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Class is now in session.
Still reeling from the XBox One DRM Reversal, and the loss of digital sharing?
You’re not the only one. The last few days has seen a massive division spring up in the wake of the massive change of heart deep inside Microsoft. There’s no question that this was through three key points; the first was the massive backlash from gamers, who took to Twitter and every available means to express their disapproval of what the company had planned in terms of the future of their content. The second was clearly even more painful; its rivals were profiting greatly from its consumer backlash. Nintendo saw Wii U sales dramatically rise, as well as watched its share price jump as well. Sony were watching as the pre-orders flooded in for the non-DRM laden PlayStation 4, and its share price also leapt in the wake of Microsoft’s little issue.
The third is less tangible but the most crushing of defeats; the news outlets, widespread press and late-night topical chat shows all grasped the nettle of the XBox One and drove the negative connotations deep into the hearts and minds of the more mass-market consumer, the average Joe who obviously likes to have a new bogeyman to whip. Microsoft at that point had no recourse left to them, because the gaming press and the gaming community it could handle – or rather, it thought it might be able to handle, to change and compromise on its ideals. Once it’s out there in the widespread media, such stories tend to take on a life of their own, and the genie is a lot, LOT harder to squeeze back into the bottle. At that point, Microsoft knew this was a battle that it was going to lose – had already lost, really. It was change, or be relegated outside the accepted norms of the industry. Considering the time and investment that Microsoft have put into pushing the XBox brand the last twelve years, it didn’t matter if it believed in its aims. You adapt, or you die, and Microsoft begrudgingly must have had to accept that this was the only way to carry on.
Of course, not everyone is happy and it comes right back to “Used Games”.
The problem is that the solution Microsoft was proposing for “Used Games” is fundamentally flawed, the most dramatic and hilarious series of Catch 22 situations that many missed in the panic over losing the right to own their copies of a game. Many have missed the real meat and two veg of the issue, and missed it by a long, LONG way. Because what Microsoft was proposing was not, as it appeared, the saviour of the industry – no matter what Cliff Bleszinski may have wanted to impress upon us. It was the death of the industry, painting it into a dead end from which there would be no escape, no survival, no mercy.
How? Well, it’s down to the definition of what we buy. Is it a product, or is it a service?
Here’s the thing; look at the used games market now. You will go into a shop and likely see a lot of used copies of games like Fuse. Ever wondered why that is, aside from the fact the game is rubbish and no-one really liked it? I’ll let you in on a little secret; actually, it’s not a little secret, it’s a huge scandal. Your consumer rights only cover the sale of the product. You are sold a disc. If the disc works, and the game runs, and doesn’t give you an error, then it’s not a faulty product. Indeed, this is largely why stores remind you that you can’t just return a game because it’s “crap”. They have sold you a product, and the product – whether you like it or not – works as they sold it to you. That shiny disc is the product you have been sold. The industry often counts on this, because “statutory rights” can only cover a few base notes of the sale. The real meat of it, the game itself, well – legally, that’s a secondary concern and nothing to do with whomever sold you the product in the first place.
It’s this reason why we are seeing a class action lawsuit aimed at Sega and Gearbox Software over Aliens: Colonial Marines. As much as this hurts; yes. It had one week of amazing sales, largely down to pre-orders. The end result was a game which was so hatefully bad and so failed to compare to the promotional material that aggrieved customers can only take their anger out on Sega and Gearbox. The only way we, as consumers, can “stick it” otherwise is to toss the game into the second hand market, where stores take on the task of resale. The more used copies of a game flood in, the less value the new game tends to have, and the more it dents their sales. This is why publishers hate the second hand market; but ultimately, it’s a direct consequence of not having any other way to dispose of our product, or get a refund for a shoddy product. The industry, for good and for bad, has pushed us into an arena where this is the only way to get the message through to them; money.
But ultimately, they DO make money. And this is a big key point.
Consider what Microsoft were proposing. Games not as a product, but as a “service”, one which you pay for a license to access. This is where the law changes; and arguably for the industry, changes for the worse. You see, there are far more stringent laws in place for digital services. You can expect a reasonable product. You can expect a reasonable delivery time. You can expect a reasonable price and most importantly of all, you must above all else have time to change your mind, whatever the reason and whatever the cost. This is the law. A service can be cancelled. A product… cannot.
Can you imagine if Aliens: Colonial Marines was sold under this system? A game so broken, so faulty, so terrible that it made me swear out loud and curse the day Randy Pitchford ever got his hands on such a license. I bought the disc – not much I can do about that, sadly. However, if gaming is redefined as a “service license”, that would have changed. I could quite rightly have taken it back to the store and asked for a full refund, no questions asked, because what I was sold does not resemble what was advertised. The store, as a seller of that service, is legally obligated to refund me. The same would go for all those who downloaded it digitally. Redefined as a “service”, the likes of Steam and Gamefly would have had no choice but to issue refunds – because they too were caught using promotional material and taking pre-orders for the game, and can only get away with their sales by saying that you have downloaded the product – as a service, that excuse it jettisoned out of the nearest airlock.
The change of just one word can do that. Just simply redefining how we own our games, and what our rights are, really puts retailers and sellers in a tight spot. They’d much rather not have to deal with that. They might have to worry about quality control then…
Of course, this would be fantastic for you and me, as consumers, because hey! We have consumer rights again! HUZZAH! Except, you know what? Those refunds mean stores don’t make money. That means they can’t sell stock, which means publishers are out of pocket with supply they can’t sell and deals with digital sellers which aren’t worth the expense, which reflects badly on developers which means – really, it means that the games industry would no longer have that safety net. It wouldn’t have that cushion, where it sometimes gets abused sure but it also sometimes takes risks, big risks, and the reality of that situation is games publishers take fewer and fewer risks. More and more developers are shut down to save money. Sure, we get our consumer rights – but the industry seizes up, plays it safe and then there is less and less content for us to consume. It creates something far less experimental, and far more cold and calculated.
Also, a used game marketplace on Live? Sure, everyone goes there, drives the used game prices down, which means games get clogged up and the actual value of their product still continues to drop. The industry cannot survive this way either – it can take a slice of the sale all it wants, it will be pittance compared to a real sale, and ultimately it means people feel less guilty buying used cheaply anyway. “The industry is getting paid!”, people will tell themselves, surprised that actually – they’re not. They make less and less and less, as consumers flex their rights and the tools at their disposal, undermining the very things the industry and Microsoft were hoping to fix. Publishers may make money on each sale – but it will be a tiny, tiny fraction of what it needs to be making to cover its costs.
So, unless the industry were to radically drop the cost of their games and include more content for those who buy new, then a digital marketplace would only serve to lower the actual value of their product. Would you, as a company, support a system whereby your product can only ever go down in value? Where people can undermine your retail price by simply choosing to buy from the Used Marketplace? Somehow, I doubt it.
I’m not saying for a moment that the current situation is good – far from it. But I do think we need to realise what Microsoft was proposing was BAD. Terrible, in fact, because either way, the industry and retail market suffer. If the industry is already hurting at us flexing what few rights we have now, then it is unprepared for the consequences of redefining our relationship between us, them and the content that lies between us. The added control they want, the added mechanisms Microsoft was proposing, were not good for the industry; Microsoft was set, along with retailers like GameStop and GAME, to make a killing from the used market, as only “authorised retailers” could accept trade ins. And they could offer a minimal amount and you had to be happy with it. Developers – the people who make games – wouldn’t have seen a penny (although reality check time is developers are already paid, and if EA promised the Fuse team bonuses for sales targets that’s a whole different ball game of stupid!).
But that simple redefining of the line, that subtle change of wording, would have given us power. Power, sadly, that we likely would not have used wisely – a quick glance at how we treat the product now will given you some indication as to the attitude of disposable entertainment. Sure, crap games shouldn’t happen. I think really broken games should be defined as a “product”. I think a game like Aliens: Colonial Marines should warrant a refund because sure, the disc is fine. What’s on the disc… isn’t. Perhaps one of these days the law will get around to that little quirk (which the music industry profited from long before the games industry got hold of it!).
But the reality is, a refund means the sale is cancelled out. No money, no sale, sales numbers drop, less money, projects are cancelled, jobs are lost. One of the biggest criticisms of the industry is that it’s often far too “safe”. So sure, let’s implement a system which makes them even MORE risk averse! Great idea!
All joking aside, anyone who looked closely at what Microsoft was planning could see that it was unable to come to terms with this. The whole “Family Share Program”? Great, ten people can access one account and all the games on it individually. Except, you know, that’s 10 games condensed into one sale. And it would have been unlikely that any extra was paid for it. To the industry – that’s nine sales gone. As Microsoft tried to dig its way out of draconian online checks, mandatory installation (Games at 30-40GB on a 500GB hard drive? The firmware is likely to take up a fair chunk of that, so hope you’re not planning to have more than ten games over the next few years…) and that nasty Kinect 2.0 (which is supposedly non-negotiable, which is likely to see it banned in some countries over privacy laws!), Microsoft couldn’t square used games into the equation. The change was too dramatic, too complex, and the laws that surrounded it no longer had that pleasing give that it had become so used to.
Microsoft was indeed brave to want to move in that direction – heck, anything that gives us decent consumer rights back would be a godsend. However, you can’t tip the balance completely in our favour either; petty squabbles and silly issues would make it an unmentionable mess and we wouldn’t know where to draw the line, where boycotts and silly campaigns would cripple the most well-meaning of releases (after all, a developer is not the same as a publisher. Hate EA all you want, but developers shouldn’t be made to suffer for their sins…). A balance is needed; a middle ground by which the industry can protect itself, but the consumer can maintain a reasonable expectation of competency and a right to dispose of the game if they so choose, for money. Heaven knows what it’d be like if I sold some of my collectable games now, which are far above their original retail prices. That’s a legal complication I’m hoping to never have to go through… not that the industry cares, although give it time….
Of course, if there were no rubbish games like Aliens: Colonial Marines, Fuse and the like, then we’d not be here discussing this. We’d be in a magical happy land of unicorns and fae people, dancing along hand in hand to “The Age of Aquarius”, long flowing hair swishing and swaying in a cool, refreshing breeze. A realm where the likes of Michael Bay do not exist. A place where everyone is honest and decent and offers a great product at a sensible price. Where there is no hate, no pain… and no real reason for violent games to exist at all. Ha ha ha.
But rubbish games do exist. And we can continue to exercise our very real duty to trade in games, thereby devaluing rubbish products to the point that publishers notice the damage to their bottom line. It’s the only means we have to communicate with them and they need to pay attention to it, because we wouldn’t be hurting them if they didn’t give us the reason to hurt them. It’s often lost in the process; if your game is hitting the second hand bins that hard, maybe your product isn’t as good as you think it is…
Just know this; what Microsoft was looking at, the future as they saw it, was a complex mess of consumer laws, service agreements and expensive compensation packages to publishers. The more Microsoft disclosed, sure, the sweeter it sounded. But the less rosy it looked to the publishers, and they too have a few rights of their own. Like the right to choose to release their product on a rival product on the market. Something a little more Sony. Something a bit like a PlayStation 4. Or perhaps rushing to the Wii U. It would have crippled retailers, and seen a wedge driven sharply into the more independent chains. It would have caused a cacophony of legal wrangling, some of which could only be lost.
Microsoft would have seen more and more titles fall into the hands of its rivals, and less and less games overall (considering it’s distrust and discarding of the indie market, it wouldn’t have even had that to rely on!). Thereby defeating itself, as a product. With less and less reason to buy one, it would have been a crushing defeat. And Microsoft will not tolerate failure. Oh no…
This is why the change was so inevitable, why the U-Turn shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. Microsoft was digging its machine an early grave, caught between retailers, consumers, publishers, developers and the law. And none of them were happy. Some of them still aren’t; the Kinect 2.0 is going to be the next thing of interest, as the requirement of it in the bundle and the fact it can “listen in” to your commands in standby mode conflict with some countries various laws on privacy. People don’t like the idea of it as a “requirement”. But unless Microsoft compromise on that, there will be countries that will flatly refuse to allow it on sale.
The minefield that Microsoft tossed behind it, it now needs to walk back across. And it’s unlikely that this will be smooth, and at least one big Executive appendage will be lost in transit. There is still a long way to go – don’t think for a moment Microsoft has made this easy for itself. But make the journey back it must, and address the issues that still surround it. Not everything is fixed yet. We still have that scummy Kinect 2.0, we still have some issues yet to come with the Interactive TV (which Microsoft at first said wasn’t going to happen outside the US. Obviously forgetting that Europe, Canada and Australia do have these remarkable new teleboxes as well!) and of course it will need more games as well. Investing in a games exclusive DLC is a short-term fix at best; Microsoft needs to think unique, varied first-party content. And it needs to think it yesterday (and not Killer Instinct. That mess needs to stop now Microsoft!).
Microsoft made a massive hash of things so far. It didn’t look silly; it looked incompetent, even amateurish, with a comical support team, a self-destructive PR posse and executives who really need to be introduced to the life-changing invention that is gaffer tape. The very visible meltdown has given rise to “XBox One Eighty”, a derogatory term that will hang over the next ten years in the same way the Red Ring of Death did the last seven or eight years. It’s not out of the woods yet. All it has done is realised how far into the woods it has gotten itself; now the journey back begins.
It’s digital vision of the future sounded lovely though. It’s just a shame in the real world, it was impractical at best, and impossible at worst…


