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Are robot puppies the next frontier in dementia treatment? Tombot, Inc. (tombot.com), working with experts from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, has created a realistic robot companion that may help improve the quality of life for a senior who can no longer care for a pet.
“Seniors in general and particularly seniors with dementia have been ignored by the tech world,” says Westlake Village–area resident Tom Stevens, founder and CEO of Tombot. Inspired in part by his mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease and subsequent need to give up her beloved dog, Stevens and his team have concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign and are now ruggedizing the design specs to ship their first robotic dogs in August 2020. The basic model bot costs $450. With the World Health Organization reporting nearly 10 million new cases of dementia every year, the future looks bright for helping seniors with a new kind of puppy love. —Leslie Dinaberg


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it's book party season
Rosé All Day is flying off store shelves and book-party season has begun.
On Friday, May 19, Katherine will be in NYC, aboard the Hornblower Infinity Yacht, speaking at La Nuit en Rosé. She will be giving a rosé history talk to members of the trade. Then, on May 21, she'll be leading a guided tasting and class at High Street on Hudson.
Then it's off to Berkeley, CA, for an event with Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant on May 27. More on that coming soon...

domain: news


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In past years, IFA has been almost synonymous with the launch of the Note series, but this year we have lots of other cool stuff on tap. Here’s a brief preview of the news we expect to come out of Berlin next week.
Huawei stays relatively quiet, but it seems they know their business and aren’t afraid to tell it like it is when hit by the spotlight.
Researchers have broadcast LTE service on unlicensed spectrum
Huawei has begun sending out invites to a launch event scheduled for September 4th, where the company is expected to unveil the Ascend Mate 7.
Huawei’s online US store is offering a little promotion on accessories. Now through August 18th, enjoy 40% off a selection of gear including headphones, external power packs and more.
Research conducted by IDC shows a decline in Samsung’s global smartphone shipments in Q2 2014, as emerging markets show a preference for lower-cost Chinese vendors.
The first half of 2014 was good for Huawei; we could count them a success based solely on their 34 million shipped smartphones, up 62% over 2013, but smartphones are only half of their business.
According to an internal memo, sales of Huawei consumer products have increased by 30 percent in the first half of 2014, with smartphone sales showing the fastest rate of growth.
A big phone with a small price PROS Large displayFantastic battery lifeSturdy build qualityGreat performance CONS Mediocre cameraDifficult to use one-handed 8.0It’s... a “phablet” device with a beautiful display, sturdy build quality, and exceptional battery life that isn’t going to break the bank. If that’s what you’re looking for, then the Ascend Mate 2 is...
The price wars are on, and Huawei is the latest to join the fray. The Chinese company just cut the ribbon on its US online store with a great deal on the massive Ascend Mate2.


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By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News
It is a topic which has generated a lot of discussion about whether enough investors and funds exist to finance entrepreneurs in Austin or whether the startups just aren’t good enough to land investment.
On Tuesday, about 70 people attended the Texas State Small Business Development Center’s Spectrum event at the Frost Bank Tower in downtown Austin for a panel discussion on “Why Startups Get Funded” moderated by Paul O’Brien, founder of Accelerate Texas.
The panel featured three entrepreneurs who landed investments on the TV show Shark Tank including Yuen Yung, now founder of Casoro Capital, a real estate investment firm and previously founder and CEO of How Do You Roll? a fast-casual sushi restaurant franchise. Christie Barany and Courtney Turich, co-founders of Monkey Mat, a portable playmate for kids, also participated. In addition, the panel featured an investor, Rick Timmins, chairman of the board of the Central Texas Angel Network.
To kick off the event, O’Brien asked the entrepreneurs to write on red and blue post-it notes on why investors should fund them and post them on a sheet under the amount of funding they are seeking from $100,000 on up. Many startups had revenue from grants, customers, government funding, contracts and more. Most were seeking under $1 million in funding.
O’Brien, who moved to Austin six years ago from Silicon Valley, said in California many entrepreneurs he meets start off with why they started their venture. In Texas, the entrepreneurs tend to talk about what they do. He said the most important message to convey to investors is why they should fund you.
“If you’re not capably communicating why you need investors and why they might want to work with you then they can’t help you,” he said.
O’Brien said customers and revenue aren’t always relevant.
“It comes down to why you’re doing what you’re doing,” he said.
In his presentation, O’Brien quoted from Businessman and Author Peter Drucker, saying the purpose of a startup is to create a new customer, not to find a customer.
“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two and only two basic functions: marketing and innovation,” according to Drucker.
He also touched on the current controversy in Austin about whether the city has enough venture capital.
David Altounian, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at St. Edwards University, serial entrepreneur and a partner at Capital Factory, did a study on Austin’s venture capital investments last year. His conclusion is “Austin generates loads of seed money to fuel young businesses but lacks the Series A, Series B and late stage funding sources,” according to O’Brien’s presentation.
Then in February of this year, Richard Bagdonas, a serial entrepreneur in Austin, wrote a post “The Dark Ages of Austin Startup Capital” and published it on Medium and later republished on TechCrunch outlining a shortage of venture capital available for Austin entrepreneurs. That sparked a lively discussion among entrepreneurs and investors.
Indications are that venture capital investing is slowing down nationwide, O’Brien said. In his presentation, he quoted California Venture Capitalist Mark Suster saying “50 percent of the VCs tell Upfront Ventures that they will slow their pace.” And Mike Maples Jr., a partner in Floodgate, has reported that his firm will not invest in any more Austin based companies like Favor because of the Austin City Council’s recent regulations concerning ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft and short term rentals that can be booked through sites like HomeAway.
After O’Brien outlined the difficulty in getting venture capital, he presented a slide with four questions entrepreneurs should answer on why they should get funded.
1. Why you? Why do you care?
2. Why will the market want it and why will it work?
3. Why do you need venture capital?
4. Why is this an opportunity for investors?
During the panel discussion, O’Brien asked the entrepreneurs why they got funding.
Barany, co-founder of Monkey Mat said investors on Shark Tank saw that they provided a simple solution to an everyday problem. They had only done $60,000 in sales, but they were building market traction, she said. In 2014 during Season 5 of Shark Tank, Lori Grenier and Mark Cuban invested $100,000 in the company for a 35 percent stake.
Yung secured the first $1 million investment on Shark Tank from Kevin O’Leary, known as Mr. Wonderful, during Season 4 in 2013. But the deal eventually fell through.
“When I look back at all the different things I’ve done they all got funded in different ways,” Yung said.
Yung said the key to his success was bringing people along on his entrepreneurial journey as if he were a travel agent. He painted a vision for investors and convinced them to come along on the journey, he said. For example, How Do You Roll wasn’t about sushi, it was about offering healthy food on the go, he said.
“Once they buy into that the money part becomes easier,” Yung said.
Those are all the different things that happen through the process to convince someone to write a check or wire the money, he said. They have to know what’s going on and they have to believe that you are going to do it, he said. And in the end, people only work with people they like, Yung said. You have to be someone an investor wants to work with, he said.
Timmins with CTAN said angel investors invest in people.
“You’ve heard that so many times it sounds sickening but it’s true,” Timmins said. “We will only invest in entrepreneurs we believe can do extraordinary things.”
The entrepreneurs tend to be younger than the investors and not have as much experience, or as much accumulated knowledge so they have to evaluate whether or not the entrepreneur can lead a group and motivate other people, he said.
“A simple quality that I look for all the time – can they listen, can they take direction, can they be mentored,” he said.
They also have to decide on some objective criteria like can the entrepreneurs meet a deadline and do something within budget.
Sixty percent of the criteria they put on a company, though, is about the individual, Timmins said.
That said, Timmins made a huge mistake in 2014. The largest investment CTAN made that year was in a bad entrepreneur and CEO.
“He turns out to be a cockroach,” Timmins said.O’Brien thought that was funny because the term “cockroach” is now being used to label entrepreneurs who can survive the nuclear winter they are going to go through to find success.
Today, compared to eight or nine years ago it costs less to start a business but it is still not a trivial task, Timmins said.
He disagreed with O’Brien and thinks companies seeking investment should have a product or service completed and valuable customers.
“Go down the path of finding customers not just to help pay for the expenses you are going to occur but to validate your path,” Timmins said.
No matter what stage you are at you need cash, Yung said.
The bigger your network, the more likely it is you are going to find someone to finance you, Yung said.
Texas has 12 angel networks and there is an alliance of these networks that has been in place for four or five years to syndicate deals, Timmins said.
“In this community there are hundreds of super angels that invest in certain products, markets and industries,” Timmins said. “There is collectively a lot of money they use to invest. More important than the money, is the mentoring.”
In the end, most businesses fail even those that get investment.
“I got into the business knowing that most of these businesses are going to fail,” Timmins said. “Forty percent of every investment an angel will make will fail – and that’s knowing that I’m pretty good at selecting entrepreneurs. Thirty percent are going to return my capital in some form. Twenty percent are going to give me my capital back and some return. One is going to give me the return for all my investments I’ve ever made.”
“That doesn’t account for all the other businesses that didn’t get funding from me,” Timmins said. “This is a hard business. I have nothing but the utmost admiration for entrepreneurs knowing those odds.”
Next week, the Texas State Small Business Development Center will host Session Two: “Are You Targeting the RIGHT Source of Funding?” at the Frost Bank Tower on Wednesday.


