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In his small office in the Israel Diamond Exchange near the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Pravin Kukadia proudly presents his collection of precious stones.
Between Kukadia’s homeland, India, and his country of residence, Israel, diamonds have forged a key diplomatic and economic link — representing about US$1.5 billion a year and roughly half of all trade between the nations, diamond experts say.
Kukadia first came to Israel in 1996, but soon made regular visits to Israel as a buyer for his family business based in Surat in western India — where 90 percent of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished.
“At that time, I bought rough diamonds,” he said, carefully inspecting a particularly rare example, a rose-colored diamond. “I bought small sizes — my specialty was small and cheap.”
Today, the 56-year-old specializes in trading large stones.
In 2003, he moved with his wife and two children to develop his business in Israel, because it was “a major player in the diamond industry” and at the forefront of innovation in the field.
At that time, India “didn’t have the technology like here,” said Kukadia, who imported Israeli technology including laser-machines for his Indian operations.
The Israel Diamond Exchange is home to about 30 Indian companies, making India the foreign nation with the biggest number of firms on the bourse, Kukadia added.
Most Indian diamond families, about 80 people, live close to the diamond exchange in the city of Ramat Gan, and many stay in the same building.
“We are one and the same family,” Kukadia said.
Israeli immigration lawyer Joshua Pex said that Indian diamond traders enjoy a “special status” in Israel, aimed at promoting trade with India.
“Since 2018, they can work and live in Israel indefinitely, and bring their families,” Pex said. “They must renew their visas every three years, compared to two for diamond traders from other countries.”
The huge complex of the diamond exchange is also home to the State Bank of India, the only foreign bank present there, alongside two Israeli banks.
“The diamond industry’s trade with India accounts for about 50 percent of all general trade between Israel and India, representing US$1.5 billion per year,” Israel Diamond Exchange president Boaz Moldawsky said.
Israel sources raw stones from around the world, while many Indian companies specialize in polishing the rocks into gleaming gems.
“We export rough stones, and mainly import polished stones,” Moldawsky said.
While India recognized Israel in 1950, it has traditionally expressed support for the creation of a Palestinian state, and did not establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state until 1992.
“Diamonds were one of the first commodities exchanged between Israel and India in the early 1970s,” Moldawsky said.
However, bilateral ties go beyond diamonds.
On Thursday, Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz visited India as part of the 30th anniversary of official diplomatic links, where he urged a deepening of defense ties.
Israel sells about US$1 billion of military equipment to India a year.
Cooperation agreements have also multiplied in the fields of water systems, agriculture, health and solar energy.
‧Gold for August delivery fell US$21.20 to US$1,850.20 an ounce, down 0.38 percent for the week.
‧Silver for July delivery fell US$0.37 to US$21.91 an ounce, declining 0.86 percent weekly, while July copper fell US$0.08 to US$4.47 a pound, but rose 3.71 from a week earlier.
Additional reporting by AP
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, has decided to slow down its 3-nanometer chip production as Intel Corp, one of its major customers, plans to push back the launch of its new Meteor Lake tGPU chipsets to the end of next year, market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. That means Intel has canceled almost all of the 3-nanometer capacity booked for next year, with only a small amount of wafer input remaining for engineering verification, the Taipei-based researcher said in a report. Based on Intel’s original schedule, TSMC was to start producing the new chipsets in
DATA SHOW DOWNTURN: Manufacturing in Taiwan contracted as production and demand slumped, while growth in chip exports last month eased in South Korea World chip sales growth has decelerated for six straight months in another sign that the global economy is straining under the weight of rising interest rates and mounting geopolitical risks. Semiconductor sales rose 13.3 percent in June from a year earlier, down from 18 percent in May, data from the global peak industry body showed. The slowdown is the longest since the US-China trade dispute in 2018. The three-month moving average in chip sales has correlated with the global economy’s performance in the past few decades. The latest weakness comes as concern about a worldwide recession has prompted chipmakers such as Samsung
Italy is close to clinching a deal initially worth US$5 billion with Intel Corp to build an advanced semiconductor packaging and assembly plant in the country, two sources briefed on discussions said yesterday. Intel’s investment in Italy is part of a wider plan announced by the US chipmaker earlier this year to invest US$88 billion in building capacity across Europe, which is striving to cut its reliance on Asian chip imports and ease a supply crunch that has curbed output in the region’s strategic auto sector. Asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, the sources said the
Malaysia is scrambling to protect its assets as the descendants of the last sultan of the remote Philippine region of Sulu look to enforce a US$15 billion arbitration award in a dispute over a colonial-era land deal. In 1878, two European colonists signed a deal with the sultan for the use of his territory in present-day Malaysia — an agreement that independent Malaysia honored until 2013, paying the monarch’s descendants about US$1,000 per year. Now, 144 years later after the original deal, Malaysia is on the hook for the second-largest arbitration award on record for stopping the payments after a bloody incursion


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The Italian coffee giant Lavazza has announced it is building a coffee plant in India in order to capitalize on cheaper materials, the country's growing middle class, and to make it a hub for Asia Pacific expansion. With coffee consumption still low in the region, Datamonitor views this as a strong statement of intent for the company, which currently generates 60% of revenues from its home market.
Lavazza, the Italian coffee producer, has announced plans to establish a new manufacturing plant in India. At present, Asia contributes a mere 5% of Lavazza's revenues, so this move looks promising for the company to capitalize on a market where consumption is low - average consumption per capita of coffee in Europe is 1.9kg, compared to 0.1kg per capita in the Asia Pacific region.
Consumers in the region predominantly drink tea, but as tastes change with growing prosperity, coffee is increasing in popularity. In India, sales of tea were $1,440m in 2008, nearly 10 times the amount of coffee, at $145m. Despite this, sales of coffee are forecast nearly twice the growth through 2013 - a projected 5.4%, compared to 2.9% for tea.
Consumers in developing markets are also becoming more experimental and are trading up in their product choices. Datamonitor's 2009 consumer survey found that 45% of Indian consumers buy higher quality food or drinks as a treat or reward, compared to just 23% globally, while 24% are experimenting by trying new food and drinks, either most or all of the time. This is good news for Lavazza, which is planning to open a range of designer cafes, such as Lavazza Espresso, where deco and service make an exciting proposition to premium coffee consumers.
Finally, the move will save Lavazza a great deal of money. At present import duties are close to 110%, demonstrating the sheer amount of capital the company will free up by manufacturing in India. A spokesman for Lavazza said that approximately 70% of the retail price of coffee is due to the cost of raw materials, so the company will make significant savings once manufacturing is under way.
In conclusion, Lavazza is sending out strong signals by making this capital investment in India. In a region that is experiencing phenomenal growth in incomes and development, the company is well positioned to target a new generation of consumers who are increasingly purchasing coffee instead of tea. The cost savings made by investing in an Indian plant will also enable the company to pass on savings to consumers, make India its regional hub and drive expansion into China.