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The Stop Online Piracy Act, the subject of a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Wednesday, has generated heated debate since lawmakers introduced it on Oct. 26.
Sponsors of the controversial U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act defended the legislation Wednesday, saying the proposal is needed to shut down websites trafficking in billions of dollars worth of online piracy.
Orange launched three Alcatel One Touch phones on Wednesday with dedicated Facebook buttons priced below €100 (US$135).
Severe performance issues with the USAjobs.gov careers portal have been alleviated and an array of internal moves are afoot to ensure its long-term success, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry told members of the House Committee o...
U.S. lawmakers opposed to a controversial copyright enforcement bill scheduled for a hearing Wednesday are working on alternative legislation that would be more narrowly focused on infringing websites, two opponents of the bill said.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange filed an appeal on Tuesday to take his case to the U.K.'s Supreme Court in a bid to block his extradition to Sweden on possible charges of sexual assault and rape.
Red Hat has outfitted its OpenShift hosted application platform with a set of application development lifecycle tools to simplify deployment on the PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service), the company announced Tuesday.
Facebook has reduced the amount of personal data it releases to users as required by European Union law despite an ongoing audit by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) wants to attract more high-performance computing users to its cloud and has launched a public beta of Cluster Compute Eight Extra Large, its most powerful cloud service yet.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has released the first draft of two standards intended to protect the privacy of Web users and allow them to opt out of Web tracking systems.
Online professional network LinkedIn has set up a technology center in India that will focus on engineering and operating the company's products and systems.
Google plans to release to customers in the future a version of Google+, already in use internally at the company, that has features designed specifically for workplace collaboration.
Apprenda, the developer of software for creating private platform-as-a-service clouds, is adding features that offer users better control over applications running on the platform.
Salesforce.com has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Model Metrics, a cloud computing consulting and services company, with practices in the areas of mobile computing and social technologies, it said Monday.
The partnership AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft announced last week to sell each other's "tier 2" display ad inventory could yield great benefits, but they need to pull off a complex integration of business and technology to make it work.
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domain: news


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Gee, these folks at Intel are forever in the news for the wrong reasons.
The Federal Trade Commission sued the chip giant today charging it with using its dominant market position in microprocessors to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly.
The FTC lawsuit comes barely a few weeks after Intel agreed to pay $1.25 billion to rival AMD to legal disputes.
The FTC complaint alleges that Intel has conducted a systematic campaign to shut out rivals competing microprocessors by cutting off their access to the marketplace and deprived consumers of choice and innovation.
According to the FTC complaint, Intel’s anticompetitive tactics were designed to put the brakes on superior competitive products that threatened its monopoly in microprocessors (the brains of PCs and servers).
FTC is alleging that Intel carried out its anticompetitive campaign using threats and rewards aimed at large PC vendors including Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, to coerce them into not buying rival microprocessors.
Intel is also alleged to have used a practice described as exclusive or restrictive dealing to prevent computer vendors from marketing any machines with non-Intel computer chips.
According to the FTC’s Bureau of Competition director Richard A. Feinstein:
Intel has engaged in a deliberate campaign to hamstring competitive threats to its monopoly. Itâ€™s been running roughshod over the principles of fair play and the laws protecting competition on the merits. The Commission’s action today seeks to remedy the damage that Intel has done to competition, innovation, and, ultimately, the American consumer.
The folks at FTC say Intel is now following a similar anti-competitive strategy with graphics chips.
Intel, of course, put out the customary denial of engaging in illegal practices and claimed it had competed fairly and lawfully.
Intel is being investigated in other regions including Europe, South Korea and Japan. The EU has imposed a $1.45 billion fine on Intel, which the company is appealing.


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When Google Inc. purchased one of the world’s most progressive home-automation companies, Nest, for a hefty $3.2 billion in January this year, we had high hopes that the Internet of Things revolution had just hit the big time. Indeed, we have not been disappointed with some recent news coming from the Nest camp.
Late last month, Nest announced that it will now also allow other companies to create new apps that can communicate with the company’s home automated devices. This will be the first time that Nest has allowed access to its products to outside parties, and according to the company, the demand is certainly there with more than 5,000 developers having already expressed their interest in developing apps for the suite of products that Nest sells.
This could lead to a huge selection of apps and services being available for the smart-home products in the future, similar to the way in which smart-phones have become rich with extra services over the years.
So far the Nest Labs’ Developer Program has confirmed an impressive list of partnerships that will come with a “Works with Nest” indicator.
The line-up includes parent company Google; remote control producer Logitech; washer-dryer stalwart Whirlpool Corp; luxury brand Mercedes-Benz; and makers of automatic garage doors, Chamberlain.
The new partnership with Chamberlain, for example, will soon mean that the Nest Thermostat will know from the closing of a garage door that residents are away from home and that the heat can be turned off. Similarly, working with smart-LED bulb-maker LIFX will result in the light bulbs in a home flashing red if the Nest Protect Smoke Detector senses some smoke in the house.
The Nest Learning Thermostat
Over time, the Nest Thermostat learns the heating and cooling preferences in a home over time, meaning it doesn’t have to be programmed and can help to save time and money over the long run.
The device also offers energy savings, is easy to install, stylish looking and can be monitored via through your smartphone, even when you’re not at home. The thermostat can differentiate between weekday and weekend energy patterns and will, for instance, learn to heat up later on weekend mornings than weekdays, or run during the days when residents tend to be at home.
The Protect Smoke Detector
Nest’s Smoke Detector provides a stylish new take on the boring old smoke alarm that most people don’t tend to think twice about. The Protect unit is both a Wi-Fi-ready smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector. The software integration means that users can receive alerts to their Nest smart-phone app, as well as wave off false alarms with the simple wave of a hand.
On top of these advances in technology, Nest also recently announced its intended acquisition of Dropcam, the video-monitoring home security service recently profiled on this blog. Nest is set to pay $555 million to acquire the popular brand and will, as a result, be able to expand into the home security and video monitoring fields – a good integration with its current home-automation suite of products.
Currently the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Protect Smoke Detector are available for purchase online at sites like Nest.com, Amazon.com, and BestBuy.com. The Thermostat retails for around USD $250 and the Protect unit for approximately USD $99.


