text:
The “abrupt fashion” in which the government announced its travel restrictions for Spain will be devastating to consumer confidence in booking holidays, industry leaders warn.
The Foreign Office updated its travel advice to warn against all but essential travel to the whole of Spain yesterday evening, extending it from just the mainland to include the country’s islands.
Quarantine measures were already in place for those returning from Spain from Saturday.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast on Monday morning, chief executive of travel agency consortium The Travel Network Group, Gary Lewis, said: “You can’t underestimate the huge impact this has on customers; on our members; on the momentum that was slowly building over the last four weeks around customers having confidence to start considering going on holiday.
“We all have talked about what happens if there is a second spike in another country. The government has set up a structure to be able to include and not include [countries] in this process, and we understand that. But for Spain to hit now is devastating.”
He added: “For Spain to hit when there are specific areas that are not having the infection rates increase; to do that blanket quarantine ban; for it to come in in such a fashion, had a double impact on our ability to understand and deal with the logic.
“Clearly, the infection rate is increasing. If you look, you’ll see that Spain’s going up and Portugal and Iceland’s infection rates are going down. But it’s this blanket ban [that is the problem]. And it’s this lack of communication which has caused such upheaval and fear.
“We’ve all been thinking about what happens [if a country comes off the ‘safe list’]; we’ve all been dealing with the biggest issue, which is cancellations, refunds, consumers and those challenges – and all that hasn’t gone away.”
Lewis said that the “abrupt fashion” of the introduction of restrictions to the UK’s biggest outbound destination, “seemingly without consultation or conversation” had caused “such noise and fear.”
Richard Singer, chief executive of holiday price comparison site Icelolly.com, added: “Yes, the government has said they could do this, but it’s the fashion through which they’ve done it that makes confidence just disappear from people.
“Can you imagine being a holidaymaker who arrived in Spain only to be told that it’s quarantine from now on without any notice period whatsoever?” he questioned, noting that Saturday being a typical changeover day meant “another drove of many thousands of British holidaymakers” would have been affected.
And Singer added: “This whole period, for the travel industry, has been very difficult. Obviously we went through this whole plateau period where there was nothing; many felt there wasn’t going to be a summer trading period at all; but then these air bridges were announced and you could see activity starting to happen then.
“Then these bridges never really happened – they were just exemption lists from our own quarantine, with a whole raft of entry restrictions; then it was delayed which meant that the momentum that we had just fell away.”
But he added: “Over the last three weeks, as normal domestic life has resumed – people have got haircuts and have gone and met their families – and people’s attention has turned to holidays. We felt, actually, we were in a pretty good place, all things considered. And then to have that thrown at you on a Saturday evening…I saw it via a tweet from a journalist, and by the end of the evening, there’s a full quarantine.
“You’ll have people thinking now, ‘crikey, could you imagine if I was that Spanish holidaymaker, it’s just not worth the hassle’.”


text:
Local Residents Confused By Mixed Message On COVID-19 Mask Requirements
GREENBRAE (CBS SF) -- The sudden shift by the federal health officials allowing vaccinated people for the most part to go maskless indoors and out has caught many San Francisco Bay Area residents by surprise.
Many retailers are shifting to maskless options for customers. Trader Joe's has announced it's not requiring customers to wear masks inside, unless local regulations still require masks.
For many other businesses, it's a wait and see approach, as local counties still haven't adopted the new federal guidelines.
Rocket Reuse in Alameda is keeping its policy because of local requirements and not sure what the coming months will look like.
"We're always erring on the side of caution," said owner Katherine Hoffert. "We need to wait for everyone to be vaccinated so that it's safe for all shoppers."
Whether or not to shed the mask indoors is becoming tricky as Starbucks starting Monday will allow vaccinated customers to go maskless in regions that have loosened mandates.
"Yeah I'd go in tomorrow without the mask," said Orange County resident Michael Kennedy. "That's what the vaccine is. That's the benefit."
"Out of habit I'm still going in with the mask," said Alameda resident Michelle Berkovich.
Other major retailers and small businesses are still deciding what to do.
"The most important thing businesses can do right now is to insure for their own employees to get vaccinated," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky.
The head of the CDC has come under criticism for suddenly shifting its indoor guidelines, leaving states and local counties now scrambling to update their own.
"We are asking people to be honest with themselves," Walensky said. "If they are vaccinated and not wearing a mask they are safe."
"I like the idea and think it's a good idea that they're trying to calm everyone down," said Alameda resident Leaka Vaysberg.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday the state is considering whether to adopt the new federal guidelines, but nothing official has been announced yet. Local counties in the Bay Area say they are still waiting for more guidance to come from the state.
for more features.

domain: news


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Sign Up for the Buffalo Business First Afternoon Edition Newsletter
Send this story to a friend
AG touts removal of sex offenders from 'Net gaming sites
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has trumpeted the early success of an initiative to remove registered sex offenders from online gaming platforms.
Schneiderman announced Wednesday that more than 2,100 additional accounts of registered sex offenders have been purged from online gaming platforms as part of “Operation: Game Over.” The AG touted the program as a “first-of-it’s-kind” initiative aimed at protecting children from predators lurking on online gaming networks.
Five additional companies, including Gaia Online, NCSOFT Corporation, FunCon and THQ, Inc., have agreed to participate in the program.
The 2,100 accounts are in addition to the original agreement Schneiderman secured earlier this year that led to more than 3,500 accounts of registered sex offenders purged from other major online gaming companies including Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Disney Interactive Media Group, Warner Brothers and Sony.
“The Internet is the crime scene of the 21st century, and we must ensure that online video game platforms do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators,” he said, in announcing the latest purge. “That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming systems as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.”
Under New York State’s Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) law, convicted sex offenders must register all of their e-mail addresses, screen names, and other Internet identifiers with the state. That information is then made available to certain websites so they can purge potential predators from their online worlds.
Matt Chandler covers the legal industry
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- Iskalo makes $2.1M buy in Amherst
- Bill Fuccillo Jr. opens another auto dealership
- Legacy plans to build Buffalo project in '14
- Contractor's dispute over Canalside unresolved
- M&T ends business services with Cuba
- Rob Ford 'treated like a rock star' at Bills game in Toronto
- ECIDA lures new CEO from San Diego
- Ciminelli to auction Cheektowaga properties
- McGuire buys Fla. office park for $12M
- Ellicott, McGuire to work on Holy Angels makeover
Email Newsletter Signup
Start your morning with business news essential to Western New York's leaders.


text:
Beginning December 1 and continuing throughout the month of December, participating Subway
restaurants offer a 6" Cold Cut Combo Sub
or a 6" Meatball Marinara Sub
. That's the best deal we've seen on these sandwiches in recent months. (We last saw buy one 6" sub, get one free in April.) Some exclusions apply. Deal ends December 31.


text:
Retailers appear to be waking up to the advantages that the internet can bring them, as Westfield and the Commonwealth Bank begin to take advantage of social networking check-ins to provide customers with better value for money.
Facebook's Check In Deals was launched in Australia today, and Westfield and Commonwealth Bank have both announced initiatives around the service.
Westfield has begun a trial of Check In Deals that will see shoppers receive discounts at participating retailers. Westfield general manager of marketing John Batistich said that it would bridge the gap from the web to physical stores.
"With tools such as Facebook Check In Deals, we're now able to communicate to our shoppers in relevant and localised ways," he said.
The trial, which began today, will allow shoppers that check in at any Westfield centre to receive a 30 per cent discount at Angus & Coote or Cotton On.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Bank is offering free movie tickets for a year for new customers that check in at a branch and open an everyday account.
Commonwealth Bank general manager of consumer marketing, Mark Murray, thinks that the scheme is a sign of things to come.
"People already connect with each other through Facebook Places, and this is an extension of that, allowing customers to connect with our branches," he said.
Such moves could enable retailers to enhance their brick and mortar stores through technology, as online threatens to nab customers with the promise of cheap deals.
Australian retailers have recently been vocal about being undercut by overseas retailers, seeing them as a significant threat to the livelihood of their bricks and mortar stores. Retailers such as Myer, David Jones, Harvey Norman, Target, House, Borders and Angus & Robertson even went as far as to launch a controversial campaign to have the $1000 goods and services tax-free threshold lowered to make sure that competing overseas retailers aren't getting an advantage.
The Productivity Commission has released its draft report into the retail sector, where it has suggested lowering it for "reasons of tax neutrality".