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Wearable computing–like smartwatches, smart eyewear with mounted displays, and sensors on clothing–is an emerging market that is predicted to explode over the next few years, so what device to buy and what to wear to maintain your geek chic? Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Square co-founder is hedging his bet on the smartwatch category, which is rumored to be commercialized by LG, Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft, over the smart glasses category championed by Google.
“Glasses are very compelling, and I think it’s an amazing technology,” Mr. Dorsey said, “but I just can’t imagine my mom wearing them right now. What is the value of Glass?”
Dorsey’s comments comes just days after Internet and tech pundit Robert Scoble boldly declares that he never wants to take off his Google Glass unit, and subsequently uploaded an image of himself in the shower wearing Google’s monocle.
Brian Chen of The New York Times writes, “Mr. Dorsey said he fancied devices that wrap around the wrist, like smartwatches or exercise bands, because they felt more natural.”
Dorsey doesn’t seem to be dismissing Glass, but rather I think it’s still a question of ease of use. Glass is still a radical idea that introduces a new computing paradigm as an always on gadget that’s always worn that has the potential to capture voice, photos, and videos at any time. Consumers will not only need to be educated about how to use devices like Google Glass as well as the benefits of the platform, but they will also need to feel comfortable wearing these devices in public.
” I think it might be a 10-year answer, but not in the next five years,” Dorsey says. “Maybe if they’re in sunglasses or what not.”
For now, though Dorsey says that devices that are worn like jewelry may be the answer, like wristbands such as Nike’s Fuelband or Fitbit and Jawbone Up.
Google has also been rumored recently to be working on its own smartwatch idea.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


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The latest statistics show the country is likely to rake in a good amount of hard currency through an increased export of sugar this year.
India has already sold nearly 14 lakh tonnes of sugar abroad till March this year as opposed to about 28 lakh tonnes in the entire period of 210-11.
The govt shared the information in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Earlier, the govt had done away with quantitative restrictions on exports.
Incidentally, India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world.


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Appearing 90 minutes into the show, investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts spoke about the financial outlook. The global economy has been dependent on issuing more and more debt, and now that we can't keep expanding the debt, "we're literally seeing an economic contraction," she commented. Prices have been held down as we print more cash, and now we're going to have reconcile the paper to real things, leading to a deflation of income, but inflation of prices, she warned.
What we're watching is a financial system that is driving small business out of business, Fitts said, explaining that all the capital goes to Wall St. to the firms that have the inside deals. We need to change the economic model away from the centralized banks, she added.
Fitts noted that one of the biggest financial mistakes that people make is that they don't invest in preventative health care. As far as investments, she recommended precious metals, energy technology, as well pooling resources in investment clubs. Farmland with great water is even a better investment than gold, she said, as food you buy at stores isn't always trustworthy.
Life by Chance?
During the first half-hour, Robert Piccioni, Ph.D. argued against the notion that the development of life happened by chance, citing the complicated and sophisticated design of DNA. His interview was cut short because of difficulties with his phone line.


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While Rario may be the first platform of its kind for cricket, NFTs have become quite popular in the world of sports. Large football clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and more have tie-ups with Socios
Homegrown digital collectibles platform Rario, today, announced a partnership with blockchain firm Polygon, to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace for cricket fans. The platform has also partnered with cricketers like Zaheer Khan and South African Faf Du Plesis, presumably to create NFTs that are built around these players.
The company claims that it is the world’s first officially licensed cricket NFT platform in the world, though it didn’t reveal plans about what kind of NFTs it will be minting at the moment. Ratio enables fans to buy and trade in digital collectibles built around various cricketing moments. “We believe Rario is laying down the foundations for making digital collectibles the most prized asset for sports fans in India and across the world,” said Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder oF Polygon.
While Rario may be the first platform of its kind for cricket, NFTs have become quite popular in the world of sports. Large football clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and more have tie-ups with Socios, listing their own fan tokens on the Chiliz exchange and selling collectibles through the platform. The United States’ National Basketball Association (NBA) also announced an NFT platform of its own earlier this month.
Rario is amongst the first NFT platforms to come out of Polygon Studios, a platform created by the blockchain company specifically for applications like this. However, Polygon’s solution is already quite common amongst NFT marketplaces. The company’s layer 2 solution, which reduces transaction fees for minting NFTs, have been gaining steam in the growing NFT space in India. Gurgaon-based NFTically also uses Polygon on its marketplace as does upcoming Wall.app.
Published By : Live Mint


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28 Feb 2013 – AAP –
China remains New South Wales’ largest bilateral trading partner and coal continues to be the largest export, new figures show.
Releasing the latest NSW Trade and Investment Report, Mr Stoner said NSW exports are up again after a drop in 2009/10 due caused by the global financial crisis and slowdown in world growth.
In 2011/12, total exports rose by 7.8 per cent, with goods exports rising by 11 per cent.
Services exports increased by 1.2 per cent, which Mr Stoner said was driven largely by growth in financial and professional services exports.
“Coal continues to be the state’s largest export,” he said, adding it was worth $14 billion or 24 per cent of total exports in 2012.
Education-related travel and tourism were NSW’s largest services exports.
“Japan remains our largest goods export market and China is our largest bilateral trading partner,” Mr Stoner said.
The value of goods exports dropped by 2.5 per cent in the second half of the 2012 calendar year.
Mr Stoner said the diversity of the NSW economy should allow it to cope with moderating mineral export prices.
He said NSW’s trade performance has improved despite continuing global financial uncertainty.
“We have engaged with business and industry to understand their issues, we are addressing strategic infrastructure needs and we are raising the global profile of Sydney and NSW,” he said in a statement.


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Given the increased awareness of the environment, the gradual phase-out of gasoline powered engines in Europe and parts of Asia, as well as the most recent fiasco of sky-high gasoline prices, it’s no surprise that automakers are scrambling to develop electric powertrains and engines that run on alternative fuels. Hydrogen has been in the picture for many years now, and Toyota seems to be on the cusp of a breakthrough.
What you see in the image above may look like a fancy battery pack, but it’s what Toyota envisions the future to be full of. These portable hydrogen canisters are hoped to be the new way of powering devices across a wide range of applications. Designed specifically to be used on a daily basis, Toyota’s hydrogen canisters work in a similar fashion as propane tanks do, and according to Toyota, can supply enough energy to run a household microwave for three to four hours.
To come up with the concept, Toyota partnered up with Woven Planet Holdings. Each canister measures around 16 inches in length, and seven inches in width, and is expected to weigh around 11 pounds. Given its size, you could very well carry one around with you as handily as a large water bottle, and you’d have enough juice to charge up your gadgets for at least a couple of days.
What’s more interesting though, and the reason why this story is being posted on RideApart, is the fact that the canister can be used on motorcycles. Well, in theory, at least. Given the fact that Toyota states the hydrogen canisters can be used across a multitude of applications, it won’t be surprising if, sooner or later, the Japanese automaker would partner up with a motorcycle manufacturer with plans of using hydrogen in the future. I don’t know about you, but I do know that a certain Japanese motorcycle maker whose favorite color just so happens to be green, has had previous exploits with hydrogen power.
While all this is undeniably an interesting prospect, there’s no doubt that Toyota still has a few hurdles that need crossing. At present, most hydrogen is generated in conjunction with fossil fuels, and is often used as a refining agent for petroleum products—not exactly the level of sustainability that’s up to par with modern standards. Toyota believes, however, that in the future, hydrogen will be virtually carbon-free, and will definitely be a much cleaner and more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.


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Weekend tech reading: Nadella on opening Windows, one more April Fools video and 52 tech easter eggs
The ‘fuck Windows’ strategy?” Back in the late 1990s, when Bill Gates was still Microsoft’s boss, any employee who had the temerity to suggest something that could possibly weaken the firm’s flagship operating system was sure to earn his wrath.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella settles internal dispute by moving its MSN group to the Windows division
Apple's iOS captured 88.7 percent of smartphone profits in Q4, Android slid to an all-time low of 11
While Google is no doubt ahead in terms of overall mobile OS market share, it’s Apple that’s winning where it really counts: the bank. According to a new report from...
New for Windows 10: free update for most, Spartan revealed, local game streaming, holograms and more
Microsoft just wrapped up its Windows 10 event in Redmond with plenty of new and exciting features on display. Chief among the big announcements is the fact that Windows 10 will be a free update to those currently running...