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New Delhi, Apr 27: Tech Mahindra Ltd on Thursday reported 25.8 per cent year-on- year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 1,118 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
However, consolidated revenue for the period increased by 13.2 percent to Rs 13,718 crore year-on-year (YoY) basis.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at Rs 2,021 crore, down 3.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY) basis, a statement from the company said.
CP Gurnani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tech Mahindra, said, “As we step into FY’24, we see the increasing need for businesses to stay agile by leveraging next generation technologies. We are strongly focused on helping our customers stay competitively dominant and relevant in the era of fast evolving market conditions by helping them adapt to leaner and sustainable business models.”


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Ampere Magnus EX goes official in India at Rs. 69,000
In a bid to boost festive season sales, Ampere Electric has launched its Magnus EX scooter in India. As for the highlights, the vehicle has a sporty design and gets a digital instrument cluster as well as a full-LED lighting setup. Under the hood, it runs on a 1.2kW motor and promises a range of 121km on a single charge. The scooter is available in three color options.


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Before Intel's Alder Lake-S got officially released, there were reports suggesting that Intel's new ATX12VO specification will be getting a bigger push from motherboard and PSU vendors. And although so far it hasn't quite turned out that way, there is finally a new ATX12VO specced motherboard that will be more of a budget offering than most of the existing _90 chipset premium boards that cater mostly to overclockers and enthusiasts.
This new board is the MSI PRO H610M 12VO and it was announced by the vendor during its weekly MSI Insider live stream on YouTube. MSI reiterated that ATX12VO motherboard and PSU adoption will likely remain low in the DIY PC market and as such, it only expects the new PRO H610M 12VO board to be limited to OEM/ODM and system integrator builds mostly. There is currently little to no detail on the feature-set provided in the new PRO H610M 12VO.
Alongside the 12VO option, MSI also has three other PRO H610M motherboards. There are also plenty of more expensive and feature-rich B660 and H670 boards too. The prices for the three other H610 variants excluding taxes are given in the image below.
The prices start at $99 for the cheapest option and go up to $115. Depending on the feature-set provided on the new PRO H610M 12VO, your mileage may vary, though it is expected to be more expensive as a lot of the voltage rails will be moved on to the motherboard itself.


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A shakeup could be in the works at struggling e-commerce software vendor Firepond Inc. after the company announced late Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Paul McDermott was stepping down.
McDermott is leaving to “pursue other opportunities,” according to a company press release, though he is expected to stay on to see the company through an unspecified transition period.
Firepond, of Waltham, Mass., which makes assisted selling and customer service software, would appear to be an attractive takeover target, given that its stock is only trading at around 80 cents a share. One of its competitors in the assisted selling space, Calico Commerce Inc., announced the sale of its remaining technology and intellectual property assets to PeopleSoft Inc. for a paltry $5 million in cash Dec. 13.
The stepping down of a chief financial officer has preceded a takeover or broader executive shakeup at some companies. Adding credence to that theory, Firepond announced Friday that John Cachianes, a former IBM executive—including the one-time CFO of IBMs U.S. and Europe, Middle East, and Africa operations—had joined its board of directors.
Firepond CEO Klaus Besier said in a statement that Cachianes would bring “additional focus to our business fundamentals.” Cachianes recently retired after 30 years at IBM and had been working as an independent consultant.
McDermott, CFO at Firepond for three years, guided the companys finances through its initial public offering in February 2000, its acquisition of Brightware Inc. in February 2001, and two restructurings in April and July that saw the company reduce its work force by 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
In its most recent quarter, ended Oct. 31, Firepond recorded revenues of $9.1 million, less than half the amount in the same quarter last year. It lost $13.7 million on that revenue. For the entire fiscal year ended Oct. 31, its revenue slipped nearly $16 million from the previous fiscal year, to $46.1 million, while its net loss climbed from $16.3 million to $70.3 million.


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Posted on: August 18, 2017
Since his first day in office on Wednesday, May 10, Mayor Richard C. Irvin has been dubbed "the mayor on the move" as he strives to build one Aurora - a community that works together to make the City of Lights an ideal place to live, work and vi...Read on...
Posted on: August 8, 2017
Aurora Community Television is shining the spotlight on local restaurants through a new series that takes viewers into some of our favorite eateries.
Aurora Eats will begin airing today with its pilot season featuring four establishments: Banana Split, Jak...Read on...
Posted on: August 7, 2017
Grant applications are available to local non-profit organizations that are interested in applying for a 2018 Quality of Life Grant from the City of Aurora.
Quality of Life Grants are annual competitive grants provided to 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations...Read on...
Posted on: August 4, 2017
Aurora's largest retail corridor ranked first in the Chicago suburbs, experiencing stronger retail sales in 2016 than any of its suburban competition, according to a report from retail analysts Melaniphy and Associates.
The Fox Valley Mall core market area...Read on...
Posted on: July 28, 2017
Realtor.com, the official consumer website of the National Association of Realtors, released its study of the Top 10 Most Affordable Housing Markets and Top-Ranked Elementary Schools in the Nation.
The City of Aurora topped the list and...Read on...


