away from existing technologies we have to show very significant benefits. That’s why we’ve looked to drive the costs down using abundant materials and cheap, low-energy processing methods.”
Despite these difficulties, the researchers have high hopes for the future of their new technology.
“We are working with partners in industry to understand the scalability of our approach, both on the materials supply side and manufacturing side,” Large told TUN. “We believe that the cost of this new technology is sufficiently low that there may by uptake in industry over the coming years, but we are always looking for other partners to work with us to bring the technology forward.”
Samuel O’Brient grew up in western Massachusetts, though most of his days are spent at Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester, New York. His time there is spent studying business communications and serving as editor in chief of the SLC Economic Review. As a writer, journalist, and blogger, he has written for many different online venues on a variety of topics. When he’s not working on his blog, Samuel can often be found sailing, on the golf course, or on the tennis court.


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Ten million pets go missing worldwide each year, but thanks to an IoT connectivity services contract with Orange, Tractive aims to slash this
Fido will never get lost again, thanks to an IoT connectivity services contract that Orange Business Services has signed with Tractive, an Austrian-based developer of hardware, apps and gadgets for pet owners. The deal provides connectivity for Tractive products and supports the company’s growing business around the world.
Orange Business Services will provide Tractive with SIM cards for IoT connectivity in the Tractive GPS product that helps pet owners locate their pets. With 10 million pets going missing worldwide each year, there is a big demand for these types of services. Founded in 2012, Tractive has grown to cover more than 80 countries worldwide. Now with Orange connectivity, pet owners will be able to locate their cats and dogs in real-time via their mobile devices and without fear of connectivity loss, wherever the animals might wander.
Michael Hurnaus, CEO, Tractive said: “For the services we provide to loving pet owners, seamless and interruption-resistant connectivity on a global scale is absolutely key. The Orange Business Services solution caters to our customers’ needs and requirements. We are especially impressed with the global approach from Orange and the close teamwork with our own experts. They are not just a provider, but a trusted partner for us with our future expansion.”
Anne-Sophie Lotgering, senior vice president, Europe, Russia and CIS, Orange Business Services said: “Tractive’s intention to leverage IoT technology for the benefit of millions of pets and their owners worldwide clearly demands a reliable and trustworthy global provider, such as Orange. “With our proven expertise across the full spectrum of IoT services, we are very happy to have been selected as their provider of choice and to help enable their global growth ambitions.”
The Orange Business Services IoT connectivity service is part of Datavenue, a modular IoT and analytics solution. A global team of more than 700 Orange data-scientists and engineers now design and develop these innovative smart services. Orange already supports over 10 million active objects across a variety of sectors, including smart cities, healthcare, automotive and industry.
If you liked this, you may wish to look at the following:
Orange makes Datavenue available globally
Orange wants to bring its expertise in a number of vertical areas together to help enterprises benefit from IoT and big data
Teaching a dog new tricks
Smart apps and the IoT are making big in-roads in our everyday lives. Now everything can be connected and analysed including your pet


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Pratt family would stay on after sale of retailer Avoca
Management, including members of the founding Pratt family, will stay on if a planned sale of at Avoca goes ahead, according to managing director Simon Pratt.
He was commenting as new accounts show Avoca's pre-tax profits increased by 67pc to €2.6m last year. Revenues rose 2pc to €58.84m. Talks on a sale of the retailer are progressing well, Mr Pratt said.
He confirmed in the event of a sale that he, his brother Ivan, sister Vanessa and parents and all senior staff will stay on to manage the business.
Avoca operates 11 cafes and stores, mainly in Dublin and Wicklow, with outlets in Kerry, Galway and Belfast.


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Sejak Nokia di beli Microsoft, Microsoft langsung saja menggenjot ponsel yang dulunya sempat menguasai dunia ponsel dengan nama Nokia ini. Desain produk, peningkatan mutu dan hardware menjadi target Microsoft. Telah banyak beredar smartphone Lumia dengan spesifikasi yang tentunya menarik disamping harga yang bersaing. Dan kabarnya Microsoft tengah menyiapakan seri terbaru dari ponsel Lumia ini. Secara … Continue reading Microsoft Lumia 935 – Smartphone Dengan Kamera 31MP
The title of World’s Top-selling Smartphone Manufacturer have moved from Apple to Samsung. The Wall Street Journal reporting that citing a reliable source claiming that Samsung has shipped more than 20 million smartphone units to its consumer as compared to Apples shipments of 17.1 million iPhone units for Q3, 2011. Samsung officially announces its financial … Continue reading Samsung Win the title World’s Top-selling Smartphone Manufacturer
Yes, this information comes up from www.allaboutsymbian.com at a short quotes. You may check this information at nokia support center at europe. Nokia has getting closer with mac users and already develop some features that compatible with Mac features like isync, multimedia transfer, and modem. It's really great news for you that iPhone can't comes in to your country.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service Monday, February 14, 2005 Nokia has announced a partnership with Microsoft to deliver music and e-mail to users of its mobile phones, but has ruled out the possibility of building Microsoftï¿½s operating system software into its products. Software supporting Microsoft Exchange Serverï¿½s ActiveSync protocol for synchronizing e-mail, calendar, and contact … Continue reading Nokia and Microsoft Bring E-mail, Music to Phones