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Taco trucks -- which also serve burritos and tortas -- have been a common sight in the Tri-Cities for decades.
But Mexican cuisine isn't the only food available from these restaurants on wheels. Trucks offering everything from po'boy sandwiches to catfish and hushpuppies to Asian fusion have joined them on the streets.
It's a trend that Victoria Silvernail, executive director of the Pasco Specialty Kitchen, sees spilling over the Cascades from Seattle and Portland. And one she believes will continue to grow.
"Tri-City residents visiting those cities see what a variety of foods the trucks there offer and how successful they are, and now that we have a few offering something other than tacos, we want more," Silvernail said.
In her position at the Specialty Kitchen, a commercial kitchen available for rent, Silvernail has come to know several owners of the trucks because Benton Franklin Health District regulations require they do some of their food prep work in a commercial kitchen.
Silvernail said she'd like to see an area in all three cities where several food vendors could gather and park on a rotating basis.
"Perhaps spending one day in Richland, another in Pasco, another in Kennewick. That's what they do in Portland and Seattle," she said.
Many of the food truck owners use social media to let their customers know where they're parking and what they're cooking.
"We couldn't do it any other way. Buying ads is expensive and this way we're in instant communication with our customers. If we have to close early for any reason, if my husband, Felix, has a new menu item, we can get the word out fast," said Jenny Sanchez of El Fat Cat Grill in Kennewick.
Kai Phengsavanh, owner of Kindra's Wok 'n Roll, said Facebook is invaluable for bringing in new customers.
"People unfamiliar with our menu can see photos of our actual food and -- even if they've never tried it -- can see how good it looks. Several people have told me that seeing the photos on Facebook made them seek me out," Phengsavanh said.
On Aug. 27, when Phengsavanh sold out early in the day -- to prevent disappointed customers -- she used Facebook to send out a message she'd see them the next day.
Tri-City food trucks offering cuisines other than strictly Mexican include:
Kindra's Wok 'n Roll
Kai Phengsavanh of Pasco began serving Asian fusion foods from Kindra's Wok 'n Roll at John Dam Plaza in Richland earlier this summer. You can't miss her, just look for the bright orange truck.
It's named after her daughter, Kindra, who was 5 years old when she died of pneumonia in April 2012.
"Since I was 14 I've always wanted to open a food business. It's my dream," Phengsavanh said.
Phengsavanh has lived in the Tri-Cities since she was 5 years old and learned to cook from her mom.
"All my aunts and uncles in North Carolina own restaurants," Phengsavanh said.
Phengsavanh -- whose family is originally from Laos -- naturally went with Asian cuisine.
"I decided there's lots of Mexican taco trucks in the Tri-Cities. What we lacked was a mobile Asian truck," she said.
Don't call Kindra's Wok 'n Roll "that Thai truck," though.
"It's Asian fusion. It's not Thai, not Chinese, we're Laotian," she said.
All her food is cooked fresh to order.
"We're not like a buffet where you make a lot of food and keep it in a steam pan. It takes a little longer, but the quality is worth it," Phengsavanh said.
Some of her best selling items are her veggie fresh spring rolls, chicken phad thai and teriyaki chicken comb with potsticker, jasmine rice and veggie.
She plans to be at John Dam Plaza through September but can also be found at various concerts and events throughout the Tri-Cities. She also does catering.
Kindra's Wok 'n Roll offers delivery service for a $10 minimum order -- but only in north Richland.
Hours are generally 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday at John Dam Plaza but are subject to change. Find her weekly schedule at Facebook.com/KindrasWoknRoll.
On Oct. 1 Phengsavanh's truck will move to a parking lot at the Port of Benton in north Richland.
Ann's Best Creole and Soul Food
Angela, aka Angie or Ann, Brown, a native of Baton Rouge, La., opened Ann's Best Creole and Soul Food in May in a parking lot off Court Street in Pasco.
She serves up crawfish touffe over rice, dirty rice with chicken wings, po'boy sandwiches and jambalaya.
She too had always wanted a restaurant -- though not necessarily one on wheels. As a child she learned to cook from her grandmother who did catering.
"When I came home from school she'd be in the kitchen, cooking, and I'd help," Brown said.
"I love cooking, feeding people. To me it's not work, it's my passion," she said.
Hers is the face you see at the order/pick up counter Wednesdays and Thursdays. Other days family members help out with the cooking and serving while she works her full-time job as an operating room assistant/secretary/scheduler at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
Brown's food truck is usually parked at 3315 W. Court St., Pasco, Wednesday-Saturday. Her hours vary but she generally opens at 11 a.m. each day and closes at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, at 4 p.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Some days -- instead of parking in Pasco -- Brown drives her truck to special events.
The best way to find out where she is, and when, is to go to Facebook.com/AnnsBestcsf.
"I like to stay mobile," she said.
El Fat Cat Grill
Unlike many of the food truck vendors in the Tri-Cities, Felix and Jenny Sanchez of Pasco originally had a stationary restaurant.
When they lost their lease and closed the restaurant, the couple decided to go mobile with their menu, which includes options like curry marinated chicken topped with mango and jicama on a bun, cheeseburgers, burritos and tacos.
"A lot of people asked if we really wanted to go this route. But we were determined to succeed," said Jenny Sanchez.
They first contracted for space at John Dam Plaza in Richland and were there for five months before Larry Hutchison offered them a permanent spot in the parking lot of his Edison Street Car Wash in Kennewick.
"Larry heard we were looking for a place to move and told Felix, 'Your food is amazing, you need a new situation, come here.' We've been here a year this month," said Jenny Sanchez.
"We still have the wheels, we just don't go anywhere," said Felix Sanchez.
After having a restaurant, the couple say there are pros and cons to cooking in a food truck.
"Storage is always an issue and a restaurant has more of a dining area for customers," said Felix Sanchez, gesturing at the two brightly painted picnic tables next to the truck.
But they have no regrets.
Situated as they are across from Kamiakin High School, El Fat Cat Grill attracts a lot of students for lunch.
"But I'll look out and see them sitting next to men in business suits and ties, 80-year-old grandmoms in their dresses, families ... we get such a diversity of people, it's great," said Jenny Sanchez.
Felix Sanchez said some people think the food trucks have different health standards than a restaurant, but it's not true.
"We have to comply too. And where else can you look in the window and watch the chef make your food?" he asked.
El Fat Cat Grill is open yearround, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday. It doesn't do catering but customers can always place a special order for pick up.
Friend them on Facebook.com/ElFatCat Grill.
Phone: 546-1413. Address: 539 Edison St., Kennewick.
Uncle Brother's Fish Fry
Vanis and Barbara Daniels of Pasco decided to invest in a food truck more than 15 years ago. Their first outing was at the Fiery Food Festival in Pasco in 1997.
"It went over so well we decided it was something we could do once we retired from our jobs at Hanford," Vanis Daniels said.
They specialize in deep-fried catfish, red snapper and hushpuppies.
Vanis Daniels said he's dabbled in cooking all his life. Years ago he was an Army cook, then ran a restaurant in Spokane for a while and later worked in a Seattle restaurant.
In 2004 they bought their present food truck and began going to special events and to the Pasco Farmers Market on Saturdays.
"It keeps us busy though we don't make a lot of money. The part I like is talking to people. Barbara, she enjoys frying the fish and is really good at it," said Vanis Daniels.
Barbara Daniels said their decision to run a food truck was a "a liberating opportunity."
"Every American at some point in time wants their own business. We've had the opportunity to experience that and learned a lot about what it takes to grow your business. It's not done overnight," said Barbara Daniels
The Daniels too, wish there was a place in the Tri-Cities where all the food trucks could gather.
"It's what they do in Portland and is more accepted there. I don't feel it's really accepted here," said Barbara Daniels.
-- Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; email@example.com


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“One of our main focus areas is to expand 5G across our portfolio. Last year we launched six 5G devices in our portfolio and we launched two exclusive models with a US carrier both of which were aiming for the most affordable price point. This gives us the scale to grow further in 2022…” Florian Seiche, Managing Director of HMD Global, told ET in an exclusive interaction.
HMD partnered with Reliance Jio last year to offer grants on four smartphone models. Seiche said the company “also sees good momentum on this and partnering with key carrier partners like Jio is encouraging.”
“We are seeing consumer finance become more and more important in different parts of the world to again help customers move from features to functionality,” he said, adding that finance options allow consumers to buy quality appliances.
He further added that HMD will focus on how to further deepen its ability to source locally, produce locally and enter into go-to-market partnerships for sales and marketing. “The Indian market is very competitive, so we need to look at all aspects of the process to bring the best value to customers.”
The company has started exporting its “Made in India” feature phone to the UAE and is also assessing smartphone exports from India.
“We worked hard last year and started exporting from India. Today, India is important for our local manufacturing strategy, not only for the domestic market but also for exports,” the leader said.
The company works with Lava International, Dixon and Rising Star to locally manufacture mobile phones and smartphones through factories in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. Most of HMD’s smartphones are made by Lava and Dixon, while Rising Star makes feature phones for the company.
Seiche said core growth came from smartphones — 40% year-over-year growth in 2021 — which helped the company turn profitable.
“That (smartphones) is a clear driver and is also true for India. In 2022 it will be a growth driver for India. We could have done even more but there are still tensions in the supply chain. supply, especially at entry, but we expect to be on a strong growth trajectory for this year.
“It’s one of the biggest drivers of growth as companies focus on quality, security and scalability. There is a very rational decision-making process, so naturally we come out very strong,” he said.
(Reporter covers Mobile World Congress 2022 at Oppo’s invitation)


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FIFA 21 EA Play: CONFIRMED, When to watch, Ultimate Team, Career Mode, trailer, cover stars, next gen, schedule & more
Check out all the details on EA’s biggest live event of the year in one place here.
EA Play, one of the most important events in the gaming industry, was originally scheduled for 11 June, but was pushed to 18 June instead.
Let’s go over what we can expect from EA Play 2020, and what it means for FIFA 21.
FIFA 21 Announced for EA Play
Fifa 21 has just been announced for EA PLAY LIVE, and will be going ahead at 4PM PST/ 12 AM BST.
New start date and time for EA Play
EA Play will now officially begin 18 June, at 7pm EDT.
For most European fans, this will mean early morning 19 June.
What is EA Play?
EA Play is a chance for you to see all your favourite games in one place, and a chance for EA to show their latest releases!
Last year we saw the likes of Apex Legends, The Sims 4 and Battlefield alongside the numerous EA Sports games, but what will they show this year?
With Coronavirus still playing havoc with the sporting calendar, EA has moved the event solely online.
READ MORE: How to pre-order FIFA 21
EA Play 2020 will be streamed through EA’s channels and online and expect to see plenty of social media content during the event too!
EA Play schedule
While we don’t yet have the official schedule for EA Play, we’ve predicted how the even will go in accordance with previous years and the many upcoming releases EA has in store. Thankfully one thing is guaranteed, the event will begin with a showcase of Star Wars Squadrons.
The EA Play schedule should look something similiar to:
6:45pm ET / 11:45pm BST – Countdown to EA Play
7pm ET / 12am BST – Star Wars Squadrons – CONFIRMED
7:30pm ET / 12:30am BST – EA and Next Gen
8pm ET / 1am BST – Madden 21
8:30pm ET / 1:30am BST – FIFA 21
9pm ET / 2am BST – NBA Live 21
9:30pm ET / 2:30am BST – Battlefield 6
What games are on show?
Showcasing brand new games is one of the biggest draws for EA Play and this year is no different.
A new Battlefield epic is in its early stages but could make an appearance this year alongside a “smaller, more unusual” Star Wars game.
READ MORE: Everything we know about the FIFA 21 Demo
Lastly, a brand-new sports game could be unveiled. EA announced it was adding a new sports title to its roster and it could be revealed next month.
What could we see from FIFA 21?
Last year’s event saw the unveiling of the new Volta game mode, could we see an all-new mode this year?
This is unlikely, however more likely is the trailer which could give away a few clues as to what EA has altered in the game.
The trailer could also drop a hint as to who the next cover star could be!
READ MORE: Everything we know about the FIFA 21 Trailer
The 2019 event also covered the new ‘football intelligence’ system that affected on the ball, off the ball and the ball itself (ball physics system).
Effectively, FIFA’s lead gameplay producer explained the changes had been made to the gameplay and what FIFA fans should expect from it.
Another area in which fans will want to see some change is the penalty kicks.
The new set-piece systems were on show last year and have received mixed reviews ever since, so expect some sort of update on these next month.