text:
- Kenya's inflation rose to a record high of 9.2% in September 2022, up from 8.5% reported in August
- The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) report attributed the increase to the rise in food and fuel prices at 15.5% and 11.7%, respectively
- Sugar prices shot up by 24.7% in the month to retail at around KSh 155 and KSh 170 per 1 kilogram
Kenyans brace for tough times as the prices of basic food commodities continue to skyrocket.
Food and fuel prices in Kenya
This followed an increase in the prices of basic food items, coupled with the rise in pump prices.
According to KNBS, food prices rose by 15.5%, fuel prices by 11.7% and non-food/fuel prices, including machines, by 3.4%.
The prices of maize flour, wheat flour and cooking oil went up by 48.7%, 43.3% and 40.8%, respectively.
Sugar, which has maintained market prices since the start of the year, saw its retail prices rise by 24.7% in the same months under review.
A spot check by TUKO.coke on Sunday, October 2, showed that a 1kg packet of sugar retails at around KSh 155 and KSh 170, while a 2kg packet cost KSh 310.
This is an increase from KSh 125 per kilo and KSh 250 per 2kg reported in the month of July and August 2022.
The authority said it will impose a 6.3% increment in tax on excisable goods and services by October 1, 2022.
"The Commissioner General will adjust the specific rates of taxes applicable to excisable goods, which are charged excise duty at a specific rate per unit under the Excise Duty Act, 2015, and other goods subject to fees or levies at a specific rate under the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies Act, 2016," KRA said in a notice.
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see TUKO News on your News Feed


text:
Damascus merchants put up shutters in challenge to Assad
In the biggest act of civil disobedience by Damascus merchants in Syria’s 15-month-old uprising, many stores have been closed for a week in protest against the massacre of more than 100 people in Houla on May 25.
The closures have affected districts all across the capital, from the Old City market to opposition areas where 70 percent of stores appeared shut despite what shopkeepers said were attacks and threats by security forces to force them to reopen.
“We want to participate in the strike but at the same time we are afraid of the reaction of the security police,” said Mohammed, who owns a clothes shop in the traditional al-Hamidiya souk - a long, covered walkway that cuts through the Old City.
Widespread closures in the capital, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad, represent a major challenge to the Syrian leader and Mohammed said security forces had broken open his locked shop door a few days ago to intimidate him.
Mohammed, who asked to only use his first name to avoid identification by police, said that the action was a piecemeal attempt that he and other merchants have tacitly agreed to in protest against the killing of 108 civilians in Houla in violence blamed by the United Nations on army shelling and pro-Assad militiamen.
“The strike does send a political message,” he said, although admitting that the opposition movement was still weak.
Since the attack, Mohammed has opened the shutters to give the impression that his shop is open, but the door is in fact closed while he sits outside in case the police return. During a tour of the Hamidiya souk it appeared that around half of the shops remained shut.
Most Syrians to buy their goods from small local merchants, rather than modern supermarkets, and the dampening effect of the strike is tangible in Damascus’ lonely streets.
The Hamidiya souk, a centuries-old cobblestoned street linked to a maze of smaller alleyways winding through the capital, used to be a hive of activity where rich businessmen would make deals and sell merchandise over sugared tea. Now it stands quiet, a backwater in the center of the capital.
Sunni Muslim merchants have traditionally formed the core of the business community in the Syrian capital and in the commercial hub Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city.
Assad, and his late father - from Syria’s minority Alawite sect - forged close ties with the Sunni merchant class, who helped prevent a collapse of the Syrian pound last year by keeping their cash in the bank while everyone rushed to exchange weak pounds for dollars.
However, Assad is losing support among merchants who are suffering from a stagnant business climate and Western sanctions imposed to put pressure on the defiant president.
And Assad’s crackdown on the uprising by Syria’s majority Sunnis has lost him many supporters who are enraged by the deaths of more than 10,000 fellow citizens at the hands of Assad loyalists.
70 percent of shops closed
More than 70 percent of shops are on strike in Sunni opposition districts outside the Old city such as Midan, where activists say government forces have shot and killed demonstrators at weekly protests.
“We open our shops for an hour a day so people can buy essentials,” said Midan-based supermarket owner Amin, who also asked Reuters only to use his first name. Like Mohammed in Hamidiya, many shop owners in Midan sit in front of their businesses so they can open up quickly if security personnel arrive.
Markets in Damascus have been subject to a heavy security presence over the past week, with new checkpoints erected at their entrances, residents say.
Even districts of Damascus that are predominantly Christian, a minority group that Assad’s supporters say will stick by the leader against the largely Sunni revolt, have reported a large number of shop closures.
And in towns on the Damascus outskirts, many of which have witnessed army raids and widespread arrests, residents say the markets have been empty for weeks.
Damascus residents, whether they support the strike or not, say the shop closures have compounded the already dire economic situation. Prices have soared over the past 15 months and sanctions have cut vital trade links.
Many Syrians are unable to buy anything but the bare essentials. Syrian government figures put annual consumer price inflation at 31 percent in April, but residents say basic goods such as sugar, vegetable oil and eggs have doubled in price.
Not all are 100 percent behind the campaign of civil disobedience.
“I feel bad about what happened to the people of Houla,” said a restaurant owner in the Kafr Souseh district, where most shops are on strike. “But I have three employees to pay and what use is a strike?” he said, echoing the sentiments of many frustrated businessmen.
For others, the loss in earnings is justified by the disruption they are causing to the heart of the capital where state security forces have been scrambling to give an impression of calm and control while the rest of the country crumbles.
“Strikes are less dangerous than open demonstrations,” said a high school teacher from the capital. “We need strikes in shops, schools and universities. It’s a safer way to express ourselves.”


text:
BMW has seen a 74.8% increase in sales of its AFVs in 2017, with more than 50,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids sold in the first seven months.
Mini has revealed the pricing and specification of its first plug-in hybrid vehicle – the Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4.
Mini has gone supersize with the new Countryman – it’s the biggest model in the brand’s 57-year history.
Mini has released details of the new Countryman SUV range, which includes a plug-in hybrid.
Automotive Management Live: Where franchised and independent dealers will find everything they need to know about operating a modern showroom and service and repair facility fit for the digital age.
When: November 12 2020
Where: Birmingham NEC
Find out what features are in this month's, and future, issues


text:
by Paul Leinert and David Shepperson
(Reuters) – Redwood Materials said on Thursday it has received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for a $2 billion loan to help build a $3.5 billion recycling and re-manufacturing complex for electric vehicle battery materials in Nevada .
Redwood Materials expects to draw down the first loan tranche later this year, Chief Executive JB Straubel said in an interview.
Straubel said the initial loan draw will “help accelerate production and reduce the time it takes for us to get to full scale” at the northern Nevada campus, which has begun producing copper foil for battery anodes.
Straubel said there has been a “frenzy of activity” among electric vehicle and battery makers since President Joe Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August. The IRA rules are designed to shift the US battery supply chain away from China, which currently produces 70% of batteries for electric vehicles.
Last July, the Department of Energy said it would give a $2.5 billion loan to Ultim Cells, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solutions, to help finance construction of new battery cell manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan. .
Last month, the department said it planned to loan up to $700 million to Ioneer Ltd to finance the construction of its rhyolite ridge lithium mining project in Nevada.
The loans are coming from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. More than 10 years ago, the ATVM program provided low-cost government loans to Tesla, Ford Motor and Nissan Motor, which included some cell manufacturing.
Redwood Materials, founded by ex-Tesla executive Straubel in 2017, is on track to become one of the world’s largest recyclers and remanufacturers of battery materials, including copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel.
In addition to the Nevada site near Reno, Redwood Materials said in December that it planned to build a similar facility northwest of Charleston, South Carolina, also at a cost of about $3.5 billion.
Each facility will have an initial planned capacity to process 100 gigawatt-hours of electrode material, enough to supply more than 1 million EVs each. The South Carolina campus could eventually be expanded to “several hundred gigawatt-hours,” Straubel said.
Straubel said the South Carolina project is running about two years behind the Nevada facility.
Redwood Materials said it will supply copper foil to Panasonic from Nevada for battery cells produced at the Nevada Gigafactory, which Panasonic operates jointly with Tesla. It will also supply cathode material to Panasonic’s new Kansas battery plant, which is expected to open in 2025.
Redwood Materials has supply agreements with several manufacturers including Ford, Toyota Motor and Volkswagen Group.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit and David Shepperson in Washington; Editing by Sharon Singleton)


text:
Another Techstars Boston Demo Day is in the books after 12 startups pitched their companies to a full room inside the House of Blues on Lansdowne Street yesterday.
Leading his first Demo Day as Managing Director, Semyon Dukach kicked things off and made way for Codeanywhere, a cloud based code-editor, development, and collaboration platform, or as they called themselves, “Google Docs for Developers.”
We saw a name change from Splashscore, which is now Mavrck (below, left), who is providing consumer brands with an effective social influence marketing platform. They also announced they’ll be working inside the newly launched Wunderbar, a co-working partnership between Workbar and Mullen.
Fortified Bicycle, who had previously rolled out theft-free bike lights (or as Bill Warner (above, right) dubbed them, “bulletproof”) announced they will soon be producing a complete bicycle, equipped with all the tools a “city-cyclist” needs and wants. This announcement came complete with a surprise bike ride through the crowd.
A big funding announcement came from Indico, who is playing in the Machine Learning space, to the tune of $3M from General Catalyst, .406 Ventures, Two Sigma & Boston Seed Capital.
Also with a lively demo was Spitfire Athlete, who is building a brand that stands for strength and “badassery” among women, starting with a fitness app. Founder Erin Parker ended the pitch with an impressive deadlift.
EdTrips, who makes field trips easy by consolidating the booking and payment of trips among multiple locations and services, brought in some ringers to play to the crowd… elementary school children who LOVE field trips. Co-Founder Jakob Garrow was quick to point out their $7 Billion (untapped) market.
One of the better pitch tactics came from Streamroot. Showing video of the infamous Dave Roberts stolen base, the stream cut to “buffering” as Roberts went into his slide - proving the problem facing online video streaming. Streamroot cuts bandwidth costs for online broadcasters with native peer-to-peer video streaming technology.
ROCKI had people talking. A lower-priced solution to Sonos, they want to bring all your old speakers back into play. At $49, each ROCKI connects to a set of speakers and connects to a phone or tablet to stream your music.
We also heard from Fairwaves, which develops disruptive open-source mobile network equipment and software to bring cell phone service to the next billion people, Helloblock, the API that simplifies accepting online payments through Bitcoin, and CoolChip Technologies, which has been around since 2010 and designs next-generation kinetic coolers for electronics enabling quieter, smaller and cooler product experiences.
Techstars Demo Day is one of those events that you need to attend to truly appreciate. With a mix of unique startups across different industries that interest a variety of people and investors, there’s never a shortage of innovation and creativity. It’s a room full of inspirational entrepreneurs.
Techstars Founder and Managing Director, David Cohen (who let the crowd know he wasn’t anti Silicon Valley, just “pro everywhere else”) touted the accelerators success informing the room there has been 56 exits out of 400 Techstars startups.
As always, it’ll be fun to keep an eye on these 12 companies to see where they end up and which will be added to that list of successful exits.
Congratulations to all the startups, mentors, investors and the Techstars team for a great day of entrepreneurship.