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UK men hate high heels and flares on women, women dislike men in turtlenecks - report
Most people dress for themselves rather than for other people, but there’s no denying that the opinions of others do have an impact on what people buy, so it’s interesting to see a new report covering just what items young UK women and men dislike on the opposite sex.
And it’s surprising to see that both frequently get it wrong when it comes to what their significant other would want them to wear. The study, by online marketplace onBuy.com, is the result of a survey of almost 9,000 men and women aged between 21 and 28.
While 72% of men believe women don’t like cardigans, the most disliked menswear clothing items by women are actually turtlenecks (89%). In fact, cardigans don’t actually appear on the list of what women don’t like to see men wearing.
But while the views of the genders do sometimes mesh (with both sexes seeming to dislike men wearing ripped clothing, excessive jewellery and lowrider jeans), there are plenty of areas where men are on the wrong track.
For a start, only 48% think women hate them in skinny jeans but the real figure is 81%. And many more women hate low-cut tops on men than men seem to think. But women are less averse to tracksuits than men believe.
And what about what women wear? Flared trousers are the most disliked female fashion trend according to men (87%). Animal prints, fur coats and oversized clothing are just some of the other female fashion trends disliked by them, but in the latter case, women think men hate baggy clothes more than they actually do.
Women think that fishnets are the top items men dislike and they’re mostly right as they do come high up the male hate list. But they get it completely wrong on over-knee boots with 77% of women thinking they’re disliked by men but these on-trend boots not even making it into men’s top 10 hated items list.
By contrast, 79% of men dislike very high heels while only 37% of women think they dislike them.
Copyright © 2022 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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The Waikiki SPAM JAM Festival is one of the most quirky and fun street festivals in the world! With help from presenting sponsor, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts – alongside others, the festival takes over Kalakaua Avenue—the busiest street in Waikiki—to celebrate SPAM products, a canned luncheon meat.
This year’s event is on Saturday, April 29 from 4-10pm. For 15 years, participating restaurants have cooked up mouthwatering dishes, which all feature SPAM® in creative ways.
Fun for all ages, guests can meet the SPAMMY™ character and “ride” the SPAM® Wave and even renew their vows under the Outrigger SPAM® Arch! The festival showcases delicious culinary creations, some of the best local music and entertainment, and highlights the pop culture phenomenon that SPAM® has become.
The Waikiki SPAM JAM® Festival was created to share Hawai‘i’s unique love of SPAM® products, but also supports local nonprofits, including Hawai‘i Foodbank. More than 25,000 residents and visitors attend the festival in Waikiki to experience the canned lunch meat in surprising ways – and a portion of the money they spend goes directly to the Hawaii Foodbank. The event also directly benefits the Waikiki Community Center and the Visitor Aloha Society. Since its inception, the festival has raised close to $150,000 and collected nearly 30,000 pounds of food – the equivalent of around 400,000 meals – to help feed Hawai‘i residents in need.
Waikiki SPAM JAM® Festival offers something for all ages – food, entertainment and shopping. The main event attractions include: food booths, the SPAM® Shop, entertainment stages, retailer booths and more!
For more information, visit spamjamhawaii.com
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Corporate Executives and Criminal Charges – Some Issues are Highlighted by an Ongoing Crimina
When should corporate officers face criminal charges? Judge Rakoff famously commented on DOJ not indicting bankers from the 2008 financial fiasco. There also are ongoing media stories regarding GM’s ignition switch recall failures, and some related calls for new criminal laws to foster criminal charges. (see this July 16, 2014 McClatchy News article by Greg Gordon).
With that in mind, it’s worth noting that there already are ways to seek criminal convictions for covering up evidence and corporate officials previously have faced criminal charges in the US. The point is emphasized by an ongoing criminal trial in Georgia that accuses corporate execs of covering up evidence of salmonella contamination, as reported in an August 8, 2014 article on Mercury News. The US Department of Justice indicted corporate officials in a 63 count indictment. The current trial evidence reportedly will not disclose to jurors that people died after consuming the contaminated products. According to the news article:
“Witnesses say Stewart Parnell and others at Peanut Corporation of America knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted products, and that they sent customers lab results from other clean batches rather than wait for tests to confirm their products were free of deadly bacteria. Defense lawyers correctly noted for the jurors that salmonella tests aren’t even required by federal law.
Their plant in rural Blakely, Georgia, was shut down and the company went bankrupt. Long after consumers ate contaminated peanut butter, ice cream, energy bars and other products, the outbreak prompted one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history. But Stewart Parnell, his brother and food broker, Michael Parnell, and quality assurance manager Mary Wilkerson aren’t charged with killing anybody. In fact, prosecutors agreed not to mention the death toll to the jurors. The 76-count indictment instead accuses the Parnell brothers of defrauding customers that used Peanut Corporation’s contaminated products as ingredients. Stewart Parnell and Wilkerson are charged with concealing information from federal investigators.
Public outcry over the peanut case and several other outbreaks of food borne illness led Congress to pass the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, which was supposed to give the FDA more resources and enforcement power.
Salmonella causes an estimated 1.2 million illnesses every year in the United States, with about 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bacteria can cause severe diarrhea and vomiting, with infections that spread throughout the body, killing people who aren’t quickly treated with antibiotics. The elderly, infants and people with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable.
The CDC says it has tracked salmonella outbreaks since 1962. It even has an interactive map with county-by-county information on the impact. And while many sources are never discovered, dozens of food producers have been identified through the years. Some egregious incidents have resulted in fines, and victims have found private attorneys to file civil lawsuits that often get settled out of court. But illnesses, and deaths, continue.
“Could all these people have been charged criminally with something? The answer is, hell yes,” said Bill Marler, an attorney who claims to have won $500 million for victims of food-borne illnesses over the past two decades.
Three other cases — a salmonella outbreak traced to eggs in Iowa, a listeria outbreak blamed on dirty cantaloupes in Colorado and an E. coli outbreak linked to Odwalla juices in California — resulted in federal plea deals without prison time. This is the first to go to trial, Marler said.
The DOJ’s press release and the February 2013 indictment are online at DOJ. The press release states the following:
Former Officials and Broker of Peanut Corporation of America Indicted Related to Salmonella-Tainted Peanut Products
Allegations Include Mail and Wire Fraud, Introduction of Adulterated and Misbranded Food into Interstate Commerce with Intent to Defraud or Mislead, and Conspiracy
A 76-count indictment was unsealed yesterday charging four former officials of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and a related company with numerous charges relating to salmonella-tainted peanuts and peanut products, the Justice Department announced today. Stewart Parnell, 58, of Lynchburg, Va.; Michael Parnell, 54, of Midlothian, Va.; and Samuel Lightsey, 48, of Blakely, Ga., have been charged with mail and wire fraud, the introduction of adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, and conspiracy. Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Mary Wilkerson, 39, of Edison, Ga., were also charged with obstruction of justice.
Also yesterday, an information filed against Daniel Kilgore, 44, of Blakely was unsealed. On the same day that charges against Kilgore were filed, he pleaded guilty to that information, which charged him with mail and wire fraud, the introduction of adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud or mislead, and conspiracy.
The investigation into the activity at PCA began in 2009, after the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced a national outbreak of salmonella to a PCA plant in Blakely as the likely source. As alleged in the indictment, the Blakely plant was a peanut roasting facility where PCA roasted raw peanuts and produced granulated peanuts, peanut butter, and peanut paste; PCA sold these peanut products to its customers around the country.
The charging documents charge that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in a scheme to manufacture and ship salmonella-contaminated peanuts and peanut products, and in so doing misled PCA customers. As alleged in the indictment, those customers ranged in size from small, family-owned businesses to global, multibillion-dollar food companies.
“When those responsible for producing or supplying our food lie and cut corners, as alleged in the indictment, they put all of us at risk,” said Stuart F. Delery, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will not hesitate to pursue any person whose criminal conduct risks the safety of Americans who have done nothing more than eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
Although PCA is now no longer in business, the allegations against each of the defendants arise from his or her conduct while at PCA and a related company. The following allegations are set forth in the indictment: Stewart Parnell was an owner and president of PCA; Michael Parnell, who worked at P.P. Sales, was a food broker who worked on behalf of PCA; Lightsey was the operations manager at the Blakely plant from on or about July 2008 through February 2009; and Wilkerson held various positions at the Blakely plant – receptionist, office manager and quality assurance manager – from on or about April 2002 through February 2009. As charged in the information, Kilgore served as operations manager of the PCA plant in Blakely from on or about June 2002 through May 2008.
“We all place a great deal of trust in the companies and individuals who prepare and package our food, often times taking it for granted that the public’s health and safety interests will outweigh individual and corporate greed,” said Michael Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. “Unfortunately and as alleged in the indictment, these defendants cared less about the quality of the food they were providing to the American people and more about the quantity of money they were gathering while disregarding food safety. This investigation was complex and extensive, and I credit the cooperation of our federal agencies with not only making sure that the cause of this outbreak was uncovered and the people responsible called to account, but also with working hard every day to make sure that parents across the country can feel confident that the food they are feeding their children is safe.”
The charging documents allege that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in several schemes by which they defrauded PCA customers about the quality and purity of their peanut products and specifically misled PCA customers about the existence of foodborne pathogens, most notably salmonella, in the peanut products PCA sold to them. As the charging documents allege, the members of the conspiracy did so in several ways – for example, even when laboratory testing revealed the presence of salmonella in peanut products from the Blakely plant, Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore failed to notify customers of the presence of salmonella in the products shipped to them.
In addition, the charging documents allege that Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, Lightsey and Kilgore participated in a scheme to fabricate certificates of analysis (COAs) accompanying various shipments of peanut products. COAs are documents that summarize laboratory results, including results concerning the presence or absence of pathogens. As alleged in the charging documents, on several occasions these four defendants participated in a scheme to fabricate COAs stating that shipments of peanut products were free of pathogens when, in fact, there had been no tests on the products at all or when the laboratory results showed that a sample tested positive for salmonella.
After the salmonella outbreak that gave rise to this investigation, FDA inspectors visited the plant several times in January 2009. According to the indictment, the inspectors asked specific questions about the plant, its operations, and its history, and, in several instances, Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Wilkerson gave untrue or misleading answers to these questions.
“The charges announced today show that if an individual violates food safety rules or conceals relevant information, we will seek to hold them accountable,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The health of our families and the safety of our food system is too important to be thwarted by the criminal acts of any individual or company.”
Stewart Parnell, Michael Parnell, and Samuel Lightsey are each charged with two counts of conspiracy; multiple counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud; multiple counts of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud; multiple counts of interstate shipment fraud; and multiple counts of wire fraud. Stewart Parnell, Lightsey and Wilkerson are also charged with multiple counts of obstruction of justice.
Kilgore pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded food into interstate commerce, eight counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud, six counts of introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce with the intent to defraud, eight counts of interstate shipment fraud, and five counts of wire fraud.
Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, “The FBI was brought in to this matter to provide additional resources and expertise to a complex and very serious investigation. We fully understand the victim impact as a result of this salmonella outbreak and will be asking to hear from other possible victims in this matter.”
Individuals who feel that they may have been affected by or have become ill from tainted PCA products, and businesses that purchased products that were recalled as a result of the outbreak, should visit the following website for further details: https://forms.fbi.gov/pca-salmonella-tainted-product-case/
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Patrick Hearn and Mary M. Englehart of the Consumer Protection Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Dasher of the Middle District of Georgia. Marietta Geckos, formerly a Trial Attorney with the Consumer Protection Branch, also worked on the prosecution. The case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the FBI.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Due to public interest in this case, the Department of Justice is releasing documents that may not be in an accessible format. If you have a disability and the format of any material on the site interferes with your ability to access some information, please email the Department of Justice webmaster at firstname.lastname@example.org or contact Charles Miller at 202.514.2007. To enable us to respond in a manner that will be of most help to you, please indicate the nature of the accessibility problem, your preferred format (electronic format (ASCII, etc.), standard print, large print, etc.), the web address of the requested material, and your full contact information so we can reach you if questions arise while fulfilling your request.
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When Sonoma’s La Crema Winery turned 40 last year, it celebrated the milestone with a unique exercise: Led by Dr. Henry “Hoby” Wedler, it was easily one of my top sensory experiences of 2019.
Gone are the days when wine tasting was synonymous with standing at a bar. Wineries are now offering tasting experiences that include such activities as hiking with your dog, appreciating a world-class sculpture garden and breathing through a yoga class. If you think a standard wine tasting at a bar sounds more like drudgery than a dream day, these four non-traditional wine tasting experiences are for you.
The odor of wet dog isn’t exactly something we want to detect in wine, but
experiencing this scent after a communal hike at Kunde Family Winery in Sonoma Valley could actually prove enjoyable.
First-ever Slow Wine Guide to Oregon and second California edition coming online… First-ever Slow Wine Guide to Oregon and second California edition coming online… — Read on dobianchi.com/2019/01/24/michael-alberty-wine-writer/
Save the date. On September 9th WSET alumni and anyone interested in learning more about WSET certification courses are invited to join Deborah Parker Wong, DWSET and host John Balletto for a professional mixer celebrating WSET’s 50th anniversary at Balletto Vineyards.
Vinexpo Explorer presented the gathering of wine buyers and press from 27 countries with an opportunity to take a deep dive into the region and its terroir, personality, and the myriad wine styles produced in Sonoma County. Spirited interviewed some of these buyers, most of whom were first-time visitors to the region, to gather their firsthand impressions of Sonoma County wines.
In a repeat performance, Imagery Estate Winery founded by Joe Benziger in 1985 has been honored for the second year running by the California State Fair as the 2018 Golden State Winery of the Year. Benziger, who was at the helm for the 2017 award, has now retired but serves as guide and mentor for his second daughter Jamie Benziger, 31, who stepped up as winemaker in 2018.