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Volvo has spent three years rearranging its small network of dealers in the Dallas area, with results so promising that the area has become a model for other markets around the country.
All three remaining stores in the Dallas region -- down from four before the reorganization -- are now among Volvo's top 10 U.S. sellers. Four years ago Dallas had no dealers in the top 10.
The process meant shutting down what had been Volvo's best-selling store in the area and relocating two other dealerships. One store is doing so well in its new spot that it jumped from 36th place among Volvo stores four years ago to No. 1 today.
The turnaround in Dallas is part of Volvo's Network Transformation Program, which involves closing underperforming dealers in the top 40 U.S. markets.
"We went out across the country with resources and worked with retailers to consolidate the number of outlets we had in the United States," says Doug Speck, CEO of Volvo Cars North America. "Behind this was the strategic belief that we had too many."
Speck declined to say how much Volvo has spent to close stores. And the effort is far from finished.
In 2007 Volvo had 365 U.S. dealers. Today the number is 311, and Speck says he would like to see that cut to 275. The Dallas project is the model for three major reorganization efforts under way in Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
"We made a big bite and still have room to go," he says. "Our brand is more comfortable in the 275 range and is trying to balance the needs of the company with good coverage while also understanding the need for our dealers to be profitable.
"We started by analyzing the major markets in the country," he says, "comparing our outlet count and location to major luxury brands, and came up with a preferred strategy."
Dallas was one of those markets.
"It is a market where we historically struggled to achieve average market share for many, many years," says Speck.
In early 2008 Volvo had four dealers in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and one open point. Company studies said it only needed three, and that three of the four existing dealers were in the wrong places -- areas with declining incomes.
Speck says three of the dealers had "less than spectacular facilities," and none of them had "enough potential to make the money it took to justify potential investments in the brand."
So Volvo stepped in. The automaker:
-- Closed Volvo of Richardson, located 10 miles northeast of downtown Dallas and in a poor location. The store was owned by the giant Phoenix-based Van Tuyl Group.
-- Negotiated the sale of Volvo of Dallas in Carrolton -- another location Volvo did not want to be in -- from Sonic Automotive to Van Tuyl. A 50,000-square-foot dealership was erected in Frisco, near the upscale Dallas suburb of Plano.
-- Moved Volvo of Irving, which was between Dallas and Fort Worth, to downtown Dallas, where it was renamed Park Place Volvo. Owner Ken Schnitzer built a new 35,000-square-foot store.
-- A third store, Autobahn Motorcars in Fort Worth, stayed where it was, but has been helped by the shift of Volvo of Irving to a new location.
Speck says closing Volvo of Richardson was "a risky decision." The store was the largest at the time in the Dallas region and was selling about 800 new vehicles a year.
But it was the best way to pursue "what we perceived to be the right long-term strategy," says Speck.
"It was the No. 1 [Volvo] dealer in the Dallas market, but we wanted to rearrange and have the right number of outlets in the right location."
Van Tuyl, the new owner of Volvo of Dallas, bought a vacant Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealership and spent millions to turn it into a Volvo store. At its new location in Frisco, Volvo of Dallas now sells more new Volvos than any store in the country.
Speck says the dealership was on course to sell more than 700 new vehicles in 2010, up from 327 four years ago, when it ranked 36th. In 2009, Volvo of Dallas was Volvo's No. 2 store.
Park Place Volvo opened its new showroom in Dallas in 2009. The store ranked 40th in 2007 at its old location, selling 299 new vehicles. Today it ranks ninth and was expected to finish 2010 with sales of about 500 new Volvo, Speck says.
Autobahn, which is owned by John Chase, has also benefitted from the closure of the Irving store because the competition is further away. Autobahn ranked 43rd among Volvo stores in 2007, but through November was eighth nationwide with sales of 421 new vehicles.
"Half the potential of Irving goes to Park Place and the other half now goes to Autobahn," Speck says.


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In what may be the funniest clip yet in its silly series of pre-release videos showcasing all the features packed into Fallout 76, Bethesda’s offering some useful advice for those times when you’re just a wee bit overmatched: Go nuclear.
Fallout 76’s “Atomics for Peace” public service announcement explains how players can get their hands on the launch codes that’ll help them settle those lingering endgame arguments with radioactive flair — because in the post-apocalypse, Vault-Tec’s narrator chirps, that friendly next-door neighbor may not be coming over “to borrow a cup of sugar — he may be coming over... for murder!”
As Bethesda’s previously indicated, the power to fling nukes across the bucolic West Virginia countryside won’t open until after players have beaten Fallout 76’s main campaign. And it’s a power that comes with both risks and rewards: After your bomb goes off, the area will be an enemy-infested hellscape for a while... but the loot you’ll find there will be of the rare and valuable variety.
We’re still a couple of months away from finally being able to slam our fists down on the big red button: Fallout 76 finally, ahem, launches on Nov. 14.
Unlike television and film, the gaming world is notoriously difficult to track when it comes to player engagement and software sales numbers — in part because game companies don’t all release their sales figures the same way, and in part because the ways players access their games — whether mobile, offline, or hooked into a MMORPG — are so diverse.
But in a sign of just how serious the gaming industry continues to get about its statistics, Nielsen is likewise getting serious about finding a way to improve its games tracking, much in the same way it’s long tracked TV viewership.
Nielsen announced this week it’s acquired video game spending tracker SuperData Research, “a leading provider of market intelligence on digital games, gaming video content, and virtual/augmented reality” across both home-based and mobile platforms, according to the company’s release.
While it remains to be seen how effectively the pickup might improve the gaming world’s notoriously hard-to-gauge sales figures, it reflects the financial power that gaming now commands. "We recognize the growing importance of the digital gaming ecosystem,” said Nielsen’s Chris Morley.
Finally, get ready to go back to the old-school world of the original Metal Gear Solid — just not how you remember it.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hideo Kojima’s groundbreaking first entry in what would become one of gaming’s most fully realized worlds, German games art director and Metal Gear superfan Erasmus Brosdau decided to update the original game’s blocky, PlayStation-era graphics with a reskin using the processing power of Unreal Engine 4. As you can see from the reimagined intro below, the results are impressive.
In addition to the hard-to-miss visual upgrades, the do-over also features new sound effects, “slightly” remastered audio, and new start-menu animation. The goal in paying modern-day homage to the Metal Gear Solid intro scene, said Brosdau, was to “bring it to a 2018 game quality.” We’d say he’s succeeded: Solid Snake in tactical diving gear has never looked this good.


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Online food delivery platform Deliveroo has expanded its network by introducing catering and delivery services to hotel guests across Australia.
The company has tested the service in collaboration with Meriton Suites before rolling it out to other businesses.
Deliveroo has partnered with hotel organisations, including Quest Serviced Apartments and TFE Hotels to unveil the service. These firms cover hotel brands such as Adina, Travelodge, Vibe and Rendezvous Hotels.
According to Deliveroo Australia country manager Levi Aron, the new hotel service offers more opportunities for restaurant partners to reach customers.
Aron was quoted by media sources as saying: “Deliveroo is going from strength to strength in Australia, and we now have a network of 6,500 riders delivering food from over 7,000 restaurants.
“With the expansion of Deliveroo for Business, we are helping businesses streamline the process of providing meals to staff and hotel guests, while ultimately providing even greater opportunities for Australians to access their favourite foods from Deliveroo in even more settings.
“We are also creating further opportunities for restaurants on our platforms to reach more customers at more times.”
The online delivery firm is planning to test a new service that enables hotels and other hospitality businesses to schedule snack and fruit deliveries to staff members or guests.
Last month, Uber Technologies was reportedly in ‘early talks’ to acquire Deliveroo in a deal valued at more than $2bn.