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The founder of Airport Plazas, George Abi Zeid, relates that his concept of constructing ‘plazas’ at airports to service the needs of airport employees and customers — and generating a new source of revenue — wasn’t immediately embraced by the industry.
Recalls ABi Zeid, “Initially it was really an uphill battle. They were skeptical. JFK was the first airport in which we were allowed to sit in on an RFP [request for proposals]. They were proposing to build just a gas station and a 1,100-square foot store. But with the high rent that they were proposing just for the ground lease, I saw no way to make a business out of it. So I proposed that they add other services — a car wash that could be used for taxis and limos and even visitors waiting for flights; or a quick oil change.
“During the meeting at Kennedy, one representative from Newark liked what I proposed and told me about an RFP coming out at Newark. Sure enough, we submitted for it and ended up winning the project. Now that it’s built, airports around the country have gotten an interest.
“Generally the plazas are built on land that doesn’t generate revenue. Plus, it provides a tremendous convenience for employees and for taxis and limos.
“In addition, airports have a love/hate relationship with cell phone lots. It eats away at their short-term parking, but they have to offer it. What we are proposing to airports around the country is, why not give us the land for free, put the cell lot next to our facility, we’ll pave and maintain it and service it, and visitors park for free, and sit in our food court. It’s something that generates income.”
Prior to founding Airport Plazas, Abi Zeid had some 20 years of success developing and operating service plazas in the New York metro area through his Long Island-based GAZ Realty.
The first plaza at Newark Liberty International Airport opened in September 2010 and the company subsequently won RFPs at JFK, Fort Meyers, Tulsa, and airports.
“I’ve been an operator, designer, financer of plazas around Long Island,” explains Abi Zeid. “I decided to take this concept into a niche market at airports because airports post-9/11 are a different animal. Also, gas stations around airports have a bad reputation — they tend to be dirty, unkept. We wanted to bring the airport gas station into the highway station platform.
“Car rental returns at Newark are our best customers. Now they know they have an oasis in the middle of the airport.”
The Newark Experience
Despite the initial hesitancy by airports to embrace his concept, Abi Zeid says the success demonstrated at Newark International has served as a catalyst, at a time when airport operators are seeking new sources of revenue and new ways to serve customers and employees.
Says Abi Zeid, “It’s been a phenomenon. We sell based on the street prices of surrounding stations around the region. We want to be known as the gas station that sells at street prices. Revenue for gas continues to grow on a daily basis.
“Where we’re running a bit slow is at the car wash, though tons of taxis and limos are using it. We’ve not been able yet to attract the employees to the extent we had expected. I think a reason is that the employee parking lot is based far away and employees get shuttled there.
“With airports we depend a lot on fleet accounts for our compressed natural gas business, for diesel and gas, and even for car washes. We have just contracted with a limo service that has some 75 cars to do all the fueling at our facility.
“We learned a lot from Newark to pre-sell fleet sales up to 90-120 days before opening.”
Besides the contracts already underway, Airport Plazas is currently in discussions with some 20-plus airports, from West Palm Beach to Indianapolis to Medford, OR.
The company also likes to promote its “green” impact, centered on the promotion of alternative energy fuels. The company offers E85 or CNG [compressed natural gas] and is considering offering electric charging stations in the future. The company also tries to include design elements such as LED lighting and solar panel canopies, and the use of environmentally friendly products such as hot air hand drying machines instead of paper towels.
Completing the airport deal
When considering a new airport location, Airport Plazas’ first consideration is size of the facility — with a focus on passenger counts — and then location, preferably with adjoining highway access.
Regarding size, Abi Zeid comments, “It’s a big limitation. We look at a minimum of three million passengers to have a plaza, unless the airport gives us a corner location where there’s easy access off the highway, like Tulsa. The number of passengers dictates the number of employees, limos/taxis, etc.”
As with any airport tenant lease, length of the term is important. Abi Zeid says that his company’s investment can run from $5-12 million, the latter being the amount to construct the plaza at JFK International. A standard lease that’s beginning to evolve, he says, is 20 years with two five-year options.
Regarding revenue, airports generally receive 5 percent of gross over an initial $500,000 in annual sales. At Newark, the airport authority receives three cents per gallon over 4.5 million gallons sold — nothing before the 4.5 million threshold. “The 5 percent is almost universal around the country,” says Abi Zeid. “The three cents at some airports is 1.5 cents. Newark is very busy gas-wise for us. Some airports exempt the first half million gallons a year.”
Is there a potential deal killer when negotiating with airports? Answers Abi Zeid, “Certain airports have a clause in their leases where they can buy you out with a six-month notice — this is a deal killer for us. Even though airports assure us it’s never happened in the past, if they need the property for aviation needs they’ll want the ability to do that.”
And, just as retail companies have discovered that operating in the airport environment is a different animal, so too has Abi Zeid had a similar experience.
He comments, “The bigger the airport the more complex it is, of course. Dealing with the Port Authority [of New York & New Jersey] is rewarding at the end but it is painful — but in the end you’ll have a deal you can count on. The details they look for in our plans causes you to spend on engineering plans.
“I have projects in suburban Long Island that we’ve been working on for four or fives years and I still don’t have the approval from the local towns or municipalities. So, the airport might be a painful process but I know after two years I’ll have the permit and I’m going to build.”
While Airport Plazas offers major brands for fuel and other commodities it sells, Abi Zeid says that the company first researches the local market to uncover which brands may sell best.
“The beauty about our offering is that we’re not married to one brand of fuel, or food, etc.,” he says. “We have a global agreement with Seven Eleven that they have the right of first refusal for the site. What we do before we decide the brand name of the gas and store is we hire a market and traffic study company in Dallas. It does a market study for us on the leading brands in the market for gas and food.
“The brand name is really dictated by the local market and airport.”
Aviation Director Mark VanLoh proposed letting private business oversee the more than 400 taxis that line up for fares at Kansas City International Airport.
Skybus redux: here comes jetamerica, the new low-fare carrier A new low-cost airline will begin serving mid-sized U.S. cities that it thinks larger carriers have left behind...
Ongoing bickering between the two groups is forcing the airport to overhaul its ground transportation services in an effort to improve customer service.


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By: Laura Steiner
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has extended the province’s Stay-at-home order until May 19, 2021. They’ve also introduced a strengthened list of restrictions.
“As the latest modelling confirms, without taking immediate and decisive action COVID-19 cases will spiral out of control and our hospitals will be overwhelmed,” Ford said. The latest COVID-19 projections indicated the province could see as high as 18,000 cases per day within the next month, if nothing was done. Officials also indicated the province could see over 5,000 cases as early as tomorrow.
The province has also introduced an emergency order granting police officers, and bylaw enforcement officers with additional authority to support it. “This is a critical moment in Ontario’s response to this deadly virus, that’s why we are doing whatever it takes to stop the spread and protect our communities,” Solicitor Effective 12:01 a.m. Saturday police, and “other officers” will have the authority to ask residents for their home address, and their reason for being out.
The province expects residents to remain at home except for essential trips such as access healthcare services, pharmacy, outdoor exercise or work that cannot be done remotely. Ontario’s borders with Quebec, and Manitoba will be closed starting April 19, 2021. “This is a critical moment in Ontario’s response to this deadly virus, that’s why we are doing whatever it takes to stop the spread, and protect our communities,” Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said. Failing to comply with restrictions could result in a minimum fine of $750. Obstructing an officer from enforcing or complying with an order could be fined $1,000. Anyone hosting gatherings in violation face a potential fine of $10,000 on conviction.
The Ontario Provincial Police will be patrolling both border areas. Exceptions are: work, health care services, transportation and delivery of goods and services, and exercising Aboriginal treaty rights. “The rising spread of variants means we must take stronger measures to limit transmission and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said. The latest modelling presented earlier today, indicated a 51% growth in ICU occupancy over the last two weeks. Halton Region Hospitals house a confirmed 32 cases of COVID-19 in Intensive Care Units.
The province also added the following restrictions as of April 17 at 12:01 a.m.
- Prohibit all outdoor social gatherings and organized public events, except for with members of the same household or one other person from outside that household who lives alone or a caregiver for any member of the household;
- Close all non-essential workplaces in the construction sector;
- Reduce capacity limits to 25 per cent in all retail settings where in-store shopping is permitted. This includes supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers’ markets, other stores that primarily sell food and pharmacies; and,
- Close all outdoor recreational amenities, such as golf courses, basketball courts, soccer fields, and playgrounds with limited exceptions.
Capacity limits for weddings, funerals, and religious services will be limited to 10 people indoors as of April 19, 2021. Social gatherings associated with those services will be prohibited as of the same date. Drive-in services will be permitted.
On the vaccination front, the province also committed to dedicating 25% of future allocations to areas with ‘historic ongoing high rates of death, hospitalization and COVID-19 transmission.’ “By staying at home and limiting travel for essential purposes only, such as getting groceries or going to a medical appointment or to get vaccinated, we can reduce mobility and help interrupt transmission of this virus,” Ontario Chief Medical Officer of health Dr. David Williams said.