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Bytes: What’s new in tech
The flying-car dream is still alive
Airbus wants to put a flying-car prototype in the air by the end of this year, said Jason Abbruzzese in Mashable.com. Speaking at a tech conference in Munich last week, Airbus CEO Tom Enders outlined the European aerospace giant’s vision for flying vehicles using technology similar to that of self-driving cars. “One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground,” Enders said. “Now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground.” The small craft would “take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but take advantage of the efficiency of winged airplanes while in flight.” Airbus plans to have a prototype this year, but it doesn’t expect to have a model ready for public demonstration until 2020.
China orders app store registration
The Chinese government is tightening its control over mobile apps, said Paul Mozur in The New York Times. Beijing last month ordered the registration of app stores across the country with a vague item posted to the website of the Cyberspace Administration of China. “Many apps have been found to spread illegal information, violate user rights, or contain security risks,” the post read, suggesting that the country’s app stores could be held responsible for offering apps that run afoul of the government. China passed a law last year barring apps from “engaging in activities deemed to endanger national security or disrupt social order,” often a euphemism for discussing politically sensitive topics. Chinese apps often host content that would be strictly blocked on the internet, because they are harder to monitor and suppress than websites.
Google’s advertising conflicts
Google products enjoy a serious home turf advantage on the company’s search engine, said Jack Nicas in The Wall Street Journal. Ads for products sold by Google and its Alphabetowned sister companies snagged top billing in 91 percent of 25,000 recent searches analyzed by search-ad-data firm SEMrush—from Chromebook laptops to Nest smoke detectors. The results highlight “a rarely discussed” conflict of interest in the online ad industry. Google runs millions of auctions for search ads every minute, using a secret algorithm to determine placement and price. “Google said that when it competes for ads, other advertisers are charged as if it weren’t bidding.” However, because advertising slots are limited, “Google’s ads can prompt others to increase their bids to compete for the remaining slots.”


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Excitement is brewing as a result of rumours
A Pokemon Diamond and Pearl fan has created levels from the RPG game inside Minecraft as part of a still ongoing project.
The video posted to Reddit revealed the Sinnoh Region coming together via an empty Minecraft world. User bubsy200 showed off their neat streets and signs, along with detailed Pokemarts and Pokemon Centres. Bubsy200 also confirmed that the world is a work in progress, confessing they weren’t yet ready to share the download link with the world.
A texture pack and mod list were shared within the comments, however, encouraging fellow fans to create their own Pokemon masterpiece.
The Pokemon franchise is celebrating 25 years in 2021, an achievement that has caused rumours of a remake to surface. With mentions of ‘big plans’ on the official Twitter feed, and new spin-off games announced, fans are waiting for the big reveal at some point this year.
The latest in a long line of rumours is that Diamond and Pearl will be announced in a February Nintendo Direct, with the game itself releasing in November of this year. French leaker Kelios tweeted earlier in the year that the games would receive a full remaster. Although there was no official response, the claims were enough to excite fans on the social media site. This series of tweets was the origin of the November release date.
In recent Minecraft news, the legendary Herobrine seed was finally found, allowing players to search for the creepy character themselves. Herobrine is alleged to be a white-eyed character that spawns in single-player mode, performing strange rituals like carving tunnels and hacking leaves from trees.


text: Apple has reportedly purchased Redmatica, an Italian startup that specializes in digital music editing apps, according to Fanpage. The Italian blog cites a weekly bulletin from Italy’s antitrust regulatory agency, AGCM, who has approved the purchase. Redmatica is the creator of four Mac-specific music editing applications, including Keymap Pro, AutoSampler, ProManager, and GBSampler Manager. The company’s revenue last year was less than €100,000, with an income of €26,000, meaning an Apple buyout would not be costly. The Cupertino-based company is likely interested in an “acqui-hire” and looking to integrate Redmatica’s employees into Apple’s own Logic Pro and Garageband teams.


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The company confirms that the last season, number 12, is already the most successful to date.
Apex Legends continues to attract fans of the battle-royale with new characters, cosmetics and various game modes, which translates into more possibilities for players to invest in the EA game. Following that line, the distributor has published the results of its last fiscal year with good news for the Respawn title: it has already reached a new revenue milestoneand we are talking about millionaire figures.
Apex Legends has already generated more than 2,000 million dollarsAccording to what EA comments in its document, the battle-royale is still a really profitable title for the publisher: “Apex Legends has increased more than 40% during the year, surpassing the milestone of $2 billion net in income. Season 12 ended yesterday and it was the most successful ever. And of course, Apex Legends Mobile is doing well in testing and is close to launch.”
We no longer have any doubts about the success of Respawn’s game, but it seems that their proposal can generate even more income with the next mobile version. Although it is integrated into the world of Apex Legends, the edition for Android and iOS will have its own seasons of content, its own battle passes, collectible cosmetics and unique unlockables.
Recently, EA announced that Apex Legends Mobile will be available on all mobiles in the world sometime in this month of may, so we will be attentive to the news related to this battle royale. If you still don’t know the universe created by Respawn, we recommend you take a look at our Apex Legends review and find out what has already become such a game. frantic as fresh.
More about: Apex Legends, EA, Respawn and Income.


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Sales of the major beverage categories are forecast to increase 2.2% per year from 2020 to 2025 but certainly not at a steady rate over that period, according to the update of Packaged Facts' benchmark coverage of retail beverage sales in Beverage Market Outlook 2021: Retail Beverage Trends & Consumption Preferences. Sales spiked in 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus as consumers ate and drank virtually everything at home.
Beverage retail sales didn't experience as big of an increase in 2020 as retail sales of food items since a high percentage of packaged beverage consumption occurs when people are out of home (e.g., at school, work, events, gyms, exercising, travelling). Additionally, a relatively high percentage of beverage sales (especially water, soda, energy drinks, and ready-to-drink juices and teas) occur in convenience stores, which lost a lot of consumer traffic in 2020 due to reduced activity in travel, commuting, etc.
Beverage Market Outlook 2021: Retail Beverage Trends & Consumption Preferences analyzes and highlights near-term factors in the context of overall industry development and long-term consumer preferences and behaviors as well as marketing and product development innovations. Beverage sales growth is projected at a significantly lower rate in 2021, as many Americans receive vaccinations and much of the country resumes pre-pandemic activities and beverage spending shifts back toward foodservice venues over retail outlets at least to a degree. The rise of the Delta variant and the threat of future variants, plus a stall in vaccination rates complicates sales projections for 2021 and beyond.
Actionable insights are available as this report considers COVID-related behaviors in the pandemic and beyond. The extraordinary impact of the crisis changed consumer behavior significantly, accelerating the manifestation of many of them. As life returns to more regular patterns throughout the rest of this year and beyond, it is expected that several trends in the beverage industry will gain even further traction. These include dairy free/plant based, functional attributes, sugar reduction, hybrids, CBD, plastic packaging solutions, and evolutions in online sales and distribution.


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There is an epidemic of “IRS Scam” robocalls – automatically dialed calls from people claiming to be from the IRS.
The truth is the IRS doesn’t call, so every single one of these is a scam. And there’s something like 20 million of these IRS scam calls happening each month, like the one’s coming from this number.
It’s become a big enough problem the press is picking up on it, like this great story that recently appeared on the 11pm news on CBS Los Angeles (and even covered YouMail as a solution to stop robocalls like these)!
It is really great to see consumer reporters covering this, since consumers need to be aware of the IRS scam so they don’t get taken by it. After all, it’s super scary to think that the IRS is calling, you owe money, and you’re going to jail if you don’t pay quickly. But you can put your mind at ease – it’s just some scammer from out of the country trying to separate you and your money.


