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By Bhavana Akella,
Bengaluru : Riding on the fourth industrial revolution with disruptive technologies, global computer data storage major Dell EMC is building IT infrastructure for citizen services like Aadhaar in “Digital India”.
“As a leading hardware vendor, we build IT infrastructure also for the government to provide citizen services like Aadhaar, passports, invoices of customs and GST settlements,” Dell EMC India Managing Director Rajesh Janey told IANS here.
Though US-based Dell Technologies has been hard-selling its computers, laptops, tablets and servers in India over the years, it began providing data storage, hybrid Cloud and data protection solutions to enterprises and state-run organisations following its acquisition of EMC in 2016 for a whopping $67-billion (Rs 4.61 lakh crore).
In September 2016, Dell Technologies acquired Massachusetts-based data-storage systems major EMC Corp, founded in 1979 and named after its founders Richard Egan, Roger Marino and John Curly, in one of the largest deals in the technology sector, worldwide.
“Data on the unique identification card (Aadhaar) issued to citizens is run and stored on our server racks managed by third-party vendors,” Janey said in an exclusive interview.
Similarly, passports are archived on the company’s storage while Customs and Excise departments use Dell IT infrastructure to raise invoices for businesses.
The company sells IT infrastructure products and services, including flash-based storage, data protection, security, hyper-converged infrastructure, backup solutions for small and medium businesses.
“The central and state governments also use our digital platforms for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) settlements by traders on the GST Network across the country, Janey asserted.
In the enterprise segment, leading banks and telecos use Dell EMC’s hardware for computing, storage and data security.
“Our products and solutions enable enterprises to undergo digital transformation as part of the fourth industrial revolution, leaving behind legacies such as mainframes, client servers and networked work stations,” Janey said.
The first industrial revolution occurred in the 18th century when agrarian practices and rural life under went industrial change with the roll out of the steam engine; the second from 1870 to 1914 marked mass production in industries and the third, from the 1980s, and subseqeuntly witnessed the emergence of personal computers and internet.
In the fourth revolution, disruptive technologies have been replacing the conventional platforms with artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), Cloud, robotics and automation.
Hinting that new technologies would disrupt the functioning of many businesses, Janey said the increasing use of AI would make humans digital conductors, telling machines what they have to do.
“More mundane and routine tasks will get offloaded to machines,” he noted.
According to industry estimates, the number of IoT devices — devices, home appliances and vehicles connected through the internet — will explode to 200 billion over the next decade from 20 billion in 2020.
“Dropping cost of networking is fuelling the growth of IoT devices. At the same time, when we have so many devices with data, we need AI to analyse and convert it into actionable intelligence, thereby removing the routine tasks,” the top executive noted.
The evolution of sectors will happen as these technologies are being introduced into them, said Janey, who was earlier EMC’s President for India and the South Asia region.
“The future requires rethinking of what an intelligent human being can do. Our belief is the skilling of workforce will change. People will move away from mundane tasks to higher level skills. Secretarial work will be passe,” he pointed out.
With around 1.3 billion people and growing, India is a huge market for any industry, Janey admitted.
“Skilling our people through initiatives like the government’s Skill India and courses by educational institutions on Big Data are key, as sectors are undergoing digital transformation,” he added.
With India among the top five markets in the world for Dell EMC’s services, after America, China, Europe and Britain, the company is planning to hire more techies in India, Janey said, but did not specify the present workforce present and how many are being hired in the subcontinent.
Dell EMC claims to be the leader in India’s storage market with 43 per cent share by revenue and second-largest in server market with 26 per cent share by revenue.
The company is also said to have leadership in flash-storage and hyper-converged infrastructure segments.
“We are investing $4.5 billion on research and development in fiscal 2018-19. India contributes significantly to the research, particularly in servers,” Janey stated.
“India is ahead of other developing nations in the use of digital infrastructure,” he disclosed.
The country is also at par with the developed nations in innovation as advancements in e-commerce industry like cash-on-delivery and video subscriptions allowing download options by streaming sites are Indian innovations for the world, driven by consumer needs, the official said.
With its diverse offerings through hardware, software and data storage areas, the company is upbeat about its market share increasing in India as businesses head for disruption.
(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at email@example.com )


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CD Projekt Red has stated that the console versions of Cyberpunk 2077 will still look and perform well, despite only showcasing the game running on high-end PC’s so far.
“We’re targeting consoles as first class platforms and it looks amazing there,” he said. “So obviously, if you spent, you know, $2,000 building your PC rig, it’s going to look better on that. But the graphics are quite amazing for what you’re going to get from Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles and low-end PCs.”
On top of that, he stated that the game wasn’t hard to get running on consoles.
Whilst, we haven’t seen the game running on consoles yet, it is nice to know that CD Projekt Red are intending to get the most out of the PS4 platform as they can.
Keanu Reeves was revealed to be playing Johnny Silverhand in the game, where he will have the second most voice lines in the game. This news came alongside a release date at E3 2019, along with a brand new, bloody story trailer, hinting at some themes introduced further into the game. It has been confirmed that the team is currently toying away with Multiplayer features, experimenting with how it could work within the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 is pencilled in for an April 16, 2020 release on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One, although there’s a chance it may also come to the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett down the line. One thing that Cyberpunk 2077 won’t feature is a morality system, although if fans have their way, we’ll be getting a ‘You’re Breathtaking‘ Trophy based on Keanu Reeves’ appearance during Microsoft’s E3 2019 presser.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases for PlayStation 4 on April 16, 2020.
Does this reassure you about the console versions? What are you most excited about when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077.

domain: news


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The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance orders Microsoft to share protocols with its competitors and to pay a $613 million fine the European Commission had required.
By ZDNet Staff
| September 18, 2007 -- 17:00 GMT (10:00 PDT)
| Topic: Enterprise Software
Adobe's Q4 breaks $2 billion in revenue
Oracle Q2 strong on cloud, SaaS momentum
Squarespace raises $200M at a $1.7B valuation: Report
IBM, Walmart, JD.com and Tsinghua University eye blockchain for food supply chain safety in China


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As big a mess as 2020 has been, Long Beach has rallied to help those in need. Churches, non-profits, local organizations, even a dry cleaners, have stepped up to brighten a child’s Christmas, keep that pantry stocked or make sure no one goes without a warm winter coat.
Still, need is greater than ever, especially for food banks where they report demand for assistance among local families has doubled, even tripled this year. This Saturday, Dec. 26 from 9 to 11 a.m., The Belmont Heights United Methodist Church is hosting a drive-thru food and coat drive to help local non-profit, AIDS Food Store of Long Beach meet their needs.
United Methodist Church is encouraging those who’d like to donate to have bags of canned goods and other non-perishables ready to be quickly unloaded out of the cars, by either having them placed in the trunk or backseat of the vehicles so an attendant may easily grab them. The church is also accepting grocery deliveries from Instacart, Amazon Fresh or any other delivery service. You can send those to 241 Loma Ave (zip code is 90803) and specify the font porch as the drop off location.
For those who’d still like to drop-off the goods in person, United Methodist requests that guests wear a mask and maintain a six-foot distance from their on-site attendees.
Coats of any size, new or used, will also be accepted and distributed to Long Beach Children’s Clinic and St. Lukes Church.
For more information visit United Methodist’s Facebook event page, click here, or call (562) 439-6804.
Belmont Heights United Methodist Church is located at 317 Termino Ave.
Support our journalism.
Hyperlocal news is an essential force in our democracy, but it costs money to keep an organization like this one alive, and we can’t rely on advertiser support alone. That’s why we’re asking readers like you to support our independent, fact-based journalism. We know you like it—that’s why you’re here. Help us keep hyperlocal news alive in Long Beach.


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Manufacturers held an estimated 3,600 meetings with retailers. Here’s a look at the strong numbers.
More than 1,400 industry executives — a new record — attended the convention of the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association Oct. 15-18 in Orlando, Fla. Some 100 retailers held an estimated 3,600 business appointments with manufacturers at the event.
That included 600 speed meetings, with 25 retailers and nearly 100 manufacturers participating. These meetings — up by 20% from 2019 — accommodated new members and smaller manufacturers who may have difficulty getting regular appointments.
The opening Taste of Excellence Reception on Sunday, Oct. 16, featured 52 manufacturers, including 13 new NFRA member companies, showcasing 120 frozen and refrigerated food products.
An awards luncheon recognized the 2022 Golden Penguin winners for the March Frozen Food Month, June Dairy Month and June/July Ice Cream & Novelties promotions. Award winners with the highest scoring entries were revealed as Top Marketers. There were four Top Marketer winners for March Frozen Food Month: North Florida Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, Jacksonville; B&G Foods, Parsippany, N.J.; Chris’ Food Center, Sandstone, Minn.; and Schraad Sales & Marketing, Oklahoma City, Okla. The two winners for June Dairy Month were: Land O’Lakes, Arden Hills, Minn.; and Brookshire Grocery Company, Tyler, Texas. Top Marketers for the Ice Cream & Novelties promotion were: Bubbies Ice Cream, Phoenix; and Babbs Supermarket, Spencer, Ind. (Not all winners are pictured.)
Next year’s convention will be Oct. 7-10 at the Marriott Marquis, San Diego. For info: NFRAConvention.org.


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Browser add-on caught selling identifiable web histories
Web of Trust's browser was pulled for being, well, untrustworthy.
Firefox adds a 'Narrate' mode to take your eyes off the screen
Plus some new offline browsing features for Android users.
Google Safe Browsing makes accessing The Pirate Bay harder
Chrome isn't blocking the piracy site outright, though.
Microsoft is still bragging about Edge's battery superiority
You can watch Netflix 45 percent longer than on Chrome, it claims.
Latest Firefox update will help stop your browser from crashing
Plus it's now really easy to find featured add-ons in the Discovery Pane.
Firefox for iOS just received a slew of new updates
Tab recovery, website-specific search and more are among the recently-added features.
Firefox will leave Flash off by default in 2017
It'll start blocking less-than-essential Flash content in August.
Microsoft hopes 1080p Netflix makes Edge your next browser
It also claims Edge bests Chrome and Firefox in battery life while streaming.
Mozilla's 'Context Graph' finds the website you'll want next
So...kinda like StumbleUpon?