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Apple Inc. (AAPL) Watch Blamed as Swiss Exports Crack
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch may be blamed for a massive quarterly drop in Swiss watch exports. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, said that a “marked decline” in September exports led to a drop of 8.5% for the full-quarter, says a report from Reuters.
With this decline, the Swiss watch exports witnessed their biggest drop since 2009. Sales dropped sharply in all “robust Asian markets,” such as Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. In Asia, Swiss watch sales were down by 12.7%.
“This negative change has spread to other, hitherto more robust Asian markets, and casts something of a shadow over prospects for the year 2015,” the Federation said.
The Federation noted that the drop was evident across all the price segments, but the major impact was seen in the $200-$500 range, where the sales dropped by 14.5%, raising concerns that Apple Watch “could finally be taking a bite out of the Swiss industry’s stake,” Reuters say....MORE


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IHS Markit delivers information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government. The company has more than 50,000 business and government customers and is headquartered in London.
The AI economy is upon us. The core theme of companies who will make it through this big disruption: Let your data live! What companies like Google, Amazon and other leaders have increasingly achieved to provide personalized services for their clients, you can achieve too.
It's increasingly accepted that people need to engage in continuous learning and development to stay relevant in the labor market. Online learning platform Coursera explore the most in-demand skills around the world today, and the countries performing best in talent development
SK Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, scored big with its chipmaker SK Hynix. Now as the industry faces a downturn, SK's billionaire chairman Chey Tae-won is betting on a slew of other interests as he seeks to expand his empire.
We've issued a new Buy alert on a small cap holding company with multiple power and construction related businesses. Historically, this Buy signal has generated a 9.3% return over a 3 month holding period (or 37.2% annualized) and is accurate 64.2% of time.


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Linux and Open Source news headlines
Updated: 1 hour 19 min ago
There are a lot of tools and applications connected to 3D printing available to Fedora users. In this article, I’ll guide you through one possible scenario of creating a 3D physical object: from an idea to a real thing. My... Continue Reading →
Three wireless advances will soon find their way into Linux and Android devices: Wi-Fi Aware, Eddystone, and an update to the 6LoWPAN-based Thread protocol. One reason Linux — and by extension Android — have grown so quickly in embedded is that from very early on Linux was imbued with strong wireless support. Although ARM and […]
The Orca open-source screen reader and magnifier software has reached version 3.17.4 as part of the upcoming GNOME 3.17.4 desktop environment.
The Linux Foundation's Open Container Project is getting a new name and is moving forward on developing the runc baseline component for containers.
“Big Blue” unveiled a new platform for developers to collaborate with IBM on a newly released set of open source technologies. IBM plans to release 50 projects to the open source community to speed adoption in the enterprise sector and spur a new class of cloud innovations around mobile and analytics, among other areas.
Are you serious, SatNad? In Depth After five years, the radical design experiment of Windows Phone is being killed off; Windows on phones is being subsumed into Windows 10, and alas, this means Windows phones will not only be less distinctive and inherit many of the flaws, but they’ll acquires some flaws no mobile platform today suffers.…
Customers who hired the infamous ID theft-protection firm Lifelock to monitor their identities after their data was stolen in a breach were in for a surprise. It turns out Lifelock failed to properly secure their data.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords has been released by Aspyr Media for the Linux platform, and the game also received a huge and important patch that applies to all the OSes.
Robolinux is pleased and excited to announce its brand new Robolinux "Cinnamon Raptor" V8.1 LTS 2020 OS which is based on the rock solid Debian 8 stable source code sporting the 3.16 Linux kernel. It has far better graphics and audio quality, boots up and runs much faster than Debian 7 and is also compatible with newer hardware, drivers and most notably the Intel Haswell chipset.
Microsoft dangled a big juicy orange carrot in front of the noses of Windows XP users. That carrot was the "Insider Program" for Windows 10. Help test our software and you get a free upgrade. Except that you don't. Feel scammed? Try Linux.
Google and friends have announced the release of Kubernetes 1.0, which is great... if you know Kubernetes. If, like most folks, you don't, then CoreOS's new Tectonic program is here for you.
Open vSwitch (OVS) is the most popular open-source implementation of virtual switch on the Linux platform. As the today's data centers increasingly rely on the software-defined network (SDN) architecture, OVS is fastly adopted as the de-facto standard network element in data center's SDN deployments.
If asked, what would you think is the biggest challenge facing Linux mass adoption? My response to the backlash is to wonder if those crying out against Linux have even bothered to attempt an install of a recent release? Sure, I'll give them this... back in the day, Linux was not easy to install. In fact, there are still a select few distributions that seem to not quite understand the need for an easy-to-use GUI installer. But those tend to fall into the fringes. The mainstream Linux distributions offer an installation process that is as simple as it gets.
Today, we announce that the Linux 4.0 kernel series reached end of life, as Greg Kroah-Hartman has published details earlier about the release of the ninth maintenance version. At the moment of writing this article, numerous GNU/Linux distributions, including Fedora, are still using a kernel from the Linux 4.0 series, so they should upgrade their kernel packages to the Linux 4.1 LTS branch as soon as possible.
For years, meteorology students learned their craft at the tip of a colored pencil, laboriously contouring observed data by hand. While many forecasters still practice this art, computers have changed operations, research, and education. Open source software and open data are poised to bring more changes to the field.read more
Now he wishes there was an anti-snoop clause in the GPLA respected security researcher has denied any involvement with Hacking Team after open-source code he wrote was found in smartphone spyware sold by the surveillance-ware maker.…
Kodi 15.0 codenamed Isengard has been released, a week after the last release candidate. Many new features are implemented, like adaptive seeking and a new chapter selector window.
I recently launched the Open Source Protocol (OS Protocol), a standard that can be used to link to where the code for a website is hosted. The protocol is fairly simple—all it involves is metatags, and most websites will only need two or three lines of code to be compliant.read more
Congatec has refreshed its Conga-IGX line of Mini-ITX boards with dual- and quad-core G-Series “Steppe Eagle” SoCs, featuring configurable TDPs from 5-15W. Congatec announced its Linux-friendly Conga-IGX Mini-ITX boards in 2013, providing a choice of two dual-core and one quad-core models from the original AMD G-Series SoC family. Now, the company has expanded the product […]
Dr. David A Bray, Eisenhower Fellow, discusses the role of the consumer in the Internet of Everything era.


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Breast cancer effects women 365 days a year, not just the 31 in October. We hope these pieces stay popular, keep donations up, and keep awareness up, throughout the other 11 months.
(PRWEB) September 23, 2013
As the month of October approaches, the visibility and abundance of pink breast cancer ribbons in every sector of society becomes impossible to ignore. The purpose of raising both awareness and funding for breast cancer research is the impetus behind the influx of pink, but with the push to raise awareness has also come the push to be the most unique supporter of breast cancer awareness. The shape, color, and placement of breast cancer ribbons has become the focus, and plays a major role in which organizations raise the most money for the cause. It is seen as a healthy amount of competition in which the real winners are cancer awareness organizations.
PinMart has taken note of this trend and has responded with new breast cancer ribbons that will be in stock in time for October and its awareness push. They have diverted from the traditional ribbon lapel pin template and are offering a unique take on the rubber awareness bracelet trend. Their new pieces are very wide-banded, come in combinations of black and white along with the requisite pink color. They are for breast cancer patients, loved ones, and survivors, and aim to support not only the cause, but the people wearing them.
Their goal is to breathe new life into the now very saturated market of breast cancer ribbons in October. Not only is PinMart hoping to increase sales of breast cancer items by offering more unique and trendy options, thus donating more money to awareness organizations, but to stretch the interest in breast cancer awareness past October. As they pointed out, “breast cancer effects women 365 days a year, not just the 31 in October. We hope these pieces stay popular, keep donations up, and keep awareness up, throughout the other 11 months.”
About PinMart: PinMart, Inc. is a privately held company located in Mount Prospect Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, specializing in the design and manufacture of custom pins, awareness ribbons embroidered patches, and emblematic jewelry. PinMart sells stock products via its online store and offers custom design and manufacturing. PinMart has taken advantage of its well-positioned internet presence and now boasts a client list that includes over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies.


