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After many rumors and leaks, and over a decade without a major new game, Konami will reveal the future of the Silent Hill series on Wednesday this week, at 5 p.m. EDT.
“In your restless dreams, do you see that town?” the company tweeted from the official Silent Hill account. “The latest updates for the SILENT HILL series, will be revealed during the #SILENTHILL Transmission on Wednesday, October 19th, at 2:00 PM. PDT.”
In your restless dreams, do you see that town?— Silent Hill Official (@SilentHill) October 16, 2022
The latest updates for the SILENT HILL series, will be revealed during the #SILENTHILL Transmission on Wednesday, October 19th, at 2:00 PM. PDThttps://t.co/8Knoq9xYsa
The tweet links to a new Silent Hill website, which has no further information.
Masahiro Ito, who worked as monster designer and art director on the first three Silent Hill games, retweeted the announcement. Ito confirmed in 2020 that he was working as “a core member” of a development team on a new game. A piece of artwork signed by Ito appeared in a series of images that leaked earlier this year, purporting to be from a new Silent Hill game.
Also in the works, reportedly, is a remake of Silent Hill 2 made by Polish horror specialist Bloober Team (Layers of Fear), which announced a partnership with Konami last year. A third rumored project involves an episodic, story-focused series. Also, Christophe Gans, who directed the 2006 film Silent Hill, has said he’s working on the script for a third Silent Hill movie.
Any and all of this might be revealed on Wednesday; it’s even possible we’ll see the release of the reported playable teaser.
Despite being hugely popular with horror fans, the Silent Hill series has been more or less dormant since 2012, which saw the release of Silent Hill: Downpour and handheld spinoff Silent Hill: Book of Memories. Neither title was well received. The series was due for a high-profile relaunch in a game called Silent Hills, produced as a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and the film director Guillermo del Toro, and promoted by the release of P.T. But the game was cancelled in 2015 amid Kojima’s acrimonious departure from Konami and the publisher’s partial retreat from major game development.
The return of Silent Hill is a big moment for fans of the series, and it’s also a big test for Konami, which hasn’t released a major video game since 2018’s Metal Gear Survive — unless you count the disastrous launch of its rebranded soccer franchise, eFootball. All eyes will be on Wednesday's announcement to see if it can rebuild players’ trust.


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New EV plans
Asked whether the automaker intended to offer an EV with a 200-mile (320-kilometre) range, Fields said Ford wants to be “among the leaders or in a leadership position” as more automakers introduce long-range battery-powered cars.
“Clearly that’s something we’re developing for,” he said.
Ford is expected to call its 200-mile (320-kilometre) EV the Model E. Tesla CEO Elon Musk wanted to call the Model 3 the Model E, but he was unable to secure the naming rights from Ford, which has owned the patent for some time.
Ford also said it is moving production of the Focus sedan -- which was supposed to go to the new Mexican plant -- to its existing Mexico plant in Hermosillo.
A Mexico government spokesman said there was no official comment immediately after the Ford announcement, but there could be a statement later in the day.
Greg Layson contributed to this report.

domain: news


text: The Nokia 3.2 (Review) is finally official in India and it comes just a few weeks after HMD launched the Nokia 4.2 in the country. Both the phones were first announced at MWC 2019 in February, so the company has taken a fair bit of time to bring them to India. The Nokia 3.2 is an affordable Android One handset that falls below the Nokia 4.2 in the current hierarchy.The latest Nokia phone boasts of a tall waterdrop display and a two-day battery life. In addition to this, the phone also runs on the latest Android Pie software and brings a dedicated Google Assistant button as well as a notification light power button, among other things. Here’s a quick look at what the Nokia 3.2 is all about.Nokia 3.2 specificationsDisplay: The Nokia 3.2 sports a 6.26-inch HD+ (1520×720) TFT LCD display with 269ppi, 19:9 aspect ratio and 2.5D glass protection.Performance: It is powered by a octa-core Snapdragon 429 SoC.RAM: It is offered with 2GB and 3GB of RAM.Internal storage: The 2GB RAM option comes with 16GB of internal storage, while the 3GB variant is paired with 32GB of inbuilt storage. The phone supports storage expandability up o 400GB via microSD card.Rear camera: The Nokia 3.2 gets a single 13-megapixel f/2.2 camera with LED flash support.Front camera: It also gets a 5-megapixel selfie camera.Battery: The handset houses a beefy 4,000mAh battery.Software: The Android One device ships with stock Android 9 Pie.Nokia 3.2 features– Like the Nokia 4.2, the Nokia 3.2 also highlights a dedicated Google Assistant button. The button will allow the user to quickly access the Google AI with a simple tap. A single press of the button will wake up Assistant, a double press will bring up a display with information relevant to you and a long press will let you make longer requests. With the button, you can also open Assistant without having to unlock the device.advertisement– Additionally, the phone also gets a notification LED light that is embedded in the home button on the side. Much like the Nokia 4.2, the power button-cum-notification light makes it easier to know when you receive a message whether you place the device on its front or back.– A key feature about the Nokia 3.2 is its large 4,000mAh battery that the company promises will take you through two days on a single charge. This is with the help of a combination of factors that includes a low power consuming chipset along with the Adaptive Battery feature of Android Pie.– The Nokia 3.2 is the second phone after Nokia 4.2 to launch with a waterdrop display. The 6.26-inch HD+ display comes with a small droplet-shaped notch to offer a distraction-free viewing experience.– The Nokia 3.2 is an Android One device, which means it runs on a stock and clean Android 9 Pie software that comes bloatware-free. As an Android One device, the Nokia 3.2 will get at least two major software updates in the future along with monthly security patches.Nokia 3.2 price in India and availabilityThe Nokia 3.2 starts at Rs 8,990 in India. This is for the base model with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also comes in a 3GB + 32GB option that comes at a recommended best buy price of Rs 10,790. The Nokia 3.2 will be available in Black and Steel colour options across top mobile retail stores in India and via Nokia.com/phones starting Thursday, May 23.


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The LDS Church is putting pressure on Salt Lake City officials again.
As it redevelops its two malls on Main Street, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints doesn’t want the city to allow department stores to locate in The Gateway and property surrounding the shopping center west of downtown.
In a letter Thursday, the church’s attorney for its real estate company urged the Planning Commission to keep regulations in place that would prevent anchor stores such as Nordstrom and Target from opening in The Gateway.
Church attorney Alan Sullivan, who helped his client gain the city’s easement through the Main Street Plaza, also suggested that allowing department stores to locate west of the core downtown could harm the church’s ability to redevelop the ZCMI Mall and Crossroads Plaza. His letter to the Planning Commission — a volunteer citizen board — and the City Council and Mayor Rocky Anderson says the city’s current zoning that forbids department stores in The Gateway district is “crucial to attract the investment necessary to strengthen the downtown area.”
The church said in a news release that national retail consultants working on its revitalization plans have “strongly recommended” the city forbid a division of department store locations. Currently, department stores are allowed between South Temple and about 900 South, and between 200 East and 300 West.
On Wednesday, the Planning Commission will discuss the Boyer Co.’s request to allow department stores in the area between 400 West and Interstate 15 and between North Temple and 200 South. The City Council will ultimately decide. It plans to have a fact-finding hearing Sept. 18 and could decide by mid-October.
Kem Gardner, president of the Boyer Co., said the church’s position is “absurd” because if Target is prevented from opening at The Gateway, it might stay out of Salt Lake City altogether. He said it won’t open on Main Street. “We want them to be successful, we want them to have a nice project. Why are they declaring war on us, saying we can’t have anything, we can’t have any anchors?”
Without the zoning change, Gateway manager Jake Boyer worries Nordstrom will leave the city as its spokespeople have pledged. Nordstrom’s lease is up at Crossroads Plaza in 2005. It has signed a letter of intent with The Gateway but cannot move there without the zoning change.
“With the letter, they’re basically saying it’s better the city lose Nordstrom. That’s very shortsighted,” Boyer said. “If we lose Nordstrom, it’s going to send a chilling message to retailers across the country.”
He said his company would not have invested $300 million in The Gateway if it wasn’t allowed to have anchor tenants.


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Posted in Environment, Politics, tagged Amazon Rainforest, Australia, ban, deforestation, Environmental Investigation Agency, Europe, European Union, Greenpeace, illegal logging, Lacey Act, Sati Hassi, Sebastian Risso, timber, United States, wood, wood products on July 13, 2010 |
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Last week the European Union’s Parliament passed new legislation that will halt the entrance of illegal wood into European nations. This is a major victory for forests and wildlife around the world.
Currently it is estimated that 20% of Europe’s wood comes from illegally logged sources that contribute to deforestation, loss of species, global carbon emissions, and economic losses worldwide.
The new laws will help both businesses and individuals who buy products made from wood to ask questions about where the wood comes from and determine whether or not it has been acquired through legal channels. Wood is used to make a vast number of items we use on daily basis including furniture, paper, musical instruments, and flooring.
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Posted in Environment, Peruvian News, tagged Alto Purús National Park, Amazon Rainforest, biodiversity loss, Brazil, climate change, deforestation, Environment, global warming, national park, park ranger, Peru, sustainable development, tropical rainforest on November 25, 2009 |
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This article was originally published on ecopolitology.org– a website covering the politics of energy and the environment.
While it’s not news to most of us who work in or follow international conservation, Peru’s El Comercio newspaper ran a story today about how only 8 park rangers patrol Alto Purús National Park. Alto Purús is the largest national park in Peru and the third largest in all of South America.
Alto Purús “protects” 2,724,263 hectares of tropical rainforest (~ 6.7 million acres). The math’s not too challenging on this one. That’s almost a million acres for each of the 8 rangers to patrol.
Click here to continue reading on ecopolitology.org
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Facebook is trying to get into original video, including episodic content like the kind of stuff you might see on TV.
That’s a business that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings knows well. His company makes billions distributing other people’s shows and creating their own popular series, like “House of Cards.”
That would seemingly make Netflix and Facebook competitors, and put Hastings, who is on Facebook’s board of directors, in a tight spot.
That’s not the case, according to Hastings.
“There’s not a big conflict yet,” Hastings said Wednesday at Recode’s annual Code Conference. “They’re not doing ‘House of Cards.’ We’re not bidding on the same shows. So not a big deal there.”
The keyword there may be “yet,” as it seems logical that as Facebook pushes further into original content, it will eventually cross paths with Netflix, though it sounds as though they’ll be utilizing different business models. Facebook plans to make money from its original videos through advertising, the same way it makes nearly all of its revenue.
Netflix, on the other hand, uses a subscription model and doesn’t have plans to change that.
“We’re committed to an ad-free experience,” Hastings said.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.