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Less than two weeks left to enter the West Midlands Business Masters
TheBusinessDesk.com is today launching the 2020 Business Masters, which will recognise the achievements of firms of all sizes across the region.
There are 13 award categories, covering the full range of business activity in the region. There is one award, Ambassador, for the individual who has made an outstanding contribution either in leading their business or in representing the region or their sector on a bigger stage.
The 2020 Business Masters are being supported by MHA MacIntyre Hudson.
Alex Turner, joint managing director of TheBusinessDesk.com, said: “2019 has been a challenging year in many sectors but the uncertainty has seen the best businesses respond with resilience and imagination – investing, diversifying and disrupting to create success.
“At the same time, businesses in the region have been leading the way on issues including sustainability and workplace wellbeing, creating exciting opportunities while building businesses that people are proud to work for.”
The Business Masters winners will be revealed at TheBusinessDesk.com’s annual dinner at Botanical Gardens, Birmingham, on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
Entries for the awards are now open and must be submitted by the deadline of Friday, December 13, 2019. Click here to see the Business Masters 2020 criteria, and download an Business Masters 2020 entry form here.
The Business Masters is also a great opportunity to promote your business to a large group of growing, ambitious businesses in the region. Contact firstname.lastname@example.org to find out how your business can take advantage of these opportunities.
The 2020 Business Masters award categories are:
Contributing to the Community
Small Business (up to 50 employees)
Medium Business (51 to 250 employees)
Large Business (251+ employees)
Fast Growth Business


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The Angel are delighted to announce that they have won Food Drink Devon’s ‘Best Fine Dining Restaurant 2021’. The glittering 10th anniversary Food Drink Devon Awards Ceremony was held at the New Continental Hotel on Monday 4th October, and hosted by Oz Clarke OBE.
The evening was proof that Devon does food best. Devon has a fabulous selection of restaurants, pubs, cafes, retailers and producers throughout the county; all passionate about creating the best food and drink in the UK. Dartmouth is particularly blessed with some excellent eateries and producers.
The Angel team are simply thrilled to have won Best Fine Dining Restaurant for 2021. It has been an incredibly hard year. The pandemic created problems they could never have foreseen with staff shortages being the biggest. Preparing and producing fine dining dishes takes much time and effort, with input from every member of the team. Their worst news came in July when they very sadly lost their head Pastry Chef Craig Akehurst after a hard fought battle against lung cancer, which has meant they have all struggled with bereavement too.
Elly Wentworth, Head Chef at the Angel said ‘The Angel team are the best, working incredibly hard, even in the most difficult circumstances this past year and this award is a testament to them. I’d like to thank our loyal customers too, as without them and their recommendations and reviews, we would not be where we are today.‘
The whole team would like to thank Food Drink Devon for all of their support, and to congratulate all the other winners on the night, particularly their colleagues in Dartmouth: Bayard’s Cove Inn and Morellos on both achieving Gold awards. They think it is fitting to dedicate this award to Craig, as he was an integral and vital part of the Angel’s success, and would have been so thrilled with the news. They hope to see you soon to showcase fine dining at its best in the beautiful town of Dartmouth.
To find out more about what they do, visit their website at www.theangeldartmouth.co.uk.


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Friday, June 16, 2017
Amazon.com's Acquisition Of Whole Foods Poses Challenge For Thrive Market
Los Angeles-based organic, membership-based food service Thrive Market has a big, new competitor in town--Amazon.com--which just announced a gigantic, $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods on Friday. Thrive has been growing rapidly by providing online access to health food and products ala Whole Foods online, like Amazon.com, using a membership model. Thrive Market has been called a "kindler, gentler" Amazon for organic food, and has been called the next Whole Foods, only online.


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19 Feb Fujifilm’s X-mount has suddenly become a credible option for video
Source: DP Review
When Fujifilm announced its new Fujinon MK 18-55mm T2.9 and MK 50-135mm T2.9 cinema lenses about a year ago it generated a lot of interest. Fujinon is a respected name in the cinema industry and getting these lenses—based on the company’s much more expensive Cabrio line—for a price in the neighborhood of $4,000 was exciting to a lot of people.
Unfortunately, for users of Fujifilm’s own X-mount mirrorless cameras, there was one catch: Fujifilm released the lenses in Sony E-mount.
E-mount? That seemed like a strange choice to people in the camera world.
It’s not so strange when you consider the target market. Sony Super 35 cameras like the FS5 and FS7 are very popular among small production houses, budget filmmakers, and independent producers of various stripes, many of whom can’t afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single lens. As a result, there’s a large addressable market of E-mount shooters who would be interested in this type of product.
X-mount? Not so much. Sure, the X-T2 could shoot 4K video, but came with some big caveats. Video probably wasn’t the feature driving buyers to that camera, especially those serious enough to use cinema lenses for their work.
However, Fujifilm tossed a small easter egg into that announcement: it planned to release the lenses in X-mount…
Fujifilm's X-mount has suddenly become a credible option for video posted on DP Review on .
Read the full article on DP ReviewHome


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Last year saw some big changes in paid search advertising and while previous years have been all about mobile, in 2017 we saw AI becoming a major part of paid search. We all know how much work Google has been doing on artificial intelligence and machine learning so it came as no surprise when this technical know-how started to infiltrate all things paid search. So let’s take a look at some of the biggest paid search trends of 2017.
Advert split testing
Gone are the days of having to manually split test adverts and come up with new ad copy text variations because Google is now pushing advertisers towards the optimise ad rotation option that lets the machines decide on the best advert to show to the person searching. It’s recommended to have at least 3 text adverts in each ad group and the system will even automatically create additional text adverts for approval where they feel performance could be improved.
While keywords remain at the heart of the Google Ads and paid search ecosystem there has been a rise in audience targeting being used to make marketing more personalised and targeted. This comes from growing competition by platforms such as Facebook which offer a lot more options when it comes to audience-based targeting. This means that campaign types such as Dynamic Search Ads and Display campaigns are seeing much more audience targeting options to help bring them on a par with Facebook.
Thanks to mobile devices, voice and digital assistants, local searches continued to grow in 2017. Local searches now account for approximately one-third of mobile searches according to figures by Google. We expect this trend to continue in the year ahead as more and more customers look to connect with businesses that are local to them and visit a shop to satisfy the here and now need.
Retailers continue to use Google Shopping as a way to market their products on the search engines but there is competition. Amazon is perhaps one of the biggest and best known retail platforms in the world and it is now offering a whole host of ad offerings for merchants on its own website. There are also possibilities for future ad serving to customers using voice searches powered by Amazon Alexa. This should lead to some interesting developments in the year ahead as we see shopping adverts continue to evolve.


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Computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) in partnership with Quartz has recently published an article on the disruptive potential of the blockchain. And according to HP, the blockchain is poised to disrupt banks, credit card companies, lawyers and tax collectors.
Everyone has heard the hype about Bitcoin, but the real promise of the technology behind cryptocurrencies is smart contract management—that is, legally binding agreements that execute themselves through software.
In Bitcoin, the contract is the transaction itself: one party sending another funds. But in commercial banking or investments, smart contracts could execute unknowably complex contingencies based on the terms of the contract, all in real-time, with total transparency to the agreeing parties.
If that sounds fast, then it’s warp speed by comparison to the management time for human lawyers, accountants, consultants, and bankers, many of whom bill small fortunes by the hour. By comparison, a smart contract is just software—and not even complex software at that. What makes it unbeatable is its imperviousness to fraud: block chain transactions are recorded in a public ledger holding every transaction with a unique but anonymised key, so if someone modifies one copy of the ledger, everyone else’s copy makes the fabrication clear by comparison.
The question is: if two nerds on the Internet hold a transaction, does anyone care? The Fortune 500 had better. Innovators in the block chain space are experimenting with ways to use the protocol in B2B payments without all the usual limits on transaction volume. If they succeed, credit card companies, payments processors, and legions of accounting and law firms (and of course, the attendant consultancies) would be devastated.
That’ll cost jobs but save billions for companies and individuals alike. But it also will increase the speed (and potentially the anonymity) of transactions at all levels of the economy. With that kind of uptick in volume, the IRS might end up being the most disrupted entity of them all.


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On September 27, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of the MiniMed 530G with Enlite, a first-generation artificial pancreas system that automatically shuts off insulin delivery when blood glucose levels drop too low.
The approval represents the first step toward a fully automated, closed-loop artificial pancreas that would control blood glucose levels without requiring user intervention.
The MiniMed 530G with Enlite, an integrated insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system, is the first device approved in the United States with “threshold suspend” — the ability to suspend insulin delivery when glucose levels have fallen too low. When glucose levels reach a predetermined hypoglycemia (low glucose) threshold — which can be set by a health-care provider from anywhere between 60 mg/dl and 90 mg/dl — the system will sound an alarm. If the user is sleeping or otherwise cannot respond to the warning, the device will suspend all insulin delivery for two hours. Insulin delivery can be resumed at any time.
According to Medtronic, the Enlite sensor (which detects glucose levels) is 31% more accurate than previous sensors and, in tests, it has been able to detect up to 93% of hypoglycemic episodes. The Enlite sensor can be worn for up to six days.
“The diabetes community has eagerly awaited approval of this system that stops insulin delivery when sensor glucose values fall below a predetermined threshold,” said Richard M. Bergenstal, MD.
The MiniMed 530G with Enlite is approved for people with diabetes ages 16 and up. It will be available within the next few weeks at a retail price of $7,350; those with insurance will generally pay from $500 to $1,200 out of pocket, according to Medtronic.


