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The country’s newly implemented law on cigarettes and liquors or the Sin Tax bill does not affect Boracay that much.
This is what the Department of Tourism believes, according to DOT Officer in Charge Tim Ticar.
He said that this new law won’t affect the tourism industry on the island particularly those foreign tourists who are smokers and are fond of going out and or clubbing.
He explained that if these “sin products’” price increases for a few pesos, this won’t be much for the tourists on the island because it costs so much more in their country compared to ours.
That is why, Ticar added, there is no need to worry about the effects of the Sin Tax Bill to the tourism industry in Boracay, since some additional peso doesn't seem to be of a bother to the tourists.


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By Starrla Cray
DELANO, MN They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but in the case of physician Heidi Wuerger, apples are part of the family business.
Heidi, her husband, Dave, and their three children 14-year-old twins Brock and Gretchen, and 11-year-old Sydney own Apple Tree-O orchard in Delano, which is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the fall.
“The ‘Tree-O’ part is actually named for our three kids,” Heidi said. “It’s really their business.”
For the Wuergers, Apple Tree-O provides opportunities to learn about agriculture, finances, weather, marketing, public relations, and hard work.
“We help with pretty much everything picking apples, selling them, making signs, and mowing the lawn,” Brock said. “It sounds weird, but I really like mowing.”
“I like making pies,” Gretchen added.
For Sydney, the highlight is “eating the apples.”
All three love the SweeTango variety, which is a crisp, sweet combination of Honeycrisp and Zestar! apples.
A sweet start
Incidentally, the SweeTango is one of the reasons Apple Tree-O exists in the first place.
Heidi’s parents (who own an orchard in Fitchburg, WI) heard about the SweeTango in 2008, just as it was being developed by the University of Minnesota.
“Originally, only Minnesota growers could get the apple,” Heidi said, explaining that since her parents weren’t able to grow it, they encouraged her and Dave to start their own orchard.
“There was an opportunity to get in right from the very beginning,” Dave said.
He was impressed with the high-density technique Heidi’s parents were using for their orchard, and implemented the same system in Delano. Trellises keep the plants close together, allowing for 600 trees on less than one acre of land.
“Because it’s smaller, it’s a lot easier to maintain,” Dave said.
Apples grown on the Wuerger farm include SweeTango, Zestar!, Cortland, Honeycrisp, and Haralson. Melrose will be available as soon as the trees mature.
“We sell dried apples, too,” Heidi said. “It’s a nice snack for people.”
A crispy crop
Heidi said this year’s harvest is slightly later than average, but she had already picked some ripe Zestar! apples last Monday, with plans to sell them at the Delano Farmers Market.
“For us, it’s actually been a pretty good year,” she said, adding that the orchard wasn’t harmed by the wet spring, because the trees are on top of a hilly slope.
Apple Tree-O is open on weekends throughout the fall, from noon to 5 p.m. Heidi said she hopes the orchard can be a place where families go to pick apples, have a picnic, and enjoy the outdoors together.
To learn more, call (763) 390-7795 or go to the Apple Tree-O website.

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One carefree sunny afternoon, while rocking on her front porch in Boylan Heights, Liza Zaytoun got to nibbling on a BLT.
And then the wheels in her head started turning, remembering the days when she was tied to a cubicle for eight hours with no time to sit like this. It felt good to sit on that porch, rockin' and nibblin'. The Raleigh native wanted to give that feeling to busy nine-to-fivers, letting them relish in a simple homemade lunch, even just swivelin' with a sandwich at their desk.
Through word of mouth and a blog, Zaytoun launched Porch ROCKIN' (porchrockin.com) last fall, her one-woman sandwich delivery business in downtown Raleigh. She served hand-crafted sandwiches every Wednesday—renditions of pimento cheese (jalapeño-spiked an option), "the bomb" secret recipe chicken salad and CBJs, homemade cashew butter and seasonal jam—to the downtown working set, from "awesome ladies at Progress Energy to cool people that worked out of their homes in Boylan Heights."
Just like for any neighborhood business in these parts, a loyal clientele began. Now Porch ROCKIN' sandwiches and Zaytoun's very own blue rocking chairs can be found at The Saturday Market at Rebus Works, right next to an urban neighborhood chicken coop. Chomp on a sandwich made with any of the homemade concoctions listed above surrounded by two slices of local bread by Yellow Dog Bread Company. Lunch delivery, however, is on hiatus until the fall. Zaytoun, who attended a small cooking school in Berkeley, Calif., also cooks up some fine nut butters and jams. Blueberry-blackberry should still be available; stay tuned for apple-pear, pumpkin-tangerine and cranberry-pomegranate as the seasons change.
Porch ROCKIN' gets cooking out of The Cookery, which also welcomed a new food truck last week...
Durham, eat eat! Or, in Chinese, "chirba chirba!" Chirba Chirba Dumpling (chirbachirba.com) is the Triangle's first dumpling truck. Branded with the Twitter hashtag #durhamdumplings, the truck hit the road on a trial run this week, giving away free dumplings and tweeting their location along the way.
Chela Tu teaches Chinese and spent years living in China. She explains that the name is less of a demand and more of something you tell friends after preparing a meal at home that you're excited about. A recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, she pooled some savings together with her school buddies and now business partners Yin Song, Ali Safavi and Nate Adams. They all have ties to Chinese culture and its cuisine. Tu is well-known for hosting dumpling-making parties.
"We know that dumplings are not an appetizer," she says. "They are the star of the meal: They are the main course, the comfort food, and people deserve that."
Tu confirmed a meat dumpling filled with pork and edamame (or mao dou, "furry beans" in Chinese) and a vegetable option with Chinese black mushrooms and cabbage. Look for the big bright yellow truck for dumplings and a complimentary Chinese lesson, and chirba chirba!
Know of a restaurant happening or food event? Email email@example.com.


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Instagram / teriyaki.madness
Teriyaki Madness offers made-to-order teriyaki bowls as well as entrees such as chicken katsu.
Nearly a year after fast-casual chain Teriyaki Madness revealed Texas expansion plans
, the Seattle-based company has informed regulators it will open a store near the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The chain, which specializes in Japanese-style fare, will remodel a 1,500-square-foot space in the University Heights shopping center, according to a new filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Work on the store at 12822 W. Interstate 10, Suite 206, is expected to wrap up in late October.
The chain has said the Alamo City will be the site of its first Texas outlet, so it looks likely the UTSA-area spot will mark its Lone Star State debut.
Founded in 2003, Teriyaki Madness follows a Chipotle-esque system, featuring made-to-order teriyaki bowls and appetizers such as egg rolls, pot stickers and edamame. The brand operates 100 shops with plans to open 15 more in Texas
between now and 2024.
So many restaurants, so little time. Find out the latest San Antonio dining news with our Flavor Friday Newsletter.


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ST.LOUIS, MO- Mary Steward, Angela Copeland, and Silnda all joined FOX 2 News in the Morning to discuss this year's Annual Runway Lights Fashion Show and designer surprise.
Variety announces that the world-famous fashion designer Ralph Lauren will be leading the annual runway lights fashion show this year. Ralph Lauren's spring 2018 women's collection will be modeled on the runway followed by the variety kids to show off their own Ralph Lauren fashions, designed just for them.
The event will take place Saturday, April 21st at Union Station and will begin at 10:30 a.m.
Tickets will be on sale at the link below and all proceeds from the event will go towards Variety the Children`s Charity of St. Louis.
Variety's Runway Lights Fashion Show
10:30am Saturday, April 21st
Tickets start at $100


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Skadec presents its new products: Compact, forward-looking and unique
Today, the world’s leading trade fair for refrigeration technology Chillventa opened its doors again for the first time in four years. “Finally being able to come into direct contact with the people on site again – that’s a very special feeling. Skadec Managing Director Dennis Kratschmayer said in anticipation. For the company, it was the perfect opportunity to present the further development of its product portfolio and the introduction of new, forward-looking technologies.
To meet the growing demands from various sectors, Skadec will be showing a new type of 4-pipe R290 heat pump and a compact chiller at its stand, which, with its very low refrigerant charge of R290, makes it possible to install it inside a building in accordance with statutory safety precautions.
Until next Thursday, 13.10.2022, these innovations as well as a newly developed cloud solution and other product highlights can be seen in Hall 7A, Stand 218. A great trade fair team of sales engineers, technicians and mechatronics engineers will be happy to bring customers and interested parties up to date and explain the advanced solutions in detail.


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New Delhi: Steel Authority of India (SAIL) plans to set up a three million tonne per annum (mtpa) hot strip mill at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) at an estimated cost of Rs 4,360 crore to cater to auto and white goods sectors.
The Hot Strip Mill, where steel slabs are reheated and rolled to hot rolled coil (HRC), will produce high-quality products that would cater to the high-end automobile and white goods segment, a source said.
RSP is located in the north-western tip of Odisha and at the heart of a rich mineral belt.
"Installation of a three mtpa new Hot Strip Mill at an estimated capital cost of Rs 4,360 crore has been accorded in-principle approval by the Board on September 20, 2013," the source told PTI.
SAIL would start the tendering process for the proposed mill shortly and plans to install it within 35 months from the date of signing of the contract.
"The mill which is envisaged to be installed in 35 months from the date of contract will enable SAIL to produce high-quality HRCs especially for the high-end automobile and the white goods segment," he added.
The domestic steel major has also plans to set up a 1.2 mtpa cold rolling mill at RSP, which may entail an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore, through a joint venture.
"SAIL believes that there is a huge potential for such sheets in India and the demand is only going to go northward in the coming days. However, it does not have the necessary technology and the plan is thus to rope in a partner who has the necessary technology for producing such sheets," he said.
SAIL, which is ramping up its steel making capacity to 24 mtpa from 14 mtpa at present, has already floated a global tender, inviting bids from potential partners for the proposed cold rolling mill complex.
The plant at RSP currently has two mtpa hot metal producing capacity and this would go up to 4.5 mtpa once the ongoing expansion is over.