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NOVI, Michigan – Lineage Logistics, LLC, is expanding in the United Kingdom at its Peterborough Superhub in the South East 112 kilometres from Central London and at its Northern Superhub in Heywood near Manchester.
Lineage broke ground on a 92,000-pallet-position, fully automated expansion at its Peterborough location, which will serve both retail and foodservice customers with unique supply chain requirements. This 35-metre tall expansion will use seophisticated automation and refrigeration technology, helping to reduce energy consumption and overall environmental impact.
This new capacity will complement 26,000 existing conventional pallet positions at the property, which combined with the expansion’s automated design will allow for flexible, customized solutions for customers. This investment brings Lineage’s total automated warehouse count in the UK to six, with a total of 330,000 automated pallet positions.
Lineage’s phased expansion approach in Peterborough is in response to growing customer demand from both online and conventional grocery sales – a trend which was accelerated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, online sales now account for 13 percent of all grocery sales, up from 7.4 percent in March 2020, and new online customers are predicted to continue shopping online. Frozen items have also increased in popularity, and the sector is up 22 percent year over year.
In addition to the expansion in Peterborough, the final phase of the company’s expansion plans in Heywood will be fully operational in March 2021 and add 22,000 pallet positions to the existing location.
Lineage Logistics is the largest temperature-controlled supply chain and logistics provider in the UK, and will offer over 525,000 pallet positions of capacity in country following construction. The company has over 2,000 regional, national and international customers across 14 facilities nationwide, including Scotland. Over 1,500 of Lineage’s 16,000 global employees are based in the UK.
These expansions follow Lineage’s recent entrance into the Nordic and Canadian markets and increase overall capacity to 1.9 billion cubic feet and 56 million square feet of capacity across more than 320 facilities in 13 countries, spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.


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Scott Millar was 14 and a year 9 high school student in Queensland when he launched his first company, BOP (Buy Our Product) Industries, in 2014, producing laser-cut hashtag keyrings he sold at local markets before going on to produce hologram displays.
The teen entrepreneur recently spent 90 seconds sharing his advice to young people on how to get into the startup sector with YBF Ventures.
His key message?
“Just start. There’s never the perfect time, there’s never the perfect time, so just start and start small,” he said.
You can watch all of his advice below, thanks to YBF.


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BlackBerry's chief operating officer, Kristian Tear, and chief marketing officer, Frank Boulben, have both left the company with immediate effect, while chief financial officer Brian Bidulka will leave...
Amazon ordered to pay $12m to Chinese cloud firm over trademark infringement
AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru says she was fired, but Google insists she left voluntarily
Majority of British employees believe their companies would prioritise business continuity over Covid safety
But 87 per cent of employees said their organisations have created new and better ways of working during the pandemic period, according to a ServiceNow study
Apple told the court that it owed the claimant no more than $113 million
What does a Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform need to be capable of today, and is a broader end-to-end service now a must-have for mobile workforces?


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Despite several African countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, etc. soaring in the aviation sector, the sector still has more to offer for the entire African continent to further unlock opportunities the industry can give. However, with over 20 African countries committed to the establishment of a Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), many of them have failed to sign the memorandum of implementation for this framework as they are said to be accessing several factors before approving the implementation.
The African Union is looking to take advantage of these opportunities by launching The Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), an AU agenda 2063 flagship project aimed at liberalizing intra-Africa air transport, improve air connectivity, and lower fares to ensure sustainable development of air transport in Africa. The SAATM will contribute to economic growth, job creation and integration of the continent.
Tefera Mekonnen, secretary general of the African Civil Aviation Commission, said “We know that the delay in their commitment is a result of consultations and also aligning their laws to accommodate this new dawn,” ‘‘I am confident that these countries will commit to the decision in the coming days.”
Togo, The Gambia, Botswana, and Burkina Faso are countries that have already approved the implementation of this development and are beginning to reap the benefits of this policy as cross-border flights between these countries are now treated as domestic flights.
With the delay in approving the implementation of this policy, other African countries are denying themselves exploring benefits that come with the SAATM. Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, South-Africa, Nigeria are some of the countries that have committed to the SAATM but yet to approve its implementation.
The entire countries to have committed to this project have been estimated to have a combined population of roughly 625 million accounting for more than half of the continent with their combined GDP also around 1.5 billion USD which is over 61% of the continent’s GDP.
Approval of the SAATM implementation would open and connect markets, facilitating trade and enabling African firms to link into global supply chains. It would also play a pivotal role in fast global manufacturing and speed fresh produce from agricultural communities to appropriate markets.
Imminent implementation of the SAATM in Africa would ensure enhanced air connectivity thereby raising productivity and encourage investment and innovation, likewise improving business operations and efficiency in the continent.
The SAATM is a policy based on full liberalization; it is expected to lead to increased air service levels, increased route competition resulting in lower fares, which in turn stimulates additional traffic volumes, facilitates tourism, trade, investment and other sectors of the economy and brings about enhanced productivity, economic growth, and increased employment.
Benefits of approving implementation of the single African air transport market are endless and visible from international experiences of similar policies in other Continents, e.g. the European Single Air Transport Market and the liberalized air transport markets in Latin America these continents are enjoying.
The African Union Commission believes implementation of the open skies policy will pave the way for its other flagship projects like the African Passport and the African Continental Free Trade Area as the policy encourages the liberalization of the rules and regulation of commercial and civil aviation to create a free market environment for eligible airlines.


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Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has suggested that he will seek approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal at an extra session of the Diet this year.
Members of Congress are not interested in stomaching a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership before a lame-duck session
The U.S. government should ratify the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement and reach a trade deal with the European Union to address existing economic challenges, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report on Wednesday.
Though the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is looming, few Vietnamese businesses have plans to switch from subcontracting to direct exports or reduce their heavy reliance on feedstock imports or increase exports of processed goods to improve value addition.
Vietnam’s manufacturing is currently determined by low-wage, low-tech and low-added value production.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman was optimistic on Monday that Congress would pass a sweeping Pacific Rim trade agreement this year.
Vietnam and the US are increasing co-operation in all aspects, especially in trade and investment, and will foster this co-operation with or without the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
The proportion of enterprises in Việt Nam showing support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) rose from 62 per cent in 2014 to 72 per cent in 2015, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s recent survey participated by about 1,000 businesses.
Japan does not plan to rework the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal despite U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s suggestion Tuesday that she may try to renegotiate it, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said on Wednesday.
Thailand has decided to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). That will be the key message Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will deliver to President Barack Obama at the special Asean-US meeting today and tomorrow at Sunnylands, California.


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At present, organizations in China cover a whole range of industries, including financial and banking, eCommerce, IT, healthcare, tourism, manufacturing, and many more. Regardless of the companies' size and operation specifics, all those enterprises utilize and store petabytes of sensitive data – customer data, banking information, technologies, etc – that has always been a tempting target to hackers and criminals. According to Surfshark
, in 2021 China reported about 12.9 million breaches which, compared to the US (212.4m), Iran (156.1m), and India (86.6m), indicates the country has significantly strengthened digital security. Today, China's total data breach number is similar to Italy, Germany, Spain, UAE, and Australia – it's quite indicative, considering the countries' size and the number of operating companies in it.
The robust security of organizations in China is also explained by the strong focus on five major components – three regulations and two add-on focus points:
- Cybersecurity Law (CSL), dated June 1, 2017 – aimed to establish a universal regulatory regime for cybersecurity and data protection in China.
- Multi-level Protection Scheme (MLPS), effective on December 1, 2019 – cybersecurity compliance standard that must be applied by all domestic and foreign companies operating in China.
- Critical Information Infrastructure (CII), updated in October 2021 – aimed to protect network facilities and information systems in China that in case of any incident, may affect the performance of national security, national economy, people's livelihood, or public interest.
- Data Security Law (DSL), dated September 1, 2021 – focused on any data that, if leaked, may impact China's national, economic, or public security, public health, or social stability.
- Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), effective in November 2021 – any data that refers to a person's name, address, date of birth, ID number, phone number, or biometrics.
Having analyzed the context and updating frequency of the security regulations above, it becomes more than obvious that China is heavily investing in improving national security. As the number and complexity of breaches continue to evolve, China-based companies, similar to overseas enterprises, can still often fall victim to various cyberattacks, breaches, and more.
In this article, cyberlands.io
experts will analyze the experience of the most notable incidents related to digital security in China, covering their causes and outcomes. As a result, you'll be able to get some more insights into the common strategies used, vulnerabilities, and data targeted, as well as how to protect your enterprise from cybercriminals.