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A Sony exclusive right now is its MLB The Show baseball simulation series, which has wowed PlayStation owners for many years. Now it’s looking to do a little bit of expansion to other game systems.
Sony, Major League Baseball, and the MLBPA have announced a multi-year extension to their current deal. With it, Sony Santa Monica will continue to develop its award-winning series for years to come. But here’s the exciting part of the agreement. Past this March’s release of MLB The Show 20 for PlayStation 4, the series will go to other platforms in 2021. (And not just PlayStation 5.)
“The historic expansion of the long-standing partnerships will bring MLB The Show, for the first time, to additional console platforms beyond PlayStation platforms as early as 2021.” However, complete details on which platforms will come “at a later date.”
The first company to be excited about the news is Microsoft. The official Xbox Twitter account responded after this announcement, noting, “No more away games.”
Nintendo of America chimed in as well, with a simple baseball emoji, pictured below.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 10, 2019
This announcement is exciting news for sports fans, though many wonder if Sony will save some exclusive features for its PlayStation 5 version of MLB The Show when it likely debuts in 2021. All the same, the idea of playing the series on an Xbox platform — and even the Nintendo Switch — is pretty cool.
For the time being, fans can check out MLB The Show 20 when it debuts on PlayStation 4 on March 17, 2020. Check out the latest trailer below.


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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Walgreens' e-commerce president Sona Chawla has been appointed to serve on the board of directors at specialty retail apparel chain Express.
Chawla, who will serve as a class-3 director and brings the number of directors on Express' board to seven, also will serve on the Express' compensation and governance committee. Chawla has lead Walgreens' e-commerce business since January 2011. Prior to her role at Walgreens, she served in roles at Dell and Wells Fargo.
"I am pleased to welcome Sona to the board," Express board chairman, president and CEO Michael Weiss said. "Sona's particular knowledge and experience in e-commerce, marketing, strategy and general management will be extremely beneficial to Express as we continue to deliver on our four pillars of growth, particularly e-commerce."


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According to The Wall Street Journal, Intel is reportedly looking into purchasing Broadcom, assuming Broadcom’s hostile takeover of Qualcomm works out.
Back in November, Broadcom attempted to purchase Qualcomm, in what would be the single largest takeover of a chipmaker ever. The initial offer was declined by Qualcomm’s board of directors, as well as every subsequent counter offer. In response, Broadcom is attempting to replace some of Qualcomm’s board, allowing the purchase to be finalized. Qualcomm has also been trying to purchase NXP Semiconductors, to make matters more complicated.
Reportedly, Intel believes a combined Qualcomm and Broadcom would pose a serious threat to the company. While Intel no longer develops SoCs for smartphones, it still manufactures other components, like cell radios. Intel is eager for the hostile takeover to fail, but if Broadcom succeeds, it may try to purchase the combined company.
Full Content: Wall Street Journal


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It should come as no surprise to regular Go2Mac readers that Apple is preparing to announce a new LCD-based iMac at Macworld Expo in just over two weeks. Some additional juice has been uncovered about the new model.
We're looking for a WordPress developer. If that sounds like you, get in touch.
Buy stuff from Amazon? Please use our affiliate link!
...or shop our Amazon nano store.
Amazon - Buy a digital camera or a new MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.
Dropbox – Sign up for free using our link and we get an extra 250MB.


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Pinterest said on Thursday that it reached 200 million monthly active users after a spike in growth from the last year.
To put it into perspective, Twitter has 328 million monthly active users, while Facebook has 2 billion and Instagram has 700 million. While it's not beating any of the major social networks, at least Pinterest climbed over Snapchat's 173 million monthly active users.
If you're not familiar with Pinterest, it's a social network where you set up your own pinboards, find pictures you like and "pin" them based on themes, whether it's wedding cakes or cute puppies. More than 75 percent of their new users over the last year came from outside the US, the company said in a blog post.
Pinterest is celebrating its milestone achievement by introducing new features like subsections within boards and pinch to zoom.


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- Event Coverage
Britain-based audio company RHA has just launched their new flagship T20 in-ear earphones, and we were on hand to bring you a quick first look at the set.
At its Printing and Personal Systems Innovation Day, HP showcased its efforts to advance design and innovation across the print and PC markets. On display was the dual-screen, gesture-based computer, the HP Sprout, and a range of other consumer and enterprise devices that are ready for Windows 10.
Happening from 4th to 7th June, PC Show 2015 is the place to be at this time of the year if you're looking for the best IT and consumer electronics deals. Before you head down to the Singapore Expo, why not check out our article first for some of the best deals?
Looking to buy a new tech gadget? At this time of the year, your best bet will be at PC Show 2015, which will run from June 4 to 7 at the Singapore Expo. Stay tuned to this spot as we update our list of bargains as they become known.
BroadcastAsia and CommunicAsia were back in swing early this month, and we were on ground to bring you some key highlights from the annual communications and broadcast trade show event.
Following the official launch of the Carrizo APU, AMD had several industry wins to showcase and assure us that they will be in retail soon. Expect these systems and more from the end of June.
Antec has been teasing their bold new Signature Series casing for sometime now, but it's finally out of the bag at Computex! We take a closer look at this stylish, easy maintenance S10 Signature casing.
Intel just announced the new Thunderbolt 3 standard that uses the USB-C port and it will be compatible with other protocols such as USB, DisplayPort and PCI Express.
The new Transformer Book Flip and Transformer Book T100HA from ASUS will come preloaded with Windows 10 and will be amongst the first devices in the market to come with USB Type-C ports.
AMD introduced the latest addition to its line of desktop A-Series processors, the A10-7870K "Godavari" APU, a refresh to the existing "Kaveri" line of processors. Find out what's different and the capabilities of this new APU.
- Here's how the Samsung-made A9 chip fared against its TSMC counterpart in benchmarks
- Is the Apple iPhone 6s more popular than the 6s Plus in the first week of sales?
- Sony announces list of Xperia devices getting Android 6.0 Marshmallow update
- Microsoft surprises us with the Surface Book; calls it the "ultimate laptop"
- Microsoft Surface Pro 4 to be available here starting Nov 19; and here are the prices
- The Surface Pro 4 is the best tablet Microsoft has ever built
- The Microsoft Lumia 550 is yet another budget Windows 10 phone
- Microsoft unveils two flagship Windows 10 phones: the Lumia 950 and 950 XL


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Taco Bell, which has become an expert at catering to experience-driven millennials, is jumping into the gig economy in a new partnership with Lyft.
On Tuesday, July 25 the fast-food chain will introduce “Taco Mode,” a special option on the Lyft ridesharing app that will allow passengers to tack on a Taco Bell “ride-thru.” Once a passenger selects “Taco Mode” on the app, the Lyft map will morph: Car icons will turn into tacos “and soon a taco-themed car will pick them up and take the passenger to their next destination: Taco Bell,” the Irvine-based chain said in a statement.
Passengers in Taco Mode will be treated to various swag and food once they enter the taco-themed car, including a free Doritos Locos Taco. As you go through the Taco Bell drive-through to snatch your order, expect the lane to be “decked out with special lighting, completing the Taco Mode experience,” Taco Bell said.
But there’s a catch.
The Taco Mode/Lyft experiment will only be available from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. July 27-29 and Aug. 3-5 at the Taco Bell at 1400 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Riders within a certain geographical radius of the Newport Beach restaurant will be able to access the Taco Mode experience. Roughly 15 Lyft vehicles — all wrapped with cartoonish taco and tortilla chip graphics — will be available in the area, Taco Bell said.
The fast food chain, known for its edgy marketing tactics, said Taco Mode is another way to give its core young consumers a convenient way to access the brand.
“We realized that for every person who has asked their Lyft driver to make a pit-stop at Taco Bell – and we’ve seen many – there are likely those who weren’t sure if this was possible,” Taco Bell’s Chief Marketing Officer Marisa Thalberg said in a statement. “With the advent of this fantastic partnership with Lyft, we will erase any lingering uncertainty and celebrate the ability to ‘ride-thru’ in Taco Mode.”
Roughly 28 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds and 19 percent of 30- to 49-year-olds have used ride-hailing services, according to a 2016 report by the Pew Research Center. The median age of adult ride-hailing users in the United States is 33, the report said.
Market research firm NPD Group in New York said time-strapped Gen Xers are also demanding more convenience when it comes to the foodservice industry. NPD restaurant analyst Bonnie Riggs said restaurants who “enhance engagement” among their core consumers will increase sales and loyalty.
“In a competitive environment it’s important for restaurant operators to understand how to gain the attention of important consumer groups,” Riggs said in a statement released Monday.
Taco Bell and Lyft plan to add more Taco Mode ride-sharing options in other markets by the end of the year with an eventual national rollout expected in 2018. The Taco Bell pit stop is not expected to drive up the price of the Lyft ride. The cost of the ride will be calculated based on your pickup and drop-off location within the app.