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This is why I really don't care if they shut the whole DC beltway down!
Pelosi says there is nothing left to cut..."The cupboard is bare."
Bureaucrats At Tiny Federal Agency: FMCS Buy Legions Of Luxuries With Purchase Cards
"Just Sign Here: Federal Workers Max Out at Taxpayer Expense."
One federal employee leased a $53,000 take-home car with taxpayer money in apparent defiance of federal regulations and regularly billed the government for service at shops such as BMW of Fairfax.
Others charged the government monthly for family members’ cell phones and high-end TV packages and Internet at home — and even at second homes.
Managers freely made out checks to employees without requiring documentation of how it would be spent, giving $1,316 directly to one who said she was reimbursing herself for furniture she bought for a “home office” and using convenience checks to give workers bonuses.
Government employees used federal purchase cards to order items such as a $560 Bose stereo and $1,490 for two high-definition televisions that could not be located.
All of these examples happened at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an obscure runaway government agency where the median annual salary is $120,000.
That amount far exceeds the national median household income but it wasn't enough for many FMCS employees, many of whom routinely charged nearly every conceivable expense to government credit cards known as “purchase cards,” according to bank records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Even the bank didn’t know where much of the money went, because it was paid using checks with an “illegible payee.”
Bluetooth earpieces and leather-bound Kindle e-readers for large groups of employees. More than $200 for a "table lamp." Coat racks for two employees costing nearly $400. Air purifiers. A $2,300 cabinet to house an equally expensive TV in an official's office.
In two years, the 233-person agency bought at least 38 LCD projectors costing up to $9,500 each.
Employees bestowed expensive awards and tokens of gratitude at every conceivable opportunity, spending more than $30,000 in two years on picture frames alone, ostensibly for certificates marking workers’ tenure at the agency and other occasions.
They spent $3,930 at Balfour Products, a company listed in expense records as selling "jewelry, watches [and] clocks" and items akin to class rings.
In mere months, the agency spent at least $6,500 at Image Pointe, a union swag company, on "promotional" items designed to advertise the federal agency, including towels with the FMCS logo, coasters, hats, and lights.
Officials with FMCS declined to grant any interviews with employees regarding any of these purchases, or allow an Examiner reporter to visit.
Instead, the officials issued a short statement saying the damning bank records and internal emails only came to light because of a “disgruntled FMCS employee.”
But it wasn't "disgruntled employees" who charged small amounts at grocery stores near their homes on weekends. Staffers shopping in everyday stores such as Best Buy and CVS regularly purchased convenience items as trivial as "pencil pouches" for $30 each.
James C. Donnen, the agency’s IT director, had the government pay $219 a month for internet at his home in West Virginia, $60 a month for a landline there, $60 a month for Internet at another home he kept in Virginia, and $181 a month for two cell phones. The outgoing voicemail on one of those cellular lines identifies it as being for his wife, Tara.
Donnen got a bonus — as did half of all FMCS employees — of $3,000 on top of a $113,000 salary, even though he had to spend $500 on Experts-Exchange, a message board where beginner technologists ask questions of better-qualified ones. (There are many free message boards performing the same service.)
He regularly wildly overpaid for unnecessary items on his government card, spending, for example, $500 apiece for USB thumb drives, $710 apiece for computer monitors and $5,500 for a device to keep computers' clocks in sync.
Donnen is, at least, a fan of in-depth coverage of world affairs: He charged his Kindle subscription to USA Today to the government.
The federal government was a regular customer of the coffee shops and restaurants that surround the FMCS's K Street headquarters, with Cosi's, K Street Cafe and Bagel, and Firehook restaurant raking in the government purchase card dough.
FMCS employee Lynda G. Lee had the feds pick up the tab at Thirsty's Sports Bar, while colleague Linda Gonzalez shopped at Barnes and Noble and Crate and Barrel.
There are supposed to be controls on what types of purchases government credit cards will process, but those controls can be short-circuited by, as Gonzalez did, requesting in an email that “I would like my Visa purchase card ‘unblocked’ for any unexpected costs,” according to emails obtained by the Examiner.
Wednesday: Reckless FMCS spending goes right to the top.
Top officials of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service lavished taxpayer funds on themselves, made the phantom company of a recently retired employee one of their largest vendors and spent tens of thousands of dollars on storage spaces near their homes, where they kept old beds and toys.
George H. Cohen, the agency’s top official, used a “recreation and reception fund” freely, ordering a $1,277 "navy blue leather chair," $208 wooden coasters for his office, and bottles of Champagne, according to disbursement records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.
Cohen, who was appointed by President Obama in October 2009, also used the fund to purchase artwork by his wife, whose paintings are sold through the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Virginia, said a former employee, Berkina Porter, and a current employee with knowledge of the buy.
Part one of a five-part Washington Examiner series, "Just Sign Here: Federal Workers Max Out at Taxpayer Expense." See the entire series at this link.


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· 4 min read
Today in Crypto: ‘Fundamental Clash Between Regulations and Crypto’, Ethereum Devs Patch Testnet Bug, Bank of Japan Set to Launch CBDC Pilot in April
Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
- There is “a fundamental clash between traditional banking regulatory approaches and the crypto world,” argued Tobias Adrian, the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He explained that, while institutions must be able to ensure that what is happening is legal, that is “very difficult to do in a world where transactions are fundamentally anonymous.” What regulators want and need to do, he opined, is fundamentally at odds with the design of crypto.
- Marius VanDerWijden, a core developer on Ethereum (ETH)’s upcoming Shanghai-Capella upgrade, reported on Thursday a bug on the Zhejiang testnet, saying that it was fixed. He wrote: “The last 4 and a half stressful hours of debugging culminated in this amazing bug fix. We got reports that geth nodes wouldn't sync the Zhejiang devnet correctly. The issue was that if a block body was empty (no tx, no withdrawals) we wouldn't initialize it correctly.” Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko added that “everyone felt confident they could patch it quickly.”
- The Bank of Japan announced plans to roll out a new pilot for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) program in April. There will not be real transactions taking place among participating users, only “simulated transactions,” Japan's central bank explained. “The aim of the pilot program is twofold: first, to test the technical feasibility not fully covered by the PoCs [Proof of Concept], and second, to utilize the skills and insights of private businesses in terms of technology and operation for designing a CBDC ecosystem in the possible event of social implementation,” it said.
- USDT issuer Tether said that “in light of recent regulatory headwinds which have caused issues for BUSD and to a lesser degree USDC, USDT currently represents roughly half of the overall stablecoin market.” The announcement added that Tether settled more value in 2022 than ever before and that total settlement for Tether crossed $18.2 trillion “which was more than either Mastercard or Visa,“ it claimed. USDT is now backed in excess of 81% by cash and cash equivalents without any exposure to commercial paper, which includes over $39 billion in direct exposure to US Treasuries, with the remainder constituted by money market funds, reverse repo agreements, and cash and bank deposits, it said.
- Ethereum scaling solution zkSync Era announced its Fair Onboarding Alpha, saying that “the first zkEVM on Ethereum is finally lifting the gates to let registered projects deploy on mainnet.” The team also announced that zkSync Era is now full open source with the freedom to view, modify and fork the code, as well as that zkSync 2.0 has been renamed to zkSync Era, and zkSync 1.0 is now zkSync Lite. The team will be updating the protocol roadmap and publishing an overview of the next milestones soon.
- The Cornell SC Johnson College of Business announced the US-based startup Ripple as the newest sponsor of the Fintech at Cornell initiative. Per the press release, Fintech at Cornell prepares students for the digital age by engaging them with faculty members, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and policymakers in discussion and debate on the socioeconomic implications and applications of AI, big data, blockchain, digital assets, digitization, and more.
- Web3 security company Stelo announced a $6 million seed round of funding led by a16z crypto with participation by First Round Capital, Opensea Ventures, Chainforest, BoxGroup, Pear, Homebrew, Louis Beryl, Sabrina Hahn, Dylan Field, Dan Romero, Gokul Rajaram, Lenny Rachitsky, and others. Stelo aims to expand the reach of its tools to make transacting on the blockchain simple and safe, it said. Stelo also announced the Stelo v2 extension, the developer API to empower dapps and wallets to use the Stelo Transaction Engine, and approvals.xyz, an approval experience for users to understand their wallet health and keep it safe, it added.
- Bitcoin miner CleanSpark announced a purchase of 20,000 brand-new Antminer S19j Pro+ units for $43.6 million. After coupons, the company expects to pay $32.3 million, for a discount of 25% or a total price per terrahash of approximately $13.25. The Pro+ is more power-efficient and 22% more productive than the Antminer S19j Pro model and will be shipped in batches, with deliveries starting as early as next month, lasting until the end of May, the company said. CleanSpark plans to deploy the fleet of new machines at its wholly-owned bitcoin mining locations in the USA.
- While 2022 saw crypto market giants announcing mass layoffs, the crypto payment ecosystem CoinsPaid announced plans to hire new talents and reach over 300 team members in 2023, said a press release. “In 2022, amidst market turbulence, we increased our team up to 65%, reaching 200+ employees. And we are now ready to expand our team of experts to polish in-house systems, enhance the company’s growth while in the steady market, and further achieve greater results,” it said.


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As for the United Kingdom market, Nissan had sold 85,200 cars between January and September 2018. In these months, the manufacturers market share averaged 4.11 percent, with a peak of 5.18 percent recorded in March. As of January 2019, the company made up 4.33 percent of the UK car market.
Through their Sunderland plant, Nissan had produced 495,206 passenger cars in 2017. Jaguar Land Rover was the only other automobile manufacturer which had made more passenger cars that year. Despite only ranking second in production by brand, the Nissan Qashqai had been the leading car model manufactured in the UK for the past three years. The model also proved popular with consumers and was the fourth most sold car in the UK in 2018 at 50,546 units.
As of the third quarter of 2018 there were more than 468,000 Nissan Qashqai cars registered in Great Britain. By comparison, registration figures for the Nissan Leaf model numbered 23,260 units.