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BLE and Bluetooth 5.1 redefine the future of smart homes
Just a few years ago smart homes seemed like a far-off, science-fiction idea. Smart lights, smart locks, smart garage doors, smart refrigerators, smart thermostats, smart ovens, smart TVs, smart speakers, smart fireplaces - all wirelessly connected and controlled from a single device, or even just by the sound of your voice.
By: Erik Peters, International Product Marketing Manager, BLE at Dialog Semiconductor.
Fast-forward to today and not only are smart homes a reality, they’re becoming increasingly mainstream. If you don’t have a voice-controlled smart TV that can queue up a streaming service just by saying its name, or a digital assistant smart speaker that can set timers for whatever you’re cooking for dinner just by asking it to, then you’ve probably been to someone else’s house who does.
As we look ahead to an increasingly connected world, where it’s not just smart homes becoming the norm but smart everything, we should take stock of how exactly this is possible in the first place. Particularly the role that Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology and the new Bluetooth 5.1 protocol will play. Only by examining how we get this technology to work at all can we further push the envelope and answer the question we all have about the smart home and smart devices: What’s next?
How BLE is changing the game
The only reason the smart home concept is viable at all is because BLE tech offers a wireless communications standard that is low in both cost and power consumption. Because of that reduced price tag and power consumption relative to other radio frequency standards, BLE has proven itself as the suitable choice for both transmitting short bursts of data and as the standard for networking smart devices together. BLE’s scalability ensures that as smart homes continue to grow in mainstream popularity - and the devices that make up a smart home grow in number - Bluetooth will be able to keep up.
Expanding connectivity with Bluetooth mesh
The Bluetooth SIG announced support for mesh networking back in 2017. Bluetooth mesh enables a 'many-to-many' method of communications, where signals can be transmitted across multiple devices at once (as opposed to just one device transmitting to another single device). Right off the bat, this sounds perfect for the smart home: from your phone you’d be able to dictate communications to several other devices around the house, like thermostats, speakers and lights, in one fell swoop.
BLE support for mesh networking goes a step further though, not just in expanding the field of signals (and devices to transmit and receive them), but also in reducing the footprint of that network. Because Bluetooth mesh can be easily deployed quickly and cost effectively, it comes practically built in with a virtually limitless capacity for scaling up. In other words, however many more devices the smart home of the next five years, 10 years and 50 years will include, BLE is future-proofed to accommodate them all.
Finding a new direction with AoA and AoD
What Bluetooth 5.1 brings to the BLE table are two new positioning systems: Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD). Both are critical to the success and future viability of smart home devices.
Imagine coming home after a long day at work and wanting to have your favorite settings - a song you want to hear, the lights dimmed and temperature set to your liking, the oven already beginning to pre-heat for dinner - all switched on the second you walk in. AoA and AoD effectively do just that, determining when a given smart device is near others, as well as what in direction these devices are located.
This functionality facilitates 'follow me'-style location detection, which in turn empowers smart home owners to queue up their devices to trigger certain actions - like those aforementioned favorite settings - whenever one device (for instance, a key fob that the person uses to enter the house) comes near others (e.g. smart lights, smart speakers, smart thermostats, smart sprinklers, etc).
In this way, AoA and AoD effectively automate the smart home, having it run to users’ preferences without even needing the user to do anything but walk through the door.
Prioritising security for private data
As devices get smarter and more embedded into what we’re doing on a day-to-day basis - and the data those devices track along the way - fears of what’s happening with that data are becoming more acute. We already see a lot of fearmongering about what tech companies and smart home manufacturers are doing with our data, and how much of that data they’re collecting: are smart speakers, or the mics in our phones, actually listening in on our conversations?
More than ever, the need to prioritise data security is a top concern for both consumers and manufacturers. BLE checks off this box by utilising end-to-end encryption along Bluetooth connections between smart home devices, ensuring that your data stays private and minimising fears and risks of it being hacked or illicitly used against you. Features like secure key storage and authentication protocols provide an extra layer of security, so that applications like mobile payments are under a tighter lock and key.
On the horizon
At the end of the day, answering, 'What’s next?' for the smart home industry is difficult to determine, because the reality is that anything and everything could be next. Automated houses that could turn on the lights, start the laundry and cooking, and switch the TV to your favorite channel just by having you walk in the front door used to be something that only existed in something like Back to the Future.
Now, most of that scenario is already a reality, and the rest is just around the corner. When it comes to envisioning the future of the smart home, the imagination is the limit - thanks in large part to the versatility, functionality, power-conscious and security-heavy array of features that BLE and Bluetooth 5.1 bring to the table.


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The first views of the new electrifying Nissan future prototype "Garage 56" will be shown by the Japanese manufacturer at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Friday 21 June
Nissan announced on February 26th that they would officially enter the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014 as they will continue to move ahead into the future by following up on what they learned as one of the major manufacturers on DeltaWing experimental project last year.
In late February Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that the project will be led by Nismo, Nissan’s global motorsport and performance arm. At the time he also hinted that there would be a new approach to innovation.
The entry will be known as Garage 56. And beyond the “innovative concepts”, the new prototype will have electric technology which will be clarified when they unveil the new prototype at Le Mans.
Ben Bowlby who designed the concept of the DeltaWing remains with Nissan. Also part of the Nissan project is the RML British-based team.
“We will return to Le Mans with a vehicle that will act as a high-speed test bed in the harshest of environments for both our road car and race car electric vehicle technology,” Goshen said.
Nissan’s first entry at the 24 hour endurance race in France in 1986 with the best finish for the Japanese manufacturer of third in 1998. In more recent years, they have supplied engines for the LM P2 teams, and will continue to do so.
“This entry proves yet again that endurance racing as conceived by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is the major motor car manufacturers’ favourite branch of motor racing! The values of technological development, sporting equity and popularity, which have been our driving force since 1923, correspond perfectly to the spirit of the major players on the world motor car scene who want to invest in racing,” said Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.
Nissan's Garage 56 will have an electric drivetrain along with a small-capacity internal combustion engine that will help charge its batteries. For the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it classified as experimental car and they will not be classified in the 2014 results.


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Wheel-y good timing for Redcliffe teen
It was a case of serendipity for 18 year-old Nathan Alexander when he received a phone call telling him he had won a brand new car from RACQ – at the same time as he was surfing the internet looking to upgrade his old wheels.
The Club yesterday presented the Redcliffe teenager with his new Hyundai Veloster GDi.
Mr Alexander was the second RACQ member to win a car in this latest competition.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time, I was literally searching for a new car when I got the call telling me I’d won,” Mr Alexander said.
“The first thing I’m going to do is take my mates for a drive.”
Mr Alexander entered the competition by switching his RACQ Roadside Assistance account to a direct debit payment process.
RACQ CEO Assistance Glenn Toms said the Club was proud to give-away the vehicle to someone who really needed it.
“Everyone remembers the excitement and freedom of getting your licence and what better way to celebrate than with a brand new car,” Mr Toms said.
“Not only will Nathan be able to take his friends on an awesome road trip but he’ll be able to do it in a safe and reliable car.”
Until December 2017, RACQ will give away 12 new Hyundai cars, each valued at up to $28,800.
Visit https://www.racq.com.au/hyundai for more information.