text:
In an effort to tackle the problem of buyers and sellers pulling out of property transactions without good reason, the Government has said that it will trial reservation agreements this year.
English and Welsh law as it stands allows buyers and sellers to pull out of transactions until contracts are exchanged with no penalties whatsoever, potentially leading to the collapse of long chains.
Speaking at the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ annual conference, Housing Minister, Heather Wheeler, said: “We want to increase people’s commitment by ensuring they get some skin in the game… there is no reason why this cannot become a standard practice. I believe the appetite is there.”
Matt Prior, head of home buying and selling at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government added: “Buyers and sellers should have financial skin in the game to reinforce the agreement. But how much will that be? How much should they pay to get out of the agreement? We want to work closely with conveyancers to iron out some of the practical issues to encourage people to adopt this.”
Link: Home-buying reservation agreements to be tested this year


text:
There’s a new beer hall in town – and they have a great give-back attitude.
In a few hours, Batch Brewery Co. will open its shiny new doors and welcome what is sure to be a huge crowd of friends, Hatch Detroit supporters and Detroit glitterati.
They will raise their glasses and toast Batch’s Corktown location, its suave interior and its impressive list of beers on tap – many with classic names such as Dead Irish Writers, Nearly Noble IPA, Obscure Reference Imperial Stout and Way 2 Biggie.
Co-founder Stephen Roginson said he and the Batch crew — co-owner and co-founder Jason Williams, Head Cellarman Patric Ahrens and Executive Chef Matt Johnson — are celebrating the journey toward entrepreneurship on this big day. They are reveling in the lessons they learned. They are worn out, but that exhaustion is from hard work, banged up shins from construction and the emotional release that comes with doing something worth doing.
It wasn’t easy, Roginson says. But it wasn’t that bad, either.
“It’s incredibly exciting to open a business in the city,” Roginson said. “There are hurdles I imagine no matter where you choose to open your business. I’d believe very few of the hurdles would be unique to opening a business in Detroit.”
Is Roginson saying he actually enjoyed the process of doing inspections, working through municipal paperwork and schmoozing public officials?
Well, in short, yes.
“Right now, the city is going through a pretty incredible transformation to make it easier for businesses to get their doors open,” Roginson said. “Every single person that I worked with seemed to be genuinely interested in opening Batch Brewing Company up.”
More importantly, “We were able to have a front-row seat and even an influence to participate in the conversation to make it easier for businesses to open their doors. We’ve had a lot of luck and built up a lot of great relationships in the city from the zoning offices to building and safety to engineering and design. … That’s no small testament to how willing the city is to help businesses open their doors.”
Roginson is not some New York City hotshot with a dozen restaurants under his belt. He’s not a real-estate magnate with a rich family coming in to help him. This dude WORKED. He and the Batch co-workers had hustle. They had fundraisers. They worked the small-business loans. They won a huge business competition through confidence and moxie. Charm gets you in the door; sweat gets you the money.
“We did run into some challenges but those challenges were clearly surmountable. We were able to make it happen,” Roginson said.
Batch Brewing Co. also is doing the Feel Good tap, a beer-pouring tap that will dedicate its sales to a local charity partner. When it launches, the first recipient will be the National Multiple Scolorious Society because Roginson’s mom is a person living with MS. He’ll also be a part of a Batch team walking in bright orange t-shirts during the May 3 Walk MS event. His goal is to raise more than $5,000.
Batch Brewing Co. will officially open its doors at 4 p.m. On tap will be handcrafted beer, food, and DJ set by “Historic Detroit” founder and DJ Dan Austin. Batch is located at 1400 Porter St.


text:
PS4 users may have been slightly disappointed by the Xbox One-exclusive demo of Devil May Cry 5 released in December, but soon it’ll be time for something a bit more inclusive.
Today Capcom took to Twitter to announce that a multiplatform demo will come to PS4 and Xbox One next month, and more precisely on Feb. 7.
Huge thanks to everyone who downloaded and tried out the #DMC5 Xbox One demo! As of today, it will no longer be available for download, but it’s still playable if you have it on your system.
⚡ A new demo is coming Xbox One and PS4 on Feb 7th! ⚡ pic.twitter.com/VZLNAL2tAk
— Devil May Cry 5 (@DevilMayCry) January 7, 2019
Unfortunately, unless Capcom decides to surprise us further, looks like PC users won’t be so lucky as their brethren on PS4, since it appears that the demo will come only for the two current-gen consoles.
If you want to see more about Devil May Cry 5, you can enjoy the latest gameplay showing the Cameo Mode, a brand new gameplay trailer featuring V, and another showcasing a song by L’Arc-en-Ciel’s Hyde.
We also recently learned that the game is going to be pretty naughty in words and deeds, likely to no one’s surprise.
The game releases worldwide on March 8 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.


text:
While China’s luxury retailers have struggled to meet their goals in recent months, the country’s mid-range brands have continued to expand at a record pace, according to a new research report.
Leasing of retail space by fast-fashion brands such as Zara, H&M and Uniqlo has continued to expand in the world’s second-largest economy, despite an overall slowdown in economic growth. The ongoing strong performance by mid-range retailers was revealed in the latest China Retail Property Market Watch report released this week by property consultancy Knight Frank and local partner Holdways.
The report by the two agencies found that the leasing of space in shopping centres by these mid-market brands continued to grow in the second half of 2013. Furthermore, the study found no strong evidence of floor space is being reined in, while mega malls remained a strong feature of the retail landscape, particularly in Tier-Two cities.
Far from shrinking in size in the face of e-commerce, new fast-fashion stores are typically highly spacious, multi-level and take up some of the best locations in local shopping centres, according to the report’s findings. The rise of these brands as mini-anchors for emerging malls coincides with the demise of traditional anchors such as department stores.
While fast-fashion brands have fared well, not all market players met their goals in the second half of 2013.
The Knight Frank report found that developers lacking experience, particularly with oversized centres in peripheral, poorly located areas, found it increasingly find to maintain high occupancy levels and customer traffic. The agency expects this trend to continue to competition for consumers’ kuai intensififes.
The gap between prime centres and non-prime centres is also expected to widen in China, with the market becomingly marked by its increasingly polarity.
A report earlier this year by Knight Frank found that 65 percent of luxury retailers failed to reach their targets for new store openings in 2013.
The slowdown for couture sellers has been in contrast to the success of mid-range fast fashion brands, such as Uniqlo, Zara, H&M and C&A, which increased their total store count by 40 percent from mid-2012 to the end of last year.


text:
Apple could currently be testing the next iteration of its mobile operating system. Several sources have been recording activity by browsers from iOS9, and the number of devices appears to be increasing slowly as time passes.
The evidence comes from website analytics that appear to record iOS9 visits. It was first noticed by Apple Insider earlier this week, and the website noted that this is still months ahead of the expected June 2015 unveiling. This new was corroborated by Macworld who also noted several visits by devices claiming to be running the new OS. Most recently, mobile app marketing platform Fiksu noted that it had logged 145 devices running iOS9.
Fiksu noted that 63-percent of these devices happened to be iPhone 6 and 6-pluses, with the rest being older iPhone and iPad models. It would have been more exciting to have an iPhone 6S or 7 turn up, but Apple wouldn’t be that sloppy in an age where nothing can be kept a secret anymore.
It should be noted that Macworld is not entirely convinced that the reports of iOS9 are really the experimental operating system. The Apple news site believes that it might just be a case of errors in recording information, or perhaps even jail-broken devices spoofing their version number to avoid detection. The second theory was backed up by the fact that an iOS10.9.5 also turned up in the analytics.
However, with so many sites now noting iOS9 visits, we are inclined to believe that this is a sign that Apple is taking to external testing for OS test builds. Or at least we’re hoping that this is the case because it would be nice to catch a glimpse of what Cupertino is up to before anything is announced.


text:
- Vital Apps
Currently viewing the tag: "cobalt 60"
Continue Reading →
Jefferson City | 13 Jan 2012
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources received notice from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that metal tissue box covers from a product line delivered to Bed, Bath and Beyond retail stores throughout the United States may contain cobalt-60, [...]