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1. Super Bowl ticket prices now
Unless you know an NFL player or senior management employee, you’ll have to rely on the secondary market or purchase ticket packages from the NFL’s licensed hospitality partner, On Location Experiences.
According to TickPick co-founder Brett Goldberg, the face value of Super Bowl LVII tickets have increased drastically. The average ticket costs between $3,000 and $6,000.
In 2022, the most expensive seats on record went for more than $70,000 according to entertainment site Rarest.org while the cheapest cost at least four grand.
Typically, the best time to purchase is three to five days prior to the game because prices tend to come down just before the big day.
2. ...And then
Seats cost as little as $6 for the very first Super Bowl, played in 1967 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. That's about the same as $53 in today's dollars.
But the actual vintage tickets are worth a whole lot more than that: A ticket for Super Bowl I sold at auction in 2015 for more than $26,000.
Btw, the Green Bay Packers demolished the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in that first championship game.
3. Super Bowl ad rates: Insane today…
The Super Bowl is one of the main events of the year for advertisers, and they pay mountains of money to get in the game.
As reported by Front Office Sports, Fox Sports sold 30-second commercials costing more than $7 million each for the 2023 Super Bowl. This is the most expensive Super Bowl ad price in NFL history.
Those ad rates have nearly doubled over the last 10 years.
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4. ...A bargain yesterday
For the price of one second of air time today, you could have purchased four whole commercial slots in the very first Super Bowl telecast.
Advertisers paid only $42,000 for 30 seconds of ad time during Super Bowl I in 1967.
That would be similar to paying $373,000 today.
5. We'll drink to that
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev has been the largest Super Bowl advertiser for years, and that makes perfect sense.
Beer is America's biggest Super Bowl-related expense. We spent $1.3 billion on brewskis for the 2017 Super Bowl, Nielsen reports.
One widely quoted figure has it that the nation guzzles 325.5 million gallons of beer on Super Bowl Sunday, though Men's Journal did the math and says that works out to an unbelievable 10 cans for every U.S. man, woman and child. (Burp!)
6. A game of chicken
Americans also literally put away tons of chicken wings on game day — some 1.37 billion wings, says the National Chicken Council.
If you were to take all the wings we scarfed down during the last Super Bowl and lay them end to end, they would go around the earth about three times, the trade group says.
But really, who would ever do that?
7. Place your bets
The Super Bowl usually attracts more betting than any other sporting event.
Last year, fans wagered more than $7.61 billion on the game, an increase of $3.33 billion (78%) from 2021, says the American Gaming Association. Americans are also more interested in legal sports wagering than ever before.
If you win big in your office pool, you're kind of technically supposed to report your winnings to the IRS. But you're on your honor.
8. Cars for the stars
The players on the opposing teams get the same sweet perk during Super Bowl week.
Each receives a loaner car that he can tool around in. Marlin Jackson, who played for the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI, told Reader's Digest he got to drive a Cadillac Escalade ahead of the game in 2007. At the time, those SUVs had sticker prices starting at $55,000.
In 2023 the Cadillac Escalade starts at a base price of $81,000 according to Edmunds.
More: 24 NFL players that lost millions of dollars
9. Mad for the ads
Many Super Bowl viewers say the commercials are the main reason they tune in.
According to a 2022 survey conducted by data service Advocado, 42% of at-home viewers tune in specifically to enjoy the advertisements.
In fact, the survey observed that 50% of viewers purchased a product or service based on one of the commercials they watched.
10. What do they pay the halftime acts?
Super Bowl halftime show performers like Rihanna this year and Snoop Dogg last year aren't paid a cent for the high-pressure gig. The NFL covers only their expenses and production costs.
But the exposure is worth far more than any performance fee. Halftime shows often score better ratings than the actual games, and the artists get a nice spike in music sales.
According to Billboard, the 2022 halftime show averaged 103.4 million viewers across television and streaming in the U.S.
In the week after the game aired, Snoop Dogg’s streams shot up by 143% — from 12.4 million streams the week prior to over 30 million.
11. Hello, boss? I'm not feeling well...
Every year after the Super Bowl, a large number of Americans reportedly don’t show up for work. The Workforce Institute at Kronos has been tracking the phenomenon of Super Bowl-related absenteeism since 2005.
According to a 2021 survey, an estimated 16.1 million U.S. employees were planning to miss work on the Monday following Super Bowl LV. That number is down from 17.5 million in 2020 — a record-breaking anticipation for Super-Bowl related hooky.
The 2021 survey also concluded that 39% of employees felt the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.
Employment services firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas is down with that idea. In 2022 it concluded that lost productivity could cost U.S. employers $6.5 billion.
12. A big score for the host city
The 57th Super Bowl will be the third held at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona, which is traditionally the home of the Arizona Cardinals.
The state first hosted the Super Bowl in 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, before the host responsibility was given to Glendale in 2008 and 2015.
According to city of Scottsdale documents, when the Super Bowl was in Glendale in 2015, Scottsdale saw a $1.69 million increase in tax revenue for the month of January over the previous January. In 2023, the city is anticipating a $1.63 million boost in tax revenue.
13. A super payday for the players
Players on both Super Bowl teams get bonuses — just for showing up.
In 2022 the winners pocketed $150,000 apiece, and that's on top of playoff bonuses including $65,000 for their conference championship win.
Each member of the Super Bowl losing team also received some extra cash: $75,000 each.
14. The players get bling, too
For the winning side, the NFL kicks in between $5,000 and $7,000 each for as many as 150 Super Bowl rings. The team covers any additional cost, with the final cost amounting to between $30,000 and $50,000 per ring.
The league contributes up to half as much for rings for members of the losing team.
The winners' Vince Lombardi trophy weighs about seven pounds and is made by Tiffany & Co. at a reported cost of $50,000.
15. Ringing up value
The highest price ever paid for a Super Bowl ring at auction was nearly $345,000, for a smaller version of Tom Brady's Super Bowl LI ring in 2017 made available for family or friends.
The record price for a player ring was $230,000, paid for the one that New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor got for Super Bowl XXV.
The Hall of Famer had given the jewelry to his son, who decided to sell it. Taylor said he was cool with that. The Giants beat the Buffalo Bills 20-19 in the game, played in late January 1991.
16. Super Bowl superstition
The Super Bowl stock market indicator is a nonscientific barometer that says that the stock market's performance in a given year can be predicted based on the outcome of the Super Bowl of that year.
The stock market will have a positive year if the team in the National Football Conference, or a team with an NFC origin, wins. If the American Football Conference team wins, the market will fall.
Historically, the Super Bowl indicator boasts an 80% accuracy rate.
Kiss Your Credit Card Debt Goodbye
Millions of Americans are struggling to crawl out of debt in the face of record-high interest rates. A personal loan offers lower interest rates and fixed payments, making it a smart choice to consolidate high-interest credit card debt. It helps save money, simplifies payments, and accelerates debt payoff. Credible is a free online service that shows you the best lending options to pay off your credit card debt fast — and save a ton in interest.