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In what has been called the first study of its kind, researchers have found that consuming ‘ultra-processed’ foods results in overeating and, as a consequence, weight gain.The findings result from a small trial conducted by the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK); they build upon past research that found a link between highly processed diets and health issues.The study was fairly small, involving around 20 adult participants who ate ultra-processed foods and minimally processed meals.The meals — both processed and relatively whole varieties — contained the same number of calories and percentages of carbohydrates, fat, sugars, and fiber.Participants were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted during the study.Researchers describe the experiment as “tightly controlled” with results that demonstrate “a clear and consistent difference” between eating highly and minimally processed meals.
As the fashion industry moves more and more online, customers want to know if the clothes they’re ordering will fit.Together with her team, Carr uses machine learning to make intelligent predictions on variations in size across the industry.For me the intellectual part of the transition was really natural — music is math — from math to computer science – and really overall, thinking in abstract concepts for system design is very similar to composition.I wanted to make this happen so I started working in online music distribution startups where I could combine newly acquired programming skills with my music background.What I experienced over the subsequent 15 years was an increased focus on creating wealth and development of products that seemed to benefit smaller numbers of people.So the move was a way to push myself way out of my comfort zone and at the same time realize an important dream.
Google Translate is one of the company’s most used products.It helps people translate one language to another through typing, taking pics of text, and using speech-to-text technology.Now, the company’s launching a new project called Translatotron, which will offer direct speech-to-speech translations – without even using any text.In a post on Google’s AI blog, the team behind the tool explained that instead of using speech-to-text and then text-to-speech to convert voice, it relied on a new model (which runs on a neural network) to develop the new system.“Dubbed Translatotron, this system avoids dividing the task into separate stages, providing a few advantages over cascaded systems, including faster inference speed, naturally avoiding compounding errors between recognition and translation, making it straightforward to retain the voice of the original speaker after translation, and better handling of words that do not need to be translated (e.g., names and proper nouns),” the Google research team wrote in the blog post.Translatotron can also preserve the characteristics of the voice of the speaker when translating from one language to another.
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Tesla issues battery software update after Hong Kong vehicle fire – TechCrunchWhat happened: American electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla is issuing an over-the-air software update to change the battery charge settings in its Model S and Model X vehicles after one of its cars caught fire while parked in Hong Kong.Tesla said the update is being done out of “an abundance of caution,” though it will not be applied to the Model 3.Why it’s important: Tesla has yet to identify the cause of the Model S fire in Hong Kong, which occurred just weeks after one of the company’s vehicles self-ignited while parked in a Shanghai parking garage.The incidents come as Tesla attempts to deal with flagging sales and challengers in the Chinese market.Chinese EV maker Nio reported a similar incident in which one of its SUVs caught fire while being repaired in central China.
One can successfully judge battery life in a set of phones based on a single, screen-on test.Every single person in the world whose ever owned a phone has used their phone in their own unique way.As such, the most fair way I and we have found to judge battery life is to check in on as many users’ feedback as possible.Some reviewers made sure to check image refresh rate on the display – it’s got a default of 90Hz.You can also decide whether to use Battery Saver, to trip the Battery Saver at a certain battery percentage, and to activate Adaptive Battery.The display gets FAR brighter than I’d ever use on an average day.
Razer has made an improvement on the privacy front by changing its Synapse 3 software so you can now log in anonymously as a guest, so it’s no longer a requirement to sign up for an account.Synapse 3 is Razer’s cloud-based Internet of Things app that allows you to configure and customize compatible hardware, which includes many of Razer’s own peripherals and its Chroma lighting system (the latter of which now syncs to the color of the website you’re viewing in the Vivaldi browser, incidentally), as well as Philips Hue smart bulbs.It used to be the case that using Synapse 3 meant you had to sign up for a Razer ID account – and provide your email address – but now, that requirement has been removed.You can simply click the guest login button to get into the application with no fuss, without having to give up any of your personal details, or go through the hassle of creating an account.As an extra benefit, this change also means you can access the app without an internet connection.The new login option is available now, although apparently it’s happening in a phased rollout, so you might not see it immediately (and it may take a couple of restarts of the app to appear).
Speculative execution helps processors predict to a certain degree what an application or operating system might need next and in the near-future, making the app run faster and more efficient.Both Meltdown and Spectre leaked sensitive data stored briefly in the processor, including secrets — such as passwords, secret keys and account tokens, and private messages.“ZombieLoad,” as it’s called, is a side-channel attack targeting Intel chips, allowing hackers to effectively exploit design flaws rather than injecting malicious code.Intel said ZombieLoad is made up of four bugs, which the researchers reported to the chip maker just a month ago.Intel said patches to the microcode will help clear the processor’s buffers, preventing data from being read.Practically, the researchers showed in a proof-of-concept video that the flaws could be exploited to see which websites a person is visiting in real-time, but could be easily repurposed to grab passwords or access tokens used to log into a victim’s online accounts.
MVL (Mass Vehicle Ledger) Foundation has officially launched its blockchain-based ride-hailing app Tada in Phnom Penh City yesterday.The company also introduced new features, such as the Tada app meter.As part of their strategic partnership, MVL inked a memorandum of understanding with Cambodian mobile wallet and payment app Pi Pay to integrate its services into the Tada app.The company also partnered with Alibaba Group’s Alipay to include its payment services in the app.Tada, which launched first in Singapore in July 2018, uses blockchain technology in its ride-hailing service platform and promises to take no commissions from its drivers.The ride-hailing service, which is also present in Vietnam, claims it has more than 30,000 drivers and 230,000 users.
The 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe wrapped up the events of the previous film Infinity War, in which half the main heroes were turned to dust.In order to remedy that, the remaining heroes had to go to extreme lengths.Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also wrote the three Captain America films to name a few, spoke to The New York Times about how their use of time travel in Endgame works.They referenced Ant-Man in their explanation for employing the story-telling technique."We all sat there going, really?"It was only when we were looking at who we had available, character-wise; we hadn't used Ant-Man yet.
Police are required to get a warrant to search through your devices, but Homeland Security's border patrol agents haven't been following those rules, documents show.The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed evidence in court on Tuesday detailing testimonies and documents on how the DHS has allowed its agents to search through people's phones and laptops without a warrant.The ACLU and the EFF obtained this evidence through discovery as part of its ongoing lawsuit against the DHS, where they are suing on behalf of 11 travelers whose electronics were searched at the border without warrants."The border is not a lawless place, ICE and CBP are not exempt from the Constitution, and the information on our electronic devices is not devoid of Fourth Amendment protections," Esha Bhandari, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said in a statement.Until a court makes a decision, the DHS still has the power to comb through your devices at US borders."Passcodes or other means of access may be requested and retained as needed to facilitate the examination of an electronic device or information contained on an electronic device, including information on the device that is accessible through software applications present on the device," according to the DHS's directives.
Game of Thrones features a lot of slaying on screen, but the HBO show is also doing damage to its own viewership records this season.Episode 3, The Long Night, pulled in 17.8 million overnight viewers who watched the show on HBO and through streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now.That number tops the previous record of 17.4 million who tuned in for the season 8 premiere.Compare that with 16.9 million watchers for the season 7 finale.The overnight numbers are just the beginning.This season will likely surpass the 33 million-per-episode average from the previous season, according to Quentin Schaffer, executive vice president of corporate communications for HBO.
The Moto E5 was a budget smartphone with some pretty impressive features for its price point – but its inevitable predecessor could be a little less impressive.According to leaked specs from Mishaal Rahman, who has a respectable track record of hardware information leaks, the Moto E6, which we haven't heard of so far, could be similar to the Moto E5 in many ways, but perhaps a downgrade in others.Is the iPhone 8 Plus now an affordable iPhone?Motorola Moto E6 ("surfna")* Launching in U.S. on carriers (not sure which ones)* 32-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 430* 2GB RAM * 16/32GB storage* 13MP f/2.0 S5K3L6 rear camera* 5MP f/2.0 S5K5E9 front camera* Android 9 Pie* 5.45" 720x1440 display (not 100% sure on this one)April 29, 2019What's up with the Moto E6Some of the Moto E6 specs look to be the same as in the Moto E5 – the 13MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage are all common between the two phones.
ZTE, China’s second largest telecommunications equipment maker, expects net profit of between RMB 1.2 billion (around $178 million) and RMB 1.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to a statement filed to the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Monday.The company recorded losses of RMB 7.8 billion in the same period last year, which the company attributed in the statement to the $1 billion fine it paid for evading US sanctions by selling telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea.The US government then banned US companies from selling components to ZTE for seven years, which brought the company to a standstill because of its dependence on American-made parts.In its quarterly earnings report filed to the two exchanges, ZTE said its first-quarter revenue was RMB 22.2 billion, down 19.3% year on year.Its net profit in the first quarter was RMB 862 million, a 115.95% increase from the same period a year earlier.ZTE said it would continue focusing on its carrier business and is prepared for 5G commercialization.
A magical limit that leaves their competitors far behind.When Tesla launches its new Roadster will have räckviddskapacitet of over 1000 kilometers.It reveals Elon Musk in a tweet.Räckviddsångesten was long a tröskelproblem for electric cars.Despite the fact that the world's motorists rarely need over the ten mile range in a day – was the fear of batteritorsk huge.The turmoil Tesla blurring when the company launched its Model S, and it is now more and more manufacturers are offering electric cars that can handle around 40 km on a single charge.
Although they will never become mainstream even to the extent Netbooks once were, mini laptops from the likes of GPD and One Netbook have found their faithful niche market.This year seems to be poised to be quite an interesting one given what’s reportedly coming.It seems, however, that most of the players have outgrown the 7-inch form factor as one of the big three, One Netbook, is now also jumping into the 8-inch territory.It might not be as big as GPD or Chuwi but One Netbook quickly made a name for itself with the One Mix Yoga pictured above.It was the first of its kind to feature the convertible form factor, ala a Lenovo Yoga, in a 7-inch mini laptop size.Now along with the other two, the One Mix 3 is getting bigger with an 8.4-inch 2560×1600 “2K” screen.
The problem, simply, is that they rely on bulky batteries, which have to be swapped out at regular intervals due to their short lifespans.They have developed an alternative battery-free pacemaker which gathers its required electricity from the energy of heartbeats.While not yet ready to be implanted into humans, it was recently tested successfully in pigs.“Our symbiotic cardiac pacemaker (SPM), powered by an iTENG (implantable triboelectric nanogenerator), is the first self-powered battery-free pacemaker [to be] fully implanted in adult pigs,” Zhou Li, a professor in the School of Nanoscience and Technology at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Digital Trends.“SPM is inspired by the biological symbiosis phenomenon involving interaction between different organisms living in close physical association — such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria with leguminous plants — which is a fancy and interesting idea.The SPM converts biomechanical energy from the heart beating to electricity for powering the pacing module [as it sends] pulses.
An MIT research team that has already conquered the problem of getting ketchup out of its bottle has now tackled a new category of consumer and manufacturing woe: how to get much thicker materials to slide without sticking or deforming.The slippery coatings the team has developed, called liquid-impregnated surfaces, could have numerous advantages, including eliminating production waste that results from material that sticks to the insides of processing equipment.They might also improve the quality of products ranging from bread to pharmaceuticals, and even improve the efficiency of flow batteries, a rapidly developing technology that could help to foster renewable energy by providing inexpensive storage for generated electricity.Like the earlier surfaces they developed, which led to the creation of a spinoff company called LiquiGlide, the new surfaces are based on a combination of a specially textured surface and a liquid lubricant that coats the surface and remains trapped in place through capillary action and other intermolecular forces associated with such interfaces.Starting the flow requires an input of energy, such as squeezing the container.That may not be critical where bread is concerned, but it can have great impact on pharmaceuticals, he says.
You’d have trouble finding Google’s data center in The Dalles, Oregon if someone didn’t point it out to you.The undecorated data centers don’t easily give away their owner, and you won’t see loaded trucks passing through the facility’s gates.Google’s Stadia – and services like it – might be bad news for anyone hoping to reverse course on global warming.They’re located just a mile away from The Dalles Dam, one of several hydroelectric plants that can be found along the Columbia River.That stands in contrast to Amazon, which also hosts a huge volume of streaming content from its ever-growing list of facilities.While Google has four facilities currently located in Virginia, Greenpeace’s Click Clean Virginia report estimates they use a relatively modest 77 megawatts of power per year.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Superconductors are able to conduct electricity with zero resistance thanks to Cooper pairs, electron duos that team up and skate through a material unimpeded.In 2007, Brown University researchers made the surprising discovery that Cooper pairs can also exist in insulating materials, helping to block the flow of current rather than enabling it.Now that same lab group has revealed the forces involved in these "Cooper pair insulators."In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers show that in the insulating phase, Cooper pairs are held in check by the repulsive interactions between the pairs themselves, not by any disorder in the atomic lattice of the material.That insight could be important in designing materials or devices that take advantage of the superconducting-insulating transition -- a superconducting switch, for example."Essential to electronics is manipulating how electrons flow, so finding new ways in which electrons flow leads to new manipulation methods for implementation in novel devices," said Jim Valles, a professor of physics at Brown and senior author on the paper.