text:
In today’s auto retail space, your prospects and most loyal customers have more options than ever. As marketplace loyalty wanes, dealerships must become more sophisticated and use big data not only to anticipate market trends, but also to shape their processes to stay ahead of them.
As the automotive retail sales milestone that is Memorial Day weekend lures buyers to the lots with promises of low- or no- interest loans, longer loan terms, tempting rebates and MSRP discounts, successful – and profitable – dealerships look to benchmarking data to effectively manage increased demand and to focus their teams’ efforts, close more sales and maximize profits.
DealerSocket, the only automotive technology platform that guides auto dealers to improved profitability across all areas of their business, recently released benchmarking data pulled from 950 dealerships’ 2014 Memorial Day weekend sales drive. The data informs dealerships about what they might encounter this year and how to succeed in the areas of lead generation and appointment management, used-car sales and product promotion – new and used, among other insights.
Optimize Leads Converted with Phone Follow-Up and Scheduling Tools
Based on a comparison of the average total profit earned for all leads generated during last year’s Memorial Day sales drive, floor leads were most profitable, at $1,810 on average, compared to $1,622 for phone and $1,401 for Internet.
Still, even with increased foot traffic and a strong return on the floor during the holiday weekend, the most successful dealerships invested the time to pick up the phone to ask prospects for appointments. Of the leads actively pursued with phone follow-up, DealerSocket found that 89 percent of leads sourced via phone resulted in a scheduled appointment, with 36 percent of all new leads sourced from the Internet resulting in a scheduled appointment after a follow-up phone call.
And dealerships that use technology to formalize and optimize the appointment confirmation process perform even better. Dealerships report that using appointment confirmation technology typically delivers 150 percent more appointments a month. Apply that benefit to a compressed sales timeframe like Memorial Day weekend, and it follows that dealerships that have this technology in place will outperform the dealerships that don’t.
Meet Used-Car Customer Expectations Through Data Mining and Other Prep
While the percentages for appointment confirmations, show rates and sell rates were nearly identical for used and new vehicles, according to DealerSocket data, more shoppers made test-drive appointments for used cars (35 percent).
DealerSocket data also shows that the average days to sold for used cars during last year’s Memorial Day weekend sales drive was 16 days versus 25 days for new cars. To ensure success with the used-car customer, keep ads and other promotional materials up to date and actively use your data-mining platform in the coming days to match prospects with your used-car inventory.
The data-mining platform is also a great tool for finding monthly payments that work best for your customer. The good news is that even when working within used car customer budget parameters, used cars proved to be a profitable venture for dealerships in 2014. The average total profit from used vehicles during last year’s Memorial Day weekend sales drive was $2,152 compared to $1,360 for new cars.
Therefore, make sure your used-car lot is adequately staffed to handle additional demand and provide a great experience the moment customers set foot on the lot.
Display and Promote Products Most Likely to Close to Drive More Profits
Finally, some of the highest close rates helping to drive those profits to the bottom line for Memorial Day 2014 were on economy cars. Leaders included Scion (66 percent), Fiat (56 percent), Mini (53 percent) and Hyundai (50 percent).
If you’ve got these brands, be sure to prominently display them (and other economy offerings) on the lot and in your communications with customers.
For more actionable insights to inform how to best succeed this weekend that are specific to your brands and/or local market, contact your data partner representative.
DealerSocket is a leading automotive technology platform that helps dealerships in the U.S., Canada and Australia improve profitability through a fully integrated suite of marketing, sales, service, customer experience DMS and data mining solutions. Headquartered in San Clemente, Calif., DealerSocket employs more than 650 people and serves more than 6,500 dealerships in the U.S., Canada and Australia. DealerSocket’s advanced technology provides benchmarking data that paces the industry, and its insightful experts identify trends and develop strategic roadmaps that help dealers optimize processes and operate more profitably. For more information, visit DealerSocket.com or call 866.813.1429.


text:
Sodexo has launched a gift card program called Esteem Pass. The cards can be used for recognizing, rewarding and motivating employees, clients and customers and can be used at more than 20,000 locations operated by Sodexo retail partners. These...
Richard Ysmael, longtime head of Food Works, the in-house dining operation at Motorola, Inc., passed away October 14th after a long battle with lymphoma. Winner of the Silver Plate Award in 1982 in the Corporate Dining category, Ysmael was a...
Here's some of what Aramark served while catering the recent Olympic Games in Beijing:
100 tons of fish
1.85 million eggs
2.4 million pieces of fresh fruit
250,000 slices of pizza
480 tons of rice
1 million duck pancakes


text:
Ahead of a launch that is expected to take place after the Football World Cup, Ford of Brazil revealed the production-ready Ford Ka hatchback today, which will launch in India in 2015 as the next generation Figo. Based on the Ka concept that was shown in November last year, the production version gets a couple of mild design changes.
The headlights, which are usually the first things to change from concept to production, retain their overall design but sport different mirror elements and a smoked look. The next change is observed on the grille, which misses out on chrome plated horizontal slats seen on the concept. Apart from these minute details, we do not observe any other changes if you don't count the aerial antenna as an addition.
The Ka will launch in Brazil with a naturally aspirated 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine capable of running on gasoline and ethanol. The engine produces 85 bhp and 10.7 kgm of torque, and would come paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
The car has already been tested for its fuel efficiency and is good for 8.9 km/l in urban and 10.4 km/l in extra urban with ethanol powering the engine. The figures increase to 13 km/l in urban and 15.1 km/l in extra-urban when petrol is used.
The new Ka, when it goes on sale within a couple of months, will rival the VW Up! and Nissan Micra (called March in Brazil) in Brazil.


text:
Almost three months after legalization, Vancouver’s first three pot shops are officially a go.
A news release issued Friday afternoon said the three retailers have now met all the necessary civic and provincial requirements to legally operate in Vancouver.
Evergreen Cannabis Society (2868 West Fourth Ave.) is first out of the gates and is slated to open Saturday, Jan. 5). The other locations on Robson and Fraser streets are run by City Cannabis Co., though there is no indication as to when those stores will open.
The province issued licences to all three retailers within the last two weeks, while the retail application process first went live in August last year.
All dispensaries will be supplied by the Liquor Distribution Branch, the province’s wholesale distributor of non-medical pot.
All Vancouver dispensaries require a municipal development permit, provincial licence and municipal business licence to operate.
Fifty-six other locations in Vancouver are in the midst of the approval process and have been issued a development permit.


text:
Each day Perspective: Solely the useless have seen the top of warfare. – Plato
Fintech Movers: 71% of Millennials would like to go to their dentists than interact with their banks. – ARK
- Flat.mx raised $25M for its tech.
- Paysafe to accumulate Openbucks.
- Apex, Marstone companion on tech.
- Silvergate a bull on BTC banking.
- Chainanalysis intros intelligence.
- FTX intros new crypto exchange.
- Burn to Give raised $8.5M spherical.
- Goldman expands SIGMA X MTF.
- Ripple unveils P2P/XRP platform.
- Alchemy provides white-labeled credit score.
- DBS, Infor companion on SME plan.
- Mastercard enrolls in to Pay.UK.
Fintech Zoom World Fintech Awards Highlight:
Yearly Fintech Zoom, a number one information and knowledge platform, holds the World Fintech Awards, a day of dealmaking, networking, and recognition within the monetary expertise area.
Forward of the November 10, 2020 occasion, this article will spotlight one disruptive innovator working to create constructive and numerous change within the monetary providers area.
At this time’s disruptive innovator is Leaf Commerce, the main method to handle and market wholesale hashish and hemp.
For an opportunity to make your mark on the way forward for innovation and be featured on this publication, take a look at our World Fintech Awards!
Watch Out For This: China reported essentially the most home coronavirus infections in additional than 4 months because it battles outbreaks in its western and northeastern areas, elevating fears of a critical resurgence. – Bloomberg
- Healthcare versus navy spend.
- Hedge-fund charges in terminal fall.
- Previous doesn’t predict the longer term.
- GOP eyes settlement on reduction.
- Why U.S. falls quick over testing.
- Commerce flooring embrace house work.
Market Shifting Headline: Tesla may launch its ride-hailing service at a premium price of $four per mile, barely greater than Uber‘s common price in New York Metropolis, and will decrease costs over time to penetrate extra price-sensitive markets. – ARK
- Walmart vendor additions surged 3x.
- Wells misinterpreted shopper intentions.
- Goldman has settled 1MDB scandal.
- Airbus alters jet subsidies over commerce.
- Curiosity in bodily gold supply rises.
- Southwest received’t have furloughs but.
- T-Cell halted on Nasdaq request.
- Amazon to launch a brand new Alexa app.
- Fb sues EU antitrust regulator.
- Kroger shares surge on tax exemption.
- Beneath Armour shares fall on probe.
© 2020 Fintech Zoom.com. Fintech Zoom doesn’t present funding recommendation. All rights reserved.


text:
Rather than dispose of the bottles at their end of life, the Ball aluminum bottles will be turned into new ones within 60 days.
Beyond Meat discards its chief supply chain officer role after Bernie Adcock decided to leave the company.
The acquisition of DSME, the world’s fourth-largest shipbuilder, boosts Hanwha’s key defense and green energy sectors.
Tesla issued a recall for various EV models due to an issue with the power windows that may cause an injury.
The deal allows the Boston-based Rapid7 to feature its logo on the team playing jerseys and practice tops from the start of the 2022/23 season
The pumpkin beer with a wheat base includes cranberry juice for a 5.3 percent ABV brew billed as being light in color with chamomile and cinnamon.
Ford Motor reshuffled executives as it moves to shift to EV production while also boosting its supply chain.
Nestle Australia to manufacture KitKat, Milo, Nescafe in factories running on 100% renewable energy
Nestle Australia is shifting to renewable energy, and it was announced this week that it will now manufacture its products in factories that use eco-friendly electricity sources. The Swiss food giant signed a deal with CWP Renewables to help the company with a sustainable energy supply.
Nestle Australia said on Monday, Nov. 29, that it secured a 10-year power purchase agreement or PPA with the Austalia-based CWP Renewables. The renewable energy firm is expected to supply electricity to Nestle’s plants which will be sourced from CWP’s 270-MW Sapphire and 134-MW Crudine Ridge wind farms that are operating in New South Wales.
As per Renewables Now, the power that the wind farms will provide is enough to supply energy demand in six of Nestle’s manufacturing plants in Australia, three company offices, 20 retail facilities, a laboratory, and two distribution hubs. The total contracted energy capacity was said to be enough to cover 19,000 homes per year.
In any case, the shift to renewable energy is expected to help Nestle prevent emitting about 73,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Certainly, the deal with CWP is in line with Nestle Australia’s initiative to totally shift to renewable in four years. The Milo and Nescafe producer also has a goal of cutting its net emissions by 50% by the year 2030 and eventually becoming net-zero by 2050.
In a report, Nestle’s Oceania chief executive officer, Sandra Martinez, said she is proud that the company was able to push its plans and accelerate to 100% renewable energy. Although they managed to shift to eco-friendly energy now, she said there is still a lot to be done for the complete transformation.
“This means that when Aussies are enjoying Nestlé products made in our Australian factories, they can do so knowing that it is made by electricity that has been renewably sourced,” Martinez said in a statement. “This builds on the work we are already doing to rethink our packaging, build sustainable supply chains, drive carbon neutral brands, and transform our product portfolio with more plant-based foods and drinks.”
What is a semiconductor? An electrical engineer explains how these critical electronic components work and how they are made


text:
Volvo Car Corp.'s U.S. dealers are enthused by the financial support the Swedish government is offering the auto maker, believing it will make it easier for parent Ford Motor Co. to find a suitable buyer.
Ford, which has owned Volvo for the last 10 years, is trying to sell the mid-luxury brand to raise cash for its core North American operation.
“One of the things that came up that was very positive was the Swedish government's commitment to loan money to the product; not to Ford but to Volvo,” Raymond Ciccolo, line chairman for Volvo at NADA, tells Ward's following the brand's franchise meeting at the NADA convention.
The move is “very positive because a potential buyer, knowing they have the support of the Swedish government, that's going to make a big difference in a person's interest in Volvo,” he says.
Sweden in December made available SK25 billion ($3.1 billion) in loans to aid its auto industry, which also includes General Motors Corp.'s Saab brand. However, Swedish officials say they have no plans to take a stake in either car company.
Ciccolo, a 50-year Volvo dealer from Boston, says while many questions were fielded at the hour-plus meeting here, the overall tone was “upbeat. “It was the most positive meeting we've had in years,” despite the lack of product announcements or advertising talk that's marked previous Volvo franchise meetings at NADA.
“It was essentially a general overview, and (Volvo officials) answered questions from the audience primarily,” he says.
While there is concern about potential buyers for Volvo, Ciccolo says he and fellow dealers agree they don't want to dwell on the situation.
“We need to focus on what we can do to sustain and grow our business and try to disregard the changes that are inevitably going to happen with Ford. It doesn't help us by dwelling on something that tends to be a negative.”