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|Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition Deborah Feinstein|
The Federal Trade Commission is so fed up with "pay-for-delay" pharma deals, that it's hoping to reach a $1 billion settlement in at least one pharma antitrust case this year. That's the word from Deborah Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, who revealed the agency's aims at a recent meeting of the American Bar Association's Section of Antitrust Law in Washington, D.C.
For years, the FTC has been targeting pay-for-delay settlements in patent lawsuits. When manufacturers of branded drugs pay off generics companies to get them to hold off on copycat products, that costs taxpayers money, the agency says. "The consumer harm there is extremely significant, and so we have a tremendous amount of resources there and hope to come out with a victory one way or another in those cases," Feinstein said of pay-for-delay at the meeting, according to PharmaTimes.
Pay-for-delay settlements between drugmakers and generic manufacturers have come under increased scrutiny of late, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that affirmed the FTC's right to challenge such deals. In an annual "highlights" report released at the ABA's antitrust meeting, the FTC said it would proceed with the suit that was the basis of that Supreme Court decision. The case alleges that Solvay Pharmaceuticals, the maker of the testosterone drug AndroGel later acquired by AbbVie ($ABBV), paid two generic drug manufacturers in a deal that delayed cheaper copies by 9 years.
In the highlights report, the FTC also vowed to continue to review Big Pharma mergers "with an eye to preserving competition for generic medications as well as emerging treatments." It cited as recent models its challenge of Mylan's ($MYL) proposed $1.85 billion acquisition of Agila Specialties, in which the commission demanded that the two companies divest 11 generic specialty drugs before allowing the merger to proceed. The FTC also pointed out that it required Actavis ($ACT) to sell off four generic drugs so that its $8.5 billion acquisition of Warner Chilcott wouldn't be anticompetitive.
"Promoting competition in the health care and pharmaceutical industries that reduces costs to consumers remains a top priority for the Commission," the FTC said in a statement accompanying the report.
Special Reports: Top 10 generic drugmakers by 2012 revenue - Mylan - Actavis


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The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) stated on Thursday that the first phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) will be completed over the next 12 to 15 months. The proposal is expected to be completed by the middle of 2024. It will entail the establishment of bilateral connections with a country as well as the introduction of a proof-of-concept for CBDC issuance for both wholesale and retail.
CBUAE further disclosed that the CBDC strategy will be implemented in three phases, supporting the debut of the digital dirham. The first pillar is the soft launch of mBridge, a project co-created by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the central banks of the United Arab Emirates, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Its goal is to make real-value cross-border CBDC transactions for international trade settlement easier.
The UAE central bank will create a proof-of-concept for bilateral CBDC bridges with India, one of the UAE’s key trading partners, for the second pillar. In addition, for the third pillar, the UAE regulator will create proof-of-concept work for domestic CBDC issuance that covers both wholesale and retail usage. Furthermore, the Abu Dhabi-based central bank announced an agreement with G42 Cloud, a regional cloud platform, and R3, a New York-based blockchain business, enrolling them as infrastructure and technology providers, respectively, for the CBDC deployment.
The UAE launched its digital dirham as one of nine core objectives of its new Financial Infrastructure Transformation Program, at a time when central banks around the world are examining CBDCs.
the Governor of the CBUAE, Khaled Mohamed Balama said, “The launch of our CBDC strategy marks a key step in the evolution of money and payments in the country. CBDC will accelerate our digitalization journey and promote financial inclusion. We look forward to exploring the opportunities that CBDC will bring to the wider economy and society.”
The UAE’s overall crypto policies are highly advanced. They declared in February 2022 that they will grant federal licences to virtual asset service providers. (VASPs), Dubai developed a separate cryptocurrency regulatory agency and enforced crypto legislation, encouraging several large cryptocurrency businesses to set up shop there. They have previously shown interest in becoming a crypto market hub. They aspire to compete with heavyweights such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the UAE’s emirates, is also developing the world’s first free economic zone entirely dedicated to virtual assets and digital businesses.


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Scalability of 3D printing in an industrial context requires a few hurdles to overcome, one of the foremost being printing speeds. Most current generation metal printers have printing times that can’t compete with common injection molding or CNC products, not to mention the time required for post-processing and more. Initially, the metal printing industry was focusing on different features to drive the growth of the sector, specifically material choice, precision and reliability. Now, companies like Seurat Technologies, Velo3D and Spee3D are poised to satisfy the demand to put 3D printers in the factory floor for good. As with FDM tech, SLS patents are expiring and opening the dam for new companies to be born. It’s only a matter of time before 3D printing is going to be competitive from a time standpoint with other traditional manufacturing technologies.
Is Velo3D secretly working to revolutionize 3D metal printing for robotics?
As you might recall, plastic 3D printing really took off back in 2009 when a key patent on deposition technology expired, opening the way for 3D printing technology to significantly drop in price. Metal 3D printing, by and large, relies on the far more expensive selective laser sintering technology, for which the patent expired in 2014. This was, as Silicon Valley expert Tekla Perry reminds the world, just before Velo3D was founded. All metal 3D printing experts, however, believe that the metal breakthrough is to come from the material side (rather than the SLS side), and Perry suggests that Velo3D could be working on that breakthrough.
Find out more about Velo3D here.
Seurat Technologies, a Silicon Valley-based startup, announces it has raised $13.5 million in a Series A funding round. The significant investment will reportedly be put towards funding and accelerating the company’s much-hyped metal additive manufacturing technology.
Read more about it here.
SPEE3D announces global launch of ‘Supersonic Metal 3D Printing’
SPEE3D, Melbourne, Australia, has announced the company’s official global launch and availability of its industrial metal Additive Manufacturing systems. Designed for scalable, just in time production, SPEE3D is said to be the world’s first metal 3D printer leveraging supersonic 3D deposition (SP3D) technology to deliver manufacturing grade printing at production speeds.
Rather than using heat to melt metal powders, SPEE3D’s patented technology uses supersonic deposition in which a rocket nozzle accelerates air up to three times the speed of sound to deliver manufacturing grade metal and high-density parts.
Read more about it here.
Follow us on Twitter to keep updated on AM & IIoT related news as well as updates to Authentise’s services!


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Google Finance has been renovated. As a part of this process, the Portfolios feature will be taken down soon.
You can continue to follow stocks in the new Google Finance. Initially up to 50 stocks were migrated from your portfolio list,
and soon you’ll be able to add stocks from your portfolio to the new Google Finance. You can also download your full portfolio
in csv format, which can be imported into other portfolio services during the transition period.
KFC has closed more than half of its 900 UK outlets after delivery problems meant they ran out of chicken. Last week, the fried chicken chain switched its delivery contract to DHL, which blamed "operational issues" for the supply disruption.
General Motors has offered to convert debt of around $2.2 billion owed by its ailing South Korean operation into equity in exchange for financial support and tax benefits from Seoul, according to sources.
If there is one thing that the $1.77 billion (over Rs11,000 crore) fraud at Punjab National Bank (PNB) has proved, it is this: Bailing out errant banks with taxpayers' money can only be first-aid, not a long-term solution.
With online giant Amazon having expanded into supermarkets, its loyalty perks program is following right behind. Amazon Prime members who use the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa credit card will now get 5% back when they use the card to shop at Whole Foods ...


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Facilities (Campus Spaces)
Satisfaction in the Restroom (and Locker Room)
- By Ellen Kollie
- July 1st, 2013
When Aaron Sifuentes, Physical Plant manager at the Roaring Fork Campus of Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, began renovating restrooms in Quigley Library, he knew he had his work cut out for him. Built in the 1970s, the library is the oldest building on campus, so any work done to it would include bringing it up to ADA code. Plus, to say he had a tight budget would be not be an understatement.
Determined to turn out a project that would please sustainability-minded students and stay within budget, Sifuentes got creative. The bidding process made it clear that it was a labor-only project. “I ran all the purchasing,” he explains. “I was able to avoid the contractor’s markup and acquire all the materials at a tax-free status. That saved thousands of dollars.” His department of 12 also assisted in demolition and haul away, saving even more money. “This enabled us to get the project done on time,” he says, “and allowed me to know what was going on every step of the way.”
On the sustainability side, Sifuentes accomplished a number of things. The bathrooms are small, so the biggest source for sustainability was low-flow water consumption fixtures. “The fixtures I chose for the sinks and soap dispensers are all hands-free,” he says, “so not only is it sanitary, the automatic shut off on the sinks limits the amount of water going down the drain.”
Sifuentes also replaced two-by-four, four-bulb T12 fixtures with LED down cans, which are a fraction of the wattage. “We were at 160-watt consumption per fixture in each bathroom,” he explains. “With three to four fixtures per restroom, we were using 480 to 640 watts of power per bathroom. We’ve cut that by 75 percent.”
When it comes to budget (pleasing administrators) and sustainability (pleasing students) in restroom and locker room redesign, the two naturally fit together, as evidenced by Sifuentes using low-flow water fixtures. “Sustainability is more than green products or products that are renewable resources,” says Cyrus Boatwalla, director of Marketing for Yonkers, NY-based American Specialties. “It is also about products that have long life cycles. Those products become budget-conscious choices because they require replacing less often and, thus, you’re putting less material in a landfill.”
There’s a third component, says Jeffery Wells, senior product manager at Moen Commercial, North Olmsted, OH. “It’s important to have performance in addition to cost savings and responsibility with natural resources.” For example, the firm recently released a sensor flush valve where, if the piston valve fails, it does so in a closed position so there are no water leaks. He also recommends products that are WaterSense-certified by the EPA.
IMAGE COURTESY OF EYP ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Locker Room Renovation
These common-sense approaches apply to locker room design as well as restroom design. Let’s look at American University in Washington, DC, which is in the process of renovating locker rooms in its Sports Center. “The Athletics Department was well organized and had a strong vision for what they want to do,” says Sean Lyons, RA, project director and principal with EYP, which has offices in the east, “which is to create dedicated and distinct locker rooms for each sports team.”
In terms of cost savings, the amount of available space was less than what was needed, and the initial budget did not accommodate expansion. So the architects created a space within a space: Two visitor’s locker rooms were joined by an operable wall that, when open, allows the locker rooms to serve as a team conferencing center.
Another cost-saving measure was using a combination of concrete block and drywall, as opposed to all concrete block. “Drywall can be successfully used if a lot of it is covered by lockers and there’s a solid maintenance program,” says Timothy Whitney, AIA, vice president and director of Albany, NY-based CHA Sports, which is partnering with EYP on the project. “Also, graphics go well on a drywall surface and can dramatically change the look and feel of a space without a significant investment.”
“Identifying alternative strategies like this helped keep the project in budget,” says Lyons. Also to ensure staying on budget, a CM at Risk was used to validate cost.
Similar to Sifuentes at Colorado Mountain College, the American University team installed low-flow water fixtures and LED lighting for that eye toward sustainability. In addition, they purchased local and regional materials. And they refurbished functional elements already in place, including cleaning and preserving ductwork.
So Say the Experts
Both of these projects provide many examples for achieving both cost savings and sustainability on locker room and restroom renovation projects. The experts have even more. For example, Boatwalla recommends working with product manufacturers who offer a variety of products so they’re not guiding you to one material type because that’s all they carry.
Harkening back to what was said about purchasing high-performance products, Daniel Depta, manager of Marketing for Special-Lite, Inc., Decatur, MI, suggests ensuring the products chosen are suitable for the environment, conditions and design for which they are intended. “Choosing products for the longest life ensures you get the lowest possible cost,” he says.
Also, for both cost savings and sustainability, Dan Storto, president of Downers Grove, IL-based World Dryer, notes that, “Switching to high-speed hand dryers instead of using paper towels is one simple change that can reduce material costs, maintenance and waste by as much as 90 to 95 percent, as well as reduce the college’s carbon footprint and improve sanitation.” In addition, energy-efficient high-speed hand dryers dry hands in just 10 to 15 seconds — compared to traditional hand dryers that take 30 to 40 seconds — and they use 88 percent less energy than traditional hand dryers.
When it comes to renovating campus restrooms and locker rooms, it is possible to please everyone — budget-minded administrators and sustainability-minded students. It just takes a little creativity and a little planning. And it takes a pay-me-now-or-pay-me-later mindset, as Depta notes: “Consider life-cycle costs, not just first cost, specifying products for performance. Spend smart money, not cheap money.”
This article originally appeared in the July 2013 issue of College Planning & Management.