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"Four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base" may not be instantly recognizable. Put that setup in chocolate form, however, and many people would be able to distinguish it as a KitKat. Even if that's the case, the European Union's highest court just ruled that the shape of the sweet treat isn't unique enough to merit trademark protection, meaning other confectioners can potentially produce KitKat knockoffs, the Guardian reports. Nestle, which makes KitKats, has been fighting Cadbury (and then Mondelez, which ultimately bought Cadbury) in the courts for more than a decade on this issue.
The BBC notes that Nestle first applied for trademark protection for the candy's shape in 2002, and it was granted that protection four years later. Cadbury's pushback began in 2007, and Wednesday's decision by the European Court of Justice essentially tells the EU trademark office it now has to "reconsider" its original decision. What that means, however, is that if the EU Intellectual Property Office finds, based on more recent evidence, that the KitKat bar's shape is recognizable in enough countries, it can retain the trademark protection, per Reuters. The brand name itself of "KitKat" is not being contested. (Atari accused Nestle of ripping off one of its popular video games in an ad for KitKat.)


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Remedy Entertainment will soon be starting full production of its AAA game as part of its deal with Epic Games, which is believed to be Alan Wake 2.
Rumours of Alan Wake 2 have been around for years. It’s kinda like a game that has been lost in developmental hell, only as far as we know, Alan Wake 2 has never been in development.
Yet according to recent rumours and speculation, that is about to change as it’s believed that as part of a deal with Epic Games, Remedy Entertainment may begin full production of Alan Wake 2 soon.
Remedy Entertainment recently provided an update of upcoming projects, albeit it’s all a little vague. Back in March 2020, a deal with Epic Games was agreed that would result in two unannounced titles.
“Remedy’s AAA game project with Epic Games is soon moving into full production, and the second, smaller-scale game continues in full production mode,” confirmed the studio in a business review published on Wednesday.
This is by no means confirmation that Alan Wake 2 will soon be in development, but the speculation does fall in line with what GamesBeat reporter Jeff Grubb claimed in March.
According to reports of the deal between Remedy and Epic Games, the studio would develop a “AAA multiplatform game” (which could be Alan Wake 2), and the other is a “smaller-scale” project.
It is also said that the deal with Epic will see the company cover up to 100% of development and publishing costs, and will share 50% of the profits with Remedy once the development costs have been recouped.
At this time, reports of Alan Wake 2 are speculation until confirmed otherwise, so we must take the reports with a pinch of salt. Yet, what better way for Epic Games to make big money than by giving fans the sequel that we have been desperate to see for years?
Do you think that the unannounced AAA project that Remedy is working on could be Alan Wake 2? Let us know across our social media channels.
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Don’t forget you can find some of these great games and more through the new GameByte Shop! The GameByte Shop is stocked up with the latest games, merch and accessories. We might even have a new-gen console or two! Sign up to our newsletter to be notified of our console drops. Please note the GameByte Shop is available for UK customers only.
Featured Image Credit: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games


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Two men have carried out a spree of charity box and tip jar thefts at coffee shops.
On July 21, the pair were seen entering coffee shops in the city centre and swiping containers of cash, some of which were collections for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
One was seen entering the cafes first, appearing to be on his mobile phone and examining the menu.
The second man then arrived and placed an order at the till.
When the barista turned away to make the coffee, the man on the phone slides the tip jar or charity box on the bar into a large bag and leaves, followed shortly afterwards by the second man.
Police have released CCTV images of two men they want to speak to in connection with the thefts and are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Sergeant Sarah O’Driscoll of the city centre policing team said: “The offenders for these incidents have obviously planned quite thoroughly what they were going to do and have managed to successfully target a number of coffee shops.
“As a result of their actions, instead of money that has kindly been donated by people out of the goodness of their hearts being used for a good cause or to reward the staff at the store for their hard work it has been used to line the pockets of these two thieves.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101, the city centre team on 0161 856 3221 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