text:
Samsung Galaxy Casino Games Ready for Nexus i515 Release Date
Dec 5, 2011
Galaxy Nexus i515
Samsung Galaxy casino games prepare for the official launch of i515, the 4G LTE version of the much anticipated smartphone.
The GSM version of the wonder phone – Samsung Galaxy Nexus i515, sporting a 720p SuperAMOLED screen, has been eagerly awaited expected at Samsung mobile casinos. Yet the 4G LTE capable version, destined for Verizon network remained unseen.
Until now that is. Android casinos regulars can now peruse the latest Google phone at the Samsung Experience Store in New York. Touch, but not take home yet. The Galaxy Nexus i515 is available for close encounter, but there’s still no way of knowing how it behaves on the LTE network, as the samples are only hooked to Wi-Fi.
Samsung Galaxy Casino Games
The holiday season is drawing closer and those mobile casino games enthusiasts, who were looking to put the Galaxy Nexus i515 under their trees, have an excellent opportunity to test drive the new phone. The monster Android phone is expected to put mobile casino gambling experience on a completely new level.
Samsung Galaxy casino games are expected to open their doors to players with the new smartphone on December 11, that’s the date when Galaxy Nexus i515 goes on sale through Verizon network. The phone will even feature the Android 4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, with the latest update focusing on improving the basedband performance.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus i515 for Verizon should go on sale this Sunday (December 11). It will come with Android 4.1 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box – the 0.1 update is reportedly focused on improving the performance of the basedband.
Tags: 3GPP Long Term Evolution, 4G, Android, Computing, Google, GSM, mobile software, New York, Portable media players, Samsung, Samsung Experience Store, Samsung Group, Samsung I7500, Smartphone, smartphones, T-Mobile, Technology, Verizon, Wi-Fi


text:
News2 mins ago
Frequent Google Pay Charges On Fiance's Account-What Are They??
I found frequent Google Payment charges on my fiance's account without being able to see what he paid for. They are of small amounts like 2.54, 6,05 etc. but like six or seven in a day.. Could those Google Pay charges be for chat or dating sites?? Last year we almost broke up because I found he was on Tinder..
I forgot to mention that I also found Ding charges which is an international mobile recharge service, allowing users to send mobile top-up to anyone in the world. He has his own mobile phone company he uses-why would he top up his own number including some other phone numbers in Latin America???....
It could be that someone is using your fiancé’s bank details fraudulently. About a month ago I noticed several debit card transactions on my bank account from Google Play (not Google Pay) all for £0.89. I don’t have the Google Play app so I cancelled the card immediately and disputed the transactions with Google (https://payments.google.com/payments/u/0/unauthorizedtransactions#). Within a few days they refunded all the fraudulent transactions.
-- answer removed --


text:
Some local firms seem to have bought in to the call that 30 percent of business should be given to local entrepreneurs.
President Peter Mutharika made the call last year when he launched the Buy Malawi Strategy (BMS) to promote consumption of locally produced goods and services, empower local businesses, generate employment and stimulate economic growth.
People’s Trading Centre (PTC) Limited and Sunbird Tourism Limited are some of the companies which have heeded the call as they contract local entrepreneurs to supply them with goods and services.
Dorothy Gama and Phalles Mamba are local businesspeople who supply vegetable and fruits to PTC.
Before PTC roped them in, they had challenges to make ends meet. But today they testify that they earn enough to pay school fees for their children and put food on the table.
Gama supplies the chain store with vegetables four times in a week.
The Chirimba-based mother of three has been trading with PTC since 1984 and she finds it fruitful.
“My take home drastically increased since I sealed the deal with PTC. I wake up every morning with the hope that whatever the case, I will sell my produce and make something out of it.
“This is much better than when I was selling my vegetables at the market because I was not sure that my produce will be bought.
“I have benefited a lot from my contract with PTC. I have bought a plot where I intend to build a house. I also support my husband to pay school fees for our children. I have also used the proceeds to diversify into livestock business,” she explains.
Mamba is also excited with her contract with PTC because she makes profits out of her agreement with the chain store.
“My dreams of owning a house started taking shape after the opportunity to trade with PTC opened in 2007. The past nine years have been great as I see the fruits of our partnership.
“Apart from building a house, I am also into pig farming which brings in an extra income to support my family.
“In a good month, I make in excess of K70 000 which I use to buy basic needs for my children,” she says.
Gama and Mamba’s story are not different from that of Edna Banda who supplies vegetables to Sunbird Tourism Limited, another company supporting small-scale entrepreneurs.
Banda, a Chirimba Township resident, boasts of living a normal life through vegetable selling to the hotel chain.
PTC marketing manager Chikumbutso Natasha Kaphuka told Business News in an interview on Friday that the move is simply meant to empower the local entrepreneurs.
“As a local company, we have the interest of Malawians at heart. It is in this regards that we are looking no further than getting these items from local business people,” she says.
Her sentiments are also echoed by Sunbird Tourism Limited acting chief executive officer Maureen Kachingwe.
She said her company supports and empowers local businesses as one way of delivering its commitment to