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Fast food giant McDonalds is planning to downsize rather than supersize this year as it announced plans to shut 700 stores due to falling profits.
It had originally planned to shut 350 branches in 2016, but has now doubled that figure to 700. According to a report that appeared in the Washington Times, both McDonalds and Coca-Cola are reevaluating their business models due to poor performance over the last year.
Last year, a Gallup survey revealed that the majority (63 per cent) of Americans surveyed said they are actively avoiding traditional fizzy drinks, prompting CEO Muhtar Kent to say the brand is operating in a “very challenging environment”.
McDonalds are facing similar challenges, with a growing number of consumers opting for more healthy food choices. This led the brand to state that it had “negative guest traffic in all major segments”.
Its sales figures showed that its per-location sales dropped 2.3 per cent worldwide.
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The rotten ham scandal in Spain is starting to unveil its ugly face
The companies involved in the judicial investigation by a business network that sells hams in poor condition begin to delay payments to their suppliers. And the suppliers have set off the alarms. The businessmen involved now study the extreme of lowering the blind.
The providers of the companies involved in the plot begin to suffer difficulties to collect the debts. The company investigated for being the center of the plot, Valle de Los Valfríos, already accumulates almost 350,000 euros of defaults to financial institutions for discount lines and personal loans, according to Economia Digital website.
Valle de Los Valfríos, which manages a business network that sells hams, meat products, and sausages in poor condition in half Spain, began to assume debts since July, a month after the scandal of the business plot broke out, today investigated by the courts and those responsible must declare in the courts of Fregenal de la Sierra (Badajoz) the next 5 and 20 December for an alleged crime against public health.
One in four non-payment has already triggered a judicial process, according to information from the Experian Bureau Empresarial, which details defaults to financial institutions. "It has breached its contractual obligations with financial entities and companies of diverse nature. 100.00% of the unpaid balance corresponds to contracts with the financial system," the report states.
Another of the companies of the plot, Sierra Jarota, has also begun to show symptoms of financial irregularities, although the bank claims, for now, a much smaller amount: about 22,000 euros.
But some suppliers claim that the company has begun to delay payments also to some of its meat suppliers.
Defaults in the companies involved in this scheme have even reached Comapa, the leader in the distribution of Iberian products in Spain and Carrefour's reference supplier. The scandal is affecting the Iberian Ham (Jamon Iberico) that was sold to the consumers with dates about to expire surpass the date of preferential consumption in supermarkets. They were later relabelled to be sold as fresh. In the case of products in poor condition, they were "cleaned" and "cleaned" by eliminating the damaged parts, according to prosecutors investigating this case.
From 30th December, British consumers can purchase the Moving Mountains Sausage Burger, Moving Mo...


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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Intel cut the top end and raised the bottom end of its second-quarter sales range as demand has tracked closely to what the world's largest chipmaker predicted.
"This quarter has actually unfolded across almost every element as we would have expected," Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said during a conference call late Thursday.
Michael McConnell, analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, said Intel's
Shares reversed from an initial drop to turn up 1.3 percent to $22.18 in the late trading session. So far this quarter, shares are up 33 percent.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., tightened its second-quarter sales range to between $6.6 billion and $6.8 billion from an original range of between $6.4 billion and $7 billion.
McConnell said this is what most investors expected. Analysts expect Intel to sell $6.67 billion this quarter, on average, according to a survey by Reuters Research.
McConnell added, though, that 40 to 50 percent of the company's business occurs in June, the quarter's final month.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., said its main processor unit is trending toward the high end of a normal seasonal pattern while communication product sales remain soft.
The weakness in the communications sector didn't concern McConnell much as it represents only about 8 percent of Intel's sales.
The company kept its gross margin target range steady between 48 percent and 52 percent. The company does not provide a target range for its bottom line.
Analysts expect Intel to earn 13 cents a share. During the same quarter last year, Intel earned $446 million, or 7 cents a share, on revenue of $6.3 billion.
During the previous quarter, which ended in March, Intel earned $915 million, or 14 cents a share, on revenue of $6.75 billion. Sales of flash memory chips suffered during the first quarter as the company made an ill-timed price hike.
On Thursday, Bryant said flash demand remained much as it was at the end of the first quarter. "We got off plan in the first quarter and we knew it would take awhile to recover," he said.


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The number of devices that will support 802.11n Wi-Fi is expected to explode in the coming years, according to a study from research firm In-Stat.
The study says 53 million consumer-electronics devices allowed for connectivity to wireless-N networks last year. That figure is expected to jump to 82 million next year and nearly 300 million in 2015, representing 465 percent growth over five years.
Early versions of wireless networking standards, including 802.11b and 802.11g, employed the 2.4GHz frequency band. However, 802.11n uses the 5GHz band as well. The technology, which offers more range than its predecessors, is able to reach speeds of up to 600Mbps. The data rate for 802.11g, on the other hand, is just 54Mbps.
The pervasiveness of Wi-Fi can't be underestimated. According to In-Stat, 85 percent of all e-readers will have Wi-Fi connectivity of some sort by 2013. The firm said 750 million smartphones running Wi-Fi will ship in 2013.
By then, 802.11n's dominance could be on its last leg. The technology will soon be trumped by the launch of 802.11ac. That standard, which is expected to find its way to devices starting in either 2012 or 2013, can deliver data-transfer speeds of 1Gbps and uses the 5GHz spectrum exclusively.
, Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director for the Wi-Fi Alliance, which certifies wireless standards, said 802.11ac could be ideal for home users.
"It's a big enabler for the digital home," she said. "With 1Gbps for the raw data rate, the benchmark I hear is you can comfortably stream three lightly compressed HD videos at a time."
Even so, In-Stat doesn't believe 802.11ac will have a significant impact on the marketplace for quite some time. In a statement, Frank Dickson, vice president of Mobile Internet at In-Stat, said the "real impact [of 802.11ac] will not be felt until 2015 and beyond."
And what will that impact be? In-Stat said in a study released in February that it expectsto be in the market by 2015.


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Apple’s new iOS 15.4 beta eliminates a bug that prevents third-party apps from using iPhone 13 Pro’s super-smooth ProMotion feature.
Until now, apps not made by Apple have been restricted to a 60Hz refresh rate on the company’s newest flagship smartphone. But after installing iOS 15.4, they’re just as silky as apps running on iPad Pro.
iPhone 13 Pro apps hit 120Hz
Its ProMotion display is one of the biggest selling points of iPhone 13 Pro. It may not sound like a big deal if you’ve never used a 120Hz display, but once you’re accustomed to it, 60Hz screens just don’t feel the same anymore.
However, when iPhone 13 Pro made its debut last fall, it looked like Apple was preventing third-party apps from taking advantage of its screen upgrade. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case; it was just a bug that needed squashing.
iOS 15.4 finally addresses the problem. Under the new beta, which also allows you to use Face ID while wearing a mask and adds more than 30 new emoji, third-party apps can reach 120Hz refresh rates as intended.
“Yay, got a little message from someone at Apple today that this is fixed in the iOS 15.4 betas and all apps automatically get 120 Hz animations on supported iPhones going forward,” tweeted Apollo developer Christian Selig.
iOS 15.4 on the way
Another subtle change in iOS 15.4 is the addition of a new Wallet widget. It comes ahead of a rumored Home screen overhaul in iOS 16, which could make widgets interactive — like those on Android — for the first time.
The first iOS 15.4 beta is available now to registered developers. Assuming no major issues arise, it should make its official public debut in the coming weeks.


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Deutsche Post revenues up by 20%
Deutsche Post DHL Group saw continued strong growth in the third quarter of 2022, increasing its revenue by 20% over the same period last year to €24bn.
Group chief executive Frank Appel said: “The first three quarters of the year were the most successful in our company’s history thanks to the international DHL business.
“The foundation for our success is our well-balanced global logistics business powered by our dedicated workforce.”
“This makes us a reliable partner for our customers all around the world – especially in these volatile times.”
In response to the continuing positive business and earnings performance in the DHL divisions, the group raised its EBIT guidance for the current financial year to a record level of around €8.4bn (previously: €8.0bn with a maximum variance of + / – 5%).
Returning growth in the domestic parcel business and the ongoing trend towards e-commerce also contributed to the revenue surge, thanks to “flexible structures and close cooperation between the divisions”.
Once again, the B2B business of DHL’s Global Forwarding, Freight, Supply Chain and Express divisions was the driver behind the group’s strong revenue and EBIT growth.
The global logistics giant said that in its Global Forwarding, Freight’s cargo business, revenue and EBIT “again increased significantly due to ongoing high freight rates”.
The capacity situation in air and ocean freight eased further, as demand declined noticeably and transport supply improved again.
Air freight volumes decreased year-on-year, but were at a comparable level seen in the second quarter of 2022. In ocean freight, transport volumes grew by 11.9%, due to the integration of the acquired beverage logistics company Hillebrand.
The Express division once again achieved very good capacity utilization levels in its globe spanning networks. EBIT increased by 4.2% year-on-year to €1.0bn. Revenue growth was even stronger, up 21.8% to €7.2bn.
As in the second quarter 2022, this development was especially driven by “pricing measures and higher fuel surcharges.”