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3DClouds has released a new update for the futuristic arcade racer Xenon Racer.
After receiving some flak due to performance issues on Switch, 3DClouds rolled out a new update today. This new patch now brings Xenon Racer to version 1.0.3 which implements some fixes on the balance issues. The update also adds Checkpoint and Elimination races during the main championship including an improved AI.
Furthermore, 3DClouds revealed that patch 1.0.4 has been in development and promises a major impact on performance and overall game quality once released.
Here’s the tweet:
#NintendoSwitch patch 1.0.3 is now live. This update fix some balance issues, add Checkpoint and Elimination races during the main championship and improve the AI's. Patch 1.0.4 is still under development and will have a major impact on performance and overall game quality.
— ? 3DClouds ? (@3DClouds) April 8, 2019
In addition, check out this Patch 1.0.2 versus Patch 1.0.3 frame rate comparison test courtesy of ContraNetwork:


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Drone flying presents a number of challenges for the operator, whether newbie or old-hat. The xNav IFCN intelligent flight controller turns an otherwise arduous task into a safe, efficient, and reliable experience. XFLY LLC will unveil the new, artificial intelligence-equipped solution at NAB 2016 as part of the Stampede Drone Pavilion in Booth #C3357DP of the Las Vegas Convention Center. For more information, see the press release below, and be sure to visit their sites www.XFoldRig.com and www.Stampedglobal.com
XFLY INTRODUCES AN INTELLIGENT FLIGHT CONTROL NAVIGATOR (xNav IFCN) TO GUARANTEE SAFER AND MORE EFFICIENT UAV OPERATION
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, April 18, 2016— XFLY LLC, the industry-leading manufacturer of innovative robotic UAV drone technology and solutions, today announced the introduction of its all new xNav IFCN, an Intelligent Flight Control Navigator that ensures total ease of flight, efficiency, reliability and stability of UAVs in any situation – safer than ever before. With AI decision-making capabilities and a self-teaching platform, the xNav IFCN marks a significant step forward in the direction of “smart” auto-navigation systems in the UAV industry. The product is being unveiled at NAB 2016 as part of the Stampede Drone Pavilion in Booth #C3357DP of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
“The future of UAV control lies in intelligent flight controllers that are programmed to specific platforms and flight missions,” Ziv Marom, co-founder of XFLY said today. “Each user can program the xNav specifically for any UAV platform configuration or flight mission.. The xNav IFCN offers a new level of efficiency that was previously unattainable with unintelligent flight controllers.”
The xNav IFCN comes in three intellectual levels: xNav Smart, xNav Dev and xNav AI. Furthermore, xNav features include, but are not limited to:
Auto system pre-flight checklist
Auto takeoff, landing and dock charging
Autonomous battery swapping at unmanned stations
Live location and status data updates to the cloud, ground stations, and airport towers
Triple redundancy for 100% safety and reliability
Flight plans with unlimited waypoints, controlled speed and smart altitude settings enabled by sensors, object avoidance capabilities via sensors, GPS and 3D scanning and image navigation
According to Stampede President & COO Kevin Kelly, XFLY’s new xNav IFCN is a game-changer for commercial UAV users. “This new addition to the XFLY platform continues to push the performance standards for all commercial UAVs in the industry today,” said Kelly. “We’re excited to add this new controller to our product lineup and we’re confident that it will quickly become a staple for commercial UAV operators.”
According to XFLY co-founder TJ Diaz, the flight controller revolutionizes how UAV technology can be used in commercial environments. “We are thrilled to be apart of this next evolution in the UAV industry,” he said. “We have already begun testing the xNav prototypes on our xFold UAVs. The smart auto-navigation is going to present so many new opportunities for the broadcast industry and beyond.”
Headquartered in Amherst, New York, Stampede (www.stampedeglobal.com) is North and Latin America’s leading distributor of integrated, custom designed AV/IT technology solutions that help resellers and integrators meet the growing and expanding technology needs of customers in a wide range of vertical markets that include corporate, education, emergency responders, government, hospitality, house of worship, law enforcement, and security, among others. Stampede is the one forward-looking value-added distributor strategically positioned to offer traditional ProAV solutions from more than 150 manufacturers and ground-breaking new product categories such as drones, unified communications, and low cost video conferencing that create major new revenue centers for its more than 12,000 resellers Stampede annually produces the “Big Book of AV,” a 1,100+ page catalog and companion website (www.BigBookofAV.com) providing hundreds of sales, installation and spec tips for Stampede’s dealers in addition to product details on more than 8,000 SKUs. For more information on Stampede, log onto www.stampedeglobal.com.
XFLY LLC is an innovation and robotic technology solutions company. We create the future with our clients. USA based, our manufacturing facilities reside in Denver, Colorado and our business and development in the heart of Silicon Valley, California. XFLY introduced the xFold, an industrial, pro-level sUAV drone that comes in four different sizes, configured as Quad, Hexa, x8, or x12. The xFold rigs are the strongest and most advanced multi-rotors sUAV drone platforms for top level aerial cinematography or other drone applications for pro-industrial work. For more information, visit http://www.xFoldRig.com


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RUSSIAN DRESSING: Karl Lagerfeld has chosen a Russian theme for the next Bal de la Rose in Monaco, conceiving a decor inspired by constructivism and one of its principle instigators, Kazimir Malevich.
Lagerfeld has frequently referenced the artistic and architectural movement, whose zenith occurred between 1917 and 1921. For the March 29 event, the designer plans to outfit the Salles des Etoiles at Le Sporting Monte-Carlo with an array of colorful geometric motifs. The entrance hall is to be lined with enlarged versions of his invitation: a fashion illustration in the constructivist style.
This story first appeared in the March 18, 2014 issue of WWD. Subscribe Today.
Lagerfeld also designed special tables and linens that pay homage to Malevich.
Under the auspices of Prince Albert of Monaco and Princess Caroline of Hanover, the annual event raises money for the Princess Grace Foundation, a charity supporting various pediatric health initiatives. The foundation is marking its 50th anniversary this year.


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As part of CoverGirl’s new #IAmWhatIMakeUp campaign, the global beauty brand has released a new ad featuring their first model with vitiligo, a disease in which the skin loses its natural pigmentation.
According to Cosmopolitan, model Amy Deanna takes centerstage in the new ad, which is part of a larger campaign that “celebrates the power to be who you are and who you want to be.” As she applies the brand’s truBlend foundation in two different shades, Cosmo says Deanna poses the question, “Why try to blend in when you can choose to stand out?”
Deanna seemed to answer her own question when discussing her new ad spot with People, offering that standing out in partnership with CoverGirl gives her a chance to represent often underrepresented depictions of beauty.
“Inclusivity is important—not just for people of different backgrounds and ethnicities, but also people of all sizes,” she told People. “That’s why I was so excited to partner with CoverGirl on this project. Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc. Let’s face it, together we are a mosaic—that in itself is beautiful. We should celebrate that.”
And for Deanna, inclusivity is not just about celebrating differences, but also challenging the norms to make room for others.
“I believe that inclusiveness will challenge unrealistic beauty standards within the beauty industry and in humanity,” she explained to People. “I remember seeing Queen Latifah on TV as a CoverGirl when I was young. That was so inspiring. I can’t express how excited I am to say, I too have had the opportunity to work with CoverGirl.”
And we can’t say how excited we are to see her in this campaign!
It all started with the hiring of new faces; from Issa Rae to Ayesha Curry and Maye Musk, CoverGirl was slowly but strategically building something new and exciting. And now we know: CoverGirl has officially rebranded itself as the makeup of the strong and fearless.
According to Glamour, the iconic makeup brand has just changed their long-time slogan from “Easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirl” to “I am what I make up,” marking the new mantra with an equally powerful short film filled with all the badass women they’ve featured as brand ambassadors.
Glamour succinctly described the brand’s new direction this way:
“…Its shift from sugary-sweet messaging to including more real women of substance feels incredibly needed—and incredibly now. Its point is loud and clear, makeup is for everyone.”
With a new slogan and a host of powerful women to prove it true, we cannot wait to travel this new journey with CoverGirl.
Watch the video here.
Beauty knows no age, and Maye Musk is here to prove it.
According to Fashionista, Musk — a 69-year-old dietician/nutritionist and model — has just been recruited by CoverGirl as its latest ambassador, joining the brand’s other recent hires, Insecure‘s Issa Rae and author/chef Ayesha Curry.
But this isn’t Musk’s first time in the spotlight. Fashionista reports that Musk has been modeling since the age of 15 and was signed by IMG in 2016; appeared in campaigns for Target and Clinique; featured in magazines like New York magazine, Elle Canada, Vogue Italia, Vogue Korea and Vanity Fair; and appeared in the music video for Beyoncé’s “Haunted” in 2013. Oh, and she is also the mother of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
With this newfound place at the fore of a major beauty campaign, Musk told The New York Times that she hopes her presence in CoverGirl’s latest initiative will inspire women everywhere.
“I just love that CoverGirl wants to do diversity,” she said. “They haven’t had a model this old in their campaigns. I’m turning 70 in April of next year. I think that women will be really inspired to see that even at 69 you can get a beauty campaign.”
Amen to that!
Last week, we learned that star of HBO’s Insecure Issa Rae was Covergirl’s next spokesmodel. But now, it’s time to welcome aboard another face to the brand’s forthcoming campaign.
According to ELLE, Food Network host and author Ayesha Curry will also join Covergirl as their latest spokesmodel, starring in their campaign for their Peacock Flare Mascara that debuts Nov. 1. Glamour says Covergirl’s global senior vice president Ukonwa Ojo explained the decision to cast Curry in the role this way:
“We realized we were casting a certain genre of CoverGirls, but in reality there’s so many beautiful women and men who use makeup for different roles every day,” Ojo said. “We thought it’d be great to celebrate one in particular, who not only has a different role than we have in the past, but plays a number of different roles, and does so really successfully and is admired for millions because of it.”
But for Curry, joining the Covergirl team allows her to continue her mission of inspiring others to live their best lives.
“My philosophy is all about seeking joy and creating balance in life,” she said in a statement, according to ELLE. “I’ve shared a lot about how I do this with food, family and faith, and now – through my partnership with Covergirl—I want to share how makeup helps create those moments of happiness, confidence and self-expression.”
Issa Rae may be the creator and star of HBO’s Insecure, but in her latest project, she is inspiring us to be anything but insecure.
According to InStyle, Rae has been named the new face of major cosmetics brand CoverGirl, joining fellow on-screen stars such as Zendaya, Sofia Vergara and Ellen DeGeneres. While she joins a long list of fellow CoverGirls, for Rae, being the face of the brand is about much more than modeling new cosmetics.
“Becoming a CoverGirl means a lot because the brand recognizes just how important it is for people to embrace their individuality and express themselves in unique and diverse ways,” she said in a release. “This has been a major part of my personal journey, and a message that I want to share with others.”
In addition to providing a statement on her new role with CoverGirl, Rae also took to social media to express her excitement over working with the brand, saying she never thought she’d be in such a position.
“I remember being an awkward black girl in high school, reading the pages of my favorite magazines, casually flipping through @COVERGIRL ads, singing their slogan in my head,” she wrote. “Never EVER in my life did I imagine I’d be one. I am SO honored and SO excited for what’s to come.”