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G20 offers Hope
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 05 July 19 –
On 29 June, China’s President Xi Jinping met U.S. President Donald Trump, agreeing to restart China-U.S. trade talks on the basis of equality and mutual respect. On 4 July, Gao Feng, spokesman to the Ministry of Commerce, talked about the latest development of China-U.S. trade talks and disclosed that the two nations have been maintaining communication. Gao Feng emphasized that the trade friction was triggered by U.S. unilateral action of imposing additional tariffs, so it must cancel all additional tariffs if the two nations reach an agreement.
During the meeting of China and U.S. heads, the U.S. promised not to levy new additional tariffs on Chinese goods. In response to this, Gao Feng stated that trade friction should be solved through equal dialogue and consultation at last. China welcomes U.S. decisions on not imposing new additional tariffs which prevent the trade friction from intensifying. China hopes that the two nations could follow important notes made by the two presidents at the meeting, pay attention to reasonable concerns of the other party on the basis of equality and mutual respect and seek for mutual-benefit and win-win solutions to create a stable and foreseeable trading and investment environment for enterprise from both nations and the whole world. It not only satisfies the interests of both nations and people of both nations but also meets the general expectation of the global community.
Gao Feng pointed out that the successful meeting of President Xi and President Trump in Osaka during the G20 Summit clearly showed the direction for the next phase of development of China-U.S. economic trade relations and stirred up positive responses in China, the U.S., and the international community.
Gao Feng also replied to U.S. President Trump’s comments on allowing enterprises to further sell products to Huawei during the G20 Summit, hoping the U.S. could take action accordingly and stop the wrong practices of cracking down on Chinese enterprise by using national power.
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Australia will sign on to a major free-trade deal involving 15 countries from the Asia-Pacific region, albeit one diminished by India’s decision not to join.
At the East Asia Summit in Bangkok, 15 of the 16 participants agreed to sign up to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), likely in February next year.
Were it to include India’s massive economy, the RCEP would be the largest free-trade agreement in the world, spanning India to New Zealand, including 30% of global GDP and half of the world’s people. It was to include the 10 nations of Asean, plus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, India and China.
But resistance from an Indian government protectionist by instinct – in particular concerned about a flood of cheap mass-produced Chinese goods hurting small businesses in its economy, and the impact of free agricultural trade on the country’s tens of millions of small-scale farmers – saw its prime minister Narendra Modi pull out.
China is keen for the RCEP to be brought into force amid the debilitating tariff war with the US. Many are keen to see New Delhi in the deal as a counterweight to China.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison insisted there remained a “very wide, open door” available to India, should it wish to return to the deal. He met with prime minister Modi in Bangkok on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Monday.
“The door will always be open to India,” Morrison told reporters.
“It’s always been our view, and the view of many who sit around the table, that it is a bigger and better deal with India in it.
“I think patience is a virtue in this.”
Australia is a not a member of Asean, but is a participant in the expanded East Asia Summit grouping. Morrison said Australia was an unalloyed supporter of the proposed new free trade deal binding regional economies more closely together.
“The integration of the economy of the Indo Pacific is incredibly important for the prosperity of the region, but also its security … This is … showing a clear way forward that we see businesses in this region all dealing with each other in a much more free and open commercial environment.”
Noting a slowing global economy, a joint statement from the leaders of the 15 nations said: “RCEP will significantly boost the region’s future growth prospects and contribute positively to the global economy, while serving as a supporting pillar to a strong multilateral trading system and promoting development in economies across the region.”
The RCEP nations also said India remained welcome to return to the fold and see its massive economy as a counterweight in the deal, which could come to be dominated by China.
“India has significant outstanding issues, which remain unresolved. All RCEP participating countries will work together to resolve these outstanding issues in a mutually satisfactory way. India’s final decision will depend on satisfactory resolution of these issues.”
Also in Bangkok, at a summit run alongside the Asean and East Asia Summits, the US condemned Chinese “intimidation” in the South China Sea, alleging it has bullied smaller south-east Asian nations by militarising the resource-rich waters and seeking to control the global trade route.
The American comments on the South China Sea drew a rebuke from Chinese vice foreign minister Le Yucheng, who said it was unacceptable for countries from outside the region to come “to make waves, escalate disputes and create tensions”.


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- Hot Sale 2020 brought 525 million visitors, a 99% increase compared to last year’s campaign;
- The use of debit card to make purchases has grown, due to the financial uncertainty brought by the coronavirus among Mexican consumers;
- Multi-category marketplaces attracted the largest number of internet users, however, this year also highlights the performance of categories such as Home & Decor and Supermarkets.
Hot Sale, the most popular online shopping event in Mexico, approached its seventh edition this year hitting MXN 20,155 million in sales, an 82% growth YoY. In 2019, the shopping campaign reached MXN 11,082 million.
Announced during a press conference this Thursday led by the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), this year’s results, according to CEO Pierre-Claude Blaise, represent almost the total sales generated during the first six editions of the campaign.
The retail category registered a 158% increase in sales, compared to the previous edition.
“The number is quite encouraging for economic issues. This year we are particularly pleased to mention these MXN 20,000 million obtained,” added Paulina Ortiz, market research analyst at Nielsen. Despite expressive growth in sales, the average purchase ticket during Hot Sale reported a drop, and 44% of purchases cost less than MXN 1,350. On average, Mexican consumers spent MXN 1,140 on this edition.
Regarding categories, fashion, electronics, smartphones, and household appliances were the ones that rose the most, but food and beverage items also hit significant share, pushed by social isolation behavior due to the pandemic. Electronics and household appliances registered a higher average ticket, of MXN 3,048. Driven by the “home office effect”, the main sales on the furniture category, whose average ticket hit MXN 4,256 this year, were desks and chairs to work remotely.
Among the top 5 reasons to buy online during Hot Sale, AMVO found out that the first two were related to the pandemic, as Mexican consumers claimed to be afraid of exposure by going out shopping.
In the number of orders, Hot Sale generated about 21 million purchase requests, 220% more than in 2019.”We are selling today what we planned to sell in 3 years and this has pushed the logistics chain forward,” said AMVO’s CEO.
As for payment methods, debit card represented 48% of all purchases in a significative growth that, according to AMVO, occurred due to the financial uncertainty brought by the coronavirus.