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HUBBARD, Ohio (WYTV) – Small business owners want consumers to think about skipping the lines at the mall on Saturday and instead check out a local business.
“Just remember all these little places when you go by. Just stop, even once or twice a year. Just stop and see what we have that is new,” said Hubbard small business owner Diana Shipton.
The annual Small Business Saturday event started in 2010. It is promoted by the Better Business Bureau and American Express.
“There has been so much focus on large corporations and the discounts they offer. But we don’t want to forget about the small businesses within our community,” Better Business Bureau public relations coordinator Melissa Ames said.
The Better Business Bureau said small shops are an important part of the local economy.
“Especially this time of year, you want to support your local business that keep our community strong,” Ames said.
Small businesses employ more than half of the American workforce.
“You want little shops to hang around. It’s little, local places that are the ones who really support the community,” Shipton said. “You go through all these towns and you see so many buildings and half of them are empty. So just stop once in a while and see what we have. You might be pleasantly surprised.”
To find out which businesses are taking part in Small Business Saturday, click here.


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The project is billed as the ultimate track car yet street legal, though "daily usability is being sacrificed."McLaren has officially confirmed its second Ultimate Series model, referred to as the P15.The car is billed as the world's first "Hyper-GT," the company's most extreme track-concentrated model that can still be legally driven on public roads.
"Daily usability is being sacrificed to give the most intensive driver experience around a circuit," McLaren warns. "Its design, described as brutal, will be the purest expression yet of the company's 'form follows function' philosophy."
The P15 will be officially revealed in the first quarter of 2018, though McLaren promises to share more details before the end of this year.
The British marque is also working on another Hyper-GT, known as the BP23, that revives the F1's iconic 1+2 layout. It is expected to be delivered in 2019 as the most powerful and aerodynamic road-going McLaren yet.


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Smartphone brand vivo is gearing to launch one of its latest smartphones, the V21, in the Kenyan market.
The device, which was released last month, is set to be launched in Kenya on June 23rd.
In the meantime, those interested in it can pre-order it both online and offline.
The vivo V21, as we had noted earlier, “… has a 44-megapixel selfie shooter with both OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and EIS (Electronic Imaging Stabilization) “to accurately detect movements and shaking and calibrate the camera accordingly to eliminate motion blurs and produce high-definition selfies as a result… It can also shoot front-facing videos at 4K and includes other features like a dual-view mode and slow motion.”
“The V21 also features a top-notch 64MP OIS rear camera, supported by a set of secondary cameras to handle wide-angle and more complex shots, as well as macro photography,” notes a statement from the company.
“Other features of the device include a 6.4-inch Full HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ certification, a MediaTek Dimensity 720 chipset (this marks the first time that a major device brand is using it locally, if we are not wrong), 8GB RAM, 128GB onboard storage, an in-display fingerprint sensor, a 4,000mAh battery and an included 33W fast-charging adaptor.”


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The industry that feeds the nation now in limbo, Salinas Valley produce faces uncertainty
As the coronavirus keeps a nation in lockdown Salinas Valley agriculture is now getting a clearer picture of the impact it’s having on the central coast ag industry.
“The whole world has turned upside down and inside out and that’s affected all of us locally,” said Joe Pezzini, CEO and President of Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville.
Salinas Valley produce just doesn’t end up on a family’s dinner table it also ends up in theme parks, school cafeterias, and restaurants; most of which have shuttered.
“It’s probably not going to be a light switch I mean are all these restaurants going to survive the longer this goes and they use a lot of produce that’s going to have a great impact,” Pezzini said.
Pezzini said demand in the food service sector is down between 50 and 75-percent. In the retail sector which includes supermarket chains, business is down about 20-percent.
In many cases ag companies are having trouble getting their product across state lines.
“You can’t get trucks at times because they can’t get unloaded when they go to these destinations spots and now retailers because they don’t have workers in these warehouses aren’t ordering as much,” said Pezzini.
Pezzini says depending on how long the pandemic plays out there could be fields that go unharvested.
“I mean we have plantings out through the middle of the summer and beyond already and what’s going to happen to all that product if it doesn’t have a market it won’t get harvested I mean that’s all there is to it,” Pezzini said.


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Thursday, 21 February 2019
Murray Electorate: Agriculture Industry
I'd like to run through a snapshot of the Goulburn Valley, one of the most productive agricultural regions in Australia. In Murray, the food and grocery manufacturing industry generates over $5 billion of output annually. This economic activity is led by the dairy sector, which contributes over $2 billion annually, and fruit and vegetable produce manufacturing, which has an output of over $1.6 billion. Employment in the Murray food and grocery sector comes in at 8,500, where the dairy sector is over 2,700. Another 2,000 workers work in the local fruit and vegetable farming sector, and over a thousand people work in the meat manufacturing sector. This is a very, very productive area of Australia, and it is estimated that over $3.89 billion in exports come from the Murray region, including dairy, which is exported at a value of $1.69 billion. These statistics show you exactly how important the processing and agricultural sectors of Murray are to Australia.
We continue to see growers and local farmers invest their own money and their businesses' money in furthering the processing opportunities throughout the Goulburn Valley. We really need some support for these industries into the future. Just recently Peter Thompson and the Geoffrey Thompson Fruit Packing Company have been making a push to increase the productivity of their business via a world-class packing and grading facility. This is one part of the fruit and vegetable sector that is lagging behind our competitor nations. Our ability to speed up the grading and packing process in the Goulburn Valley for a whole range of our fruit growers is something that is desperately needed within the whole industry to actually bring our sector in line with world efficiencies. Our whole cropping sector has had a disastrous year, with many of our crops being cut for hay. A lot of that hay was sold to our drought-affected farmers across New South Wales.
Another input cost that is really affecting our farming sector at the moment is the price of water. Water is currently trading at $500 a megalitre on the temporary market. Hay is trading at $335 a tonne, excluding GST, grain is at $550 a tonne, and there is a very poor market for dairy cows. In relation to the cost of water, what has recently been announced by the Labor Party is quite worrying and threatening. Labor wants to reintroduce indiscriminate buybacks, where they will go to a market full of vulnerable customers and indiscriminately pick those that need to sell their water. This is the worst, most destructive and most dangerous of all water policies. For Labor to threaten to reintroduce indiscriminate buybacks, which will leave a whole raft of stranded farmers at the end of an irrigation channel, is not only dumb but extremely destructive and dangerous. What we need is a carefully thought out policy in relation to circumstances in which we need to deliver more water from our irrigation sector to the rivers.
I've got a letter here from Suzie Jacobs, who effectively put it this way: 'Our dairy cattle are worth $500 a head and we're in the process now of taking them off to Greenham abattoir, where we might receive $500 per head. Our little business generates about $160,000 to $200,000 per annum. If we go out of business'—which it looks like they're going to—'that's another $200,000 that will leave our community.' Every time the Labor Party move these reckless policies, they force farmers out of business, and this sort of money leaves regional Australia.
The stunt that happened this week in relation to a floor price for milk means the Labor Party have no understanding of the fact that the vast majority of our milk in Australia finds its way overseas and therefore our products are at the beck and call of the world milk price; that it has very little to do with what could be a floor price here in Australia. The Labor Party either don't understand or don't care or can't quite work out that these policies are, in fact, very degrading to people who are going through a really tough time.
Question agreed to.
House adjourned at 1 8:59