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A recipe for Kitty Kelly
Make my own cat food? Sounded a little extreme when I first heard about this practice, but the recent recall of tons of pet food tainted with what was first thought to be rat poison, but now is being called melamine, has got me seriously considering it.
The photo is from a pictorial/recipe at catnutrition.org. I fist came across it almost a year ago but dug it up again today after reading even more headlines about foods being added to the list. Looks yummy, huh?
Kitty Kelly eats a combination of dry and wet food. The wet food she eats, Iams Chicken something or other, isn’t on the recall list. But the same “flavor” in a pouch form is on the list, and she did eat a few of these pouch-packaged things a while back when we first started giving her wet food early last year. Supposedly the recalled food was produced after she would have eaten any (only since December 6, 2006), but there was a mysterious by frightening incident that required a visit to the vet that roughly coincides with when she ate the Iams pouch food.
The thing that disturbs me the most about the whole tainted food recall is learning just how many different brands and varieties are all manufactured in once place by some anonymous supplier (Menu Foods). Pretty much dispels the illusion that when you buy Iams or Science Diet or Eukanuba you’re getting something distinct and “better” than the generic Stop & Shop brand.


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10 years of Xbox Live! Time to join the celebrations…
First up, Marc Whitten, Corporate Vice President, Xbox LIVE, has issued an open letter to the 40+ million Xbox Live members. Check it out here.
Now onto the good stuff – discounts, freebies and new games -
Starting today, 15 November, there will be a number of titles available at a 50% discount for one week only – and as an extra thank you, the Kinect-enabled “Wreckateer” will be absolutely FREE for 48 hours.
The discounted games are as follows:
Castle Crashers 1200 600 MSPOints
Fruit Ninja Kinect 800 400 MSPoints
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 400 200 MSPoints
Bastion 1200 600 MSPoints
Peggle 800 400 MSPoints
Full House Poker 800 400 MSPoints
These discounts will only last until November 22nd, so don’t miss out.
But that’s not all. Starting 20 November, Xbox LIVE members will have access to “Kinect Sports Gems,” new bite-sized games from the BAFTA-winning “Kinect Sports” franchise. The first three instant-access games – Ski Race, Darts vs. Zombies and 3-Point Contest – will be available from 20 November; additional games are scheduled to be added in December and March. Ten games total will be part of “Kinect Sports Gems”, which is available to all Xbox LIVE members. One “Kinect Sports Gem” will be playable for free each week; all are available to purchase for 240 MSPoints each.


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Online gaming is oh-so Twitch-y
The average audience watching game sessions on the Twitch platform at any given time? That would be a whopping 953,000 in the last quarter, according to Streamlabs metrics. And that puts Amazon-owned Twitch way ahead of rival YouTube Gaming on a mere 272,000.
And there’s more evidence that Twitch dominance is growing. Twitch and YouTube Gaming together generated a huge 2.5bn hours of watch time in the first quarter of 2018 – and growth came from Twitch, as YouTube slid 12% while Twitch spiked 21% from 4Q17, according to Newzoo.
What about the phenomenon of Fortnite? Well, it had over 8.3m hours streamed in the first quarter, making it the top streamed game on Twitch, outdoing both PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and League of Legends.


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Wuhan Flu: The Role in Chinese World Domination By Brian Simpson
In my articles at the alor.org blog, after a few giving the benefit of the doubt to the pathological seriousness of Covid-19, which should have been called the Wuhan flu, I moved to seeing this plandemic as a conspiracy by China to achieve world domination quicker, by shutting down the economies of the West. In many articles evidence was quoted supporting the position that this virus was constructed in a Communist Chinese lab, and was either deliberately, or was accidentally released and China made the most of his opportunity. I agree with President Trump, that China acted suspiciosly to hide the infection situation leading to the West being contaminated, and now shutdown. The communists knew how the weak liberal West would have dealt with this. Here is more along these lines, as politicians other than Trump expose the greatest scam in human history:
“A U.K. minister of parliament party warning that the Chinese Communist Party will achieve global dominance sooner thanks to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). This warning was written by Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party.
In an op-ed in The Telegraph regarding China’s rising prominence, Duncan Smith lamented the fact that, while China was supposedly on the road to recovery, the U.K. was getting ready to reimpose strict lockdowns across swathes of their country.
The MP further noted that the U.K. isn’t alone in this regard. The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across most of the developed world, particularly in Europe and the United States.
China has been a notable exception to this rule. If their official pronouncements are to be believed, they haven’t had to deal with a large-scale resurgence of the coronavirus in a very long time. (Related: Beijing using the coronavirus pandemic to expand internet surveillance apparatus.)
In fact, as many economies in the Western world are going through a recession, China just announced that its GDP grew by 4.9 percent in the third quarter, and analysts expect the country’s economy to grow by 7.6 percent in 2021.
“There is a deep sense of irony here,” wrote Duncan Smith. “The country from which coronavirus came, and which did so little in the early days to help the rest of the world escape its spread, is now bouncing back by selling us the equipment we need to combat that very virus.”
China set to dominate the world through trade
Despite predictions that the coronavirus pandemic – coupled with the ongoing trade war with the United States – would finally shatter China’s economy, the communist regime is still standing strong.
In the first two months of 2020, Chinese exports contracted by an astonishing 17.1 percent. However, As the coronavirus pandemic started spreading across the world and demand for medical equipment, personal protective gear and appliances for people to start working from home such as computers and smartphones increased, Chinese exports received an enormous boost.
Duncan Smith points out that the pandemic has given China a trade surplus of $58.93 billion. The country’s exports have been increasing since June, and the yuan – China’s currency – hit an 18-month high before the communist government intervened to keep it more stable.
Many investors in the West are once again lining up and give the communist regime more of their money. In the United States, investors just gave the regime $27 billion in China’s first U.S. direct investment bond. Foreign Direct Investment inflows now amount to around $103 billion.
“China’s export performance during the crisis is indeed proof of its solid status as the world’s factory,” said Yao Wei, a Chinese economist for French investment bank Societe Generale. “It is reliable, as the quick and effective containment of the outbreak in China allowed its manufacturing sector to resume operations way ahead of others.”
Economic warfare is not the only way China is achieving its global dominance. Within its own borders, Uighurs are being forced into reeducation camps to have their cultural identities extinguished, Tibetans are being forced into labor camps, Mongolians are being barred from learning their own language, and its democracy-loving subjects in Hong Kong are facing persecution.
Outside its borders, it is currently engaged in a tense struggle with India over their borders in the Himalayas region, and it continues to solidify its grip over the resource-rich South China Sea. All this is not even considering the military threats it makes against democratic Taiwan.”
China has now emerged as a major threat to the West, perhaps the greatest it has ever faced. Chinese dominance will be terrible, far worse than the political correctness cult, which in any case is little more than a Westernised version of Chairman Mao’s, correct ideas doctrine. This dragon has been fed by exploitation of globalism, not playing fair by engaging in “Predatory Mercantilism,” and there is a faint chance that if Trump can win, which is looking touch and go, the dragon can be put on a radical diet and become less of a threat. Perhaps the Wuhan flu would then have had a silver lining to a dark totalitarian cloud.
“Tax cuts helped all U.S. businesses. The general approach of economic nationalism boosted confidence. But there were at least 7 specific policies that gave a bit lift to manufacturing:
- Tearing up the Trans-Pacific Partnership. President Trump immediately — on the third day of his presidency — withdrewthe U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as the TPP. He rejected the deal negotiated under Barack Obama’s administration as not providing enough protection for U.S. jobs or opportunities for U.S. businesses. Critics of the TPP said it would cost more than 400,000 U.S. jobs.
- Pulling U.S. Out of Paris Climate Agreement. On June 1, 2017, Trump announcedthe U.S. would pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. The agreement would have greatly hamperedU.S. factories while allowing China to continue record-levels of pollution.
- Protecting Domestic Washing Machine and Solar Panel Producers from Unfair Competition. Trump approvedglobal safeguard tariffs on $8.5 billion in imports of solar panels and $1.8 billion of washing machines on January 22, 2018.
- Saving American Aluminum and Steel. The Trump administration’s investigations revealed that a global glut of metals — due to vast overproduction in China — was imperiling U.S. capacity to produce steel and aluminum. That, in turn, was a serious threat to U.S. national security. On March 1, 2018, Trump announced tariffs on all trading partners of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum under national security grounds. A week later, he signedthe tariff order.
- Imposing Tariffs to Stop China’s Predatory Mercantilism.
- In the summer of 2017, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced an investigation into China’s policies that might be hampering U.S. property rights, innovation, or technology development.
- The devastating report found China was stealing U.S. technology by forcing U.S. companies to handover tech to Chinese-controlled joint-ventures. The Trump administration responded with a $50 billion list of 1,333 Chinese products on which it intended to impose 25 percent tariffs. When
- After China published its own list of U.S. products—from cars, to aircraft, to agricultural goods—that it would subject to forthcoming 25 percent tariffs as retaliation, Trump told Lighthizer to put a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of additional goods.
- In the summer of 2018, U.S. imposed the 25 percent tariff on the first list of $50 billion of goods. Trump threatens to impose tariffs on all US imports from China, which totaled $504 billion in 2017.
- By September 2018, the 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products take effect.
- Trump declared a trade truce in December 2018, but said if talks did not produce an agreement, the 10 percent tariffs would rise to 25 percent.
- China and the U.S. spent much of 2019 in stop and start negotiations. In May, the U.S. raised the 10 percent tariff to 25 percent and then makes plans to raise tariffs on all remaining Chinese goods.
- Enacting the Phase One Trade Agreement with China.On January 15, 2020, the U.S. and China signed a historic trade agreement. China agreed to purchase the extraordinary amount of an additional $200 billion worth of US exports while almost all of the Trump administration’s tariffs remain in effect.
- Replacing NAFTA with USMCA. The Trump administrationscrapped the 1990s-era North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), replacing it with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The new deal creates a more level playing field for American workers, including effective rules of origin for automobiles, trucks, other products, and disciplines on currency manipulation. It will serve as the model for future trade agreements in a second Trump administration.”
This list is a good start for all Western nations to adopt to break down the dragon. Weaker countries like Australia, whose elites have totally stole it out with Asianisation, will struggle, but this is no longer the lucky country, and a new era of struggle arises.