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Jul. 1—Correction appended
POJOAQUE — The wall behind the two cash registers at Kokoman Fine Wines and Liquor will never look the same.
Hundreds of small bottles of alcohol commonly known as miniatures, minis or shooters have long filled up the stack of shelves, one of the last images customers saw before they paid for their booze and left the store.
But no more. By Thursday, all the miniatures should be gone and gone for good, not just at Kokoman but at liquor stores across New Mexico.
Under a liquor law reform bill that takes effect July 1, the sale of miniature bottles of alcohol for off-site consumption has been outlawed in the state. But the ban only applies to bottles containing 3 ounces or less, allowing liquor store owners to get around the prohibition by selling slightly bigger bottles of alcohol known as ponies.
The ban on minis by liquor store owners is the most tangible sign of the new law, but the sweeping legislation includes multiple other provisions that sponsors of the bill expect to play out in the months and years ahead.
"This was a very complex bill dealing with the biggest reform of liquor laws in 60 years in our state," said Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, an Albuquerque Democrat who was the main sponsor of the legislation in the Senate.
The new law lifts restrictions on Sunday, Christmas Day and Election Day alcohol sales. It also permits home delivery of alcohol with food orders, part of an effort to create a new revenue stream for businesses that took a financial hit because of the coronavirus pandemic. The age to serve alcohol is no longer 19 but 18 under the new law.
'New equity and opportunity'
Perhaps the most significant provision allows restaurateurs to purchase alcohol licenses at a much more affordable price than had been available in the past.
Making liquor licenses more accessible to new and existing business owners — $10,000 for a restaurant license to sell beer, wine and spirits — generated the most pushback during the 60-day legislative session earlier this year.
License holders, some lawmakers and the New Mexico Restaurant Association raised concerns it would hurt existing owners, some of whom invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain their licenses. But others said it would give new and existing food and drink establishments a chance to get their foot in the door while also protecting owners of so-called legacy licenses.
"The bill ... infuses new equity and opportunity into the state's liquor licensing process, making licenses more affordable and accessible overall while providing for a significant tax deduction among other protections for existing license holders in recognition of their investment," the Governor's Office said after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the legislation into law in May.
Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, the lead sponsor of the bill, said the law has reduced a "tremendous barrier" to get into business.
"Decades ago, state-issued liquor licenses became commodities to be bought and sold on the open market," he said. "The last two sold for $500,000 each. ... Now, restaurants can get a liquor license for $10,000, which is amazing."
Restaurant licenses in New Mexico used to be limited to beer and wine service only. Restaurants that wanted to serve spirits needed to obtain a dispenser-type license, which cost between $300,000 to $500,000 on the secondary resale market.
"This was a major impediment to economic development especially in smaller towns in New Mexico that don't have many dispenser licenses available," the state Regulation and Licensing Department wrote in an informational guide. "The new 'restaurant with spirits' will provide restaurants new opportunities to improve their financial margins, and spur growth within the hospitality sector."
At least 60 percent of sales must come from food, and restaurants have to close at 11 p.m. or when food service stops, whichever is sooner, to qualify for the $10,000-a-year license.
"One of the key considerations in adopting the new restaurant with spirits licenses was to draw a distinction so that, as a practical matter, restaurants don't operate or morph into bars," according to the department's guide.
Restaurants that already have a liquor license and don't stay open past 11 p.m. will be able to apply for the new license and put their existing license on the market, Maestas said.
"That's the most exciting part for me," he said. "As soon as all these lies and confusion work themselves out in the next month or two, then there will be two or three dozen liquor licenses on the market that will then become entertainment venues, comedy clubs, nightclubs, bars and taverns."
The bill also allows restaurants to pay $500 for a local distillers spirits permit.
"We wanted to throw a bone to the local distillers," Maestas said. "There's some great distillers here in New Mexico that just need a little nudge to grow their businesses."
Maestas described the reform of the state's liquor laws as a huge feat, saying existing liquor license holders "fight like hell politically to maintain their monopoly."
"It was a question of the people's interest finally, finally defeating this extremely powerful special interest, which is the liquor lobby," he said.
Ivey-Soto said he expects the new law will result in new restaurants opening "because they can get liquor licenses that they haven't been able to before" and a lot of existing restaurants to "step it up in terms of what they're doing" and become higher-quality food and drink establishments.
"We're not trying to create a bunch of new bars," he said. "We're trying to create a bunch of new gastronomical experiences."
Ivey-Soto and Maestas said the reforms hopefully will lead to what they called a "more mature" relationship that New Mexicans have with alcohol.
"In Boston, 73 percent of the liquor sold is by the drink; in New Mexico, 85 percent of the liquor sold is by the package," Maestas said. "We're a packaged-liquor state. We have liquor stores all over the place. Instead of having a drink [at a food and drink establishment] and going home and not drinking, we do the opposite. We go home and drink."
While New Mexico will always have a higher percentage of package sales because the state is so rural, Maestas said he's "looking forward to all these places opening up and just people enjoying the nightlife and entertainment like before."
Ivey-Soto said the new business opportunities may not materialize immediately.
"I think over time, not too much time, we're going to start to see some benefits that are going to happen," he said.
Ready to pony up
The ban on minis, though, resulted in an immediate change that left some liquor store owners scrambling to get rid of their inventory.
Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, proposed the ban as a last-minute amendment as part of an effort to combat drunken driving. Others also saw it as an anti-littering measure because scores of empty mini bottles end up on the street.
Liquor store owners say the ban doesn't accomplish much because they and their customers are switching to ponies, which are about twice the size of minis. That will just lead to people drinking more alcohol and bigger bottles of trash on the road, they said.
"I don't think [the ban] makes sense considering the fact that they're going to sell ponies in place of minis," said Eric Jinzo, who took advantage of the sales on minis at Kokoman in Pojoaque, which has been trying to unload about $65,000 in inventory since lawmakers approved the ban.
Customers "will just go to the bigger sizes," he said, adding the only way lawmakers would be able to curb drinking and driving is by banning alcohol altogether.
Lopez did not return a message seeking comment, but Maestas said the effect of the ban on minis, such as bigger bottles of trash on the road, remains to be seen.
Keith Obermaier, who owns Kokoman in Pojoaque, said he's already feeling the pinch of the ban on minis. He said he wasn't given enough time to sell off his inventory. The wall behind his cash registers was still full of minis — and sale signs — last week. A 50-milliliter bottle of Goldschläger, for example, usually goes for $2.99, but he was selling it for 99 cents. He usually charges $11.99 for a small bottle of DeLeón Platinum Tequila but slashed the price to $1.99.
Obermaier expressed frustration the ban was included in the legislation as a last-minute amendment without input from store owners or the public.
"We had a very high inventory of miniatures because the only way you could purchase them was buying whole cases and getting a better deal, so they let us buy it and then they made the law, and now they won't let us sell them or get rid of them where we could make a profit," Obermaier said.
"They're always telling you they're for small business, but I don't see it," he added. "I don't understand how they're for small business when they don't even talk to us."
Correction: This story has been amended to reflect the following correction. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that sales of synthetic urine were banned as part of the state's liquor reform law. The error was made in editing.
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.