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Target, Neiman Marcus partnering on holiday gift collection
- Staff Pacific Business News
The collection will be available at all Target (NYSE: TGT) and Neiman Marcus stores starting Dec. 1, as well as both retailers’ websites.
Minneapolis-based Target has four stores in Hawaii — on Oahu and the Big Island — while Dallas-based Neiman Marcus has one store in the Islands, at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center.
“Target and Neiman Marcus are known for charting new terrain, and by joining forces for the holiday season we’ve set the stage for a redefining moment in retail,” Target Chairman, President and CEO Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement. “This collaboration is unlike anything Target has done before, and we are confident our guests will be thrilled with this extraordinary collection that features some of America’s most pre-eminent designers.”
The collection will include more than 50 limited-edition products that will range in price from $7.99 to $499.99, although the stores say most items will be less than $60.
“These will be the ‘must-have’ gifts, whether you are a loyal Neiman Marcus customer, a devoted Target guest or a fan of American design,” Karen Katz, president and chief executive officer of The Neiman Marcus Group, said in a statement.
As part of the new partnership, Target and Neiman Marcus will also donate $1 million to the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
The designers of the holiday products are:
• Alice + Olivia;
• Jason Wu;
• Proenza Schouler;
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A unit of ferry group Irish Continental has secured the first licence to operate at the new €48m Dublin Inland Port, which has been developed near Dublin Airport by Dublin Port Company.
The Irish Continental subsidiary Dublin Ferryport Terminals (DFT), already operates a container terminal at Dublin Port. It has signed a 20-year lease to operate a five-hectare container depot at the new inland port. It will boost DFT’s throughput handling capacity at Dublin Port by 20pc.
The new inland port is located on a 44-hectare site, 14km from Dublin Port. It has direct access to the sea port via the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel.
Dublin Port handles about half of all the port volume in Ireland. Planning consultants for the Dublin Port Company had told Fingal County Council that the creation of the inland port in its administrative area was made more urgent due to the UK’s departure from the EU, which resulted in land being set aside at the port itself for Brexit-related developments and activities.
Declan Freeman, the managing director of Irish Continental’s container and terminal division, said securing the licence to operate at the new inland port comes at an “important time” for the company. “To meet growing demand for our load-on/load-off freight handling services, we need to be able to move containers through the DFT terminal at Dublin Port in greater numbers than before, and more frequently,” he said.
“Dublin Inland Port will give us the flexibility and much needed additional capacity to do that.”
Cormac Kennedy, the head of property at Dublin Port Company (DPC), said the new inland port will be capable of accommodating up to 6,000 containers when it’s fully operational. The new facility will open next month.
“Other shipping and logistics operators will join DFT at the facility as DPC continues to maximise the capacity of Dublin Port’s existing footprint to meet national port capacity requirements in the period of Masterplan 2040,” he said.
Dublin Port handled 7,282 ship arrivals in 2020 and 74,372 freight vehicles. It handled 36.8m gross tonnes of imports and exports last year, which was 3.4pc lower than in 2019.
However, in the fourth quarter of last year, the figure was up 7.6pc year-on-year.


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August 14, 2019
South Korea has not placed Japan on a white-list of trade friendly countries.
The government plans to analyze how Japanese firms will be impacted by South Korea’s decision to remove Japan from its list of countries receiving preferential trade status. At this point, the dominant view is that the impact will be minimal because most sensitive materials can be imported from places other than South Korea, according to a person related to the government.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko criticized the South Korean decision in a Twitter post on Tuesday, saying, “Even after seeing a press conference of the South Korean side, it remains completely unclear on which grounds they can say Japan’s import and export control systems do not meet basic principles.”
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahisa Sato also said on Twitter Monday that he would confirm in detail the reasons behind South Korea’s decision, indicating the government intends to carefully watch how the situation will develop.
According to the Finance Ministry, imports from South Korea stood at about ¥3.48 trillion in fiscal 2018, making South Korea the fifth largest country in terms of imports. Major imports included petroleum products (about ¥510 billion), iron and steel products (about ¥340 billion) and electronic components related to semiconductors (about ¥210 billion).


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Kiwi movie and series lovers have been dealt a blow after discovering the price of Netflix subscriptions have hiked.
The change in price follows the introduction of GST to online streaming services in 2016.
But the price has hiked again, with its standard service rising from $14.99 to $16.99.
A premium subscription has hiked 19 percent at $21.99.
The price rise means its standard service now costs $4 more than Lightbox. Sky's Neon TV remains more expensive than both at $20 for movies and TV shows.
It comes after Netflix shares dropped nearly 12 percent last month. The company added just 2.83 million international paid streaming subscribers, compared with street expectations of 4.8 million.
Netflix, which has 151.6 million customers, raised prices in Britain, Switzerland, Greece and Western Europe in the quarter, with New Zealand now taking the hit.


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When news of the KitKat label came out a few days ago , many felt that Google had sold out its principles by partnering with Nestle and naming its software which is the heart of all Android smartphones and tablets as per source and that too after the world’s most popular chocolate confection. Google had previously intended to call version 4.4 Key Pie Lime but had a change of heart as people outside North America knew how it tasted or even what is was. A group of Indian tech companies intend to mail samples of the Ladoo confection to Google in the hopes of sweetening the deal to a heavier and more fruitful Android OS for the future.
Knox is an enterprise mobile security solution that comes pre-installed in most Samsung devices. Knox happens to be the only security solution from a smartphone manufacturer that seeks to protect devices at all levels that is from the hardware root level to the top application layer.


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Tag : Brexit
Since the European Union referendum in June 2016 the number of international brands opening stores in London has increased by 17% compared with the preceding two years, new research has shown.
Turkey’s import impasseSubscription
The threat of a no-deal Brexit is leading UK companies to reconsider Turkey as a sourcing destination, but there is still a lack of certainty.
Brexit uncertainty ‘crippling fashion industry’Subscription
Retailers have told Drapers they are facing a “perfect storm” of cost rises, a record number of store closures, slumping sales and continued Brexit uncertainty.
Business confidence lowest since 2012Subscription
Business confidence has crashed to its lowest level since September 2012, amid continued Brexit uncertainty, a new report has shown.
Clothing sales survived an overall slump in March, thanks to Mothers’ Day, as Brexit uncertainty continues to negatively affect spending.
BRC: A perfect Brexit is no longer an option Subscription
The government must compromise to deliver Brexit and give retailers much-needed clarity, says Mat Morris, external affairs adviser on Brexit for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Planning for Brexit is like to trying to pack for a holiday with no idea of where you’re going, the method of travel or even what factor of sunscreen you’ll need.
MPs fail to find majority on Brexit alternativesSubscription
MPs have failed to support any alternative to Theresa May’s rejected Brexit deal in a series of indicative votes last night.
MPs reject May's EU withdrawal agreementSubscription
Prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been thrown out by MPs for a third time, creating further political uncertainty for UK businesses.
Next chief executive Lord Wolfson has said the high street does have a future as its online business grows, but only if property costs enable the viability of stores.


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Sony’s announced a July 12 release date in Japan for Level 5’s Time Travelers.
The announce came as part of a series of announcements on Vita in Japan today, including the introduction of the Crystal White Vita.
Time Travelers was announced originally as a 3DS exclusive in 2010, but was announced last year to be heading to Vita and PSP.
A western release for the game hasn’t been announced yet.
More on Andriasang.


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The leading trade body for conveyancing industry, Conveyancing Association (CA), has launched together with HM Land Registry a new survey that aims to collect views on landlord/management company restrictions used to enforce covenants in leases. An example of such a restriction is the requirement of consent to assignment of the lease.
Most of these lease enforcement limitations are entered at the registrar’s discretion, who has to be satisfied that they are necessary or desirable. CA is therefore urging its member firms and all the other market stakeholders to give their views on this topic.
The survey covers questions such as whether or not the landlord/management company restrictions are necessary/desirable, what are the difficulties in receiving information, the issue of costs, and whether HM Land Registry should cancel all restrictions until required by Statute. It will also look into the advantages and disadvantages of such restrictions and what HM could change in terms of policy.
“The CA welcomes this opportunity for its members and other stakeholders to input into HM Land Registry’s consultation on restrictions. Being at the coal face conveyancers are ideally placed to provide the real life view on the impact of restrictions within the conveyancing process. We would urge our members and all conveyancers to respond to the survey and indeed to pass it on to their contacts and colleagues across the industry so that Land Registry has a clear picture,” commented Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at The Conveyancing Association.
The survey is open until the 6th of February at snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=151239681269 and all responses are anonymous unless members choose to identify themselves in their comments.
The Conveyancing Association is the voice of the specialist UK Conveyancer and the leading trade body for the conveyancing industry. It is a not-for-profit organisation and it works in collaboration with industry stakeholders to campaign, influence, and improve the conveyancing process.