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Transformation has been a recurring topic this spring among speakers at retail technology conferences. It is not uncommon to hear transformation out of one side of their mouth and disruption out of the other.
Pitney Bowes’ CEO Marc Lautenbach offered one of the better perspectives on transformation in late April at his company’s inaugural (R)Evolution conference. Not only is he guiding Pitney Bowes’ own transformation, his team offers the retail industry a platform upon which brands and retailers can evolve their global retail operations to better serve today’s cross-border shopper.
Marc talked about living through a period of transformation at IBM that started in 1995. Seven years prior to 1995, IBM’s biggest problem was what to do with all its cash. That changed rather quickly.
As he looked out into the future, one where Pitney Bowes serves as an agent of change within the retail sector, he offered the audience seven timely take-aways.
Change comes quickly as markets rise and fall. One dynamic doesn’t change; incumbents get disrupted. One-time industry leaders like IBM, GM and Sears have all lived it. They have survived to talk about it. For now, at least.
Marc talked about how the IBM of the nineties had not adequately prepared for change. IBM’s leadership didn’t heed the lessons from past decades as they collectively witnessed members of the Fortune 500 rise, only to fall. As a result, IBM needed to play catch-up. Some would argue that IBM is once again playing catch-up.
In the retail industry today, Marc said you have two choices — embrace change or put your head in the sand.
Like many speakers on the digital commerce circuit, Marc’s story about the transformation of retail starts with the rise of Amazon in 1994. He pointed out that it has taken Amazon less than 25 years to build a market cap of $450 billion plus.
Although there is obviously a technology component to Amazon’s rise, Marc spoke to the strategic underpinning of Amazon’s role in the transformation of retail. Put simply, the company has a different view of how business can be done. Amazon’s obsessive, customer-centric view of shopping is a huge driver of the transformation of retail.
Marc stressed that understanding and anticipating what a customer wants is the key to surviving into the future. He encouraged the audience to read Jeff Bezos’ letter to shareholders to appreciate why Amazon always thinks it is Day 1 — and why Amazon’s success is tied directly to its fixation on the client.
Marc spoke about how this lesson has helped shape his vision for Pitney Bowes’ transition. He reflected on an executive event at Silicon Valley which featured a mixture of execs from older companies – a virtual who’s who of big tech brands as he put it – and a group of startups.
The old company guys were passionate about a product – if not two. The start-ups were focused on how the market was changing before their eyes. They talked about how customers were driving change.
Marc reminded us that there is always a half-life to a product or service. Companies with a second chapter are those that could transition their thinking from product to the market and to the client. Transitioning thinking in this manner is how companies create value today.
Marc stressed that retail channels have become less important. Why? In part because channels separate companies from their customer.
Those that get disintermediated from the customer place their future at risk by doing so. He explained that the reason we see so many companies being left behind today is that they don’t spend enough time thinking about the necessity of customer-proximity, at least not in a hard-enough way.
From Day 1 of executing a transformation, companies need to be clear about where they are heading. Employees need to understand as well as clients. Writing your own letter to your stakeholders may be a good way to prep for transformation.
Marc stressed that today very few companies live in both the physical and digital world. As a result, disruption will and should happen.
A firm’s culture is key to successfully riding the waves of disruption. Culture defines an organization’s collective capacity to deliver value. How you create value determines where you head — and how you get there.
Marc reminded us that Pitney Bowes had been innovative for decades. A while ago perhaps, before many of today’s younger executives had come of age.
More recently the company had made a slew of acquisitions. Some really solid, others less so.
But Pitney Bowes hadn’t been in a good fight for a while. Sometimes a good fight lets you know who you really are – and what you’re made of (our words, not his :>).
Marc also shared a lesson from an executive training exercise. The executives were asked to write their company’s obituary – both the good and bad. He encouraged the audience to do this themselves* because it makes leaders stop and think about why they succeed … or fail.
Doing so can also clarify your thinking. If you have a clear view, then you can move with speed and purpose. Both are crucial to survival. But doing both simultaneously can challenging. For instance, Kodak saw the future, but couldn’t move fast enough.
On the right path
Those on Wall Street and in the press that have been writing retail’s obituary this spring have missed the point. Retail isn’t dying. To the contrary, it is healthy, thriving and full of innovation.
However, the state of retail’s transformation is accelerating. Tomorrow’s leaders are driving the evolution.
Pitney Bowes appears to have the leadership vision, the culture and the opportunity to help accelerate the evolution of retail.
The GELF community certainly believes that the future of retail is a global shopping world without borders. Other leaders in the ecommerce industry think the same.
Companies like Pitney Bowes are transforming in lockstep with their customers. The challenge is staying in stride alongside their clients. Often they will need to take the lead; other times following closely behind the customer will be good enough.
Marc is correct that it is a fascinating time to be an innovator in retail. Both peril and opportunity await.
It’s also important to remember that surviving the peril while seizing the opportunity is more about keeping up with the customer than with the competition.
Until next time,
*Check out Why leaders should write their own companies obituary. By James Allen of the Wall Street Journal


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What do Filipinos listen to online?
MANILA, Philippines – Over a decade after they disbanded, the Eraserheads are still making their presence felt. The Pinoy Fab Four – arguably the most influential local rock band of this or any other generation – is the most played OPM artist on music streaming service Spotify.
The news was relayed by Sunita Kaur, Spotify’s managing director for Asia, 4 months after the app launched in the Philippines. (WATCH: Music video for new Eraserheads song 'Sabado')
“After the Eraserheads, it’s Sarah Geronimo, then MYMP, UpDharmaDown, and Rivermaya,” Kaur said. At numbers 6 to 10 are Regine Velasquez, Toni Gonzaga, Gary Valenciano, Juris (ex-vocalist of MYMP), and Lani Misalucha.
Filipinos also prove once again how we love sentimentality, as the most streamed international artist is Boyce Avenue, a group best known for their stripped down, acoustic covers of songs by other pop and rock artists.
“It’s wonderful because [Filipinos are] so true to who you are and what you love,” Kaur said. “You like love songs. It’s wonderfully cheesy. And that makes us smile. You think about people’s differences, but still, fundamentally, we are the same throughout the world because we all love music.”
Interestingly, the number one most streamed song in the Philippines is “Summer” by Calvin Harris. Number two is “Not A Bad Thing” by Justin Timberlake, followed by “All Of Me” by John Legend, “Problem” by Ariana Grande, “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea, “A Sky Full Of Stars” by Coldplay, “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors, “Talk Dirty” by Jason Derulo (feat 2Chainz), “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit (feat Jess Glynne), and “Magic” by Coldplay.
Meanwhile, the most streamed OPM track is Sarah Geronimo’s “Maybe This Time,” UpDharmaDown’s “Tadhana” is number two, followed by “Diwata” by Abra, “Starting Over Again” by Lani Misalucha, “Ikot-Ikot” by Sarah Geronimo, “Pare Ko” and “Ang Huling El Bimbo” by the Eraserheads, “Indak” by UpDharmaDown, “Dahan Dahan” by Maja Salvador, and “Ligaya” by the Eraserheads.
Spotify is the world’s largest paid music streaming service, with 20 million users and 10 million subscribers as of mid-2014. The app was officially launched in the Philippines in April, and while Kaur said they don’t have the exact number of downloads and users, she descibes the growth as “phenomenal.”
“We are growing in the Philippines at such a rate that whatever number I give you now will be obsolete tomorrow,” she said. “We are adding thousands of new people every week. One thing that we are looking to do is to wait for the numbers to settle a bit. Traditionally we start looking at a market 12 to 18 months after the market has launched.”
One figure that Kaur did reveal is one million, which is the number of playlists generated by Filipino users since the launch in April. “It has taken other countries years to get to that number, and it only took 4 months here in the Philippines. We just feel so loved here.”
Spotify has also revealed a study that further illustrates Filipinos’ enduring obsession with their mobile phones. While only 46% of the total users across Asia access the app through their phones, the number jumps to 78% here in the Philippines. “We definitely love our mobile phones here,” Kaur said with a grin.
While Spotify has entered into a partnership with local telecoms company Globe (subscribers can get Spotify bundled with Globe’s GoSurf plan), the company said they are not really concerned by rival music streaming services. In the Philippines, Smart has their own service called Spinnr and recently launched their own partnership with Paris-based Deezer.
“This is something that we are seeing all over the world,” Kaur said. “Apple bought Beats, Google bought Songza. For what we’re doing as an industry, the more people getting involved in the music streaming service, the more people are educated about what music streaming is about. And that in turn will help to battle piracy, which is what we are all trying to do. We are far more distracted by piracy than we are by each other.”
Piracy is still a serious issue in the local music industry, with available data showing that as much as 95% of music here is lost to piracy. It’s too early to say if Spotify has made a dent in decreasing that number, but Kaur says that with the service’s entry in the Philippines, there has been some strides towards that goal.
“We use Sweden as an inspiration. It was also very rife with piracy; it’s the home of Piratebay. In the 6 years we’ve been there, piracy has been reduced 25%. That’s what we want to do here in the Philippines.” –Rappler.com


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The technology giant in October had announced that it would start manufacturing the Pixel 8 in India soon.
Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill Courses
The move will help Google diversify its supply chain away from China, the Nikkei report said, citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The tech giant will prepare production lines for its high-end Pixel 8 Pro smartphones in the coming weeks and start producing phones in the April-June quarter, the report added, citing multiple sources.
The report did not say how many phones Google plans to manufacture India nor if the phones will be for sale in the country or for exports.
Google said it has partnered with international and domestic manufacturers to produce the device in India. “This is an early step towards expanding the production here to meet the local demand for Pixel devices,” he added.
Stating that India is a priority market for Pixel, Osterloh said that the company is working to expand authorised Google service centres in India to improve after-sales services.
(With agency inputs)