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The Street drops Rent-A-Center (RCII)
Just when everyone was convinced Rent-A-Center, Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) had the perfect business for a struggling America that can't afford to buy anything, earnings slip. Down shares fell this morning to $19.20 and are trying to recover to over $20. How should you play it?
All in all, it was a decent 2nd quarter but not good enough for this market. Rent-A-Center also raised its 2008 revenue forecast and tightened its earnings forecast for the year. RCII is one of the few retailers that may benefit as the economy gets worse, can't buy it, then rent it.
Via Reuters - "We continue to be cautiously optimistic about the near term," Chief Executive Mark Speese said in a statement, adding that the tight consumer credit market should benefit the company since people, who are unable to borrow to buy, may be more likely to rent.
Second-quarter net income fell to $37.7 million, or 56 cents per share, from $41.3 million, or 58 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of 57 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Total revenue fell to $719 million from $724.2 million, reflecting a restructuring that reduced the company's store count by about 325 from a year ago, but the total exceeded the $705.6 million forecast by analysts.
Feels like Wall Street is overacting to the news, sending shares down 12%?
The problem is investors wanted more from the quarter and the outlook. Here's a perfect picture that sums up the feeling RCII shareholders are experiencing today:
Rent-A-Center said second-quarter, same-store sales, a gauge of retail health, rose 0.9 percent to top internal targets and said full-year 2008 same-store sales would increase by 3 percent to 4 percent.
Rent-A-Center forecast third-quarter revenue in the range of $700 million to $715 million, and earnings of 45 cents to 50 cents per share.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates are looking for third-quarter revenue of $699.7 million and a profit of 50 cents per share.
For the full year, the company projected revenue of $2.89 billion to $2.92 billion, compared with its prior call for total revenue of $2.87 billion to $2.91 billion.
It narrowed its full-year profit forecast to $2.20 to $2.30 per share from its previous range of $2.17 to $2.32.
Fellow Masters, should RCII dip any further or analysts start slashing price targets, we may have to pick up shares on the fall. The fact that this retailer is actually doing well during these challenging times, well, logic can only defy today's trading for so long.
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Great news from SEMA today as Optima Batteries announced that they are going to be the primary sponsor on David Grubnic’s Kalitta Motorsports Top Fuel Dragster in 2012. Grubnic, the fan favorite Aussie driver will compete at 16 NHRA Full Throttle events under the Optima banner and their truck and trailer will also be adorned with Optima logos. Grubnic was certainly excited by the announcement, “We are absolutely thrilled and honored to be representing Optima Batteries as a primary sponsor on our dragster next year,” said Grubnic. “Optima Batteries have proven to be the best high-performance batteries on the market, and we’re very excited about them becoming the primary sponsor on our high-performance dragster.”
We think this is a great deal for both parties as Grubnic is a guy who bleeds nitro and will represent the Optima brand well and Optima has a cool program that will follow the team to the races and have interactive displays, contingency programs for racers in many categories, and other innovative programs for both racers and fans.
Here is the full release from Optima – A Hearty Congrats From BangShift to Dave Grubnic, Kalitta Motorsports, and Optima Batteries!
Optima Batteries, a worldwide leader in high-performance batteries, will continue and grow its partnership with Kalitta Motorsports by becoming a primary sponsor for Dave Grubnic in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The announcement was made Tuesday at the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
Grubnic will drive the Optima Batteries Top Fuel dragster at 16 national events in the 23-event NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series next season. The team’s tractor-trailer will also be adorned with Optima Batteries branding for the entire 2012 season.
Optima Batteries will continue to be an associate sponsor in 2012 on the other Team Kalitta NHRA hot rods, the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend, the Kalitta Air Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta, and the Tequila Patrón Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by 2012 Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award candidate Alexis DeJoria. Optima Batteries joined the Kalitta Motorsports family in 2009.
The Optima Batteries team has built an extensive and integrated program to support its NHRA presence in conjunction with the growth of the Kalitta team partnership. With plans for support at each national event, Optima will feature education and entertainment for race fans, a contingency program to reward racers for running Optima batteries, and a program to educate and award retail sales associates utilizing the Kalitta Motorsports VIP hospitality area. More than 1,200 attendees participated in the Optima retail sales associates training program during the 2011 season.
“We are absolutely thrilled and honored to be representing Optima Batteries as a primary sponsor on our dragster next year,” said Grubnic. “Optima Batteries have proven to be the best high-performance batteries on the market, and we’re very excited about them becoming the primary sponsor on our high-performance dragster.””We are proud to take this next step in our partnership with the legendary Kalitta family. Their winning history is a perfect match for Optima Batteries,” said Cam Douglass, director of product development and marketing for Optima Batteries. “Our relationship continues to demonstrate that Optima batteries are proven to perform in the most demanding applications.”
Grubnic, who began driving Top Fuel dragsters in the United States in 1995, earned his first victory with Kalitta Motorsports in 2005 in Topeka, becoming the first racer born outside North America to win an NHRA Top Fuel event.
Grubnic is in seventh place in NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship Top Fuel points (2,220) with one event remaining in the 2011 campaign.


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Dining Notes: Dunkin' adds Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich
Less than two months after reports surfaced that Dunkin' Donuts was testing a Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich at select New England-area restaurants, the chain is rolling out the new item at locations nationwide Friday.
But at some Jacksonville-area Dunkin' locations, the new sandwich - a pepper-fried egg with bacon served between a split glazed doughnut - has been available on a so-called "hidden menu" or "secret menu" since mid-May.
"I've been offering [the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich] for about 2 ?1/2 weeks," said Ryan Ali, a co-owner of Dunkin's recently renovated University Boulevard store. The new menu item has also been available at Dunkin's Cassat Avenue store, owned by Ali's parents.
"We've sold quite a few," he said, noting that the sandwich didn't initially appear on the either of the locations' in-store menus or marketing materials. (The new sandwich did appear on Dunkin's website on Monday.)
Two weeks ago, he shared a photo of the new sandwich on Instagram, the popular social media photo-sharing smartphone app.
And it's that type of underground or viral marketing that Dunkin' plans to use with the launch of the new menu item, Ali said. Don't expect to see a national media buy of commercials, billboards or magazine ads.
Instead, think Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
In advance of Friday's nationwide rollout on National Doughnut Day, Dunkin' highlighted the sandwich and other new menu items at an invitation-only event for food bloggers at one Jacksonville-area Dunkin' Donuts location on Thursday.
In Jacksonville, the Glazed Donut Breakfast Sandwich will be offered at a suggested retail price of $2.99, or $3.19 with cheese, Ali said.
According to nutritional information on Dunkin's website, the sandwich has 360 calories; 20 grams of total fat (including 8 grams of saturated fat); 32 grams of carbohydrates; 1 gram of dietary fiber; and 13 grams of protein. By comparison, the same sandwich served on a bagel with cheese is 460 calories.
Ali said guests can customize any of Dunkin's breakfast sandwiches by substituting the glazed doughnut for the standard English muffin, croissant, bagel or biscuit.
Urbanspoon names Jacksonville-area restaurants as family-friendly
Two Jacksonville-area restaurants - a newcomer in Five Points and a favorite in Palm Valley - are among the 100 most family-friendly in the country, according to a new survey by Urbanspoon.
Black Sheep Restaurant and Palm Valley Fish Camp appear on the list, released Tuesday, of Urbanspoon's Most Popular Family-Friendly Restaurants. Other notables included on the list are St. Augustine's The Floridian and Orlando's 4 Rivers Smokehouse, which plans to open its first Jacksonville restaurant later this month in Baymeadows.
Among the criteria for inclusion on the list are that restaurants shouldn't be too fancy or too noisy, but whose menus should offer something "beyond the white-and-starchy."
On its hand-drawn "Little Guys' Menu," Black Sheep offerings include Kids' Meat & Potatoes (served with peas and carrots, $13), Macaroni and Cheese ($6), Grilled Chicken Breast (with roasted fingerling potatoes, peas and carrots, $9), Lil Moo Ravioli ($10) and more. Handed to kids with crayons, Black Sheep's kids' menu has taken a staple of chain restaurants and given it a sophisticated, yet simple, touch.
The honor is the second from the mobile restaurant discovery app for chef/restaurateur Jonathan Insetta's Black Sheep since its October opening. In December, Urbanspoon named it one of America's most popular new restaurants for 2012.
Tuesday's list includes restaurants that received "the most positive reviews from professional food critics, bloggers, the Urbanspoon community and diners," Urbanspoon said in a news release. The list of 100 restaurants covers more than 50 cities across 28 states, including Florida, home to 12 of the most popular restaurants, the most of any state.
The other Florida restaurants on the list are Hot Dog Shoppe, La Famiglia Italian Restaurant and STEWBY'S Seafood Shanty (all in Destin); Blue Heaven (Florida Keys); I Love Tacos Taqueria & More (Miami); 4 Rivers Smokehouse, Ethos Vegan Kitchen and Yellow Dog Eats (all in Orlando); and Peg Leg Pete's (Pensacola).
Previous Urbanspoon lists have featured other Jacksonville-area restaurants, including the following:
In May, Urbanspoon named San Marco's Metro Diner and Maple Street Biscuit Company to its list of Most Popular Breakfast Spots.
In March, Urbanspoon named seven Northeast Florida restaurants to its list of Most Popular Restaurant Bars: Black Molly Grill (St. Augustine), Brewer's Pizza (Orange Park), Culhane's Irish Pub & Restaurant (Atlantic Beach), Kickbacks Gastropub (Riverside), KC Crave (Jacksonville Beach), Orsay (Avondale) and Poe's Tavern (Atlantic Beach).
Fire closes Beaches restaurants
At least two Jacksonville Beach restaurants temporarily closed Tuesday following an early-morning fire at a pizzeria.
Picnic Pizza, whose pizza ovens were determined to be the source of the fire, sustained $50,000 in damage, according to Times-Union news partner First Coast News, quoting Andy Redding, a spokesman for the state fire marshal.
Neighboring restaurants Sala Phad Thai and Col. Mustard's Phat Burgers each sustained heavy smoke damage.
Redding told First Coast News that an investigation determined that the fire started in Picnic Pizza's pizza ovens, which left on at a high temperature setting, ignited nearby pizza boxes.
Phone calls were not answered at the three restaurants on Tuesday, but a post on Col. Mustard's Facebook page described the smoke damage as "tremendous," enough to close the restaurant until further notice.
The fire was at least the fourth in a year to cause significant damage to a Jacksonville-area restaurant.
In June 2012, Five Points restaurant Wasabi Buffet and neighboring Firehouse Subs were destroyed in a fire that originated in the Japanese restaurant. Investigators, however, were unable to determine the cause of the fire. Located in a strip center at Margaret and Post streets, the damaged portion of the strip center was demolished. Neither restaurant has reopened.
On July 4, 2012, Layla's Mediterranean Grill, Bar & Hookah Lounge in San Marco closed following a fire. The restaurant recently reopened as Mezze Bar & Grill.
And on Nov. 21, Restaurant Medure closed for months following a pre-Thanksgiving electrical fire in the Ponte Vedra Beach Restaurant's kitchen. The restaurant reopened in late February.Follow @garytmills