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Ever since Jordan Brand hooked up with the University of Michigan, an impressive list of Player Exclusives have come the school’s way. In November, the university revealed a special Player Exclusive version of the PSNY x Air Jordan 12 in the famous navy blue and yellow Wolverines colors.
The shoe feature a premium suede and the official colorway is College Navy and Amarillo. This PE is rumored to release in the summer, more specifically, in June. Stay tuned in to The Jordan Rack for more news and product availability on our site.
Update: According to SneakerNews on March 30th, the shoes are expected to release in April.
(Photos courtesy of SneakerNews and KicksOnFire)


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Ferrari may want to start looking in the rear-view-mirror because McLaren Automotive seems to be catching up pretty fast. The British automaker announced today that it has opened its first showroom in Milan, Italy. The opening was celebrated with more than 250 guests hosted by McLaren Automotive Managing Director Antony Sheriff and McLaren Milan Dealer Principal Ado Fassina.
The Milan showroom is one of the 35 retailer McLaren stores to be picked by McLaren to sell a future range of supercars, starting with the McLaren MP4-12C.
“The opening of McLaren Milan marks a significant point in the development of McLaren Automotive,” said Sheriff. “My vision for this company is to design and build the most innovative, efficient and high performance sports cars in the world. We have underlined our intent with the launch of the new MP4-12C.”
Click here for more news on the McLaren MP4-12C.
The new McLaren Milan showroom is located on Corse Sempione 34/2, 20154 Milano.
Refresher: The 2012 McLaren Mp4-12C is powered by a 3.8L twin-turbo V8 making 592-hp at 7,000 rpm with a maximum torque of 443 lb-ft between 3,000 rpm to 7,000 rpm. That allows the McLaren MP4-12C to run from 0-62 mph in 3.3 seconds with a top speed clocked in at 205 mph. The Corsa tire option shaves 0.2 seconds off the 0-62 mph time. 0 to 124 mph takes 9.1 seconds and with the Corsa tire option that goes down by 0.2 seconds. The quarter mile run takes the McLaren MP4-12C 10.9 seconds at 134 mph. Stopping from 62 mph can happen in 100 feet. Price start at $231,400.
– By: Omar Rana


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ANZ will suspend loan repayments and waive fees as part of an assistance package for dairy farmers hit by cuts to farmgate milk prices.
Dairy producers Murray Goulburn and Fonterra recently slashed the price they pay farmers for their milk, putting farmers under considerable financial pressure.
"While the macro fundamentals in the medium and longer term of the industry remain strong, we know many of our customers are doing it tough at the moment," ANZ general manager of regional business banking, Christine Linden, said.
The bank said it will suspend repayments on loans, including credit cards, for three months for its dairy farmer customers.
It will also waive fees related to restructuring business loans, and provide temporary adjustments to lending limits.
Dairy farmers can also get early access to term deposits without incurring any fees, while ANZ will provide access to hardship support services.
"We're committed to working with each customer so they take advantage of the long term benefits of the dairy industry," Ms Linden said.
ANZ encouraged its dairy customers to visit their local ANZ branch or contact their agribusiness manager should they need help.


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Also in this playlist...
This transcript is automatically generated
Crude oil spiking above 100 dollars a barrel at one point on Friday that was for the first time since may.
Look for a continued rise in prices at the gas pump and don't forget winter's coming oil is used to -- many homes so your home heating bill that can -- up to.
More expensive gas drove consumer prices up in August by the most in three years.
The Labor Department says consumer prices rose point 6% last month inflation also heating up across the Atlantic.
-- inflation in the seventeen nation eurozone was two point 6% in August announced the first increase since last September.
-- do -- little shopping US retail sales rose for a second straight month in August up point 9%.
We bought a lot of cars and gasoline to fill them some furniture and -- year -- but the Commerce Department side declines in clothing.
Electronics and appliances last month.
Has taken on a new role tax collector in California starting this weekend.
The online retailer will charge sales tax in the state many California customers rushing to make big orders ahead of that.
And at the close of trading next Friday UnitedHealth Group will replace craft.
In the Dow Jones Industrial Average representing the importance of health care spending.
To the US economy.
That's for more on -- rise log -- foxbusiness.com.
In new York and Lawrence amenity.
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Posted by StreetWise in Magazine Articles
Since the 1962 opening of his first Walmart discount store, Sam Walton has reshaped the global retail industry into one of vicious hyper-competition among low-wage retailers. Possessing some 8,900 stores with 2.2 million employees across 15 countries, Walmart is the world’s largest private-sector employer, which enables it to establish wages and prices among both its suppliers and competitors. In the US, the company employs some 1.4 million people, or one percent of the nation’s working population, offering dirt-cheap prices to consumers while generating revenue of $464 billion in 2012, approximately the equivalent of Belgium’s gross domestic product. Such statistics, however, come at a high price for Walmart’s employees who earn¸ on average, $8.81 an hour and are subjected to appalling working conditions that have involved mandating overtime work without pay. Moreover, because one-third of Walmart’s employees work fewer than 28 hours per week, they are ineligible for company benefits that include expensive and inferior health coverage. Additionally, some “full-time” employees, those who work at least 34 hours per week, depend on local food pantries to make ends meet.
One would think that a highly profitable employer that provides its employees with substandard wages and working conditions would be ripe for unionization. Various unions have tried but Walmart has taken an increasingly aggressive approach, including violating US labor laws at times according to the National Labor Relations Board, to quash union organizing drives. In 1970, for example, when the Retail Clerks International Union first attempted to unionize employees at two Missouri Walmart stores, Sam Walton hired a lawyer to halt the campaigns. In 1978, the Teamsters Union launched a unionization drive at a Walmart distribution center in Arkansas; the company successfully delayed the vote for four years while eroding union support. And in 1999, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) distributed leaflets to meat department employees at 300 Walmart supercenters. When the Jacksonville (Texas) Walmart butchers voted to affiliate with UFCW Local 540 in 2000, union elections sprouted up at other stores. In response, Walmart eliminated its 180 meat counters and began selling only prepackaged meat. Finally, after one group of Canadian Walmart workers voted to join the UFCW in 2004, the company shut the store one year later.
Although Walmart has successfully defeated all traditional union organizing drives in its stores, a new form of labor organizing has gained a toenail hold in the retailer’s vast empire. This group, Organization United for Respect at Walmart, or OUR Walmart for short, is in essence a nonunion union. Publicly launched by the UFCW in June 2011 after allegedly enrolling thousands of members, OUR Walmart’s goals are to provide a voice on issues of concern to company employees, to engage in collective actions including nonunion strikes and to redress grievances. Such activities are protected by federal labor law although the group, because it is not an officially-certified union and cannot bargain contracts on behalf of Walmart employees.
Beginning in October 2012, OUR Walmart conducted one-day strikes at various Walmart stores in support of employees who had either been terminated, threatened or had their hours slashed for publicly expressing their grievances at work. These collective actions culminated in the 2012 Black Friday strikes involving approximately 500 workers in scores of stores. While only two workers walked out in some locations, in other stores as many as half the shift struck. In spite of Walmart’s threats to discipline strikers, no additional firings resulted from the Black Friday actions.
While these strikes resulted in bad publicity for the retailer, they neither interfered with Walmart’s productivity nor its profitability. However, if OUR Walmart, or any other labor organization, wants to make real improvements for the employees, it will have to disrupt the company’s global cargo chain at key choke points through linking up with other groups of workers. This can be accomplished at West Coast ports where unionized longshoremen unload goods and port truckers transport merchandise to Walmart distribution centers. Such a strategy would necessitate the organization of the company’s warehouse workers and 7,400 truck drivers. In January 2013, the Teamsters organized Los Angeles port truckers working for Toll Group, increasing their wages from $12.72 to $19 per hour among other contract improvements. The Warehouse Workers United (WWU), supported by the Change to Win Federation, led a successful non-union strike among 38 Walmart warehouse workers in Jurupa Valley, California in September 2012. Both the Teamsters’ unionization and the WWU activities can be used as catalysts for organizing Walmart’s warehouse workers and port truckers.
While difficult, though not impossible, it is crucial that solidarity be created among all employee groups in the company’s cargo chain for carrying out collective actions to force Walmart to improve its wages and working conditions. With the tremendous anticipated growth of low-wage service occupations over the next decade, the future of the US trade union movement might very well depend on this strategy’s successful implementation.
By Victor G. Devinatz