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Indonesia Animal feed market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.13% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$12.208 billion in 2025 from US$9.043 billion in 2019.The export forecasts for beef and chicken meat trade have been constrained due to the current threats from the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This has invariably dampened the demand for animal protein. Further, the widespread closure of the food and beverage establishments, especially those of food services as well as the reduction of tourism and travel has affected the demand for protein. Furthermore, disruptions in shipping have affected global trade resulting in creating choke points and ports and hampering container availability, for the time being. Reflecting on the Indonesian economy, during late February 2020, the economic growth estimates were revised from 5.1 percent to 5 percent [Source: Indonesia Central Bank (Bank Indonesia)] due to a global economic slowdown and COVID-19 pandemic. After the official announcement from the Government of Indonesia on confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia, it has implemented various measures to reduce to the spread, including limiting travel, social distancing, and banning large gatherings. Consequently, the weakening Rupiah,which reached Rp. 16,273 to the dollar, approaching levels last seen during the 1998 financial crisis which conveyed overall stress in the Indonesian economy. The Indonesian economy is expected to fall below 5 % in 2020 [ Source: USDA].
on February 10, 2020, the Ministry of Trade (MOT) issuedregulation number 7/2020 on Buying Reference Prices at Farmer’s Level and Selling Reference Prices atCustomer Level for several commodities, to ensure stable supply and prices. The poultry industry consumes significant share of domestic animal feed supplies followed by aquaculture that consumes and cattle and swine the afore mentioned MOT regulation sets up buying prices of chicken meat, day-old chicks, and egg due to the fluctuating prices of poultryproducts. To support the MOT regulation, and to ensure a balance of supply and demand of day-oldchicks, on February 20, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) issued a circular letter on hatching eggs.The letter requires integrated poultry farmers to withdraw a total of 15 million of 19-days old hatchingeggs from hatching machine every week for February 4 – 29, 2020. The policy is expectedto reduce day old chick production by approximately 40 million head by the end of March 2020. At theend of December 2019, integrated poultry farmers produced a total of 262.9 million hatching eggs. The policy, combined with lower consumption due to COVID-19, is expected to lower overall poultry meatproduction in 2020.
Besides, On December 12, 2019, Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo issued a Ministerial Decree declaring an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in North Sumatera Province.The decree was followed by a notification from the Director-General of Livestock and Animal Health Service and Indonesia’s Chief Veterinary Officer to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). As of February 6, 2020, Indonesia had reported 857 outbreaks, in 18 of 33 districts of North SumateraProvince, resulting in about 42,000 dead hogs. The ASF outbreak began in Dairi District and spread to 17 other districts, including Medan, the capital of theprovince. Indonesia’s animal health authorities estimated the outbreak onset was September 4, 2019. An ASF outbreak would likely hamper the East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT), (located next to Timor Leste) and its plan to become Indonesia’s hog production center. Besides, contrasting extensive economic headwinds, impacts from African swinefever in China, and other countries remain a dominant factor in the market for pork. [Source: USDA].
However, the combination of population growth and strong economic growth between 1998 and 2008 resulted in Indonesian meat consumption more than its double. Over the 20 years to 2018 from 1998, per person, meat consumption has grown strongly in Indonesia (by 89%). A rapid rise in fish consumption has been driven by strong growth in domestic fish production compared with other meats. Fish remains the significant source of protein in Indonesia, largely unchanged from 1998. Per person consumption in Indonesia increased markedly with small increases in income over the period [Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment]. Thus, despite the current uncertainties the Indonesian animal feed market is poised for healthy growth during the forecast period.


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Buissy.com, the marketplace for software that enhances business efficiency, has released v0.3 of the website.
Buissy.com, the marketplace for software that enhances business efficiency, today released a new version of the website.
Version 0.3 includes, in addition to what was previously offered, search functionalities and connection to twitter. A lot of work has also been done to increase the visibility for companies searching for a business software directory.
In April, Buissy.com will release v1 of a new natural electronic meeting place between vendors, of software and services that are focused to enhance business efficiency and communication, and their potential customers. Minor versions, to give the opportunity for vendors and purchasers to get a feeling of what the site will offer, is already released and a lot of vendors have already taken the opportunity to add their product to the site.
Until April, new releases will be published every 2 weeks, to slowly enhance the experience of the users. During the year, Buissy.com will release functionality that will revolutionize the world for purchasers, who wish to find an efficient solution for their business, and vendors, who wish to find a way to market and communicate their products.


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The growth of Cosmo Corp. during its 61-year history could be measured in small strides. However, the Solon-based maker of injection molded components is making two giant leaps with the acquisition of a Texas competitor and the start of a $12 million capital project in China. Cosmo on Feb. 13 completed the purchase of injection molder Plastron Industries Inc. of Pharr, Texas. Cosmo, which produces knobs and other plastic parts for the electrical and electronics industries, plans to add 40 jobs later this year when it integrates the Texas operation into its business in Northeast Ohio, said Cosmo president Marc Gordon. As part of the deal, Cosmo will acquire 50 precision molding machines. Publicly traded Summa Industries Inc. of Torrance, Calif., owner of Plastron, reported this month that it had sold most of Plastrons assets excluding the real estate in Pharr to Cosmo for $5.7 million. Cosmo employs 200 at its headquarters and 80,000-square-foot plant in Solon, as well as another 100 workers at its 65,000-square-foot plant in Wilmot, Ohio, near Massillon. Both sites have enough space to handle more work from the purchase of Plastron, Mr. Gordon said. He described the acquisition as the biggest in Cosmos history. Mr. Gordon said Cosmo already has added a dozen engineers and other support personnel in anticipation of the coming consolidation. Erin Linville, the companys new marketing director, said the Plastron deal strengthens Cosmos customer base in Mexico, providing Cosmo with a strategic bookend to its established business footprint in the United States and Canada. (Plastron) brings a more robust customer base in Mexico compared with Cosmo, Ms. Linville said. However, because Plastrons manufacturing capability couldnt match customer demand, she said Cosmo will step up to fulfill additional orders from Plastron customers. The challenge, however, is moving production to Ohio without interrupting product flow to Plastron customers. You just cant flip a switch, Ms. Linville said. The addition of Plastron will boost Cosmos revenues to about $20 million this year from $14 million in 2005, she said. Like Cosmo, Plastron makes plastic components for the electrical and electronics industries. Not content to stop at one border, Cosmo is about to begin construction on a 110,000-square-foot production plant in Tianjin, China. Mr. Gordon said the plant isnt an outsourcing measure, but an effort to better serve the companys growing customer base in China and other Asian countries. The $12 million plant will boast molding, assembly and tool-fabricating processes. Cosmo has had a design center in Tianjin since 2004.
Cosmo grows with purchase, China deal
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Weighed down by challenging economic conditions for most part of the past year, India has slipped to 71st position - the lowest among BRICS countries - in an annual global competitiveness list, with Switzerland claiming the top spot.
The annual list, released on Wednesday by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), comes at a time when the new Indian government has completed 100 days in power and has promised further steps to revive its economy and the ease of doing business in the country.
“Continuing its downward trend and losing 11 places, India ranks 71st. The country’s new government faces the challenge of improving competitiveness and reviving the economy, which is growing at half the rate of 2010,” WEF said.
As per the >Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15 , Switzerland is the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore.
Other countries in the top ten are Finland (4), Germany (5), Japan (6), Hong Kong SAR (7), Netherlands (8), United Kingdom (9) and Sweden (10).
China, which has improved its position by one place to 28th spot, leads the BRICS grouping, among which India has the least ranking. Russia is ranked at 53rd position, followed by South Africa (56) and Brazil (57).
“India’s decline of 11 places to 71st, set against the gains of the ASEAN 5 countries, suggests that the competitiveness divide South and Southeast Asia is becoming more pronounced,” WEF said.
Besides India, WEF said that some of the world’s largest emerging market economies continue to face difficulties in improving competitiveness. These include Saudi Arabia (24th rank), Turkey (45), Mexico (61), Nigeria (127th), South Africa and Brazil - all of them have slipped in their rankings.
According to the report, India’s slide in the competitiveness rankings began in 2009, when its economy was still growing at 8.5 per cent (it even grew by 10.3 per cent in 2010).
“Back then, however, India’s showing in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) was already casting doubt about the sustainability of this growth.
“Since then, the country has been struggling to achieve growth of 5 per cent. The country has declined in most areas assessed by the GCI since 2007, most strikingly in institutions, business sophistication, financial market development, and goods market efficiency,” it added.
Noting that improving competitiveness would yield huge benefits for India, WEF said it would help re-balance the economy and move the country up the value chain ensuring more solid and stable growth.
“This in turn could result in more employment opportunities for the country’s rapidly growing population,” it added.
WEF further said that India needs to create a sound and stable institutional framework for local and foreign investors as well as improve connectivity.
The rankings are based on WEF’s GCI which is based on scores covering 12 categories.
They are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.
“The strained global geopolitical situation, the rise of income inequality, and the potential tightening of the financial conditions could put the still tentative recovery at risk and call for structural reforms to ensure more sustainable and inclusive growth,” WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.
As per the report, there is uneven implementation of structural reforms across different regions and levels of development as the biggest challenge to sustaining global growth.
Talent and innovation are the two areas where leaders in the public and private sectors need to collaborate more effectively in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic development, it added.
“The leading economies in the index all possess a track record in developing, accessing and utilising available talent, as well as in making investments that boost innovation.
“These smart and targeted investments have been possible thanks to a coordinated approach based on strong collaboration between the public and private sectors,” the report said.


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The Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers will be holding a basket raffle and auction on March 31 so they can afford more reward money.
Crime Stoppers is an independent organization that works with local police to offer monetary rewards for anonymous tips to help solve crimes. The raffle and auction is being held to refill the tip money, officials said.
“We’re a nonprofit,” explained Anna Johnson, treasurer at Crime Stoppers. “All the fundraising money we have is put into the tip hotline fund.”
The raffle and auction will be held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post on North Washington Street from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, officials said.
The items in the raffle and auction are donations from local businesses, individuals and organizations, officials said. They include golf items, sports memorabilia, gift certifications to local businesses and other items, including four park-hopper passes for Disney World in Orlando.
Tickets are $1 each and $5 for the Disney World tickets.


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During last summer, Tech-giant Google has announced a new
video format to simplify the creation of virtual reality content named VR180.
Now at CES-2018, they’ve partnered with Lenovo and Yi Technology to bring VR180
to consumer hardware in the form of a new Daydream headset and two VR cameras.
The class new headset, manufactured by Lenovo, is the Mirage
Solo with Daydream, the first Daydream headset that works all on its own
without the need to dock a smartphone. The Mirage Solo takes advantage of
Google’s WorldSense motion tracking technology that Google characterizes as
“PC-quality,” able to sense when a user does things like crouch, dodge, lean,
take a step in any direction, or just tilt their head.
The headset runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and 4GB of
RAM, so it’s in line with at least 2017’s flagship phones, and Lenovo claims it
lasts up to seven hours on a charge. Neither Google nor Lenovo have announced
the resolution of the headset’s display, though Qualcomm’s chip supports up to
1440p, like what you’d find in a phone with a quad-HD display.