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The Xbox is the best-selling console for the 20th consecutive month.
With some 193,000 consoles sold this August alone, the Xbox is far and away becoming the dominance in the Video Game market.
The next-generation Xbox, codenamed Xbox 720, is expected to keep flying the flag of dominance, and eventually outselling the current Xbox. Leaks suggest the 720 will have 6 times the graphics power of the current console sold in stores today.
Most of the success story comes from Microsoft’s gift to engage and interact game developers. These developers get first-rate special treatment, elite gaming software and SDKs, as well as Microsoft’s full support and documentation.
This week, Microsoft announced some 40 different Xbox LIVE games for Windows 8. The Xbox LIVE games will debut the day Windows 8 launches. Of note, Angry Birds Space, Zombies, and Fruit Ninja are just a few games that will launch.
All the games will come to Windows 8 this fall. The brand new OS, which is expected to debut on October 26, will feature a number of unique improvements over Windows 7.
Here is the complete list of games:
1. 4 Elements II Special Edition
2.A World of Keflings
3.Adera: Episode 1
4.Adera: Episode 2
5.Adera: Episode 3
7.Angry Birds Space
8.Big Buck Hunter Pro
9.BlazBlue Calamity Trigger
11.Crash Course GO
12.Cut the Rope
15.Field & Stream Fishing
18.Gunstringer: Dead Man Running
19.Hydro Thunder Hurricane
26.Microsoft Solitaire Collection
28.PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX
29.Pinball FX 2
30.Reckless Racing Ultimate
31.Rocket Riot 3D
34.Skulls of the Shogun
37.The Harvest HD
38.Toy Soldiers Cold War
Xbox LIVE PPC Code Redemption is
currently down to unforeseen technical issues currently up and running. An Xbox LIVE Service Alert became active as of 3:00PM. The issue has been resolved and there are no issues to report.
When?…. The issue was discovered some hours ago
Issue?…. Users may have had trouble redeeming PPC codes.
Status?…. FIXED: Microsoft has resolved the issue.
Xbox LIVE is currently down to unforeseen technical issues.
Microsoft has announced that Xbox LIVE is currently up and running, after technical issues made it stop working a few hours ago.
Technical Issues Identified: 1 Hour Ago Issue: Resolved
Users should be able to log in without a problem. Microsoft has yet to announce what caused the issue. You can check at http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-live/browse?xr=shellnav for the latest Xbox LIVE status.


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WhatsApp users will finally be able to migrate their conversation history between Android and iOS devices right from the app. The announcement, made this Wednesday (11) during Galaxy Unpacked, confirms that the new feature will allow you to transfer chats, images, videos, stickers, audios and more from one operating system to another.
With the new feature, users will be able, whenever they want, to transfer WhatsApp history between operating systems. This can be useful for importing content when switching mobile and OS, such as going from Android to iOS or vice versa.
Initially, the feature will be limited and available only to Android users, who will be able to transfer their histories from an iPhone. Later, guarantees the messenger, it will be possible to do the opposite: transfer messages from Google’s system to Apple’s.
First compatible cell phones
As the announcement was made during the event of the South Korean’s new folding line, the brand’s cell phones will come out ahead. The first compatible models will be the new folding Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. In the “coming weeks”, guarantees WhatsApp, users of Samsung devices with Android 10 or higher will also be able to use the feature.
WhatsApp also took the opportunity to snipe the Telegram, citing the rival’s cloud history. “Your WhatsApp messages belong to you. That’s why they’re stored on your phone by default and aren’t accessible in the cloud like many other messaging services,” said Sandeep Paruchuri, Product Manager at WhatsApp.
How the WhatsApp transfer is done
According to the platform, there is no size limit for the migration of history between cell phones. However, “the user’s new device must have enough storage capacity to support the migrated content.” There is also no limit of history migration per day, for example.
To transfer chats to another device, the user must use a connector cable between them. In the case of Samsung, the Smart Switch application is used. When the user starts the migration from one phone to another, the new device will ask to scan a QR code, which should validate the export.
Thus, when the user starts WhatsApp on the new cell phone, they will have the material from the old one to be imported. WhatsApp also reinforces that messages are not sent to the platform and that, in case of attempted message theft, an external agent “would need access to both devices (new and old) and the ability to validate the registration message on the new device.”
A date has not yet been announced for the launch of the function that will allow the transfer of WhatsApp histories from an Android cell phone to an iPhone. There are also no details as to when the function will be available for other devices, but the company guarantees that “it is working to make this feature available to all its users around the world”.
About Samsung’s exclusivity at launch, the messenger ensures that there is no commercial partnership. “WhatsApp chose to launch this feature as soon as it was ready, as it believes people want to use it soon.”


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Online video game Fortnite has confirmed The Weeknd as the first headlining act for its new Festival game mode.
“Fortnite Festival is a new music game where players can play in a band with friends or perform solo on stage with hit music by their favourite artists,” according to a release.
Launching on 9 December, the game will be the first entirely music-focused mode to be introduced to the hugely popular, six-year-old Battle Royale game.
While Fortnite itself is developed by Epic Games, the Festival game mode is being developed by Harmonix – the studio behind the Rock Band video game franchise.
Fortnite last month experienced the biggest day in the game’s history with over 44.7 million players logging on
It was reported in November 2021 that Epic had acquired Harmonix to develop Fortnite experiences.
Music has become an increasing focus for Epic, following the success of virtual concerts inside of Fortnite from the likes of Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Marshmello, Travis Scott, Steve Aoki, Deadmau5, Easy Life and J. Balvin.
“Music is already bringing millions of people together in Fortnite, from our emotes to global concerts and events,” Alain Tascan, Epic’s VP of game development, said of acquiring Harmonix.
In April this year, Coachella returned to Fortnite with a new virtual world called Coachella Island, along with mini-games, art installations, festival-themed merch, and virtual recreations of the festival’s hallmarks such as the ferris wheel.
Epic last month experienced the biggest day in the game’s history with over 44.7 million players logging on and 102 million hours of play for the launch of Fortnite OG, featuring the game’s original map.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.


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To celebrate the debut of its Ultra luxury credit card, financial company Revolut launched an augmented reality campaign called “The Ultra Experience” in London’s Covent Garden.
Created in collaboration with brand experience agency Sense, the activation allows people in Covent Garden to scan a QR code at the base of a “platinum portal” sculpture with their smartphone to unlock an AR experience inspired by the luxury card.
“Revolut came to us looking for an industry-leading ‘wow’ activity that would ensure a successful launch for this new product and increase the fame of their innovative brand,” said Sally McLaren, senior business development manager at Sense. “Using cutting-edge tech to promote cutting-edge products always makes sense, and the AR-activated platinum portals offer a genuinely innovative and engaging activation.”
People can scan the QR code on the sculpture through June 23. They’re encouraged to share their AR experience on Instagram and tag Revolut for a chance to receive a free year of Ultra benefits.
“In response to our customers’ demands, we’re launching this new bespoke membership that we envision as the ultimate traveling and lifestyle companion,” said Tara Massoudi, general manager of premium products at Revolut.
“Revolut has put together a one-of-a-kind offering, second to none in Europe. The travel benefits are augmented by exclusive brand subscriptions and best-in-class investment products.”