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Sprouts is known for healthy, organic and natural, convenient, fresh, local and affordable produce and groceries.
Based on its integration of those trend-forward attributes and its successful financial model that has helped it absorb two rivals and triple in size in the last three years, the Phoenix-based chain has been selected for the award.
“Sprouts is at the intersection of two mega-trends in the industry today — health and wellness and value, and that’s really what we hang our hat on,” said Steve Black, chief information and marketing officer, Sprouts, in an interview with SN. “That’s the model we’ve built for the last 10 years — to make healthy eating easy, understandable and affordable. That’s what we talk about with our tag line, ‘Healthy Living for Less.’
As the chain’s president and chief executive officer, Doug Sanders told SN in a separate interview at the launch of the company’s recent initial public offering that Sprouts is well positioned to be a gateway for shoppers of conventional supermarkets seeking a more healthy diet.
While traditional supermarkets seek to lure some share of consumers’ food spending away from restaurants by touting the healthfulness of home cooking, Sprouts seeks to take that one step further and teach those shoppers how to live even healthier.
“Most people want to eat better, they just don’t feel like they can afford to, and they don’t know how to,” Black explained. “That’s the secret to our success — that it’s affordable, and we have team members in the stores that can help you understand the vitamins and the supplements.
If you are on a gluten-free diet, or wherever you are in life from a health perspective, we have people in the stores who can help you with that.”
The focal point of Sprouts’ relatively small stores is they measure about 25,000 to 28,000 square feet — is the farmers’ market-style produce display, where Sprouts leverages its longtime relationships with growers and suppliers to make a statement on price. Founder Henry Boney began his food retail career with a farmers’ market in 1943, and his legacy lives in the chain’s current positioning.
Stores devote about 15 percent of their floor space to produce, which generates about 25 percent of sales, according to Sprouts’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its recent initial public offering.
Sprouts tooks to attract both the lifestyle customer and everyday supermarket customer by featuring fresh produce at prices that are significantly lower than the conventional supermarket. The emphasis on produce not only helps enhance the stores’ healthful image, but also helps drive repeat traffic.
Produce is the focal point of Sprouts stores, where customers are attracted to the selection and value, company executives say. Stores have a farmers’ market ambiance with low shelving for better visibility and to create a bright, open-air atmosphere.


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SWNZ News Digest – 16 June 2016
Here’s this week’s News Digest, collating interesting Star Wars news headlines and links through to sources where you can read more.
The Freemaker Adventures Trailer
A trailer has been released for a new Lego Star Wars animated series ‘The Freemaker Adventures’. Set in the era of the Galactic Empire, the series follows the story of the Freemakers – “a family of scavengers who build and sell starships from the scoured debris of space battles strewn throughout the galaxy“. The series is set to debut June 20th 2016 on the Disney XD channel in the US – view the official trailer here.
The Star Wars Show (Angus MacLane, ILMxLAB News)
The latest episode of The Star Wars Show is now available to watch online. Hosts Andi Gutierrez and Peter Townley talk about recent Star Wars news including the total US domestic box office earning for ‘The Force Awakens’, and the ILMxLAB bringing their Star Wars virtual reality experience to Celebration Europe. Andi also interviews ‘Finding Dory‘ co-director Angus MacLane – watch the episode here.
Topps Trading Card Book Reviews at StarWars.com
The StarWars.com website has posted a great review article covering the range of Topps Star Wars Trading Card books. There are currently four in the series – three of the books cover the original trilogy card series, while the fourth book covers the Star Wars Galaxy trading card set from the early 90’s. The review includes great photos of a selection of pages – read the article at StarWars.com here.
EA teases new Star Wars games at E3
During the recent E3 gaming expo, Electronic Arts released a video teasing three new upcoming Star Wars games. The video reveals a new version of Battlefront, an action-adventure game from Visceral Games, and a third person action game from Respawn Entertainment. Read the full NZHerald.co.nz coverage (including video) here.
LEGO Star Wars Jakku’s Niima Outpost Demo
A demo segment of the upcoming Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens game has been released, exclusively for the PS4 platform. The Niima Outpost Demo following Rey, Finn and BB-8 as they escape the First Order on Jakku. The full game is set to release June 28th 2016 – read the announcement about the demo on the Playstation blog here, and more download details here.
Anthony Daniels to attend Celebration Europe
Actor Anthony Daniels (who portrayed C-3PO in the Star Wars films) has been added to the celebrity guest list for Celebration Europe. Anthony will be signing autographs all three days at the convention, which will be held in London, July 15th to 17th 2016 – read here for more details.


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Triboelectric nanogenerators (or "TENGs") aren't the newest technology on the block. However, global research indicates they may change energy-harvesting technology through the power of movement.
April 24, 2021 by Ikimi .O
The wearables market is by many measures still in its infancy, but many manufacturers continue to push wearable products into the market. How are component manufacturers involved in the wearable market and what are they currently producing?
February 07, 2019 by Robin Mitchell


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[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Australians rank fifth worldwide in terms of Internet use, with 45
percent penetration, but lag behind in online shopping, with 10 percent of Internet users
shopping online, according to research from Taylor Nelson Sofres.
Of the countries surveyed in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Australia was found to be second only
to Norway in terms of potential Internet shoppers, with 29 percent of the population
equipped to shop online. Not surprisingly, the U.S., with the highest proportion of Internet
users (58 percent of the population), also has the largest percentage of online shoppers.
More than a quarter of Internet users in the U.S. shop online, as opposed to less than one
percent in Thailand and Turkey.
Globally, traditional e-commerce purchases like books and CDs are still dominant, with three in
ten users who have shopped online buying books and one in five purchasing music. Australian
users’ tastes have diversified, however, and they are now among the top five online
purchasers of food and groceries, toiletries and cosmetics, PC hardware and software,
furniture and business travel.
Concerns about security and the ability of e-commerce sites to deliver are still
significant roadblocks for Australian Internet users. The study labeled 20 percent of
Australian Internet users as “online dropouts” – people who have considered purchasing
online but haven’t. This wariness was reflected in an 18 percent figure for
“offline shoppers” – users who have bought or ordered goods and services outside the
Internet as a result of information found while surfing.


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Tidewater Fleet Supply has been named to Inc. magazine’s sixth annual 500/5,000 growth list of fastest growing private companies, checking in at 4,008 of the 5,000 company list.
According to Tidewater Fleet Supply, the list represents the most comprehensive list of America’s independent entrepreneurs.
“We are honored to be recognized by Inc. magazine as one of America’s fastest growing private companies for the second time in six years,” says Allan Parrott, president of Tidewater Fleet Supply. “We could not have received this exceptional growth without the outstanding support of our loyal and dedicated employees, suppliers and customers.”
Inc. says the companies on this year’s list have added more than 400,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the businesses reached more than $299 billion.


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Ghost Hunters on Syfy
Chrysler's marketing team has had some hits and some misses over the past year. For a while, Olivier Francois & Co. ran nothing but quirky branding campaigns, featuring the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela cruising in Chrysler vehicles. That made dealers confused and mad, but mostly mad.
Eventually, Chrysler rolled out a new model -- the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee -- and it launched a product specific campaign, which was...well, it had its moments. Far more interesting were the Michael C. Hall-voiced Dodge ads, some of which featured an invisible monkey.
We're not sure why Dodge has chosen to invest its advertising dollars so heavily in the Syfy channel this month, but apparently, it makes a good match for the brand's target demographic (i.e. people like us who enjoy documentaries about Vlad the Impaler). Pride of place goes to the Grand Caravan, which will be featured in a live broadcast of Ghost Hunters on Halloween night.
Frankly, we never thought minivans were that spooky -- but, then, we never would've thought to run a SIX HOUR broadcast of Ghost Hunters, so what the heck do we know?


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A Mission-based medical device company is banking on almost $1.6 million in Kansas Bioscience Authority grants to help boost its product portfolio and increase its workforce almost tenfold.
The KBA’s investment committee approved the grants for Epic Medical Concepts & Innovations Inc. last month. The award still must gain a green light from the full board next month.
If successful, however, company officials expect the money to speed production on almost a dozen products, which would require EMCI to go from 12 employees to as many as 140 in five years.
“The level of complexity is really ramped up on these new products, and the manufacturing process required is much more time consuming,” said Peter Lucas, EMCI’s vice president of operations.
Lucas and his father, Jim, started the company in 2006. Initially, they produced and sold devices of their design. Most are used in reconstructive surgery, such as dermatomes, which harvest tissue for skin grafts, including a non-electric one used in battlefield hospitals.
But EMCI also has beefed up its catalog through licensing deals and partnerships with device inventors. It provides contracted manufacturing at its production plant in Grain Valley, along with other outsourcing services.
“We’re turning down a lot more work than we’re taking,” Peter Lucas said.
The company awaits a $595,000 KBA research-and-development voucher that would go toward developing two neurological devices using technology licensed from Steven Barlow, a University of Kansas neuroscience professor.
One device, called a TAC-Cell, is being tested to diagnose and treat brain disorders ranging from strokes to those of the autism spectrum. The second attempts to improve the accuracy of medication dosage for Parkinson’s patients by measuring a patient’s facial stiffness.
Julie Goonewardene, KU vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship, said there’s been a “huge push” at the university to commercialize its researchers’ discoveries. KU has filed for 76 patents and signed six licensing agreements since July 2011.
The university vets potential partners carefully to make sure they have a viable business plan for moving the technology to market, she said. The school includes provisions that allow it to take back the technology if the partner doesn’t meet progress milestones or appears to be shelving a technology to keep it from competing with its products.
“Absolutely, the university is very committed to moving this type of innovation, both for more economic development, but also, when you have work like Dr. Barlow does, it is a service to society to have these products available to people,” Goonewardene said.
EMCI seeks an additional $1 million from the KBA to help expand production capacity, which Lucas said would include adding 30 to 40 employees a year, beginning next year.
If it gets the grants and its newest products don’t run afoul of federal regulators, Lucas said the company wants eventually to combine its disparate operations at one place, possibly the Kansas Bioscience Park in Olathe, where EMCI leases space for research and development.
Lucas said EMCI has been very selective with the devices and partners it chooses, often having to extrapolate the potential market for products aimed at very specific problems. But for other products, such as the neuroscience technology from KU, he said it’s easier to pull the trigger.
“Obviously, there’s a financial component,” he said. “But for us, I think the main thing we’re looking at is when we get jazzed by new technologies that are going to meet some big need that’s never been addressed before, we want to be able to help as many people as we can.”
Interim KBA CEO David Vranicar said the agency has taken a great interest in the company and thinks it has a lot of potential, given its expertise and unusual business model.
“I think their approach to do both contract work and develop products for their own account that they sell for themselves is unique,” Vranicar said. “Usually, companies will do one or the other but not both. They are a bona fide player in both of those market spaces.”
Dan Getman, CEO of the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute Inc., said deals like those between KU and EMCI are a good blueprint for the future of building the region’s biotech industry.
“That’s exactly the kinds of things you’d like to see,” Getman said. “The technology developed by the university is either licensed by a company or used to start a company, and ultimately, that moved toward commercialization.”