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The Xperia line of smartphones is starting to become a major brand of Sony. With the announcement of the Xperia Play, Sony touted the fact that it was the only smartphone on the market that was truly designed for gaming. It had a pull out game controller with actual buttons, rather than simply using a touch screen. Well the next iteration of the series, known as the Xperia Sola, also sports an interesting selling point.
The Xperia Sola, according to Sony, will feature floating navigation. This means that users won’t have to actually touch the screen but rather can float their hand above it and use their fingers as a mouse. These were Sony’s words when explaining the technology:
Sony’s unique floating touch lets consumers navigate the web by hovering their finger above the screen so it acts like a moving curser, without actually having to touch the screen
The first question anyone would have of this is how is this even possible? Certain concepts have shown part of the phone breaking off and gripping to a persons finger and the phone then being able to track. Sony may use this type technology or they could be talking floating navigation with just the naked finger. In that case, how would one be able to click an app or link without actually touching the screen.
And then of course there is the bigger question of whether this feature is at all desirable. The tech behind it is cool, but what benefit does it add other than preventing your screen from getting dirty? When people are already so used the concept of touching the screen and using hand gestures, trying to break into the main stream with floating navigation isn’t the easiest thing.
We will be able to find out soon the potential new tech behind Sony’s phone and see if it is more than a gimmick once it releases in the second quarter of 2012.


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PESHAWAR (Dunya News) – Acting in opposition to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s austerity drive, KPK authorities have started importing luxury cars for its ministers.
As in step with info, first, luxurious jeep well worth Rs eight million has been imported for Shaukat Ali Yousafzai. A modern-day 2800cc luxurious automobile has been imported for yousafzai against the regulations, which says a minister can best have an 1800 cc car.
Sources stated it became determined to import a double cabin automobile really worth Rs5.5 million for the minister; however, he insisted on getting a luxurious Fortuner.
It is pertinent to say, Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his first cope with to the nation on August 19, had introduced the austerity drive and vowed to cut down government fees. He initiated the campaign by pronouncing the public sale of excess luxurious and other vehicles utilized by the high minister. The federal cabinet later endorsed the decision of the top minister and gave the formal pass in advance.
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Entry-Level Luxury Cars
This is wherein the posh car experience starts. Cars on this variety boast excessive ranges of generation, consolation, and driveability.
There’s no refuting that it’s a stunning searching vehicle. And, approximately a yr ago, Chevrolet gave the Cruze a mid-lifestyles facelift. As opposed to exchanging the automobile visually, it tweaked the engine to be greater powerful, refined, and gasoline green. Power is now at a big 164 bhp! It is a perfect toll road cruiser, and the interiors are also hanging to take a look at. You also get a long list of equipment. The rear seat space is quite negative, though.
This beautifully engineered automobile has styled. This is quite understated. The cabin is hard-to-fault, and in case you be aware of the information, you’ll observe that construct first-rate is easily the nice in elegance. The seats are spacious, and luxury is remarkable. It lacks a piece in the device department, and the steep price is a downer compared to the competitors.
Quality and healthy, and finish are extraordinary. It’s additionally one of the first-rate automobiles to very own if you’re chauffeur pushed. The engine is underneath powered, and it’s now not the maximum exciting automobile to force.
The Hyundai Elantra is without problems the exceptional looking car in its magnificence. You get an extended list of equipment, including cooled front seats, a spacious cabin, and a very aggressive charge tag. Also, it is clean to power in site visitors and respectable at the motorway too. However, it’s far a tad bouncy at excessive speeds.
The Fluence was Renault’s first car in India, and it’s been progressed some months again. There is a moderate bump within the electricity and lots of lesser faster lag. Also, some equipment has additionally been delivered.
Executive Level Luxury Cars
These automobiles normally begin from the Rs. 20 lac bracket and come with hundreds of features and steeply-priced cabins. Ideal for folks who like to be chauffeur-driven.
It is better looking, better ready, and extra cozy too. The Camry’s forte provides the maximum relaxing riding experience, and the whole lot has been tuned to supply simply that. It’s slightly steeply-priced and stupid to force, but it is one of the coziest vehicles of its magnificence.


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Forget all the failed apocalypse forecasts that have come and gone without destroying humanity. America faces a far more frightening (and possible) disaster this holiday season:
There could very well be a shortage of canned pumpkin during the holiday season this year.
This alarming news (actually, this isn't the first year we've heard it) is the kind of thing that sends chills up the spines of bakers and pie fans across the country, but while no one should panic, the canned pumpkin forecast isn't looking great. Illinois produces 90 percent of America's pumpkin yield, and this year heavy rainfall reduced the pumpkin crop by half its normal quantity, which is potentially very bad news for folks who like pumpkin pie a lot.
The canned foods giant Libby's controls 80 percent of the canned pumpkin market, and while the company is unhappy about this year's crop yield, the good news is Libby's believes demand can be met through the holidays.
However, they're also cautioning consumers not to wait until the last minute to stock up on canned pumpkin, because supplies may be low, and certain stores might see their shelves depleted. The grimmer prospect will come after the holiday season, because experts think that the supply will be completely drained by then, and there won't be any more canned pumpkin available until later next year. Now, for some people that's not a big deal, since they eat pumpkin pies and other food that uses canned pumpkin only in the fall and winter, but folks who enjoy eating pumpkin pie year round may be in for a very rough 2016.
For those of us looking around at all the pumpkins being sold to carve into jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween and wondering what all the fuss over a shortage is about, the answer's simple. The type of pumpkin used for canning is a completely different type from those most people buy to carve for Halloween decorations. Planning to use one of those for a Thanksgiving pie probably won't work out very well.
Perhaps the best strategy for anyone who does a lot of pumpkin pie baking throughout the year, or who uses canned pumpkin for other purposes, is to stock up heavily now, but that could drive the sort of last-minute shelf shortages that industry experts are warning about. Will there be the kind of panicked runs to the store that we often see right before a hurricane hits? I don't know, but with pumpkin pie at stake, I'm guessing almost anything is possible.
In honor of this grim scenario facing humanity, it seems somehow appropriate to share a couple of yummy recipes.
Pumpkin Pie Brûlée
1 deep-dish 9-inch unbaked pie shell
1 15-ounce can of pure pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar plus enough extra to form brûlée crust
1 1/4 cups whipping cream OR 1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix pumpkin and 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl to blend. Combine eggs, cream or evaporated milk, salt, and spices. Pour filling into pie shell. Bake pie at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 45 minutes. Let pie cool for 30 minutes, then chill it for at least two hours.
Sprinkle additional sugar evenly across the pie's top until it is completely covered — roughly four tablespoons. Use a culinary torch to caramelize the sugar, which will bubble and begin to turn brown. Positioning the torch about two inches from the sugar and moving it in a circular fashion works well, but be sure to work from the edges toward the pie's center.
After getting a good sugar crust, refrigerate the pie until the topping hardens — around 30 minutes. Then serve!
Creamy Apple Bacon Pumpkin Soup
1 15-ounce can of pure pumpkin
2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1 large pinch of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Granny Smith apple cubed
1/4 cup cooked, crumbled maple smoked bacon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Cook the cubed apple in butter until it gets soft. Combine the pumpkin, cream, chicken broth and pumpkin spice, then simmer for five to seven minutes, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat, then stir in the maple syrup and bacon. Top with the cooked apple cubes. Enjoy.
Hopefully the Great Pumpkin Shortage of 2015 won't lead to rioting in the streets or a collapse of western civilization, but folks with a love of pumpkin-based recipes might consider hitting the stores early in the holiday season, and holding back a few extra cans to get them through what might be a rough first half to 2016.
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Khaas Food, the Dhaka-based farm-to-table food company, started as a Facebook Page - taking orders online for a handful of food products such as Milk, Honey, and so on and delivering high-quality safe food to customers. Eventually, it launched a website and started taking orders there as well.
Over the past years, it has outgrown its Facebook page as well as its ecommerce company identity. Khaas Food says it plans to continue to grow as a food company.
Most companies that sell online tend to pay more attention to their digital identity. It is ecommerce which is more important for many of these companies which results in unexpected challenges as the market matures and big players continue to take up a bigger share of the market. Khaas Food wants to avoid this challenge. In an interview with Future Startup, Khaas Food Chairman, Habibul Mustafa, shared Khaas Food’s ambition to build an identity around safe food and its several investments in the space.
“We are more of a food company that an ecommerce company. And our goal is to play to that strength,” Habibul Mustafa said. “Our long-term plan is to establish a popular and reliable food business in which e-commerce will only be a distribution channel. To have control over our customers, we are trying to improve our distribution channels (e.g. e-commerce platform and physical outlet/warehouse) gradually.”
As part of the ambition, it has started building a layer of physical distribution channels, it has opened over 5 warehouses across Dhaka city and is on the lookout for distribution collaboration.
“Our plans for future is to build our own distribution channel which would be at the intersection of online and physical retail,” Mr. Mustafa said. “It would comprise of stores in different areas of the capital and, eventually spanning out to different parts of the country.”
Khaas Food has been investing consistently in building a strong backward linkage and a greater control over its suppliers. It has invested with a number of its suppliers and plans to do more in the coming which should allow Khaas Food greater control over production and supplies.
“We are focused on positioning ourselves as a safe food manufacturer/supplier in the market,” said Habibul Mustafa. “To that end, we have made some investments in production to ensure a greater control on the backward linkage and better quality supplies.
We have invested in a dairy farm which used to be our third-party supplier up until recently. We were satisfied with their product quality. But they were having difficulties in meeting the rising demands of our customers. So, we lent them a helping hand and underwrote an expansion of their operation. Previously, the dairy farm had only three cows and now they have 23.
Our milk has made quite a name in the market for its quality. Just a few days ago, we received a call from Chaldal. They were planning to add dairy milk to their product mix. And searching for the right supplier, they first called us. We intend to keep up that reputation.
Besides investing in the dairy farm, we have financially backed our natural honey and seasonal fruits suppliers. And we are already seeing good results. We plan to do more this as we grow.
In future, we will particularly focus on expanding our own production houses and strengthening our suppliers. We are also planning to build better relationships and better integrations with our suppliers which would help us to maintain the growth of our customer base and ensure a speedy delivery without having to deal with wastage and misappropriation.”