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Venezuela's Great Dollar DroughtBy and
Every weekday, Ricardo Matamoros wakes up before dawn, travels to a branch of Mercantil Banco Universal in Caracas, and gets in line seeking to buy dollars. It's a futile effort, he says. "They haven't approved a single one of my requests during 45 days," said Matamoros, 51, the president of a film production company, as he stood outside the bank on Feb. 7. "Let's see if it happens today since I'm second in line."
The U.S. dollar is becoming scarce in Venezuela nine months after President Hugo Chávez banned local brokerages from trading foreign currency—a move intended to clamp down on capital flight out of the country and fight inflation. Since then businesses and individuals in need of greenbacks have had to turn to the central bank, which limits purchases to $50,000 a day. The result: Companies have been forced to sharply curb imports. Kellogg (K), the Battle Creek (Mich.) maker of Froot Loops cereal and Soft Batch cookies, said on Feb. 3 that it can no longer "cost-effectively import" into Venezuela. Paris-based spirits maker Pernod Ricard said in a Feb. 17 earnings report that currency hurdles led to a "sharp decline" in sales of Scotch whisky in Venezuela.
Alberto Ramos, a senior Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs (GS) in New York, calls Venezuela's exchange system "dysfunctional." There's an official rate—currently 4.3 bolívars to the dollar—available to companies that go through the country's Foreign Exchange Board, called Cadivi. That's only for so-called essential imports, such as food and medicines. Businesses pay 5.3 bolívars at the central bank currency market, known as Sitme. On the black market, where transactions take place curbside, the bolívar trades at more than 8 per dollar.
Goldman's Ramos says the government may devalue the Sitme rate to 6 bolívars per dollar later this year. Devaluation is a tried-and-true method of boosting government revenue in Venezuela. The country took in some $55 billion from oil exports last year. Those dollar earnings multiply when the local currency is devalued. Chávez has resorted to the tactic twice in the past 13 months. Sending the prices of imports skyrocketing, 12-month inflation hit 28.5 percent in January, the highest rate in Latin America.
Jorge Botti, a partner at telecommunications company Imr Netsystem in Caracas, bemoans the loss of productivity caused by Chávez's baroque system of exchange controls. "Managers are spending more time in bank queues than working to make the company more efficient," he says.
The bottom line: Venezuela is poised for another devaluation, as Chávez's currency controls lead to a dollar shortage.


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Chinese players of World of Warcraft, one of the world's most popular online games, may be out of luck after a government regulator rejected an application from the game's new licensed operator.
The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has terminated Chinese Internet portal NetEase's application seeking approval for the game, the agency said in a statement posted on its website Monday.
NetEase violated a rule banning new account registration and collection of subscription fees during a trial period that started July 30, when the firm was ordered to "revise harmful content" in the game, it said.
World of Warcraft, developed by California-based company Activision Blizzard Entertainment, was previously licensed to another Chinese firm, The9, which ran the game in China for four years from 2005, earlier media reports said.
The online role-playing game had around five million active users in China, and The9's financial report showed it booked net revenue of 380 million yuan (56 million dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008, the reports said.
NetEase announced in April that it had won a three-year licence for the game from Blizzard after The9's licence had expired.
Analysts said it was uncertain if GAPP's rejection would lead to a permanent ban in China as NetEase in April received approval from the culture ministry, which is also tasked with regulating computer games.
"The chaos is mainly due to the vague demarcation of responsibilities between GAPP and the Ministry of Culture," said Liu Ning, a Beijing-based analyst with research firm BDA China.
"It is not yet certain what will happen -- to be honest, it depends on who will finally win (in the turf war) -- GAPP or the culture ministry," he said.Reuse content


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The Video game Bakers has actually released a new trailer for Haven, its gorgeous-looking adventure RPG, working on the PS5. Some new fight gameplay together with an apparently brand-new feature are included together with even more traversal video. Examine it out below.
The brand-new attribute in inquiry appears to connect to the dialogue selections.
Place is currently slated to release later this year. It’s involving COMPUTER, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch Over, PS4 and PS5. For a lot more gameplay footage but on Xbox Series X, head below. Remain tuned for even more details in the meanwhile particularly pertaining to a much more concrete launch date.