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Hansgrohe Achieves Record Turnover in 2016
Schiltach/Frankfurt am Main, 13 March 2017. In the 2016 financial year, the Hansgrohe Group exceeded one billion euros in sales for the first time in its company history. The globally operating company was also able to post yet another record year in earnings. Thorsten Klapproth, Chairman of the Executive Board, and Udo Kraus, Vice President Finance and Controlling, announced the results at the mixer and shower specialist’s annual financial press conference in Frankfurt, Germany. With its two brands, AXOR and hansgrohe, the company generated a total of EUR 1.029 billion in sales compared to EUR 964 million in the previous year. This growth, which is exclusively organic, corresponds to an increase of 6.7 percent (currency adjusted: 8.5 percent) over the 2015 financial year. EBITDA rose even more sharply by 10.3 percent to EUR 206.1 million (EUR 186.8 million in 2015), also hitting an all-time high.
“The company’s nearly 4,800 highly motivated and tremendously dedicated employees around the world have once again proven that the Hansgrohe Group is an industry leader,” said Thorsten Klapproth. “In the 2016 financial year, we succeeded in growing extremely profitably and faster than the market in all sales regions. This demonstrates the trust our clients and customers place in our promise to deliver quality, innovation and design.”
Successful at Home and Worldwide
The domestic market was particularly dynamic with an increase of 8.8 percent. Germany, still the most important single market, contributed substantially to the company’s positive overall performance. The Hansgrohe Group generated nearly 80 percent of its revenue outside Germany in 2016, supplying products to more than 140 countries. In the past financial year, the global player continued to successfully pursue its profitable strategy of focussing on regions in Europe with very strong performance, as well as large growth regions around the world. In 2016, about 60 percent of the company’s overall sales were generated in Europe and 40 percent in the rest of the world. Sales growth in China was particularly strong. The 14.3 percent increase in sales was considerably higher than growth in the market sector and the country’s economy. A boom in the construction of 3-star and 4-star-hotels, as well as a growing middle class means that the project business in the Far East offers enormous opportunities for the AXOR and hansgrohe brands.
Investing in the Future
The future needs a past,” Thorsten Klapproth emphasises. “We need deep roots to succeed internationally. In the long term, strategic investments in our German sites amounting to EUR 42.9 million will secure our competitive edge on the global market.” The EUR 48.7 million invested during the 2016 financial year was financed entirely from cash flow. The Hansgrohe Group invested some EUR 30 million to expand its global logistics centre at the Offenburg site. Significantly higher capacities and the latest in digital technologies enable the company to respond faster and better to the most diverse customer needs worldwide and to strengthen international sales in the long term. Another EUR 1.7 million were invested in the Technikum to consolidate the company’s expertise in plastics at its Offenburg site; the new plastics technology centre was inaugurated in January 2016. By investing EUR 4.6 million in a new research and development laboratory at its headquarters in Schiltach, the Hansgrohe Group established a solid foundation for future innovation.
Employees – a Key to Success
A key element in the sustained and successful growth rate of the Hansgrohe Group is its staff. Around the world, 4,785 people work for the mixer and shower specialist from the Black Forest, of which roughly 60 percent are employed in Germany. With 43 new trainees in 2016, the number of trainees within the workforce remained at a substantial 6.3 percent.
“With a profitable growth of 6.7 percent, we achieved a record turnover of EUR 1.029 billion and at the same time, paved the way for continued success,” says Thorsten Klapproth. “In future, the AXOR and hansgrohe brands will be present in their respective luxury and premium market segments with very clearly defined profiles. Our bathroom and kitchen products were among the most innovative. This is also true when it comes to design: in 2016 we not only left famous brands and manufacturers such as Apple and Daimler in the iF Company Ranking behind us, but also remained the only company in the sanitary industry with a Top Ten position. Therefore we want to be the number one choice of trade partners as well as consumers.”
2016 Financial Year: Check out Details


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Applied’s Latest Acquisition
Applied Materials Inc., a leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer, has finalized an agreement to acquire the former Fry’s Electronics store situated on East Arques Avenue in Sunnyvale. This strategic move marks Applied Materials’ continued expansion within the Silicon Valley region.
Deal in Progress
While the exact financial terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, the transaction is currently in escrow and is nearing completion. The decision to sell the 13.6-acre property came from the family of renowned director Robert Wise, widely recognized for directing the iconic film “The Sound of Music.”
Applied’s Expanding Presence
Applied Materials, a significant player in the semiconductor industry, has been actively acquiring properties across Silicon Valley. Their primary focus has been on the Sunnyvale and Santa Clara areas, where they have amassed an impressive real estate portfolio, boasting ownership or leasing rights to more than 2 million square feet of space spread across more than two dozen buildings in this high-tech hub.
This latest acquisition is fully aligned with Applied’s ambitious expansion plans in the region. Prior to this acquisition, Applied Materials announced its intentions to construct a state-of-the-art 180,000-square-foot research-and-development facility in close proximity to the former Fry’s location. Additionally, Applied Materials recently acquired a neighboring site at 242 Commercial St. for $6 million, which is conveniently located next to their proposed research facility.
End of an Era for Fry’s
Fry’s Electronics, once a prominent and beloved electronics retail chain, encountered numerous challenges in recent years. Ultimately, these challenges led to the closure of all remaining 30 stores in 2021. The closure of these stores left behind a substantial amount of vacant retail and warehouse spaces, including the 152,300-square-foot Sunnyvale store.
Future Use Undisclosed
The plans for the future use of the Sunnyvale Fry’s site by Applied Materials have not been publicly disclosed at this time. The purchase represents a significant addition to Applied’s growing real estate holdings in Silicon Valley, where the company continues to expand its operations and presence.


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Digiday Research: With in-house agencies, marketers benefit from increased control more than cost savings
As more companies build in-house agencies instead of hiring third-parties to handle their marketing, the majority say the greatest benefit of doing so is not in cost savings, but is in having increased influence over what happens to their advertising and the positioning of their brands, according to Digiday research.
Thirty-eight percent of 214 marketers Digiday surveyed in November said having increased control over their marketing functions was the greatest benefit of an in-house agency. Meanwhile, 21 percent of respondents said they favored the shortened timeline in which work was completed, 18 percent said they believed it resulted in better positioning of their brands, and just 13 percent said they were most enthused about cost savings.
Issues around overbilling, murky fee structures and cumbersome workflows that delay projects might convince brands to in-house their marketing work, but most sat that’s not how they benefit most from the tactic.
Approaching in-housing as purely a matter of cost-saving is “short-sighted,” according to Mike Boyd, senior vice president of enterprise brand marketing at Nationwide. There is “no satisfaction or benefit in simply getting the work done in-house. You have to elevate the work somehow,” he said.
Boyd said that Nationwide’s biggest benefit of having an in-house agency, aptly called iNHouse, has been the increased control it affords the company over its marketing efforts. He emphasized that Nationwide continued to work in lockstep with its agency partners. Universal McCann continues to consult on Nationwide’s media business and it still works with Ogilvy for social campaigns. However, he added, “no one can tell the Nationwide story better than a ‘Nationwider.’”
But when it comes to the type of control companies are looking to exert, that can mean different things. To some, controlling marketing means owning their programmatic buying so their ads show up in more brand-safe environments. The New York Times found that since taking ownership of its media buying responsibilities, it was less reliant on measurement vendors and had a greater understanding of its digital supply chain.
For others, like Nationwide, greater control could mean centralizing their creative development to more efficiently prioritize what work is being done. Boyd said that by having an in-house studio, “we have clearer visibility into the work people are doing” Because of that, he said, Nationwide is “ensuring that people are working on the highest value projects and that the talent aligns with the project.”
Marketers reaping the benefits of newfound control over their advertising also highlights the changing nature of their relationship with their agencies. Now that the majority of marketers surveyed by the Association of National Advertisers last year have an in-house agency, many companies are adopting “hybrid models” where companies own parts of their marketing while relying on their agencies for specialized services, and to help fill demands marketers can’t meet with internal resources. For example, Marriott handles media planning and strategy but relies on Publicis to execute media buying. Elsewhere, The Clorox company created an in-house agency in response to demands for content while continuing to outsource its media spending.
Don’t expect agencies to disappear soon, though. Even as companies look to take various marketing functions like programmatic buying and creative strategy in-house, according to earlier Digiday research, there’s a realization among marketers that there is a limit to how much can be done internally. “When you think about the breadth of work that needs to be done, trying to be full-service agency can be overwhelming. It is important early on to define your core strengths so you can deliver the best value,” said Boyd.
How gaming organization OTK strikes a balance between creator-ownership and more traditional executive experience
Since its formation in October 2020, creator ownership has been a core part of One True King’s DNA. The group is constantly adding new talent to its list of creator–owners, fueling a rapid rise and accolades such as “Best Content Organization” at last year’s Streamer Awards.
When it comes to TikTok, some marketers proceed with caution
For some marketers, the bloom is coming off TikTok.
Pringles goes all in on social to put college athletes front-and-center for ‘March Mustache’ campaign
Pringles is turning to social media — particularly Instagram — to leverage some of the college athletes playing in the March Madness basketball tournament, with the goal of reaching college basketball fans on second screens.
SponsoredHow advertisers are leveraging omnichannel attribution and measurement to power CTV
Sponsored by MNTN Connected TV advertising has joined and expanded the larger ecosystem of campaigns that advertisers deploy. As such, omnichannel marketing strategies now encompass television and mobile devices, tablets and other screens such as out-of-home. And as customers engage across these different touchpoints, brands are seeking and moving their measurement and analytics efforts to […]
Short-form video needs better monetization, creator funds aren’t the way to do it
Creator funds have almost been like a stepping stone before a more permanent solution is either considered or put into place.
L’Oreal uses social listening, in-house teams to tap into beauty trends ‘at the speed of culture’
The beauty behemoth is turning to in-house teams to accelerate content production that taps into trends within days, rather than the weeks or months of traditional marketing and advertising timelines.