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Sharing memories and food at Alderbrook Farm Stand's closing day
On New Year’s Eve, business at Alderbrook Farm was much busier than usual. Fans and loyal customers of all ages were paying one last visit to the iconic Russells Mills Village farm stand on its final day in operation.
December 31 was the last full day of business for the farm stand, which has been open for 20 years in the heart of the village.
Owners Nancy and Allen Manley had announced in October they intended to close the farm stand by the end of the year, with the December 31 deadline solidified in recent weeks.
In the final hour of operation, Nancy, Sam Manley, and Kevin Vieira greeted visitors, as many stopped by with cards, thank-you’s, and memories of their own.
“It’s been busy, everyone’s been coming in to wish us well,” Nancy said. “It’s been bittersweet. People are happy for us, but sad it’s closing.”
As a final thank-you to loyal customers, the Manelys were handing out small bottles of Alderbrook’s staple honey, emblazoned with a “Thank You” message on the bear-shaped bottle.
“We hope people will take the lessons they learn here,” Sam added, explaining the farm has provided a space for learning for many years.
Mothers would come in and have their kids add up the prices of produce at the honor box counter, and the farm’s always open tours meant people learned to respect animals and learn lessons about agriculture.
Many who stopped by have been coming to the farm for years, like Jessica Cook, who brought her children Delia and Owen with her.
“We had to get our last visit in,” Cook said. “I’ve lived right down the road for 15 years.”
While the farm stand has been shuttered, it won’t remain empty for long. The farm itself will remain with the Manleys and will remain in operation. The Manleys plan to open the farm stand to the public for special events like the Grange Fair and for wreath sales.
Fans of Alderbrook’s honey can still purchase it at the nearby Davoll’s General Store and Gooseberry Natural Foods in Westport.
There is one last celebration planned: A special open house event at the Dartmouth Grange Hall on January 12, 2020 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Fans will be able to write down their memories of the farm, and contribute letters, photos, artwork, and other memorabilia for inclusion in an album. Visit welovealderbrook.com for more information.


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from the match-made-in-hell dept.
krugdm writes "Remember about five years ago when Apple announced their deal with Microsoft where Apple agreed to bundle IE with new Macs and drop a patent lawsuit, and the guys from Redmond were to continue to develop Office for the Mac as well as purchase $150 million in Apple stock? Well, that deal expires this summer. describing the love-hate relationship the two companies have had in the time since 1997 and wonders whether the pact will be renewed."
The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to
watch someone else doing it wrong, without commenting.
-- T.H. White


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Oppenheimer analyst Tim Horan upgraded Akamai stock to outperform from neutral, with a target price of 80. Jim Suva, a Citigroup analyst, upgraded F5 Networks to buy from neutral and hiked his price target to 175 from 143.
F5 Networks stock had jumped nearly 47% to 142.40 in 2016 as of Tuesday, well extended from its last buy point of 125.01 touched in July. Shares of F5 Networks have traded well above its 50-day moving average since its last earnings report, in late October.
IBD'S TAKE: Both F5 Networks and Akamai belong to IBD's Internet-Network Solutions group, which is ranked No. 134 out of 197 industry groups. Gigamon, which had been the group's leader, has dropped out of the IBD 50, where chip maker Nvidia is the top-rated stock.
Akamai's stock has climbed 19% in 2016 through Tuesday, despite slowing revenue and EPS growth. The stock has been forming a flat base, with a buy point of 71.14.
Akamai closed 2.8% higher at 66.99 in the stock market today. F5 rose 1.2% to end at 144.08.
"Akamai has done a good job diversifying into cloud security and we believe that high 30% growth for the product category is achievable over the next couple of years," said Horan in his research report.
Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai's CDN (content delivery network) services increase the speed of e-commerce transactions, business software downloads and video streaming to mobile devices.
"Akamai could also be a viable acquisition target for any company looking to create unique/highly secure cloud capabilities, but we do not believe it is for sale," Horan wrote. "We believe Akamai would be a great fit for Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Oracle (ORCL) and many other companies looking to break into the cloud services space."
Suva rates F5 Networks as Citigroup's "top stock pick in IT hardware." "We shift Cisco Systems lower, still maintaining a buy rating, given the (potential) tax benefits from Trump administration" Suva said in a report.
Seattle-based F5 Networks is the leading maker of application delivery controllers (ADCs) — electronic boxes that direct data traffic to computer servers. ADCs optimize server workloads in corporate and telecom data centers, helping speed up websites and communication networks.


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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today issued a Notice directing licensed payment service providers providing cross-border money transfer services to suspend for the next three months the use of non-bank and non-card channels when transmitting money to persons in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Specifically, in providing individuals cross-border money transfer services to China, remittance companies in Singapore may engage only a bank or an operator of a card network (e.g. Union Pay International), or a licensed financial institution that has engaged a bank or an operator of a card network, to assist in the transmission of money. This restriction will last for a period of three months, from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024. It follows reports of remittances to China made by individuals through remittance companies in Singapore being subsequently frozen in their beneficiaries’ bank accounts in China.
To keep transaction costs low for customers, remittance companies engage overseas third-party agents, rather than banks, to complete the remittance from Singapore to China. In the vast majority of cases, the monies sent through these channels are successfully deposited in the beneficiaries’ bank accounts in China.
However, in recent months, for a very small proportion of such remittances, the monies received in beneficiaries’ bank accounts have been frozen by the PRC law enforcement agencies. It is not clear why these funds had been frozen. Nonetheless, to minimise risks to consumers remitting funds to China, MAS has decided to temporarily suspend the use of non-bank and non-card channels by remittance companies for money transfers to China. While customers may now have to pay more to remit funds to China, this suspension is necessary for the immediate protection of consumers, and to stem the number of reported new cases of beneficiaries’ accounts in China being frozen.
MAS has been actively engaging the remittance companies involved. "We have told them to render the necessary assistance to the affected customers and to strengthen their complaints handling process. We have also instructed them to review their existing arrangements with partners for the PRC remittance corridor, in view of these complaints and the impact to their customers."
The temporary suspension on the use of non-bank and non-card channels will take effect 14 days from the date of the notice, on 1 January 2024. The 14-day period provides time for the remittance companies to make the necessary changes to their existing practices, and for existing remittances to be completed.
MAS cautions members of the public against rushing to remit monies to China through overseas third-party agents during this 14-day period. Individuals should use other channels for remittances into China, such as through banks or card networks, to prevent any inadvertent freezing of monies or accounts. Such channels are offered by the remittance companies and remain available for customers.
MAS will continue to closely monitor the situation and practices of remittance companies. MAS may terminate or extend the suspension after 31 March 2024 or take further measures as appropriate.
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker


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Albertsons’ private brands achieve record sales
Albertsons Companies announced that sales of its Own Brands increased to an all-time high of 25.2 percent during the retailer’s fiscal 2018 third quarter. The Boise, Idaho-based retailer, which operates more than 2,300 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 banners, also reported that identical store sales increased 1.9 percent and e-commerce sales grew 73 percent.
Sales and other revenue increased 1.8 percent to $13.8 billion during the 12 weeks ended Dec. 1, 2018, compared to $13.6 billion during the third quarter of fiscal 2017.
"We continue to gain traction in our efforts to deliver a seamless shopping experience for our customers in both the four-wall and no-wall environment," said Jim Donald, president and CEO of Albertsons, whose banners include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others. “The third quarter marked our strongest identical sales increase since the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Identical sales grew for the fourth consecutive quarter, and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grew over 50 percent compared to the same quarter last year, as the business has rebounded from fiscal 2017.”
Of Albertsons’ store brands, which include 12 lines and more than 11,000 products, Donald said, “We continue to delight our customers with our portfolio of award-winning brands.”
Albertsons reported that gross profit margin increased to 27.8 percent during the third quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to 26.7 percent during the third quarter of fiscal 2017.


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Avenue magazine, the Calgary-based city lifestyle title, has used the occasion of the Calgary Stampede to launch a free iPad app of the magazine.
“Our digital app is taking the traditional print magazine to the next level,” says Avenue’s creative director, Anders Knudsen. “Now, you can enjoy and experience Calgary’s favourite magazine in a whole new way. Everything is better. The visuals are richer, we can put more stories in and more videos on…. It really has given Avenue magazine a whole new edge.”Avenue is published by the Redpoint Media Group, which also publishes Avenue Edmonton, Wine Access and Westjet's up!


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It was kinda shocking when Sarah Jessica Parker‘s makeup artist, Leslie Lopez, was accused of shoplifting at the airport in Norway just before Sex and the City star and the gang boarded a flight to New York. (Photos Below)
Apparently the Leslie swiped a pair of designer shades and the departure flight ending up being delayed for over an hour until the mystery was solved. Eventually, the fashionista and her makeup artist payed the shoplifting fine of over $1,000 and Leslie commented saying,
“I mistakenly failed to remove a pair of sunglasses from my cart while rushing to the gate.”
There was another report following this incident, that said that a tube of lipstick seen in Leslie’s hand on security footage had gone missing in another shop in the airport.