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Software company Toast has launched new products to help restaurants amid rapid digital transformation across the industry.
One of the new products is a business debit card specifically created for restaurants. Named the Toast Restaurant Card, it provides restaurant operators with faster access to sales as well as entry into a restaurant-focused cash back rewards programme with other partners.
Separately, the company’s point-of-sale (POS) system offers direct integrations with online food delivery platforms such as Doordash, Caviar, Grubhub, Postmates and Uber Eats.
This integration will help restaurant companies to assess and compare the contributions of first and third-party channels to their sales and profit margins.
Additionally, the POS integration will allow restaurants to update their menus and hours from one location.
Orders will now appear in Toast’s new Orders Hub interface, a single order management screen.
The company has also introduced Toast Pay Card and Tips Manager to help restaurant operators to improve the experience for staff members, as well as the rate of employee retention.
Toast Tips Manager will calculate and transfer pooled tips to Toast Payroll and Team Management, while employees can access their tips and income through the Toast PayOut card.
All of the products were launched by the company at its restaurant innovation event called Spark.
Toast CEO Chris Comparato said: “Toast takes its commitment to restaurant success seriously, and we’re proud to be the first to bring to market a suite of new products and features that address the top challenges facing our industry.
“With the new innovations announced today at Spark, we’re able to better help restaurants of all sizes take back control of their takeout and delivery business, better manage and retain their employees, and access sales when they need it.”


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Facebook’s New Suicide Detection A.I., Could Put Innocent People Behind Bars
Post Date: 2017-12-01 10:16:17 by Deckard
By MassPrivateI Imagine police knocking on your door because you posted a troubling comment on a social media website. Imagine a judge forcing you to be jailed, sorry I meant hospitalized, because a computer program found your comment(s) troubling. You can stop imagining, this is really happening. A recent TechCrunch article warns that Facebooks Proactive Detection artificial intelligence (A.I.) will use pattern recognition to contact first responders. The A.I. will contact first responders, if they deem a persons comment[s] to have troubling suicidal thoughts. Facebook also will use AI to prioritize particularly risky or urgent user ...
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Another Northeast Philadelphia Wawa was recently held up overnight, this time by a masked man who let the clerk know exactly what he wanted despite being in a busy store.
"Give me all the bills in the register.”
That’s what Philadelphia Police say the man with his face covered told employees Tuesday night around 11:15 at the convenience store location at 7001 Roosevelt Boulevard in the Oxford Circle section of the city.
Surveillance video shows the disguised man approach the counter. As he gets near you see him look up at a customer in the store who was holding up his young daughter as he checked out.
After the unassuming man and his child leave, the man with a scarf over his face goes to the counter with some small bills then holds his hand in the pocket of his hoodie.
Police said the man, who was appeared to be in his 40s, standing around 5-foot-6-inches tall and weighing about 170 to 200 pounds, told the clerk he was armed.
The clerk hands over an undetermined amount of money. The masked man then leaves the store -- walking out at the same time as another customer.
No one was hurt.
This Wawa location is the same one where a man with his face partially covered by a winter hat and dark turtle neck struck last month.
Police said that man grabbed a coffee and approached the counter seemingly to pay. After the clerk told the man the cost of the cup of joe, the suspect sated “damn that’s a lot” then placed his hand in his jacket, according to police Northeast Detectives.
The clerk told police that the man said “give me all the small bills!”
The clerk complied, handed over a handful of cash and the offender fled from the store headed towards Tyson Avenue, according to investigators.
Security was increased at another Oxford Circle Wawa store less than a mile away after a recent string of robberies at the Wawa at Bustleton Pike and Levick Street
The Bustleton Pike store was held up Jan. 15 by a man carrying a semi-automatic handgun. A $25,000 reward was offered in that case and others because since October that same store has been hit four other times by masked robbers.
An armed man, wearing a “Scream” mask like the one worn in the horror-movie franchise, entered the store on Nov. 26 and demanded money, according to Philadelphia Police. An employee handed over an undisclosed amount of cash from the register and the masked man fled from the store.
Police officers at that time told NBC10 that they believe this same suspect struck the store before -- captured on surveillance video.
The earlier thefts also featured masked robbers coming in between 3 to 4 a.m. and demanding money. In an Oct. 1 incident, two masked men burst into the store and made off with cash. Then, on Nov. 4 a masked man made off with cash from the register.
Finally, on Nov. 21, a man in a "Scream" masked burst in and demanded money.
A nearby Wawa store on Krewstown Road was also held up in late December.
It's unclear if all the thefts are connected.
Wawa says it has taken measure to try and prevent thefts at its stores: "The safety and security of our associates and customers is of utmost importance to us. Our priority is always to ensure the safety and security of our associates and our customers at this store, and we have been pursuing all avenues..."
Anyone with information should contact police and/or call Northeast Detectives at 215-686-3153/54.