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The Federal Government has inaugurated a gemstone market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, OYO NEWS reports.
The market, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria, is expected to boost the country’s gemstone mining industry.
OYO NEWS reports that the gem market will create new opportunities for local artisans and traders.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, while analysing the importance of the gemstone market at the inauguration ceremony, said it would serve as a platform for buyers and sellers to meet, negotiate prices and exchange information about quality, origin and processing.
According to him, the market will also provide training and capacity-building programmes for local artisans and traders, with the aim of improving quality of their products and enhancing their competitiveness in the global market.
Stakeholders in the industry welcomed the development and promised to join hands with the government to ensure sustainability of the sector to achieve global prominence.


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The Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA) has signed a three-year strategic partnership agreement with renewable energy giant Drax, to help the hospitality sector embrace the latest electric vehicle charging technology.
EEA, the not-for-profit coalition of hospitality sector leaders, is establishing robust ESG standards for designing, building, and managing hotels.
Renewable energy pioneer, Drax, has come on board, making a substantial contribution to drive this project forward. The partnership will provide members of the EEA with market intelligence and briefings on the demand for electric vehicles and the latest charging technologies and it will offer its extensive knowledge to various EEA’s committees.
Drax and the EEA both envisage a future in which electric vehicles become increasingly popular; and hotels will be a place where drivers will expect to charge them.
EEA Chairman, Peter Till, said: “We are delighted to be forging a strategic relationship with Drax, which is taking a visionary approach towards sustainable energy. Amongst other things, it has considerable expertise in the provision of charging points for electric vehicles – new technology which will be of interest to many of our members. Hotels are an obvious location for EV charging, as the service will help attract guests and provide an additional source of revenue.”
Adam Hall, Director of Energy Services – Drax Group, said: “Drax has a track record of decarbonising, having converted our power station from coal to sustainable biomass, as well as supporting thousands of businesses in their transition to EVs. With this partnership we will combine our expertise in enabling businesses to be more sustainable through innovative EV products and services with the EEA’s impressive pioneering drive towards net zero in the hospitality industry to support further decarbonisation.”


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Chrysler's CSI crash course
144 worst stores will get first training
Nearly 150 Chrysler Group dealerships face a year of intense training to treat consumers better as Chrysler struggles to raise its bottom-dwelling customer satisfaction scores.
Later, another roughly 650 dealerships will follow suit, said Peter Grady, Chrysler's head of network development and fleet. The training is expected to start within weeks.
Three years after it began a top-to-bottom makeover of its cars, pickups and SUVs, Chrysler Group now says the main threat to continued success is substandard customer service by its dealers.
The company has hired Cardone Group, a Florida-based automotive sales and service consulting company that helped Nissan and Infiniti dealers improve sales satisfaction. Cardone will help the 144 lowest-ranked of the group's nearly 2,600 dealerships diagnose what is wrong and fix it.
Cardone's training includes two days a month of sales training and interactive role-playing exercises. Cardone will focus on the dealerships that need the most help.
Separately, factory personnel from Chrysler's nine business centers will help train the rest of Chrysler's dealerships that sign up.
"As our products improve, if the dealers don't improve our customers' experience, that could be our Achilles' heel. And it probably is at the moment," Grady told Automotive News. "For the last 10 or 20 years, it's been product quality -- and I think we've basically shaken most of that. Now it's the experience in the dealership."
Chrysler didn't identify the first 144 dealerships that will go through the program.
A pilot program operating at a dozen Phoenix dealerships since mid-2012 has raised satisfaction scores in both sales and service dramatically, Grady says. Sales advocacy -- in which customers recommend a dealership to a friend after a visit -- increased by an average of five percentage points more than national averages.
All of Chrysler's nine business centers have completed training to expand the Phoenix pilot program nationwide.
Chrysler will share the cost of the training with the dealer. Grady declined to disclose the costs involved. Participation is voluntary, but Chrysler is strongly encouraging the selected dealerships to sign up.
The program relies on Internet customer surveys and follow-up e-mails from customers who visit the dealership for sales or service. Within a few days of a customer's visit, dealers receive feedback from the customer.
Then consultants from Cardone and factory representatives from a Chrysler business center work with the dealer to fix trouble spots.
"If you look at the root cause of a lot of the problems in a dealership -- any dealership -- communications is at the heart of a lot of them," said Derek Simonds, national sales manager at Cardone Group.
For example, service personnel will be trained to return a vehicle so that the customer knows exactly what was done and why.
Under previous efforts to boost CSI, or customer satisfaction index, scores, Chrysler simply threatened to yank incentive bonuses if dealers didn't raise the scores -- then left dealers to their own devices on how to do so, Grady said.
Dealership problems are "all different, and that's the thing. As you dig into it, this is why we went down this path ... everybody's got different problems," Grady said.
In November, the Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Chrysler brands finished in the bottom six with Kia and Mitsubishi in the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study.
The low rankings came in the same year, 2012, that CEO Sergio Marchionne ended incentive payments in Chrysler's Dealer Standards program.
The CEO warned dealers at the time that he no longer would write checks to dealers who weren't taking care of customers.
Chrysler dealers didn't bring up the factory's customer satisfaction initiative during the make meeting in Orlando. But several dealers said afterward that they recognize that low customer satisfaction is their responsibility.
"This is our job. We can't blame the product anymore," said Dave Kelleher, former Chrysler National Dealer Council chairman and owner of David Dodge in suburban Philadelphia. Kelleher said dealers will welcome the help from the factory.
He said: "It's only going to help their businesses and help them be more profitable."
You can reach Larry P. Vellequette at email@example.com.


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Insider Tom Henderson (Tom Henderson) in the material for the portal eXputer announced that French publisher Ubisoft has started development of a game based on new intellectual property.
According to Henderson’s whistleblowers, it’s a third-person shooter Pathfinder (perhaps a codename) that will look like Ubisoft Montreal’s upcoming battle royale Hyper Scape.
Pathfinder is another twist on the Battle Royale theme: a team of four heroes (as the player characters are known) are dropped onto a map centered around an AI-controlled boss.
To get to the boss, users must overcome an outer and inner wall, each with multiple gates. Different passages for hacking (and moving in place) are available in different games.
To level up towards the final battle, you’ll have to fight AI enemies (the closer to the center, the stronger they are) and presumably other players as well. In this case Pathfinder will be a PvPvE project.
Among other things, Pathfinder is expected to have an analogue of the Tower of Destiny with a shooting range, an area for various events, fun races in vehicles, a shop and so on.
Henderson concludes that Pathfinder is still in the very early stages of development, but has some flair that Ubisoft games have been lacking in recent years, according to an insider.


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Belfast companies look to India at Invest NI workshop
Around 30 companies took part in an Invest Northern Ireland workshop in Belfast held to help them explore business opportunities in India, still one of the world’s most dynamic markets.
The companies heard detailed presentations from Invest NI’s two experienced trade advisers in India, Tarun Gupta of T&A Trade Solutions and K Shankar of Feedback Consulting, both based in Mumbai, India’s commercial centre. The seminar focused on opportunities in the construction and associated sectors.
The trade advisers also provided one-to-one advice to companies attending the seminar at Invest NI’s Belfast offices.
The event was chaired by Barry Clarke, Invest NI’s Senior Vice President, India, who is based at the Invest NI Trade and Investment office in Mumbai. A similar event was also held in Magherafelt.
Mr Clarke, speaking at the seminar, said: “The Indian economy is now expected to grow by around six per cent this year, well ahead of projections for other global economies. It’s an exuberant and dynamic nation, the world’s biggest democracy, that’s being driven by a young population, more than 70 per cent is below 35 years, a government committed to economic growth through sustained investment in infrastructure, and successful industries such as IT, biotechnology and engineering.
“Sustained economic growth rates of more than eight per cent and a massive domestic market of 1.2 billion people have resulted in a growing recognition of the country as an emerging economic powerhouse, second only to China. This growth is providing substantial opportunities to Northern Ireland companies across a broad range of sectors.
“The economy is also expected to move ahead faster in the second half of this year because of aggressive interest rate cuts by the Bank of India and increased government spending, especially on infrastructure projects including roads, airports, power and telecommunications. This will offer further significant opportunities for Northern Ireland companies in construction,” Mr Clarke added.
He urged local companies to take the opportunity provided by an Invest NI trade mission to Mumbai and Bangalore in September to explore the Indian market.
Mr Clarke said: “The mission will provide participants with excellent opportunities to network with and introduce their products and technologies to key players in the Indian market.
“An increasing number of Northern Ireland companies are now exporting to India. Many have used our trade missions and the excellent support from the Invest NI office in Mumbai. This is proving a successful way to enter the expanding Indian market.
“Our trade advisors can assist with research to facilitate export and research component suppliers to provide cost-effective supply chains. The UK has particularly strong ties with India, and Northern Ireland companies are well-positioned to take advantage of this growing export and investment market.”