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In September 2012, Bitfloor, a bitcoin exchange, also reported being hacked, with 24,000 bitcoins (worth about US$250,000) stolen. As a result, Bitfloor suspended operations. The same month, Bitfloor resumed operations; its founder said that he reported the theft to FBI, and that he plans to repay the victims, though the time frame for repayment is unclear.
Satoshi's anonymity often raises unjustified concerns because of a misunderstanding of Bitcoin's open-source nature. Everyone has access to all of the source code all of the time and any developer can review or modify the software code. As such, the identity of Bitcoin's inventor is probably as relevant today as the identity of the person who invented paper.
On 6 August 2010, a major vulnerability in the bitcoin protocol was spotted. Transactions weren't properly verified before they were included in the transaction log or blockchain, which let users bypass bitcoin's economic restrictions and create an indefinite number of bitcoins. On 15 August, the vulnerability was exploited; over 184 billion bitcoins were generated in a transaction, and sent to two addresses on the network. Within hours, the transaction was spotted and erased from the transaction log after the bug was fixed and the network forked to an updated version of the bitcoin protocol. This was the only major security flaw found and exploited in bitcoin's history.
Market Risk: Like with any investment, Bitcoin values can fluctuate. Indeed, the value of the currency has seen wild swings in price over its short existence. Subject to high volume buying and selling on exchanges, it has a high sensitivity to “news." According to the CFPB, the price of bitcoins fell by 61% in a single day in 2013, while the one-day price drop in 2014 has been as big as 80%.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that enables users to be their own banks, store their assets securely thanks to advanced encryption and send money without any intermediaries to anyone anywhere in the World. Bitcoin is the oldest cryptocurrency with a very good market price. It has made many investors, especially the earliest ones, incredibly rich bringing even 1000x of returns. However, because of this it has become a very speculative asset. Many people are researching Bitcoin only for the sake of profits and not to use it as a fast peer-to-peer payment method
Since its launch in 2009, Bitcoin has proven to be a profitable investment for those who owned it initially. Having bought it for only $50 back then, one can now earn high revenues, as now its price has grown hundreds of times larger. Observing the popularity of BTC to USD exchange operations, there are immense opportunities to gain benefits from the Bitcoin trade. After the coin was launched, it cost $0.003 on April 25, 2010, at BitcoinMarket.com, which was the first cryptocurrency exchange. Starting at that time, the Bitcoin to dollar exchange rate has increased dramatically, and some of the initial owners gained earnings of over thousand percent. Now, while some users may be simply attracted by the potential of growing prices, many buyers believe that the currency itself has a high level of volatility. According to some financial specialists, it is even more volatile than gold. And some individuals believe that Bitcoin has the potential to replace fiat money in the future.
Though each bitcoin transaction is recorded in a public log, names of buyers and sellers are never revealed – only their wallet IDs. While that keeps bitcoin users’ transactions private, it also lets them buy or sell anything without easily tracing it back to them. That’s why it has become the currency of choice for people online buying drugs or other illicit activities.
In September 2015, the establishment of the peer-reviewed academic journal Ledger (ISSN 2379-5980) was announced. It covers studies of cryptocurrencies and related technologies, and is published by the University of Pittsburgh. The journal encourages authors to digitally sign a file hash of submitted papers, which will then be timestamped into the bitcoin blockchain. Authors are also asked to include a personal bitcoin address in the first page of their papers.
Full clients verify transactions directly by downloading a full copy of the blockchain (over 150 GB As of January 2018). They are the most secure and reliable way of using the network, as trust in external parties is not required. Full clients check the validity of mined blocks, preventing them from transacting on a chain that breaks or alters network rules. Because of its size and complexity, downloading and verifying the entire blockchain is not suitable for all computing devices.
Bitcoin may react differently to inflation/deflation: Bitcoin differs significantly from fiat currencies, due to the fact that there is a limited number of bitcoins to be mined. Paper money, on the other hand, can be created at will out of thin air by central banks. Due to its limited supply, Bitcoin may potentially hold its value better than paper money, which can technically have an unlimited supply.
The proof-of-work system, alongside the chaining of blocks, makes modifications of the blockchain extremely hard, as an attacker must modify all subsequent blocks in order for the modifications of one block to be accepted. As new blocks are mined all the time, the difficulty of modifying a block increases as time passes and the number of subsequent blocks (also called confirmations of the given block) increases.
Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency, a concept that was discussed in the late 90s. The first Bitcoin specification and proof of concept was published in 2009 in a cryptography mailing list. The concept was presented by a person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto. The real identity of Nakamoto has been a mystery since that time, with various theories on who the individual or group may be.
If you are considering investing in cryptocurrencies, think of it like a trip to Vegas, self-made millionaire and best-selling author Tony Robbins suggests. In his own portfolio, Robbins directs a certain amount of money to risky ventures, but he doesn't rely on them to work out. For those investments, he said, "I know it is just for fun I'm investing, I know I could lose."
In November 2013, the University of Nicosia announced that it would be accepting bitcoin as payment for tuition fees, with the university's chief financial officer calling it the "gold of tomorrow". During November 2013, the China-based bitcoin exchange BTC China overtook the Japan-based Mt. Gox and the Europe-based Bitstamp to become the largest bitcoin trading exchange by trade volume.
On 1 August 2017, a hard fork of bitcoin was created, known as Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash has a larger block size limit and had an identical blockchain at the time of fork. On 24 October 2017 another hard fork, Bitcoin Gold, was created. Bitcoin Gold changes the proof-of-work algorithm used in mining, as the developers felt that mining had become too specialized.
A fork referring to a blockchain is defined variously as a blockchain split into two paths forward, or as a change of protocol rules. Accidental forks on the bitcoin network regularly occur as part of the mining process. They happen when two miners find a block at a similar point in time. As a result, the network briefly forks. This fork is subsequently resolved by the software which automatically chooses the longest chain, thereby orphaning the extra blocks added to the shorter chain (that were dropped by the longer chain).
Bitcoin paints a future that is drastically different from the fiat-based world today. This is either exciting or unsettling for the vast majority. Equip yourself with the best possible resources. Become active in communities that further explore not only the technical applications of Bitcoin and other cryptos, but with their overall potential to disrupt virtually every market. Brace yourselves. Cryptos are coming.
Nigel Dodd argues in The Social Life of Bitcoin that the essence of the bitcoin ideology is to remove money from social, as well as governmental, control. Dodd quotes a YouTube video, with Roger Ver, Jeff Berwick, Charlie Shrem, Andreas Antonopoulos, Gavin Wood, Trace Meyer and other proponents of bitcoin reading The Declaration of Bitcoin's Independence. The declaration includes a message of crypto-anarchism with the words: "Bitcoin is inherently anti-establishment, anti-system, and anti-state. Bitcoin undermines governments and disrupts institutions because bitcoin is fundamentally humanitarian."
The overwhelming majority of bitcoin transactions take place on a cryptocurrency exchange, rather than being used in transactions with merchants. Delays processing payments through the blockchain of about ten minutes make bitcoin use very difficult in a retail setting. Prices are not usually quoted in units of bitcoin and many trades involve one, or sometimes two, conversions into conventional currencies. Merchants that do accept bitcoin payments may use payment service providers to perform the conversions.
The whole process is pretty simple and organized: Bitcoin holders are able to transfer bitcoins via a peer-to-peer network. These transfers are tracked on the “blockchain,” commonly referred to as a giant ledger. This ledger records every bitcoin transaction ever made. Each “block” in the blockchain is built up of a data structure based on encrypted Merkle Trees. This is particularly useful for detecting fraud or corrupted files. If a single file in a chain is corrupt or fraudulent, the blockchain prevents it from damaging the rest of the ledger.
That crash was made up for by a rally in October and November of that year. By early October, Bitcoin was at about $100, and it hit $195 by the end of the month. In November alone, Bitcoin had an unbelievable rally, going from $200 to more than $1,120. The causes of this rally were fairly obvious to most people, as more miners and exchanges were supporting Bitcoin. In addition, China had entered the marketplace.
It’s decentralized and brings power back to the people. Launched just a year after the 2008 financial crises, Bitcoin has attracted many people who see the current financial system as unsustainable. This factor has won the hearts of those who view politicians and government with suspicion. It’s no surprise there is a huge community of ideologists actively building, buying, and working in the cryptocurrency world.
Bitcoin has become more widely traded as of 2017, and both short term traders and long-term investors are looking to participate in this exciting market. The price of bitcoin fluctuates on a daily basis, and can see some significant price volatility. Prices can be affected by numerous influences. Some of the possible drivers of price include: further acceptance, more exchanges opening, regulations, weakening paper currency values, inflation and more.
On 3 March 2014, Flexcoin announced it was closing its doors because of a hack attack that took place the day before. In a statement that once occupied their homepage, they announced on 3 March 2014 that "As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss [the hack], we are closing our doors immediately." Users can no longer log into the site.
On 6 August 2013, Federal Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled that bitcoins are "a currency or a form of money" (specifically securities as defined by Federal Securities Laws), and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction, and Germany's Finance Ministry subsumed bitcoins under the term "unit of account"—a financial instrument—though not as e-money or a functional currency, a classification nonetheless having legal and tax implications.