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Oakland police said Chris Cantrell, 50, entered the Office Depot in the 3500 block of Hollis Street at around 9:30 p.m.
Cantrell, wearing a mask and armed with what appeared to be a gun, allegedly held an unknown number of people hostage, according to police.
Oakland and Emeryville police responded to the scene. Around 4 a.m. officers entered the store and took Cantrell into custody.
Police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said all of the employees were able to escape unharmed.
Officers recovered the suspect's gun and discovered it was a replica firearm.
Surveillance showed that store employee Richard Killin, 25, assisted in the robbery, according to police.
Both men were arrested and are facing robbery charges.
A nearby Home Depot hardware store was evacuated. Most of the Office Depot employees were already out of the building by the time of the robbery, according to police.


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EU lawmakers recently agreed upon draft regulation which will require that all smartphone and tablet manufacturers use standard micro-USB chargers for any device they intend to sell in Europe. The move, which has been in the pipeline for some years, is designed with both convenience for device users and environmental concerns in mind.
Though many manufacturers have already moved to using this standard (with one notable exception: Apple), this European legislation would require all member states to write this into their national law by 2016 and will give manufacturers until 2017 to transition all new devices to this common standard. Although the law would only apply to EU member states, it is likely that this will have global significance since manufacturers will want to streamline the charging adapters they produce.
Some may argue that this requirement may hinder future development and innovation in charging ports, however, others will argue that this is a logical step.
Edited by Casey_boy, 16 March 2014 - 01:33 PM.


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Tech giant Apple is raising the prices of paid apps and in-app purchases for seven countries, including South Africa due to exchange rates. By Staff Writer
Following fluctuations in exchange rates, Apple has informed developers today that it’s planning to change App Store pricing in a number of countries within the next 72 hours, according to a report in technology news website The Next Web (TNW) published on Monday.
The other markets affected by price increases include Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and Singapore, a document sent to App Store developers showed according to TNW.
“Subscribers in Russia and South Africa will need to resubscribe at the new price,” according to a screengrab of the Apple document posted on TNW. “For users in New Zealand, Israel, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Mexico the app pricing tiers will change by a small margin, which will include in-app purchases.”
For more, read the Apple Apps Pricing Schedule for January 2016
The rand continued to weaken on a trade-weighted basis by a further 2.6% in the week ended on January 15, to bring it’s year-to-date depreciation to 6.6%, according to a report published by bdlive.co.za.


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Hendrickson’s truck parts plant in Stratford, Ontario, will lay off about 150 workers, as truck manufacturers prepare for slumping sales, the plant’s manager told the London (Ont.)Free Press on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
Itasca, Ill.-based Hendrickson is a supplier of truck, tractor and trailer suspensions, truck and trailer lift axles, bumpers and trim components and springs to the commercial transportation industry. The Stratford plant, which makes heavy springs for Freightliner’s Sterling Truck plant in St. Thomas and International Truck in Chatham, will issue layoff notices to about 35 percent of its hourly and salaried work force in the first quarter of 2007, says Bill Fautch, plant manager. Freightliner issued 800 layoff notices last week, and workers at International recently were hit with 640 layoffs.
“There is a market downturn, and all the truck manufacturers are announcing major layoffs,” Fautch told the Free Press. “It is expected to be severe, and we are preparing for that. This is a very difficult situation for everybody.”
The trucking industry has been hit hard because of new emissions regulations that take effect in 2007 that will see anywhere from $7,500 to $12,000 added to the price tag of an average new, large truck. Trucking companies are buying vehicles now to escape the increased cost next year, meaning slower sales in 2007. “It is linked to the anticipated drop in demand for medium- and heavy-duty trucks,” says Ralph Norton, a Hendrickson spokesperson in Canton, Ohio. “Most fleets are not buying new trucks in the first half of 2007,” Norton told the Free Press.
Truckmakers have expressed confidence that many laid-off workers will be recalled by the end of 2007, when sales are projected to start increasing. “We will make the layoffs based on the actual order board,” Fautch told the Free Press. “We will wait and see what happens. We will follow the market cycle. We are hopeful it is a short downturn.”


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UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (Sep. 13)
Israel has neglected to expand its economic relations with South American countries, having a overlooked the possibility of trade that could run into several million dollars a year, according to Dr. Benjamin Avniel, chairman of the economic committee of the Israeli parliament. Dr. Avniel visited the United Nations today during a three-day stop-over in New York en route to Israel, after concluding an eight-week tour of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Dr. Avniel reported that he had met with leading cabinet members in the three South American countries, and found among all of them “a keen desire” to increase trade with Israel. “We sell almost nothing to Uruguay,” he stated, “while our trade Argentina could be increased vastly. We could receive from South America a number of items that are of vital interest to our economy, such as meat, leather, wool and other raw materials of which we are short. In return we could sell chemical products, pharmaceuticals, phosphates, potassium, alkoloids, and certain consumer goods.”
Dr. Avniel cited pencils as an example of an exportable product which Israel could sell in quantity to South America. He said he found that Israel could well sell $500,000 worth of pencils in the South American market, receiving highly-valued, scarce imports in exchange.


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Global Brands Group Holding Limited, one of the world’s leading branded apparel, footwear, fashion accessories, and lifestyle product companies, has appointed Adrienne Lazarus to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Frye Company, one of the Group’s premier controlled brands.
Lazarus is an accomplished fashion and retail industry executive with 25 years of experience and a strong track record for building and growing businesses such as Intermix and Ann Taylor. She was the president of Intermix, a multi-brand fashion retailer, from 2009 until its acquisition by Gap Inc. in 2013. At Intermix, she led the successful repositioning and turnaround of the Company and is widely credited with increasing its sales and appeal to the contemporary fashion consumer. She began her career with May Department Stores and has recently served as a consultant to the retail industry, according to a company press release.
The appointment of Lazarus reflects Global Brands’ strategic focus on Frye as a leading lifestyle brand. For over 150 years, Frye has crafted a rich heritage and strong reputation for producing quality leather products.
Bruce Rockowitz, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Global Brands Group Holding Limited, said, “We are excited to welcome proven retail leader Adrienne Lazarus as Frye’s new CEO. Frye is one of the most important brands in our portfolio, and under her powerful leadership, will be positioned to continue its growth as a global lifestyle brand.”
Dow Famulak, president of Global Brands Group Holding Limited, said, “Adrienne is a highly regarded executive with a successful 25 year track record of growing retail businesses and brands. Her ability to relate to consumers, craft a strong brand and marketing vision, and lead dynamic teams will be instrumental in achieving our ambitious goals for Frye.”
Adrienne Lazarus said, “I have been entrusted with leading a brand that represents both an inspiring legacy and a bright future, and I look forward to working with the team at Frye and Global Brands to write the next exciting chapter in the Frye story.” (GK)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India


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Netflix will no longer be providing forecasts for its subscriber numbers, as the streamer moves toward a greater focus on revenue.
“We have such a wide range of price points, different partnerships all over the world, [that] the economic impact of any given subscriber can be quite different. And that’s particularly true if you’re trying to compare our business with other streaming services,” Spencer Wang, Netflix’s vp of finance, investor relations and corporate development, said on the investor video Tuesday.
“This is going to be, I think, even more important as we head into 2023 and we develop new revenue streams, like advertising and paid sharing, where membership growth is only one aspect of the revenue picture,” he continued.
The streamer will still report global and regional membership numbers, but will not provide guidance for them starting in January 2023, when it reports fourth quarter earnings. The company will still provide guidance on revenue, operating income, operating margin, net income and earnings per share.
The move comes as Wall Street grows weary of expansion at any cost in the streaming space. Many streamers, including Netflix, have tightened their budgets and made cuts amid a competitive and what some feared to be stalling streaming environment.
That’s not to say that Netflix is ignoring subscriber numbers. The company notably added 2.4 million subscribers in its third quarter, marking its first gain this year. And in response, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings declared on the investor call, “Thank God we’re done with shrinking quarters,” while also adding, “We’ve got to pick up the momentum.”
Some of this momentum is expected to come from the launch of Netflix’s ad-supported tier next month, with executives anticipating that the lower cost will bring in new subscribers, while existing subscribers stick with their current price tiers. The lower price point is also expected to help with overall churn, Netflix COO Greg Peters said Tuesday.
The ad-tier should also help boost revenue, though the company said Tuesday that it does not expect it to have a “material contribution” to revenue in the next quarter, since the tier is launching in the middle of the quarter. Initial demand for the ad-support tier has been “very strong,” Netflix COO Greg Peters said Tuesday, but the advertising model is still in its early stages, particularly with its still-limited ad targeting. Peters expects to improve the model over the next several quarters.
“We’re very much in crawl, walk, run kind of model,” Peters said on the investor video.
Netflix has also ramped up its crackdown on account sharing, with a new feature available this week that allows users to move their profiles, complete with watch history and recommendations, over to a new account. This move is expected to help boost paid membership, as the company has estimated that more than 100 million households worldwide are sharing their Netflix accounts.