text:
Good morning! Today’s word count is 1,422 words, or a 9-minute read. Let’s get to it:
“The Dow and S&P 500 declined as the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to 1.1 million last week and lawmakers remained gridlocked over new coronavirus relief,” The Wall Street Journal writes.
- S&P 500: $3,360.48
- Nasdaq: $11,096.40
- Bitcoin: $11,750.88
- U.S. 10-Year: 0.652%
Justin Oh’s Quick Read
Apple ($AAPL) was my favorite stock from 2006 to 2016 because of its growth and domination as a business. But its doubling to $2 trillion since the start of Covid-19 is solely from multiple expansion, not fundamental growth. It’s a prime example of printed money and a wonky market hiding out in quality tech and growth. Is it a bad stock to own at 22x forward EBITDA? No, and I would rather own $AAPL than $HD at 18x or $COST at 20x. But for comparison, Amazon ($AMZN) and Microsoft ($MSFT) have similar valuations with much higher growth prospects.
Airbnb, a ‘Sharing Economy’ Pioneer, Files to Go Public
On Wednesday, Airbnb announced it had confidentially filed to go public, taking a “key step toward one of the largest public market debuts in a generation of ‘sharing economy’ startups.”
Why It Matters
It’s a long-awaited public offering.
- Its IPO would “signal the end of an era for the first wave of highly valued startup “unicorns.”
- Airbnb has perennially been an IPO candidate, but officially announced it was preparing to do so last year.
- With a set of stock options expiring this fall, there’s been mounting pressure from early employees for the company to allow them to realize gains in shares they own.
The Covid-19 pandemic almost derailed the company’s future.
- Airbnb had been privately valued at $31 billion before this year and had come closer than Uber or WeWork to turning a profit until Covid-19 dissolved more than $1 billion in bookings almost overnight.
- The company posted $4.8 billion in revenue last year but predicted it would drop nearly 50 percent in 2020.
- To counteract the pandemic’s financial strain, Airbnb cut costs, raised emergency funding, laid off almost 2,000 employees, and put its plans to go public on hold.
The move to go public encapsulates the resiliency of tech stocks in 2020.
- Driven by Apple and other tech giants, the S&P 500 hit a new high this week.
- Startups are thriving off of excitement for technology, and investor appetite is seemingly insatiable.
There’re still issues to be worked out.
- Airbnb has butted heads with regulators and local communities over taxes, enforcement, turning neighborhoods into tourist areas and contributing to housing shortages.
- The company also still has a way to go in cracking down on unauthorized parties at rented properties.
- While demand is returning, some forms of travel won’t return anytime soon, and Airbnb will have to adapt.
Read More: (NEW YORK TIMES)
Twitter Data Case Sparks Dispute, Delay Among EU Privacy Regulators
European Union privacy regulars are struggling to decide how much, if anything, to fine Twitter for its handling of a data breach disclosed last year.
Why It Matters
The dispute is the first significant test of the EU’s privacy law, known as GDPR, which took effect in 2018.
- How this decision is played will affect nearly two dozen other investigations into Facebook, Google and other U.S. tech companies.
- Those investigations are headed by Ireland’s data commission because the companies have regional bases in Ireland, but regulators in all 26 other EU countries can object in cases that involve them.
GDPR carries a notable penalty.
- Regulators can fine companies up to 2 percent of their worldwide annual revenue for failing to disclose a data breach within 72 hours.
- Twitter’s fine could be as much as $69 million based on its 2019 revenue.
The Twitter case outcome is a litmus test on how the EU’s power-sharing system among regulators works.
- In cases involving multiple countries, the lead regulator (Ireland in this one) drives the process.
- Counterpart nations have four weeks to submit objections, and any disagreements go to a vote, which can drag out over a few months.
Read More: (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
A Quick Look
Apple Surges to $2 Trillion Market Value
- Apple became the first U.S. public company to eclipse $2 trillion in market value Wednesday, a testament to its “commanding role in the world economy.” It crossed $1 trillion in August 2018.
- The stock has more than doubled since its March 23 low, bolstered by continued demand for its devices and “better-than-feared” results from its core iPhone business.
- Apple’s sales increased to $260 billion in the fiscal year ending in September from $216 billion three years before. Sales even grew during the pandemic, rising 11 percent from a year early to nearly $60 billion. Earnings hit $11.25 billion.
- Apple could be joined by its tech giant peers soon. Amazon and Microsoft have market values of around $1.6 trillion, Alphabet is at roughly $1 trillion and Facebook is up to approximately $750 billion.
- “The five biggest U.S. companies made up about 25 percent of the S&P 500 at the end of July, up from 12 percent four years earlier. Their rise helps illustrate how the market continues to climb near records even as many sectors and the broader economy flounder.”
Read More: (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
U.S. Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Increase to More Than 1 Million
- U.S. Department of Labor data revealed initial jobless claims in regular state programs rose by 135,000 to more than 1.1 million in the week ending Aug. 15.
- Continuing claims, or the total number of Americans claiming ongoing unemployment assistance, decreased to 14.8 million in the week ending Aug. 8, the lowest since early April.
- “The absence of an additional stimulus package threatens the fragile economic recovery as businesses run out of aid, while the uneven reopening of schools is making it difficult for many parents to work. On an unadjusted basis, initial claims rose to 891,510 from 838,734 as New Jersey, New York and Texas reported sizable increases from the previous week.”
Read More: (BLOOMBERG)
Alibaba Online Orders Amid Coronavirus Fuel Sales Recovery
- Alibaba saw its fiscal first-quarter profit double from a year ago as the Covid-19 outbreak led to more shoppers buying daily necessities and other products online.
- The company reported a net income of 47.6 billion yuan ($6.7 billion) for the quarter ending June, and revenue increased 34 percent to 153.8 billion yuan.
- Thursday’s results mark a substantial recovery following an 88 percent drop in earnings as Alibaba’s public investments sunk in value.
- “China’s economy also rebounded from a contraction in the first three months of 2020, growing more than 3 percent in the second quarter, making it the first major economy to return to growth since the start of the pandemic.”
Read More: (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Worth Your Time
What Do You Mean: Microsoft and Oracle aren’t in the social media business. Why do these companies want to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations, and what would they do with the app? With both firms touting cloud computing business, it’s an opportunity to bolster its usage and improve market share in a space dominated by Amazon Web Services. (TECH CRUNCH)
Open Season: “The U.S. Department of Defense has given five small drone manufacturers permission to sell to the U.S. military and federal agencies, in the wake of last year’s ban on these agencies buying Chinese-made drones… China’s DJI Technology Co. is the world’s biggest drone maker, and some of its drones were purchased in years past by federal agencies. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that it believes DJI was ‘selectively targeting government and privately-owned entities…to expand its ability to collect and exploit sensitive U.S. data.’ DJI officials have disputed that claim.” (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
TikTok is launching a multi-platform ad campaign as the company attempts to lure more users in the face of a potential sale or ban in the U.S.
Speaking of TikTok, the app has said it agreed to settle “19 class-action lawsuits which allege the popular app violated data privacy rights of its users, but California is holding out.”
Gradient Ventures, Alphabet’s venture capital investment arm, laid off 8 percent of its staff this week in what appears to be a “broader shift in how the firm intends to operate moving forward.”
“Chinese online retailer JD.com is deepening its push into healthcare, raising $830 million from private equity firm Hillhouse.”
New York-based healthcare startup Klara is pitching itself as a superior tool for patient engagement at doctor’s offices and other clinical practices, and just raised $15 million in new funding from Google’s Gradient Ventures.
Japanese startup ispace raised $28 million in Series B funding as it continues to develop its commercial moon lander ahead of planned 2022 and 2023 launches, while also announcing a new data platform business that will provide the lunar data it collects to other organizations.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan is starting a SPAC and is trying to raise around $300 million in its IPO.
A Couple Cents Content
Justin Oh breaks down how people develop immunity through vaccines. (TIKTOK)
Take a trip back in time and learn how an earthquake crashed the economy and created the Fed, (TIKTOK)
Here’s a brief look at what Sportradar’s deal with the NHL means, especially if a SPAC takes it public. (TIKTOK)


text:
Apple could be about to make the biggest change to the iPhone in 11 years
Apple is set to unveil the iPhone 15 in just a few days, and it’s widely expected to come with a significant change.
The iPhone 15 is heavily rumored to ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning charger in favor of USB-C charging, marking a milestone for the company by adopting universal charging. The change could ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices — and brands.
The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.
“This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.
That’s because Apple (AAPL) has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging. Still, the company has been resistant to making the change on the iPhone.
Last year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, publicly stressed the value and ubiquity of the Lightning charger, which is designed for faster device charging, but noted “obviously we will have to comply” with the EU mandate.
“We have no choice, like we do around the world, to comply with local laws, but we think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government [have] that perspective,” Joswiak said at the time.
The EU’s decision is part of a greater effort to tackle e-waste overall, but could it generate more in the short term as people phase out their Lightning cables. (Apple will also likely need to develop a Lightning cable recycling program.)
Although Apple has voiced environmental concerns over what happens to old Lightning chargers, it has financial reasons for pushing back on the change, too.
The history of the Lightning charger
Apple introduced the Lightning charger alongside the iPhone 5 in 2012, replacing its existing older 30-pin dock connector with one that enabled faster charging and had a reversible design. It also ignited a related accessories business, requiring users to buy a $30 Lightning adapter to connect the device to older docks, alarm clocks and speaker systems.
“For Apple, it was all about being in control of its own ecosystem,” said David McQueen, a director at ABI Research. “Apple makes good money from selling Lightning cables and its many related accessories.”


text:
Pokemon Sword and Shield news has hit a lull since the initial reveal in February. While more announcements are expected next month, some potentially information has appeared online and it looks somewhat believable.
One Reddit user has taken to the Pokemon subreddit to reveal an array of new Pokemon Sword and Shield information, which can be found below.
90 new Pokemon is roughly the amount that would have been expected, but it will still mark the biggest increase since Gen 5.
The suggestion that no regional forms will be in the game won't come as that much of a surprise, but the news of no new mega evolutions is quite surprising. This is because a previously leak had suggested there would be.
Elsewhere, armored Pokemon was another previously leaked feature. This seems harder to believe given the upcoming Mewtwo Strikes Back film. Furthermore, armored Mewtwo has already been found in the Pokemon Go code.
However, there has also been a rumor surrounding Pokemon Sword and Shield spirit armor which may essentially be armored Pokemon but named differently.
The map has been another highly rumored part of Pokemon Sword and Shield. We know the region is called the Galar region, but many have speculated that there's more than that to come.
Tunnels seen in the reveal footage show a mine very similar to that of Pokemon X and Y. The result of this has been speculation that the Kalos region will be explorable as well.
Additionally, it's also claimed that characters from previous Pokemon games will appear. This is perhaps further proof that Kalos will indeed feature.
In general terms, potentially leaked information - not just for Pokemon Sword and Shield - should viewed with a lot of scepticism. While these details do sound rather reasonable, there's nothing to back up its authenticity.
Anyone can jump on Reddit and post believable leaks which is where its legitimacy falls the most. Take it in, enjoy the speculation and rumors, but don't take this as fact until official announcements are made.
Here's something new from Dexerto: Why only Fallen can save Brazilian CSGO


text:
If you’re not using social media as part of your recruiting efforts yet, here’s some motivation: revenue from social networking sites is expected to rise a whopping 43.1 percent this year, hitting a total of $16.9 billion.
That’s according to a new forecast on social media revenue from Gartner, which examined past revenue from sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and asked analysts how that revenue will grow over the coming years.
What does this have to do with recruiting? It means that more people are going to be using social media sites and more companies are going to figure out how to monetize the actions from those users.
So it only makes sense that you establish a presence on all the popular social media sites now, so you can interact with the online community and find some great candidates by advertising your jobs or tapping into your networks’ connections.
Here are some interesting facts from the report:
“New revenue opportunities will exist in social media, but no new services will be able to bring significant fresh revenue to social media by 2016,” Neha Gupta, a senior research analyst with Gartner, said. “The biggest impact of growth in social media is on the advertisers.
“In the short and medium terms, social media sites should deploy data analytic techniques that interrogate social networks to give marketers a more accurate picture of trends about consumers’ needs and preferences on a customized basis,” she added. “In the meantime, however, they should also continue to exploit other channels of revenue like mobile advertising and social commerce.”
Franchising – licensing a brand, business model, or product to a separate entity – is a popular way to run a business. And for good reason: some of the world’s best-known brands are built that way. Take American Recruiters, for example. They’re recognized by Forbes as one of America’s top professional and executive recruiting firms.Read more
Back in 2015, All-In-Staffing’s Account Executive, Mike Trent, was in sales and business development, helping the firm get off the ground. Today, he’s part of a thriving staffing service company operating out of three offices in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Their specialty is the manufacturing sector, placing candidates in a range of industrial and clerical roles.Read more
Every sector comes with its own unique set of recruitment challenges. The medical space is no exception. Sourcing qualified candidates for a wide range of roles – from Pediatric Allergists to General Radiologists – is no easy feat, especially when there’s a shortage of new talent coming through.Read more
Find out more about who we and what we do.