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Dubai Weekend ShortList
Eid Mubarak! We hope you’re looking forward to the celebrations ahead. With fireworks and shopping competitions, there’s lots to appreciate this weekend. A new cinema release, DJ nights and some waterpark action should round things off nicely.
Fresh from the box office, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the revamped and rebooted Terminator. Before you write it off based on the last movie, Arnie recently told reporters that Terminator Salvation “sucked” so we’re expecting this one to be much better. According to imdb, it is, with a 7/10 rating.
For screening times and cinemas visit our movie listings.
It’s your last chance to visit some of Dubai’s fantastic Iftars before they’re gone. Whether you’re looking for five-star, budget friendly or something a little more refined, we’ve got it all covered. Make sure you call ahead to check that they’re not closed or sold out, as this weekend is set to be a busy one.
The Eid celebrations are out in full force this weekend. And if there’s one thing that Dubai knows how to do well (apart from building huge skyscrapers), it’s set off fireworks. This weekend’s Eid show will take place along The Beach at JBR. If you’re looking for a good spot to watch the light show, we recommend the north lawn.
Eid fireworks, 8.30pm, The Beach, JBR
Some have been quieter than usual, some have been closed, but all are announcing their return. Get your gladrags on, it's time to celebrate the earliest new season parties in Dubai with a mixture of house, hip hop and old-school classics. There's even an international name making an appearance. Visit our ShortList of the DJ nights worth your presence.
The latest rank of water parks makes very good reading for the UAE. In the World’s Best 25, three parks in the country not only make the list but come in the top 14. As it’s the height of summer, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pay each of them a visit yourself. There are worse ways to cool down.
For details of Atlantis and Wild Wadi, visit here.
Eidiyat Dubai Promotion
Throughout this month there has been a shopping promotion running to celebrate Eid. Participating stores are giving you the chance to win fantastic prizes, including a cash prize of AED1.5 million. You need to spend AED200 to qualify and the competition closes on the last day of Eid, so get spending.
Visit our shopping pages for inspiration.


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Earlier today (4th September 2020), a report from Sohu revealed that Huawei has apparently decided to delay the launch of its 5nm Kirin mobile processors and are urging TSMC to deliver the orders as soon as possible.
According to industry sources close to the matter, the Chinese tech giant is making this move to keep a low profile while still receive their orders on time before the US deadline. For those unaware, TSMC has stopped taking orders from Huawei due to US sanctions and is currently only working on completing existing orders. Furthermore, the company was expected to announce its new generation of chips during the IFA event as well.
Sources claim that Huawei has determined internally that it would not be announcing its new 5nm Kirin chip at the IFA 2020 conference, and are waiting for the delivery of chip orders from TSMC. At the moment, the world’s largest contract chipmaker is working around the clock to deliver the large orders before the 14th September 2020 deadline, after which it cannot take any additional Huawei orders.
This entire situation is indicative of the dire impacts the recent US crackdown has had on Huawei. The Trump administration has not only cut off its chip supply but has also reformed certain regulations to cut off the company’s supply chains that involve American made technologies as well. So stay tuned, as we will be providing more updates when more information is available.
World news – CA – Huawei delays its 5nm chips, urges TSMC to deliver orders before deadline: Report – Gizmochina