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Rittal Corporation, the world’s largest enclosure manufacturer and a leader in thermal management of electrical, electronic and IT equipment, has announced the winners of the “Win a Trip to Hannover Fair with Rittal!” contest:
• Andrew Neeld, Automation Engineer of Sedro Woolley, WA
• Jerry Flynn, Principal Engineer of Albany, OR
• Christopher Relyea, President of Columbus, OH
• Michael DeRosso, Sr. Engineering Technologist of Houston, TX
“Hannover Fair is the largest trade fair and industrial technology show in the world,” said Dean Arvanitis, Director of Marketing for Rittal. “It’s certainly a special event for Rittal. In fact, we’re one of only two companies to have a permanent exhibit in the facility that stands year-round.”
“Engineers love going to Hannover to get a first look at what’s coming up that’s new, and we understand that not everyone here in the U.S. will get to travel to Germany for the show. Our contest gives a select few the opportunity to see the newest products for their facilities, learn about trends and spend focused time with an industry leader like Rittal.”
These four winners will have all expenses paid to join Rittal at the world’s largest manufacturing and technology tradeshow—Hannover Messe— from April 25-29, in Hannover, Germany. Winners were chosen at random from thousands of online contest entries.
Along with time at the Hannover Fair, the contest winners will be hosted by Rittal executives on a behind-the-scenes tour of the company’s local, automated manufacturing facilities.
Rittal Corporation, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, is the U.S. subsidiary of Rittal GmbH & Co. KG and manufactures the world’s leading industrial and IT enclosures, racks and accessories, including climate control and power management systems for industrial, data center, outdoor and hybrid applications. Rittal‘s off-the-shelf standard, modified standard and custom-engineered products are recognized throughout the world as innovative, high quality solutions for practically any industrial or IT infrastructure application — from single enclosures to comprehensive, mission critical systems. Learn more at www.rittalenclosures.com.
Learn more about Rittal


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Windows 10 has reached 25.3 per cent market share, according to the newest data from Net Applications' Netmarketshare data.
The data also shows a significant drop in Windows 7 usage down to 47.2 (-1.14) against Windows 10's 25.3 (+0.94).
It's worth noting that Windows 10 is not just one desktops but also devices ranging from the Xbox to Raspberry Pi, so this skews the figures somewhat.
Meanwhile, Windows 8.x has held remarkably steady at 8.52 (-0.04) reflecting the behaviour we've seen from other parts of the Windows family that have been left on the vine. You only have to look at Windows XP, which is end of life and remains fairly constant, at around the 10 per cent mark.
In fact, Windows XP has gone up a smidgen this month to 9.17 (+0.1) because as well as having a loyal consumer fan base, it's still being used in everything from customs halls to CAT scanners around the world.
Microsoft isn't making a big deal of the end of Windows Vista, which will be end of life in less than two months, partly because the number of people with the fairly well hated OS stalled a long time ago. It has taken a bit more of a dive this month to 0.84 (-0.22). Perhaps lots of people got new computers for Christmas, as Vista certainly wasn't widely used in the enterprise.
Away from Windows, Linux continues to hold steady with a slight climb this month to 2.27 (0.06). macOS 10.12 has made progress to 2.75 (0.44) while version 10.11 has stayed almost stationery at 1.73 (-0.1). Other versions of macOS (10 and below) are now standing at 1.51 (-0.33).
There's word on the grapevine that Microsoft is planning a "Cloud" version of Windows 10, which would basically be a new reimagining of Windows RT as a combatant to Chrome OS. If that were the case, it would likely show up as part of Windows 10's market share, while Chrome OS does not, which would likely skew the numbers even further.
Q3 losses reverse Q2 gains
FBI briefing US companies to dump Kaspersky, claiming intelligence prove it a 'threat to national security'
Kaspersky rejects FBI accusations that its products are a 'threat to national security'
But breached contractor says that it simply didn't have that much data
EE follows Three in threatening legal action against Ofcom - but for entirely different reasons


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Stateside, we tend to think of the e-book wars as mostly a clash between Amazon and Barnes & Noble, with Apple thrown in to the mix. Abroad though, it may not be that simple. TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden reports that the retail giant Tesco (it’s the third-largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart and Carrefour) has bought Mobcast, a digital bookseller. Tesco shelled out a little over $7 million for the deal–more or less chump change for a company of its stature, actually.
“We want our customers to have the widest choice in digital entertainment,” the CEO of Tesco Digital Entertainment Michael Cornish said in a release. “We are already one of the UK’s largest booksellers and Mobcast will help us offer even more choice for the large and growing number of customers who want to buy and enjoy books on their digital devices whenever and wherever they want.”
What does Tesco gain by snapping up Mobcast? Mobcast’s vast digital book catalogue. The company secured the catalogues of major publishers and partnered with mobile network operators, equipment manufacturers, and retailers, earning an ME Award in 2010 for “Best Mobile Book Company.” The company also brings an author’s perspective to the tech business; Mobcast was cofounded by action author Andy McNab.
Mobcast isn’t an e-reading device; rather, it’s a digital book retail platform with a vast catalogue of popular books in the UK. Books purchased on Mobcast are stored on the cloud and can be accessed from various devices.
Since Tesco already sells Kindles, what’s going on here? Tesco’s expertise is in consumer data. “Arguably, Tesco has the best data in the world on its customers,” Cornish has said. By growing its digital portfolio–Tesco has also purchased an Internet radio service, WE7, as well as Blinkbox, a video-on-demand provider–Tesco can collect even more valuable data on its customers. Or as Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer of Columbia University, explained to CNN: “Getting into the electronic purchase cycle of a family, whether it’s for books or something else, gets you in much more regular touch with them than if they were just buying a physical product.”
The hype around DeepMind’s new AI model misses what’s actually cool about it
Some worry that the chatter about these tools is doing the whole field a disservice.
The walls are closing in on Clearview AI
The controversial face recognition company was just fined $10 million for scraping UK faces from the web. That might not be the end of it.
A quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of
The European Union is planning new legislation aimed at curbing the worst harms associated with artificial intelligence.
These materials were meant to revolutionize the solar industry. Why hasn’t it happened?
Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Micron, Intel Team On NAND Memory Advance
Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology and Santa Clara, California-based Intel said today that the two have teamed to produce what the two said is the industry's first sub-40 nanometer NAND memory device. The two said they jointly developed the process technology to manufacture the chip. The NAND memory provides 32 Gb of memory into standard TSOP packaging, and is targeted for use in high density memory applications such as solid state drives (SSDs). Solid state drives are memory-based storage that replace hard disk drives. Micron and Intel said that sampling begins in June for the new chips, with mass production expected in the second half of the year.


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The major carriers in the US all have plans to begin rolling out 5G coverage across the US sometime this year. While we can’t speak on the behalf of the other carriers and their plans, Verizon has recently shared their own plans for their 5G rollout where the carrier is aiming to cover at least 30 cities this year.
“Verizon’s plans to launch its 5G Ultra Wideband Network in more than 30 U.S. cities in 2019. Verizon 5G Mobility will launch in the first half of 2019, and Verizon 5G Home will expand coverage to more markets in the second half of 2019.”
The carrier does not mention which cities will be receiving coverage, but presumably, the major ones are on the list. If you’re staying somewhere a little further out, then you might not be able to expect coverage this year. This seems to be in line with how 4G was first rolled out where it started off small before it eventually made its way around the country.
While we can’t say for sure when Verizon’s 5G network will eventually blanket the entire country, the carrier does mention that they expect 5G to “contribute more meaningfully to growth” in 2021, so presumably that is when they’re hoping for full (or majority) coverage. In the meantime, Verizon is expected to be the first carrier in the US to carry the 5G Samsung Galaxy S10 which will be launched in the first half of the year.
Whether or not you’ll be able to take advantage of its 5G capabilities depends on the city you’re in, so maybe it might be prudent to hold off on purchasing the regular Galaxy S10 until then.


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Luxury car designer Henrik Fisker is back in Orange County.
Real estate brokerage data indicates that his Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR), an electric vehicle upstart valued around $2.8 billion as of last week, signed a 78,980-square-foot lease for a light manufacturing building in La Palma.
The property, at 14 Centerpointe Drive, runs nearly the same size as Fisker’s Manhattan Beach headquarters.
The company is expected to move in this October and started some construction last month. The La Palma building will be used for research and development, sources tell the Business Journal.
Fisker Inc. had 455 global employees as of May and anticipates reaching 800 by end of this year.
The local building is located at Centerpointe La Palma, a 10-building business park just north of the Artesia (91) Freeway, along Valley View Street.
The complex is owned by Irvine-based Greenlaw Partners, which bought the site for about $106 million in a venture with New York-based Westbrook Partners in 2017, according to property records.
This marks the first reported OC location for the EV maker, which was founded in 2016 and went public in 2020 via a reverse merger with a SPAC.
Founder and Chief Executive Henrik Fisker previously headed OC’s Fisker Automotive, maker of a luxury hybrid vehicle known as the Fisker Karma. The company went bankrupt in 2013 after it was unable to pay back a large government loan; its assets were sold to a China-backed firm now with local operations in Irvine and called Karma Automotive.
Ocean One Awaits
The reborn Fisker Inc. plans to make vehicles much more affordable than the Fisker Karma, which had a price well over $100,000.
Preorders for reservation holders of the Fisker Ocean One opened on July 1, with a limit of 5,000 vehicles. Production is confirmed to begin in November 2022 and the launch vehicle starts at $68,999.
The company reported vehicle reservations had reached over 45,000 as of May, including 1,600 fleet reservations. According to Fisker, this could result in revenue of $2.5 billion.
Its second vehicle in the wings is the Fisker Pear with reservations already over 2,500. A third unit in the works has been codenamed “Project Ronin.’
Alongside Karma Automotive, Irvine’s Rivian Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: RIVN) and Brea’s Mullen Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: MULN), OC is seeing an influx of EV businesses snap up large facilities (see story, page 3).
EV battery maker Romeo Power Inc. (NYSE: RMO) is making a local move from Vernon to its new corporate headquarters in Cypress; the company recently reported the first phase of the move was completed in March. The 191,000-square-foot industrial space will house both the headquarters and a manufacturing floor for the company, which promises to bring “hundreds of jobs” to OC, officials said.