text:
July 4, 2017
An article advises how to secure technology in the home.
Komando.com reported that if every piece of technology was smart like cars and the house lights etc then the car could, in theory, let the house know it was on its way home and it would turn on the lights and possible the heating too.
However, the article noted that despite this clever technology making life easier, it does come with risks not least from cyber criminals creating chaos just for fun. Accessing many IoT gadgets means that these criminals can shut down websites and this is called “distributed denial of services” (DDOS) attack.
Often performed with a botnet, DDOS attacks take place when “servers are overwhelmed with more traffic than they can handle”. The article explains that botnets are “groups of gadgets that hackers have taken over without the owners knowledge” and hackers gain access to gadgets with viruses or malware and then “then use the network of infected computers to perform large-scale hacks or scams”.
Also noted by the article was that hackers are now infecting smart refrigerators and webcams and creating botnets which they then sell to other criminals on the Dark Web.
Protecting IoT gadgets is important and the advice is to “reboot devices to clear out the malware” and to change the default administrator username and password on routers, IP webcams and connected printers and if smart appliances connect through the manufacturers site the advice is to make sure the password is as “complex and unique” as possible.
Routers with firewall functions need to be protected by going to the administration page and the setting “disable Port Scan” and “Enable DoS Protection” which both need turning on. All firmware updates need to be checked and if security patches have been issued by manufacturers it is important to download them. Finally, the article advised that firmware updates should be checked at least every three months in case they are not happening automatically.
Categories : Around the Industry


text:
General Motors confirmed that the company will expand Super Cruise and launch the driver-assist software in the Middle East starting in 2024.
The launch of Super Cruise in the Middle East will coincide with the launch of six new Cadillac models in the region, however the automaker did not confirm exact timing.
Drivers will be able to enable semi-autonomous technology on select roads.
The first vehicle in the region to have Super Cruise ability will be the Cadillac Celestiq.
Interestingly, the recently debuted Cadillac Lyriq will not have the capability, but this may change leading up to the launch.
The Cadillac and Super Cruise announcements are part of a broader plan for GM in the region.
As Drive Tesla reported a few weeks ago, GM is also expanding their Cruise autonomous robotaxi service into the region.
Cruise deployed two Chevy Bolt EVs to the City of Dubai to start mapping the city for the eventual service launch.
Neither GM nor Cadillac released the pricing for Super Cruise in the region.
However, we can assume it will be around the exact cost in North America, which is a $2,500 one-time cost, or $25 per month, or $15 with an OnStar Bundle, for a subscription.


text:
The latest economic forecast from the British Chambers of Commerce highlights the impact of recruitment and supply problems - and also warns of potential damage from the government's National Insurance hike.
Britain's economic recovery is expected to slow over coming months thanks to staff shortages and supply chain disruption, according to a new forecast from a leading business group.
Official figures show UK GDP grew by 4.8% in the second quarter but the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts this will slow to 2.8% in the third quarter and 1.6% in the last three months of 2021.
The BCC also warned of the "real danger" that the £12bn National Insurance hike announced this week could further stifle Britain's bounce back.
The warning about the impact of labour shortages comes a day after Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said he feared the problem could persist.
HGV drivers and meat processing workers are among the areas where shortages have been identified.
Supply issues have affected a number of well-known businesses including Ikea, McDonald's, Greggs and Wetherspoons.
The BCC's forecast comes on the same day as a new report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed recruiters and employers faced an unprecedented decline in the availability of candidates for roles.
According to the BCC's new forecast, Britain will still post annual growth of 7.1% for 2021 as a whole, which would be the strongest on records going back to 1949.
However the slowdown in the pace of the recovery - after last year's pandemic-driven recession - means it is now not expected to reach pre-COVID levels until the first quarter of next year.
Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce, said the economy remained "on course for a historic revival" this year thanks to the release of pent-up consumer demand as well as higher government spending.
"However, our latest outlook also points to a loss of momentum in the coming months as staff shortages, supply chain disruption and rising cost pressures limit output from many sectors," he added.
"A prolonged period of acute supply and staff shortages could derail the recovery by forcing firms into a more permanent reduction in their operating capacity, eroding their ability to fulfil orders and meet customer demand."


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Sign Up for the South Florida Business Journal Afternoon Edition Newsletter
Send this story to a friend
Disney Wonder to call Miami home in 2015
The Walt Disney Co's Disney Wonder will sail four- and five-night voyages out of Miami in 2015, the company said Tuesday.
Three other ships - Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Magic - will be based out of Port Canaveral, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
This means Disney will be doing most of its sailing in the Caribbean and Bahamas, allowing the company to take full advantage of its own island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay, the Sentinel reports.
The decision comes after Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger said during its fourth-quarter earnings call that the company sees limited opportunities to expand its cruise itinerary or its fleet.
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- 6 South Florida restaurants temporarily closed after inspections
- Miami developer and mortgage broker plead guilty to condo fraud
- Former CEO of failed bank fined by regulators for hiring ex-con
- HCA plans to move Plantation hospital near NSU
- Sony Open tennis tournament gets new sponsor
- Hotel condo planned for waterfront property bought out of foreclosure
- Medical supply company hiring about 250 jobs
- Regulators penalize 3 South Florida securities firms, 2 brokers
- Cybersecurity firm to add 70 jobs
- Two people sentenced to prison for running bank fraud out of coin
Essential business news for South Florida leaders.
Software Architect American Express | Fort Lauderdale, FL
Software Quality Assurance Engineer American Express | Fort Lauderdale, FL
Software Engineer-PEGA American Express | Fort Lauderdale, FL
Software Quality Assurance Manager American Express | Fort Lauderdale, FL
Technical Project Managers American Express | Fort Lauderdale, FL


text:
Canadian media and investment advisory group Corporate Knights has ranked Metso Outotec eighth on its 2021 Global 100 index of the world’s most sustainable companies.
The group said it evaluated 8,080 companies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators relative to industry peers for its 17th index list. Metso Outotec was chosen, Corporate Knights said, because of its net positive impact on the planet within its industry.
“The company has set ambitious goals for sustainability and announced its commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, with targets that are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative,” Corporate Knights said.
Piia Karhu, SVP of business development at Metso Outotec, added that the company is proud of its sustainability work.
“Our focus is on developing sustainable products and services to our aggregates, minerals and metals industry customers. We can support our customers with energy and emission efficient and water efficient solutions as well as circular solutions and safety. We are also committed to reducing the CO2 emissions of our own manufacturing, logistics and supply chain.”
Finland-based Metso Outotec has locations in over 50 countries.


text:
EAC hails Republic of Burundi and United Republic of Tanzania for retifying African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 11th September, 2021: EAC Secretary General Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki has hailed the Republic of Burundi and the United Republic of Tanzania for ratifying the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).
Burundi ratified the AfCFTA on 17th June, 2021 while Tanzania on 9th September, 2021.
Hon. Mathuki said that the AfCFTA would allow East Africans to access a large continental market and increase EAC’s exports to African countries outside the bloc.
“It will also improve movement of people across Africa, advance trade and development aspirations and ultimately put the region in a better position to trade more with the rest of the world,” said Hon. Mathuki.
Dr. Mathuki further disclosed that the EAC had initiated a number of steps towards the implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement, adding that the ratification by Burundi and Tanzania would expedite the implementation of the agreement.
Other EAC Partner States that have ratified the agreement are Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The Republic of South Sudan has signed the AfCFTA but is yet to ratify it.
Dr. Mathuki said that the bloc had almost finalized the submission of its tariff offers, which conform to the agreed modalities in addition to the schedules of liberalization of trade in services.
“We have also prepared a draft strategy for the implementation of the Agreement, which takes into account the need for capacity building. It is presently under consideration by the Partner States,” said Dr. Mathuki.
“Further, we are also fully involved in negotiations on the outstanding areas such as Rules of Origin, Trade in services as well as the phase II issues on investment, competition, intellectual property rights and e-commerce,” he added.
The Secretary General said that it was the expectation of the EAC that the AfCFTA would result in, among other things, lowering of business costs, promote local content and provide a platform for settlement of disputes.
Dr. Mathuki said that EAC would leverage on its existing trade environment to reap maximum benefit from the AfCFTA, namely the: regional customs and trade instruments; interconnectivity of systems including customs and other border clearance agencies; One Stop Border Posts; national Trade Information Portals; simplified trade regimes; trade exhibitions and symposia, and; expansion of the EAC especially the anticipated admission of DRC into the Community.
The Secretary General said that the EAC was currently operationalizing a framework for trade development through the digitalization of markets, information dissemination, and showcasing the region’s products and market opportunities.
For more information, please contact:
Simon Peter Owaka
Senior Public Relations Officer
Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
Tel: +255 768 552087
Email: sowaka [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The EAC Secretariat is ISO 9001: 2015 Certified


text:
Shenmue III Heading To Kickstarter
At Sony's press conference at E3 2015, a Kickstarter project for Shenmue III was announced, with the Kickstarter going live immediately afterward.
Shenmue III will not be a spin off, but a follow-up to Shenmue I and II.
You can check out the Kickstarter at http://bit.ly/saveshenmue.
(As of right now the link is probably being slammed; we're having trouble getting it to load)


text:
MetaMask, the famous cryptocurrency wallet, has announced that it will now support direct digital asset transactions through Apple Pay utilizing debit and credit cards.
One advantage of the invention is that users would be able to directly seed their crypto wallets with digital assets rather than via centralized exchanges (CEXs) like Coinbase. CEXs are frequently seen as a transitional zone between decentralization and centralization – they act as gates to a decentralized economy, but their servers, like those of any conventional firm, are controlled centrally.
MetaMask is arguably more decentralized than traditional CEXs — Joseph Lubin, the co-founder of Consensys, the firm that created the wallet, has said that MetaMask would “gradually decentralize.” With the new Apple Pay functionality, users will be able to access the crypto ecosystem on the more decentralized end of the spectrum.
MetaMask has 30 million monthly active users as of January. That’s more than six times the amount of monthly active users the wallet had in April when Consensys celebrated surpassing 5 million.
MetaMask’s founders are looking to expand their user base to new heights with the inclusion of Apple Pay and a dark mode as part of the wallet’s revamp.
Although it has been widely reported that users would be restricted to purchase $400 worth of cryptocurrencies every day, Wyre, the payments API provider that MetaMask utilizes for the Apple Pay integration, states in their documentation a daily maximum of $500.