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When the world’s largest specialty coffee roaster and retailer company hit South Africa it caused quite a stir, following in the tradition of South African consumers’ enthusiastically embracing US food franchise brands and their offerings.
It’s been a month since US coffee chain opened its first two stores in Johannesburg to incredibly long queues in Rosebank and in the Mall of Africa.
Starbuck is operated locally by Taste Holdings, which also owns fast food chains Maxi’s, the Fish and Chip Co, and more recently Domino’s Pizza.
Consumers were eager to sample Starbucks’ range of syrupy lattes but, also its variety of coffees including filter coffee and cappuccinos. Also on the South African menu is Rooibos tea.
Taste has said it will embark on a roll out in the rest of the country which will involve 12 to 15 new stores in 2016 and 20 a year after that until it is in the 150- to 200-store range, at a cost of R108 million.
“Having the Starbucks brand does not entitle us to success – we will have to earn our customers trust one cup at a time”
The coffee market
Despite a challenging economy – the brand is launching in a year when the economy is projected to grow less than 1% – the local coffee market remains strong.
South Africa’s coffee consumption has grown as consumers, particularly in the middle–to–higher income market, with coffee adoption shifting from instant to more premium offerings. The latest data from Statistics SA released in April shows income from restaurants and coffee shops climbed 5.3%year on year in February.
Starbucks hopes to take advantage of this growing coffee culture
CEO, Carlo Gonzaga following the launch was been quoted saying that the coffee market in South Africa is larger than he had anticipated.
Gonzaga has been clear that they will, however, not be relying on the Starbucks name to draw in consumers, but that customer service will be their main focus in country where coffee consumption and coffee expertise is on the rise.
SME South Africa speak to Gonzaga about what they have had to understand about the SA consumer and what goes into entering a new market.
Q: What early lessons has the brand already learnt about SA’s coffee market?
- We have seen a big uptake amongst the youth market.
- Our Reserve Bar has enjoyed instant success – the Reserve Bar offers small-lot coffee from a single origin.
- Cold beverages are mixing well.
- Our food offering is performing better than we anticipated.
Q: What do you consider as some of the key differences in how South Africans enjoy their coffee compared to the rest of the world?
South Africa is a growing market and we are seeing a shift in the market – coffee is increasingly becoming part of people’s routine – it’s part of their day. All Euromonitor studies show that coffee consumption in both ground and whole-bean markets is growing
Traditionally we are an instant coffee market but over the last few years, have slowly grown into a more sophisticated market by embracing the coffee shop culture.
Q: Your thoughts on why you think American franchise brands enjoy such popularity in SA.
Our world is more connected than it ever has. South African consumers are savvy and “worldly” – consumers have an appetite for popular, global brands.
Starbucks is widely known for their signature, handcrafted beverages, beautiful stores, great standards, ethical sourcing, years of product development and of course, free high-speed Wi-Fi.
We are really pleased that we are able to bring the full Starbucks experience to a country where coffee consumption and coffee expertise is on the rise.
Q: What do you think foreign brands have to know coming into SA?
Entering a new market requires research and this goes further than economic and statistical data, you need intimate knowledge of the consumer.
There should be big focus on localisation in terms of empowering the local supply chain and elevating employment levels. We have worked extensively with local contractors and artisans for the construction, design and décor.
“South Africa has strong retailers”
Our approach at Taste Holdings is to empower and uplift local firms that are involved in the design and crafting of the store interior, including the furniture, to Starbucks’ standards.
Aligned with Starbucks global ‘partner first’ philosophy Taste developed a Partner programme that is built around setting partners up for success, not only in Starbucks, but with knowledge and skills that will serve them well for life.
Our Changing Lanes Programme is a job-readiness training programme positioned to bridge the gap between unemployed youth and work opportunities. We face an imbalance between needed and available skills; Changing Lanes is a program to build entry-level knowledge and skills that allows for preparedness into newly created jobs in the communities we serve.
Having the Starbucks brand does not entitle us to success – we will have to earn our customers trust one cup at a time.
Q: Thoughts on South Africa’s franchise landscape – in terms of potential for growth and the opportunities it offers to international investors.
There is always potential but, South Africa has strong retailers.


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By mmillikin Ricardo is creating a new global focus for its automotive business. The new Ricardo Global Automotive Group will provide a highly customer focused global structure that will enable it to optimally serve the demands of customers for clean powertrain technologies and all aspects of vehicle engineering, including autonomous driving applications.
The organization draws together the operations of the company’s automotive teams based at its technical centres across Europe, China and North America, which now includes a rapidly growing presence in California.
Read Full Article Here
For more great articles: Green Car Congress


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Discover more from CnEVPost Newsletter
CnEVPost Newsletter: China EV insurance registrations; BYD earnings preview
As of October 15, Li Auto was at 17,800 so far this month, Tesla at 8,400, Nio at 5,100 and Xpeng at 4,600 units.
Nio's first chip, a LiDAR master chip, will begin mass production in October, the company previously said.
BYD expects its net profit for the first three quarters to be RMB 20.5 billion - RMB 22.5 billion, up 120.16 percent - 141.64 percent year-on-year.
Li Auto CEO shared two camouflage-free images of the Li Mega and hinted that the model will have very low wind resistance.
Aito's new M7, which was launched on September 12, has more than 60,000 firm orders in the first month of its launch.
KargoBot has become an independently operated company and received an investment of over RMB 450 million, according to local media.
Anhui aims to have more than 500,000 public charging piles and 500 battery swap stations by 2027, which will meet the charging needs of 1 million NEVs.
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As published on 30th June 2015 by Jill Daly / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette here is recent news on vitamin D.
Already commonly prescribed for elderly men and women to keep their bones strong, vitamin D supplements also could be an easy and affordable way to fight serious infections like HIV, according to a recent study led by a Penn State anthropology professor.
Nina Jablonski, whose research includes skin pigmentation and vitamin D, launched the project and enlisted South African researchers and 100 young adults in Cape Town to study how levels of ultraviolet B radiation, vitamin D in the diet, genetics and skin pigment affect vitamin D in the blood. At the same time they tested whether vitamin D supplements could reverse deficiency and improve resistance to HIV. Results were published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
In the end, they found that by sorting out other factors of diet, genes and even skin color, personal sun exposure habit was the strongest factor affecting vitamin D levels in the blood of these 18- to 24-year-olds.
The paper’s lead author is infectious disease immunologist Anna Coussens, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cape Town.
“We’d been working on vitamin D and HIV and tuberculosis. I was interested in the genetics of the infections,” she said. By joining the project, she said, she was able to see how vitamin D supplementation brought positive outcomes for study participants.
Although half of the study group was very dark-skinned, with roots closer to the equator, the other half, of mixed heritage, had varying levels of skin pigment.
To measure results, Ms. Coussens said, “we combined every gradation [of color ]. Vitamin D deficiency was high in winter for all people.”
Just as it does in Western Pennsylvania, the amount of ultraviolet B radiation in Cape Town’s atmosphere varies widely between winter and summer. Cape Town’s latitude south of the equator, at 30 degrees, is equivalent to Florida’s position north. Pittsburgh is 40 degrees north.
Absorption of UVB rays through the skin is key to the production of vitamins D in the body. The darker the pigment in skin, the more UVB needed to start vitamin D production.
Ultraviolet rays are important, Ms. Coussens said. “It doesn’t matter what color you are, you have to get out at midday.”
She said the young people in the study were mostly students. Some of the young men had outside activities, which gave them an advantage. The young women spent more time indoors, she said, adding that “there are a lot of Muslims in the Cape community; they definitely cover up more.”
As a matter of fact, she said, “People in general cover up. They don’t want to get any darker. It’s an interesting mix.”
Low winter levels of vitamin D were treated with weekly supplements of 50,000 IUs of vitamin D-3 for six weeks among members of the darker-skinned ethnic group. The vitamin D levels in the blood rose significantly, lowering the risk for anemia as well.
To test vitamin D’s impact on resistance to HIV — affecting young South African women in higher numbers than men — the researchers drew the winter blood samples and combined blood cells and blood serum (where vitamin D lies) in the lab. They artificially infected the samples with HIV. After six weeks of vitamin D, the blood was similarly tested, and the HIV infection was blocked or reduced.
“HIV is a blood borne virus. The fact is we could reverse the effect through supplementation,” Ms. Coussens said.
The vitamin tablets cost only 20 cents a week, she said, which makes this treatment attractive. To make this preventive treatment supported by government and medical policy, she said, “We need to do properly controlled, randomized trials. That is what we’re aiming to do. There are a number of grants in the pipeline. … It’s such a cheap thing to do.”
Moderate sun exposure is easy, too, she added. “It’s all about small amounts of exposure. … Just don’t get burned.”
Let them eat chocolate
The latest good news about chocolate, which came out earlier this month in the journal Heart, is that it’s OK to break off more than you can chew.
In fact, an observational study of the long-term health of 21,000 men and women in Norfolk, England, found that eating up to 100 grams of chocolate every day was linked to a lower risk of health disease and stroke. Followed by an average of 12 years, with food and lifestyle questionnaires, it was found that about 20 percent ate no chocolate, but the average among the others was 7 grams daily — and it was mostly milk chocolate.
Some ate up to 100 grams — that’s about nine squares of Ghirardelli dark chocolate (60 percent cacao and 55 calories), which weigh 10.6 grams each.
Here in Pittsburgh, Caroline Passerrello, Giant Eagle corporate dietitian, said chocolate can be part of a healthy diet.
“Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, specifically flavonoids, which are beneficial for a person’s overall health,” she wrote in an email, adding that for the most benefits, chocolate that is 72 percent cacao or higher is best. Chocolate’s dense in calories, so it should be eaten in moderation.
“When incorporated into a balanced diet and combined with regular physical activity,” Ms. Passerrello wrote, “chocolate may help improve a person’s chances of decreasing the risk of heart disease.”
Low risk is measured in lower numbers in weight, blood pressure, inflammation and higher levels of regular activity. Although since the British and Dutch researchers used some data provided by the people themselves and it was not a controlled trial, there’s no proof eating chocolate gave them their 11 percent lower risk for heart disease. But they did conclude there appears to be no reason for people concerned about heart disease to avoid eating chocolate.
Moving helps kids think
A new study from the University of California has found that there’s a benefit in all that fidgeting we see in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Researchers from the UC Davis MIND Institute examined constant movement in a group of 26 pre-teens and teenagers with ADHD, and they found that more intense physical activity was associated with more accurate results as they performed tasks that demanded concentrated thinking. The study authors said it is the first to measure the relationship between activity and task performance on a trial-by-trial basis in ADHD.
Movement during these tasks helped them, according to the study’s senior author, Julie Schweitzer, psychiatry professor and director of the UC Davis ADHD program. In a statement released with the study, she said, “Parents and teachers shouldn’t try to keep them still. … Perhaps the movement increases their arousal level, which leads to better attention.”
By : Natural Health News