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Mercedes Benz is recalling several of its vehicles for Sunroof Glass that may not be Properly Bonded.
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (MBUSA) is recalling certain model year 2016 C300 vehicles manufactured December 11, 2015, to December 23, 2015, C300 4Matic vehicles manufactured December 12, 2015, to December 29, 2015, and C450 AMG 4Matic vehicles manufactured December 12, 2015, to December 22, 2015. The affected vehicles may be equipped with a panoramic sunroof that may not be properly bonded, allowing the glass to detach and fall from the vehicle during operation.
If the panoramic glass detaches during vehicle operation, it can increase the risk of injury or crash.
MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the bonding of the rear sunroof glass panel, replacing it as necessary, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in late March 2016. Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372.
Kentucky has a “lemon law” to help consumers get a new vehicle or their money back. If you own a defective motor vehicle you may have the legal rights.
Let one of our Kentucky lemon law lawyers review your case for free and tell you what your rights are. Take our easy-to-use Lemon Law Test!


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Because of Winn-Dixie: Sam Hornish Jr., supermarket partner for Southern 500
When you see Sam Hornish Jr.'s car for the Sept. 6 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, you’ll be wondering if it’s 1998 all over again.
Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday that Hornish’s No. 9 Ford will be sponsored by the supermarket chain, Winn-Dixie.
While the chain has sponsored NASCAR races before, most recently the Xfinity Series’ Winn-Dixie 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, the store brand is most often associated with former driver Mark Martin. Martin earned a good chunk of his 49 Xfinity Series wins in a black No. 60 Ford sponsored by Winn-Dixie.
While RPM is calling the No. 9’s paint scheme “retro,” you’ll see it’s not an all-out attempt to recreate the car that inspired it. The side numbers are different colors and it doesn’t have the classic store logo on the hood or the rear panels, seen here on Martin’s car from 1998 that’s at the Roush Fenway Racing Museum in Charlotte, N.C.
“Winn-Dixie has a long history within NASCAR,” said Hornish in a team release. “They’ve had a presence in the sport since I can remember, and I’m looking forward to representing their throwback paint scheme on the track. Mark [Martin] and Winn-Dixie set a precedent of winning, and that’s exactly what we’re hoping to do in Darlington.”
Martin won eight Xfinity races at Darlington, with all of them coming with Winn-Dixie as his sponsor.
The Southern 500, which airs on NBC, returns to its traditional Labor Day weekend spot on the schedule for the first time since 2003.


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Checkout what’s new in Android Nougat 7.0 as we go through the best Android Nougat Features.
Android Nougat 7.0 Update, Features, Hidden Tricks
More News -
In the following guide checkout how to enable USB debugging on Android Nougat phones by Google, Samsung, HTC & other OEM.
Checkout the list of phones expected to get Android 7.1 Nougat update after they have gone through the Android 7.0 update.
Check out Android 7.1.3 update schedule, Android 7.1.3 OTA roll-out and list of eligible devices to get the update.
If you own an Android 7.0 running phone, then here is the guide on how to root Android Nougat Phones with 7.0, 7.1, 7.0.1, 7.0.2 versions.
BlackBerry Aurora : Last week at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2017), BlackBerry officially launched TCL made BlackBerry KEYone, an Android smartphone with a 4-row QWERTY keyboard along with touchscreen display on top. Now PT BB Merah Putih has launched another BlackBerry smartphone called Aurora with model number BBC 100-1. It’s available for pre-order until March […]
After Google officially naming 2016’s Android version as Android Nougat, we have news that Nougat 7.1, 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 will be the next Android version. Advertisements Android Nougat 7.1 Popular leakster Evleaks has revealed that there will be three quarterly maintenance release of Android Nougat with Android 7.1, 7.1.1 and 7.1.2 version. These releases will […]
OnePlus 3 Nougat update will be released in December 2016. Checkout OnePlus 3 Nougat OTA update features and how to update guide.
Running on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017, A5 2017 and A7 2017 Nougat update is definitely on cart.
The Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro Nougat update brings Android 7.0 version. It will be available officially as an OTA for SM-G900 & SM-G900F models.


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Spatial Computing entered the chat
A new buzzword took the stage earlier this year when Apple released the Vision Pro, a device they described as their first spatial computer. The key takeaway is that Apple is showing us that we are at the verge of a new paradigm shift: Just as desktop computers gave way to mobile computers, the next generation of computers are spatial, with an understanding of the physical world and the ability to display information in the correct physical context.
But don’t let the snazzy new form factor of the Vision Pro fool you! Apple has been making spatial computers, of the handheld variety, for some time now. Modern smartphones are already capable of spatial computing and augmented reality, and have been waiting for the killer app to demonstrate the utility of rendering information in space.
Augmented reality is a faster language
In environments like Retail, spatial computing is already proving to be an invaluable asset - even with handheld devices. Putting incidents, tasks and products in their physical context makes it easier for staff members to find what they’re looking for and to communicate with each other. In work environments with high employee turnover, this accelerated knowledge transfer is a force multiplier. Adding the dimension of space to our language increases the bandwidth of our communication. Augmented reality is a faster and more precise language.
Of course, augmented reality’s potential for entertainment has also been demonstrated by one of the most successful apps of all time: Pokémon GO. Billions of dollars have been made by millions of people looking at the world through augmented eyes.
And therein lies the rub. The kind of fine-grained positioning needed for augmented reality cannot be provided by the GPS system, which needs line of sight to several satellites to be able to get even a rough positioning estimate. In the amazingly dense and vertical environments of cities like Hong Kong, the GPS system is starting to show its age - and for indoor environments it is ruled out all together.
Seeing the world through your eyes
To provide this fine-grained positioning, applications like Pokémon GO make use of the camera feed of the device. The image data from the device is compared, typically in a proprietary cloud, to a vast 3D reconstruction of the world.
For those of you who are paying attention, that means that augmented reality opens up the device to an extreme form of surveillance capitalism: corporations seeing the world through your camera - a camera that will one day be worn on your face, as Apple, Magic Leap, Microsoft and others are trying to show us.
The Decentralisation movement would do well to pay close attention to this development and consolidation of power. Should we allow the likes of Google and Meta to literally see the world through eyes? The science fiction author Alastair Reynolds recently penned the chilling short story “End User” to show just how dangerous that level of surveillance capitalism can be. It’s a thought-provoking piece with a hauntingly plausible plot line.
The call for decentralisation
The posemesh is the world’s first decentralised positioning service, allowing for fine-grained positioning without gathering data for a centralised authority or vendor. The blockchain enabled protocol lets us come together as a community to provide decentralised physical infrastructure (DePIN) for spatial computing in a way that is privacy-preserving. Those that care about decentralisation should pay close attention to this emerging battleground, because the foundational stack for positioning the AR metaverse will hold the keys to the most powerful surveillance machine ever devised. We should hope for the sake of our species that this power does not fall into the hands of any central authority or vendor.


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By Steve Elliott
Two Pennsylvania lawmakers have pre-filed legislation that they say would help farmers become part of the multi-million dollar hemp industry.
"The 2014 federal Farm Bill authorizes pilot programs for industrial hemp, and SB 50 provides oversight for growing, harvesting and marketing a traditional commonwealth crop while providing new opportunities for Pennsylvania farmers," said state Sen. Judy Schwank (D-Berks County), who is co-sponsoring the bill with state Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon County).
Schwank said industrial hemp has been used for thousands of years, and was commonly grown in Pennsylvania until the last century.
About 50,000 potential applications exist for hemp, including textiles, building materials, paper, plastics, foods, medicines, biomass, and environmental products.
"The use of industrial hemp provides a multitude of benefits," Folmer said. "The best farmland preservation is allowing farmers to farm their land profitably.
"Hemp is also a crop that helps the environment," Folmer said. "Consumers will benefit from the many uses of hemp."
More than a dozen other states have already passed laws allowing either hemp farming or research programs. The hemp industry was worth an estimated $500 million in 2012, according to the Hemp Industries Association.
Photo: Pennsylvania Hempland Security


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At one point in automotive history, mohair upholstery was as trendy as Alcantara is today. In fact, it even got a write up in the New York Times. … [Read more...] about Mohair Was Once a Booming Industry
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The Wall Street Journal reports that the new model has been cancelled due to issues with supply, logistics, and assembly.
“We haven’t found a business model that works,” Renault boss Carlos Tavares said.
Renault has been without a genuine luxury flagship since the demise of the slow-selling Vel Satis model in 2009.
However, falling sales of Renault’s current Laguna and Latitude sedan models (down 41 and 36 percent in 2012 respectively) have also played a part in Renault’s decision to cancel the new luxury flagship.
Compounding this is Europe’s patchy economic outlook; with much of Europe in debt-fueled stagnation, embarking on any new luxury model would come with significant risk.
Additionally, an unnamed Renault insider reportedly confirmed that the planned flagship would have been built on existing E-Class mechanicals, expected to be superseded by a new Mercedes model by the time the Renault version launched.
Were it to proceed, the strategy would have aped the development model used to create Chrysler’s previous-generation 300C sedan, borne from the ill-fated Daimler-Chrysler partnership.
Instead of a new range-topper, Renault will reportedly now focus on rolling out top-tier ‘Initiale Paris’ versions of its mainstream models, the first of which will join the Clio light car lineup later this year.
Renault/Smart Joint Development And Infiniti Q50 Engine Supply
It's not all cuts, long faces and overworked shredders in the Renault boardroom however. Contrary to reports earlier this year, the French giant is continuing with its shared development of the next Twingo city car and Daimler-owned Smart ForTwo and ForFour replacements.
However, the first of these models is not expected to launch until 2014, a year later than initially scheduled.
Renault’s reported withdrawal from the E-Class sedan-based project is also not expected to affect Renault-Nissan brand Infiniti’s engine supply deal with Mercedes-Benz for the upcoming Q50 midsizer.
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