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A compelling question arises from the new lockdown of Metro Manila and environs: how will it impact the auto industry in the run-up to year-end 2020?
Unlike the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) that shut down all except essential economic activity for almost three months earlier this year , the Modified ECQ starting yesterday allows the continued manufacture, retail and repair of motor vehicles for the next two weeks, although at 50 percent capacity.
The imposition of the August 4-18 MECQ is causing industry leaders and achievers to recalibrate their outlook for the rest of the year, although many car companies have already adjusted to the “New Normal” of doing business by transitioning to digital solutions such as virtual launches, video conferencing, distance marketing and the creation of virtual showrooms.
Asked to give her outlook on the industry, Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo, who is concurrently president/CEO of Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc., said in an emailed statement: “At the onset of the pandemic and lockdowns, we forecasted industry sales to drop by at least 40 percent for 2020. We initially based our assumptions on a U-shaped or slow recovery based on existing indicators then.
“However, the resurgence of cases and the shift back to MECQ makes any forecast unpredictable and more complex. Now more than ever, the auto industry needs to focus on demand recovery, driven by more innovative and disruptive selling tactics, to rebuild consumer confidence and manage a possible W-shaped or deeper recovery scenario.”
A more upbeat outlook was expressed by Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI) president Rommel Gutierrez.
“The government announcement on the implementation of MECQ for two weeks may slow down the August automotive market, but we are optimistic that this is just temporary and the delay in sales is targeted to be recovered from September onwards. Before the announcement, the market momentum has been increasing and we are confident that with digital technology, this can be continued,” said Gutierrez, who is concurrently 1st vice president of Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation.
In this context, the brands that bucked the sales plunge of the first semester (due to the coronavirus-triggered March 16-May 31 lockdown) are confident that the industry remains on track to recovery.
MG: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Albert Arcilla, president of The Covenant Car Co., Inc. (TCCI), the distributor of MG, said: “There are challenges as there are opportunities this year. The outlook for the whole industry may be challenged but certain segments will grow as a result of the public’s requirements for new and accessible mobility.”
MG (Morris Garages), the Brit Dynamic brand with a fabled racing heritage that dates back to 1924, entered the Philippine market only two years ago in October 2018, but captured 9th place in the Top 10 list of the consolidated CAMPI-AVID sales report for the first half of 2020.
TCCI’s achievement was recognized at the 2020 MG Overseas Dealers and Distributors Conference held online recently when the company received the Five Star Award, the highest recognition among all overseas MG distributors. MG, which was acquired by China’s SAIC Motor International Co. Ltd. In 2005, is available in 86 countries worldwide and in 2019 scored 298,000 in global sales.
“We are privileged and proud to represent the MG brand in the Philippines, and to be recognized on our first year of full operations,” Arcilla commented on the Five Star Award.
Though acknowledging that the market dynamics will remain challenged and fluid in the second half of the year, Arcilla said MG is focused on achieving its sales target of 8,000 vehicles this 2020.
In fact, MG is so confident about its future here this year and beyond that TCCI plans to add a new MG model to its current lineup of four models in the fourth quarter. Moreover, MG is scheduled to open seven new dealership sites nationwide before the end of 2020.
KIA’S UTMOST PRIORITY
Kia, exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Adventure Cycle PH, Inc., an Ayala Group company, is another achiever as it was the only brand that increased its sales in the first quarter of this pandemic year.
Kia thereby gained 9th place in the Top 10 Sales Performers list of AVID and CAMPI for January-March 2020, only to drop out of the list by the end of the first semester.
But Kia PH president Manny Aligada is still bullish about the Korean brand’s future in the country: “While the situation now is very volatile and may change any time, we do not monitor the automotive industry ranking as our upmost priority is our sincere intention to offer Filipinos the chance to own vehicles that will help them improve the circumstances that they are in.”
Aligada said Kia PH remains optimistic based on month-to-month improvement in sales performance, since Kia has a complete model lineup to cater to the varying needs of Filipino motorists.
He confirmed that Kia PH will launch its virtual showroom and increase its product portfolio of 11 models by introducing an all-new model in the last quarter of 2020. In addition, four new dealerships will be opened in the third quarter to bring the total dealer network to 34 nationwide, plus four more appointments by the end of 2020.
Although Kia has had to adjust its targets due to the pandemic, Kia PH scored 1.2 percent market share in the first half of the year and plans to grow to 1.5 percent by the end of 2020.
Regarding his outlook for the industry, Aligada said: “While the industry is dependent on certain economic elements, we see the month-on-month performance moving up. If this trend is sustained, full recovery is expected soon. In addition, there are opportunities that are coming in spite of the continued challenged times and there are industries that will continue to do well in the market, thus our view of the steady path to normalization.”
He added that because of a steady improvement in vehicle sales, including aftersales requirements since the gradual opening of dealerships in May, he expects this recovery process to continue towards the end of the year.
“Business ethics that are operational can still look forward to various opportunities for growth while still ensuring the health and safety of employees, partners, customers and the general public,” Aligada concluded.
SUZUKI WAY OF LIFE: MOVING UP
Suzuki is the brand that amazed the industry when it moved up from 7th to 5th place in the consolidated Top 10 list of CAMPI and AVID for the first semester, in the process overtaking both Ford and Honda.
Buoyed by this feat, Suzuki Philippines, Inc. vice president/ general manager of the automobile division Keichi Suzuki said in an online interview that it has made the company even more focused to push for better performance in the remaining months of 2020 despite new challenges arising day by day.
Recognized worldwide for its product line of small but sporty and attractive vehicles, Suzuki offers 11 models in the Philippines to cater to various market segments and answer their current needs. SPh has 79 dealerships nationwide and was scheduled to break ground for a new dealership in Kawit, Cavite this month before the new MECQ intervened.
There are no plans to introduce new models before yearend since SPh launched the S-Presso baby crossover hatch and the XL7 7-seater SUV just before the first coronavirus-instigated lockdown in mid-March.
Regarding his outlook on the auto industry for the rest of the year, Keichi Suzuki noted that the industry was not spared from the economic effects of the pandemic, “but just like other businesses, we hold on to our ability to build on our current achievements, inspired by the prospect of continuing to serve our customers through our premium quality vehicles.”
“Currently,” he added, “the industry is together in figuring out how best we can pivot and move forward by placing the needs of our customers first. One of which is offering attractive price points that aim to entice Filipinos to consider purchasing their own vehicle, among many other promos we have available.”
For the industry to recover fully, Suzuki said that we must work together to rebuild industries, especially the small and medium scale enterprises.
“We are one with the Filipino community in helping put together our society facing this ‘new normal’,” the head of SPh automotive division declared. “We are hopeful that we reach more and more Filipinos who will find Suzuki vehicles as reliable partners in our collective journey in bouncing back.”
Aida Sevilla Mendoza is fascinated by everything about cars: their power, styling, design, technology, craftmanship, exciting history of motor sport through the years, and the ever-evolving industry that creates them. But above all, she enjoys driving, especially on a traffic-free expressway where she feels the connection bonding her and the car.


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|Price||Check with seller|
|Date Published||May 24, 2022|
|Number of Visits||6|
Forevermark has recently tied up with jewellery retailer Fortofino as well as the Tata CLiQ Luxury lifestyle platform. Film star Yami Gautam graced the launch of Forevermark at Fortofino’s 1,200-sq-ft boutique in Lucknow spread across two floors.
Sachin Jain, Managing Director, De Beers India, said, “It is a proud moment for us to launch our first boutique in Lucknow. We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with our trusted retailer, Fortofino, who shares our passion for diamonds, as well as our approach to business, social and environmental integrity by opening our 14th boutique store in the country.” Highlighting the partnership, Kunal Talla, Director, Fortofino, added, “We have been associated with De Beers Forevermark through exclusive boutiques across Jammu, Ludhiana, Gurgaon, Ambala, Chandigarh and now in Lucknow. Also, it is only due to the enormous success already achieved, we have now launched, De Beers Forevermark’s exclusive boutique in Lucknow.”
In a separate statement, Tata CLiQ Luxury introduced fine jewellery on its platform with the launch of De Beers Forevermark. Nine trending collections will be available on the platform across various product categories. The collections available on the platform include the Avaanti Collection, Icon Collection, the Capricci nose pin collection, the stackable ring Tribute Collection apart from others. In addition, the exquisite Forevermark Artemis Collection created by renowned New York-based fashion designer Bibhu Mohapatra, will also be offered on the platform.
Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head – Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury said, “We are delighted to introduce our fine jewellery portfolio with the launch of De Beers Forevermark on Tata CLiQ Luxury. We look forward to offering this iconic brand to our discerning customers and will continue to enhance their overall online luxury shopping experience.” Jain noted, “This partnership has enabled us to reach consumers across the country who are looking at purchasing natural, genuine diamonds. We look forward to this association and hope that Tata CLiQ Luxury consumers appreciate our offering.”
To know more: https://gjepc.org/solitaire/forevermark-ties-up-with-fortofino-lucknow-tata-cliq/


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Results tagged with 'app'
Published Aug. 8, 2016
A new Portillo's app, which launched today, offers customers the ability to skip the line and order food for pick-up at the counter or drive-thru for any of the concept's 44 restaurants, including the new Wisconsin location in Brookfield.
Published April 20, 2016
You can now express yourself event more locally with characters that aren't available anywhere else. Feeling summer? Brat time. Feeling salty? Throw out a Milverine. Want to connect with your best friend? Send out an old-school Milwaukee Laverne and hope for a Shirley in return.
Published July 29, 2015
Today, my alma mater - Marquette - helped fuel my fan fire by releasing a new app that is available for free download, thanks to a partnership with Bluechip Athletic Solutions, Inc.
Published April 28, 2015
This morning, Mayor Tom Barrett introduced MKE PARK, a new parking meter payment app available for download on Apple and Android devices.
Published Oct. 20, 2014
The Pfister Hotel was the first hotel in the United States to launch an augmented reality tour. Ten pieces in the hotel's art collection are now interactive, with the goal of adding additional pieces in the coming months.
View the other 9 articles