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GT Advanced, who was (yeah, was) partnering with Apple on Sapphire displays for products, is shuttering their Arizona facility. They’re also shutting down a plant in Massachusetts. The move to shut down the two operations will cost roughly 890 people to be out of work. After recently filing for Bankruptcy, it was expected GT would make some changes, but nobody outside their board room expected them to do an about-face and shutter the Arizona plant, which they have in partnership with Apple.
In a filing with the Bankruptcy Court in New Hampshire, GT Advanced says the deal they struck with Apple is “oppressive and burdensome”. They say that terminating that deal was the only way to move forward. A filing in their bankruptcy proceedings aims to reject that contract GT has with Apple.
In a filing to slow-down and eventually halt operations at the facility, a GT Advanced lawyer said “the cash burn at GTAT’s sapphire manufacturing operations for the benefit of Apple is not sustainable”. GT has produced Sapphire for Touch ID on the iPhone, and was expected to make Sapphire displays for the Apple Watch.
When it was learned GT Advanced was filing for Bankruptcy, we took you through the potential case wherein Apple would gain full control of the Sapphire plant. It seems via this “oppressive” deal, GT is essentially walking away from the plant, and likely all the equipment inside — just as we expected might happen.
In a statement, Apple said “We are focused on preserving jobs in Arizona following GT’s surprising decision and we will continue to work with state and local officials as we consider our next steps”.
GT Advanced isn’t going down without a fight, though. They wish to keep the right to seek damages against Apple in the future, saying “GTAT believes that it has many claims against Apple arising out of its business relationship with Apple”.
GT may have claims, but they don’t have Sapphire facilities anymore.
Source: The Wall Street Journal


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reportedly plans to enter the US market in 2019, even as its competitors find themselves trapped in a political web.
The Chinese phone company's senior vice president, Wang Xiang, told Reuters Tuesday that Xiaomi is starting work on developing devices for the US.
"Next year we hope we can do something there," he said.
The timeline may face challenges, given massive US political scrutiny on Chinese telecommunications companies
and China Mobile. He acknowledged that the tensions created "uncertainty" but expressed confidence that Xiaomi could overcome it.
In June, lawmakers wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai -- which partnered with Huawei on instant messaging -- to express concern over Huawei's ties with the Chinese government, saying the relationship posed a threat to US national security.
Watch this: iPhone X and Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer, compared


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When many individuals shifted to working from residence final spring, places of work weren’t the one place they stopped going. Gas stations throughout the nation noticed business plummet as thousands and thousands of commutes immediately disappeared.
“Shops that rely upon commuters struggled essentially the most, with gas demand off 13.4% final yr,” says Jeff Lenard, vice chairman of strategic business initiatives on the National Association of Convenience Stores. Demand, he says, “is just not anticipated to get again to 2019 ranges for a few years, if ever.”
The uncertainty of the pandemic and its transformation of the best way individuals work has disrupted the gas station enterprise. Cue a real estate growth.
In keeping with new information from the industrial real estate market Crexi, listings for and curiosity in gas stations have skyrocketed. In February 2021, in comparison with information earlier than the onset of the pandemic, listings for gas stations have been up 124%, and purchaser curiosity was up 167%.
The adjustments are taking place quick. In comparison with only one month earlier than, new gas station listings on the platform in February jumped by practically 24%.
The expansion in listings and curiosity is probably going a by-product of the struggles the business is dealing with, in response to Eli Randel, chief technique officer at Crexi. “I believe the operators are affected by, in some situations, money circulate issues. Nonetheless, the worth of the property tends to nonetheless be excessive,” he says. “There are loads of patrons who imagine they will purchase these property and wait out the storm. Possibly they get a small low cost for present circumstances, too.”
The storm of the pandemic appears to be proving an excessive amount of for a lot of within the business, which is dominated by small retailers and franchisees. Of the roughly 150,000 comfort shops in the USA, about 92,000 are single-store operators, in response to Lenard, and 80% of them additionally promote gas. Although he notes that through the pandemic comfort retailer gross sales have been sturdy for meals and pantry gadgets—notably beer—the drop-off in gas gross sales is placing many smaller operators in a bind.
Others are noticing. There may be a rising mergers-and-acquisitions pattern within the comfort retailer and gas station business, in response to NACS’s Lenard. “The massive need to get greater and that makes the provides extra enticing,” he says.
Some consultants counsel extra of the acquisitions will center on smaller chains or house owners with solely a handful of retailers. However there are additionally some huge strikes on the bigger finish of the spectrum, with 7-Eleven anticipated to make a $21 billion acquisition of comfort retailer competitor Speedway.
Randel says there’s no particular model of gas station that’s being listed extra on Crexi’s market, and that these struggling essentially the most are doubtless extra affected by geographic circumstances than their model. Lenard says there are some region-specific traits that present how the business is being affected. “California is a very tough market to be in with the varied laws associated to each fueling and retailing,” he says. “Others, like Florida and Texas, appear to proceed to develop due to their rising populations, good climate, and year-round outside actions.”
Purchaser curiosity in gas stations means that the rise in vaccinations has many anticipating drivers and commuters to get again of their vehicles quickly. Although the long-term way forward for gas stations is an open query, with alternative fuel sources growing and a few cities banning the construction of new gas stations, the short-term actuality is that folks will proceed to drive and most will want gas to do it.


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Now, customers who are willing to open a new account will not have to be present physically at a bank branch. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now allowed opening an account over a video chat with a representative of a bank branch.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to give nod to video-based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) as a consent-based alternate method of establishing the customer’s identity, for customer on boarding.
The central bank said that this decision has been taken in a bid to boost the digital channels. This step is a landmark step for digital banking as such a facility is available only in few countries namely Germany as the market leader.
The demand for such a facility primarily came through tech-savvy new-age banks and prepaid payment instrument issuers, in sync to which the centre amended the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules which the banking regulator has now operationalised by updating its master direction on ‘know-your-customer’ (KYC) norms. For video-based customer authentication, PAN number and Aadhaar number will be compulsory.
“Live location of the customer [Geotagging] shall be captured to ensure that customer is physically present in India,” RBI said. Banks have to provide the facility of such audiovisual interaction.
RBI also said that all the regulated entities (RE) like lenders should ensure that the entire process is a seamless, real-time, secured, end-to-end encrypted audio-visual conversation with the customer and the quality of the communication is sufficient to allow recognition of the customer beyond doubt.
“RE shall carry out the liveliness check in order to guard against spoofing and such other fraudulent manipulations,” the RBI said.


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While Apple Computer expects to report its first loss in three years, the Australian market should be exempt from any major problems, according to an IDC analyst.
"The Australian market is independent of the US market; however [Apple's] market here is a little soft as a lot of consumers have already spent their money this year on other things, like the Olympics," said Logan Ringland, senior analyst, computing hardware.
Apple said revenues and earnings for the quarter ending December 30 2000, would be "substantially below expectations" due to slower than expected sales in October and November.
The company said it expects to report a net loss, excluding investment gains, of between $US225 million and $US250 million on revenue of around $US1 billion when actual results are announced on January 17 2001.
Apple Australia, however, will not release forecast and actual figures for the region, according to a company spokesperson.
The revenue shortfall, a US spokesperson said, was related to lower than expected channel sales worldwide, while the net loss was related to cancellation charges for components.
Apple's chief financial officer, Fred Anderson, said: "In light of the lower results anticipated for the December quarter, we now expect revenues for fiscal 2001 to be in the $US6 to $US6.5 billion range."
Ringland said consecutive disappointing results in the fourth quarter of 2000 and the first of 2001 will not "spell the end" of Apple.
"Apple has done pretty well to survive; it has an independent operating system and a loyal customer base. It is still one of the, if not the, most innovative companies in the market. But I think its heyday is definitely over."