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Elon Musk is not just another CEO looking to turn a buck for the next quarter’s shareholder report. He thinks big thoughts and, usually, backs them up with bold action. By all accounts, Musk is a visionary, which is exactly what should worry California’s political leaders. This visionary’s vision, and the 6,500 middle-class jobs it promised, apparently doesn’t include the Golden State.
The founder and driving force behind Tesla Motors’ rise as a leader in the luxury electric car market has chosen to leave California to build his new $5 billion factory for making electric car batteries. The formal announcement came Thursday that Tesla’s new plant will be located near Reno.
It should come as no real surprise despite the last-minute, all-out effort from Gov. Jerry Brown and others to convince Tesla it would be better off here. But that push only came after news that the Golden State hadn’t even made the final four states.
To be fair, the Legislature did consider a bipartisan package of regulatory and financial incentives for the battery factory offered by Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat, and Sen. Ted Gaines, a Republican. Unfortunately, lawmakers adjourned over Labor Day weekend without acting on the bills.
Although he wasn’t specific, Gaines indicated the adjournment probably didn’t matter. He told the Sacramento Bee that while legislators were considering revamping the California Environmental Quality Act, as well as assorted investment-tax and job-training tax credits, Tesla had made additional demands “that I think were beyond what California could do.”
That should embarrass the state since Tesla was spawned in the Bay Area and in a few short years it has become one of the major players in Silicon Valley.
But in the end is appears that even for a big thinker such as Musk, business is business and the truth is the business climate in California leaves much to be desired.
Reputable surveys of business leaders rank California in the bottom two or three states for business climate. Toyota, for example, has decided to relocate its California operations to Texas.
The state shouldn’t stop all regulation of business, far from it. California is a great place to be. We know businesses want to be here. But it is time — well past time, in fact –for California to help make it easier.
The governor should use this moment to inform and motivate a bipartisan selection of lawmakers and business leaders in an ongoing working group to critically examine everything from business tax structure to regulation in order to make California’s climate more competitive.


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house Valve Software said Monday that it plans on making its popular PC gaming digital distribution platform Steam more TV-friendly.
An upcoming “big picture” mode for Steam will add features including controller support and navigation tailored for televisions in an effort to bring PC gaming outside of the office or den and into the living room. Steam currently has over 30 million accounts worldwide.
“Our partners and customers have asked us to make Steam available in more places. With the introduction of Steam on the Mac, and soon in Portal 2 on the PS3, we've done just that," said Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi.
"With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house,” he added.
Valve is meeting with partners and developers at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to discuss details of the new mode. The company has yet to publicly release details of the plan.
Separately, the company also said it is encouraging its business partners to set up and run their own in-game economies. Valve introduced a digital store last year for its internally-developed Team Fortress 2
where it sells virtual items such as weapons and accessories for characters.


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8 September 2009
TIGA, in partnership with the UK Trade and Investment Tradeshow Access Programme, is offering grants of 1000 for eligible businesses to attend Game Connection Europe. Game Connection Europe will take place from 8-10 December 2009 in Lyon.
The grant is open to developers, distributers and service providers, such as outsourcing companies, middleware suppliers and legal services.
In addition, Game Connection is currently offering TIGA members a 10% discount on registration for the event. Again this is open to relevant developers and distributors seeking to promote games and expertise, and to service or technology providers showcasing solutions and skills (middleware, outsourcing, audio, etc.). Furthermore Game Connection is offering new developers the chance to exhibit for free.
Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO stated: "TIGA is determined to help games businesses improve their opportunities for growth, profitability and expansion. As an accredited trade organisation, TIGAworks with UKT&I's Tradeshow Access Programme in supporting UK businesses looking to exhibit at overseas trade shows. I hope that many UK games businesses will be able to attend Game Connection with our support".
To apply for the 1000 grant please contact Vanessa Joyce on firstname.lastname@example.org. Once you have submitted your application form TIGA will respond with an answer within 10 working days.
If you are a TIGA member and would like to take advantage of the 10% discount on exhibiting, or if you are a new developer and would like to take up the chance to exhibit for free, please contact email@example.com.
For further information on Game Connection visit www.game-connection.com.


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Worlds collide! Marvel's effort to craft comic books from video games hits store shelves on Wednesday.
In response to the scandal over its diesel car emissions, Volkswagen withdraws its application to the EPA to certify its 2016 model year diesel vehicles in the US.
There's no word on when consumers can buy Microsoft's holographic headset, but developers can apply for access early next year.
After five years of marathon talks, the Trans-Pacific Partnership has finally been agreed to. But as trade leaders take the hard sell back home, civil liberties advocates say the deal is bad news for digital rights.
An analysis of the water on Mars may have to wait until NASA's human Mars mission in the 2030s.
CEO Tim Cook, iTunes head Eddy Cue and others remember Apple's co-founder in messages posted to the company's internal site. One recalls the time Jobs mooned Al Gore.
Jack Dorsey is now CEO of both Twitter and Square. Running one big company is tough. Now he has two.
Instead of one circle of friends on your Apple Watch, you can now group and categorize friends at will.
Facing resistance from streaming-media companies, an industry group agrees to lower patent licensing fees that stand in the way of the shift to "4K" high-resolution video.
Which has the most apps? Which has the coolest features? Which one is the best? The most popular streamers all have their merits, so we'll help you decide which box is right for you.


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A Mississippi vape shop has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review its lawsuit against the FDA, which failed in two lower federal courts. The odds are stacked against the court granting the petition, but the attorneys for the small business are hoping the unique legal basis of their challenge will catch the eye of conservative Supreme Court justices.
Filed in 2019, the lawsuit by Mississippi vape shop and e-liquid manufacturer Big Time Vapes and trade organization the United States Vaping Association (USVA) challenges the Tobacco Control Act itself, charging that Congress unconstitutionally ceded its legislative authority to the FDA when it gave the agency the power to “deem” products (like vapes) that were not specified in the 2009 legislation.
The challenge is based on the doctrine of nondelegation, which states that Congress cannot give away its own legislative authority to executive agencies (like the FDA). The doctrine, which is part of the principle of separation of powers in the Constitution, has been applied before by the high court, but not since the 1930s. However, a recent Supreme Court decision, Gundy v United States, indicated that the court may be willing to take a fresh look at nondelegation.
Conservatives, who want to limit the authority of unelected bureaucrats, believe that the current court—with the recent addition of Trump-appointed justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—may be shopping for a case that can be used to reassert the doctrine.
The original complaint was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in December 2019, and failed on appeal in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last year. (The original complaint and appeal decisions can be seen here.)
Big Time Vapes and the USVA are represented in their petition to the Supreme Court by Jerad Wayne Najvar and Austin M.B. Whatley of the Houston, Texas-based Najvar Law Firm—the same firm that filed the original lawsuit and the appeal.
The petition marks the first time the vaping industry has attempted to appeal a case to the nation’s highest court. However, it remains a long shot that the case will be heard. To be accepted for review, four of the nine Supreme Court justices must agree to grant a writ of certiorari (Latin for “to be made certain”). The number of petitions accepted for review by the Supreme Court each year is small—only about 2-4 percent of those submitted. If the court does not accept the petition, the lower court’s decision will stand.
The Big Time Vapes petition was filed Dec. 18, 2020. It could be several weeks before the petitioners know if the Supreme Court will grant certiorari and accept the case. If the writ is granted, the vaping industry petitioners’ lawyers and the Department of Justice lawyers representing the FDA will each have time to file briefs and responses, followed by oral arguments to the court. A final decision, if the court accepts the case, could be a year or more away.


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Learn how to give staff a tax-free Christmas gift in 4 easy steps with this guide from Alan Smith, UK managing director at One4allRewards.co.uk, which sells One4all, the UK’s leading multi-retailer gift card.
Are you looking to sell your product or service overseas but don’t know what demand is out there If so, the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) Export Opportunities tool is for you.
A deal between Tesco and Volkswagen will see the implementation of 2,500 charging bays across 600 Tesco stores.
An Aldermore Future Attitudes study showed two-thirds UK SME bosses face recruitment and retention problems. According to BBX’s John Attridge, SMEs should find workable solutions that aren?t cash focussed.
By employing new perspectives, engaging with past enemies, and leaving old egos at the door, Microsoft has managed a successful rebirth, and SMEs can learn from their past mistakes and evolve too.
We all know what Lord Sugar thinks of his Apprentice stars, but what do the entrepreneurs operating outside of the show think of his latest and greatest?
In collaboration with AXA PPP healthcare, Real Business consults three SME leaders passionate about workplace wellbeing to find out why a culture shift is so important and how personal experiences have informed their attitudes to work and wellbeing.
Did you know certain business expenses are eligible for tax relief Here we unveil the most common types and how to claim them.
We bring you coverage of last night’s Amazon Growing Business Awards that saw the introduction of a brand new impact award, as well as a high number of female-led businesses bagging the top prizes.
Prime Minister Theresa May has penned an open letter to the public outlining her Brexit deal. Since the letter was released, the EU has supported the terms of her official demands, but will Britain when the deal gets voted on in parliament this December?
Buying a business doesn’t make you any less of an entrepreneur than starting your own. We tell you what the advantages are, and how to buy a business.
Phil Tobin of Bibby Financial Services outlines the challenges facing importers and provide tips on how SMEs can boost their bargaining power.