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Iconiq Holding, the company behind the Iconiq Lab project is proud to announce its recent development that will support ICNQ token future price and ICNQ early backers. November last year the company decided to cancel its token sale on GBX GRID and its plan to burn all unsold token after concerns regarding the sale of the ICNQ token on GBX while it is already trading on IDEX. As of today, all 10 million unsold ICNQ tokens from ICNQ token sale have officially been burned. ICNQ Token is soon to be listed on GBX in late January.
January 17, 2019. At Iconiq Holding, our goal is to drive value to our community through the development of sustainable and scalable business models for Iconiq Lab, Iconiq Funds and the soon to be launched technology platform for Crypto Asset Managers, AMaaS. With the ICNQ sale now concluded, the Iconiq Holding team is burning all unsold ICNQ tokens on Jan. 17, 2019, a total of 7,039,816.394627980, to the burn wallet.
As of today, only 10 Million of the initially planned 20 Million ICNQ tokens will remain outstanding when including the previously burned 2,960,183.60537202 tokens from prior sales and services rendered by Iconiq. The other burn wallet is [wallet]
The 10 Million outstanding ICNQ token supply will continually be reduced as we burn 10% of all tokens Iconiq receives for services on a quarterly basis.
Keep an eye out for the listing of the ICNQ token on GBX-DAX later this month. The Airdrop and Bounty distribution will be initiated as soon as all testing is completed. Thank you for your patience!
Image is owned by Iconiq Holding


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Gainesville agribusinesses challenge the inflation struggle
On a September summer evening, families, couples, and people alike navigate dozens of tents with veggie filled tote bags, colorful smoothies, and handheld fresh dishes. Amid the bustling chaotic good are hurting farmers that are challenging the inflation crisis that has plagued agribusinesses in 2022.
Due to the current economic crisis, prices on produce and products have not only increased in grocery stores but for specialty agribusinesses. These homegrown businesses have had to adapt to changes in production, sourcing, and their consumer engagement. Consumers now will see an increase in produce price on a local level while some specialty agribusinesses are concerned with their ability to continue under a pinch.
Elijah "Big Fish" Gurman has been in the food industry for 17 years and is the proud chef of craft hand packed vinegar-based pickles. His menu features names like ‘Mean Pineapple Punch’ and ‘Mango Banger’ that deliver his flavorful pickles along with fruits and veggies galore.
“Everyone doesn’t love everything, but everyone loves something,” Gurman said. He has a large variety that could be cumbersome but attracts a wide spread of people to his business.
Proud Pickles sprouted in 2020 when the COVID-19 lockdown first began as a “Hail Mary” to pay rent. He wasn’t sure it would bring in enough income, but something was better than nothing.
“Thankfully, Gainesville loves pickles,” Gurman said. “Very few days feel like work. It’s exciting, energetic and something to put crazy work ethic into.”
However along with other specialty agribusinesses, Gurman found difficulty pricing his product amidst the inflation crisis. After a few months of deliberation, he increased prices for packed pickles.
The Proud Pickles owner echoed that being an agribusiness can be difficult because it’s easy for people to forget about his business. The specialty agribusiness takes plenty of buildup and time, but it is easy for a hiccup like inflation, to cause a quick decline on slim margins.
“I hope things take a turn for the better. These days, just surviving the days and months feels like a victory. It’s a shame for myself and others. I don’t want that to be the goal…‘oh we’re just getting by.’ I want people to be doing well and have abundance,” Gurman said.
He hopes agribusinesses and consumers learn to be cleverer, save resources and start learning how to be prepared for contingencies.
Gurman feels that policies being passed that directly impact individually owned businesses are creating a larger challenge.
“What happens when all these individual businesses can’t afford huge investments? What happens when every single one closes and we don’t have those options,” Gurman said.
If policies continue to create larger obstacles for individually owned businesses, it could lead to the extinction of many individually owned specialty agribusinesses in Gainesville. The decreasing number of businesses that supply and work with fresh produce in the city would only contribute to a bigger problem: food insecurity.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active and healthy life.
Willie Robinson is the owner of Life In A Bottle, LLC. Very early on, Robinson understood the importance behind food security. It began with watching his grandmothers’ techniques on preserving jellies and jams and developed into taking master courses on not only preservation but pasteurizing.
Robinson has been a master gardener for over 40 years planting all sorts of greens and fruits. He experienced an overflowing harvest that inspired him to create healthy juices at home that later led to Life In A Bottle.
Now, what doesn’t come from his plentiful garden of fruits and veggies, comes from other local gardens. Robinson seeks the freshest and most wholesome produce he can find.
Because of inflation challenges, Robinson increased his prices on single units by 50 cents and made increases on double units.
“Being a smart shopper. Being diligent to find the best price and produce, that’s important to me, just as everybody,” Robinson said.
Regardless of the economic crisis, Robinson strives to deliver his blended smoothies, juices, and foreseeable teas to the masses.
“My desire is to give other people the satisfaction and opportunity to get the benefits I get,” Robinson said. “Even with the cost going up, there is no greater baggage than good health.”
Health benefits aren’t the only driving force behind Robinson in these challenging times, it’s also fighting food insecurity.
“A lot of people don’t have the availability of fresh produce at a fair price,” Robinson said. “They don’t eat as much, don’t consume as fresh or organic vegetables because they think, ‘man it’s out of my price range.’”
Robinson's greatest desire during this crisis is to help educate people on the importance of eating healthier and fresher while also emphasizing how to preserve and decrease the perishable waste problem in agriculture.
“My hope is that people, the city council on the east side of Gainesville, consider the needs of the community and do what they can to secure a sustainable environment for fresh agriculture,” Robinson said.
He emphasized the key to food certainty is the availability of fresh whole food and its affordability.
However, affordability becomes a challenge when inflation effects the cost of production.
“It’s going to hurt a lot of people,” Tim Keyes said. “For everybody, they need to really reconsider what they’re doing as far as price rate and rate change.”
Keyes' concern stems from the recent Gainesville City Commission vote to increase Gainesville Regional Utility rates. GRU electric rates increased by 3% and wastewater rates by 5%. The GRU rates increases come considering inflation pressures as Mayor Lauren Poe declared last Thursday.
Because of these utility increases, agribusinesses such as Grown-N-Grace operated by Keyes and his partner Kitty Keyes have had to raise their prices on their produce specialty: microgreens and sunflower sprouts.
“We had a good reception, when we explained what was happening, they understood it and it wasn’t really surprising to them at all,” Tim Keyes said.
Grown-N-Grace saw no other option but to increase prices from $4 to $7 on their popular bag of microgreens. However, to combat nay-sayers, the Keyes additionally decided to increase the size of their produce for the customer, shifting from a 4-ounce bag of microgreens to 6-ounce instead.
Similarly, specialty agribusiness Southern Sun CBD has been working around the direct challenges to their production.
Tyler Griffin, owner, and farmer for Southern Sun CBD’s local hemp farm, prides his agribusiness in being an affordable CBD company. This has proven to be a challenge in the current economic crisis.
“We’ve been eating at our profits. It cuts out the bottom line,” Griffin said.
Packaging prices have increased for Southern Sun by 2 to 3 cents. More drastically, the base of one of the most popular products, the CBD Oil Drops (THC free), has increased $50 per 5 galloons. Altogether, the new price increases in production for Southern Sun have made them as far as 10% less profitable.
Despite the challenges faced by inflation, Griffin is optimistic and is motivated to continue production.
“I’m hoping it’s only a phase,” Griffin said. “Customers are the focus. The people whose sleep issues we’ve solved, those with autism, joint pains, the elderly; this really helps people. Money is not the driving force.”
These farmers share one common ask of the community: more people, especially the students in Gainesville, to learn about the importance behind their homegrown products and produce, valuing their place in the market and building up the community to support them more in these challenging times.
“There is more to food than just the cost, have a good piece of meat or a good pickle,” Gurman said.


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The ‘No Time to Die’ singer throws her weight behind the annual 31-day challenge to try vegan.
Award-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish recently supported the Veganuary campaign by urging her fans to try a vegan diet.
In a statement, Eilish, who has been vegan for eight years, said: “By replacing meat consumption with plant-based foods, together we can give the earth a fighting chance.”
Eilish joins a slew of celebrities, including Paul McCartney, Lewis Hamilton, Brian May , Evanna Lynch, Venus Williams, and Chris Packham, who’ve backed the campaign in the past.
‘Small changes have a big impact’
This year, Veganuary organisers have released The Vegan Kit – a gift box of advice and inspiration cards – that provides all you need to know to go vegan, including motivational messages from compassionate celebrities.
The pack contains 40 cards full of practical, informative, inspirational, and fun advice about trying plant-based foods. The kit also includes tips on how to plan for weekly grocery shopping, navigate dinners out, make informed nutritional decisions, and more.
“Eating more plant-based foods is a win for the environment, for animals, for global health, and often for personal health, too,” Toni Vernelli, head of communications at Veganuary, said.
“One thing we know for sure: small changes to what we eat can have a big impact on the world, and the world needs all of us to make positive changes right now.”
The kit costs £14.99 (US$18.24) and is available at British book retailer Waterstones, and online on Amazon and the Veganuary shop.
The 31-day vegan pledge
Veganuary was first launched in the UK in 2014, however, several countries have adopted the initiative. According to the organisation, so far, nearly 2.5 million people from every country except North Korea have signed up for the annual challenge.
In recent years, multinational brands, retailers, and restaurants have joined Veganuary by offering promotions, giveaways, and special menu items.
Last year, more than 1,500 vegan products and menus launched in January. This year, more major brands are gearing up with Veganuary promotions.
Eilish’s plant- based advocacy
This is not the first time Eilish has spoken out about vegan food and the climate emergency.
Speaking at Friends of the Earth’s (FoE) Climate-Friendly School Food Program campaign, she revealed how the treatment of animals within the food system coupled with how their products impact the climate, pushed her to transition from vegetarianism to a vegan life.
“Shifting our diets towards more plant-based foods can have a major impact on climate change,” she said.
Over the past year she has collaborated with Nike on a pair of vegan, sustainable sneakers. She also executive produced the Overheated documentary centred on climate anxiety and hosted an Overheated climate conference in London.
The 21-year-old also received the Environmental Media Association’s Missions in Music Award.
Eilish also partnered with the non-profit Reverb to make her world tour more sustainable and offered plant-based concessions at all venues. She even turned London’s O2 arena fully vegan for her residency.
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