text:
Synchrony Drives Radically Simple Customer Experiences
Introduces further enhancements to new account set up accelerating convenience and speed
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MONEY 2020 -- Synchrony (NYSE: SYF), a premier consumer financial services company, today announced more seamless and streamlined experiences for its customers to apply for credit and to make Synchrony Bank deposits. These industry-leading capabilities dramatically simplify the application and account opening processes by reducing the number of fields a customer completes, implementing prefill and redesigning the customer experience from the ground up.
"Synchrony is passionate about driving seamless digital customer experiences," said Synchrony Chief Marketing Officer Bart Schaller. "We've invested heavily in the technology and expertise needed to deliver the fastest and easiest experience possible for our customers."
Three Step Credit Application Process
With nearly half of Synchrony's credit applications originating online and via mobile, Synchrony recently unveiled enhancements to dApply, a digital process that now allows customers to seamlessly apply for credit in just three steps and receive approval right away. Synchrony's robust technology architecture and data-driven credit decisioning, combined with its partnership with Payfone, a digital identity authentication leader whose capabilities passively verify phone line ownership, possession and behavior with Trust Score™, a real time assessment of identity confidence, enables the company to rapidly verify identities, guard against fraud, and approve credit almost instantaneously.
Applicants simply enter the last four digits of their social security number into the digital form and verify the pre-filled information generated from their mobile device fetched from Payfone's de-centralized identity graph, after explicit consumer consent. This is an 80% reduction in the number of fields a customer needs to complete. As a dynamic tool, dApply can be configured to each Synchrony partner, personalizing the look and feel with individual brands. The dApply system works across devices, from mobile to tablet to desktop.
Faster Bank Account Opening
Utilizing the same technologies and learnings, Synchrony also dramatically simplified the process for Synchrony's online bank customers to open and fund an account -- now in as little as five minutes. Employing advanced digital tools, the Synchrony Bank account opening process now has 50 percent fewer fields for a customer to complete. Customer information can be auto-populated in an online form, followed by a few simple questions. Customers no longer have to enter existing bank account information to fund an account, instead leveraging username and password to link accounts.
"The investments we've made in our technology over the past few years have helped us leapfrog the competition and deliver seamless experiences to our customers. We continue to build and develop digital innovations alongside our partners, allowing us to quickly deliver and scale," said Carol Juel, chief information officer, Synchrony. "We'll continue to innovate so we can offer customers what they need wherever they may be shopping – online, instore or via mobile."
Synchrony is a premier consumer financial services company delivering customized financing programs across key industries including retail, health, auto, travel and home, along with award-winning consumer banking products. With more than $140 billion in sales financed and 80.3 million active accounts, Synchrony brings deep industry expertise, actionable data insights, innovative solutions and differentiated digital experiences to improve the success of every business we serve and the quality of each life we touch. More information can be found at www.synchrony.com and through Twitter: @Synchrony.
View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/synchrony-drives-radically-simple-customer-experiences-300946231.html
Released October 28, 2019


text:
Friday, November 30, 2007
Dell Hooks Into CO2 Reporting Efforts
Round Rock-based Dell said this morning that the firm has joined an effort to report carbon emissions from its suppliers, the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration (SCLC). The group provides methodology for Dell's suppliers to report their CO2 emissions. Dell said the move was a part of its commitment to become "the greenest technology company on earth." The SCLC allows the supply chains of its member companies to report greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reduction targets, and climate-change strategy. The Carbon Disclosure Project is a nonprofit, special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.


text: Given Rogers’ previous history with white colored BlackBerry smartphones, we sort of figured these would be coming soon. The latest word on the block is that Rogers will be launching both the BlackBerry Torch 9800 and Bold 9780 in white. In fact dummy display models have already started to arrive at some Rogers stores. It’s not exactly clear what the launch date will be, however we expect to see them almost anytime. Rogers currently sells the BlackBerry Torch 9800 for $229.99 and Bold 9780 for $149.99 with three year term.


text:
Research In Motion is bringing aboard a couple of key executive players as the company strives to win back more customers and launch its BlackBerry 10 platform.
Joining as chief operating officer is Kristian Tear, formerly an executive vice president at Sony Mobile Communications.
In his new role with RIM, Tear will be responsible for all operational aspects of handheld devices and services, including R&D, products, sales, manufacturing, and supply chain.
Tear has worked in the wireless industry for almost 25 years, according to RIM. Prior to his management position with Sony, he was a corporate vice president … Read more


text:
Consumer advocate Richard Lloyd filed a $4.16 billion lawsuit against Google in the UK for allegedly tracking 4.4 million iPhone users nearly 10 years ago in England and Wales. Google used cookies to track people’s browser activity without their permission, which is against British data protection laws.
Adobe is unveiling a new tool called ‘Adobe Journey Optimizer’, to let marketers better personalize their messaging to each customer’s unique purchase journey. Brands can bring various types of customer data in one place and use it to tailor marketing strategies across each step of their purchase path.
LinkedIn, the B2B social media site, grew its revenue by 25% YoY, driven by strong advertising demand in the Marketing Solutions business. Its sessions grew 29% with record engagement and its revenue surpassed $3 billion, which continued to grow nearly three times faster than the B2B digital advertising market.
The advertising revenue of Facebook for Q1 was up 46% YoY to $25.4 billion, accelerating across all regions. The average revenue per user in the United States and Canada clocked in at $48.04. It was $34.18 in the year-ago quarter. Nearly 3.5 billion people used at least one Facebook app or service as of the end of March, marking a 15% increase.
Verizon is exploring selling its media assets, including Yahoo and AOL, a sign the telecom giant may be looking to exit the failing industry for digital media. Verizon paid more than $9 billion total for AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017. These companies were popular during the age of desktop PCs, but Verizon aimed to shift its audience to mobile.
Apple posted revenue of $89.6 billion, up 54% on a surge of iPhone sales, for the quarter ended March 27. Net income more than doubled (up 110%) to $23.6 billion, translating into earnings per diluted share of $1.40. Apple added 40 million net paid subscriptions in the March 2021 quarter, to reach 660 million total across its family of paid services.
Alchemy, which is fast becoming the blockchain world’s version of Amazon Web Services (AWS), has raised $80 million. Alchemy’s ubiquitous infrastructure and developer platform has grown since its public launch eight months ago to reach a $505 million valuation, CEO Nikil Viswanathan said in an interview.


text:
FIS revenue rises in Q1 2016
FIS has revealed its first quarter revenue in 2016 increased to $2.2 billion from $1.6 billion in Q1 2015.
Organic revenue growth was 4.2% in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $637 million in Q1 2016, from $589 million adjusted combined EBITDA in the prior year’s quarter, while the adjusted EBITDA margin was 28.2%.
Gary Norcross, president and chief executive officer, FIS, says the addition of solutions from the Sungard portfolio “significantly expanded” its margins. (FIS bought Sungard last year for $9.1 billion.)
Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders was $259 million for the quarter, or $0.79 per share compared to $0.65 per share in Q1 2015, an increase of 22%.
Not everything went up. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net earnings from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders was $55 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, compared to $114 million or $0.40 per diluted share in the previous year’s quarter.
For FIS’s integrated financial solutions, first quarter revenue grew to $1.1 billion. Organic revenue growth was 5.4% in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $426 million and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 38%.
In terms of its global financial solutions, Q1 2016 revenue increased to $990 million. Organic revenue growth was 4.4% in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $251 million and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 25.4%.
FIS’s latest outlook for the rest of the year is no different to what it said at the start of 2016.
It anticipates an organic revenue growth of 3 to 4%; adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations of $3.70 to $3.80, an increase of 15 to 18% compared to $3.22 per share in 2015.


text:
Miss and Mr. Teen Global India 2016 was held at the Bollywood Sea Queen Beach Resort in Goa from 4-8 May 2016. Prashansa Garg from Amroha and Bhavesh Talmale from Nagpur were crowned as Miss and Mr. Teen Global India 2016.
Miss Teen Global India 2016 – Prashansa Garg
1st runner up – Swati Mishar
2nd runner up – Sehar Bansal
Miss Photogenic – Ankita Mandik
Miss Fashionable – Rebecca David
Miss Confident – Sehar Bansal
Miss Talent – Swati Mishar
Mr Teen Global India – Bhavesh Talmale
1st runner up – Maddy Singh
2nd runner up – Akshay Matheriya
Mr Fashionable – Zunaid Khan
Mr Talent – Akshay Matheriya
Mr Confident – Maddy Singh
Glamourvilla Miss and Mr. Teen Global gives teenagers a platform to showcase their talent and forge a career in fashion and modelling. The winners of Miss and Mr. Teen Global will represent India in Miss and Mr. Teen Grand Sea Universe 2016 to be held in Cyprus along with representatives from 63 countries across the world.
Categories: INDIAN PAGEANT


text:
Next For Nexuiz
Saturday, 24 December, 2005 at 6:31 PST | | Print News
Watch for the Nexuiz 1.3 update to be released in the next few weeks after it's been polished up a bit. The update will include new maps, better support for team play (team selection menu, team color skins), new sound fx, new menu, voting/observer/spectator-mode, new mods (last man standing, minstagib), and an all new skin pack with support for shirt color and pant color alike to Quake1. Check out a couple of screenshots and read more at Nexuiz!
More Planet Quake