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Mahindra Agri Solution partners with Sumitomo for crop protection business
Mahindra group firm Mahindra Agri Solutions Friday announced a joint venture with Japan's Sumitomo Corporation Group to expand its crop protection business and aims to reach annual sales revenue of USD 100 million in the next five years.
Mahindra group firm Mahindra Agri Solutions Friday announced a joint venture with Japan's Sumitomo Corporation Group to expand its crop protection business and aims to reach annual sales revenue of USD 100 million in the next five years. Mahindra and Sumitomo Corporation will have 60 per cent and 40 per cent stake, respectively, in the new company named Mahindra Summit Agriscience Limited.
Sumitomo Corporation Group is a global player in multiple industries including crop care, having access to the latest crop protection technologies, while Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd (MASL) is a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, part of the USD 20.7 billion Mahindra Group.
The combined strength of both the companies will leapfrog MASL's crop care business into the next orbit of growth. The partnership will offer a pipeline of specialty, new generation products with unique and latest molecules to effectively manage pest and insect related challenges faced by farmers.
When contacted, MASL's MD and CEO Ashok Sharma said the company is already into crop protection business with a revenue of Rs 200 crore annually. "We are aiming to achieve an annual sales of USD 100 million (over Rs 700 crore) in the next five-six years in this joint venture (JV) firm," he told PTI.
Initiated in 2005, MASL's crop Care product portfolio comprises insecticides, fungicides, herbicide, biological products and water-soluble fertilisers.
The JV would sell the existing products of MASL as well as introduce the new solutions on regular basis, he said, adding that the company has tie-up with 2,000 dealers across the country. Sharma said the partnership is aimed at helping farmers to significantly reduce crop damage.
Tomoaki Tetsu, GM, AgriScience Department, Sumitomo Corporation said, "We expect the new company, Mahindra Summit Agriscience Limited to leverage Mahindra's deep penetration in the Indian market and also enable us to collaborate with other Mahindra Group companies."
The joint venture will benefit from the expertise of both the companies - Mahindra's strong rural presence and Sumitomo's unique know-how and Japanese technology.
Mahindra will contribute through its strong farmer connect, wide spread domestic distribution and agriculture expertise, while Sumitomo Corporation has strong ties with large Japanese crop protection innovator companies which will result in the JV having access to latest global technology for minimising crop damage and increasing the yield.
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Sumitomo was started in the early 17th century with initial business of copper mining. Since 1992, Sumitomo Corporation had started investing in the crop care distribution channel and currently has presence in 33 countries.
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CUPERTINO, Calif. - Apple Chief Executive Orifice Tim Cook refused to apologize today for being a pompous cunt. During a brief press conference he was asked by National Buffoon reporter Peter Fitzinwell if he realized that a Mac was in fact a PC. Cook said "of course, but the pretentious Crapple fanboys are essentially retarded narcissists and buy any piece of shit we stage an overblown introduction for". "Hell, we haven't really improved our shitty operating system since 1986. We change the shape and size of the containers, we change the names. But improvements? Don't make me laugh, there's too many suckers out there. We make far too much money off our shoddily manufactured crap and pay so little for labor...while pretending to be socially responsible...I mean we did after all install suicide nets at no small expense on our iphone factory. We have no incentive to change our business model!"
He further elaborated "Crapple makes things that are sort of like computers, but designed for gullible hipster douchebags who want to be pompous shitheads just like us!"
"But this is not why I called this Press conference" he said, and came to the point.
"You remember our iMap software had er...glitches. Well one of the glitches was that instead of displaying accurate information, it completely misrouted directions and urged iPhone users to "Kill ... Kill ... Kill" in an eerie, high-pitched voice.
We were legally compelled to pretend to be sorry for the frustration that caused our customers.
We did everything we could to make iMaps better, and this is the solution we came up with...we changed the name!"
Cook said in a letter to customers posted today on the company's website that the new name for the defective app would be the iKillKillKill...and when people clicked on the link to read it, it sent out a signal that told people to kill.
|Cook excitedly introduces Crapple's new iKillKillKill app.|
Cook commented "G.E. is by far the leader, but they are an old money company and tax ripoffs are expected from them. We lead Google in the Tech sector...why Crapple siphons over a billion dollars a week into foreign accounts so the US doesn't get a dime in revenues from it! Ha Ha Ha!"
The exciting new iKillKillKill software developed by Crapple adds features such as turn-by-turn bludgeoning, axe navigation, and auto firearm detection; which always provides instruction for loading ammo. it still offers unreliable landmark searches as an additional feature of course. But along with routes that get users lost and directing them to the wrong country it emits an almost hypnotic subliminal message to murder!
"Dude, it was like hairy" said iPhone user Willy Pimples, 19, of Palmyra, N.J. "I was looking up directions to the Pennsauken Skateshop, and next thing I know, I'm trying to hatchet my mother." Fortunately, Willy's mom was able to snap her son out of this trance by smashing his face in with his can of Red Bull.
Others haven't been so lucky, according to FBI Special Agent Dick Bender, who says his agency has tracked more than 2000 murders - primarily strangling, stabbing, bludgeoning and people who had iPhones crammed into their anus.
"That's great" says Cook. "It may have been a problem for something called an iMap...but as an iKillKillKill app, users will be delighted. And obviously this will be a huge seller in the United States where mass murder is now the national pass-time. But I think it will help spread senseless violence to the rest of the world too. We at Crapple are always trying to appear to be innovating!
National Buffoon interviewed Willy Pimples and asked if the fact that it could cause him to kill his mother or other close family members might make him want to exchange his iPhone for some other type of smart phone, Willy responded by saying, "Actually, I've been thinking about getting a Blackberry." Then he burst out laughing so hard that he had to lie down and roll on the floor.
"Dude! Are you crazy? Give up my iPhone?" I'm OK with the whole murdering thing."
Another Crapple enthusiast, Hugh G. Dildeaux, 20, of Kuntztown, Pa. added "at least it hasn't caught on fire yet," Hugh is recovering from temporary blindness caused when his iPad shot flames into his face. Dildeaux said that problem should be worked out shortly, or at least in time for the release of the next Crapple iPhone...and hell, in the meantime, anyone scorched by their iPhone will receive a $15 gift card to the iTunes store! "Sweet!" responded Pimples, who immediately started searching for directions to a Gun and Ammo shop.


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Surfing the wave of the iPhone 7 ramp, Qorvo’s Q2 fiscal 2017 revenue jumped 24 percent sequentially and 22 percent above Q2 of fiscal 2016 to $865 million. Revenue was above the company’s guidance range of $820 million to $850 million. However, poor yields on a low band power amplifier duplexer (PAD) for the iPhone 7 hurt margins: GAAP gross margin was 36.6 percent, down from 39.6 percent in Q1 and 40.2 percent in Q2 of fiscal 2016. A wafer-level packaging issue with a temperature compensated SAW filter was not identified until after module assembly, which required modules to be scrapped.
The mobile products segment contributed 82 percent of Qorvo’s quarterly revenue: $706 million, which was up 29 percent sequentially and 22 percent above the year-ago period. In addition to the iPhone 7, revenue from Huawei and other Chinese phone manufacturers aided segment growth. Huawei was the second of Qorvo’s 10 percent customers, i.e., customers contributing at least 10 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The infrastructure and defense products (IDP) segment grew 4.4 percent sequentially and 18 percent year-over-year to $158 million. The unit introduced 49 new products during the quarter and saw growth in all major markets: wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, defense and IoT. During the quarter, the company saw a continued recovery in the base station market and characterized their outlook as “cautiously optimistic.” James Klein, president of the IDP business, said the unit is winning designs for GaN on SiC products in defense, wireless infrastructure and CATV.
Qorvo’s top customer generated 35 percent of the quarter’s revenue. Adding Huawei, the second 10 percent customer, the top two customers accounted for 46 percent of Q2 revenue.
For the current quarter (ending in December), Qorvo management expects revenue to be between $800 million and $840 million, down from Q2. CEO Bob Bruggeworth characterized the guidance as “conservative.” While Apple demand is expected to grow sequentially, the guidance assumes demand from Asian customers will be down — possibly as high inventory is reduced. IDP’s revenue will be flat to up slightly.
Earnings Call Highlights
During the earnings call, James Klein was asked the size of Qorvo’s GaN business. Here’s his response, which didn’t really answer the question:
Toshiya Hari, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, asked about Qorvo’s M&A strategy. Bob Bruggeworth responded, saying “getting far abreast of the RF field is currently not in our interest.” It’s an interesting strategy, with Broadcom and Skyworks taking the opposite tack. Listen to Bruggeworth’s full comment:
In June, Mark Murphy joined Qorvo to replace Steve Buhaly as CFO; Buhaly retired from the role. Murphy shared his first quarter’s impressions of Qorvo:
Qorvo’s share price closed at $56.74 before yesterday’s earnings release; it opened at $48.36 this morning, down almost 15 percent.