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Cognitive Computing Research Study Launched at CES 2016
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation announced at #CES2016 an initiative in collaboration with IBM that will research how cognitive computing can provide better information to help transform the lives of the world’s growing aging population and persons with disabilities.
Source: CES 2016
Profiling the Growth of Always-Online Connected Americans
As smartphones have become more widespread, 21% of Americans now report that they go online throughout each and every day. Overall, 73% of Americans go online on a daily basis, 42% go online several times a day and 10% go online about once a day.
Source: Pew Research Center
How Google Android Now Leads Apple iOS Across the Globe
Google Android is now ahead of Apple iOS in all global regions. On mobile, Android lead peaks in APAC (60%) and LatAm (65%) where it has 5 times as many users as iOS. Only in North America, Apple’s home market, do we see this gap shrink.
Explore the Latest Trends within Online Entertainment Industry
Linear TV will remain a powerful force for some time: a study found that half pay for a TV subscription and 2.5 hours is devoted to linear TV daily. However, 16-24 year-old now average an hour each day watching online TV, which is a third of their daily TV viewing time.
Measuring Thought Leadership Influence is still Very Subjective
According to ITSMA’s latest research, 79% of buyers said that Thought Leadership significantly influenced their views of providers, and 75% said it played an important role in determining who made it onto their short list. The challenge, of course, is identifying when and how thought leadership has an influence.
Watching Broadcast Television will Continue to Decline
Traditional TV viewing took a beating in Q1 2015. Every age group watched less traditional television in the first quarter compared to Q1 2014. The biggest declines are in the 18-24 year olds, where time watching fell over 16%, to 93 hours and 19 minutes a month.
Why Emerging Markets will Drive the Mobile Internet Big Trends
By 2020 advanced mobile technology will be commonplace around the globe — smartphone subscriptions will more than double, reaching 6.1 billion, 70% of the world’s population will be using smartphones, and 90 percent will be covered by mobile broadband networks.
How American Companies Dominate the Mobile Internet
America is the king of mobile internet value creation, with twenty four companies delivering $144 billion of shareholder value. This is partly due to monster valuations of some U.S. players (including Uber, WhatsApp, Twitter and Snapchat over $10B), with an average U.S. company worth $6 billion.
How the Global Digital Economy Reached $1.4 Trillion in 2014
The total number of internet users worldwide at the end of 2014 was 3.1 billion — which will increase to 4.0 billion people by the end of 2020 – at a CAGR of 6.7% per year. The digital economy was worth $1.4 trillion in 2014 and this will increase to $2.2 trillion by 2020.
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Almond Market Update - December 22, 2022
Happy Holidays! For those of you having to travel, be safe out there! With this being the first official week of winter, it sounds like it will be a doozy as the “Arctic Bomb” brings extreme low temperatures to the Midwest and upper eastern states affecting as many as 90 million people. They are saying that the temperature can drop by 30 degrees within minutes! We’ve seen cold temperatures this week, but no rain in sight until possibly next week.
The Almond Board of California’s November shipment report reflected 204 million pounds shipped, leaving the industry behind in total shipments by -4.28%, 835.6 total pounds shipped to date versus 873 million pounds last year. Only 493 million pounds were received for the month bringing the total year to date to 2.15 billion pounds, which is 7.00% behind total receipts of a year ago. The objective estimate of 2.60 billion pounds is still very much in focus.
We go into the holidays trailing where the industry would prefer to be in just about every column. Sales commitments now stand at 691 million pounds, representing 41% of the crop shipped and or sold. To be comfortable, the industry would like to be at or above 54% sold, which has been the average over the last five years.
Upcoming Industry Milestones
- Position Report: January 12, 2023
- Position Report: February 9, 2023
Almond Insight - Week 52
- The industry offers historically low pricing while all services and support remain high!
- During the Almond Board Conference, the board revealed marketing plans for 2023 which will help build demand in key strategic markets.
- January usually brings increased consumption for healthy snacks following the holidays.
Almond supply remains the major issue for the industry. With new shipments lagging due to many issues (explosive crop growth in 2020, shipping constraints, carry-out from the previous crop) inventories remain full.
Pricing alone may not be enough as consumption will tell the future for the almond industry.
After a great start to our California snowpack, greater attention will be paid to January which has historically been the wettest month.


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It can't cook or clean or do laundry, but SoftBank's Pepper could become the first breakout humanoid consumer robot and the vanguard of an era of mechanized, cloud-connected assistants.
iRobot - News, Features, and Slideshows
The CEO of one of the biggest and arguably the best-known robotics companies in the world is disappointed at the progress being made in the industry, which he says is nowhere near where he thought it would be today.
Dyson has announced a robot vacuum cleaner it says can out-suck any other.
The US Army, looking to use more robots on the battlefield, this week is getting a peek at just how ready robots are to become trusted parts of the military.


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Digital currency is the order of the day and no country wants to be left behind. The Bank of England and HM Treasury announced on Monday that they will jointly seek ways to explore the vast benefits of digital money for both the public and private sectors. As at the time of the writing, a special taskforce has been appointed to look into the risks, benefits and feasibility of introducing a digital currency. The taskforce will work hand-in-hand with banks, fintech companies, payment infrastructure providers and technology companies. This will enable the taskforce to carry out a deep analysis on how introducing a digital currency will affect every financial player in the economy.
The UK can still be said to be in its early stage as for now, it is just beginning research and has not made or announced any decision to introduce a digital currency.
Of course, whatever has advantages comes with disadvantages as part of the package. That being said, there is a huge belief by some ‘doubting Thomases’ that introducing a digital currency could cause the financial system huge risk despite the obvious benefits that it has, and that instead of completely replacing bank notes digital currency, when introduced, should be used alongside them. Experts are of the belief that introducing a digital currency has the capacity to speed up domestic and cross-border transactions, reduce the costs associated with these transactions and even serve as a bridge that connects more people to the economy. Experts also pointed out that digital currencies could reduce the need for traditional banks and even undermine the status of the central bank that helps maintain financial stability.
As part of its duties, the special taskforce will monitor the global space for digital currency developments. About 86 percent of the world’s central banks are already weighing their options as to how they can integrate digital currency into their financial systems, according to the World Economic Forum.
Currently China is in the lead of experiments relating to digital currency integration. Countries like Japan and Switzerland have also launched their digital currency experiments.
Digital currency is changing payments systems and how transactions are carried out. While a number of global companies already accept digital currency as a means of payment, more companies are expected to join the train. This is why countries are looking for ways to integrate digital currency into their own financial systems so that they do not become obsolete.


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Showcasing MENA’s growing plastics industry, the live and in-person PLASTEX 2022 re-connects buyers with leading international and local manufacturers and distributors
Cairo, Egypt – January 9, 2022: Egypt’s burgeoning plastics industry will be in full view over the next four days as PLASTEX 2022, the country’s leading industry and networking platform, kicks off today (January 9) under the patronage of of H.E Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The exhibition was officially inaugurated, by Her Excellency Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, in the presence of other dignitaries.
Co-organised by dmg events and ACG–ITF, PLASTEX will run until January 12th and is set to bring together more than 22,000 attendees over the four days, with 300 local and international exhibitors participating.
On the VIP inauguration tour, H.E Nevine Gamea spent time with some of the industry’s most prominent players and saw a number of new to market products and innovations. Khalfan AlMuhairi, Senior Vice President, Middle East, Africa and Exports, Borouge commented: “Egypt is a key strategic market and presents us with attractive collaboration opportunities between the UAE and Egypt. We are confident about the growth and promise of the Egyptian market and are committed to building on our legacy. We look forward to continue shaping the mega projects in Egypt, supporting the sustainable growth and opportunities in the Egyptian market”
Speaking from the Show, exhibitor Emeraude International is confident that the next four days will turn up some good leads and potential business in the coming months; “This is our third time participating at PLASTEX. It is very important for us to be part of this exhibition, so far the engagement has been amazing, we were able to meet a lot of our customers and potential ones as well. This year we are displaying our recycling zone that (invested with D Grade) where we turn plastic bottles to threads. We would like to encourage people to always recycle all 100% plastic made things through Emeraude green” said Omar Rafik, CO at Emeraude International.
The 18th edition is set to elevate Egypt's global standing in plastics by bringing together global multi-national organisations, including Gold Sponsor Borouge, Silver Sponsors ADEKA AL OTAIBA Middle East LLC & Transmar.
Showcasing their latest innovative products, technologies and services are companies including Tomra Sorting, Starlinger, Bandera, Kowin, Krauss Maffei, RR Plast, Zerma Africa, Eco Batch, Megastrike, Baerlocher and many more. Outside of the traditional exhibitor offering, PLASTEX points to the industry’s future with increasing numbers of exhibitors from who focus on sustainability, recycling and technology.
German manufacturer KraussMaffei sees PLASTEX as an important networking platform; “The aim of us being here is to meet new customers and meet the ones we are currently dealing with. We manufacture injection moulding machines, so far, we see that the footfall is great and we hope this continues till the last day. We aim to educate new potential clients about what we do,” said Amr Yousef, Executive Director, KraussMaffei.
"We are glad to be back in-person and have received such fantastic support from our stakeholders, exhibitors and visitors to make PLASTEX 2022 a reality. The next four days will give distributors, suppliers and buyers the chance to take a deep dive into the latest products, innovations and trends all while strengthening current partnerships and establishing new ones," said Salman Abou Hamzeh, Vice President - Energy Middle East for dmg events.
For more information, visit: www.plastex-online.com
The live and in-person event will be held in adherence with dmg events All Secure, an enhanced set of health and safety standards in conjunction with advice from Public Health Authorities and venues to ensure our events are operating in accordance with local rules as well as meeting international standards. The All Secure Safety Standards are made up of 4 key cornerstones - Physical Distancing, Cleaning & Hygiene, Protect & Detect, and Communications.


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VW's design studio turned supercar manufacturer has something new in store for March.
All eyes in the automotive industry are fixed squarely on Detroit this week, but even as that show is in full swing, preparations are already underway for the next big show of the year: Geneva. And among those looking towards the Swiss expo is Italdesign, which released this teaser image to preview what it has in store for the premier European motor expo.
Now as you can see, the teaser gives us little to go on. We appear to be looking at the rear quarter of some new sports car from above, with deep air intakes and a large rear glass panel.
At any rate, from what we can see so far – to say nothing of the design house's own track record – we bet it'll be pretty hot.
Italdesign was founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro – one of the most celebrated designers in the business – back in 1968. Today it's part of the Volkswagen Group, and designs both its own line of supercars, the odd concept for other marques under the same umbrella, and even projects for other automakers. Just what it has in store for Geneva, we don't know at this early point.
Under VW's patronage, the design house launched the Automobili Speciali Italdesign division less than two years ago, giving birth to the Zerouno supercar (borrowing building blocks from the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan) and the Zerouno Duerta (a roadster version of the same). Could it be preparing to open the next chapter in Switzerland? We'll have to wait to find out. The show is set to open at the Geneva Palexpo on March 5.